Our little Drummer...

Brayden loves to drum, so it was only fitting he be a drummer for Halloween.  I made a trip to WalMart late late lastnight in search of items to make this little drummer costume happen.  Fur, buttons, some black pants, a red shirt, ribbon, fringe, glitter, polyfoam, and hot glue later....this is what Mommy made {until 3am I might add} the night before Halloween. 

When I got the costume on him tonight, he quickly looked down at the fur on his sleeves and pet it so lovingly.  He then looked at me and said "puppy"!  "Ah, no Bray, that's fur baby, not a puppy!".  I thought for sure after that comment that showing him the hat I made was really gonna freak him out!

Oh the hat.  I will admit that in making this costume, that hat was indeed the hardest part.  I was trying polyfoam on Brayden's head in his sleep to make sure I could make this thing fit.  Trying to cut its shape was not any easier, and the hot glue involved left me with three blisters on my poor fingers. 

It was so worth it though.
Brayden had so much fun marching around telling everyone that he was "a drummer".
 He said " hi-see" for trick or treat, and {elcome} and {ankyou} to almost everyone he saw.
  It was quite precious to watch.

At one point he boycotted walking any further until we gave him a "sticky" aka: sucker.
 He could not figure out why it was so important to get all of this candy, only to put it in his little drum container!
 He finally had enough with getting candy he wasn't eating.
Stinker.

He finally stood up long enough to make sure the candy was still there, and to help Daddy pick out just the right "sticky".

Once he found the right one, and we inspected it and handed it over....we got our happy little drummer back...
Sticky, red lips and all...
{Yes, we know...we are suckers!  No pun intended}

He soon ran out of his little sugar rush, and decided to take a rest...
on a strangers front porch...
while insisting we "wing" with him.

Finally a pooped out little peanut with Mommy at the end of the night. 
He fell asleep in almost record time this evening.

I had so much fun making your costume this year again Brayden.  It makes me feel like my Mom-she always used to make things/costumes for us.  I am proud that you walked so far tonight, and with so much zeal and excitement.  You were so polite and so happy. 

We love you little drummer.

 Happy Halloween Brayden!

To paint or not to paint???

I acquired this bed.  It was a steal at 29 bucks. It has side rails as well when all put together, and it is actually a three quarter inch bed...almost a full size.  I am still in search of a mattress and box spring that size...but back to the bed.  It is a depression style bed per the antique dealers I contacted about it.  They said it's not really worth much of anything these days and if I wanted to paint it I could.  I really had my heart set on something else for Brayden's first big boy bed, but I don't have the extra $450 bucks laying around to buy it right now...so I am thinking about painting this bed and using it for his room.  Red perhaps with some stain over the distressed sanded edges?  Maybe an antique white slightly distressed.  Black even?  Help me ladies....what do you think?  Also-if you have any advice on how to pait this so it does not LOOK painted...I'm all ears.  The dealer I talked to said to spray paint it...I was thinking of using a small roller.  I don't know.  I need advice.

Head board:

Foot board:

{I want it....please}...

I have been telling Brayden to ask for "help" if he needs something, or to say "I want this-or that" to encourage communicating and not whining, or getting frustrated.  So...for the last few months he would get frustrated with something, whine a bit, throw a little tantrum, and eventually say..."ummm-help me, help me".  Progress right?  Well today he figured it all out.  He wanted a piece of Candy Corn.  I told him to tell me what he wanted and he replied, "ummm, I wann it-pees" {I want it please} while pointing at the candy corn.  I happily gave him one, and he told me "hankooo, elcome".  I was so ticked he told me he wanted it, and so politely, then followed it up with thank you AND welcome!!!  That is until I realized later on that it's all over now.  He is now going to WANT everything. 

Uncle Todd and Molly were laughing AT with me tonight about this.

 Ha ha! :-)

{Wing}

Brayden loves to go to the park, and he especially loves his swing {aka: wing}.  He has loved this very swing since he was a baby baby.  Everytime we go by this park-he immediately knows where we are and starts shouting "weeeeee, wing, wing....yeah whoo, yeah".  The other day we had some gorgeous fall weather and took Brayden to play and run a bit.  He had the whole park to himself for about an hour before some other children arrived.  He was curious about watching them play and interact.  We sat back and let him approach the other children on his own-which he did with some reserve.  I told him to tell a little boy there his name and he replied "I'm Me Me"  {that's how he says Bray Bray}.  The other little boy giggled and started to play with Brayden-which he thought was very cool.  He giggled and tried to do everything this other little boy did.  It was very sweet to watch.  My gut was a bit in knots at first wondering if the other children would take to him, and if Brayden's feelings would get hurt in some way. {I know, probably silly of me, but I did not want to see him be ignored or blown off by the other children for fear it would hurt his feelings}.  Thankfully all went well and it was a great moment to be able to see.  He was confident and sweet and curious, and it just made me so proud of him. 

Here is Bray running to his favorite swing.  If you want to see an old article of him on this very swing...click HERE. 

My big independent and confident boy...

Brookey's Birthday Party...

This last weekend we went to Brooke's 8th Birthday party.  She is our niece, and one of Brayden's 16  first cousins.  We have a big family-yes we do.  Brayden adores Brookey {as he calls her}, and was pretty much glued to her side for much of the party.  He had so much fun running around and playing with everyone, and everything.  He even took off running into the kitchen at Friendly's-so fast that even Mommy and Daddy could not grab him fast enough.  All you could hear were waiters and waitresses yelling "oh my God-there's a baby in the kitchen".  Yeah, yeah-laugh all you want...{it was actually quite embarassing-and funny too!}.
Here is Brayden and Brooke { how cute is this?}

Here Brayden is loving on Uncle Marion and his other cousin, little Marion while they were hugging.  He got a little jealous they were giving out hugs, and had to join in on the fun I guess.  Too funny.

This photo makes me laugh it's so precious.
{Brayden usually does not give Uncle Marion huggies because he is scared of his beard and mustache...so it's cute to see this photo of him latching onto his leg-all smiles}.

News, news, news...

I have lots of news to share with everyone this week {when I'm allowed}.  We have had a busy last few days, weeks, & months here in the Snow Family, but we have tons of fun things happening in our family and in our extended families as well.  This year is looking promising for our future, and I am encouraged by things on the horizon.  Stay tuned ;o)

{HAM}

When Ron and I make the bed, Brayden likes to climb under the covers to play TENT!  Ron will flip the blankets up over Braydens head over and over again.  Brayden giggles and yells TENT over and over again as well as saying "here I am", and "where are you?". Tonight as we were making the bed I decided to grab the camera and snap some pictures.  The first one below...Brayden was completely unaware I was there until Daddy lifted the sheet and I took the first picture.  You can see how genuine and un-prompted it is.

Now...this next picture was the second one I took.  Brayden was under the sheet shouting "TENT-TENT!", so Ron once again lifted the sheet up to make Brayden giggle.  Instead, Brayden was a total HAM and was totally prepared to be picture perfect for Mommy's camera happiness. I can't believe my camera actually snapped fast enough to catch this pose before the sheet went back down!  Notice how he even turned directly toward me to pose.  {we both yelled in unison a huge "awwwwweeeee" when we saw this pose}  Ron quickly asked me if I got that picture, as I was already fumbling through the buttons on my camera praying I did.  He had Ron and I in stitches over this...

{It's like he knew I was going to blog this or something}