November

In Nov. Braeden and Travis had a ton of fun playing outside. While I was at work one day Travis did a little raking and Braeden did a little leaf diving. Then when they finished they took a little trip to Young's Dairy. Here are a few pictures from their fun day.

Rachel and I took the boys to Cincinnati Museum Center to check out the Museum of Natural History. The boys had an awesome time running around in the indoor cave. Then checking out the dinosaurs and finally played in the giant sandbox. That place is awesome. We will have to make another trip soon to check out the Children's Museum.

Last Half Of October

A day or so after my last post our little family took a trip to Pigeon Forge, TN for a vacation. It was the first vacation Travis has had in several years and he was pumped to get down there. He had most of what we would be doing while down there planned out about a week before we left. While I slept in everyday he got up before sun rise and drove to Clingmans Dome to get pictures of the sun coming up over the mountains. If you want to see those pictures you can go to his Flickr page and check some of them out. While Travis was out that first day I had a little accident in the cabin. On my way to turn a light off (half awake) I took a little slide down the stairs. When Travis got back to the cabin we packed into the car and started out. Our first stop that day was to hike Grotto Falls. The hike wasn't terribly hard it had rained though so it was really muddy and we had to cross a creek or two. Here are a couple of pictures of when I go to the top.

On the way back down from the falls I once again took a little spill. This time though I almost rolled down the mountain. I had just about had it with walking. Thankfully that was the last fall I took while on vacation. The last couple of days was mostly driving to see the sites in The Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Here is a picture that we took of Braeden outside the cabin before we left in the hoodie that Grandma Jazmyn made for him.

Check out the sign that we found while out and about in TN.

Next came Braeden's 4th birthday party! WOOHOO! We decided to hold the festivities at Marion Lanes bowling alley. All of the family that lives in the area were there to get their bowl on. All the T's were there as well as Rachel, Gavin, Grandma Jazmyn, Aunt Krista and Aunt Donna. Everyone seemed to have a good time. Here are a few of the pictures from the party.

Finally we have Halloween! Braeden was the scarecrow from Wizard of Oz. He was the cutest little guy out there. We went over to the T's house to go with all the kids there. Braeden was so excited while out trick-or-treating. He would run up to the house and then run back to us and show us what he got. I think he may just be the cutest little boy ever.

Birthdays and Cakes (Oct.)

So far this month we have had 2 birthdays and we have one more in about a week. Because the birthdays are so close together I have been busy baking a cake about once a week. The first birthday we had was Travis's mom. For her birthday I made cupcakes with chocolate butterflies on top. Here are a couple of the pictures that were taken the night she came over to celebrate.

The next birthday this month was that of our dear sweet Travis. For his birthday I decided I would try working with fondant although I really don't like the texture when eating it. It really isn't as hard as I thought it would be. Here is a picture of the "present cake." It's a shame that fondant has such a weird texture. I don't know who likes to eat that stuff but it sure does make a cake look pretty awesome.

September

With Halloween closing in on us, we began looking for the proper costume. I bet you thought it would be easy since Braeden had been all about pirates for the past couple months. Well think again! Being a pirate was just one of the six things he wanted to be for Halloween. He finally decided that he wanted to be Scarecrow from Wizard of Oz. I just happened to find, through first searching online, that Halloween Express actually carried the costume in their store. I thought since we had the costume that it would be sweet to go out to a cornfield and take Braeden's picture. Travis thought I was crazy for wanting to do this but look at how cute the pictures are. I mean have you seen a cuter scarecrow? I think not.

We are also planning a trip to TN in Oct. and Travis is so excited to get out and do some hiking and take pictures. Well, to gear up for the trip we took a little trip out to John Bryan State Park and take a little walk. Here a couple of pictures of that exciting outing.

August

Braeden has been going through a little bit of a pirate phase and his Grandma and Papa Chasteen were more than willing to assist him in getting the look just right. Earlier in the summer he got a hat,treasure box, gold, patch and earring. Then shortly after Papa, Grandma and Uncle Phillip got back from their vacation he got another package with a SWEET new hat and sword. We just happened to have a play kit that allows you to build a ship so here are a couple of pictures of Braeden all decked out.

In August Travis and I decided to take a trip to Columbus to visit COSI. Let me tell ya if you don't like crowds don't go to COSI on a hot summer day. Everybody in the state of Ohio must take their kids here in the summer. Braeden couldn't wait to get to the water exhibit and splash around I, on the other hand, was ready to go after I had been bumped into for the 800th time.

Towards the end of August Braeden and I took a little trip to Kentucky to visit the family. I didn't get a bunch of pictures while I was down there. Braeden spent most of the time sitting with my cousin Ronald because he was afraid to walk around with the dog in the house. He had a great time with Ronald playing, laughing and coloring. (Can you believe he conned Ronald to sit on the floor and color?)

Braeden was happy to help Aunt Mary get Ronald's dialysis machine ready for the night. You can't forget the face mask when being a doctor for Ronald.

Our last night in Kentucky we went over to my Grandma McDaniels to chill out for a little bit. Here is Braeden with his Grandma Who Who.

July

We really didn't seem to have very much going on in the month of July. There was a trip to the zoo but since we have about 5 billion other pictures on here of our zoo trips I decided to skip that this time. Here are a few cute pictures that I did find from the month of July. The first couple are my two men in the yard doing a little clean up after the tree was removed.

A trip to Cox Arboretum on a summer day is always fun. We were going to see the butterfly house but just like last year it was closed. Geez. Here are a couple of the pictures from that outing.