The Brannon Bunch

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Pics from Cassidy's Birthday

Chocolate toast for breakfast!

Talking to Daddy for a birthday wish!

Nachos from Taco Cabana for special Birthday lunch!

Opening a few presents from the Fam!

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

May showers have helped the craft bug get busy! At least with Cassidy’s birthday preparations. I decided to make matching outfits for Cass and her cousin, Reagan, who will be sharing a birthday party this year! It will probably be rare that we’ll live this close to family again for a while so we’d better make the best of the time we have here. And Reagan & Cassidy were stoked when we asked them if they wanted to share a party! The Little Gym is taking the pressure off of us parents and running the whole party. We show up with cake and kids and they do the rest – whoo hoo! The pictures make the shirts look red, but they’re hot pink – a fave of both girls!

Cassidy is over the moon excited that tomorrow is her birthday. I can’t help but recall how exhausted I felt this night 5 years ago – we hurried around the house trying to get things ready for the movers to come the next morning (we were moving into base housing to get things settled before the baby got here! ha!). Having no idea that at 2 am my water would break (in the bed) and that by 5:01 a.m. we’d be parents of a petite 6#8oz baby girl who felt her due date of May 31st was a bit too far away! And for my first Mother’s Day, I got to bring our little baby girl home ~ truly an unforgettable moment. Our lives have never been the same and I thank GOD for that! Sweet baby Cassidy, why do you have to be 5 years old already!?!? You are such a loving, caring and bright little girl – so tender (and bossy) with your brothers, so polite and thankful – we are soo blessed to have you as the little Momma in our family!

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Happy Mother's Day!!

Ok, ok.. I could have a pity party because I don't have a handsome hunk of love to wake me up with breakfast in bed and handmade kid crafts...but instead I am having a peaceful morning enjoying the fact that my family is healthy, safe and for the most part happy! Motherhood is such a blessing and I truly have to thank Michael on Mother's Day for giving me three sweet children to call my own..it wouldn't have been possible without him!

The kids made some wonderful crafts at school and we Skyped with Michael this morning so it has been a wonderful day already! I just wish the kids understood "sleeping in" :) I bought a couple of bunches of Gerbera daisies for Will's party and consider them my Mother's Day flowers...Gerberas are so vibrant and beautiful ~ bursting with color, delicate yet hardy and truly spirit lifting -- I love fresh flowers!

My mom is here for the weekend, it's nice to see her having fun with the kids and the kids getting to know their Grandma. Jake especially loves his Grandmas -- he asks about them daily -- where they are, where they sleep, he'll see a car that looks like theirs and say "Hey that looks like Grandma Teddy's jeep" or "Hey, Grandma Susan has Daddy's car" -- he's just so loving!

I thank GOD for giving me a wonderful family to celebrate this Mother's Day with. I'll be grilling some bbq chicken for my Mom & Mother-in-law today, it's just the little things that make the day that much sweeter!

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Super Soccer Star Cassidy!!

Today was Cassidy’s final soccer game…possibly forever, possibly not?!? She was a really great sport today and even made the FIRST goal!! She thinks that she “made the other team kick it into our goal” but she actually got the ball away from the other team (just as they were going to kick it into our goal!) and managed to score the goal on her own!! Of course with my awful camcorder skills I got the grass…not the goal. But! The Royals did awesome today – I think partially because the other team wasn’t on their “A” game…but mainly because their persistence with practice & teamwork paid off!

We don’t keep score in the 3-4 year old league … but it was 11-1!! We ROCKED that field this morning! Cassidy was very proud of herself – and we were too! At the awards presentation, Cassidy was given “The Braveheart” award. She started the season off as a less than willing participant but turned her attitude around and became a wonderful team player who assisted her teammates to victory! We are very proud of her and hope she will continue to try new sports and just have fun being a kid!

Friday, May 6, 2011

Will's First Fiesta!

Will turned 1 on Wednesday, we threw him a "First Fiesta" party on Cinco de Mayo - complete with pinata, pin-the-tail on the donkey, and make your own sombrero! We had an endless plate of chicken & beef flautas, black bean & corn salsa, nachos, quesadillas...veggies, fruit, sugar cookies...oh, and cupcakes! It was a crazy, whirlwind party -- but I think everyone had fun! We surely missed Daddy's presence but he was there in Daddy Doll form :) We had a wonderful turn out - 21 kids and 12 adults - yep, that many people fit into our tiny house and backyard...the weather was awesome, but should've had some full-fledged margaritas -- I think I needed one the most!

