Dear Chuck,

Happy 5 year anniversary to us!  Thank you for being my best friend, my number one fan, my baby daddy, and the love of my life.  Thank you for caring for me, knowing what I need before I even know I need it, and for putting up with me  Thank you for loving me, for choosing me, and for stopping to tie your shoe on that bridge in Kaanapali 12 years and 364 days ago.

143,

Drewbie

Wedding Pictures:  Steve Hoffman

Dear Brayden,

We get to go on some pretty big adventures together.  Whether it’s an adventure looking at snails in our neighborhood or a family trip to Hawaii we have so much fun together.  And what I love most about our adventures is it’s not just the adventure that’s so much fun for you.  It’s getting there.  Taking the shuttles from the parking garage to the airport is like a ride at Disneyland.  You are so amazed by everything that is going on around you asking, “What’s that, Mama?”  ”What they doin, Mama?”.  At 2 am when our shuttle pulled up to our car from LAX you said, “Thank you so much, Shuttle!  See you next time!”.  You made that shuttle drivers week.  He said, “I hope I have the pleasure to drive you again, young man”.

And while sitting in airport for most people is a hassle, you love it.  You could watch planes and choo choos (luggage carts) for hours.  And that’s a great thing since we got to spend nearly 5 hours in the Honolulu airport when our plane got delayed on the way home!  You asked, “Where these planes goin?  Where these people goin?” over and over!

While we were waiting for our plane people asked you if you had a good time in Hawaii.  You said, “Yes!  I went to Disneyland.  I rode Small World, Tea Cups, Fast Choo Choo…”.  They must have thought you were crazy!

The thing I will remember most from our trip to Hawaii is how you started calling me and Dad “Mommy and Daddy” rather than “Mama and Dada”.  ”Mommy” makes you sound like such a big boy!  I love it though!

Thank you for another amazing adventure, Brayden!  Excited for many more!

Love,

Mommy

I’ve had an old point and shoot sitting in my desk drawer for sometime and had been thinking about letting Brayden play around with it.  After seeing this story I decided to go for it.

The camera is a little too big for his little hands and he has a hard time holding down the button long enough to get the camera to focus and the shutter to release (especially inside).  And he likes to put his fingers on the lens, which drives me bonkers!  He’s only dropped it once and it’s still in working condition.  He has fun with it and I like watching him ask his subjects (toy snake, flowers, Hauggy) to say, “Cheese!”.

Here are two of his “masterpieces”

When can I start using him as a second shooter?  Maybe when he turns 3…

Have you seen Toy Story 3 yet?  It’s amazing.  Seriously.  Brayden and I went with my Mom yesterday and Brayden loved it!  My Mom cried (I may have shed a tear or two).  Brayden is now officially the biggest Buzz fan there is.  Memaw had to go right to Target after the movie to buy Brayden a Buzz and Woody action figure.  He played with them all day.  Took them to his nap.  And in the pool.  I overheard Brayden tell them that they are going on a plane to Hawaii with us.  Lucky action figures.

If you go bring the tissues.  The movie totally hit home because I can remember growing up and going off to college myself a couple (or 12) years ago.  I took my Teddy with me though.  And slept with it all through college.  Actually, I may have slept with Teddy until I got married.  Shh.  Don’t tell anyone.  I also played with Barbie dolls until I was 16, but that’s a whole different story.

And it hit home because I know before I am ready this little guy is going to be leaving me to go off on his own.

F 2.0, 1/3200, ISO 125

I just want him to stay like this forever.

Yesterday, one of my two year olds dreams came true.  He got to ride the big, fast choo choo for the very first time.  And not only that, but he got to do it with his two very best friends.  Can’t you tell how excited they are?  I love Kylan on the left.  He looks thrilled!  These kids have been best friends since they were 6 months old.  Back in the good old Gymboree days.  Kylan (on the left) is two weeks older than B.  On both of our very first days of Gymboree, Kylan and B were wearing the very same onesie.  It was a sign!  They will be roommates at UCLA together one day.  Dakota (on the right) is one day younger than Brayden.  Future daughter in law perhaps???  If I never have a daughter she will be the who I spoil and take makeup and prom dress shopping.

F 4.0, 1/640, ISO 125

When we got to the train station B decided that he didn’t like “fast choo choos” anymore and he started getting a little nervous.  Once we got on he was totally fine and loved every second of it.  He told me that he saw Africa and monkeys out the window.  He has a wild imagination, I tell you.

F 2.0, 1/500, ISO 1000

After some fun at a petting zoo and lunch at Ruby’s we jumped back on and headed home.  B and Dakota reviewed the safety procedures.

F 2.8, 1/320, ISO 1000

And that’s how we spent our very fun day!

(From my point and shoot)

And just for nostalgia sake, here are a couple of pictures from right around the kids first birthdays.  Crazy how much they’ve changed!

F 2.8, 1/250, ISO 400

F 2.8, 1/3200, ISO 200

Dear Chuck,

I asked Brayden what his favorite things to do with you are and this is what he said:

-  Take Choo Choo Bath

-  Go swimming

-  Go to the park

-  Water the plants

-  Go to Disneyland

-  Watch TV

-  Watch Down Show

-  Go nigh nigh

-  Play Hi Ho Cherry-O

-  Eat lunch

Brayden loves you so much and so do I.  Thank you for being the best father and partner a girl could ask for.  I appreciate everything that you do for Brayden and for me!  We love you  muchos mas!

