Go Sox!

We tried to get a few pictures of the boys together the other night because they were both wearing Red Sox shirts. Again it was pretty much impossible to get a decent shot of them together, but Kyle got a few good ones of them separately.

I love that we can go out on the deck without shoes now! And I love these goober boys of mine!

Fun at the Zoo

Monday was an absolutely gorgeous day. Brennan had school and Bryce napped the whole time he was there, so it seemed like a perfect opportunity to drive up to the zoo after picking up Brennan. 

I've said before that our zoo has this great play area now. It has lots of water features, lots of free play space, a big treehouse, and a playground. That's where we headed first. I even had both boys dressed in their swimsuits so they could get as wet as they wanted. 

We ended up heading up to the treehouse before getting in the water. It had a whole new contraption since we last visited that was super cool. There are cranks and pipes and all sorts of things overhead and you use steering wheels to crank tennis balls up and they roll all through the tubes and things. I'm not explaining it well, but it was super neat and Brennan was mesmerized. 

We even spotted a Louisville Slugger bat up there!

After that it was time for water fun. If today was any indication, Bryce will love the splash pad this summer and will have the best time at the water park during our summer vacation. He LOVED the water. It was right in there with the bigger kids playing and splashing and spraying. He could've cared less where I was and if he fell down he got right back up and played some more. Brennan played in the water some, but kept complaining about getting splashed. He's nuts. But he was cute putting on puppet shows and painting with water.

Doing things like this make me realize I'm actually going to be able to survive this summer with two boys. I was afraid they'd be too all over the place and never wanting to do the same thing and both crying I wasn't with them. But they've actually been great so far. Bryce is so much more independent that Brennan was at his age (or is now!) so that's helped a lot!

I didn't really take many pictures of the animals. The boys just stayed in the stroller and ate snacks for the most part as we made our way through the zoo. Brennan did ask to stop at watch the construction going on. They are building a new farm area that will include a petting zoo and feeding station. And I thought the baby ducks were so cute, so I had to snap a picture of them.

I just renewed our membership to the zoo, so we will be visiting a lot this summer!

My Mother's Day Loot

I'm not a very sentimental person. And I'm certainly not someone who saves every piece of artwork my kids do. But I do have a soft spot for artwork that involves handprints or footprints and for the things that Brennan has handwritten. I wanted to share my Mother's Day gifts here and some of them I will actually save!

Brennan planted two flowers for me on Sunday. The first he made in Sunday school and the second he made during Children's Church. I don't have much of a green thumb, but I'll sure appreciate these while they last.

Brennan brought home an envelope from school last Wednesday, but old me I couldn't open it until Mother's Day. He helped me open it first thing Sunday morning and this was inside; a little questionnaire much like the one I did with him. My favorite response is when he was telling what my favorite food is and said, "Hamburgers from Burger King, but we don't go there a lot." We have only eaten at Burger King a handful of times ever, so this response is so funny.

Like I said, I love looking at his handwriting. He wrote his name in this card at Cherub Choir. The gift also included a cute notebook.

Brennan actually gave me this card one week before Mother's Day, but I think it's my favorite gift. He wrote all the words by himself. At first I thought it just said "Happy Mother" which made me laugh...

...but the rest was written on the back. His "d" for "day" looks like a "p", but other than that his letter are perfect.

And the inside. I'm saving this one for sure!

I got several pairs of earrings from Kyle. I didn't take pictures of all three sets, but here's the purple pair.

And this really pretty set of earrings and a charm from Pandora.

I'm not big on gifts, but it's nice to spoiled once in a while.

Happy Mother's Day

It is an absolutely gorgeous day today. I could not ask for a prettier day to celebrate being a Mommy. Kyle took a few pictures at church this morning. It's pretty much impossible to get a decent shot of both boys and me together.

Brennan insisted on putting his arms around his brother and you can see how well that turned out.

This boy first made me a Mommy. He is four and moody and emotional and I love him to pieces.

And I got to be a Mommy again when Bryce came along and made my heart overflow with love. He's one and loud and active and I also love him to pieces.

Right now both boys are napping (or at least in bed), Kyle is out mowing, and I'm about to sit on the couch and do nothing. Kyle and I have date night tonight and someone else putting my children to bed is a perfect Mother's Day gift. ;)

Just like last year, I asked Brennan some questions about me and wrote down his answers. Most of his answers are right on the money and it was really neat to see how he's gone from giving one or two word responses just a year ago to using more full sentences now.

My Mommy's name is: Rachel

How old is Mommy? old

My Mommy weighs ___ pounds: I don't know yet

My Mommy's favorite thing to do is: Play with me.

My Mommy likes to eat: hamburgers

My Mommy likes to drink: water (I think this is funny because he knows I've given up soda and sweet tea this month, so he said water).

