The Whisenhunts

ABC's

2012-02-08T11:58:00.000-08:00

This was taken sometime in December 2011. Kendall is 2 years and 4 months. She loves to be in front of the camera!

Christmas 2011

2012-01-25T10:16:00.000-08:00

Christmas was wonderful this year! Jingles, our elf, came promptly the day after Thanksgiving and he kids loved looking for his new hiding spot every morning. We also took our first stab at building a gingerbread house. I think next year I'll be buying a kit!

Brayden was all about Santa this year. He spent a lot of time writing him a letter.

In the end, it said "Dear Santa, I will make cookies and milk. I will feed the reindeer. Brady"
The kids visited with Santa and got their faces painted at my mom's church. Kendall doesn't look too happy here but she definitely had a good time. As we were standing in line I asked Brayden what he was going to ask Santa for. He said "lego star wars". Let's just say that's the first I had heard of that! Every other time he told me he was going to ask for Mario stuff.

On Christmas morning we ended up having to wake the kids up. This is what Kendall looks like in the mornings...

Santa brought Kendall a kitchen (seen here) and he brought Brayden Lego Star Wars (of course), Mario Kart for his Wii, and tinker toys.

Next, we went over to my mom's and she had a wonderful breakfast waiting for us. The kids made out over there with all of their loot! The best gift was that my mom had HER old cradle painted and passed it down to Kendall.

Here are all of the Cholley's together on Christmas morning.

Next, we went out to Nana & G-Daddy's house to meet up with ALL of the Whisenhunts. Here's Nana with Caroline and Kendall.

And here are all fo the kids

We also got some family Whisenhunt pictures.

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-12-12T05:02:00.000-08:00

On Thanksgiving day out in Weatherford, Bryan's aunt, Chryste, took a bunch of pictures of all of the families. Here are a few of my favorite ones of us.

Halloween!

2011-11-23T04:40:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from our Halloween trick-or-treating adventures this year. The kids looked great. We had 3 navy seals, 1 candy corn princess, and 1 pumpkin princess. We had a big group go with us this year (Bryan, me, Bree, Tim, Dave, Kathy, Jan, and 5 kids) while my mom stayed back and handed out candy at our house.

The three boys. Crazy to think that Gage (left) is only 3 months younger than Brayden (right). Quite a big size difference!

The girls. This has got to be one of my favorites of the two of them. They were ADORABLE that night. They ate up the attention too.

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Family Photo - 2011

2011-11-09T04:57:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite family photos... Taken 10/15/11 at my company party.

Brayden's 5th Birthday

2011-11-02T05:17:00.000-07:00

I'm so behind in posting... gotta get Brady's birthday pictures up here so we can look back in 20 years and remember his rockin' reptile birthday! Here's his snake cake I made for him.

And the reptile jars. I had takeout boxes the kids got to fill with reptile pieces.

And now for the reptile show... this guy was AWESOME! He started with the small reptiles. Here's a crawfish...

A lizard...

He brought about 30 animals and took the time to go over each one and pass (most of them) around. The grand finale were the snakes! We have some brave kids!

Happy 5th birthday Brayden!!

2011-09-05T18:53:00.000-07:00

Right after Kendall turned 2 I was outside with the kids one morning drawing a hopscotch game. As I was writing & counting the numbers Kendall just started counting all the way to 13. I was amazed. I didn't even know she could count to 5! Now there's no stopping her... she counts all the time. I got a video of her counting to 9 here.

And here's a short video of the kids playing hopscotch.

Brayden's Room

2011-08-13T19:46:00.000-07:00

Well, my original intention was to do a 'before and after' picture of Brayden's room but that never happened so (for my records), I want to have a view of what Brayden's room looked like when he was born. I take so much pride in his room (and thank you Bree for helping!) . I've always told Bryan that if I ever leave my job I want to start a wall painting business...

Brayden - Almost 5...

2011-08-13T19:30:00.000-07:00

I usually post much shorter videos on my blog, but I just want to have this one on here for when Brayden is older and can see himself 'reading' a book. He turns 5 in three days and this is one of his favorite books. The cute thing is that this is one of the books I taught in 1999 when I was a student teacher to 4th graders in Shreveport, LA (it's definitely a little too old for Brayden but he still loves it)

Kendall's 2nd Birthday

2011-07-31T19:14:00.000-07:00

The theme of Kendall's birthday party this year was an "ice cream social". We kept it simple and had it at our house with family. The kids got to make their own ice cream sundaes with various toppings.

And we had ice cream cone cupcakes

We played "pin the cherry on the ice cream cone".

And opened presents! Kendall got a princess outfit/shoes/boa, twinkle toe shoes, a tinkerbell chair, purse, jewelry, vacuum, backpack, and a little mermaid to name a few.

After the party, it took no time for Kendall to dress up in her new princess outfit. She was Princess Peaches (from Mario) and Brayden pretended to be Mario (he had to make due with his batman outfit because he won't get his Mario costume until his birthday party... LOL)

Happy 2nd birthday my little princess!

I Have the Most Creative Kid

2011-07-22T04:49:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of the various stadiums in the Wii game "Mario Baseball" that Brayden

loves to play.

And this is the Mario baseball stadium monstrosity that Brayden built in his bedroom. It was built after he was supposed to be in bed. Way, way after he was supposed to be in bed.

It's just hard to be mad at him when he builds something like this.

My Little Soccer Player

2011-06-20T08:59:00.000-07:00

Brayden's 1st soccer season is over and it was such a wonderful experience. They handed out medals after the game and Brayden was SO proud of his. Here are a few pictures from his first season...

