Brody's 6th Birthday

Saturday was Brody's birthday!  We went to get our weekly donuts and decided to celebrate with a candle!

When Brody didn't finish his donut I knew something was wrong that morning.  Shortly after he was complaining of a stomach ache and I was scrambling to figure out what to do about his party that afternoon.  By 11am we knew he had the stomach flu!  The poor guy...on his birthday!  Luckily everything worked out with moving his party to the next day and we even had one more friend that could now make it!

By the afternoon he was feeling a lot better and we were feeling awful that he was sitting at home on his birthday.  So we decided to head off to the zoo!

We gave him a watch for one of his presents and he was eager to use it at the zoo!  When we got there we realized that they would be closing in 45 minutes, so he had us on a tight schedule to make sure we saw everything!

Birthday boy with his brother and sister!

 

Ryder was happy to be along for the ride!

 

Seeing how their hands compared to the Spidermonkeys.

My little penguins!

It happened to be a Penn State Game day too!  So everyone had their gear on and we stopped at a local watch party on the way home.  The staff was sweet enough to run next door to buy candles so Brody could have everyone sing happy birthday to him!

Even though he was feeling kind of sick he had plenty of energy to open presents!

On Sunday we headed to Jester's Court for his birthday party.  I think this might be the last year for the big party...Seven 6 year old boys is a lot to try to manage!  It was a great day and he had the time of his life!  I am so thankful that everything worked out!

Ryder stayed home with Grandma and Bobo and started to official crawl while we were gone!  He has been doing the army crawl for weeks...but now he was up on all fours!  Can't believe we missed it!

 

My annual birthday picture - watching Brody and our tree grow every year.  I can't believe this little guy is six years old.  It seems like yesterday that I found out that I would be expecting my first baby!  Wow - how things have changed...how Brody has grown.  He surprises me every day with the things that he knows.  He loves math and exploring the "why" and telling you facts that he has learned about things.  He is sensitive, something I didn't expect, but I think will be a great attribute as he grows older.  He loves his little brother and sister.  He is wise beyond his years, often talking about things that I wouldn't expect from a child.  He is intrigued with Heaven and often talks about people that have gone to heaven and even about the idea of us going to heaven one day.  He is good for me...he makes me laughs, he challenges me to be more patient, he makes me want to be a better mom...a better person.  I couldn't imagine my life without him - he has taught me so much in his 6 years!

Fall Time Fun!

 Jim and Brody headed to Indiana to see their first Penn State Football game together.  Since they were heading south I decided to take Addisen and Ryder to Grandma and Bobo's for the weekend.

While we were in Charlotte we headed to the Country Mill with Grandma and Aunt Jenny.  It was a HOT and HUMID day!  Addisen had a lot of fun picking and sampling all of her apples!  She even picked pumpkins out for herself and Ryder.

Brody and Jim had a little rain while they were at the game but that didn't stop them from enjoying themselves!  Brody's first picture with the Nittany Lion.  I have a feeling that this will become an annual event.  Lucky for me there are 3 boys and 2 girls in the family...so while they have their boys weekends Addisen and I can pamper ourselves!

When Brody got back to Grandma and Bobo's on Sunday we had his first birthday celebration.  He was nice enough to share the day with Grandma since their birthdays are just a day apart.

Presents from Uncle Neal, Aunt Jenny, Uncle Jim, Aunt Mary and Grandma and Bobo!

The birthday celebration continued during the week - opening presents with Nanny via Facetime.

More presents with Uncle Steve and Aunt Ellen via Facetime.

Brody's class had their first field trip this week.  They  headed to a local orchard.  Brody had a lot of fun picking apples, pumpkins and petting all the animals!

This was the week that Brody was Superstar in his class, too.  What a week!  Jim and I visited the class on Friday to do a few crafts and read a book.  We finished our visit with some birthday cupcakes!

   

 

I just can't believe my little baby is six this week!

Thirty Four Weeks - Finally some portraits!

