I think I need help!

This is just a short note to say that I think I have an addiction problem, with trying to save money on groceries...

Circus

Brayden, Mommy, and Mimi went to the circus yesterday afternoon and had a blast. Brayden was at first afraid of the clowns, but once we sat down and the show started, he was great. Really enjoyed all of the animal acts and was disappointed every time an act ended.

Brayden and Mimi enjoying the intermission.

His new light-up magical wand... Well worth the $8, almost!

Just a few kisses to give away!

Mommy and Brayden checking out the elephants. They were letting people ride them, of course, but he didn't seem interested at all. So, we just watched instead.

Change in pets

Unfortunately we had to get rid of our dog, Buddy, a few weeks ago. Kyle and I got him from the animal shelter right after we bought our house and he was great for us at the time. As Brayden got bigger, our house seems to have gotten smaller and the dog was always in the way. We had been looking for someone to take him and give him a loving home, but couldn't find any takers. Then one Sunday, Buddy snapped at Brayden a few times and we decided that it was time - so he went back to the shelter (or to find new friends to live with) and we went and bought a fish tank!

Fast foward about a month. We have three wonderful fish - Fred, Scooby-Doo, and Prince. All of a sudden, Prince is DEAD... Not sure what happened but we found him in the corner of the tank one evening, just laying at the bottom. We didn't want to have to explain the circle of life quite yet, so as soon as Brayden went to bed Kyle ran to Meijer to get a replacement... except that he decides that he wants something totally different. Prince changed from a little orange fish with a big colorful tail to a slightly bigger, light blue fish. Brayden questions and we tell him that Prince just grew up. Then two days later, Brayden decides to be a wonderful helper and feed the fish for Mom while she was in the bathroom. Most of a jar of food later, we had two dead fish, and some explaining to do. So much for putting off the talk...

We miss you Bo-b0. Hope you have someone who loves you as much as we did, with room for you to play!

February Happenings

Nothing too exciting to report, but here are some pictures from our lives the last month.

Playing tools with Daddy

Getting some exercise


Fixing his bed - which seems to be broken a lot

Reading the paper/watching television

Brayden and his girlfriend Hailey. Daddy babysat while the girls had an evening away, with drinks!

Putting "monies" in his Pennies for Peace bottle

Helping hang the family pictures that we had taken - in September...

The finished product

The big strong man with lots of muscles

And our little ham!

Sledding with the Minnows

The activity with our youth group - The Minnows - for January was sledding. We took them to the High School to sled, and had a great time. Unfortunately, Kyle was still broken so he just watch, but I had a blast. I had forgotten how fun sledding was!

Random facts about Kyle

1.I will listen to pretty much any kind of music.
2.I played in the band all the way through middle and high school.
3.I had back surgery when i was 16 years old.
4.I love to watch the history channel.
5.I have at least 20 pair of white socks at all times.
6.My dad gave me a basketball for christmas at least 4 years in a row.
7. I make fun of everybody I work with, mostly to their face, and get a lot of the same in return. Its fun and makes work go by faster.
8. I have a passion for working on small engines. My dream is to some day open my own repair shop.
9. I have driven a race car with over 600 horsepower.
10. I love to hunt for deer, but have yet to actually shoot one. Someday.
11. I enjoy driving around the state in a semi truck and seeing many areas I would have never discovered on my own.
12. I try to be a tough dad, but I think my son knows he has me wrapped around his finger.
13. I tell my wife I love her pretty much every time we talk on the phone.
14. I enjoy doing the laundry and dishes.
15. I am anal with routines. I do the same thing every morning and if I don't, I'm lost for the day.
16. I love laying in bed with nicki and brayden in the morning on the weekends. We usually have an awesome time together.
17. I think I have a problem with flatulence
18. I don't get the whole face book thing.
19. I finally got nicki to let me grow a beard (try) after almost 8 years.
20. I believe I have found the person I was meant to be with forever.

