Who's Birthday?!??!?!

(check out the bed head!)

We had to run to Albion to get some totes so we..I mean, I (Amanda) can pack away all the things in the camper:( It's going to be a sad time this week when I have to pack the camper away, knowing it'll be at least 6 months till we see it again:( When we got home from church we skimmed the adds. It was so cute watching Braxton look at the add for Bomgaars...he held only a partial page of the add--you bet, the page with ALL the tractors, trailers, toys, etc! The entire way there, he asked, 'do we get to go to the John Deere store and get me a toy momma?' Considering he was good in church...he picked out a semi with trailer, and a 'escabader' on it. He even wanted to 'wait till we get home momma and open it den'. He was so proud to call grandpa bob and tell him ALL about it!
Randomly, I opened a box of cereal to find an Unwanted Spongebob! Those of you who have seen this cartoon totally understand why I say "unwanted!" Anyways, Braxton spotted it, and I told him he could play with him for a bit...seconds later, he had the little toy turned over and was 'burpping him momma!'....hmm??? Where did that come from?!? And soon after, Spongebob found his way into the trash can...just seemed to jump right in there:)

It's like it was his birthday today! Aunt Kelly showed up for a surprise visit! They made a tent as you can see:) Always fun when Aunt Kelly shows up! (She is no longer Aunt Keldy..it's now Kelly!)

Then....our friend Barry brought over a backhoe!!! I thought it was for Braxton...but as you can see...well, you see!!! (OH MY...look at all them toys in this picture!!! How embarrassing!)

Typically Braxton doesn't eat much, and STILL often wakes up through the night..so before bed we try and give him a 'snack' to hopefully fill his little belly for the night! Sometimes works, sometimes doesn't! He was SO proud of his 'apple carmel', that I finally remembered to buy! I LOVE this cheesy little grin! (pardon the unmatching jammies that Dad put on him!:)

While Braxton took nap today I cleaned/rearranged/tossed things/organized the storage room. We have quickly noticed lately how we are really running out of room in every room of our house..even the storage room is too small. After today, though, I do feel like I made some more room for more junk...Spending all day in the storage room, I came across a lot of things, and thought about many things, too....

I find myself really thinking about many things lately, so stop reading..because here comes the rambling!!!-----------

Okay, warned you , and yet, here you still are reading...

*Do I really need to keep the 10 large totes of Braxton's baby clothes around?!? I feel selfish! He practically wore a new outfit everyday of his life until age 1...I feel that I should give them to someone to use...but yet I hoard them in my storage room that I don't even have room for!!!

*I look at the 2 large Christmas trees in the storage room, and my 6 pencil trees?! Really Amanda!!! 8 trees?!?!?---on that thought, November 18-20, Lindsay is hosting a Festival of Trees, at which a friend and I will be decorating a tree for it! (wonder where we will get a spare tree from?!?) SO, mark your calendars...it's SO Fun! Vendors, crafters, food, and much more!

*There is a sweet little voice at 10:07pm saying, 'momma, I need wotion on, momma! MOMMA!!!'...and it makes me smile at HOW SWEET he is!!! Everyday I look at this AMAZING little man in my life and SMILE and wonder how we got so lucky!!! Despite the middle of the night awakenings, and the whiny little spats, I'm right now hearing, "mom mom momma, where you at?"... I LOVE IT!!! I LOVE hearing MOMMA come out of his sweet little mouth! At the supper table tonight, he surprised Grandma and Grandpa Busselman by saying his ABC's! He did GREAT! He skipped a few letters, but it was adorable! I wish so badly that I could stay home with him ALL DAY and do the stay-at-home mom thing, but I know that just isn't possible. But, if I did stay home, I know deep down that there is NO WAY he would know as much as he does! Daycares are wonderful for kids!!!
(so, his hands were sticky from the apple--that's what he was wanting--:)

So, while I may not remember to wash his hands off, I know I'm not mother of the year...but I am pretty proud of my 2 1/2 year old! By all means, I am not taking all the credit...Brad is SO great with him. For months these 2 boys of mine have been planning the deer hunting trip! I really think Brad is more excited at this point! I will admit, I'm jealous, but watching these 2 do things together melts my heart:)

Okay, enough random thoughts here...Have a great week!

