Licking Peanut Butter

One of the activities our speech therapist recommended was to have Colt lick peanut butter (while I held the spoon for him).  This is supposed to help strengthen his tongue muscles.   We decided to have peanut butter for a snack.  I was able to get Colt to lick it a few times but he soon wanted to eat it like Brody & Gunner. 

The Important thing about Laughing

Brad was teasing Brody the other night and put Colt into hysterics.  I tried to grab the camera and take a video.  This first video sort of describes what is going on but I will give you a brief background.  Brody would ask Brad to not read the book until he got back.  As soon as Brody left, Brad would pick up the book and start reading.  This would put Colt into a laughing fit.   Brody would race back as soon as he heard Brad.  This went on a few times and then I was enlisted to help him out.   The book Brad was reading is called The Important Book.

The videos are really dark so you can't see Colt, but you can definitely hear him laughing. 

Legos

Brody first started playing with Legos at Grammy & Fafa's house.  I have been a little hesitant about letting them invade our house, mostly because I wanted to have a good system for storing them and keeping things cleaned up (based on what I have heard from other parents).   I finally gave in and Brody has acquired a few Lego sets and even some from his birthday.  He absolutely LOVES them and could spend hours working on a project.  I am happy because (for now) we have a good system in place for Lego time.

Brody can only play with them when Ollie is asleep (since he will put them in his mouth).  We also put out this big blanket so that we can see any pieces that may get scattered.   So far our system is working but I am pretty sure we will run into more complications as our lego supply grows and we have more than one boy completely fascinated by them.

Brad helping Brody with the assembly. (They didn't wear matching orange shirts on purpose)

Brody does a pretty good job working on it by himself but he prefers to have us helping him out.  

Happy 4th Birthday Brody!

My baby is turning 4. It's so hard to believe. As I am writing this I have tears rolling down my cheeks because we are so incredibly blessed and so thankful that Brody is our son.

4 years

3 years

2 years

1 year

March 28, 2007



One of my favorite books that we have read to Brody is "You're My Little Love Bug".  It has music and a place to put a picture.  (  It goes through cute little sayings such as "you're my cuddly Kangaroo" or "my monkey up a tree".  But the last page gets me every time and sums up my feelings as the mother of my boys.

"You're everything that's wonderful, You're all of the above! 

But most of all what you are is God's sweetest gift of love!"

Happy 4th Birthday Brody! 

B & O's Birthday Party

We had a small family birthday party for Brody & Ollie.  With our "small" family party we still had 9 kids in attendance.   It was a fun time hanging out with everyone. 

Annika, Ryker, Colt, Brody & Gunner eating lunch.

Ollie eating his cupcake. 

Brody opening his presents (with Abi & Gunner)

My only attempt at decorating for the party.

Singing Happy Birthday!

Ollie eating his cupcake.

Brody eating his cupcake

It was such a nice day that we encouraged the kids to go outside.  They spent the rest of the day playing in the fresh air.  Colt is driving Annika around in the Gator.  (Not sure what Brody is doing in the background)

Another cute picture of Ollie.

Fafa & Grammy weren't able to make it since they were feeling a little sick.  We definitely missed them but know we will get to celebrate with them soon. 

More skiing

We took the boys up skiing again.  This time I was able to send Ollie with my sister so she could take him to my parents house for the day.  (I'm so thankful for my family!) 

It took a lot longer getting up to the mountain than I had anticipated because we had to pick up some borrowed gear for the boys.   We finally did make it and had a great time.  Although we know that the boys are pretty tired after an hour.  

Getting ready to ski.  (I'm not sure what Colt is doing here, but he did not want his picture taken)

 One of Brody's favorite things was to sit down on his skis.  (Ouch!)

Brody had no trouble getting on the magic carpet by himself.  Once Colt saw this he insisted on going by himself too.  He was so cute! 

Brad took Brody up the chair lift twice.  And of course Colt wanted to go too so Brad took Colt up once.  (I did not bring my skis so I just walked around in my boots and helped the boys near the magic carpet area). 

It has been so fun watching Brody learn so quickly.  He can snow plow and is starting to turn fairly well.   He is going to be much better skier than me in no time. 

Colt hasn't quite mastered the snow plow or turning but he has a ton of fun just standing on his skis and bombing it down the hill.   (I was walking backwards in this video, while trying to take a video so its not that great) 



Green Please

I was excited that I remembered it was St. Patrick's Day.  I didn't put much effort into Leprechaun traps or making a huge deal out of it because I didn't think Brody (and the other boys) would really get it.  I did make green pancakes and dressed everyone up in green and I was very surprised by how excited they were.  Colt even kept pointing out green stuff (in his Coltese).  

My attempt at pancakes.  

Brad, Brody & Colt in their green.  Ollie is in the background still in his pajamas.  

 But here is the cute little munchkin in his green.  (My sister was giving me a hard time because my boys looked "dorky" in their mismatched green.  I didn't care because I loved it.   What's the saying?  The apple doesn't fall far from the tree). 

I forgot to get a picture of me but I was wearing green!  

