Braden Logic

My 9-year-old-soon-to-be-10-year-old son, Braden just took a shower.  After he got out and dressed, he came up to me and gave me a hug and I got a whiff of his hair.  Gross!  Had.not.been.washed.  So I asked him if he washed his hair and he said yes.  I clarified, "Did you shampoo your hair?"  The truth was revealed, but he had good kid reasoning in progress.  He said no, but he had stayed in there under the water for a long time.  Obviously, the water cleaned him for him so he didn't have to bother actually using any sort of cleaning media.  I told him to get back in the shower and shampoo his hair and while he was on his way I asked him if he's bothered to wash his body with soap.  Looking appropriately guilty he confessed he had not.  REALLY?!?!?!  Double EW!  Apparently, we need to focus more attention on developing his problem solving and reasoning skills.

Basketball fun

Ugh!  I've been such a slacker about posting...as usual.  Well, its on my radar again, although there are no guarantees on consistency.  We are working on getting our house in sell-condition.  Everything else is taking a back burner for now.  I've got plenty to update on, just not enough time to get it done.  Eh...its the way it goes. :)

So, I'll let you in on our Saturday mornings of late.  Braden decided he wanted to play Upwards Basketball as his Christmas present, so he has been playing on Saturday mornings and also going to practice during the week.  This is the first team sport he has been involved with.  Its pretty neat to see him learn to work on a team and to improve his understanding of how to play the game.

After the first game and much expectation from Ailey about being a cheerleader (she wasn't old enough this time ;), I decided the other kids needed cheer shirts and accessories.  So, off to Hobby Lobby I went and brought home the necessities.  Here is what I came up with:

Ailey kept asking for pom-poms, so with the help of ideas resulting from a google search, some plastic table cloths, metallic "tissue" paper and some electrical tape, VIOLA!, pom-poms! :)  I made a pennant for Zekes because he needed something to wave, though he had a pretty good time shaking the girls' pom-poms, too. ;)  All the shirts got some glitter paint treatment because, let's be honest, boys need bling, too.

They had a really great time cheering for Braden at his game and rockin' their new gear.

Also, I am, apparently,  a rather vocal supporter of my son's team.  GO RED RAIDERS!

The Creativity is strong with this one..

Braden is constantly coming up with alternative uses for things.  This is the latest use for the monster truck with the long-since-disappeared battery:

He also likes to include all his siblings in trying out his ideas. ;)

Braden is 9!

Happy birthday to our smart, kind, clever, inventive, fun, funny, silly, brave, energetic, thoughtful, wonderful boy-o!  We are pretty sure that life somehow got fast-forwarded while we weren't looking and you just jumped to being 9. :)  We love you so much and are so blessed that God gave you to us so we can walk beside you in this life.  What anadventure we have had so far and what an adventure is still to come!  We release showers of blessing and wisdom and love over you in abundance!  Oh, happy day!

Braden wanted a NASA birthday.  Again, no invite-everyone-and-go-way-over-the-top party for this year.  That's next year's craziness. ;)  I did decorate and do it up boy-style.  We don't want anything too girly in this house for boy birthdays.  Just ask the boys if you don't believe me. :)  Braden helped me hang some stuff and he was very specific in the planning part of it all.  I really like it when the kids are that involved with their party planning.  I'm looking forward to when they get even more involved.  Let's just say that there should be no excuse for any of them not being able to pull off surprise parties and all the fullness thereof when they are older! ;)

Don't you love it when you can use a 40% AND 50% off coupon at michael's at the same time?!  Me, too!  I got a few things there including these cake wires:

In my perusal of the cake decorating aisle, I came across and find that I am in want of this baby in the not-so-far-off future:


I also got a few things at Hobby Lobby (totally busted out the 40% off coupon there, too. :)  I'm loving the paper lanterns and pinwheel thingymabobs lately.  I printed off the space shuttles and the garland and viola! just enough deco for a 9-year-old boy. :)

 First, we had his birthday breakfast.  He chose to have pancakes with only peanut butter chips in his.