And here's our little runaway after the game. She liked to be "let loose" on the field.

Favorite Things

2011-06-10T12:21:00.000-07:00

This is the first post in a long time that hasn't revolved around the kids. I put together a list of some of my favorite things. Here they are in no particular order...

1. The show Dexter

This show is about a guy who is a blood splatter expert who works for the FBI but is really a killer in his pasttime (he only kills bad people though!) Bryan and I are hooked. LOVE it!

2. My glider

When I had Brayden I didn't have a glider and I had to try to rock him in our oversized recliner in the living room. Now, with Kendall this is my favorite part of the day - reading two books with her in her glider and then rocking & singing to her in her bedroom. Lately when I try to move her to her crib she points back to the glider and says "ROCK" & I always give in and sing a few more songs (I knew I couldn't make it through a post without talking about the kids). I think that every mom needs a glider!

3. My Aeropostale shorts

I just got these & they have quickly become my favorite "lounging around" shorts. Most nights I get home this is the first thing I change into. I bought them in a few different colors. So cute & comfterable!

4. Red Velvet Cake Balls

I make these on occasion with dark chocolate & they are my absolute favorite dessert ever. Every bite is pure heaven. The nice thing is that when I make them (& they're very time consuming) they will last me at least a week. Every evening I'll sit down & eat 2 of them with a tall glass of milk (I wouldn't ever consider eating them without milk!)

5. Kyle Chandler

This is the most handsome, sexy guy I think I've ever seen (besides Bryan, of course). He's on my other favorite show, Friday Night Lights, & his character on the show makes me like him even more. Hot, hot, hot!

6. Shutterfly photo books

This is my new obsession. I'm usually pretty good & force myself to only make 1 book of each child per year (as Christmas presents) If I had an unlimited supply of $$ I would probably make 20 a year... every outing would become a photo book! I work so hard on these & take such pride in them. Since the kids were born I make one for each year for Brayden & Kendall. I've made a book of our wedding, our honeymoon, & our dating years. I've made one of my childhood photos, my mom's childhood photos, a photo book of my dad (given my mom) & one of Papa (given to Grandmama) I truly believe a photo book is the best gift ever!

7. Crazy 8

I love, love, love this children's clothing store! It's owned by Gymboree, but a little bit less expensive. When I go in there my jaw drops to the floor & I want to buy everything in there for Kendall. The clothes are absolutely adorable!

8. Baked cheetos

A turkey & cheese sandwich with baked cheetos is my comfort food. I pack my lunch most days at work & this is what I usually eat. I like my sandwiches room temperature so about an hour before lunch I'll take my sandwich & cheetos out of the refrigerator & put them in the drawer. I also love eating a sandwich & cheetos in the car on my way to a training. There's just something about a warm sandwich!

9. Us Weekly

I call this my guilty pleasure. My brother brings this magazine over every weekend & my favorite time is when I get to curl up in the recliner & read. It's not like I really care that much about celebrities, but for some reason I thorougly enjoy reading this magazine.

Mother's Day 2011

2011-05-24T11:09:00.000-07:00

I'm a little late on this post, but on Mother's Day Bree and I took our boys (Brayden, Reed, and Gage) to see The Wizard of Us at the Casa Manana and to dinner with our moms and mother-in-laws (Mary, Jan, and Julie) It was such a wonderful and special evening. Here we are before we left. I love how Kendall snuck in this picture.

And at the Casa Manana

The whole gang before the show

It was the nicest evening just having the mothers together for a special evening with the sons/grandsons.

Also, here's a video I took the other night of Kendall practicing her words.

SOCCER!!!

2011-04-29T12:31:00.000-07:00

Brayden started playing on his very first soccer team, The Pirates. His team is orange (much to Bryan's dismay) and he's playing with his cousin, Lane. At first Brayden thought that he would get to wear his eye patch and pirate hat to the game and it took me a while to convince him otherwise.

At his first game he did amazing. He was faster than I ever realized and was so aggressive. He followed that ball with such determination. We were so proud of him!

That's Brayden in the middle bossing, I mean, telling the other players where to go.

And even though it's a little dark, this is Brayden right before he scored.

A Collection

2011-04-29T12:14:00.000-07:00

Here are some of my favorite pictures that were taken over the last few months...

Easter Sunday after lunch... 4 of the 5 grandkids

Kendall's beautiful Easter dress from her Nonie

Caroline and Kendall at the Easter party

The Easter bunny left Brayden a giant lollipop

We also had a wonderful trip to the park with my college friends, Shari and Amy

And who could possibly say no to a face like this...

Easter Bunny Video

2011-04-26T11:56:00.000-07:00

1. Yes, I know I should not let the kids bounce on their bunny but it's too cute not to. And yes, the bunny did pop about a day later. Nothing that a little tape can't fix!

2. No, my son does not ever wear clothes. We've given up trying.

Happy 9th Birthday Harley!

2011-04-22T05:23:00.001-07:00

I had to post this one in honor of Harley's 9th birthday
(I know, it's a little late...)
The most handsome dog on the planet!!!

P.S. - Let me know if anyone has heard of a good dog dentist!

"Fish"

2011-03-29T19:11:00.000-07:00

We have a rabbit in our neighborhood that roams between our backyard and a few of our neighbors' backyards. Bryan is determined to make our yard the rabbit's favorite so the other night he took Brayden to the pet store to buy some rabbit food. Well, along with the food they also came back with a beta fish (this was Brayden's 4th choice after a gerbil, guinea pig, and a parakeet) Daddy finally caved in on a fish. My creative son named him "Fish".