Random facts about Brayden

1. He loves ketchup on EVERYTHING, actually it doesn't have to be on anything...
2. His first favorite show was Signing Time, now it fluctuates between Scooby Doo and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
3. He has to have his bot (favorite green blanket that goes everywhere with him), the two quilts that his Mimi made him, and a blanket that he stole from Grandma Marianne in order to go to bed. If anything is missing, it is not going to be a good night.
4. He loves to be tickled, even asks for it a lot. Most ticklish spots are his chest and the tops of his thighs.
5. He has a fabulous memory - maybe too good.
6. He learned to count to ten in Spanish seemingly on his own. He came home from daycare one day counting and they didn't teach him either.
7. He loves to play games, even making up his own.
8. One of his favorite activities is riding on the quad with Uncle Mike. He could do it all day every day if he could.
9. He was very afraid of the thought of Santa Claus coming into the house and leaving him presents - first time I have ever heard of such a thing.
10. He loves music - playing, singing, listening - doesn't matter.
11. He slept in his crib the very first night we brought him home and never slept a night outside of it as long as we were at home. He also never tried to climb outside of it, and would probably still be fine sleeping in it if I didn't get sick of having to lift him in and out.
12. He was born without the ability to swallow. He had to have a chiropractic adjustment while still in the hospital to release the nerve that enables the tongue to swallow.
13. He was so excited the first time I allowed him to color with markers. He had always been told before that he was too little. The look on his face was priceless, like he felt like he had finally become a big boy. Thanks Maggie for the ColorWonder markers that changed his life.
14. He would spend all day outside if he was allowed. Loves going for walks, playing in the snow, riding his car, swimming, anything that involves being outside.
15. He is obsessed with tools lately, wants to fix everything.
16. His favorite movie is Lion King - asks to watch it almost every single day.
17. He can't wait to grow "bigger and bigger so he can go hunting"
18. As of lately he keeps asking when he gets to be small enough to go back into Mommy's belly.
19. He finds going to church very exciting, in fact - gets mad if he finds out that we are going for some reason without him.
20. He hides from monsters on a regular basis, but doesn't seem to actually be afraid of them

Tagged on Facebook

I was tagged on Facebook to write 25 random things about myself. It was very difficult, so I thought that I would share it here too - twice the bang for my buck. I actually liked the idea, so I am also going to do one for Brayden here, and have told Kyle to do one also - we will see how that goes...

1. I take a nap whenever I get a chance
2. I eat when I am stressed
3. I get stressed very easily
4. I actually like my job - most days
5. I really want to get my degree, but have absolutely no desire to go back to school
6. I love shopping, especially if I get a bargain
7. I chew my nails when I am bored
8. I hate wearing shoes
9. I like reality television, but not if it includes "falling in love"
10. I easily get addicted to computer games, but only if they are easy
11. I like really hot baths and showers - to the point of scalding myself
12. I love laughing at stupid things
13. I find myself very entertaining most of the time.
14. I am very easily bored
15. I refuse to eat in public by myself
16. I love gummy candies - to an obsession lately
17.My favorite movie of all time is Grease
18. I secretly miss waitressing
19. I very often have very weird and bizarre dreams
20. I talk to my mom on the phone almost every day
21. I miss my husband if I don't at least talk to him during the day
22. I love being able to make Brayden laugh
23. I only like cheap wine
24. I sing very loudly in the car
25. This is harder than I thought it would be!

Of course, after I was done, I thought of a ton of other things that I could have included, but I guess you are going to have to wait until the next time before you get to know even more about my twisted inner thoughts!

Anatomy Lessons by Brayden

A couple of weeks ago, Brayden and I were in the shower getting ready for church. As he was washing himself, this is the conversation that took place...

B: Where is your pee pee?
M: Mommies don't have pee pees.
B: But where is it, at the store?
M: No, only boys have pee pees. Mommies don't have one.
B: Oh, Daddy and Brayden have pee pees and mommy, you have nothing.
M: Yup, pretty much.

