Christmas Lights

Most nights we have spent time driving around looking at "pretties." There are quite a few good displays in our area, so I thought I would share one in particular.

The neatest one we have seen thus far is on Iona Road. It is set to music which is played on 88.5 FM. I cannot even imagine how much time and effort went into this. I found this YouTube clip of part of their show.

Klingler Family Christmas Lights

Our Christmas Tree

This year (as we do every year!) John and I talked about getting a fake Christmas tree.... and, just like before we went a purchased a real one. We've had very good luck with the trees at Sunnyside Gardens. They are so nice and fragrant and FRESH.

Last year I threw away the "rotten fruit" ornaments that I made when John and I were first married (BTW, they were sliced dried apples and oranges - tied together with fabric). I always thought they were a crafty, clever and frugal way to decorate our tree when we were really poor! However, John has always thought it looked like rotten fruit hanging on the tree!

So, because I threw those away last year, I needed new ornaments. I have gold and maroon ornaments, white lights and a star. And I used ribbon for the garland.

I think this is definitely one of our prettier Christmas trees. It is so full, and has such nice branches and needles!

Surprisingly, Braxton has been good with the tree. He does like to touch the ornaments and look really close at the "pretties" (aka lights), and give the tree a brush when he walks by.... at least he's gentle about it right?

PS. Sorry that I haven't done much blogging lately. Braxton thinks that he no longer needs naps. I'm having a hard time adjusting to that though!

Learning the Letters of the Alphabet

Braxton is wanting to know about anything and everything these days. All day long I get these two questions: "What's that?" and "What's this?". (It's much cuter in his little voice and it sounds more like "whatsat?" and "whatsis?")

Braxton will often ask about the same thing over and over again, and I can tell he is trying to figure out how to get his mouth to say it. Sometimes he will say the word back, and then he wants you to repeat it to confirm that he is saying it right! I love that he is so curious and eager to learn about his world.

The surprise for me? He has been asking about individual letters in his books. His favorite books to find the letters are in these "Bright Baby" books that were given to us as a gift.

I did NOT push this on him... He wanted to know about this all on his own! I'm not one of those crazy moms that think their kid has to be the smartest kindergartner ever. We have always read to him, and he now loves to read books.

He is so smart now that he'll probably be smarter than me by the time he gets to kindergarten (good thing I have a smart husband!)!

He has now memorized these letters:

c, e, g, i, o, r, t, y

Braxton is pointing to the 'e' in the picture below. Every time he says a letter, we have to say it back to him or he just keeps repeating it over and over and louder and louder...

The letters that he now asks about are:

b, d, f, k, l, p, s, x

Our Little Football

So remember how cute Braxton was in his lion costume last year?

I was thinking this year would be even more fun with even more cute costumes.... but I was wrong! This year all I could find was dorky costumes... I hate how they put the face on the top of the head... their face should be the face... isn't that why we have face paint? I really wanted Braxton to be a monkey this year since he is so in love with Curious George... but all of the monkey costumes were really ugly.

So he was a football instead - and a dang cute one! We borrowed the costume from my friend Megan - she had made it several years ago for her little boy. It is so cute on Braxton that I'm actually glad we didn't find a monkey costume!

We took Braxton over to Nana and Papa Davis' house to trick-or-treat, and it was so cute! He loves ringing the doorbells - so that was no problem. He didn't say "trick-or-treat" but after my mom put candy in his pumpkin, he got excited and tried to get her to give him more! It was so funny!

He didn't want to pose for pictures for my parents so we gave him piece of candy to hold... well, he decided that he wanted to eat it instead - wrapper and all!

After we came home and made Braxton eat something healthy (leftover enchiladas!), John and Braxton went out to hit our neighborhood. Isn't that the cutest picture?

Carving Pumpkins

This year we got to carve pumpkins with Braxton! It was so much fun, and as you can see, he is very excited to help out!

