Kindergarten Spring Program

Last Thursday the Kindergarten & 1st Grader's at Braden's elementary school put on a spring program called Children, Rhythm and Rhyme! The Kindergarten class went first, and our little man was the "leader" for two of the songs...below is the program from the evening :) The Kindergartner's went first, and the program only lasted a total of 40 minutes - short and sweet, just the way I like them! It was absolutely adorable, and Braden loved being in the spot light twice. Some family came and joined Josh and I in the audience to enjoy the cuteness and then we all went out to dinner afterwards. Here are some cute pics from the evening!

The entire Kindergarten Class at Westview Elementary, this includes two a.m. classes and two p.m. classes, Braden is in Mrs. Merle's a.m. class.

They had the cutest little hand motions that went along with all of the songs, some of the kids were too embarrassed to do them, or to even sing, but not my kiddo, he was loud, proud, and dancing right along :)

This is just one of my favorite pictures because before the program got started Braden was flirting with all of the girls around him, and I thought that this picture of them all talking and laughing was so adorable!

Okay, and I just had to scan in the program as well and post it here. Not because I am a proud mom...even though I absolutely am...but because I am curious how the person who typed up this program was able to miss his/her mistake. There isn't a lot of text on this sheet to review prior to printing it out and making hundreds of copies of it...a quick glance should tell you that there is a mistake, especially since his name is a whole six lines down again. Yep, if you looked at it you will see, the fabulous program designer misspelled Braden's name...but only once, she got it right the second time. Those office gals need to pay attention to detail ;)

Here is a cute little snip-it from a part of the program, where Braden was the "leader" of the song. The leader pretty much entails getting in front of the class and directing them. Which was cute, as you can see, the kids are paying close attention to Braden to make sure that they get their motions right with the song - too cute! Oh, and Braden's quick little bow at the end of the song is adorable as well, such a cutie pie!

Too Much Easter

Okay, so is this a spoiled kiddo or what! Look at this stash of goodies, he has lots of people who love him I guess - ha! It is going to take all year to polish off all of this candy!

Shelledy Easter 2009

Sunday brought Easter Day, which we started with a scavenger hunt left by the Easter Bunny himself which lead Braden straight to his basket once he was able to decipher the clues. Braden loves this tradition, which his Grandma Jancey started by the way :) That is okay though, we have lots of fun with it, and Braden LOVES it! We quickly got ready for the day after the goodies were discovered to head to Sedalia again for the Shelledy Easter celebration this time which we had at Aunt Jenein and Uncle Steve's house. There were lots of kiddos, lots of food, lots of laughs, and lots of fun! We always have a great time when we get together! Here are some pics from the Shelledy Easter celebration.

Justin and Braden playing Easter morning

Granny, Aunt Jenein, and mom - look at these gals, no wonder we are such a good looking crew - ha!

The kiddos eating their lunch - they had to eat a decent lunch in order to participate in the Easter Egg hunt - right, no matter what they ate they would be able to hunt!

The EGGS!

The annual Easter pose of the kiddos! This is just before they get to cut loose and hunt, do they look excited or what - the energy is rising!!!

...and they are off!!!

I found one, I found one!

Some of the eggs had money in them, and each time one that had money in it the kids would announce it to the whole house and everyone would cheer like crazy - such a good time! This is Braden opening up one of his eggs with a dollar in it - he is so proud :)

Walker Easter 2009

We had tons of fun celebrating Easter with our families. Friday night we kicked off the festivities with the egg coloring...as previously posted :) Then Saturday morning we woke up and were on the road to Sedalia for Easter with the Walkers by 10:30 a.m. We all met up at Grandmother and Granddaddy Walkers and then went out to eat for lunch. It was decided that we didn't want to make a big Easter lunch, this way we didn't have a handful of people spending most of the time in the kitchen cooking and cleaning instead of being able to enjoy the quality family time. On the Walker side, Braden is the only grandson/great grandson, nephew/great nephew...so he is SPOILED rotten with the Walker clan. The Walkers had their infamous Easter egg hunt consisting of 1392 plastic eggs filled with candy. Now EVERYONE hunts in this egg hunt, but guess who takes a HUGE portion of the candy home regardless of who actually gathered the eggs...so we now have a ginormous portion of Easter candy sitting on our kitchen table. Aunt Belinda also gave him a basket full of goodies - see spoiled :) Here are some pics from Saturday's Easter with the Walkers.

