My Baby Girl is 1 and My Man is 30!!

It has been quite the weekend--three birthdays in a row! Saturday night we went to Tom's cousins birthday party in Mesa. Then Sunday night we celebrated Brooklyn's birthday at our home. It was such a blast! I attempted to make a princess crown cake, it didn't turn out exactly like I thought it would, but it sure tasted good:)

She got LOTS of much needed new spring/summer clothes, her uncle Sam got her the little pink piano, and her grandma Larry Ann made her the most adorable quilt! So CUTE! Thanks to all you who came to party with us! Here is a little video of her getting her cake and all of us singing happy birthday....

Then yesterday was Tom's big day! He took the day off from work and we went shopping, he played basketball and golf, then we had his brothers over and ate Barro's Pizza while we watched new episodes of How I Met Your Mother (thanks Grant!!). Sam and I went in together and got him these sweet Jordans and an outdoor basketball. Grant got him a sweet grilling kit. Such a fun night!! This picture wasn't even posed, he was so psyched!

I have been waiting for this to arrive in the mail and it just happened to show up yesterday, so I let Braden open up a gift too. He was/is SO excited! He has already watched it 3 times today:)

Springtime and Cooking with Mom

Okay, how cute are these shots!?!? I love this sweet little girl so much! I wouldn't say she is officially walking quite yet--but she is so close. This is her taking some steps in the backyard. Too bad I never have my video camera charged....

On Saturday we went out and got the kids this cute little frog pool that sprays. So exciting--

Well for a little while at least:)

Braden has been into helping me make dinner these days. Here, he is putting pepper on the eggs, I am glad it wasn't the salt ;)

Nothin' Like a Hard Days Work!

My two favorite boys, hard at work. Braden LOVES helping his dad! And I think it is the cutest thing ever :)

Who's Interested??

I was approached a few days ago to do a monthly visiting teaching handout that you can give to the sisters you visit. I thought this was an excellent idea, and wanted to see how many of you would be interested in signing up. The price depends on how many people sign up. If I get at least 15 people to sign up the price could be as low as $1 a handout. I made a sample of March so that you can see what it looks like. If you sign up you will receive this months handout FREE! Send me an email, or leave me a comment if you would be interested in signing up. Thanks!!

Brooklyn is Turning One!!

I can't believe this time has already come! Brooklyn is going to be one year old on the 27th of March! Crazy how fast this year has gone....For all you AZ folks who would like to attend, here is the info for her birthday party. I will {hopefully} be getting them in the mail this week. I know I always say that, but I am really going to try this time :) We hope to see you there!!

Missing Miniature Pincher

Our sweet dog, Roxy was lost yesterday 3/10/10 in the San Tan Heights Community. She is about 5 lbs, 4 years old, brownish-red color, neutered, wearing a red canvas collar, has bat ears and a docked tail. We love her so much and just want her home. Please contact me if you have any information about Roxy. $50 reward for her safe return. Please call 480-678-9630. Thank you!
**UPDATE**
We found her on Saturday night 3/13/10. A man who lives in Scottsdale found her off Power Rd and the 202. This dog is cRaZy! I hope she learned her lesson. We are SO happy to have her home!!!

I Need Your HELP!

Hi everyone! I am trying to promote my design blog and I need some major followers. I am doing a special giveaway for people who follow my blog, but even if you don't want to win anything, I would appreciate it SO much if you would still become a follower. It would be such a huge help, you have no idea! All you have to do is go to my design blog and scroll down, on the left hand side, under the samples, there is a button that says follow. Just click that and follow the steps and you are done! It really is so easy and it would help me out so much! Thank you so much for your support!

Braden's Potty Party

This post may be a little TMI (too much information) for most of you, so read at your own risk:) I just wanted to track Braden's progress....So, if you remember back a couple months ago I said I started reading this book--

I started to feel overwhelmed and put it off a little longer, since Braden was showing NO interest. Then I bought a huge box of Huggies at Costco and said to myself, when this box runs out, Braden is done with diapers. And that day came last Saturday. In this book it suggest that you throw a potty party. Braden woke up to his playroom and bathroom decorated with streamers and balloons. I had Tom take Brooklyn to his brothers house for some of the day, so I could have one-on-one time with him. His first present of the day was this drink and wet dolly wearing big boy underwear-

He named it Holly Dolly for some reason:) Funny kid. So then the rest of the morning Braden and I taught Holly Dolly to use the potty. When the dolly would go potty, Braden got to pick it out a sticker and treat from the treat tray and he got to eat the treat if he promised dolly he would go in the potty someday too. Throughout the morning I made dolly have accidents and even put smooched up tootsie rolls in it's underwear. In between potty breaks for dolly the only thing we did was read these books(thanks Marcey!)--

and watch these movies--

Braden loved all of it! He loved all the attention, treats, stickers, and presents. For lunch we had a party for Holly Dolly for being potty trained. Then it was Braden's turn....First he opened these big boy panties--

I did my best to help him understand these are big boy panties and we don't go poo poo and pee pee in them. We continued to watch the movies and read the books and had potty breaks about every 20 minutes. I had lots of Capri Suns and juice boxes (both of which he LOVES) so he had to pee a lot. He had a few accidents, but I tried my hardest to stay calm...After a couple hours of this we all got ready and and took Braden to a place I knew he would love. He has actually never been inside a Mcdonalds, so this was very exciting! Here are a few pictures I got with my phone--

When we got home I had him throw what was left of his diapers in the garbage. He was hesitant at first, but then he did it and was actually excited about it. After it was all said and done I felt like I had done EVERYTHING I could to get him to understand. I still have him in Pull-ups at night, but other than that he has been pretty good. I felt like he had pee down pretty good, but still hadn't been able to get him to poop. He would go outside and hide and the next thing I knew...So frustrating, but today he finally did it!! I was SOOO excited and surprised him with Hot Wheels cars and marshmallow Peeps. This is his potty chart for the last 3 days--

Let me tell you, it has been a very LONG three days, but I think he is getting it, so it is SO worth it. I just really hope he sticks with it. Anyways, Great Job Braden!! We really are so proud of you buddy!!!