He was a really big helper with his little pumpkin... he helped clean it out (with a little taste testing!), draw on the face and even wanted to help carve out the face...

Have I mentioned that Braxton is a huge Daddy's boy? He was having so much fun helping carve pumpkins... I love the look on his sweet little face!

And the finished products on our front steps.... We are definitely not professionals and will not be winning any carving contests...

Finished!

I have finally completed our scrapbook pages for our adoption profile! Here is the completed project....
We also finished our birth parent letters, which means we have finished everything that is required and so now we will just wait to be approved (it shouldn't take long for that)! Our next step will be to get our profile on the website. That part should be pretty quick!

Braxton's Room

Yesterday morning I left Braxton in his room to play while I went to finish the dishes. I figured he would dump some of his toys out... he usually does. However, when I came back (I swear it was 5 minutes later!) I was greeted with this.....

Braxton's nearly empty closet......



A very big grin from my sweet little boy (aren't his overalls adorable!?!).....



And the result of being alone for 5 minutes. He took all the books out of his bookshelf, and just dumped the toys from his bins on top of them. At least he stuck to one area of his room... I guess!




Braxton thinks this is great fun, and is now constantly emptying out bins and drawers and shelves. Its enough to send my OCD into over-drive! Luckily, Braxton will help clean up the mess. And then, he does it all over again! :)

Mesa Falls Half Marathon

Well, John did it! He finished his first 1/2 marathon on Saturday, August 23. He started off at 8:30am and finished his 13.1 miles in 2 hours and 33 minutes. How awesome is that!

Braxton and John before the race at the starting line.



Braxton and I loved cheering for him along the way. We would drive a few miles ahead of the runners and wait for John to come along. It was so much fun! Braxton loved looking for his daddy, and would yell out the window at the runners.. "Daddy, Daddy". He got quite a few smiles from the other runners!


Finally at the finish line! Braxton was so excited to see his daddy, and wanted to be held by him immediately! I think he just wanted to give his daddy some congratulatory hugs and kisses!

Mesa Falls

Last Saturday we took a trip to scope out John's upcoming 1/2 marathon (August 23) which ends in Ashton. I was completely oblivious to how these things work until John decided to start looking into them. People actually pay to go running for 13 miles (1/2 marathon) or 26 miles (full marathon)! I think it's absolutely crazy - but then again, I do not really enjoy running. John has been training for quite some time, and he is doing really awesome.
If you are interested in seeing the course specifics, here is the link: Mesa Falls Marathon

While there we did a little sight-seeing at Mesa Falls.
It was very pretty, and we got to have a giggle at Braxton plugging his ears to stop the noise of the waterfall.






Braxton didn't want to walk for our sight-seeing, so John ended up carrying him most of the way. When Braxton finally did walk (like 5 steps) he came upon a bench, which he promptly crawled up on, like he was exhausted. He is so funny, and gives John and I such good laughs!



I've been feeling guilty that John is doing all this exercise while I sit around... so I decided to try my hand at running with him. And I've concluded once again that I don't like running! I know it's good for me, but I sure hate the 'sticky spit' that builds up when I run. I felt pretty proud of myself for being able to run a mile without too much trouble... and then I felt really proud when I watched John run 5 miles without stopping! He is amazing!

Tautphaus Park Zoo

Today Braxton and I went to the zoo with Nana Davis. She took today off to watch Paige and Tyler. Nana thought it would be fun to all go to the zoo together. Aunt Korrie, Kaytlin and Gracie came too!













What a great idea Nana! Braxton loves to be with his cousins and I think all the kids had a great time. I, however, am exhausted after trying to keep track of 5 children under the age of 6 - the sad thing is, my mom and Korrie were there... so I wasn't even doing it alone (I'm a wimp)! Maybe it was just watching them with their endless amounts of energy!

It was a lot of fun watching the kids get excited about the animals. Braxton especially loved the monkeys, of course. We actually got to see quite a few animals moving around: the Serval (an African wildcat) was walking around, the Turtles and Flamingos with their babies...

