E, J & AJ

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Monday, January 21, 2013

We had a little taste of a Michigan winter last Thursday and were treated to a little snow. The snow came fast and fierce for about an hour, then stopped as quickly as it started but left us with a little on the ground so the boys could have some fun.

When we were driving home from Alex's school in the little snow storm Alex asked me if we were in Michigan :).

Brodie wasn't quite sure what to think of it all and I think he was a little annoyed to be all bundled up.

Alex loved making "tracks" in the snow.

Monday, January 14, 2013

The Boys

A little random catching up on what the boys are up to these days.

Brodie is now 13 months old.

He is walking everywhere.

He is "chatting" up a storm and is determined to communicate with us.
He is currently saying the following "words" -
"ba" for ball
"uh oh" - after dropping something off his high chair for the 100th time!
"doe doe" - doggy
"beebee" baby

Brodie is obsessed with dogs and he now knows which of our neighbors have them and he will take off to their houses whenever we are outside and is not impressed when we try to redirect his mission.

Brodie LOVES to be outside. He will bring me his shoes when we ask and starts to cry when it is time to go inside and we take his shoes off in the garage. He is happy as can be to wander around and explore.

Brodie still loves books and likes to be read too and will sit and read by himself a lot too.

Brodie plays great by himself and once in awhile the boys even treat me to some moments of peace as they are beginning to play together....

Alex is 3 1/2. He sweet, loving, trying, independent, funny, etc. - basically a three year old. He definitely wants to do things his way and on his own.

He is going through a huge "Momma's Boy" phase right now. He wants me to do everything for him from turning on his show in the morning to putting him to bed every night and everything in between and doesn't handle it well when it is Daddy's turn to do it.

Alex is loving going to school and talks about his friends all the time.

He LOVES Eric's IPad and would play it for hours a day if we allowed it. He and Eric have bonding time before bed and play a couple games on it together.

He is very into books right now. He will sit and have me read to him for 30-60 minutes sometimes while Brodie naps. He loves the Bernstein Bear and Winnie the Pooh book collections he got for Christmas.

I love chatting with him at night when I put him to bed, because he just verbalizes every random thought that comes into his head....This was the first 10 seconds the other night...."Momma why does Pooh say Oh Bother?"...."Momma when we play hide and seek tomorrow I am going to hide on the stairs"....."Momma how many days til we go on an Easter Egg hunt?"

He is very into pretend play right now. We pretend to be characters from Aladdin, Curious George, or football players or spiderman, etc. Pretty much whatever we play somehow turns into us wrestling as that is his favorite activity.

We had a rainy weekend, but since it was warm we got outside to play whenever there was a break in the rain. Being boys they were both drawn to the mud puddle at the end of our driveway....

A little impromptu 9:30 am bath was needed...

Monday, December 31, 2012

Christmas in Michigan 2012

We drove to Michigan on Friday, December 21 to spend Christmas with our families. The boys did well on the drive. Brodie was a little fussy and fighting a double ear infection, but he was a trooper and despite only taking two 30 minute naps the whole way he avoided having any major meltdowns. We discovered he liked watching "Baby Signing Time". With a DVD player and the IPad, Alex had no problem being occupied.

There was a trace amount of snow on the ground when we got to Grand Haven so Alex had to get all suited up and go out and play. It was crazy cold and windy so no one wanted to go out, so we watched Alex run up and down the hills and play through the window! He lasted about 20 minutes before deciding he was freezing.

On Saturday Alex and I went with both Grandmas to the Critter Barn to see the animals and the Live Nativity. He was THRILLED with his surprise that his cousin, Kasjen, came too! He insisted that Kasjen hold his hand anytime we had to walk everywhere. Alex loved petting all the animals.

Only a few chicks may have been injured during our visit :)

On Christmas Eve, waiting for all the cousins to arrive...

Alex got to be "Santa" and pass out presents - I think he liked this about as much as opening presents....

Waiting for his turn to open presents...

Helping Daddy open his big present...

Alex loved his Berenstein Bear book collection, he insisted on reading it right then and there....

The VandenBrand Clan....

Brodie's turn...

Wresting with Uncle Todd....

Christmas Day with the Postmas.....

Alex was hilarious when he opened this dinosaur pillow pet - he acted like it was real and wrestled it to the ground...

Cousin Love....

Chutes and Ladders - Alex loved playing this game...

Christmas tradition - new pj's for all the kids....

Loved his football uniform...he has since slept with it many nights....

So excited that we got one big snow storm while we were there.....

Alex also tried to play golf in the snow, but got a little frustrated keeping track of his ball ;).

We were busy and I forgot to get the camera out a lot, but overall we enjoyed some great quality time with family and friends. We had a wonderful week. We ate way too much good food and loved spending time with everyone. Eric and I got out for dates, nights out with friends, shopping and a movie - wow! The boys loved being with their grandparents and cousins and we were all spoiled with generous gifts.

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Countdown to Christmas

We spent the month of December doing a "Countdown to Christmas". We hung numbered envelopes on the mantle and every morning Alex got to open an envelope and inside was a piece of paper that revealed the days special activity.