Love,

Brayden and Drew

Dear Brayden,

Life is a musical to you.  You make me sing songs over and over again in the car so you can learn the words.  You hum along and say the words that you know.  We make up songs for everything from changing your diaper to putting the cherries on the tree in your new favorite game.  Maybe you will be into musical theater!  Mommy would love that!  Daddy, probably not.

This month you told me I was pretty for the very first time without someone asking you to say it.  I was getting ready for a party and I had a dress on (which is a rarity) and you walked in and gasped and said, “Mama is pretty!”.  I have never felt so beautiful in my entire life.  You’ve said it twice since then and it makes my heart melt every time.

You “love” everything.  ”Mama, I love this song!”.  ”Mama, I love riding horses!”.  ”Mama, I love ice cream!”.  ”Mama, I love the pool!”.  You get so excited about the smallest things.  It makes me so happy!

You are very excited for our trip to Hawaii in two weeks.  You know how to say, “Aloha!” and every time you see an airplane you think it’s going to Hawaii.  Sometimes you think we are going back to Florida.  But, trust me.  Hawaii is much better than Florida!  As long as we don’t get sick again I think this will be our best vacation yet.  I have a feeling it’s going to be very hard to get you out of the pool!

Brayden, you are so perfect right now.  So innocent and happy.  I’m so scared that I might do something to mess that up or take that away from you.  I just want your life to be perfect.  I know it won’t be.  Everyone has ups and downs.  I know I won’t always be able to protect you and be there with you.  I just hope that I can give you the right tools to make the right choices and decisions in your life.  I just wish for you to have the happiest and most fulfilling life possible.  I want you to always have the same sparkle in your eyes that you have now.  I want to always be able to kiss your boo boos and make them better.  I want you to always think that anything is possible.  I want you to always be silly and funny.  I want you to always know how much your family loves you.

Love,

Mama

I promised you all an update on how Fat Girl Slim is going and here it is…

Call me crazy, but the stuff actually works.  My flabby belly is now much more firm and less wrinkly.  I saw results within just a few days.  I don’t have before and after pictures (and I wouldn’t  be brave enough to post them even if I did), but I think my before picture looked like a tamer version of Kate Gosselin’s jowls of a dog (remember that from the good old days of John and Kate Plus 8?).  Okay, it wasn’t quite that bad (in my head it kind of was).  But, the skin was saggy and kind of folded in over itself and it was wrinkly and just not cute at all.

I’m not saying that you should run out and buy it right this very second.  There are also other contributing factors that could have helped in the success of the Fat Girl Slim actually working:

1)  I run 15 plus miles a week.  I doubt you’ll really get any results if you’re not working out.

2)  I recently gave up soda (if you know me you know this is HUGE!).  I haven’t seen any weight loss from it (what’s up with that?), but I think it’s helped my mid section not be so bloated perhaps?  I would drink at least one large Coke a day so I’m hoping I see a drop in the lbs soon.  It’s been over 2 weeks!  I’m going to keep it up until our Hawaii trip in 15 days (but, who’s counting).  If I still haven’t dropped any lbs then I’m going to start drinking it again.  Because I really, really miss it.

3)  I don’t do a ton of sit-ups, but I fit them in when I can.

4)  I really think it was the exfoliation that helped a lot.  So maybe before spending forty bucks on this product try a cheaper exfoliation cream and see if that helps.

I’m running a 10K on the July 24 and I’m scared.  My farthest run to date is 5.3 miles so 6.2 is still scary to me.  I also signed up to do a half marathon in February, but I only signed up because it sells out really fast and I was peer pressured into it.  I’m going to make a decision after my 10K to see if I really want to do it.  I honestly don’t think there can be anything fun about running 13 miles.  Nada.

Happy Thursday!

Some may call me competitive when it comes to board games.  Some may even venture to call me a cheater.  I will admit that I am competitive (I may or may not have made a 6 year old cry), but I am not a cheater.  I am just very strategic…

My mother in law suggested that Brayden might be old enough to play Hi Ho Cherry-O.  So, in an attempt to keep from going stir crazy this week while he’s sick we took a quick trip to Target to pick it up.  He was SO excited.  He carried it with him in the cart and patiently waited as I put it all together.

I am proud to say that I didn’t cheat once and I let him win every single time.  It’s worth it to see him get this excited!

Earlier this week I was shooting cute, chunky baby Liam’s six month pictures in my office and B came in to be my assistant for a bit.  He played a little bit of peeky boo (as he calls it) and also offered his little lamb to Liam to make him happy.  I don’t have to start paying him yet, do I?

Happy Friday!

ETA:  The backdrop is simply a yard and a half of fabric pinned to the wall.  I believe I got the fabric from Jo-Ann fabric over a year and a half ago.  Not sure if they still carry it.  All the pictures from the session were taken with natural light.  There is a section in the UNmanual that shows my setup and explains how to shoot with natural light.  I also blogged about the way I did the setup in my old house you can find that entry here.  The only difference is that now I am able to pin the fabric to the wall.  You can view the images from this session on the DrewB blog!