I was also able to capture some super cute snapshots of the kids. Here are two of my favorites from today. The rest of the photos are on Snapfish, in the Braxton 2008 group room.

Braxton chewing on his cheese stick.

Gracie in the egg... doesn't she just look so sweet in this picture? This is my favorite photo of the day!

Camping in the Backyard

Can I just say again how much fun it is to be a mommy?

I love watching John and Braxton together.

They are so sweet - John has got to be the best daddy in the whole world! Last Friday, John set up the tent in our backyard. He thought it would be fun for a camp-out (I was thinking it was a good idea to check out the tent and make sure it was still in good condition since we will be using it this coming weekend).

Anyway - Braxton loved it! So much so, that at 11pm I brought him back into the house to sleep in his crib. He absolutely would not settle down! He kept looking for the dogs, and mauled them, and then he would bounce around on the air mattress.... He was in no mood for sleeping!

Braxton is already a little reader. He read quite a few books in the tent sitting on the air mattress.

I Love Being a Mom!

So during a conversation today at lunch, I realized just how much I love being a mom and how important it is to me to be a good one! My I mention that Braxton was an absolute angel at lunch! It was a two hour long lunch with my VT (visiting teaching) partner, Miriah, and one of the ladies we VT, Kari. Miriah and I like to take the ladies that we VT to lunch for their birthdays.
It was so much fun, and such good food at Jakers!


During the lunch, we were discussing each other's good qualities (one thing I love about these women, is they are so nice!). Miriah mentioned how much I seem to read educational books - like parenting or gospel related books. She said that she liked to "lazy read" - which apparently means reading books that are just purely for pleasure and you don't learn much from them - I like to read those too! Anyway, she was asking me about why I read so many of those types of books... and after thinking about it, I replied "My goal in this life is to be the best possible mom I can be. I don't want Braxton to be screwed up because of me!"

And it's the absolute truth. I love being a mom, and I love learning how I can be a better mom. I am by no means perfect, nor will I be, but I like to give it a good shot! Now, don't think that I take everything I read and turn it into gospel - I certainly do NOT do that, otherwise I'd be changing my game plan every second of every day! But, I do take things into consideration and try to do what is best for Braxton and for me.

One month for book club we read "Parenting with Love and Logic" It is one of the best books that I have found on parenting. It is amazing how much I learned about myself - how I would be parenting, and how I wanted to parent (which by the way are completely opposite!). I don't necessarily follow everything in the book, but I do remember a lot of things from it that have really helped me.

At book club, one of the seminar leaders came and talked to us about the "love and logic way." It was awesome! I also found out recently that my sister-in-law, Brenda, has starting using this method on her own children, and has had good success with it. And my other sister-in-law, Natalie went to a seminar for teachers, "Teaching with Love and Logic." It makes me feel good that people I know are using and enjoying it too!

After book club, I went to the library and checked out the book related to early childhood - the toddler years. It was awesome, and has helped me to deal with issues (such as Braxton hitting me) in a much better way than I could have thought of on my own. If you are interested in learning more about this, check out their website: http://www.loveandlogic.com/

These are the books that I have read.

The synopsis: "The tools in Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood will give you the building blocks you need to create children who grow up to be responsible, successful teens and adults."







The synopsis: "Raise children who are self-confident, motivated, and ready for the real world with this win-win approach to parenting. Your children will win because they’ll learn to solve their own problems while gaining the confidence they need to meet life’s challenges. And you’ll win because you’ll establish healthy control—without resorting to anger, threats, nagging or exhausting power struggles. Parenting with Love and Logic puts the fun back into parenting!"

Braxton's Latest and Greatest

I cannot believe how much Braxton is changing everyday. It seems like each day he does something new and amazing. And everyday he seems to understand more and more of what I say... which is leading to some interesting situations for us! Braxton loves to get into mischief and do things that he knows he is not supposed to... he just sits and smiles and waits patiently for one of us to find him and tell him no.... Little stinker! :)

Prayer: Braxton knows what to do when we say "It's time for prayer." He clasps his sweet little hands together.... and he even manages to stay fairly still during them. He sits on his bottom while we kneel, and sometimes will hold our hands while John or I say the prayer. He is such a good boy!

