Introducing SIENA!!!

Brady's baby sister, Siena, was born just before Thanksgiving! Since she's Amber's second, I guessed that she would be early....but NO, she was late!  We were VERY ready for her arrival!

 She was born just before midnight, and Matt and Amber were so gracious to invite us to come see her the next morning!  It surprised me that as soon as I held her I couldn't hold back the tears!

 It's amazing to know that we will grow so close and build many memories together!  Papa (Grandpa) was very kind, too, to pass his new granddaughter off to "the nanny" for a bit!  I feel very loved and like part of the family! Caleb wasn't quite sure what to think and was more excited to see Brady and play than look at a baby.

 This is a week or two later.  I've only been helping out a couple of times a week, and of course she's usually eating or sleeping.  I'm still anxious to get to spend more time with her and bond some more.  She's already over a month and I feel like I've hardly seen her.

Brady is doing well, and is a proud big brother.  If I'm holding her, he'll come over, stop, look at her and kiss her head before telling me what he came over to say.  I'm not sure that Caleb has any thoughts at all about her yet.  The one thing he's said is that, "I'm going to hold her and take care of her when she's born."  So far he's still not too sure about holding her yet!

Flashback

I went through some files in my email and found these pictures that people have sent that I've never gotten around to saving.....

 Last fall at church

 When Caleb loved horses but couldn't ride a real one...he got to sit on the one by the Dollar Tree..which has since been removed.

I think these are from a random day that Oma and Joshua and I hung out together, went to the water park and stopped by Kindercare to see the RoboBand.

 Story time maybe a year ago when Alison and Abby were in town.

 And another random day when we went to the lake when Alison and Abby were here...and Oma didn't live here yet, so she was visiting too.  Checking out the tiny frog.

 And someone let Caleb try out the kayak! 

 The 4th of July with cousins! 

Veterans Day Parade

We got to it late, but found a place to sit and enjoy an hour or so of kids walking by and a few fun vehicles and animals! 

 These guys are pretty fun!  There are about ten go-cart rider veterans who ride in circles and lines as they slowly make their way down the road.  We parked on the wrong side of the road.  I didn't realize the parade would be on one side rather than the middle.  Live and learn.

 Too much sitting....time to get up and join the parade.  Most of it was different grade school sport teams and boy and girl scout groups, with some other random high school bands and such scattered throughout.  It's just in Folsom, so nothing huge and amazing.  Still fun though!

Last year we brought Matt's dad, Chuck, who is a veteran of Vietnam.  Since he had his veteran hat on, he was saluted and lots of boy scouts would run over and shake his hand.  It was pretty neat to see him honored in this little way.  I saw the same this year with a man down the road a bit.  It brought a tear, just thinking what he might have faced in war.  I'm thankful!

 And Caleb joining in the marching and singing!

 Bye

 I had finally given up on seeing any horses, and they finally came!

 Brady is practicing his counting! 

 I barely caught this picture, but had to post this miniature horse.  We ran over to pet it just as they ran back to join the parade.  .

Happy Veterans Day! 

Fire Station at LAST!

The boys LOVE fire trucks and I've been planning on taking them to a fire station for a year now!  I think I avoided it simply because I figured we'd be in the way of something.  Well, it took Amber's maternity leave coming up to finally push me to plan it!  And we weren't in the way at all!  It was great! 

 I chose the closest, biggest station, which turned out to be super fancy and perfect for a visit!  The boys waiting patiently to see if they'd get to see the firetrucks!

 Sure enough....soon, a couple firemen came out to greet them with their own hats and badges!  They were VERY friendly and nice to the boys!

 And the boys were truly in heaven!

 Brady didn't hesitate a minute to try out the driver's seat!  His Uncle T is a fireman!

Caleb was a bit more hesitant.  He likes to take his time to warm up to new and unknown situations.

 Once Brady was in the back, he decided that they guys were trustworthy enough to lift him in too!

 And he was certainly glad that he got in!  

He started giving orders right away..."Now you can close the doors!"

 The guys offered to let them try on their boots and hats, but the boys were more interested in the grates in the floor! :)

I'm consistently impressed by firemen.  We've run into them at grocery stores, events, and now at their work place.  I think that every one of them has been more than happy to show the truck, turn on the lights, offer a seat and sticker!  I'm impressed and thankful for people who are willing to give their time and care to little boys like Brady and Caleb! 

 I Love this picture! 

As we were leaving, the BIG firetruck got back, with the HUGE ladder on top.  We went out and were greeted by maybe 5 more firemen!  Yep, the boys were happy campers!  Another winner half hour!

More Fall Fun with Brady!

I just LOVE the Fall here!  I hated it in Portland since it usually meant rain and clouds, but here it means perfect weather and amazing fall colors and leaves!  The bummer this year is that both of our cameras decided to have issues RIGHT as the season came.  I don't think I missed TOO much, but one day I regret missing was when Matt was with us and we met Brady and his family there as well.  

 It was a beautiful day!  Here's one picture on a little train ride that Amber sent on to me! They were waving at me as they headed off!

 Some fun with Caleb's new toy from Grandma and Grandpa for his birthday! We found it at Goodwill and it's given us some fabulous performance memories so far!

 And once again, I see the leaves every day as they change and look AMAZING every day....and then, before I finally decide to go take pictures...they are gone! :(  Here's a few that I actually took on ONE day in front of Brady's house!  We raked them up into a pile, ran through them, and buried the car!  SO much fun!

 Caleb wasn't as into it as Brady, so most of the pictures this time are just of him!

Maybe NEXT year I'll actually go out with the intention of taking some great pictures!  These are ok, but don't even really capture the colors and beauty!  God is truly creative and amazing!