CONVOY
I call it a convoy, he calls it, 'a garage with a open gate'....kind of makes sense what he sees, eh?!

Braxton is ALWAYS playing with his tractors, and farm equipment, but last week he got to play with the REAL things! We rode with Al Bender in the combine for hours! Al even took it out of auto-steer so Braxton could drive!!! He (Brax) learned so much....he learned how to 'chill in a combine', how to eat the heads off teddy grams...how to eat just the peanuts, and not corn candy...oh...let's see...let's just say Alan had just as much fun as my 2 year old!!! The memories are amazing!
???Braxton wanted pancakes for breakfast...and decided he wanted a "B", like him! (School has taught him his name starts with a B, and he recognizes B's all over the place!!! SO cute:) So, this was my pathetic attempt at a B...sad, I know!!!!! *I thought it was super cute that he asked for this, because when we were little kids, my mom would make letters and designs for us with pancake batter, too:)

We found another purpose for our bench..'it's my little tiny table momma'... He carries his couch into the kitchen every morning now and has breakfast like this...if that's what it takes for him to eat, I'm ALL FOR IT!!! Who needs rules?!?!?

Hello? Gamma?? Are you there???

Wow! The independence is coming through! Braxton has been wanting to do so much on his own...which is sad for mommy:( You all know what I mean, it now takes 5 minutes to pick out our clothes, which usually consists of a 'Mader shirt, Mickey Mouse underwear, and Cars shoes...then it takes another 5 minutes to put our coat on, and climb into our car seat...oh how fun the mornings are---REALLY!! It is pretty cute! Don't get me wrong, he still whines and clings to us often, but is at the same time growing up so much! It is like having a conversation with a little mini-grownup.

He asked if he could call his "gamma Sheri" and go to hers house...
They were counting/organizing money...

He wanted to make a road, with water and a stop sign... I told him all the info about a stop sign once...

Mommy: "Braxton, what do you do when you get to a stop sign?"

Braxton: "Look for cars!!"

Mommy: "what shape is a stop sign?"

Braxton: "an ock-ta-gon"

Mommy: "and what color is a stop sign?"

Braxton: "Green and Yellow"...

Yea...we have a little ways to go with our colors....

Braxton was so excited to have Uncle Dillon stay with us! They played so well together and Dillon even babysat for us!!! Brax was sad when he had to go back home...

We made it to Cousin Charli's soccer game! She is SOOO good!! She's in the black! She WAS NOT afraid to go after that ball!!!

and Cousin Carson was playing, too!!! He made a great goalie!!!

While Brad was in Wyoming for a family wedding, Braxton and I had a very busy weekend with Booster club, making food for my circle, and working...and don't forget--our POPCORN PARTY!!! This is an every night thing now!!!

On Sunday, I took him to the Pumpkin Patch. Brad happened to be gone last year for this, too...so maybe it will just be a yearly thing for 'momma & Brax'...can you see the excitement on his face!! He was jumping SO high!!! And when he got out, he went up to the lady, thanked her and gave her a hug for letting him jump...HOW CUTE!!!

We were giggling:) "Look at that silly duck with his butt in the air, Momma --He's funny"

We went down this slide again, and again, and again...did I mention again, and again, and again?!?!?!

This is where he HAD to call his daddy and tell him about the deer he sees:)

...and he INSISTED on riding in the BLUE train!

And he rode on snickers, that was 'brown and white' according to him...

As I sit here right now...he is saying, "momma, Braxton is riding the horse"

and he has taken my camera cord and that is his 'gate', as he parks his skidloader for the night...
Every day this amazing little boy in my life amazes me with something new that he says! Some things are so sweet, some are hilarious, and some are sad...

When I got home from work last week he runs to me and says, "momma, I have a kiss for you!" And I almost broke into tears...then, he takes me by the hand and points to the hersheys kiss on the counter...ohhhhh....and then he ate it:) Sweet, but not what I thought he meant...:)

Then, he randomly will tell me that I'm not his friend, or he doesn't like me, then seconds later, he runs up to me, hugs me and tells me I LOVE YOU MOMMA! YOU ARE MY FRIEND!