Bryan proceeded to explain to him in the store that he wouldn't live all that long just to prepare him in case something happened to him. When they got home I told Brayden that feeding Fish every night would be one of his chores and he said, "Mom, I don't have to feed him because he's going to die in 5 days." We have no idea where he got that number!

Well, Fish has officially been mainstreamed into part of the family so I thought I would get a few pictures tonight.

Meet Fish.

17 Questions

2011-02-17T18:23:00.000-08:00

Tonight I asked Brayden a few questions and wrote down his answers... he's 4 1/2

1) What is your favorite color? pink, purple, and red
2) What are you really good at? running & watching TV
3) Who is your best friend? Lane (from school)
4) What is your favorite thing about having a sister? playing with her
5) How much does Momma love you? 30. And I love Daddy 31 (he then turned to his Daddy and whispered, "I love you so much". Thanks Brayden... I love you too)
6) What do you want to be when you grow up? a cookie man
7) What do you like to do with Daddy? Play Nintendo DS all night
8) What do you like to do with Momma? build choo-choo tracks
9) What is your favorite food? grilled cheese
10) What do you like about church? reading books
11) What is your favorite toy? squishy things (and this is SO true)
12) What is your favorite song? Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
13) What do you like to do outside? kick the ball
14) What is your favorite animal? elephant
15) What makes Momma happy? yes sir & yes ma'am (and we don't really enforce this so I'm not sure where this came from??)
16) What does God do? turn on the sun
17) What is your favorite movie? Elmo (what?????? )

February 2010

2011-02-10T19:34:00.000-08:00

Kendall's two favorite books right now are Goodnight Moon and 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on a Bed. She learned how to shake her finger when we say the line "no more monkeys jumping on the bed."

Then of course Brayden wanted to join in and read it too. He's very animated!

Another thing Kendall learned tonight is (somewhat) how to use a spoon. She threw a fit if I tried to feed her using it and insisted on doing it on her own. The only problem was that she maybe got a total of three bites in her mouth. Now we just need to practice, practice, practice!

Finally, here's my little ham in Brayden's hat he got from "big Kendall" on his 1st birthday.

Ice Day Marathon

2011-02-02T18:36:00.000-08:00

Seeing as we won't most likely have 3 (and probably 4) school days off due to ice again for a long time I figured I will post these pictures. Day 1 was AWESOME. I got so much done - organized the pantry and then decided to rearrange all of Brayden's bedroom furniture. We even made a quick trip to the front yard to play in the snow.

Day 2 of being home with the kids wasn't quite the same. Not that it wasn't fun, but like everyone else, we were starting to go a little stir crazy. We made our Valentine's Day cards, made some banana pudding, and played a lot of Wii (after the power finally came on). It was down to 62 degrees in our house by the time it finally came back on so I had the kids bundled up!

Here's how big my beautiful kids are getting

Videos

2011-01-20T18:49:00.001-08:00

Here are two videos I found that I guess I never posted. The first one is from September after Kendall got her rocking chair from Nana & G-Daddy. She loves to bring her baby dolls up in it and rock them.

And the next one is the infamous Jingles - Brayden & Kendall's elf that Santa sent down from the North Pole to check up on them. Every morning they would wake up to find Jingles in a new spot after he returned from the North Pole. Jingles is such a character... this particular morning he was hanging from the chain on the fan.

Random Childhood Photos

2011-01-14T13:02:00.000-08:00

I just thought I would post a few 'old school' photos from my childhood just to change things up a bit...

We had some gerbils in Ohio and apparently I liked to mess with them. Check out my awesome slipper socks. Doesn't get much cooler than this.

This was the face I made for about 6 months whenever I got my picture taken.

Here's me and Kathy apparently at a July 4th event

Growing up, my favorite place was on Chuck's back. I could sit there for hours.

Dress up

I was also taught to play chess at a young age. Here I am pondering my next move.

This is from when we lived in Florida

And this was the beginning of my soccer career on my first team, the Tigers. Could my shorts be pulled up any higher?

I know Bryan will see this picture and fall in love with me all over again.

Our Christmas Holidays

2010-12-28T13:52:00.000-08:00

I have the whole month of December to share so this may be a long one!

Let's start with Brayden's Christmas concert at our church. His class was supposed to sing two songs. Here are Brayden and Gage trying their best to remember their lines.

Kendall and Caroline were in attendance as well - apparently learning to pester one another.

Later in the month we went to Breakfast with Santa at my mom's church where the kids got to see Santa... again. Yes, that makes three times that Brayden got to ask Santa for his Lego house. Let's just say he was VERY confident he was getting it.

They had face painting, balloon animals, and lots of games for the kids.

Santa was very good to the kids this year. Here's what they woke up to on Christmas morning. Brayden got a Lego house and a Spiderman bike and Kendall got a Big Wheels and a bouncing doll.

After opening presents at our house, we went straight over to my mom's house. First, she makes a big breakfast for us.

A tradition we've always had is to put baby Jesus in the nativity scene on Christmas morning. This is my grandmother's nativity set and this year we let Brayden do the honors.

Here's Kendall's rocking horse she got from from Nonie and Uncle Dave. It's the coolest thing I've ever seen. It "neighs" and even moves its head and tail.

And here is the Cholley family

My mom got Brayden a cot and a sleeping bag (to go along with the family tent we got) Here are the kids watching Toy Story 3. Best friends... for now at least.

Brayden also got his first "shaving" kit. He was so intense when his daddy was teaching him how to shave.

