Happy Birthday AJ!

Henry's friend AJ celebrated his 2nd birthday with a party at Gymboree! Henry chose not to participate in many of the group activities but preferred to do things on his own. He still had lots of fun though!

Henry did decide to take a turn on the log roll! (He is on the right-hand end of the roll and the Birthday Boy is to the left of Henry.)



Henry loves catching bubbles and popping them!



Just like his Daddy, Henry sticks out his tongue during moments of concentration. Going down the slide takes a lot of concentration, don't you know?! :-)



Henry loved rocking on the horse...fast!

Thanks AJ for including us in your big birthday celebration! We had so much fun! We hope you had a fantastic time too! :-)

Morning at the Edventure Childrens' Museum

Another fun morning at the Edventure Childrens' Museum with Josie and Nolan!

They have a new exhibit called Monkey King. Guess who is the king and who is the monkey in this picture?! ;-)



Best buddies...

Helmet Safety

Even though South Carolina does not believe in wearing helmets, we are teaching helmet safety early on! ;-)



It doesn't hurt that Henry looks so darn cute in his helmet!

Our First Chuck E Cheese Experience

So Josie, Grant, Trey, and I decided to take the boys to Chuck E Cheese one Saturday evening. None of us really knew what to expect but we decided to try it out anyway. Besides the website stated that this location sold beer. How bad could it be?! Boy, were we naive! It was PACKED! There were kids and parents packed into every corner of that place. We definitely could not let the kids run around and play on their own. Surprisingly Henry did not mind the singing animals on stage. We were not sure about staying because there were not a whole lot of things kids our age could do and realized that actually no beer was sold but finally we decided to go order some pizza. Do you all know how expensive that place is?! Josie and I were at the counter with our coupons trying to figure out the cheapest way to do this (hahaha!) when I look at the cutout of the large pizza hanging on the wall and there is a HUGE plastic roach on top of the pizza!! I pointed it out to Josie and we immediately go back to the table and tell our husbands to pack it up. We were leaving! :-)

I did manage to get a picture of my two men before we hightailed it out of there! :-)



We left and found a nice family friendly sports bar/restaurant! I think it will be a while before we try Chuck E Cheese again! ;-)

Henry and Abigail

Our friends, Stephanie and Andy have a beautiful little girl, Abigail, and Henry is absolutely smitten with her! Henry was so excited when she came over to play one Saturday!

Henry shared his toys with Abigail,



showed her his awesome room,



and taught her all of the things that annoy Mommy the most! ;-)



Sweet buddies...

Girls' Weekend in Los Angeles!! (Part 1)

My cousin Emily and her husband recently relocated to Los Angeles from Chicago. We girls jumped on the opportunity to spend a weekend visiting her and Reggie at their beautiful home in Hermosa Beach!

Aside from our honeymoon, this was the longest airplane trip I had taken. And certainly the longest flight that I had ever taken alone. Those that know me well know that I do not enjoy flying at all. I love, love, love to travel but not the time up in the air! ;-)

On a fun side note, the whole weekend we were all hoping to see a celebrity since we were in Los Angeles the weekend of the Golden Globes. No sightings while in Los Angeles but guess who I sat NEXT to on the flight home?! Sophia Bush! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_Bush) I didn't want to be one of those annoying people so no autographs or pictures although I was really tempted. Just a little chit chat but still lots of fun! :-)

A view from above...



The girls - Emily, Laura, Sarah, and me - together again at last!



We were in Los Angeles so we did spend some of the time sightseeing...

The Hollywood sign...how cool is that?!



...but most of the time we spent just hanging out, laughing, and enjoying every minute together!

Playing the Wii...

Girls' Weekend in Los Angeles!! (Part 2)

You know when you get the four of us together that there is going to be a lot of eating involved! And this time was no different! ;-)

The highlight of our dining in L.A. was my very first In and Out burger! Delicious!



It was amazing that it was January and we were able to dine outside!

Laura and Sarah at brunch...



Emily and I...



We definitely could not pass up stopping at the cupcake shop for an afternoon treat!

Dining outside and Mexican food are two of my absolute favorite things no matter where I go! ;-)

Girls' Weekend in Los Angeles!! (Part 3)

Emily and Reggie live in a beautiful area called Hermosa Beach. I cannot even describe to you how amazing this place was. There are walking paths up and down the beach, delicious restaurants and quaint shops within walking distance, and breathtaking views wherever you look. Sarah commented many times on how happy everyone looked! And they did!