My Mommy's favorite color is: pink (He knows my favorite is purple, but said pink because it's his favorite)

My Mommy's favorite toy is: You don't have a favorite toy. What is your favorite toy?

My Mommy likes to wear: A dress

My Mommy and I like to: I like to play with you.

My Mommy's house is: white

My Mommy's car is: gray

My Mommy smiles when: I hug and kiss you.

My Mommy is sad when: I hit you.

My Mommy loves me because: I love you a lot.

I love my Mommy because: I love you every time.



Although it can be a very frustrating job, I am so thankfully I get to be a Mommy.

For you make me glad by Your deeds, Lord; I sing for joy at what Your hands have done. 

~Psalm 92:4

Pizza, Ducks, Dinner and Froyo

Just a little post to catch you up on our happenings so far this weekend. On Friday night there was a pizza party at Brennan's school. It's an annual event, so this was our second year going. The kids sang two songs: "You Are My Sunshine" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider". They just sang them sitting or standing right at the tables with their families and I think Brennan was the loudest by far. His teacher came over afterwards and said it sounded like he had a microphone.

It was a fun night with some yummy pizza. Brennan wasn't too impressed with the pizza because they only had cheese and he wanted pepperoni. He said cheese is "yucky." I pulled my smart Mommy card though and I went back a second time and brought him a piece and said, "Brennan I found pepperoni, but the pepperoni fell off when I was getting it out of the box." He immediately ate the cheese pizza then. Silly goose!

I really enjoyed watching Brennan interact with some of his friends at school. His first year at the school he really gravitated towards hanging out with the teachers and didn't talk a lot about the boys and girls in his class. But this year he talks about a lot of friends and he was so social and outgoing last night. It was really neat to see. He even let me take a picture of him with his two teachers from this year! I love his genuine smile in both pictures and his red cheeks because he had been running around playing like a crazy person.

This morning I took the boys to a Mother's Day breakfast at church. It was a donation breakfast to help our friend and babysitter, Meghan, raise funds for her mission trip to Japan this summer. The three of us had already eaten breakfast, but Auntie Val brought the boys doughnuts and Bryce devoured his. Brennan had more fun socializing. After church we went to the mall to play at the arcade, then came home for lunch and some much needed naps.

The weather had really warmed up during nap time and it was gorgeous outside when the boys woke up. I was trying to think of what we could do to get out of the house for the evening and decided to go see the ducks at the nearby Mystic Village.

Unfortunately it started raining on us while we were there, so we headed back to the car and drove across the street to eat dinner at Five Guys.

And then walked right next-door to have some frozen yogurt!

Both boys were super well-behave the entire time we were out. Brennan has been giving me some major attitude lately, but was sweet and obedient tonight. Until it was time to go to bed. ;)

All in all it was a nice day spent with the two boys who made me a Mommy. I'm excited to celebrate Mother's Day tomorrow with them and Kyle.

Ninjas!

I think I mentioned it the other day that Brennan won three free classes of karate while we were at the Kids Karnival on Saturday. We have never even talked about karate before, but once he won those classes, he was immediately interested in it. That same day we came home and watched a video from the website of the place offering the class. The class for 4-6 year olds is The Ninjas and Brennan watched the video of that class over and over and over again.

Brennan went for his first class yesterday at 4:45. Bryce and I stayed to watch. I thought it might be a little too intense of him. The instructors weren't yelling at the kids, but they speak kind of harshly. Obviously just preparing them for later classes. The class started with the kids running laps. Poor Brennan isn't much of a runner. He was much slower than the other kids, but he kept going. While they were running the instructor would yell, "Freeze" and the kids would stop. There was also a rule that if anyone fell down while running then the entire class had to do pushups. Two kids fell down at different times, so everyone had to drop and do pushups. They also had to do jumping jacks. Brennan needs lots of practice with those, but it was so cute watching him try.

He's such a good rule follower and even the kids who have been in class a long time were sometimes rowdy, but Brennan was on his best behavior. The kids then lined up with one of the four instructors and practiced the jab, cross, high block combination. Brennan seemed to catch onto that quickly. They also practiced a few other moves and talked about teamwork tonight.

It was a quick 30-minute class and at the end Brennan was given a white belt. He says he wants to go back, so we will definitely use the three free classes and then decided what we want to do. They're running a special for people from the Kids Karnival, but it would still cost $149/month. It's hard to put that much money into something when Brennan is so young and might not want to stick with it. I'm all about him sampling different things at this age and figuring out what he likes, but paying that much money is a big deal. So we will definitely have to think it over.

I'm glad he enjoyed it so much. I think it would be good for him because he needs to work on his coordination and athleticism. Here are few pics I was able to snap with my phone.

