Christmas 2014

We had a wonderful Christmas, full of food, friends, and family.  Kayden got spoiled, spoiled, spoiled and he loved every minute of it.  Santa brought him a trampoline for outside AND inside, a "shark boat", legos, dirt bike figurines, and so much more.  Kayden did awesome on Christmas and enjoyed playing with all his new toys, and we enjoyed watching him get excited over all his new stuff.  He is anxiously waiting for spring when we can put up the outside trampoline.

We hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas!

Santa Picture

"Hey, Kayden, we are going to see Santa in a couple days so we will want to write him a letter of the things you want to ask him for Christmas and take it to him."

"Ok, but I AM NOT sitting on his lap."  Kayden responded

"That is fine, maybe you can just stand next to him and get your picture taken."

"Yeah, that sounds like a great idea."  Kayden replied happily!  And I think, yeah right.

So, now it is the night of going to see Santa and Kayden is so excited.  We have our letter in hand and we are ready.

There is no line and that is awesome.  We go straight up to Santa and he starts talking to Kayden and Kayden responds.  Telling Santa that he has been a good boy and he wants a "trampoline for inside AND outside" for Christmas.

And then the moment comes when it is time to sit on Santa's lap, and I think, this is not going to go well, this is the moment where Kayden will start getting anxious and the tears will follow shortly after and this happy moment will be coming to an end.  My brain starts frantically trying to find things to calm Kayden to let him know that we just need to get one picture and it'll be fast.  I think of mentioning the candy cane Santa will give him, but know Kayden well enough to know that nothing will convince him to do something he doesn't want to do (which might come in handy in the future, I hope!).

Then, Santa motions for Kayden to sit on his lap.  And what do you know, Kayden does just that and happily!  So, without further adieu, here is this years Santa picture.

I do have to add, that this was about take number six!  There was something wrong with every other picture taken, and Kayden never once complained, just sat there smiling.  I can say that this years Santa experience turned out great!  YAHOO.

Yellow Belt

Kayden celebrated a karate milestone this week and we are so proud and excited for him.  He moved up to the yellow belt.

The belt ceremony was fun to witness.  They did demonstrations of things they have learned during their classes.  Parents get to watch, but we are behind a glass window and we can't hear too much of what's going on, so it was nice to hear what the kids are being told along with what the different kicks, punches, exercises and commands are. 

Kayden was so excited to demonstrate the different skills and he raised his hand in excitement when the instructors were asking for volunteers.  I love seeing him so excited about the things he is passionate about.  I really think we hit the nail on the head by signing him up for karate, he truly loves it.

 Running through the jungle.

 Demonstrating his kneeing abilities.

Kayden was showing us how he gets out of a position where a bad person grabs him from behind to try and abduct him.  He reaches down grabs the guys foot and pulls it straight up so the guy falls on his back.

And finally he gets his new belt.  I am so happy with this school and how they work with and treat the kids.  They do amazing well and I couldn't be happier about placing him at this particular school.

Don't Eat Yellow Snow

"Can I eat the snow?"  Kayden asked.
"Yeah, just the white snow." Replied Kyle.
"Not the yellow snow." Kayden responded quickly.

With as little snow as we get around here, I was surprised Kayden remembered to not eat yellow snow.  It is a very important life lesson, one I didn't realize he remembered, but was glad he did.  Makes me think maybe he does hear me and remembers what I say, even though I don't think he is listening.

Since I don't keep up on the weather, and it isn't really a topic of conversation around the Bryant house, I was surprised when we woke up on Saturday to find snow on the ground.  Not a ton, maybe a half inch, but enough to have plenty of fun. 

It is currently Monday, and the snow is still around.  I really thought it would all be melted by mid Saturday afternoon, but it just hasn't gotten warm enough to melt yet.  Thankfully the roads are dry and fine to drive on, so it doesn't bother me much that there is still snow covering the ground.

Prepping for a snowball fight.  He enjoyed lining them up and counting them.

 This was the "biggest one".  Kayden says, "It looks like a turkey!"  It was the last to be sacrificed in the fight.

 Remember: Don't eat the yellow snow.

 Kayden was practicing his karate punches by hitting the snowballs Kyle was throwing.



We had fun in the snow.  The boys lasted out there longer than I did.  It was just too cold for me.  We hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving.