Almost Caught Up

Okay, I think these last few pictures will get me caught up. I will try not to fall so far behind next time!

Braden love the pool...his first words in the morning are often "let's go to the big swimm'n pool"

Jamaica

Braden & Friends

Haley

Ryan

Ryan's Brother, Adam

Lauren & John

Elizabeth

Catching Up

Braden got a tractor for his birthday. He could hardly wait for Dad to put it all together.

And he was so proud when he finally got to sit on it!

Cool Dude!

Mohawk

He likes the sandbox too.

And his new tricycle.

The kid certainly does not have a shortage of toys!

Tractors

So if you haven't already heard, Braden loves tractors. Really, anything "tractor" and he is happy - a tractor shirt, a tractor toy, etc. So you can imagine how obsessed he was with the lawn "tractor" while we were in Texas. I literally think the Belews went through about three tanks of gas during the few days we were there. Stefan, Brenna, David, Janie, and Zack all took him for rides on the tractor. Unfortunately, I did not get pictures of them all.

It is amazing what a week of driving the lawn tractor did for Braden's driving skills. Before we went to Texas, he really had no interest in driving his new John Deer. He was content crawling on it and putting dirt in the trailer. Now that he's had a week of driving lessons, he is a pro...check it out:

Driving the Tractor

Parking the Tractor

Braden's Second Birthday

We just got back from a long trip to Texas. While we were there, we had a little birthday party for Braden. Here are some pictures.

I love how sweet he looks in this one...don't let it fool you though.

Jeff and Nichole got him a train and all the guys had to help play with it.

At the part, he jumped right in to opening presents.

I just think this one is cute.

Family photo

Family photo

Family photo

The theme was The Cat in the Hat. Thanks so much to Janie for putting everything together. She even found this adorable hat for Braden!

Easter

This is the first time we let Braden hunt for Easter eggs. Our neighborhood had a hunt for the kids on Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately, Braden woke up from his nap cranky so we were running late. We got to the park 5 minutes late and we missed the whole thing! We luckily found one remaining egg for a good photo opportunity. Braden didn't seem to mind though. He played with his friends for a little while and they shared the empty eggs with him.

He was happy to carry the "dessert" we took to share.

This was the only egg remaining by the time we got there.

Looking for more eggs (without any luck).

Mommy and Braden

Showing off his (empty) basket!

Lucky for Braden the Easter bunny did not forget about him. We woke up to a basket filled with goodies this morning.

Braden's Easter basket

He had the sweetest little grin when he realized what was going on.

The puzzle was a hit...he has gotten very good at puzzles. It only took him a minute to put it all back together!

He has his daddy's sweet tooth - we're going to have to ration the candy!

We went to the early service at church this morning to avoid the crowds. This is the best pic I could get in our rush to get there in time.

I felt so bad for Braden after the neighborhood egg hunt that we decided to have our own little hunt after church. He did a great job. I'll edit the video and load some clips later.

He knew exactly what he was supposed to do.

Running to the next one...

Found one on the table!

Let's check out our loot!

Mommy and Braden in their Easter clothes. (And Braden munching on an M&M.)