Kindergarten Graduation

Bracken graduated from kindergarten in May.  Since he's 6 1/2, he was READY!  

Singing his ABC's

FINALLY a 1st Grader!  Wahoo!

I am SO proud of my Bracken.  

He is such a great kid and we are so lucky to have him in our family. 

Arggh! It's My Birthday.

These best friends were born on the same day, exactly 50 years apart! They have shared a special bond from the day Bracken was born. We celebrated their birthday's this year by taking them to Pirate Island Pizza.

A few items that I feel are noteworthy:

1. Lynette bought the cake and totally forgot it was Steve's birthday, so she forgot to put his name on the cake. She came home and used sprinkles to put his name on the cake. It was pretty funny.

2. Since August, Bracken has been asking for Skechers Illuminator shoes for his birthday. We finally got them for him (thanks mom!) a few days before his birthday. When the cashier was ringing us up, he was jabbering to her about how these were "his luminators" and he was getting them for his birthday. He is SO proud of these shoes. I think they are AWFUL, but what can I do? If I deprive him, he will end up in therapy as an adult with a complex.

3. We played in the arcade after dinner and I won 170 tickets from the Deal or No Deal game.

4. If you enlarge the collage, check out the picture of Bracken stealing cake with his fingers. Its a classic!

Happy Birthday, Bracken! We Love You!

All Boy...Except This!

My little guy is ALL BOY! Ask anyone who knows him and they will tell you. Except for this: He LOVES me to paint his nails. Right now he has powdery pink toes. I try to pick the most subtle color I can and usually it works, but last week he wanted RED. Bright red. So I did. It was the funniest thing. I got all ten fingers painted, he looked down at them and said, "Now take it off".
The only thing I can think of is that he watches the time that I spend with Ema when I paint her toes and he wants to capture a piece of it too. I made him take this picture before I took it off and as soon as I was done he wanted me to do it again! This picture is definitely going to haunt him as a teenager, but isn't that what parents are for?
Man, I love this kid!

P.S. He's feeling much better now and I pray he stays healthy throughout the rest of the winter.

Flattered

The other day Bracken started referring to himself as Justin. He won't let us call him anything else, and gets mad when we call him Bracken: "My name not Bwaten; My name Justin." I was very flattered until I realized he was not referring to me. He was, instead, wanting to be called Justin after the Blue Turbo Power Ranger.

To see the hero in action, click on the link: Justin - Blue Turbo Ranger Video