Wednesday, October 31, 2012

October 2012

Brant does somersaults off of the couch.  It's great fun to watch your kid almost break his neck several times a day.

Brant also says "thank you" now.  It's very cute.  He'll even remind you to say it when he gives you something.  Brax is close, but his comes out sounding more like a grunt.

The volleyball season ended.  This one was, by far, my favorite to date.  We finished 9-8 which isn't fantastic, but really great considering they got very little training last season.  I loved the girls on the team and will really miss them next year.



Fr. Mac died.  How I loved Fr. Mac.  The last I saw him, and the last time that I was at St. Barnabas, was for Grandpa's funeral.  So I took this one pretty hard.  My favorite homily of his ever, was on an especially hot day.  He walked up, said, "When you go outside today, think of Hell," and returned to his seat.  I was so touched when he showed up for Grandpa's funeral.  He was a great priest.



The babies love playing in the cabinet.  They clean it out, climb in, and shut the door on themselves.  Great fun.



So tonight at dinner, Elias told me that I needed to do everything because I was the servant. Then he proceeded to tell me to get him another piece of pizza. Uh....excuse me? Where did he learn this?! This momma just went on strike.

Elias had his first overnight with friend.  He's asked us several times to sleep over at Oliver's and we've always said no.  Tonight, even though he was in orange and red at school, Steve let him stay.  I was sure that we would get a call late at night, but it never came.  Hmmm, doesn't miss us as much as I hoped.

Two years ago, Elias and I went to the Halloween store near our old house and checked out all the fun stuff.  He reminds me of this often.  So today, we decided to all go back to the store and let Elias pick out a costume.  We walked up, opened the doors and two creature things started shaking and howling.  He freaked.  And tried to run out.  Daddy stopped him, calmed him down, and carried him through the store.  Yeah, carried him.  On the way out, I tried to get him to hold the doors for me so I could get out with the stroller.  He said, "Oh no, I'm gonna run." Wimp.


Allie and I had another sister date.  This time at El Meson and a movie, Pitch Perfect.  Loved it!

After laying the babies down for the night, Daddy came down to an arrangement Elias had laid out for him.  He had laid out several blankets, got Dad some beer and himself his water, and set out video game stuff for both of them.  Daddy asked, "So I guess you want to stay up late," to which Elias responded, "I'll do anything to stay up late."

Elias: "destroyeded" "worser"

So I'm looking through past videos and pictures and I noticed that these are my kids' favorite toys: a box/fort, drawers to sit in, a kitchen cabinet to climb in and out of, and a laundry basket on wheels for rides...who needs toys?



I know you'll be shocked that my kids are playing with something other than toys...or that Brax is doing all of the work....or that Brant is going to have a concussion before he's two...
So this week is Fall Break, which means we get a whole week off of school.  I decided to pack as much as possible into this week to make myself as miserable as possible.  So far, I've painted and caught up with some work stuff, organized and bought lots of stuff (that part wasn't too bad).  We also went to the zoo and the Children's Museum. 

  Elias was pretending like he was underwater with the penguins.








The babies had their well-child checkups.
10/18/12
Brant:  30 1/4" tall
            21 lbs. 10 oz

Brax:  31 1/2" tall
           20 lbs. 14 oz

 Some other fun pictures:



Yes, now Brax knows how to take his pants and diaper off.  Fun, fun!


The power of a cheese stick.  In fact, Brant will take the food out of his 
mouth and throw it if he sees something else that he rather be eating.


Watching IU football with Daddy!


and eating, of course...


I moved the stair barrier (aka Pack n Play) so that the babies could crawl up and go into the monkey bathroom to brush teeth.  Brax headed straight up, no problem.  Brant tried to move the barrier back to the stairs so he didn't have to go up.

Brant has been sick for a few days.  He hates to have his temperature taken.  So today, Steve was away, and I needed to take Brant's temp.  He was, of course, screaming at the top of his lungs.  This always bothers Brax, who came over, sat down, started kicking me as hard as he could and crying, and tried to pull the thermometer out.  I felt so bad, but what a sweet brother!  After it was done, Brant quieted down a little, and Brax rubbed his head and his belly.  