Braden and Grandma Paula hunting eggs in the 1392 egg hunt (crazy, I know!)

Aunt Jana, Braden, and I running like crazy to get lots of eggs...like there weren't enough for everyone to have -ha!

Counting and emptying the eggs...what chaos right!

In the basket Aunt Belinda gave Braden were these cute little bunny ears...we all actually received a set of those ears...thus the picture below!

What a crew! It was a fabulous Easter celebration.

Easter Eggs

This past Friday evening, after a long week at work and school, Braden and I thought it was time to get Easter festive and dye some eggs. I have no pictures of the process, but I do have a single pic of his proud moment posing with his eggs...isn't he adorable! Again, he is so proud, I just love watching him grow!

Hey Mickey Your So Fine!

My kitchen is coming right along...it still has a few final touches that need to be added, but it is coming right along. While at Disney in Florida, we bought the plates for above the cabinets in our kitchen, along with the pictures that are hanging in the walls - those were taken in Disney anyway :) It is tough to get a good picture of the entire room, but I tried to get pics so you can get a good idea of what it looks like. If you still can't...well then I guess you will have to come and visit us and see for yourself :)

Lets Go Fly A Kite!

I just love the look on Braden face because it holds all of the childhood excitement in flying a kite and being a kid! My soon to be sis-in-law took this picture yesterday at Aunt Jenein's house. I have MUCH more to post about Easter, but Jodi just e-mailed me this picture because of how happy and proud Braden looks and I just had to share it with everyone else. Every year for Easter, Aunt Jenein gets all of the kiddos a kite and after lunch and the big Easter egg hunt, they go outside and fly their kites...generally with the dads of the crew. As you can see, Josh is busy filming the excitement, and I will upload that video tonight when I get home, it is just too darn cute!

Sleep Over!!!

This past Saturday night Terri and decided it would be a good night to have a sleep over/slumber party with the kiddos. Josh was having a bunch of guys over to the house to play poker, so Braden and I took advantage of the situation and used it as an excuse to get out of the house...so we headed over to the Ham's with our bags packed! Braden is really into this funfusion bead craft (actually Terri is too -ha!) So we brought those with us so that the kiddos (and yes, Terri and I) could make cute little colorful creatures as a fun event for the evening. I will have to take a picture of these things (I currently have 25 of them on my refrigerator right now) so you can all see them :) Anyway, the kiddos had a blast playing together and Terri and I were able to chat. Here are some pictures of the kiddos from the evening.

Let the fun begin, I always love how Ethan is in the background generally oblivious to what is going on while Olivia and Braden and playing away. Okay, so I have to say it, Olivia looks a little "Linda Blairish" in this picture to me - ha!

Look, aren't they sweet! Little buddies :)

...and Ethan, oblivious again to what what going on around him, he is in a zone though!

We made a big pallet on Olivia's bedroom floor for her and Braden to sleep on. We put on a movie for them to go to bed to. Aren't they adorable watching their movie :)

Crash city! When they finally went to sleep they were out cold...I took several pictures of them, and the flash never caused a stir...oh, and I am not sure how Olivia ended up where she is since her princess bed is right next to Braden there - hehehe!

The morning after...Braden is now on Olivia's bed, Olivia is on the floor with Braden's barney blanket, and Ethan is just glad he is part of the crew again :)

Soccer Time - Game #2

Okay, so you never saw a post from game number one...it was freezing, and I was not excited about the fact that despite the 30 degree temperature the Lees Summit Soccer Associate wouldn't cancel the game just for me -ha! So, basically, I was a bad mom and forgot my camera for the first soccer game of the season...but game number two was sunny and warm...though VERY windy. It was a good game, Braden scored two goals...I now owe him two dollars he keeps reminding me. He was sort of not into the game, and running behind the kids on the field, and so from the sideline I yell to him "I will give you a dollar for every goal you make!" He took me serious...the score was 4-4...so he scored half of his teams goals and now says I need to "pay up!" Oh, I guess the swing set and the Disney trip mean nothing compared to cold hard cash -ha! Here are some pictures of the little guy running around, playing against the wind, and having a good time!

I love him being in the older league, now he isn't towering over all of the kiddos

Run, Score!

He takes the coach seriously when he tells them to dribble the ball to the goal and then shoot to score -ha!