What do you get for a third child's 1st birthday?? Not much -- I asked everyone NOT to bring a present, we already have SOOOO many toys that I figured he wouldn't know or mind much if we just didn't have gifts. But of course, people brought them and what kind of mom would I be if I didn't get a couple of gifts?? So Will made out like a bandit! A Little People A to Z Zoo from Mommy & Daddy; a Little People Plane from Cass & Jake; a basketball hoop from my mom; clothes, balls, books, & a shake 'n go car from Grandma Teddy; Cold hard cash from Auntie Lisa, Uncle Jody & the girls; 2 tugboats, swim trunks, more balls, musical shakers, water/bath toys, and more balloons & paper than a 1 year old knows what to do with!!

My mom was a great help and none of the food would've been ready without her help! I think next year I'm going to keep it MUCH more low key...perhaps a combination Welcome Home/Birthday party! I cannot believe that my baby is already a whole-year-old...looking back through his first year of photos really makes me yearn to have another super-duper-cute Brannon baby...then the chaos, crying, whining and "mommmiieeee" comes screaming in from the background and well, I think we are COMPLETE! I love this sweet little family of mine and we are truly blessed by the Hand of the Father!

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Happy Hump Day!

Well, today Cassidy stayed home again from school ...I say "again" because I got called up to the school Tuesday morning to come pick her up - she had been sleeping in class and was running a low grade fever...the school nurse reminded me she had to be fever-free for 24hrs before returning to school -- since she's in Pre-K and she only goes 3 hours in the morning, it dismissed her for today as well. It's probably for the best; she has been running a fever on & off, her lymph nodes are pretty swollen and she's been having a tough time sleeping lately. If I try to put her to sleep in her own bed, she tosses & turns and comes out complaining that she "can't sleep" although she looks as though she could sleep standing up -- so as soon as I let her go to sleep on Daddy's side of the bed - she's out like a light! I move her back to her bed before I go to sleep, but she usually comes back in sometime in the wee hours of the morning. But all-in-all she seems to be on the mend -- fingers crossed that she's fit for school tomorrow :)

At any rate, today was kind of a pajama day...we watched some movies, did some housework and played. I finally ventured out to Costco at dinner time to pick up a few things and grab some dinner. Suprisingly, Jake wanted to help me eat my caesar salad over sharing a slice of pizza with Will! I cannot tell you how uplifting it was to receive 4 compliments about my children...the first two were the usual "oh wow, they ARE cute!" Usually older couples are drawn to my children...not sure why, but I get lots of comments about how cute all my kids are (very flattering of course, 'cause I totally agree!!) But tonight, I got two compliments at how "well behaved" my children were! And they WERE behaving :) This is ONE PROUD MOMMA!!

Will cannot WAIT to be tall enough - he whines until I brush his teeth too!

We are raising some pretty stellar kids! I feel truly blessed to have children that are healthy and happy (mostly) and care about one another and love to be loved on and love on each other! I love this little family of mine!

Monday, April 25, 2011

Easter Weekend in Review

Okay, okay..so I'm STILL terrible at blogging! I will make sure that along with my "quiet time" that I also make time to update our day-to-day. This weekend was a busy one for sure! My mom came to visit, Uncle Jody celebrated another birthday and then we celebrated Jesus' Ressurection on Sunday!! I think I liked not having an egg hunt on Sunday...considering we had one Thursday, Friday and two on Saturday...we didn't need another egg hunt either! We had a playgroup lunch/egg hunt on Saturday morning after Cassidy's soccer game -- which she was a team player again this week and actually attempted to kick the ball more! After lunch we headed home for naps and then welcomed Uncle Jody, Aunt Lisa, Landry, Reagan & Grandma Teddy over for dinner. Sunday we went to church and had an awesome service, my mom brought the kids home after the early service so that I could help out in the preschool area for the second service. Then we chilled out for the rest of the day -- Cassidy got to jump on her "early birthday present" -- the trampoline :0) Then we Skyped with Michael one last time before his departure to the sand-pit. That just about sums it up -other than I forgot to take pics of the kids in their Easter outfits...oh well, they were cute, that's all that needs to be said :0)!!