 We all really liked how the cake turned out looking....the actual cake part, though, was NOT impressive.  This was actually the second failed attempt.  I was trying to make the raspberry lemon cake from Taste of Home, but it doesn't do well in anything other than several shallow round or square pans.  Eh, it would work in sheet cake form, too.  I tried to cook it in my pampered chef batter bowl first so that I could have the dome shape, but it never got done in the middle and the outside got burned.  So, when I was at Michael's, even though I had decided not to get a special pan, I went ahead and got the ball pan and tried it again in that.  It still didn't get done in the middle!  Ugh!  More like a gelatin than cake which makes for a very unpleasant experience.  Bummer.  The planets were pretty good though.  I just made them from rice crispy treats and marshmallow fondant and then used gel food coloring mixed with almond extract to paint them.  A special thanks to Kristen H. for helping me cover the planets in the fondant!  It would have taken me fo'evah otherwise.  I picked up some better Duff paint brushes while I was at it. (I'm starting to see a trend here... ;)  Next time, I'll just turn a plain yellow cake into lemon yumminess or maybe a lemon pound cake...mmmmmm.  Braden is a lemon fanatic, too. :)

The silliness is strong with this one!

Everyone was excited about getting their own planet to eat. :)

Braden said the best part was when I took him by himself to the store and said that he could choose what he wanted up to $10.  (He also got an Academy gift card later.)  Let me tell you, this kid bargain shopped!  He found that green dart gun in the pics on the clearance shelf for $4.48, got a few extra bullets for it on the clearance shelf for $1.98 and then went and got three hot wheels cars for $.97 a piece.  He was excited about his haul AND about not spending the whole $10!  These are exciting times, folks!  It will be a beautiful day when I get him all in to couponing. ;)  (He does already have a grasp on the Hobby Lobby coupon...it has begun:)

Another Bradenism to tempt the corners of the mouth...

So, Braden was sitting in the computer chair and the rest of the kids were orbiting him like smaller satellites.  They were tickling and giggling and being their normal silly selves when all of a sudden Sam and I hear Braden telling his audience, "Don't touch there!  Its my no-no rectangle!" Well, after that how are you supposed to maintain composure?!  Sam and I could.not.stop.laughing...could not stop!  I'm just glad that I wasn't drinking anything because either I would have choked or everyone in the splash zone would have gotten a shower. :)  Of course, the kids got a hold of it and decided to milk it for all its worth and tried to come up with as many names as possible: private square (staying with the shapes theme), private spot, no-no spot, no-no rectangle and no-no square were ones I caught before I could stand the silliness no longer.  Yet another peek into the inner thought process that is Braden's mind. :)

A piece of our hearts

I didn't show the heart to the kids until this morning.  They all got to hold it and look at it and know that Moses' ashes are inside of it.  I got a picture of all of them with it.  Ailey didn't want to let go of it.  I think she's rather taken with the heart part of it.

Braden and Lerloo Pics

Pics before church

I don't know if taking pics of all 4 of them without one being blurry is a possibility anymore!  Especially involving the silly kid on the left. ;)

Betcha didn't know lawn chairs could be used this way...

Brea's First Haircut and some more pics

 Had to get those bangs under control :)

 Nostril flaring at its finest!

 Zekey's current lego masterpiece

 Up close and personal

 Caught ya!

A bigger picture....

Braden...another growth spurt

He holds a captive audience

Braden's Baptism and Waterpark Family Fun!

Last Sunday, Braden came out of his class after church and asked if he could get baptized the following Sunday.  We spoke with him to find out why he wanted to do this and what he thought it meant and clarify some things with him.  We all came out of it with the satisfaction that this was His timing for Braden to start his very own relationship-adventure with his Heavenly Father.  These are exciting times!

For a long while now, I've had the perspective that I didn't want my kids to follow some set pattern of some point in time there is this momentous occasion that you make a decision to have Jesus come into your heart and then you follow that with "Believer's Baptism" and then off we go, la-ti-da-ti-dah.  That version of doing things reminds me very much of how much importance our society places on the ceremony and all that is involved in the fiasco of getting married and the honey moon time afterwards, but very little importance or effort is placed on the importance of beginning with a fantastic foundation before the ceremony takes place or the longevity of the process of marriage after all the euphoria of the beginning has dissipated into the reality of what covenant relationship really entails.

Now, don't get me wrong, I believe the decision is important and the baptism is too.  It is necessary to recognize in yourself your complete and utter lack of ability to get rid of sin and live in a true and absolute freedom in the way it was created and meant to be.  When we can acknowledge that we NEED the Savior, the only One who has the power and authority to transform us into new creations, the only One who is able to stand in our place, so that we are judged as pure and holy and righteous before our Sovereign and Holy Creator and God so that we can be reestablished/restored into our rightful places as heirs of our Amazing Daddy God!  That's enormous!...Then, to follow with being baptized to declare in an external/tangible way of the triunal (this will be an actual word someday;) transformation (mind, body and spirit) that has begun inside us is essential!   But its only the beginning.  Its the starting point of the greatest adventure anyone can ever enter into.  The sheer magnitude of how much interest in and enjoyment of us, the HOLY (set apart) and MOST HIGH GOD, the Creator of all that we see and are still unable to see, the One who's very words holds the universe and all therein together at the deeper than molecular level, how much pure, untainted, un-perverted, freely-given, all-encompassing LOVE He has for us.....the magnitude of it all is overwhelming and continually so!  Do you know that He delights in us?  Delights! - adores, approves, is satisfied with, praises, is pleased, honors, appreciates, has glee in, is gratified....the list is extensive!  You know, I believe we can make Him giggle or belly laugh!  I love the picture that paints. :)

