December

Or actually November...We had a couple of big snow days in November.  Eric even got a day off of work for one of them.  The boys LOVED playing in the snow.  Alex more than Brodie.  I shoveled a big snow pile for Alex and he loved climbing it and doing tricks on his sled down it.  Brodie didn't like to be outside if it was still actively snowing and blowing his face.  Else he enjoyed "snowplowing" the driveway with his lawnmower and being pulled all over the yard by Momma. 

 Alex truly enjoyed pelting me with snowballs.

 Snowblowing...

 Alex's awesome Uncle Jason took him and his cousins snowmobiling.  Can you tell he is a little excited!  Jason pulls them behind the snowmobile on a sled - big fun!

 Sledding!

Alex played in his snow pile everyday until it was completely gone.  He is entertained for ever by chipping away at ice and/or snow.  

 The boys were very into decorating the tree this year.  All of our ornaments are nicely located in one spot on the tree.  I try to move one here or there but they always say "hey that's not where the (fill in the blank) goes".

 We went to the Fredrick Meijer Gardens with Grandma.  We braved the cold and played outside in the Children's Garden then we went through the Christmas Trees from Around the World exhibit.  Santa Claus was there on the way out, but the line was long, so some bribing ensued to avoid that line.

 Making Christmas Cookies.  I am pretty sure I still have flour and dough pieces all over my kitchen/house, but they loved doing it.

 We finally caught up to Santa Claus..

Brodie Is 3!

Brodie turned 3 last week.  I can't believe he is already 3!  I feel like time is flying even faster with the second child.

We had two parties to celebrate his big day.

We first celebrated with Eric's family.  Brodie had a combined party with his cousin, Kensie.  We took all the kids to Chucky Cheese's first for some big fun ;).

Then went back to our house for pizza, cupcake and presents!

Pink and Green cupcakes.  When I originally asked Brodie if he wanted a birthday party with Kensie, he said, "No, her have a pink party and I no like pink!".




On Saturday we had my family over.  We had a soup and sandwich lunch and then cake and presents.  Brodie loved all of his great presents, but was pretty blown away with this crane!

 Cousin Christmas Card picture attempts:

such a sweet face when we were singing:

 We were blessed with a great report at Brodie's 3 year well visit.  And as we already knew, this boy is tall!!  The doctor's first comment was what a tall 3 year old he is.

His stats:
Weight:  32.9lb (60th percentile)
Height:  41 inches (97th percentile) - my mom looked up my brother's stats (they are 6'3" and 6'4") and they were only 39 and 40 inches at age 3.  Alex was 39 1/4 inches.

I did the Three Year Old Interview with Brodie and here are his answers:

1.  What is your favorite color?  RED
2.  Who is your best friend?  ALEX
3.  What is your favorite movie?  Wizard of Oz  (we had just watched this the past weekend)
4.  What is your favorite snack? pb&J
5.  What is your favorite show?  Paw Patrol
6.  What is your favorite drink?  Milk
7.  What is your favorite thing to wear?  Tractor Shirt
8.  What is your favorite toy?  digger
9.  What do you like to do?  Play at the Park
10.  Where do you like to go play?  At the Gym (referring to gym at Alex's school)
11.  What do you like to do outside?  Mow the Grass (true statement - our play lawnmower must have 1000 miles on it by now!)
12.  Who loves you?  Alex
13.  What is your favorite song?  Whole World (Yes - we must sing this every night before he goes to bed - Jesus Has the Whole World in His Hands).
14.  What do you want to be when you grow up?  A Worker.  (construction worker -Brodie loves all things related to diggers, bulldozers, rollers, cement mixers, etc. )
15.  What do you take to bed with you?  Teddy and Paci

A few things about Brodie at this age:
*He is very into picking out his clothes right now.  He always wants to wear his Lions Jersey (blue soccer shirt) or his MSU shirt.  He will say "momma my jersey in the wash?"

*He is very good at entertaining himself, but still will often request "momma play with me".  He loves to play in play doh with his little construction vehicles.  He likes to drive tractors around and pretend they are working in the fields.  He loves to play on the treadmilll - it is usually a moving truck, but most recently has been Santa's sleigh and he fills it with toys and then delivers them around the basement.

*He is happy just puttering around.  He loves to help Eric fix things and will often pretend to fix things on his own.  He loves to mow the grass outside or play in the sandbox.  He is really not into playing sports with us.

*He loves technology - he has an old iphone of Eric's that is his phone and he takes lots of pictures on it.  He is always asking Eric if he can play his ipad or go play video games (Wii).

*You can tell he has an older brother by a lot of stuff that comes out of his mouth.  The other day I put Brodie in time out and he said "Fine momma I not gonna play diggers with you ever again".