The rest of Christmas day was spent out at Nana & G-Daddy's to open even more presents and eat a gigantic meal.

Finally, we went on a little train ride one day at the Grapevine Mills Mall. This is heaven to a 4 year old boy.

Here are a few other facts from December:
~ Kendall learned how to say "Nana" on Christmas day
~ She learned how to say "pickle" the very next day
~ She knows the sign language for "more" and constantly sneaks in the pantry and grabs the
vanilla wafers and brings them to us and then signs for "more"
~ Brayden got a Wii with his money from his piggy bank and is absolutely obsessed with Super
Mario Bros

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas as well!

Santa!

2010-12-06T12:42:00.000-08:00

This weekend we took the kids to see Santa at the Gaylord Texan. Brayden asked him for a Lego house and a spaceship (had no idea he wanted that) and Kendall asked for a dollhouse. Brayden was so cute because all evening he wore his Santa hat and he was so excited when Santa said, "you have a hat just like me!" His eyes brightened up and he made the biggest smile.

Also, for those of you who don't know, my mom volunteers as an Ambassador at the DFW airport every Thursday. Basically, ambassadors are the people who sit behind the information boothess and help people out and answer questions. They had a big banquet in November (with more than 800 people) and my mom got her 5 year pin.

I'm so proud of you mom!!!

Tryptophan

2010-11-27T19:21:00.000-08:00

We had a great day out at Nana's house for Thanksgiving. Kendall and Caroline are really starting to interact (which is more of patting/poking each other on the face)

Here are the three crazy boys

And here is the end result from all of the tryptophan in the turkey. Notice my loving husband on the left side of the picture. Classy guy.

By the way, he promised me no one would shoot me if I posted this picture.

The Sugar High

2010-11-02T19:21:00.000-07:00

Kendall was introduced to the world of candy on Halloween (as it should be, right?) She had her first sucker and has been addicted ever since. The last two nights when Brayden was going through his "loot", Kendall rushed over there to grab herself a sucker before the candy got taken away for the night.

After messing with her a few times and taking away her sucker just to see her throw a tantrum (I know, "mother of the year" award), I finally got one on video. By the time I took this video she had already caught on to my antics so she is pretty much running from me with a big smile on her face.

Kendall and the Sucker - Take 1:

Oh, how quickly things turn when I have to take the sucker away from her one final time to throw it in the trash. Here we have a VERY unhappy little girl.

Kendall without the Sucker - Take 2:

Come to think of it, maybe I should just give her all the candy she wants. It is hard to see her cry after all...

Why I Love Having a Girl

2010-11-02T19:03:00.000-07:00

This is why.

Are these not the cutest thing you've ever seen? And get this... they light up when she walks. Girls are awesome. Kendall would like to thank her Nana for her beautiful sparkly shoes.

Here's a quick video of her sporting them.

And Uncle Dave would like to take credit for the shirt she's wearing.

Pumpkin Patch and Boo at the Zoo

2010-10-25T19:05:00.000-07:00

Let the fall festivities begin!

Last weekend began our yearly trip to the Flower Mound pumpkin patch and Boo at the Zoo. My mom and brothers joined us as well. The kids had a great time (despite the incident with the bees during our picnic lunch).

This past weekend we went to Boo at the Zoo with Brayden's cousin, Lane. Luckily we were there for almost two hours before the torrential downpour hit us. Here are the kids dressed up before we left. Apparently Brayden chose to go as a "cyclops pirate". I don't think he was quite sure where his eye patch was supposed to go!

Lane, Brayden, and Kendall

Stay tuned for the Halloween post next week!

Our Trip to Idabel

2010-10-13T05:58:00.000-07:00

We made a visit to Grandmama in Idabel, OK this past weekend. The first thing we did when we got there (after eating at a wonderful catfish restaurant) was to visit Beaver's Bend State Park. There is a mini train ride that you can take and of course that was top priority on Brayden's list. Here we are waiting at the train depot.

And on the train. This is heaven to a four year old boy!

Another fun part of the trip was the combination of Grandmama's tile kitchen and her chairs on wheels. Here are Brayden and Kendall going for a spin. I think Kendall might be a little scared!

And here is some quality time with Grandmama. Such a wonderful weekend!

Medieval Times

2010-09-30T06:33:00.000-07:00

My brothers and I took Brayden to Medieval Times last weekend. If you haven't heard of it, it's a giant castle in Dallas where they dress like kings, queens, and knights from the medieval era. You sit in a giant arena while they serve you dinner (which you have to eat with your hands) and they have jousting competitions, sword fights, etc. Each seating section is given a color knight to root for and they battle it out until one knight wins. We were on the red knight's team and I'm proud to say our knight beat out the other seven knights that day.

Talk about a 4 year old boy being SO into the sword fights and horses. Of course we had to buy him his own sword that lighted up as well as a red flag to root on his knight during the performance.

Here we are waiting to get in

And with our red crowns they gave us when we walked in

This is a peek at what you see inside the arena while you eat

Finally, here's a picture afterwards with our red knight who won

San Antonio Trip #2

2010-09-14T06:22:00.001-07:00

I don't know how I forgot to post these pictures, but here are some pictures from our 2nd trip this summer to San Antonio. My cousin, Mark Howder, got married on the Riverwalk and so Bryan, Brayden, and I went down there while Kendall stayed with her grandparents.

Here's a picture of the Howder family with Mark and his new wife, Linzi in front.

They had a nice reception at her parent's house afterwards and surprisingly enough for July, it was very nice outside (in the shade) Here's me, mom, and Kathy relaxing out back.