Laura's first time touching the Pacific Ocean...



I am the luckiest!

Emily and Reggie, thank you so very much for such a fantastic weekend! We really appreciate ALL that you did to make our weekend together a special one! We love you both! And Trey, you encouraged me from the very beginning to take this trip. You never once hesitated even though it meant an airline ticket, two vacation days for you, four full days with our very energetic son, and being across the country from you both. And for that, I love you. Thank you.

Happy Birthday Granddaddy!

"It's your birthday Granddaddy! Your day to do whatever you like! Maybe wear your hair in a mohawk?! ;-) Whatever you decide to do, we hope it is fantastic! We love you!"

Henry, I am not sure...

...those shoes go with your very fashionable spaceship pajamas! :-)

Henry's First Baking Experience

Henry recently "helped" me make a banana bread. We had so much fun!

Henry showing the camera how to stir the batter...



"Oooooh, two wisks to lick!" (And yes, Mr. Party Police (Trey) pointed out the risk of salmonella poisoning...haha!)



"YUM! Why bake the bread? The batter is so good!"



Even though it took me twice as long with Henry's "help" and I spent an hour cleaning batter off every square inch of our kitchen, I really enjoyed every minute spent having fun with Henry! :-)



And yes, the finished product was delicious!

How many pictures do I have to take in order to get one good one?!

Let's see...one...



Two...



Three...



Four (getting closer)...



FIVE! Finally a picture with a cute smile and no food hanging out of his mouth! ;-)

Henry does lots of cute things that are all worthy of photos but most of the time I cannot take those photos because someone (not naming any names) is being less than cooperative! ;-)

Happy Birthday Jack!

We "heart" you very much! :-)



"Okay, so Mamma is completely cheesy but we do love you and hope you have a fantastic day! Happy Birthday, Cuz!"

Is this really MY child with the vacuum?!

Henry has ALWAYS despised the vacuum cleaner. He was deathly afraid of it. He would not even go near it. I guess in case there was a possibility that it would spontaneously come on! :-) And I love, love, love to vacuum. No matter if the house is filthy dusty if it is vacuumed it makes me feel like it is clean. So this definitely posed a problem. The only way I could vacuum was to either put him in our bedroom with the door shut and the TV up pretty loud or I would have to wait until Trey was home and could take him outside.

And now?! He helps me vacuum! Actually asks for me to vacuum! He started playing with my small Dustbuster and I think he just became used to the sound and realized that it wasn't going to hurt either of us. Thank goodness! :-)

Fun at Walmart...Is that actually possible?!

One day when Trey was with us grocery shopping at Walmart, he took Henry out to the area with the vending machines and games while I finished shopping. So now we cannot leave Walmart without Henry spending at least 15 minutes playing on the race car machine (without actually playing the game) and running around touching all of the gears and knobs and buttons on the other games and machines! I am glad that one of us is having fun at Walmart! ;-)

New Years' Eve 2009

My parents graciously offered to keep all three boys (yikes!) on New Year's Eve so that we could all go out and enjoy the evening together. I think they must have had a crazy moment to make that offer but we certainly didn't turn them down! Thanks Mom and Dad!

Memere with Jack and Henry eating the cupcake cones they made together...



I watched as many dirty boy fingers went in the batter so I decided not to treat myself to one of those cupcakes. :-)

"That is fine with me! That leaves more for me to enjoy!"



The six of us rang in the new year at a dueling piano bar in downtown Nashville...lots of fun! Matt, Lori, Trey, and I spent many New Years together when we were first married and living closer to each other so it brought back a lot of fun memories for us!

Lori, Laura, and I ready for a night out on the town...



Lori, Laura, Tommy, and Matt taking a break from singing to pose for a picture...

There is never a dull moment being by your side, Trey Bradley and I wouldn't have it any other way! Here's to 2010 being the best year yet! I love you!

Holiday Time at the Brandes Home Part 1

Because Trey worked the week of Christmas, he was off the week of New Year's. We were lucky to be able to spend that week at my parent's home in Nashville. We were even luckier that my Memere was there visiting for a few days!

"You mean we get to celebrate Christmas again?! Awesome!"



Opening gifts with three little boys is a zoo but is so much fun to watch! Here Henry is trying on one of his gifts...a Home Depot tool apron! :-)



"I cannot believe I have my very own train! Choo choo!"



Henry even got to try out cousin Jack's new gifts from Santa!