Sunny days & friends

It wasn't the sunniest of days but it was (momentarily) dry and warm enough to get the boys outside.  We also had our friends Christian and Alex over to play with us.  All the boys loved being in the fresh air.   (Christian & Alex's parents, Hans & Cynthia, are good friends that we play soccer with)

Alex had such a great time pushing the John Deere Gator.

Colt & Alex riding together.  Alex just turned 2 so he is a little younger than Colt, but they played so well together. 

St. Patrick's Day Dash

A few weeks ago Brad came home with two St. Patrick's Day Dash shirts and two envelopes.

Me: What's this?
Brad: Oh, we are running in the St. Patrick's Day Dash.
Me: What? Really? How did that happen?
Brad: I forgot to tell you.  I saw Al a few days ago and he gave us these entries and shirts.  (Al was Brad's running coach and also the founder of the St. Patrick's Day Dash)  

So we were signed up.  I have been running fairly regularly so I wasn't very nervous about the race itself.  I was more nervous about the babysitter that had to watch the boys early in the morning (the morning routine can be a little hectic with 3 boys, plus we had to move our clocks an hour forward).  We decided we would wake the boys up before we left and get them changed and acquainted with someone different being there.  Thankfully our babysitter survived and so did the boys.  

RACE REPORT:   It was rainy but not too cold.  We started in the middle of the first (green) wave and were surprised at how many people we passed at the beginning (not necessarily because we were fast but more because other people were probably in the wrong starting position)  Our first mile was a little slow and on a slight uphill.   Brad seemed to hit a groove around the 1 1/2 mile mark and I tried to stay with him the rest of the race.  (I always get frustrated because it seems so effortless for him and I am struggling just to stay with him)   The 2nd half of our race was a lot faster, a little downhill, and we were just in a better running rhythm.  Overall it was just a fun date to have with Brad.  I hope we get a chance to do it next year too. 

(We can do the race (for free) any year that we want, but lately we have been limited by being pregnant or having just had a baby.   One year we ran the race with Brody in the stroller, but it was more of an obstacle course trying to get around all those people.  We vowed to never race with a stroller again.)

I didn't bring my camera so I don't have any pictures but we were there.  

Brody Pillow

The boys have been sleeping in the same bed for quite a few months.  We keep talking about getting Colt his own bed but have yet to do it.  Mostly because it works for them.   The other night when we went to check on them we found Colt using Brody as his pillow. 

Donut Celebration

When we asked Ollie what he wanted to do for his birthday he told us Krispy Kreme.  Or at least that is how Brody & Colt interpreted it.  This was the first time Ollie had a whole donut for himself.  Aside from a few pieces that fell on the floor he ate the whole thing.  (There's nothing quite like a cupcake AND a donut to celebrate your 1st birthday)

Of course, Brody & Colt had their standard donut and chocolate milk.

Brad took a (rare) picture with me and the boys. 

Brad & Ollie

As always it was a fun Krispy Kreme adventure especially since we were celebrating Ollie's birthday.

Cupcake Celebration

My friend Rachael visited me and Ollie in the hospital when he was born.  She also came a few times during those first few weeks to help me out.   She has been such a blessing and it has been so great getting to know her.  She has two adorable kids and her oldest, Titus, has always been enamored with Ollie.  When we are at chuch Titus makes an extra effort to find Ollie, play with him and then talks about how cute Ollie is.  I decided to invite them over to help celebrate Ollie's birthday.  I also invited Jessi, Gunner & Sayler over.

Getting ready for Ollie's cupcake.

Ollie eating his cupcake.  It took him a little while to get used to it but then he made a good mess.

Titus picked out a present for Ollie and wrapped it up for him.  Ollie loves his box and his new rattle hammer.  (notice Ollie is in a different outfit because he messed up his other one so quickly.  I forgot the bib)

A picture of the kids (without Sayler)  Megan, Gunner, Brody, Titus, Ollie & Colt

Titus & Ollie  (Colt in the background)

A video of us singing Happy Birthday

We loved that Rachael, Titus, Megan, Jessi, Gunner & Sayler could join us to celebrate. 

Skiing

Last weekend we went up to the mountain to take Brody skiing.  Our friends, Karl, Lori, Annika & Ryker joined us for the afternoon.  At first Brody didn't want to ski.  After one trip down the mountain he was unstoppable.  He kept saying "Dad, get out of my way."  or "I want to go faster."  

We borrowed these pink boots and skis from our friends.

Karl & Annika   Brad & Brody (It was actually pretty warm there).

Post Skiing break

Ollie all bundled up.  (I did not have shoes for Ollie and still plopped him on the snow.  He wanted to crawl around but it was too cold for his little hands.)

Colt really wanted to ski.  We are hoping we can take him up soon.  We just need to find boots and skis small enough for him. 

A few videos of Brody skiing.  I didn't do a very good job with these videos.  I was holding Ollie while trying to hold the camera still and didn't zoom in until the end of the 2nd video.   I also missed some really good video footage of Brody.  Hopefully I will get some more next time.

More sleeping pictures

We went in to check on Ollie and found him sleeping with this little giraffe next to him.  It was so cute so we took a few pictures. 

Then I decided to take a few more pictures of the other boys.