Jim found a frog for Brody on Friday and he has been keeping it in a tub.  We told him that he should probably let him go...wow did that lead to a lot of tears.  I was surprised at how attached he became to this little guy.  We finally convinced him that it would be a good decision to let the frog rejoin his family and to help ease the pain we took a picture with him!

We headed down to Rockford on Saturday morning to finally take some pictures!  It was a beautiful morning and the kids did pretty well with the idea.

The sun was really bright so some of the lighting didn't work with my photography skills - but at least we finally have some photos of the three kids together.

Addisen smile seems to get bigger and bigger with every shot!

 

They love to play in the waterfalls.

My big boy is finally sitting up consistently - that big head really makes it hard!

 

Ryder has mastered the army crawl and I'm not sure that he will ever crawl "normal".  He can get himself anywhere he wants to be and into all the kids toys!  His little friend at daycare is now standing...I really hope he doesn't learn that very soon.  I think that is the scariest phase!

I love his little cheeks!

 

 

Great picture of Ryder and Addisen (even though they were staring at Jim waving his arms!)

 

 

My pretty girl!

I was lucky enough to catch this picture of Jim kissing Addisen's hand after she fell down - this will be shown at her wedding for sure!

Silly sister posing!

My big boy Brody!  I cannot believe he is going to be 6 in a couple of weeks!  Where has the time gone!

I realized this week that I am going to have a rough time being a "school agers" mom.  Brody came home from school on Friday and told Jim that another boy had pushed him down and choked him.  It almost brought tears to my eyes!  Brody said he didn't tell anyone until he went to his classroom, so his teacher really couldn't do anything about it.  I guess he just laid there while the boy choked him and his friends watched - what should they have done?  I wouldn't expect 5 year olds to know much about choking....guess I am wrong!  Jim taught Brody how to get someone to stop choking him the next time and I said he needs to tell the recess aid.  It has bothered me thinking about the fear that he had in his eyes, thinking that I am the one sending him off to this school where he is being faced with things I never imagined.  But I guess this is growing up...I guess this is the way it is suppose to be...I just have to hope that Jim and I know how to teach him to protect himself and how to be a great boy -one that will stand up for himself and his friends....oh boy can I really go through 12 more years of this?!

Thrity Three Weeks - End of Football Season

The boys football season has come to an end.  Brody had a great time playing and Jim survived coaching 6-8 year old boys!

Brody is so proud of his medal!  He even took it to school to show off as the item he put in the rhyming bag.  During the last game they attempted to run plays with the kids...well at least have one kid throw the ball to another.  It was entertaining to watch and exciting to see them connect a few times.

Addisen wasn't so happy about posing for a picture - her mood brightened when Brody bought her a sucker at the concession stand on the way out.

This is probably one of the best pictures we have the boys together.

Jim and I celebrate our 8th Wedding Anniversary this week.  I can't believe how blessed we have been over the last 8 years.  I would have never imagined that we would have 3 beautiful children!

Focus on Ryder! - Thirty Two Weeks

He's finally sitting up...kind of!

Brody and Jim went to a Penn State watch party on Saturday and got a lot of little goodies - Ryder was excited to pay with the pompom!

He's always up on all fours now and starting to grab the carpet with his hands and just pull himself where he wants to go.  The crawling probably won't be too long now!

Ryder loves his big brother and sister!  They know just how to make him laugh!  He is eating 4 bottles a day (6oz) and eat cereal for breakfast, a fruit/veg for lunch and then cereal with a fruit/veg at dinner.  He still takes two naps a day (about a hour each) and goes to bed at 7pm and wakes up around 6:30am.  He is happy to just talk in his crib until you go and get him.

What a sweet little guy - we are so blessed to have him in our life. 

He is rarely upset - but this allows you to see his two little bottom teeth.  He still just has the 6 teeth that he has had from about 6 months.  There most be some more coming soon.

 

Grandma and Bobo left a few surprises for Brody and Addisen at the cottage.  They moved the sandbox from there house - and the kids love it!  We put a gate on the deck, so they are free to go out there and roam if we aren't out there yet.

Hard to see, but Grandma also left a butterfly garden ornament that lights up at night - they thought that was pretty cool!

Silly sister is always entertaining!