That is right, Mom's are worthless, they have nothin!

Christmas Continued, Finally

Christmas Day:

After our little family Christmas, we went to Mimi and Papa's for dinner and of course more presents.

The Saturday after Christmas, we went to Aunt Sue and Uncle Tim's house for Christmas with the Heckman side of the family (Grandma Kim's family). This is always our biggest, most chaotic family gathering of the year, but always tons of fun. The kids all draw a name to exchange a gift and the adults play a gift exchange game.

This is Brayden opening his gifts from Ben. He got some new cars, which he loves and a puzzle that mom loves :)

And here is Brayden playing with Sophie.

Christmas Continued

We started out our family Christmas festivities with the Holst family. We all gathered the weekend before Christmas so the kids could open gifts. Then the adults did a white elephant exchange (with Mike taking the cake on that one) and games. We had a great time and it was really nice to get together with everyone there and no one rushing to get someone else. Of course, I rock and forgot my camera but here are a few pictures that Jenny was so nice to share!

Here is Jack opening his gift from Brayden.

And Trin with the sweater that we got here. Isn't it as beautiful and sparkly as her!

And Brayden with his builder outfit that he got from Grandpa and Grandma! He loves all of his tools and it still "fixing" everything there could possibly be to fix. Even though I don't have a picture of her, Tiyler was also there and had just as much fun as the other kids did with their gifts.

Since Christmas Eve brought on yet another day of crappy weather and Kyle and I were both not feeling well, we opted to sit home instead of going to church. I decided to let Kyle and Brayden open a joint gift that I had gotten for them - a large collection of Lincoln Logs!

Daddy had a lot of fun building houses, and condos and towers with the Lincoln Logs...

... and Brayden had a blast knocking them over - sometimes before Daddy was ready for them to be knocked down.

700 Lincoln Logs make for some very tall towers - some even taller than our big boy!

Christmas Eve brought Santa - of course. Brayden decided this year that he did not want Santa in our house while he was sleeping, so Mommy talked to Santa and asked him to leave Brayden's presents at Daddy's truck. Then Daddy went outside and brought them in to put under the tree...

It took Daddy quite a few trips to bring all of these presents inside to put under the tree ;) I am not sure that he was a good enough boy last year to deserve all of these presents, but Santa must have thought differently.

Christmas morning was very exciting at the Holst house. Two and a half is the perfect age to see how magical and joyous Christmas can be. Brayden was so very excited with every present that was opened. He was very methodical, which was very entertaining to us. With every present, he would take off the bow and start unwrapping. As soon as he could see something, he would look up and squeal with excitement "Look Mommy/Daddy - I got THIS!!!" And then he would continue unwrapping it until he found out what "this" was. He was just as excited about the clothes and sneakers he got as he was about the toys and videos.

And this is what one spoiled boy, plus uncountable hours of shopping and wrapping look like when all is said and done.

Apologies and Christmas Activites - Part 1

I first have to start out by saying that I am so sorry about the lack of updates. I have no idea where December went, but needless to say it is gone and the month obviously did not include any blog updates. I especially need to say to Heather that I am sorry for all the times that I made fun of you for not updating your blog, because I seem to suck just as much as you do with this kind of stuff! :)


Anyways, December was of course a very busy month for us, as it was for all I am sure. Here are some pictures to help sum up the month.

This is Brayden helping Daddy put the tree together.

And helping Mommy put ornaments on the tree. He was such a big help decorating the tree this year.

Here is Brayden trying to sit under the tree. If you look at the branches right around him, you will notice that they are the branches that he decorated. There are at least 3 ornaments on each branch - he really liked those branches.

And our boy with the finished product.

December brought a lot of opportunities to clean up the snowfall. Here Daddy and Brayden are shoveling the deck! He really does enjoy it - I promise!

He so desperately wants to be a big boy so he can do what Daddy does!

We went to Lowell's Christmas Parade, which was held at night this year. We had a great time, even though it was FREEZING that night.