This is my cousin, Leanne. We both have daughters that are 5 days apart in age. It's too bad that she and her family live in Chicago!

Here's me and Bryan on the Riverwalk

and Bryan and Brayden at the Alamo

We had a great time and it was so good to see my aunts, uncles, and cousins I don't get to see that often.

Our Little Toot

2010-08-21T19:46:00.000-07:00

I don't know a nice way to say this, but our sweet little angel has pretty much overnight turned into a little devil. I used to brag about how she was the perfect baby and never cried, but man oh man, has that changed over the last few days! First of all, she's started this tantrum thing where she'll throw her hands in the air and fall over and throw herself on the floor. She also bit Brayden twice today, but the best is the next story...

She was playing in the living room and I went to get Brayden down for a nap. When I came back she was standing on top of their art desk. Being the wonderful mother that I am, I let her do it again just so I could catch the little toot on video.

Would someone please return my innocent little angel. Where oh where did she go?

We have a walker!!!

2010-08-12T14:08:00.000-07:00

Well, it's official... Kendall started walking on August 10th - just a few days after her 1st birthday. She had taken a few steps here and there, but now she's really on the go. Still a little wobbly, but she's trekking all over the place. She also learned to clap on the same day. Her new favorite thing to do is to stand up from a sitting position and immediately start clapping for herself. Here's a video of her pushing her stroller and baby doll she got for her 1st birthday.

And here's a teaser from the kid's birthday party out at Nana & G-Daddy's. Let's just say G-Daddy built a homemade slip-n-slide and we talked Bryan into trying it out. He's still convinced he set the world record with this slide....

I'll have more pictures to come from the birthday party once we get them all.

Also, here are my two kids having a tea party with Sully from Monsters, Inc. Brayden is very into hosting tea parties right now. His daddy couldn't be prouder.

Happy 1st Birthday!

2010-08-04T10:16:00.000-07:00

Today is Kendall's 1st birthday. My how times flies! Here's a list of what she has been up to lately:

* She weighs 20 pounds

* She has 4 teeth (two on top, two on bottom)

* She is SO close to walking. (Took two steps the other day but I won't count it "official" until she can do about 4 or 5 while balancing)

* She can say 4 words - "mama, dada, baby, and bye-bye"

* She's still one of the happiest babies I've ever seen. Laughs all the time.

* She's a great eater - her favorites are cheese, blueberries, beans, & ravioli.

* She's too worried about what's going on around her to be bothered by naps. On a good day at school she'll sleep 1 hour. She has to be in the middle of everything going on.

* Her hair is barely long enough to get pigtails in. Bryan says they look like horns.

My Little Ballerina

2010-07-13T19:19:00.000-07:00

Not much I can say about this video except that it will definitely be played at Brayden's wedding.

This is Kendall's tutu we just got her for her birthday. Sad that Brayden is the first one that wanted to put it on.

Superstar!

Camp Whisenhunt

2010-06-17T18:49:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we all went out to Nana & G-Daddy's to spend the night. The boys (including Tim and Bryan) all spent the night in the tent. (Actually, Tim and Bryan's main purpose out there was to keep lookout and protect the boys from the "goat man") We tried out best to get all three boys to pose in front of the tent, but that proved to be impossible. Here are the two we were able to catch.

After playing out back until about 10pm Brayden was ready to crash. This is a RARE shot of him actually wanted to cuddle.

I also got a bunch of good pictures of the kids. (are you really surprised?)

I have a feeling these two are going to be best friends.

And here's Kendall in her new July 4th outfit from her Nonie.

Blue Belt

2010-05-31T09:26:00.000-07:00

Bryan earned his blue belt in jiu-jitsu last Thursday. It's the first belt you can earn and they do a big initiation for this belt. Basically, the entire class gets in line and takes 1 minute turns rolling with Bryan for a total of 30 minutes. Bryan gets absolutely NO rest between people and each of them are coming in fresh. He made it, but man I was feeling for him near the end of it. He could hardly move! This was the first time I've gotten to see him roll so I took tons of pictures.

Here he is rolling with one of his coaches, Juan, who is a purple belt.

About halfway done... getting tired.

You can see the line of people over to the right waiting to take their turn again.

His last opponent was by far the toughest... his 5 year old nephew Reed (in green). He's in jiu-jitsu classes as well and stayed to watch his Uncle Bryan get his blue belt.

Finally, here's a short video of him when he's finished. I was so proud of him.

Memorial Day Weekend

2010-05-31T09:03:00.000-07:00

We officially kicked off boat season this year on our traditional Memorial Day weekend. There were 4 adults and 5 kids so we definitely had our hands full. We started out early in the morning and about an hour in Kendall started throwing up... bad. Within about 20 minutes she had thrown up 4 times. We're not sure what it was - maybe a combination of motion sickness, the heat, being in a heavy lifejacket, or her scrambled eggs she had for breakfast not sitting well on her stomach. We decided to drive the boat to Tim's parent's house on the other side of the lake to let her go rest in the air conditioning while the other kids played in their pool. Well, the second we got back Kendall felt fine and even wanted to go in the pool. The rest of the day went great and they had a wonderful time swimming.

Here are a few pictures taken at the lake...

And at the pool...

This afternoon (Memorial Day) I'm taking Brayden to a local water park so we'll see how that goes. All I can say is he's sooooo excited!

We have a Crawler!

2010-05-16T10:59:00.000-07:00

She may still be a little wobbly, but Kendall definitely started to crawl on May 12th. She's also been busy pulling herself up to a standing position on just about anything she can get her hands on. Here's a video of her crawling.

