Mr. Yellow Belt!

Well tonight was the big night! Braxton tested for his Yellow Belt in Karate. They had to do 10 kicks, 10 punches, and 3 stranger dangers. They also had to show that they could do the correct karate "stances" which include the ready stance, horse stance, and another stance that I cannot remember. =) He passed with a little help from sensei. At one point during the test, Sensei asked why they had to test for their belts and earn them. Braxton's response was that you can't come in at night and steal them, so you have to earn them. Where does he come up with these things? Afterwards he got to pick dinner, and he picked Macaroni & cheese with hamburger. it was pretty yummy!

Braxton's First Day of Preschool

Today was Braxton's first day of preschool! He has the same teacher as last year, and loves her! I took him and picked him up today, but starting on wednesday he will be carpooling with his friends claire and grace. he is so excited! So am i, that means that chad and i don't have to leave work to go get him!

This year is so different that last year. If i dropped him off last year, he cried that he didn't want to go. This year, I reached in the car to grab the camera, turned around and he was already up by his teacher. It makes life so much easier that he is excited about school, let's hope it keeps up for the next 18 years or so!

Lilly's Haircut!

As some of you may know, Lilly HATES to have her hair brushed or even touched for that matter. With school starting for Braxton and things getting a little bit busier in our lives, we decided to get lilly's hair cut. I wasn't entirely sure what to do, we so took her to Lollipops (the best place in lincoln to get kids haircuts!) and asked the gal cutting her hair what she thought. we decided to cut it into a bob. It looks so cute!

Afterwards we decided to go mini golfing. That is braxton's favorite new sport! Lilly had an intersting take on it. She would kick her ball down the hole, then pick up everyone else's ball and bring them back. It was cute! We didn't keep score so we don't know who won, but we had a great time!!!

Braxton is still learning how to putt!

Lilly just drops her ball in the hole!

At the pond at Pioneers Park Nature center. We went for a walk after mini-golf. We saw elk and buffalo. When we went inside the nature center a lady had a bull snake out holding it. I opened the door and immediatly shut it again. I finally convinced myself to go inside but i couldn't walk near the snake. It was not fun, but Lilly thought it was great. That girl isn't afraid of ANYTHING!

Tonight we are going to a fish fry, so I will probably have more to post tomorrow!

Pictures!

So my friend Angel had a "Day in the Park" picture party. Jonnie (the photographer) took pictures of the kids while they played on the playground equipment. She got some really great pictures! Here are some of them! Stay tuned for a Dalton Hosted "Day at the Park" party!

WHOA! How do you slow this thing down?

Braxton & Lilly LOVE the merry-go-round!

Check out the tongues in this one! Like Brother Like Sister!

Best Friends!

This is my current ALL-TIME favorite picture of Braxton!!!

Braxton goes GQ!

The frogs are one of Lilly's favorite things at the playground!

My current ALL-TIME favorite picture of Lilly!

Cousins & Friends!

Ready? AND FLIP!!

Soccer Anyone? Emily is teaching Braxton some basics!

Lilly & Ellie playing with Grandma's Fountain!

Lilly & Ellie in the hot tub!

We can't wait to see you guys in October!

Summer is over.

Well, this week marks the end of summer for us. Braxton starts back to school this week, or at least we have our first preschool open house. He officially starts on Monday. This weekend we got all of his school supplies ready to go. We had a heck of a time finding 'boy' folders. But finally we found two CARS folders. He was pretty excited. He got new shoes. The last time i bought him shoes, i bought him a 9, this weekend i bought him an 11. I guess he is growing!
Lilly is saying more and more words. Her favorites right now are 'nope' and 'mine'. both excellent words to start fights with braxton! we are debating whether or not we want to cut her hair. it would be really cute, but her long hair is so pretty! when she actually lets me put it up, it looks nice. the problem is that she HATES to have her hair brushed. i can usually distract her for a minute with a toy while i brush it, but pony tails are a little harder.
As for me, i am ready to put summer away. we have had the windows open for the last week or so. i love sleeping with the windows open! I can't wait for fall. I love pumpkins and halloween. I am starting to think about what the kids will be for halloween. Braxton says he might want to be a chef, and he already has a chef outfit! i don't know about lilly. probably a butterfly or fairy or something. Braxton is getting excited for husker football to start, and he will start soccer September 13th, stay tuned for pictures of that!
We hope everyone is doing well!!!!

Hangin' with the Fam!

Chad's sisters, nieces, and nephews were in town this weekend. Kathy, Garrett, Emily, and Ellie flew in from South Caroline while Kristi, Kevin, Austin, and Alexis drive down from Sioux Falls. Friday night the kids ate some pizza and went swimming in the hot tub, they looked like they were having a great time!

On saturday Lilly and I were invited to a bridal shower for chad's cousin cari. About an hour before the shower, Lilly decided to make herself pretty with a sharpie marker. All over her face, neck, hands, arms, and legs. we were able to get it off of her face and arms with fingernail polish remover. We just left her legs, it is slowly coming off on its own. She was so proud of herself for making herself 'pretty'.

saturday night there was a surprise birthday party for Chad's dad! it was quite a surprise since his birthday isn't until october. there was a lot of people there, and the kids were running all over the place! They got out the chalk and make some pretty neat chalk pictures. Towards the end of the night, Lilly was getting a little bit cranky!

Sunday we went to grandma Virginia's and had a nice pool party! The kids swam for a few hours (chad too!) while the adults talked. Sunday evening we went to Grandma and Grandpa dalton's for dinner and more hot tubbing! They kids loved it! Then we made s'mores! Kristi has the best way to make s'mores. instead of using graham crackers and chocolate, she uses fudge stripe cookies, it is AWESOME! Of course, i could just eat the roasted marshmallows. YUMMY!!!

Vacation!

Well, we finally got to take a "vacation" this summer! Our daycare was closed so the kids went to Alliance with my parents on monday. Chad and i had a few days with no kids. That was weird! on Tuesday we went out to eat at Old Chicago and then went to see the "Dark Knight" I have to admit, i enjoyed it! On wednesday we headed towards alliance with the panda. see kidwellpanda.blogspot.com for that exciting trip!
We surprised the kids when we got to Alliance, they thought we weren't coming until Thursday! we brought Braxton's jeep and him and Lilly decided to go for a ride!
On Thursday, we decided to run up to Scottsbluff to look for some stuff at home Depot, we didnt' find it! But we did take a few pictures of the bluff. When we got home, we walked to the fountain, it was really neat! Braxton was magic, he could make the fountain turn on and off! he thought it was pretty neat!
on friday, we drove up to Hot Springs, SD and went to the Mammoth Site. It was so neat! They found a huge sink hole where over 58 mammoths are buried. the tour takes you through the sink hole, and braxton got to help with the tour! They have a museum with a replica bone hut and some animals.
Saturday was super HOT and we didn't do too much during the day. It finally rained for about 15 minutes that evening and cooled it off! After that we decided to take the kids to the drive-in. They were showing Wall-E and Indiana Jones. Lilly fell asleep almost before Wall-E started. braxton made it almost all of the way through wall-e and loved it! We all had a great time!
Sunday we drove home, seeing hundreds of bikes headed to Sturgis! It was a great weekend!