Santa

it was a beautiful but extremely windy day in broken arrow. we did a few errands and then decided to take the kids to bass pro to see santa. we walked in at 74 degrees and walked out at 55, it is now currently 23 as i write this. it dropped 50 degrees in five hours. no wonder my wrists and ankles hurt so bad. only in oklahoma.

so, the kids saw santa. will was super excited and not the least bit scared. he hopped right up and posed for his pic. he tried to smile but it wasn't a fun one, just his serious face. he asked santa for toys and lots of them. thankfully, he didn't ask for anything specific. last night he asked josey, our elf, for santa to bring him a telescope, viking, pirate and a farm. all of which we do not have!

kate had to be placed on santa's lap, she immediately stuck her arms out as soon as i put her down. she did sit long enough for a pic but she was scared. she didn't cry, didn't make a sound. this pic is from our camera, the ones we got from the store are much better.

merry Christmas from the Brannon's!

Teeth

bug loves to brush her teeth. she doesn't care whose toothbrush she uses. if she goes missing she is either one of two places....the sink or the litter box. i prefer the sink, it is more sanitary.

she even wears her shoes into the sink. have i mentioned her love for shoes? that is a whole 'nother topic.

this time she had daddy's toothbrush and will's toothbrush (spiderman). can you tell she has her shoes on again...no pants but shoes.

happy birthday little man!

will at 4 days



three years ago today we received the most important call of our lives...our baby boy was born! we waited for this little boy for over 2 years, and it was so worth the pain and suffering of infertility. i'll never forget the first moment i laid eyes on him and was able to hold him. all i could think about was how perfect he was and what beautiful hair he had.


will at 1 year



you brighten our day, you make us laugh, you make us scream. you are the epitome of a little man. you love your sister, you love your daddy. you say murphy is your buddy. you are mischievous. you have a smile that will melt anyone's heart. you love to push the limits. you love the wiggles. you are independent. you have never met a stranger.



will at 2 years




you are working on potty training. you read me a book at bedtime last night. you love to jump and dance. you love tv just like your daddy. you still sleep in momma's bed and i know i should start having you sleep in yours but how much longer will you actually want to cuddle with your mother? i don't care if i am creating a bad habit - how can i not love it when you play with my hair everynight when you get sleepy?



will at 3 years



you are the most amazing thing that has ever entered my life. you made me a mother. i love you THIS MUCH!

a beautiful fall afternoon....

it is a beautiful fall afternoon, a bit windy but beautiful. we are playing outside because will refuses to take a nap. kate has had two naps today. will is currently standing on the patio table. kate is going in and out the play house.

a few minutes ago i was taking it all in, the weather, my beautiful kids, surfing the internet, my husband taking his normal sunday nap until..... i look up to see my adorable son kicking my beautiful daughter and then starting to choke her. i screamed and him to stop and then he promptly hugged her and then literally shoved her out the front door of the playhouse. i guess brotherly/sisterly love doesn't last long.

this is a pic from our annual visit to pumpkin town yesterday. it was also the famous ou/texas football game. kate wore burnt orange and will wore crimson. can you tell who dressed each child?

Holy naptime Batman!

here is a preview of will in his halloween costume. i bought it one saturday and he had to wear it right then. he has a great mask that he did decide to take off before his nap. lately nap time consists of mommy laying down with him and IF we are lucky he will actually fall asleep sometime. he insisted on wearing it, long sleeves and all and cover up with the down comforter for his nap. the weather outside was a nice high of 85 or so. very warm to be in a halloween costume. as you can tell, mommy got a nice 15 minute nap with him before i woke up covered in sweat from his little head. being the good mommy that i am (at least some time) i uncovered him and put the fan on him.



wait a few weeks and you will see the "real" batman on halloween and a little lady bug walking behind him.

Girl's Best Friend

bug has a thing for dog food. she has a thing for dogs. she loves dogs. dooog, that is the way she calls murphy. she loves to pet him, she loves to throw the ball for him. he goes with me in the mornings to wake her up and first thing she says is dooog. bug loves to eat his food. we can't keep her out of it. tonight she was carrying around a bowl of dry cheerios and decided she needed to add some variety so she added some iams weight control for adult dogs to the mix. she knows she shouldn't have it and will run and hide when we try to take it out of her mouth!

murphy loves her as well. if it wasn't for bug, murphy wouldn't have so many treats everyday. she is constantly feeding him from her highchair or from her snack bowl. murphy is protective of her. when she first started to attempt to go down the stairs, he stood in her way at the top until i could get her. he wasn't going to let her fall. it was sweet, i wished i had my camera.

happy 15 months kate!

p.s. the bottom picture shows her with dog food in her mouth!

