Brayden's Baby Dedication

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Brayden Micah Koamlu Circle was dedicated at Newport Mesa Church this past Sunday, June 27. For many of you who have been following my blog for a while you know that I have a Hawaiian heritage and so we have chosen to give each of our children a Hawaiian middle name given to them by a family member. Katelyn's is Kaimilani (Seeker of Heaven) and it was given to her by her Great Grandma Bachran when she was born. Brayen's Hawaiin name was given to him by his Grandpa Bachran (my dad) and it is Koamalu, meaning quiet courage. I love each of their names and completely feel that each name speaks volumes about who they are.

We loved having Brayden dedicated at Newport Mesa because Scott did such a good job personalizing the dedication. He spoke into Brayden life and our lives specifically. We weren't 1 of 10 couples like we were at Mariner's with Katelyn's dedication. Just one more reason we have fallen in love with attending Newport Mesa and have made it our home church.

At the dedication we were able to read the life verse we had chosen for Brayden and I wanted to share it here with all of you.

"For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may have a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God."
Colossians 1:9-10

After the dedication we had friends and family over to our house for a bbq. And what would a Circle event be without cupcakes?! These are the ones I made in honor of Brayden's dedication. All in all, it was a wonderful day! Praise Jesus for our wonderful baby boy.

Brayden is 7 Months Old

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This month I decided to take my own pictures of Brayden. Things have been so hectic around here that I haven't had time to head up to Picture People, so I took advantage of our awesome backyard and the amazing quilt my mom hand stitched for Brayden instead. It was so difficult to get a good picture because Katelyn wanted to be in all the pictures as well. She's such a camera ham. Looking at these pictures I can't believe how big Brayden's getting. He can now sit up on his own, he is rocking back and forth on his hands and knees and pushing himself forward trying to crawl, his 2nd tooth will be popping in any day, he can eat puffs and cheerios all by himself and loves it, and his favorite thing to do is play with his big sister all day long.

Father's Day

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This year for Father's Day my friends Stephanie and her sister Mandy came over with their little ones and the kids decorated picture frames for their daddies. It was so cute to watch them all paint (well, not Brayden or Max) and put stickers on the frames. This was Katelyn's 1st painting experience and she loved it!

I think the finished product turned out cute, right?!

New Giveaways!

This week I'm doing a new giveaway on my blog with my friend Emmy, at Confessions of a Paper Freak. If you read yesterdays post you will already be familiar with Emmy and her blog. She has offered up one of her medium sized personalized calendars to one of my readers. To enter the giveaway, head over to my Rags to Stitches Boutique blog. The giveaway ends at Noon pst on Sunday.

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That's not the only giveaway you can enter in. I'm doing a giveaway with my friend Kim over at The Chocolate Lady Blog. She's giving away one of my Infant Car Seat Canopy's. I would love for you all to head over to her blog and enter for the chance to win.

Good Luck!!

Help the Blakely's Adopt

If you haven't linked over to my friend Emmy's blog Confessions of a Paper Freak, this is the week to visit her blog. I met Emmy at a craft boutique last fall and instantly fell in love with her obsession with all things paper and have even ordered some of her lovely products for myself and my family. 

This week is a very important week for the Blakely's as they have put together an AMAZING raffle to help raise money to adopt a little boy or girl into their family. They still have about $3,000 left to raise. You can read all about their journey here.

As I said earlier, Emmy has put together an AMAZING raffle filled with lovelies made by other WAHM's and creations you can find on etsy. She has separated them into 3 baskets ranging from $800-$1100 in value. Great, right?! There is the For the Kids basket, the All Grown Up basket and the For Locals Only basket. Emmy lives in Southern California I apologize to all of you out of towners, but don't worry there's great stuff in the other 2 baskets. I even donated a wipes case and burb cloth set for one of the baskets. 
Ready to buy some tickets? I know I am! To read how to buy raffle tickets, click here and get started.
Need some extra incentive? I'm doing a giveaway with Emmy starting tomorrow and you get an additional entry into the raffle for every ticket you purchase.
Good luck!! The raffle ends this Friday at noon pst.

Don't forget

To check out my GIVEAWAY!

Go HERE to enter

If you want to place a special order Email me.