Last night, he asked me, "momma, where is my sister?" After repeatedly telling him that he doesn't have a sister, he then asks, "when can I have a brudder then, momma?" "Camron has a brudder, Evan, and Gavin has a brudder (which is really a sister) Jaedyn". "When do I get a brudder?" I told him he would have to share his toys and his mommy and daddy if he had a brudder or sister, and he followed immediately with, "momma, I don't want a brudder anymore, okay" WHEW!!! PROBLEM SOLVED:)

A few nights ago I was putting laundry away and Brad and I were both in another room, and we could hear, 'mommy....mommy... MANDA WHERE ARE YOU?!?!?!?" OH MY! I guess that's what I get for teaching him our first names. Tonight Brad asked him what his name was, and he said, 'Braxton Buffelman'....we will have to work on our s's:)

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THANKS FRIEND

Thank you to the sweet person who so kindly left my son a giagantic bag of mini tootsie pops in our mailbox!!! Although I'm not sure of the story behind them...Braxton will be excited when he gets up from nap to see 140 suckers!!! I LUV this small town!!!

Say it isn't so...

The imagination of a 2 year old!!! He insisted on having 'brown' play-doh, because, 'that's a boy color, right mom!?!' Minutes later, this is what I come to discover! He told me he 'needs Jordan to pull him out!'...and Jordan strongly explained, JOHN DEERES DO NOT GET STUCK BRAX!
Just incase you needed it from another angle...Sorry Uncle Chad...I know this picture is disturbing;)

Labor Day
After doing some random things around the shop/house, we took Braxton fishing to the Lindsay Puddle! What FUN!!! He no more than dropped his line in and caught a fish!!! If you ask him how big it was, he will stretch his arms as far as he can and says, 'this big mommy!'...he's got a little story-teller in him:)

Shocked to see he actually wanted to 'pet' it!
...and of course after we got a bucket full, we let them 'go back by their mommies'

I promise he WANTED to wash his big wheel! I think he did quite a good job, too:) Brad was washing the pickup, so monkey see, monkey do!

No no, you aren't wrong, we Do Not live in the country, this is what has been going up and down our alley quite often! Jerry (Klassen) has been working quite a lot on his back yard...See what we started--all by adding a fence...it has created multiple projects for the entire neighborhood:) You should see the neighbors turn their heads when this pulls up!!!

Braxton LOVES tractors, but I repeatedly tell him to stay out of the way, and he took it upon himself to go to the far front of the garage, pull up a chair, and patiently wait for Jerry to get done. He was so proud to put his JD boots back on yesterday! Looks like fall is nearing!!!

Braxton has been big into counting everything lately, repeating (or mockin me as I call it!), asking what color EVERYTHING is, and his newest thing--when Brad and I are having a conversation, he will wait till we are done and say..."what you guys talking about"..or "what you say mommy to daddy"...looks like we are going to have to watch what we say...not that we are ever inappropriate:)

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Church Saturday Night:

(keep in mind, this was after the fair!)

The setting---5 minutes into church when it is dead silent...

Braxton:"mommy, do you have sheep poop on you?"

Mom: "shhhh Braxton!!!!"

Braxton: "but mommy, do you have sheep poop on you???"

Mom: BEAT RED IN FACE!!! "no buddy!"

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10 minutes later he starts to talk a little...

Brad slightly turns his head towards the front and shh's him..

Braxton: "mommy, daddy pulled my ear!!"

Mom: "shh braxton, it's okay"

Braxton: "DADDY PULLED MY EAR MOMMY!!!!!"

Dad: BEAT RED IN FACE!!!

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another 5 minutes...

Braxton: " I see Papa John Mommy!!!"

and papa John thought this was pretty neat as you can imagine!

Oh what will he say next!!!????

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Don't forget....

Of course, you can't go to a fair without a $6, 30 second train ride...that he was 2 inches too short for...and I was 2 feet too big for...but they made me ride with him.....Ahh, he memories...