Ears: Braxton has also learned how to plug his ears so that he can't hear anything. Luckily, he hasn't learned to do this when I'm talking! :) He mostly does it when there is a steady sound, such as music playing or water running.

Shoes: Braxton also recognizes the word "shoes." And when he wants to go outside will go and point at the bucket with his shoes in them. What a smart boy!__________________________________________________

Braxton has become quite the chatterbox lately. When he is talking to you, he looks at you so intently that you begin to think you could carry on a real conversation with him! If I can ever get him to do it when I have the video camera on, I'll post the clips!

Braxton's New Words:

E-I-E-I-O : If you start singing "Old McDonald had a farm," he will almost always say the next line.... of course, it doesn't sound perfectly like that, but you can definitely tell that is what he is saying!

Ashes : Braxton loves to play ring-around-the-rosie. He is trying to say the words, and sometimes it sounds like he is trying to say "ring - rosie." However, the most identifiable word is "ashes." Now, keep in mind that you have to add the "h" in for him... he must be thinking it is silent. :)

Animal Sounds: Braxton can tell you what quite a few animals will say.. (except, of course, when I want to show him off!).

Sheep: "Baa"

Snake: "Ssss"

Monkey: "Hoo Hoo Hoo Haa Haa"

Doggie: "Orrrwwww"

Nose and Eyes and Toes : Braxton loves to push on our noses, like they are horns. That could be my fault... I like to make sound effects when I touch his nose, or he touches mine... I say "beep, beep" and when he touches John's nose, I say "honk, honk."

He also loves to touch our eyelashes, and will kind of pet them with his finger... (giving me hope that he is learning the meaning of "soft") Of course that's right before he pokes your eyes out while telling you what they are.

He also will touch his big toe, and then tell you what it is. It's absolutely adorable, and I love those little piggies of his! He loves to play This Little Piggy...

Papa : Okay, this one is really an old word - but he says it all the time! Braxton says it when he wakes up, when he goes to bed... and especially when he is mad at me! Last week, we went to Sam's Club for a milk run. Braxton kept saying "Papa" over and over. So, of course, being the good mom that I try to be, I told him we would go see Papa sometime soon. Well, apparently Braxton thought that meant now because as we were pulling into the driveway, Braxton got so mad!

He just kept yelling "Papa! Papa! Papa!" The closer I got to the garage, the louder he yelled! I told him we would have to go see Papa later, since we had milk in the car. I obviously need to teach Braxton about "later."

The real question is... what did Braxton's Papa's do with him to gain so much favor?

Apparently he got spoiled rotten by them while I was in Florida..... :)

New Photos of the Billquist Family

We are trying hard to get our adoption profile completed - the last few steps are a profile/scrapbook page and a letter to the birth parent(s). And, of course, we need new pictures for our page!
And I know we have to be the luckiest family in the world! We have a great friend, Angie Hansen, who also happens to be an awesome photographer.... She has also taken some other good pictures of us, when she was supposedly practicing... practicing what - I don't know! Angie is amazing with a camera, and we are so grateful to her for her talent! I actually like the pictures of myself.... amazing! :)

A few of the pictures are available at this link:

Butterfly Eyes Photography

I will let you know when there are more pictures posted!

Braxton's New Words

Braxton is learning new things every day! Here is an update on some of the new things he is doing and saying.