And this video was taken about a month ago. I love when kids first discover door stops!

Texas Rangers Baseball

2010-05-10T10:38:00.000-07:00

This weekend was our company's annual Ranger game. We decided to keep Kendall home since my mom offered to watch her and just take Brayden. Bryan had gone out earlier that day and bought Brayden a Texas Rangers hat which he pretty much wore the entire game (and he NEVER wants to wear hats)

Brayden was so excited to get his first bag of peanuts. He wouldn't even let me help him with them and insisted on biting into each one to get the peanut out. Below is some serious peanut shelling going on here... lots of concentration!

Of course a few innings later he wanted an ice cream sundae so he really made out this year!

And here is just an adorable picture of Kendall I had to add taken by my friend, Stephanie. Too cute not to share!

San Antonio - Trip #1

2010-04-28T10:20:00.000-07:00

This San Antonio trip was to visit my mom's side of the family who was in town from Ohio. My cousin's kids were in a choir concert at the Alamo and in a parade over the weekend and so their whole family came down.

I brought Kendall and we drove with my mom and Dave while Bryan stayed home with Brayden. First on the agenda after watching the parade downtown was for Kendall to swim in the heated pool... her very first swim. Here she is sporting her new bathing suit she got from her Aunt Bree.

The majority of our trip was spent on the Riverwalk. It was sunny and 80 degrees and beautiful outside.

I can't even begin to tell you how many comments she got while we walked along the Riverwalk. So many strangers made comments to us, mostly about her beautiful red hair. Here she is with my cousin, Karen.

And here we all are with my cousin's daughter, Megan. I guess this makes Megan and Kendall second cousins.

And last but not least, Kendall is very close to crawling. So far she's mastered the "backwards scoot". We had her on the floor in the hotel room and she managed to scoot her way under the bed. And before you get grossed out that I allowed her to do this (how could I not... it was SO cute), note that we had been on the Riverwalk all day and were dirty to begin with. lol

The face of an angel.

A Wonderful Easter Weekend

2010-04-09T10:21:00.000-07:00

Our Easter weekend starts on Saturday when we all go out to Nana & G-daddy's house. All of the Whisenhunts are there and they even invite the Cholleys out every year. We were able to get a picture of the 5 grandkids before everyone showed up.

And the Three Stooges -

It was a beautiful, sunny day full of bounce house jumping, 4 wheeling, crafts, an egg hunt, and plenty of wonderful food. Here's a picture of our family. At least one of our two kids are looking.

And Kendall with her 2 1/2 week old cousin, Caroline -

As always, the kids worked on crafts while the Easter bunny hid the eggs.

Once they were all done making their chickens, it was time for the Easter egg hunt. Let the race begin!

Here's some of the Cholley family.

And here is Brayden's Easter card that he colored. He was SO proud of it. He usually gets bored with coloring after a few minutes but he was intent on finishing this!

Ok, two more pictures and I'll stop. I really like this picture of me and Bree.

And how precious is this one.

I hope everyone had a great Easter!

Preparing for Easter and other Randomness

2010-03-20T13:57:00.000-07:00

My cute little bunny... (seriously, how could I resist buying bunny ears at the store)

My sweeties before church

And I have to brag on Brayden. One morning he went M.I.A. in his room for 30 minutes. When we went in there to check on him this is what we found. My little architect in training.

And here's a video of Brayden trying his best to entertain Kendall.

Our Trip to Fossil Rim - 2010

2010-03-15T10:11:00.000-07:00

We took Brayden to Fossil Rim in Glen Rose, TX again this year. We had such a WONDERFUL time. I recommend this place to anyone!

Feeding the giraffes is definitely the highlight of the trip. Brayden and I both stuck our heads out of the sunroof and fed them from up there while Bryan drove.

Once the food was all gone from our hands, the giraffe started licking Brayden's neck.

Halfway through the trip there's a petting zoo for the kids. We wanted to take this goat home with us... he was the perfect size for Brayden!

Reed's Jiu-Jitsu

2010-02-20T18:31:00.000-08:00

My nephew, Reed, was in his first jiu-jitsu tournament today and won for his weight bracket. He's 5 1/2 years old and has been doing it for almost a year now. We were all so proud of him! Here's a video of part of his first match. He's the one in the blue shirt.

Kendall's Turn in the Snow

2010-02-12T11:16:00.001-08:00

Well, the trip outside with Kendall wasn't quite as long as the two hours spent outside with Brayden, but we were able to get a few good pictures.

I would say she was pretty much indifferent!

Record Snow in Texas!!

2010-02-12T08:52:00.000-08:00

February 12, 2010 - We woke up to 10"-12" of snow. Unheard of for Fort Worth! We built our first snowman (two actually). Well, Brayden pretty much pegged me with snowballs as I built our snowman.

If Brayden had only known what was above him...

Now I'll just have to get Kendall out in the snow later...

Balloon Fun

2010-01-29T19:10:00.000-08:00

This is the most I've ever heard Kendall laugh...

My Growing Little Girl

2010-01-16T18:11:00.001-08:00

Here are a few pictures we took recently. This one is before church one morning.

Uncle Dave and Kendall playing

And as you can see in this video she really likes her jumparoo!

Goodbye to 2009

2010-01-09T19:42:00.000-08:00

Here are just a few random pictures and videos from New Year's Eve and the end of 2009. We spent New Year's Eve in Weatherford with the Whisenhunts and the hit of the evening was Super Mario Bros on the Wii. I think in this picture Brayden thinks he's playing (but someone else actually has the real remote) But hey, whatever works. This was a very serious game going on here.

