This Brud's For You: February 2012

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Our Week in Pictures

I did as I had planned to do. I took pictures of my kids this week. Unfortunately, I'm still working on that cell phone wall paper. But thanks to some unbelievably warm weather here, we spent lots of time playing outdoors, which gave us plenty of fun things to take pictures of.

The boys had a great time playing at the park one afternoon. This one is just so cool with his sunglasses on.

All 3 took a ride on a tire swing.

Carson actually tackled the "rock climbing" wall. (And there's my shadow.)

Later that same day we spent some time playing in the alley with the neighbor kids. The other kids were riding bikes and scooters and racing down the alley and around the block. Then there was Carson and Jensen, trying to ride their big wheel bikes. After a few minutes of not being able to keep up with anyone, they gave up and just started running after all the kids. Kind of pathetic. I resolved then and there to get them scooters so that they could improve their balance. That's the main reason neither of them can ride a bike. The other real reason being that I can't figure out how to teach them to ride a bike without having Mason running in the street too.

Anyway, we got the boys some scooters that very night (thanks Dustin!!!!) and they were so excited to try them out.

We also have some awesome neighbors who have cool things like trampolines. Carson finally learned this week how to bounce on his bottom and then stand back up.

Of course, right after the trampoline pictures, we decided to head home for dinner. In the short distance to our house, Jensen crashed on his scooter, scraping up his head, nose, upper lip and the inside of the lip. His lip was pretty swollen all weekend. My father-in-law suggested we give him a football helmet to ride with next time. Poor little guy. Plus, now he has to explain to everyone he sees what happened to him, since his face is all hashed up. Good news is that the scabs are healing and coming off, so he'll back to his cute faced self in no time.

And here's Mason's latest pastime. He has figured out that if he stands at the foot of Carson's bed, he can throw a small ball into the hoop. (See the little purple ball in his hand?)

And there's the little purple ball going in! Sometimes this activity scares me, but he hasn't fallen off the bed yet.

Yet.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Bla, bla, blog

I don't feel like I really have anything to blog about. We've just been busy with school, the gym, church and playing. Dustin has been very, very busy working. Which makes for full days, but nothing really blog worthy. My goal for this week: take a bunch of pictures of the kids. I especially need a new picture for my phone's wallpaper. My current wallpaper is a picture that is now a year old. I could use some updated shots of all of the boys, but especially Carson.

I do have a couple of cute pics of Mason playing with our neighbor. We have a pretty sweet set up, in that we share an alley with two other families from church. On a nice afternoon, the alley is a busy place, full of kids on bikes, scooters, and the occasional truck, as you see here. :)

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Love the LOVE

I love making homemade Valentines. I start really early, so that I have time to make them without getting stressed. And it allows me time to let my kids help. When I pick which Valentines I'm going to make (off of the Disney Family Fun Go website) I always make sure that the kids can help in some way.

These are the Valentines Jensen made for his "preschool" class. They are little glow sticks pushed through hearts that say "You make my heart GLOW". (My kids love glow sticks!) I love that he signs his name now, and he also helped carefully push the glow sticks through each heart. The best part was that I got the glow sticks in the Target dollar bin! Talk about inexpensive (yet cute and fun.)

These are Carson's Valentines. We made some cute heart shaped crayons (this year's attempt was much more successful than last year) and they have a card that says "You Color My World." We also had the good fortune of getting some Krispy Kreme Valentines for free while we were there last week, and so each of his classmates can also take those in to get a free donut in the next month! Yummy and fun!

And these were the Valentines that we made for their teachers. They are bags of microwave popcorn taped on to what is supposed to look like a box of movie popcorn. And even though the boys didn't do too much to help me, I still really liked them.

I know a lot of people who hate Valentines day because they think it's too commercialized, or because it focuses too much on romantic love. I guess I just don't worry about those things when it comes to this holiday. I feel like I have a lot of love in my life, through my husband, kids, family, and friends. I could think of a lot of people who I would consider my "Valentines."

Of course I love this guy.

And this guy.

AND this guy.

And who doesn't love this guy? :)

But mostly I love all of this.

Friday, February 10, 2012

To the Birthday Boy

Yesterday my "Sweet Baby J" turned 4 years old. I have long since called him "Baby J" because he outgrew being a baby a while ago. It is clear there is no more baby left in him, just pure little boy. He was so excited to be 4! I sang "Happy Birthday" to him when he woke up, and the first thing he said to me was, "YES! I'm 4 now!" I have been smitten with his little funny face since I first laid eyes on him. Oh how we love this spunky little guy! We couldn't imagine our family or our lives without him in it.

For his birthday this year, we kept it simple. Jensen invited Grandma and Grandpa Brudnicki and one of his friends to go to a pizza and game place for the evening.

After some games we opened presents (which he totally loved).

I think this face says it all. :)

We also had cake, which Jensen was very specific about. Chocolate cake with whipped cream inside, and strawberries in a circle on the top, and a big pile of whipped cream in the center. It was a beautiful creation, and a tasty combo! I'm bummed I didn't get any pictures of it, but oh well.

Happy Birthday Jensen!

Monday, February 6, 2012

They Start So Young...

Lately, this is where I've been finding Mason when he's been quiet for a little too long. He likes to climb up in his chair and look at his books. Sometimes he climbs onto Carson's bed and gets into his book basket, too. These are the only pictures I've been able to get of him doing it, because as soon as I find him and sneak off to get my camera, he decides he doesn't want his picture taken!