Brady Turned TWO January 11th!

 Choo Choo! B is 2!

Hard to get a family pic with everyone looking!:)

Brady was more occupied with licking the frosting!

Big boy blowing out his candles

Nana Margie, Uncle Larry, and brother watching.

Carson's gift to Brady was these ball hats for himself and B. 

We thought it was so cute that Carson wanted to get Brady a gift!

 Starting a band?

 Thank you to all of our family and friends for spending the day with us and for the great new toys and clothes!  
Our baby is getting so big!:)

 Swanson cousins Livy, Carson, Ella and Brady

Uncle Bob and Aunt Julie Swanson (below)

We're glad you guys could hang out and play at our house!

Christmas 2011

Our family's new edition ;)

Ah, this is our best family pic of 2011! 

No, we are not a family of 5.

Ben's cousin, Jono and his wife, Denise, 

are the proud parents of this sweet princess, Brea Cheney.

We had a fun family outing in Iowa City of breakfast at Java House, a little ped mall Christmas shopping (lots of Hawks shirts!), and some cuddle time with the newest edition to our extended family!

Both of our boys were so tickled to hold her.

No plans for #3 here. 

We'll keep getting our "baby fix" from cuddling on others' newborns....

and then hand them back.

Carson's 4th Birthday--November 16, 2011

Carson turned 4 on November 16th!

We celebrated with a Transformers birthday party

with Grandparents, Great-grandparents, cousins, and a few friends.

(We're trying to delay the true "friends" birthday party until Kindergarten.)

Carson helped make his green tinted birthday cake,

complete with "green slime" filling.

Carson got lots of Cars, Transformers, books, clothes and more!

"Smokey the Firetruck" from Mom and Dad and Brady

was a big hit!

In the background, cousins MacKenzie and Brayden 

are checking out his cool microphone and guitar.

*********

On Carson's actual birthday we celebrated with 

our first trip to Williamsburg's new Public Library.

The kids had so much fun there! 

I regret that I didn't take my camera.

We also went out to the Landmark restauraunt (truck stop)

for Carson's favorite meal of Pancakes 

and their signature birthday treat

of an ice cream sundae with a candle and serendade.:)

The boys' favorite meal of Breakfast for Dinner.

Carson requested "a Big, BIG pancake"

and he did eat the whole thing!

Carson's 1st Day of Preschool

August Pictures

Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines

Carson just heard the peacock move behind him!

We had a fun half-day trip to the Zoo with cousin Chase, too!

Checking out the Kangaroos.

A couple of fun photo ops!

Feeding the Fish

We fed goats, llamas, yaks, chickens, and more!

Seeing Carson's excitement feeding the animals at the Zoo

reminded us of this fun picture

 from State Fair 2009!

Back to the Zoo...

Brady was a little more hesitant to feed the animals.

Is Ben enjoying their snack, too? 

Brady wanted to follow the big boys everywhere...

Here the boys are checking out the Prairie Dog habitat.

We watched this playful tiger swimming for a long time.

He had an empty keg that he pounced on and rolled around 

and played with in the water, putting on quite the show!:)

TriBeezertops

BrontoChaseraurus

TriCarsontops

Blank had an indoor robotic dinosaur display

that Carson loved, but 

was a little cautious around!

Playing Dinosaurs and Tractors with Cousin MacKenzie

and family friend, Colton, at the Fairground Campground

More animal feeding at the Fair.

MacKenzie and friend, Autumn, with Brady.

Chase didn't realize he was in the pic, too!:)

All of the kids had lots of fun on Midway day at the Fair.

Carson was big enough to do a several rides. 

Brady enjoyed a few, too!

Family friend, Pat, helping entertain (distract) Brady

when he had to sit out some of the "big kid" rides.

Captain B

The boys would have loved to spend all day in these boats!

A ride all of the kids got to do together!

What a fun group!

I can't ride this one either?!?!

Pa was having just as much fun as the boys watching their excitement!

Hanging on tight!

B and his "Pa"

(sad I cut off his head a bit!)

Carson loved that Chase rode this one with him.

The kid in front of them cracked me up in every photo I took!

LEGGO LAND photo ops

Little Hands on the Farm

Carson did AWESOME at milking the cow!

Giant Slide Rides with Grandpa!

(Mom sat this one out---bruised tailbone from Chicago weekend.)

Thank you, Grandpa and Grandma Grier, 

for letting us stay with you at the Fair Campgrounds

and helping show us all the FUN at the Fair! :)

****

We had so much fun that we went back a second weekend and camped.

Ben and Megan went to a concert (Maroon 5/Train) with some friends and the Schaeffer family camped with us, too! Carson was so tickled to have his first sleepover with Tate and Teagan.

The next day we met Uncle Bob, Aunt Julie, and cousins Ella and Livy to show them the fair, too! My pics are on my cell phone, will try to upload later OR you can check out pics on their blog (see side bar: Swanson Family blog).