I find it very interesting that we make this huge deal out of the birth of Christ for Christmas and then His death at Easter and while those two things are key and paramount, again...they were only the beginning and compared to what those keys unlocked...WOW!  The door that the birth of our Savior unlocked was His ministry here on earth and His death on the cross and resurrection in order to open, through a reciprocal relationship with Holy Spirit, an ever extending inheritance of freedom from the curse of the fall, restoration into a restriction free relationship with our Abba Father and the complete ability to live and walk in the authority and annointing to bring the fullness of His Kingdom and all that entails as it is in heaven into our environment and atmosphere and sustain it right here and right now.

Do we have eyes to see or ears to hear or hearts to listen?  I want THAT for my kids, for Sam and I, for our family and for our Christ family.  I don't want a someday-when-I-die-things-will-align-the-way-they-are-supposed-to Christian philosophy.  That somehow only by us dying will things finally be the way God meant them to be.  That would mean that Christ's death wasn't sufficient to restore and renew.  He continually said that we should repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.  He was telling us that we need to get the sin out, so that we have nothing blocking us/holding us back from using the full, complete, absolute power and authority that has already been gifted to us by our Father to use in our lives here on earth today!  That was before He was crucified...the key of the crucification unlocked the oppression of the death of living under the law and through the blood of Jesus opened up a whole new way of living in constant connection with Holy Spirit Who interprets for us, guides us, comforts us...this list is extensive, too. :)  Its just a whole kaleidoscope of amazingness!

Just sayin. ;)

I do have pics of Braden getting baptized at the water park.  I love that our church does it this way, too.  Another fun highlight was that Memaw and Pepaw came to be with us for this special time, too.  :)  Here we go:

 Braden waiting for his turn

 Miss Pam and Michelle, two wonderful ladies with hearts for kid's ministry doing the "dunking" ;) honors

 The adventure has begun!

 Beautiful Memaw!

 Zeker Weekers

 Ler was having a great time!  She even went down the big slides with Sam and I. :)

 Brea had fun, too...she would continually lose her balance and go under and we would set her upright again and she would continue on her merry way.  No fear.

 Pepaw found a baby to hold. :)

 Sweet Liam had his first water park adventure

That's a proud mama!

Welcome to the Gun Show!

Its free admission and everything!

Lately Zekey has been showing his muscles and asking me if I can see how strong he is. I don't know where he got that from except that it may have to do with Braden "training" him in exercises. ;)  Anyway, when he does his little muscle pose, it cracks me up so much, that I just have to showcase it here.  I didn't have time last night, but I told Zekes to remind me today and we'd take pics and he did not forget. :)  So, we went out and had ourselves a little gun show photocumentary.

First up was all three olders workin' their muscle poses:

Then, Ailey went solo....

As you can see, she couldn't handle the tough face for long. ;p

Braden was up next:

This kid is cut!  He has been since he was 2.  No joke.  I just live vicariously through his 6-pack. :D

Now here's the boy-o that started it all.  His faces are priceless!  He's all serious about his posing, too:

Hope you enjoyed all the big guns!

Angry Birds Birthday Party for the Boys!

The boys had a terrific birthday party.  We had such a good time fellowshipping with good friends and new friends!  Thank you Christina for the boys' cakes!  They were awesome, super yummy and very much admired! ~ Christina's Cakes by Design ~ Sam grilled hot dogs and they were super yummy, too!  We made little pom pom angry birds and pigs and then there was a flurry of activity involving the opening of presents and then the whacking of a pig pinata and then a slip and slide and my version of the Angry Birds game involving wipey boxes and crocheted Angry Birds a la my friend Reina. :)  I took a ton of pics and my friend Ali of AliRae photography thoughtfully brought her camera along and got a ton of pics, too.  I'm posting them all.  Just warnin' ya! ;)

Her are ones from MsAliRae:

 Yay!  I'm in a picture!