Christmas with Ja's family!!

We celebrated Christmas with Ja's family a little early this year since we were going to be with my family on the actual day. It was a lot of fun watching Brody open all of his gifts and see how excited he got about them all! He got some great toys; trains, musical instruments, a very cool leap frog book, a Noah's arc, and some very cute clothes! Thanks everyone!! He is going to have so much fun with everything! It was great being able to celebrate an early Christmas with everyone! The family! Left: Me, Brody, Ja, Heather, Vernon, Yvonne, Jeremy, Brandy, Holly (and baby Andersen), and Ryan!
Brody enjoyed opening his toys and can't wait to use all of his new musical instruments!

Ja got his favorite gift of the season... a new guitar! He has been wanting this for some time now... so he was very excited to get it!I can't wait to rock out to him playing on it!! :)

Look at the concentration on the boys face!! Like.. I really want to get this paper off of this box!!

Nana and Papa showing Brody the new book they got him! This is a really cool toy!

Brody, "Dad if you don't open this soon I am going to take it to Papa to open it! I bet he is a lot faster!!! "

Brody, "Yeah I finally get to play with it!!" Brody has really gotten into trains and loves playing with them!!

Brody and Aunt Heather playing together!

Brody, "Look at what I can do guys!"

5 days till Christmas!!

Since Christmas is not that far away I am trying to get all of our Christmas presents wrapped. However with a toddler in the house that is not an easy task! The picture above is of him last year, sleeping in our living room while I wrapped presents! :) This year is a different story! I have to either wrap in our guest bedroom, or bring it all into the living room when he is asleep, and then pick it all back up before he wakes up. :)

This is a picture of Brody while we were putting up our Christmas tree. Don't worry we quickly took the lights out of his mouth!

We were trying to get a picture of him by the tree..... I really did not care if he was standing up, playing with a toy, sitting down... whatever I just wanted him in the same general area of the tree. However he was not interested in playing by the tree at this time!

So I did what any logical mother would do!!! I stuck him in a bucket and put the bucket by the tree!!!! HA! That only lasted a second until he stood up and wanted out of the bucket!

So then I put his house by the tree to try and get a picture of him playing with his house and the tree in the background.... or something creative like that...... however he was not having any part of it! I did get this cute picture of him playing peek-a-boo. Like he was saying... Ha ha mom! :)

Finally I did get this picture with some of the lights in the background. :)

Then he decided to sit infront of the tree and smile at his daddy while Ja was making some silly faces. :) We are looking forward to seeing his reaction on Christmas day when he gets to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ by opening some presents! We thank the Lord each and every day for how our life has changed since Brody has been born!!

Fun Memories!

Last week was a very interesting week for us! Our power went out on Sunday night due to the ice storm that hit Oklahoma! So we bundled up and slept peacefully under the covers ..... however when we woke up we decided (while shivering) that we were not going to be able to stay here until our power was back on! The last thing I wanted to happen was for Brody to catch a cold or something! So we packed up and went over to my parents house who luckily still had power!

Their power went out for a few hours during the day but then came back on that night. So this is us all bundled up in their house! This picture was taken in semi darkness. :)

Since they have a gas stove top we were able to eat a yummy dinner and for dessert my mom pulled out her smores maker!! :)* It truly felt like we were camping in their house! :)

Our power finally came back on and after a couple of days at my parent house(thanks mom and dad!) we were able to go back home! It is crazy how much we take our electricity for granted!! What would we do with out it??

We had our community group Christmas Party this past Sunday and had a great time with all of our friends!

The girls

The guys

Some fun Christmas Videos

We decided to take some video of Brody talking about Santa. You can kind of hear him say it... :)

This is just so cute!! Shake it Brody, shake it!!

13 1/2 months old and seeing Santa

Brody is now 13 1/2 months old! He is doing so many new things! He is now almost running in the house, he understands most of what we are saying, he can throw (put) a ball in his basketball goal, he is determined not to sit in a stroller for any length of time unless there is food in front of him, he has all kinds of teeth (too many to try and count), and he can say at least 23 words and make 15 different animal noises!! Some of my favorite things he says are... All done, with his hands up in the air when he is finished eating, tractor (it is cute the way he says it), all of our family members names ( he will point to the pictures on our fridge and say their names!!), and he is now saying Santa! He will point to any Santa, whether it be a picture of a Santa, Santa on a pillow, an ornament, or the real thing. :)* (Don't worry we are also teaching him the reason for celebrating Christmas is because of Jesus' birth... which he can sign in sign language!) He has also started liking trains. We will watch Thomas the Train for about 5 min in the afternoon! That is pretty good since he will not sit still for any other TV show! :) He has gone through a major growth spurt because I no longer have to roll some of his pants up. It is amazing how he is growing so fast and picking up on things we are saying!

We took him to see Santa at our local Bass Pro.... which had a very cool set up with a sled and reindeer! This Santa was very nice and tried to make it easy on Brody, which he was fine until I let go of him and put him on Santa's lap. He did not like that very much!

I think this picture is very cute though!!

This is last years picture! Wow look how small he was!!


Brody wanted to give some of his change to the Salvation Army.

One thing that I forgot to mention about Brody is that he LOVES books!! He will sit and read a book all day long if we would sit there and read with him! This picture is very cute of him and Aunt Amy reading!

Making Christmas cookies! Brody even got to join in on the fun! He had his own cookie to make and he even got to eat one!

We went to the Christmas Gathering at church. These are some of my friends that were there. It was a lot of fun and a nice time to relax, sample some food, see what is the "must haves" for the year and fellowship with friends and my sister!