His new favorite game right now is Candyland and here he is playing with his Uncle Chuck.

As you can see in the video below, he cheats like a madman when playing the game. First, we only play using the picture cards. He will take any card except the gingerbread man that moves you the farthest back. There are times he'll let me draw a card three times in a row just to assure I will get the gingerbread man and not him.

And here are my two cuties playing together. Still best friends. Kendall is absolutely fascinated with Brayden and loves watching him. And Brayden still has to make sure he gives Kendall a kiss every night before bed and is always so concerned about where she is and what she's doing. I'm treasuring this time before they start arguing and picking on one another.

Happy Holidays!

2009-12-26T10:25:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas this year and the kids made out like bandits. First, we couldn't believe it was actually snowing on Christmas Eve... in TEXAS. (According to the news we haven't had a white Christmas since 1926) Brayden lasted about 2 minutes out in it and said he was cold.

We were so excited to see how Brayden would like his train table from Santa, but he was acting so weird when he woke up - like he was almost shy and scared to go look at his presents. Come to find out he thought Santa was still in the living room. I guess we need to explain it better next year! lol. Once he realized Santa wasn't there he ran straight to it...

After we opened all of the presents at our house, it was time to go over to my mom's. She always has a wonderful breakfast for us and plenty more presents to open. Brayden was in heaven!

Next, we were on our way out to Nana & G-Daddy's for the Whisenhunt Christmas.... and a nice snowball fight. If you look closely here you will see the giant snowball in midair. Brayden couldn't get enough of hitting his momma.

Here's a nice video of it...

A small snowman was even built... until Brayden kicked it over. I got this picture about 1 second before the demise of our sweet snowman.

The boys also spent half of their time on the 4-wheeler that G-Daddy bought.

And here's my little sweety with her new stuffed animals.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas List

2009-12-06T17:35:00.000-08:00

Brayden and I sat down tonight to write his Christmas list. I kid you not, this is what he said word for word.

1) New racetrack
2) Choo-choo train that goes around faster and faster
3) Games
4) A sucker
5) Transformers
6) Christmas tree with lights
7) TV

See, we had a tradition at the Cholley house when I was growing up of saving all of my Christmas lists each year so every year when we decorate the tree I can look back at what I wanted when I was a young kid. My favorite is my list from 7th grade when I wanted a leather Bomber jacket and the Vanilla Ice CD.

So this year I officially started the tradition with Brayden!

The Holidays

2009-12-05T17:22:00.001-08:00

Here are some random pictures we've taken over the last few weeks. This is the family picture of the Whisenhunts on Thanksgiving. The family keeps growing!

And I talked Bryan and the kids into sitting still long enough for a rare family photo.

Now on to Christmas - Brayden was a big help decorating the tree...

Even Kendall got in the spirit of things!

We took Brayden to the Stockyards and I am proud to say he was such a big boy and sat on Santa's lap and told him that he wanted a train set. Maybe if he's a good boy... :-)

And here's just a short video of Kendall. She's 4 months old now and laughs and smiles at us all the time. Here she is laughing and cooing at her daddy.

My Little Storyteller

2009-11-18T14:42:00.000-08:00

Here is Brayden at his best... like every three year old, he LOVES to tell stories. This story he is telling happens to be about Transformers (which I didn't even realize he knew about yet) Kendall just listens intently as her big brother tells his story (and informs us that Kendall IS, in fact, scared of Transformers). I can tell you one thing - this little boy loves to be in front of the camera... just like his daddy did at this age.

Halloween '09

2009-11-01T17:50:00.000-08:00

Halloween just isn't an evening for us, it's a whole week of events. We start out by going to Trunk or Treat at our church. Here are my two precious ones before we head out.

And here's Dash and his Nonie walking in. I think it's safe to say he was pulling her at this point.

And the three boys...

Can you believe these two are only 3 1/2 months apart?

A few days later comes Boo at the Zoo. I'm amazed we got the boys to stand next to this pirate.

And here's a great picture of the Stubbs'

On the actual Halloween night we had a big party at our house for the family and kids. Of course, as always, there were crafts.

And no Halloween party is complete without some spooky eyeball cupcakes

But the best part was the "mummy" wrapping. Check out this video...

What a week of festivites!

Boomer Sooner!

2009-10-17T10:48:00.001-07:00

Here was the attire at the Whisenhunt household this afternoon...

And I'm not quite sure how Brayden talked Bryan into doing this during the game, but this was Bryan's "costume" for when they got on the floor to practice jiu-jitsu...

... the things a father will do for his son.

Our 2009 Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-05T17:53:00.001-07:00

This year Brayden had a lot more fun since he's getting a little older. His favorite part was pulling the cart around through the field of pumpkins and putting them in the wagon. This first video shows his determination to get into the pumpkin house to get his pumpkins...

Brayden also had fun in the bounce houses, the maze made out of hay, and the merry-go-round. For anyone who hasn't been to the pumpkin patch I highly recommend it!

Batman vs. Spiderman vs. Black Spiderman

2009-10-01T12:59:00.000-07:00

I think it's safe to say our town is safe with these three superheroes.

Our New Babysitter

2009-09-22T18:37:00.000-07:00

The main difference between Kendall and Brayden is that Kendall LOVES to be held whereas Brayden didn't like to be held quite as much. I call her my little 'cuddlebug'. It's great except for those times between feedings where I actually need to get stuff done around the house. Most times that I put her in her bouncer or swing she cries until I'll hold her again. Well, this week we took out the Bumbo and she was actually big and strong enough to keep her head up in it. Now I can cook and clean and get stuff done while she watches me happy as can be. This first picture is my favorite - I can tell that she is so deep in thought.