*He adores Alex and is always sad when Alex is at school for the day.  Depends on the day - they are either best buddies who play fabulously together or else it is a thrown down knock out fight every 5 minutes.   Brodie is quick to hit or chuck a toy at Alex if things aren't going his way.

*Brodie is overall very sweet with an easy going temperament.  But I swear he knows he turned three and has definitely been pushing the limits the past few weeks.  I think he has also gotten some youngest child treatment and we are now like that is not so cute anymore :).  He definitely knows what he wants and is not afraid to tell you what that is.

*He is a funny child and definitely makes me laugh daily.  I need to get better about recording his funny little comments.

We love you Brodie Jon!

OCTOBER

I am very very very behind on blogging...so here is my attempt to basically cover the month of October in one post.  We are getting more and more settled into the house and had a fun and busy month.  Here are the highlights...probably not in order.

ROBINETTES FIELD TRIP:
I went with Alex's class to a local apple orchard for a field trip.  We went on a hay ride, saw how cider is made, went through a corn maze and had cider and donuts.

PAJAMA PUMPKIN PARTY:
Alex's school had a Pajama Pumpkin Party the night before Halloween.  It is always big excitement to get to wear pajamas to school.

When we arrived there was a variety of sensory stations set up:  play dough, Gak, popcorn kernels, corn, etc.



 Then the pastor told a pumpkin parable.  Brodie sat right up there with Alex and was so enthralled he didn't move an inch.

They decorated pumpkin cookies.

Then ended the night with a little puppet show.


HALLOWEEN:
*First we went trick or treating at Eric's office.  They turned off the lights in the main area and the kid's got to trick or treat through all the offices and cubicles.  Many of the offices and cubicles were decorated for Halloween.

Policeman and Batman:

Sorting the loot....

The boys each filled their pumpkins to the top!

Thankfully they got a lot of candy at Eric's office because Halloween night was FREEZING.  We had snow flurries during the day and then temperatures in the 30's and windchills in the 20's for trick or treating.  We put Brodie in the stroller to go between houses and he never got out.  After a few houses he said he was freezing and wanted to go home.  Eric took Brodie home and Alex and  I continued trick or treating.  I told Alex I would go until he was too cold.  We went for about an hour and then he said his face was freezing.

All bundled up and ready to go:

 Other randomness I want to remember....

Brodie is very into accessorizing.  He is usually found with key chains, necklaces, binoculars, etc. around his neck:

 Alex and I went to a Home Depot Kid's Workshop and built a bird house:

 Brodie is potty trained!!!  We are still working on #2, but he is pretty much accident free for the past few weeks!

 Dress Like a Pirate Day at Krispy Kreme =free dozen donuts!  This is post costume picture:

 Brodie's new favorite thing to play is "moving".  He is the mover and he piles all of our toys on the treadmill (aka moving truck) and then he uses the tipped over chair as his ladder to climb on and off the truck...

 Cutting apples from the orchard to make applesauce:

 I took Alex to see his first movie in a movie theater.  We went to the Lego Movie:

 We went on a hayride at Bethke Farms to go pick out our pumpkins.  They had a play area with a pirate ship the boys liked playing on:

 Brodie loves to fix things like his Daddy.  He is under his jeep fixing it with some tools:

We went to John Ball Zoo on a nice fall day with their cousin, Kensie, and I got this cute shot of Alex on the play area.  

 Who can do the best trick landing: (also a summary of the boys personalities:))

Soccer

Alex is playing AYSO soccer again this Fall.  We really like his coach this season.  He is great with the kids and has taught them so much.  They are truly improving every week.  The coach has made a website for the team and he posted some pictures from last Saturday's game.  The best thing about the picture is the amazing weather - watching Saturday morning soccer in shorts in Michigan at the end of September!!

Here are a few shots of Alex in action - (#4)....

Fall Fun!

Well it definitely feels like Fall in Michigan the past couple of days.  Alex and Brodie went with their cousin to the Koetsier's Fall Play Days.  It is a huge greenhouse that sets up a bunch of Fall activities for kids.  There was a variety of stations and the kids loved it.

So cute- little pedal tractors.  Definitely Brodie's favorite area!

 Painting their pumpkins - very serious work!

 We took a hayride out to the "pumpkin patch" and they all got to pick a pumpkin.  There were also animals and Fall/Halloween decorations to see on the ride.  Each child got an apple to eat and then there was an apple core target stop along the way.  Alex was thrilled to make his thru the opening.

 
A four wheeler pulled these cute little cars on the "bumblebee express".  Brodie wanted nothing to do with riding on this.

 One station was a big pumpkin inflatable filled with balloons.  Hours of fun for sure!

 Target throwing...

They had other inflatables, a little play house and a snack of popcorn, donuts and cider.   Will definitely be a new yearly tradition.