Amy was able to come with me which I was so glad! We had a good time together! I decorated a table for this event and had a fun time doing it. I was glad Amy and Eric were able to come down for the weekend and spend some time with us! I know Brody was sad to see you go and has said "Laney" with his hand up in the air (as to say where is she) several times since you have left. :)* Thanks for a great weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful thanksgiving this year and enjoyed being able to spend time with our family! I know Brody enjoyed seeing his Aunt Heather since it had been awhile sine he had seen her last. By the end of the week he was saying her name! :) Good job Brody!

Aunt Holly and Aunt Heather reading Brody a book. Aunt Holly taught him what a snake says and how they move. Now when we say what does a snake say .... he moves his hand and says.... ssssssssss. :) It is very cute!
Brody.."I'll stand here if I have to mom" :)

Brody wanted to check and see how the food was coming! He was hungry for his first traditional Thanksgiving meal!

What a cute pic! Heather is reading Brody his favorite book!

Now Aunt Brandy is reading it to him. :) He is so cute, he will take his book from one person to the next getting them to read it to him.


Nana with Brody.

Papa showing Brody the horses food. I don't know if Brody thought it looked to good!

Brody looking at Papa's horses. He liked them and enjoyed watching them eat. He looks so cute in his heavy jacket. :)

We have a lot to be Thankful for this year! Holly and Ryan are expecting a little baby at the end of April!!! This is very exciting and I know that they are going to be great parents!! Brody is so excited about having a little cousin to play with! Congratulations to the both of you!!

We are so thankful for our wonderful families and for Brody, who gives us joy each day!

Thanksgiving baskets

Today I went and volunteered at Safe Harbor. It is a wonderful outreach that our church does. Every Tuesday they open there doors and let people come in that need food and clothing. While they are there they are presented the gospel. My friend Julia is in charge of this so when she told our community group that today they were going to be passing out Thanksgiving baskets and Turkeys, and that they needed help, I was there! It was a lot of fun and a good outreach that our church does. The people that received the baskets were very grateful and really appreciated the help.

Here are all the helpers!

Fun Times!

On Friday night we went to celebrate our friends Michelle and Eric's birthdays. We went to Outback Steakhouse for dinner and afterwards we went bowling. We had a great time and wish them both a Happy Birthday!

Julia, Michelle, me, Julie

It was great to hang out with these girls while we ate and bowled! While we were talking Michelle told us that she found the cute shirt she is wearing at Garden Ridge for a little over a dollar! WHAT?? Garden Ridge has clothes???? This is something I never knew before! So next time you are in Garden Ridge, go to the very back of the store and you might be surprised to find that they have a small clothing section! I am definitely going to have to go check it out!

Playing in the leaves!

I was teaching Brody how to crunch leaves! He loved the sound it makes and had a good time trying to do it himself.

Play Date!

I invited my friend Julia and her daughter Jasmine over for a play date. It was a lot of fun and neat to see the kids interact with each other! Jasmine is the first friend that we have had over to play, and I was very impressed with Brody! He did a great job sharing his toys and letting her hold his "Laney" dog while she was here. I had a great time talking and hanging out with Julia while our children played together! She is a good friend and I am glad our kids are very close in age.

Brody.... "Um Jasmine I think we are supposed to look at your mom while my mom takes a picture."

Brody... "here let me show you the food that I have in my mouth!"

Jasmine..." Boys!"

Playing together with Brody's dinosaur. I am sure Jasmine was thinking... where are all the dolls all they have are dinosaurs, balls, and cars! :)* When I was younger we (my sister and I) had a friend who was a boy and all he would ever play with were Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Transformers! I remember thinking.... boys are weird! :)*

If they could talk I am sure they would of both been saying ..."Lets go outside!"

We were going to go to the park however it was just too cold and windy for them to be out there! Brody already has a runny nose as it is. So it was an inside day however I think they both had a good time! I know I did! Thanks Julia and Jasmine for coming over and playing with us we had a blast!

I did not grow up with a brother, it was just me and my sister. So when Brody is interested in cars and balls the whole thing is new to me. How do boys know that those are the things they should be interested in? Right now Brody is very interested in cars and anything that has wheels. When we are driving he will point out the window and say "rom rom" when a big truck goes by. He will carry a car around all day and play with it. So when he saw this 4 wheeler at Bass Pro he had to look at it and check it out. :)

This week has been pretty uneventful. He has been getting his 15th tooth in so that has been hard on him, I think it is almost in so that is good!! He has so many teeth they are hard to count these days!

We are doing a program called Parents as Teachers. It is a wonderful program that most school systems have. We have a lady come out to our house once a month and play with Brody and show me new activities that I can be doing with him to help him develop the skills that he needs to develop. She also tests him to see if he is learning everything he should be learning. It is great because I get to see if I am doing things right and she tells me some things that I can do with him through out the day. She gave him his 12 month test this week, he is doing everything he should be and scored at the top of the charts! Yeah for Brody! He is such a smart little boy if I do say so myself! :)*

Fun times!

We took Brody to the pumpkin patch a few weeks back, however I am just now getting around to posting about it. :) He had a good time and enjoyed playing and seeing all the different pumpkins that were there.

He liked trying to roll them. :)

This past weekend we went to help my sister set up her classroom for school. Her school moved into a new building so she had to pack up everything and move it into her new classroom!! So we went to help her unpack and gets things in their new spot and organized. She has such a fun room!! Her 3rd grade class is very lucky to have her as a teacher! We had a lot of fun and were very glad we could go and help her out!

Brody was a big help while we were there too! :)* He and Marmee are taking a little snack break.