Travel Day Two

Home Sweet Home! The weather on our second day of travel was not very pleasant. After going through some rain, ice and finally snow.........we were all happy to be home again. After a few days away, there is just nothing like crawling into your own bed!


You may have noticed that there have been several pictures of Brian and his "bebe" (aka: pacifier). At home he only gets to use them when he is taking a nap or going to bed. We make exceptions during long car trip or an occasional other special occasion. For the most part though, he rarely asks for it during the day.

Travel Day

Even though it seems like we just got here, we had to start making our way back to Illinois today. We sure had fun and thank Grandma and Grandpa for making this another fantastic South Dakota trip! After stopping in Sioux Falls to have a quick lunch visit with Mommy's good friend Jannelle it was on to Great Grandma's house in Iowa. To spice up the drive a little for the boy's, we let them switch car seats for a while. They both seemed to like the change of venue. Brian said he even thought he was able to color better from his brother's seat!

A South Dakota Christmas!

Since we will be in Illinois for Christmas this year, we decided to celebrate Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's house a little early. Uncle Seth, Aunt Ann, Nolan and Lauren came over, the tree was decorated, Grandma made a yummy dinner and.......there were even a few presents! The boys are having a ball playing in their Thomas tent. Brian immediately referred to the circles on the material as "stickers".













Brian enjoys reading so he was very excited to receive a couple new books!














Even though Christmas is so much more than just opening some presents, there truly is nothing like seeing and living the holidays through the eyes of a child!

Gobble Gobble!

Brian and his family celebrated Thanksgiving at Great Aunt Bev's house. While all the grown ups had their fill on turkey and all the trimmings, Brian and his cousin Nolan slipped off to a coffee table to do some drawing.

Mommy, Daddy and Uncle Seth needed to walk off some of their turkey so Brian agreed to take them to playground down the street.

Before we headed back to Grandpa and Grandma's house, we stopped in to see Great Grandma Irene. Even though it is only a short drive to her house, the activities of the day kicked in and Brian fell asleep.

It was sure great seeing everyone today and Brian and his family hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday too!

Peas in a Pod!

We mentioned before that Brian likes rocking in Grandma and Grandpa's little boy rocking chair. Well, Spencer shares a similar interest in this chair. Occasionally they would share it, but for the most part - one was usually pulling the other one out of it!

Let Them Eat Cake!

Grandma and Grandpa had a little party today to thank all the people who helped with Grandpa's successful campaign for re-election to the State Senate. Since we were in town, we crashed the party! We brought a little of the extra cake home with us - would anyone like to take a guess as to what kind of cake it was?

Chillin'

After a couple long travel days, Brian was looking forward to just relaxing in his jammies.

Playing with all of Grandma and Grandpa's toys, rocking in the perfectly sized little boy rocking chair and enjoying some snacks (in this case - a cheese stick) were all on today's agenda. It was a good day!

Travel Day Two

Last night we spent the night in Clear Lake, Iowa. Thanks for letting us stay at your house again Great Grandma, hope you are having a great time in Arizona! We got off to a early start this morning because we wanted to get to Grandma and Grandpa's house in time to go listen to Grandpa and his barbershop quartet sing in a concert this afternoon. The concert was very good and considering that the boys had been in a car for about 6 hours, they did an amazing job of sitting quietly for nearly the entire concert! When we all got back to the house, Brian and Grandpa got right to playing!

Travel Day

Today was day one of our two day drive to South Dakota. For this trip, Daddy added something new to the RSV (red sport vehicle). He put in an adapter so that we could run a VCR. Normally the boys would settle into a long car trip by watching (and Mommy and Daddy having to listen) to the same couple DVD's that they like the most for 6+ hours. Instead of Mommy and Daddy having to endure this, we made a VCR tape with a nice variety of little boy friendly entertainment. As you can see, Brian thought this was a great idea too!

Yummy!

Brian LOVES his bananas! Normally Mommy or Daddy cut them into bite size pieces for him but this morning he wanted to eat his banana like a big boy.......and he did!

Brian and his family will be leaving for South Dakota tomorrow morning to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with Grandma and Grandpa. We may not be able to get an Internet connection for a couple day but Brian's blog will be updated as soon as we can.

Tool of the Day!

The name is Brian.........Tool man Brian and I like my paint shaken not stirred. (Sorry, I guess a little of the new James Bond movie Mommy saw last weekend must be rubbing off here.) One thing is certain though......when Brian needs his paint shaken, he only uses the Harbil 5-Gallon Model EC 2204 Paint Mixer.

Brian also sends out a big thank you to Bob and Elaine over at Floors and Walls for being kind enough to store this big ol' machine for him at their store.

Official Photo

We haven't posted any of Brian's official 2 year old pictures for quite a while so.......here ya go!

Mission!

"Mission": a term that Brian uses for going down into the basement with either Daddy or Mommy on a trip that involves completing some sort of project. Below are a couple of examples.

Example #1

Mission Feed the Cat

Example #2

Mission Balance the Checkbook.

The number of missions that Brian goes on are countless, so we may show you some more examples at another time.

Lefty?

We have been telling Brian since he was born that when he grows up he is going to be a left handed relief pitcher in the Major League - most likely for the Chicago White Sox. Even though it's probably still way to early for him to officially decide if he is going to be right or left handed, we have been noticing a trend. He draws with his left hand.........he colors with his left hand........he eats with his left hand......

All we can say is get those baseball scouts ready!

Good Bye Lottie

Today is marked with a great deal of sadness for our family because our wonderful friend Lottie passed away today. Lottie may have been Aunt June's mother, but she felt like family to all of us as well and we always looked forward to her Illinois visits. This picture was taken at Mommy and Daddy's wedding. We were thrilled and honored that she made a special trip all the way here from New York just so that she could attend it! Goodbye "Oma", we all loved you and we will never forget you!

