More Pictures as Promised

Wow! 4 posts in 1 day - I'm certainly making up for lost time! I took a couple hours tonight after Brayden went to bed to catch up on some of these pictures we had been wanting to share. He has really changed, especially since Radiation. Here are some of the things we wanted to visually show you and share with his bloggie friends.

Happy New Year 2010!
Brayden managed to stay up past midnight to celebrate with some yummy food, sparkling grape juice from Nini Annette, great friends, fun games, and some yummy food. He had an AWESOME time finally getting to see some friends and Uncle Danny did an incredible job of keeping Brayden laughing all night with only the humor that Uncle Danny can bring!


Christmas Morning
This pic absolutely CRACKS me up! We usually get Hershey a little something and this time Brayden helped her open it. Even when you say the word 'treat' Hershey's ears perk up, she stands taller, and is VERY eager to hear where and when she can get said treat! Brayden's laugh is so infectious and makes me smile! He could hardly keep from laughing while Hershey sat at attention asking politely for this treat Brayden kept talking about! It was a great moment.


The magic and wonder of Christmas morning! Brayden melted our hearts when he told us this was his best Christmas ever because we were all together. I had to write down some of our favorite quotes from that day and the days leading up to it so I wouldn't forget some of the amazing things he said! Our favorite this year was on Christmas Eve when he was wondering if he was on the naughty or nice list this year. Dad asked him which one he thinks he was on. Brayden didn't miss a beat and said, "Since I've been a little of both, Santa needs to have a Maybe list to put me on!" Priceless.


White Christmas
Waking up to a white Christmas in our backyard is SO RARE! I missed how long it's been since the last one. But the magic and miraculous event wasn't lost on us. Although he could only enjoy it from the deck, Brayden wasn't missing a moment to take it all in. It was amazing to see and SO beautiful with the Christmas morning sun shining on it!


After Mom & Dad finally got to bed around midnight, we were so thankful for Brayden's agreement the night before. When trying to plan when to get up and make breakfast, I decided toask him what time he was planning on getting up. I threw out 8:00 and was stunned when he said, "DEAL!" Score one for mom! I could sleep in a bit! So imagine my surprise at 6:30 when I walk into our living room and see this! His gift from Santa had definitely been inspected and was far away from the other gifts. He had read a newspaper article about his Papa G from 15 years ago. He had his school yearbook out in the middle of the floor and a few toys. His anticipation just got the best of him! I reassured him to always wake me up next time and my heart broke a little thinking of him trying to go back to sleep after being up since 1am! But it was so precious to see him sleeping in his robe from Santa in his Christmas PJ's on the love seat while waiting beside the tree!


Reindeer Food
Since Brayden was tiny, we'd always make reindeer food on Christmas Eve to throw out on the lawn so the Reindeer could have a snack too while Santa was having cookies...or this year, candy sushi! I loved how this pic turned out since it was snowing when Brayden bundled up and went out to throw it out on our lawn!


Candy Sushi
I had heard about this neat idea and since Brayden LOVES sushi but hasn't been able to have it in a while, I thought it would be fun to make some! Well, Brayden decided after making it, this would be better to leave Santa the sushi instead of cookies this year. I told him it was completely up to him. I was in the floor hysterically laughing when he added that instead of hot chocolate, as he's always left him, he needed to leave him Miso soup since hot chocolate doesn't go with candy sushi!


Christmas Wrapping
Brayden's wrapping skills officially surpassed Dad's this year...which isn't saying much! Sorry, Dad! Brayden really got into helping to wrap this year and by the time it came for Dad to wrap Mom's presents, he realized just how much more Brayden had learned this year while helping Mom and promptly put him to work! Brayden ate it up that he got to show up his Dad on his skillz!!


Awaiting Christmas
This picture just makes my heart full. Our family finally back together again just in time for the week before Christmas. Brayden and I being away from home the 2 weeks in Little Rock for Radiation were the longest we'd been away since his initial diagnosis and time spent at ACH. It was just too long. So finally being back home and seeing my boys in their sweet robes sipping their Christmas eggnog was just too much to pass up.


Christmas Carolers


Brayden was SO happy to see them! Even though you can't see it, there were smiles abounding under his mask. Hopefully soon he'll be able to join them and hug them again and next year go with them on their Christmas carols to bring joy to others! Thank you to the ACA fam for bringing smiles and songs into our hearts for Christmas!