This week he has figured out how to unlock the dishwasher... and yes, he crawls in and sits on the door! He also knows exactly what goes in the dishwasher - he likes to take my clean silverware out of the drawer and put it in the utensil basket in the dishwasher. What a big helper he is! :)

Speaking of big helper, he also loves to help me clean! Braxton is obsessed with the vaccuum! He will spend hours pushing it around (and getting it stuck). And if he sees the Swiffer, look out! He loves to Swiffer the floor, the countertops, the walls... I've had to put my foot down about him only using it on the floor, much to his dismay. This week Braxton even helped me mop the kitchen floor. I gave him his own rag, and he went to work right away... and then he dusted the book table (aka coffee table) and the piano - with the same rag! Yuck! I'll have to teach him that we use different rags for different things...



Braxton has also started to come and grab our hands and lead us around. I think he picked this up from me doing this to get him to come with me when we are out and about...
He usually takes me into his room to play or read books. And he isn't happy, unless you sit on the floor with him - Nice and cozy! Yesterday, he grabbed my hand and my sister's - and wouldn't take no for an answer. He wanted both of us in his room with him!

Braxton is really starting to understand what we are saying to him. If we say, "Let's go brush your teeth" he will run right to the bathroom door and wait for us to get there. If we ask him if he would like a drink, he goes straight to the refrigerator.
He also knows what Time Out is, unfortunately. But if given a choice to stop doing something or go to time out, he usually makes the correct decision and avoids it. Sometimes he likes to test me though and see if I really mean it. Lucky for him, I do. :)

Braxton is getting quite the vocabulary - it seems like he tries to say new words every day. Of course, he doesn't quite have perfect enunciation yet, but he is working on it! Some of the things he is saying:


"Daddy" or "Daaaaaaaddddddddy" or "Daddddy" : Braxton yells this all day long, from the time he gets up in the morning until he goes to bed at night. He loves his daddy, and it is so adorable the many ways he can say it. And of course, as soon as Braxton hears the door open he is running to the door to greet his favorite person - Daddy!





"Circle" : Braxton loves to play with his shape sorter, and his favorite shape to do first seems to be the circle. He is actually quite good at it and can get all the shapes without any help! When we do get to help him, we have been pointing to the place and saying "right there" and then he will say "Right there" back!





"Baa" : Like a lamb. Braxton has several books that have pictures of sheep/lambs and it is so fun to point them out and make the sound, and then listen to him make the sound. The Sandra Boynton book Moo, Baa, La La La! is one of his favorites.




"Good Girl" : Referring to the dogs, or anything soft and snuggly, like his stuffed animals. Braxton really enjoys saying it while he is chasing Daisy and Lucy and holding on to their tails. :)





"Papa" : Braxton said this first to his Papa Davis - which of course, made Papa Davis pleased as punch! Especially since he hasn't managed to say "Nana" yet. It seems that the Grandma's in our family (Davis' and Billquist's) have always had an advantage over the Grandpa's - Braxton must be aware of this, and wants to even the score! :)

Sunny Arizona

We went on a family vacation for the first time with Braxton! It was so much fun and he was such a good boy! The sad part of this trip was that I forgot my camera... good thing that my awesome sister-in-law Christi always has her camera at ready! She took lots of photos, and of course she is an excellent photographer! Christi, thanks for being my life-saver!

We flew out of SLC Airport on Friday, March 21st, and arrived in Phoenix. On Saturday, Christi took us for a walk along the canal to feed the ducks, and on the way home there was a little playground. Braxton had so much fun on the slide, and playing in the sand!













On Sunday, April 23rd (yes, it was Easter!) we drove from Phoenix to Anaheim, CA with Christi and Natalie. It was a fairly short drive (5 hours) considering that the rest of the family was driving from Pocatello (it took 2 days for them!). I was very grateful that we were able to fly for part of the trip! We had a nice warm burrito for our Easter dinner! :)

We went to Disneyland on Monday and Tuesday. However, since I don't have any pictures (because I'm forgetful) I will have to wait until Christi uploads her photos for me! :)

Our Family Blog!

We have started our very own family blog - hopefully, this will be an even better place for us to keep in contact with our friends and family. Braxton is the center of our lives right now, so this will probably be mostly about him and all of his new little tricks!