Happy Labor Day!

summer is almost over....

the brannon kids have had a fun summer. it gets so hot in oklahoma that it is hard to spend time outside. kate has such a fair complexion that i am afraid to get her out even with layers of sunscreen on. will is totally opposite, he has beautiful olive toned skin that tans so easily. one hot, long weekend that sean was in class i decided to bring the picnic table indoors so they could color. kate immediately knew what to do and will decided he would NOT share his colors wiht her. the first of many fights.

here are a few pics of my babes coloring and will having his first bowl of cheerios with milk in it that mom or dad did not help him with. he did wonderful and did not spill any...until kate decided she needed to put her hands in!



on a deeper note, please pray for my friend deana, her husband jack and their two boys zane and zach. deana lives in california and i met her through the internet while researching adoption. her two boys are 3 and 2. deana was diagnosed with burkitt's lymphoma this week. it is a highly aggressive lymphoma but very curable. please keep them in your prayers. she anticipates at least a month stay in the hospital. i can't imagine being away from my kids that long.

Vacation

we vacationed this year in ixtapa, mexico. we went with two other couples and had a blast. the kids stayed with sean's parents at the last minute as my dad was in the hospital with a viral infection. he is ok now. the trip was really uneventful except for getting rooked into going to a "time share" presentation with the promise of two mexican blankets, two bottles of kahlua and discounts on excursions. oh well, it was a story and we will laugh about it with the our friends. we mainly played at the beach, ate, drank a few and i read a good book. we came back relaxed and tan.

here's to planning our next vacation!

Where does the time go?

can you believe it has been a year since my bug came into our lives screaming? it's been a long year....a L O N G year. but, we made it. i never thought we would. i remember sitting there watching her scream and scream thinking that there was something wrong with her not just medically but mentally. all the doctors could say was you have been hit with a double whammy, extreme colic and reflux. she will outgrow it. 12 months later she did. thank you Lord.

my bug has since grown into a little toddler with lots of personality. she loves to dance, any music, any time, any place. she loves her brother. first thing she does in the morning is look for him and say bubba. she loves her dog murphy, dog is what she says as she pets him or feeds him from her chair. she loves to go get a book and bring it to you. she loves to bring you all the diapers from her basket and then take them away from you. she loves to climb. she loves to crawl under things. she is a daredevil. she has bruises everywhere just like her mom. (not that i am a daredevil but i bruise easily.) she loves the wiggles just like her brother did at her age. she loves to take her brother's sippy cups away from him. she is going to be a terror on wheels as she grows older.

she has started giving kisses and that makes up for all the screaming. "they" say you forget the pains of labor, that is true as i had no pain. "they" say you will forget the screaming...i am here to tell you "they" did not meet my bug. there is no way i will ever forget those first months, as much as i wanted them to go away i know that there will be a day i will want them back.

happy birthday bug!

The bug...

kate has been into climbing things lately. she gets such a look of accomplishment when she gets where she wants. it started with the hearth of the fireplace then friday evening the inside of the kitchen cabinets. every mom has one cabinet with tupperware or rubbermaid that their kids can destroy. kate decided to empty it out as much as she needed to clear her a path to the shelf. she then started climbing...she got up there she just couldn't sit up since she was so tall. but wow...did she do it and was she excited!

by the way, sean mentioned to me that while i was out at the store this afternoon she climbed the ottoman and made it to the back of the chair to sit and was like, "WOW i did it."

The beginning....

so, for the past few months I have been thinking i should start a blog...but, when will i find the time? i apologize now for my inept writing abilities, those were bestowed on my brother. i will try to update this at least MONTHLY. that is my goal. if i fail, i am sorry.

so, i will post the adventures of the brannon family of oklahoma. where to start....sean had class this weekend so it was me and kids....this is what our weekend consisted of:

1) watch noggin
2) destroy the living room
3) destroy the kitchen
4) watch noggin
5) destroy the upstairs den
6) text daddy and ask when he is coming home
7) watch noggin
8) watch the clock till daddy comes home

that is pretty much my weekend in a nutshell! kate is teething and was cranky. will was his usual ball full of energy. we worked on potty training, it was ok. one poop in the potty, one poop in our diego underwear. we will get there. someday.

here is a picture of my lovely family. this was taken on mother's day at the tulsa zoo.