A month of thanks

Whew! This monthly update stuff is crazy! I never know where to begin and this month is no exception. We are wrapping up an awesome Thanksgiving weekend and I realized I had about 2 days to make the November cutoff so I had better get crackin'!
I'll start with Braysen. Our little boy is off to the races. He started walking shortly after his birthday and is now a full on walker. He seems to love walking and I absolutely love the toddling stage. They are so cute with their little rigid steps and puffed out tummies. He is just becoming a happier boy with all his new milestones which makes me happy. He loves to talk and sign. He learns a new word or sign almost daily and it is just like a constant treat to see what God is teaching him now. His newest sign is "football" and he seems especially drawn to that sport. He spots footballs where I never would have seen them except I see his little hands forming the sign so I look around and, sure enough, there is a football on a cup or on TV or on a picture. So cute. In crazy news (well, crazy when you are talking about my life) Braysen has 2 molars!! He had four teeth on his first birthday and I noticed yesterday that his second set of top teeth finally poked through. However, while I was checking on those I noticed these gigantic white teeth sticking out in the back of his mouth! I had no idea! And, now he has 4 coming in on the bottom too! Goodness gracioius! I guess I need to run to the store for some teething tablets!

Braysen has reached one of my favorite ages! I love this time of babies lives and I love to watch him toddle around exploring. Sure, it is at the expense of any form of tidyness or order in my home but what else do stay-at-home moms have to do besides clean and watch soap operas? He's our little Tasmanian Devil and he is a blessing!
Brylin is loving being the Mommy (I mean big sister) to Braysen. She especially loves when I give him a rule that she can enforce. We remind her *often* that she gets to be the sister and I get to be the Mommy. But, she can't help herself. Oldest siblings are born to boss...just ask Brad :)!! She has been pretty busy with her little life. We finished some swim lessons a few weeks back that she loved. She is still in AWANAs on Wednesday nights and we both love that. It is like our special time to have just the 2 girls and I really like getting to have that one on one time with her. Plus, I have just been so blessed by watching her learn about God and memorize scripture. I understand more clearly the "faith of a child" that Jesus talks about in the Bible after watching her and learning with her during Cubby time.
She is really looking forward to Christmas and seeing all her cousins. Brylin and Braysen have 15 first cousins with another due in Februrary and 10 of those are 4 and under so it makes for lots of fun at our family get togethers. I love the fact that our kids have so many cousins their ages to play with. Now, if we could just get a few more boys on the Hartshorn side and a few more girls on the Gomer side we would be set!

Brylin in her Cubby vest





I am including this one because I never added any Halloween pics and this one is my favorite!