And here's a short video of her many sounds.

September 2009 Fun

2009-09-10T18:36:00.000-07:00

It's official - the bright yellow rain boots that Brayden has lived in for the last few months in the 90+ degree heat have finally been used for their intended purpose... in the rain. What started as a simple walk to the park turned into an all out puddle splash. At least this time his boots actually matched his outfit!

Here he is splashin' in the puddles...

Also, over the weekend we took Brayden to a new park in Grapevine. Here he is splashing and running around with his Uncle Dave.

And here are just a few more cute pictures of my little ones... someone stop me!

One Man "Baseball" Team

2009-09-03T07:31:00.000-07:00

Here's Brayden's newest game he's learned. He's getting to be very into imaginative play. Apparently they've taught him a version of baseball/kickball at school because he came home one night and showed us how to play.

First, he points to all the positions on the field and says who they are (in the video below he appears to be playing with Bree, Tim, Reed, and Gage) Then he kicks the ball, runs, and slides into the imaginary base.

I'm guessing we'll definitely have to start him in T-ball here in a few years! He should be great seeing as he has a head start on all the other kids. lol

Brayden's 3rd Birthday Party

2009-08-21T14:38:00.001-07:00

Brayden had his birthday party out at Nana & G-Daddy's house this year. It was a little hectic because we had to reschedule it a few times since we weren't sure when Kendall would arrive. Unfortunately, this will probably be the last birthday party for a while that he won't have to share with his little sister.

He's very into superheroes right now so he wanted a Spiderman party. He got tons of great gifts and he and the boys had a blast playing outside on the slip-n-slide. Here he is playing with his cousins, opening presents, and "spitting" all over the cake.

And just like we suspected, he loved his new Batman and Spiderman costumes and wants to wear them almost every night...

Oh, to be a kid again!

Our Next UFC Fighter

2009-08-18T19:02:00.000-07:00

How can I not post this video... we got Brayden a Spiderman punching bag for his birthday and he played with it tonight. I think for at least 10 straight minutes he attacked this thing with all of his might... the whole time while wearing his intimidating Batman mask. I think he would scare any opponent!

Wide Awake... Finally

2009-08-13T17:42:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have met Kendall, you know that she has her eyes closed roughly 23 1/2 hours of the day. Amazingly enough, I was able to get a few rare pictures of her with her eyes open. They're still dark, but they have a hint of blue so we're not really sure what color they will turn out.

Here's a picture of Kendall with her Nana who stayed with us this week. We both want to thank you for all of your help!

And just to prove that she has red hair, check out these pictures. Man, I hope it stays like this for a few years!

Our Newest Addition

2009-08-10T18:34:00.000-07:00

WELCOME, KENDALL BAILEY WHISENHUNT!!!

Kendall was born on August 4th, 2009 at 7:39pm and weighed 5 lbs 7 oz (the exact same as Brayden) We were so excited when she came out with a full set of beautiful red hair. So far Brayden loves her and kisses her all the time and likes to sing to her. Here are a ton of pictures of the big night, Kendall, Brayden, and the two of them interacting.

Here's a video of Kendall getting her shots. Seriously, this is the loudest she ever cries... I lucked out!

And here's a video of Brayden singing to his sweet little sister.

Well, it could have been a lot worse...

2009-07-29T18:40:00.000-07:00

At least that's what the first plumber was telling us after he came to check our water leak. According to him, he was going to have to run a new pipe down the wall in Kendall's closet while tearing up half her wall and probably some of the carpet & slab in her room as well. After spending 8 hours at our house and not even finding the source of the leak, he left us with this wonderful new hole in our laundry room.

THANK GOODNESS we got a second opinion. The plumber that Bryan's dad recommended was able to fix the leak in half the time, charged us a heck of a lot less than the original plumber's estimate, and only had to do minimal damage to Kendall's room...

These holes I can handle. The sheetrock guy will be out tomorrow to patch them and we should be good to go... just in time for Kendall's arrival. :-)

The Perfect Baby Shower

2009-07-11T19:30:00.001-07:00

Kendall's baby shower was today and it couldn't have gone any better. I wanted to especially thank Stephanie and Misty who went ABOVE AND BEYOND in all the planning. I couldn't believe all the time and effort they put into it. We had a wonderful turnout and the games we played were a blast. I finally got to use my baby girl bingo I made years ago and the mad libs they created was hysterical. Thanks to everyone who came, who helped with food, and helped clean up afterwards. And thank you all SO much for all of the wonderful gifts you got for Kendall. I'm washing her clothes as we speak and they're all so cute! Here are a few good pictures from the festivities today...

July 4th

2009-07-06T19:53:00.001-07:00

We started out our July 4th afternoon by going out on the lake. This is the first summer where Brayden has really swam on his own in his life jacket. He calls it "walking on water".

We then went in for a little bit of swimming in the pool. Here's a short video of the boys showing off their swimming skills.

Later that evening it was time to get back on the boat to watch the firework show out on the lake.

Also, this weekend Brayden learned how to play a toddler learning game his Nonie had bought for him. He LOVES it and has learned how to pretty much do all of the activities all by himself. It's the perfect babysitter... and he's learning while he plays it! I caught him in the act here...

I also had to add this picture... here he is kissing Kendall. Melts my heart every time.