At nap today, I heard someone playing in the loft.  I yelled up and asked Elias what he was doing since he was supposed to be in bed.  No answer.  After a moment, I sent Steve up fearing the worst....yep...Brax can now climb out of his crib.  

We went to Zoo Boo.  Brant wanted to walk (in a zigzag pattern) without the stroller.  Brax was very into the animals.  He sat staring for a long time. 


 Brax found it hilarious to pull the face down over his eyes.  Seriously, he was cracking himself up.
 Brant tackling the 2 inch steps in the obstacle course.
 Look at that cute butt!







What was that?!

Halloween!  We started the day with a Happy Birthday shout out to Grandpa Imel.  He would have been 97 today.  Everybody (except dad, of course) enjoyed their parties at school.  That night, Elias and Daddy went out trick or treating while the babies and I (and Mimi, Papaw, and Grandma Ann later) answered the door.  Once I showed them how to give out candy, they did such a good job.  When the doorbell rang, I would shake the candy bucket and the babies would haul to the front door.  They then would reach into the bucket to grab a piece (or two in some cases) and put it in the kids' buckets or bags.  Once they got scared and backed away from a skull mask, but otherwise they were fine.  Brax had a couple of favorites who received more than one piece of candy.  Once they had handed out the candy, they would shut the door and run off to play.  The video is not great.  I tried to help and video at the same time since I was alone.  The second video is me teaching Brant the first time.





Sunday, September 30, 2012

September 2012


Elias is playing soccer again this season.  However, he now is in U8 which means that he has to sit with his team, the field is much bigger, and goalies are now a part of the game.  He LOVES defense and always tries to be the goalie.  Should be a fun season!





Brant has been climbing the little slide on the indoor climbing toy for some time now.  However, today, he was climbing up the big slide and sliding down.



Both boys are waving now.  Brant says "ba ba" for bye bye and bubba.  They both say "taw" for stop.

Today, we made a fort out of big box for the babies.  They're in heaven.

Daddy's car finally bit the dust.  It was hard to watch it go (for him),


but we got a shiny new (to us) Honda Accord to take its place.  As we were shopping, Steve mentioned that the car we bought would likely be Elias's first car.  After I resumed breathing, we told Elias that we bought him a new car...






Some other fun pictures from this month...






Friday, August 31, 2012

August 2012

Mimi bought the boys a wagon for their birthday.  Today, Brax decided to give Brant a ride.  Note the grunting it requires for him to pull his brother who outweighs him by a pound...



We went to the State Fair today!  Elias is doing much better about riding the big rides.  He still enjoys the little ones too though.  We went to the monster truck show.  Elias made Daddy sit at the very very top. (Cause it was SOOO loud!) The babies lasted about two minutes before the screaming began...
























I forgot to put Brant's shorts on him before I laid him down for nap.  He pooped.  He took his diaper off.  He ate his own poop.  No need to say more.

Brax had his very first haircut.  I miss his curls already!  Sniff sniff.






Elias - "That can't be ILLEGAL!"

Elias - "I wasn't going to eat, but my stomach was YELLING at me."

August 18 - The babies attended their very first major league baseball game.  Saturday afternoon, we drove to Cincinnati to watch the Cubs beat the reds.  The babies had a great time.  We had a rough 5th inning, but after getting their second wind, they were both dancing and clapping.  Elias, however, petered out early and spent most of the game curled up on a lap with his ears covered.











The next day, Mamaw and I took the kids to the Newport Aquarium and ate lunch at a very cook grilled cheese place.  They had doughnut grilled cheese.  Steve wasn't there to order that, but it looked like it could be yummy.  Steve and Jim stayed to watch another Cubs game (they lost).






I tried to get a picture of Brant next to the bird like the one with Mamaw.  Except...Brant grabbed the bird, it pecked, he freaked.

The whole time we were there, Elias kept talking about the sharks.  He was so excited to see the sharks.  The sharks are last, of course, so we get there, and I can't find Elias.  Turns out...this guy scares him...



Tonight, as I was changing Brax's diaper, he grabbed the diaper out from under him.  I just grabbed another diaper, so he could play with the original one.  Meanwhile, Brant toddled in and saw what was happening.  He walked over, said, "No no no," took the diaper from Brax and handed it to me.  So cute!