baby Braden cousins

Christmas came a little early for my side of the family as we celebrated with Sam and Quinn and their families last week. I'll break it all down into a series of posts, starting with the reunion of the cute little baby cousins!

 Last winter/spring, the Braden extended family welcomed three sweet babies: (left to right) Isaac in April, Hazel in December, and Jack in January. Obviously they're destined to be best friends - look at how impressively they (unknowingly) color coordinated for the above picture!!

 Sam's first order of business for the trio was a race, with a piece of candy as the incentive.

 Jack was the first to cross the starting line, but he completely bypassed the candy and settled on my lap instead, leaving Hazel and Isaac to duke it out.

 

With some prodding by Terri and Quinn, the plaid-attired duo got closer and closer to the sugar-y goodness until Hazel finally claimed it as her own.

 Here she is enjoying her well-earned prize!

Hazel and Jack turned out to be quite a formidable pair. Each of them had started walking prior to this trip, but mostly a wobbly 5-8 steps at a time - but by the time Hazel left, they were both cruising around the house much more steadily. Let's hear it for positive peer pressure!

 Cute little co-conspirators!

 Poor Isaac got the short end of the stick in the cousin interactions and was mostly relegated to the role of 'toy warmer-upper' for Jack. Isaac would play with a toy for a bit and then Jack would merrily take it away :).

Jack and Hazel frequently found themselves separated by a high chair, but that didn't stop their plotting - in the second picture, Jack was sweetly dropping cereal on the floor for Hazel to retrieve and eat. Such cooperation!

As expected, Hazel used her role as the oldest and the only girl to her advantage, including hitching a ride on Jack for a bit. I'm excited to see what she comes up with in the future - this trio probably won't be all together again until late spring or sometime this summer, so she's got time to think!!