He's in the orange shirt here since we didn't have a uniform yet practicing his combos.

These pictures aren't that great, but they honestly make me get teary-eyed. I'm not expecting him to stick with karate for the long run, but what if he does. This was the night he was given his first white belt.

I love the other kids all giving him a drum roll!

I love my little ninja!

Dear Bryce,

You are sixteen months old and finally a full-time walker! I guess I can't say finally since it took Brennan much longer than you, but I'm still shocked it took you as long as it did. You aren't great at standing up in the middle of the room, so if you fall down while walking, you'll crawl or walk on your knees to the closest thing you can pull up on and then start walking again. I love you walking right now. You're slow enough that you can't run away from me yet, so it's still super cute.

You are still wearing size 3 diapers, but could also fit size 4 now. I need to weigh you because I can tell you've gained weight even with your walking. Your face is much fuller and you even have a little belly now. You got a nice haircut a few weeks ago and look like a a big boy now. Your hair is still super light blond and your eyes are still super blue. We still get comments about your eyes wherever we go. You're a lady killer for sure!

To celebrate your sixteen month birthday, you decided to tumble down the entire flight of stairs today. It scared me to death. It was completely Mommy's fault. We went to the Children's Museum this morning and when we got back home the three of us played in the basement for a bit. When it was time to come upstairs to eat lunch, you crawled up the steps first with me right behind you, and Brennan bringing up the rear. All of us are usually so good about closing the basement door; Brennan included, but neither of us closed it. We came into the living room, you went into the kitchen, and the next thing I know I hear you falling down the stairs. I immediately knew what was happening and I started crying and screaming. Thank God you were okay. In fact you were already sitting up when I got down to you. You were crying and had a good bruise over your left eye, but I was able to get you calmed down quickly. I took your pants off and checked out your legs. I went ahead and sat you in your high chair and you started eating and laughing and acting completely normal. Daddy came home from work when I called him to tell him what happened and also checked you out. We got you down and you walked all around. I kept a close eye on you the rest of the day, but I think you're perfectly fine. You're one tough dude!

You're very close to getting some new teeth, but I don't think any new ones have broken through yet, so you're still at eight. Most days you eat very well. You now love those little fruit pouches. I thought you'd make a huge mess with them, but you work them completely on their own. It's also a convenient way to sneak more veggies into your diet, because you aren't too fond of those. You also love dip now. You have been dipping your waffles in syrup for awhile now, but you also like ketchup. At Chili's last night you pointed to the table and said, "dip, dip" until I gave you some ketchup. Then you ate it with your fingers. You love fruit cocktail and still love any form of sweets. And you love milk. You drink lots of milk each day.

You're much more talkative now and have started repeating what others (especially Brennan) say. I won't be able to think of everything you can say, but here are few of your newer words: boo, shoe, maw (which I think means mine), boom, bye bye, go, and dip. You still call your sippy cup your "ba'.

The things you understand amaze me. You might not recognize the letter B yet like Brennan could at your age, but you are smart in different ways. If I tell you to go get me a diaper, you walk right back to your room. When I tell you it's tubby time, you walk right to the bathroom door. And you are extra observant. Just tonight a small ball rolled under the couch. You immediately went over and grabbed one of your toy golf clubs, brought it over to the couch, laid down on your belly and used it to get the ball out. You've seen me do that before, but that was a first for you to try it.

You've also learned how to blow kisses. It's the cutest thing ever. You blew a kiss on Sunday when I picked you up from the nursery and have been doing it a lot since then. You even make the "muah" sound when you do it. You just started doing the "I don't know" arms too. Like when you lose something and you flip your arms up as if to say, "Where'd it go? I don't know." And you love playing peek-a-boo.

Thankfully sleeping is still going very well. You typically sleep from 7ish-7ish. Sometimes you'll wake a little early, but are usually content just playing in your crib until I come get you. So far you've made no attempts to climb out of your crib. You are down to one nap a day. Occasionally if you wake up early, you'll take two, but that's a rarity now. Most days your afternoon nap is a good three hours. Today you didn't nap very well. When I came into your room I could immediately smell your dirty diaper and you were standing in your crib chewing on the rail. Not cool, Bryce!

The past month has been a lot of fun. You are getting less clingy to Mommy and will stay with a  sitter without crying at all. You still cry most weeks when I leave you in the church nursery, but that doesn't last long and then you have lots of fun playing. I love how ticklish you are and I love your open mouth kisses. You're such a sweet little guy and I just can't get enough of you!

Love,

Mommy

I took this 2nd picture today after his fall down the stairs. You might be able to the see the bruise on the side of his head over his left eye. Still smiling though!