Just because...

my kiddos are so darn cute! I know they are only 2 years old and 7 months, but it is so obvious that they love each other so much. They even play together more now that Brayden is able to sit up on his own. I love these two! I can already tell they are going to be great friends as they get older.

every morning they love to cuddle in bed together

Brayden showing off his new skills. He's also rocking back and forth on his hands and knees. Give him another month and he'll be crawling.

"Cheese"

"Look Mommy I can play too!"

Friends

It's so cute. Katelyn is at an age where she loves her friends. This is one of her best friends, Brooke. She often asks to go to Brooke's house. Here they are together at Liam's 1st birthday party.

Daddy-Daughter Dates

My Mom bought Katelyn this awesome tricycle for her 2nd birthday and she loves it! Every night Kyle takes her on a mini date to ride her bike while I cook dinner.  She looks forward to it all day and  is already waiting at the garage door when she hears Kyle emerge from his office at the end of the day. I'm so glad Kyle takes the time to do this with her every evening!

Elmo revisited

Kyle enjoyed being Elmo so much that he decided to put the costume back on while we were at his parents house at the beach and visit with the beach goers. Only Kyle would do this.... with a little taunting from me. 

Giveaway!

I'm doing a giveaway this week on my Rags to Stitches Blog and I would love for you to enter. 

If you're interested, click the link below and it will take you to my blog.

Enjoy!!

Rags to Stitches Boutique

Katelyn's 2 Year Wellness Visit

This morning we headed over to the pediatrician for Katelyn's 2 year wellness visit. Now that she's getting older and has witnesses Brayden getting so many shots lately, I had to explain to her that we were going for a check up and that she was going to have to get a shot or two. She didn't seem fazed. She just wanted to see their fish tank and say hi to Nemo and Dori. How she remembered that they had a fish tank with Nemo and Dori still amazes me.

Weight: 27.6lbs (60th percentile)

Height: 35inches  (88th percentile)

Katelyn:

*Can climb in and out of her car seat all by herself

*Can almost buckle herself into her car seat

*Is passionate about dinosaurs, trains, Nemo, Ratatouille, and her new backpack

* Loves to play peek a boo and "get you" with her baby brother

*Loves playing in the sprinkler in the backyard

*Is talking in full sentences. Many are 4-6 words long. 

* Loves to pick out her own clothes. She then has to twirl in front of the mirror and show her daddy the outfit she picked out

*enjoys her bike rides with daddy every night

*enjoys helping mommy clean - good thing because Mommy doesn't like to clean

It's hard to believe how fast time goes by. I've already started planning Brayden's 1st birthday party!

Katelyn turns 2!

This past weekend we had a birthday party to celebrate Katelyn's 2nd birthday. 2, I can't believe she's 2! I feel like it was just yesterday that I gave birth to her! We had an amazing celebration and so many of our friends and family were able to make it. The party was an Elmo theme and to make it special I made all the pom pom decorations, made both banners, baked and frosted all the cupcakes, baked and decorated Katelyn's birthday cake, and baked and dipped the cake pops. So thankful my mom was here to help with the kids so I was able to get it all done. I was able to get so many great pictures, but there's too many good ones to fit in one post so I created a couple collages for you. Happy 2nd Birthday big girl, we love you so much!!

the decorations...

our friends and family...

"Happy Birthday to you..."

The highlight event... ELMO!!!

My husband dressed up as Elmo, and it was HIS idea!! He wanted to make the day special for his little girl. What an awesome daddy!!

Bananas?

yes please! Brayden has been getting so good at sitting up, especially in his Bumbo so I decided to give him some bananas in what I call a snack bag. The snack bag is amazing!! It allows infants to eat regular food by sucking on the bag and mushing it down to eat it. Brayden loves it because he's teething and so it feels great on his gums. 

Look who found his....

toes!

Slip...Slide...Splash!

A couple months ago I was at Toys R Us and they had a slip and slide on clearance. Clearance!!! Can't pass up a great deal like that. So I bought it and brought it home. It sat in our garage waiting for a hot sunny day to be taken and introduced to the kids. Finally that hot, sunny day came and we took out the slip and slide to cool the kids off. Katelyn loved it!! Brayden hated it! But we made him try it out just for a little while. In the end he chose to hang out in his Bumbo and watch his sister have all the fun. In his defense it did get a little windy and even Katelyn was cold, teeth chattering cold, but was having so much fun she refused to get out.