Daddy's Helper

Daddy had to run a couple errands today and when Brian heard where he was going - he immediately volunteered to go along and help. Their first stop was picking up some tile at Daddy's favorite flooring store........Floors and Walls! It's been a while since Brian has been here and as you can tell, he was very anxious to get inside to visit the owners Bob and Elaine again. Brian had some added bonus's today. We won't say anything more than stay tuned for some very exciting upcoming Tool of the Day segments!

Monkey See.....Monkey Do!

Brian loves playing in his room with his little brother (this is a phrase I hope we can still say a few years from now!) Today, Brian was playing and reading some books in his room while Spencer was napping in his own room. As soon as Spencer woke up and Mommy lifted him out of his crib, he made a beeline into Brian's room. Within moments, they had both crawled up into Brian's toddler bed where they both did some more reading.

Tool of the Day!

Mommy is starting to feel much better but Brian continues to be a big help around the house. That being said, he has decided that this week, he would put his tool of the day spotlight on a tool he has been using to help Mommy out........the Sears Kenmore 25881 Series Washing Machine!

A big thank you to Daddy for getting the blog caught up for Mommy. Maybe she will get sick more often because he does a very nice job!

Taking charge

While Mommy has been sick Brian has had to pitch in.

Here is Brian taking care of the grocery shopping.

Daddy now returns control of the blog to Mommy!

Hope you feel better soon Mommy!!

Chef Brian

While Mommy is sick Brian has decided to get a part time job to help support the family.


















I was going to put a stop to this but then I thought " hey at least he's learning a trade!"

Hello?

Not wanting to catch Mommy's cold Brian is calling Grandma and Grandpa to see if they can stay with them for a while.


Ah! which Grandma and Grandpa is he calling? Your guess is as good as mine!!!

Doctor's Assistant Brian

Brian heard that Spencer was going to medical school to cure Mommy.

Brian is helping Spencer by doing some lab experiments with some Octopuses.

Why Octopuses you ask? Hey it's the picture I had give me a break here!

Bubble Girl?

Mommy has been confined to a plastic bubble to prevent the boy's from getting her germs.

Here Brian is checking up to see if Mommy needs anything.

What's going on with the blog?!

For those of you who don't know, Mommy has been sick and unable to update the blog. She'll be fine in a few days and right back at it. Until then DADDY IS TAKING OVER!! and we all know that means trouble!



I thought I would start out with the latest in headwear.



Here Brian is sporting the most current Wheaties box.





Not very warm for winter but the girls like it!

Tool of the Day!

Are we ready to go to Great Grandma's house in Iowa tomorrow for the fall yard clean up weekend? Lets see........

Work Gloves......check

Rakes........check

Leaf Blower........check

Yard Bags........check

Weed Whacker.......check

Craftsman model 917.6592 6.0 HP self propelled rear bag mulching lawn mower.........check

Snow Shovels????????

Ohhhhhhhh no! The weatherman calling for snow in Iowa this weekend will definitely throw a wrench in our yard work plans! Brian and Daddy discussed the situation and decided that we should push our plans back a little while and do a spring yard clean up instead. Unless of course, all the leaves in Great Grandma's yard mysteriously blow into the neighbors yard before next spring!

The Results Are In!!!!

As many of you are aware, yesterday was election day for Brian's Grandpa who was running for re-election to the South Dakota State Senate. It was a close race but after the ballets had all been counted, we are very happy and proud to announce that Grandpa won his seat back so he will be heading back to the state capital for two more years!

Happy Election Day!

Brian made sure that Mommy and Daddy got out to vote today - and he has the sticker to prove it!

But then.......could YOU say no to this face if he asked you to go vote?????

Hey Yogi......What's In The Picnic Basket?

Brian normally has some "quiet time" in his room while Spencer takes his nap. He definitely is creative in what he finds to occupy his time! For awhile he found it fun to take all the clothes out of his dresser and pile them into his hamper. Aside from the fact that Mommy was getting tired of refolding and putting all of the clothes back several times a day, he was also using the opened drawers as steps to climb up on top of the dresser. Daddy installed the child resistant drawer clips on the dresser but Brian had them figured out within about 20 minutes. The dresser is now kept secure with some nylon straps which - for the moment anyway - is working at keeping him out (and off) of it. His current trick is tipping the small end table over onto it's side and setting a basket inside of it so that he can sit in the basket and read some books.

Juice!

Brian's beverage options are somewhat limited, he sticks to a menu primarily made up of milk and water. Since he is so good about drinking those, our pediatrician said there is no need to push any juice on him yet. Brian has no objection to this unless he sees that Daddy is having a glass of orange juice! He started out getting a spoonful of Daddy's orange juice....then a few more.....then sipping from Daddy's glass with a straw.......and finally, taking some sips from his OWN glass! He will still need some practice to master drinking from a big boy glass, but he is starting to test the waters!

Welcome Baby Girl!

Mommy and Daddy got an exciting phone call last night. Daddy's cousin Bill and his wife Kristin had their baby yesterday! Kendall Faith made her Halloween entrance weighing in at an even 9 pounds. We made a trip to the hospital this afternoon to take a look at this little beauty and congratulate her VERY proud parents! Brian and his brother were both allowed to visit too but they stayed confined within their stroller. While we all chatted, Mommy and Daddy looked over and noticed that Brian had fallen asleep - something that very rarely happens when he is in a group of people as he might miss something!

Shortly before we got back to the car, Brian woke up. Daddy used the "Rocket Ship launch" to load him into his car seat. This method also works great when loading a sleeping boy into his seat!