Swimming Lessons!

Auntie Deandra and Uncle Tim, Auntie Danielle and Uncle John and Grammie and Bappa got together and gave Brayden Foss Swim School swimming lessons for his birthday.

I tell you what, this gift was way better than any other gift he could have received for a third birthday.  The first lesson they teach the kids is how not to drown.  Then how to love the water and have a healthy respect for it.

Waiting for our turn!

It's our turn!

What's it called again?  Goggles?  Oh yeah, goggles.

Making "popcorn" splashes

learning to float on his back with a "giraffe neck" and  a little bit of terror

Humpty Dumpty style dips the pool...face in the water!

He loves it!  He loves to flirt with the girls in the other lane, play with the aids/toys in the baskets next to his three person class and to complete a task (he jumps up and says "I did it!" with his arm up in the air...when he gets back to start he says to his classmates "I did it guys!".  When I told him I was proud of him he said "Thank you, mamma.  Thank you very much."

Other than that it has been pretty tumultuous around here.  Jack gave us a scare with a temp of a 104 and symptoms of RSV.  When he was having trouble breathing I took him to the emergency room and his test came back negative.  That was a major, major source of relief (this was his exact one year anniversary of being hospitalized with RSV).  That was the same day Jeremiah got let go from his job.  But we are grateful that we can use the water at our house again (we couldn't for almost a whole week...I don't like pioneer style dish washing!).  I started my own company called Lithe Wellness Solutions this week too.  Uncle Tim help me file for my EIN and it's official.  I am in business.  Jeremiah has had one interview this week and another one coming tomorrow, so prayers are very much appreciated.

Keeping our fingers crossed!

just wanted some place to save these

 Grizzly and Jack

Janruary and February

Recently,  I was trying valiantly to trim Jack's fingernails. I trimmed Brayden's first so he could see, again, that it ins't a big deal.  I put him on my lap, and then came the hard part.  He was CONFINED!!!  I held him down and stuck out his thumb while his legs were flailing and placed the clippers on his extra long thumb nail.  I took one clip and he squirmed all the way around to look at me and said "owie!".

Little stinker.   He hasn't ever said that before!

Last week, when we were out running errands and Brayden was giving me "the business" (at one point, he wouldn't sit down and stood up so fast he hit me smack in the nose with his hard little head) and Jack yelled "Bway DO!"  I am pretty sure he meant Brayden!  The three of us looked at each other and giggled because we knew what he meant and he had never said that before.  He has been exploding with words, most of them tentative, unlike his shrieking and pointing. 

He also says:
-wuuuuv you (love you)
-nigh nigh (night night)
-uh oh!
-NO!  (you should get that one)



He is learning how to throw the ball (usually it winds up on top of his head), but the effort makes him laugh and grunt and squeeze all of the muscles in his body at the same time.  While we were playing catch this morning, he picked up a piece of Grizzly fuzz of the floor and instead of giving it to me like he normally does, he walked over to Griz and put it on him.  Yup, that totally made sense!

Brayden is so cute when he wakes up happy!

A nap time anomaly.

Winter time makes us miss our ponies.  Yes, that is mommy's real saddle.

Sometimes I wonder if Jack is blind as a bat.  This is how he watches Sesame Street.

The eye doctor did say his sight was a little poor.  Shoot.

Waiting for Daddy to get home from work...

Here are some after dinner activities:

He is naked whenever possible.  

They love to strip off their close and run around and scream "NAKIE BOYS!"

I'm not sure why they have to scream it, but it clearly adds to the enjoyment of being naked.

Playing the Dr. Suess game...

Love that dog.

Snow angel!

I know this looks like I was being mean and not wiping off his face, but he does that on purpose.  He puts his little face in the snow to taste it.  And he doesn't care that its all over his cold lil cheeks.

Heehehe.  Lil punk' is tired.  

Walking in snow pants and boots is hard work.

One night at dinner Brayden started asking Jeremiah about the letters on his shirt.

He just started picking out letters and using the right names for them.

Since we were dumbfounded at his intelligence, I had to document it with the camera.

Three.  He's three.

They love riding these trucks.  Brayden taught Jack how to ride them pretty early on...now Jack's as good as Brayden is.

I had a project going on in the closet.  We built a bench/storage box into the closet for all season storage and put hooks on the wall for coats/purses.  It ended up looking a bit like a jail, which these two boys (who have a case of the "brothers" lately) got a big kick out of.

Love our lil cam.  It fits perfectly in my pocket (if you can't tell from all the other outside pics).

We had a Hoar Frost today.  It lasted well into the afternoon, which is pretty unusual.  Then the frozen crystals fell like snow.  It was beautiful while Brayden and I were out tromping around the pasture (Jack was taking another of his 2-3 naps per day).

And of course...the release of Going Against the Grain, our cook book and nutrition guide.

Phew!

  

Sense of Humor

Yesterday we had a really, really fun play date with the Tix family.

Then we had naps and went to the grocery store.  After we played and read a few books, and I chatted on the phone for a minute, it was time to make dinner.

We didn't have enough frozen zucchini in the freezer, so I went outside to grab some more (from the freezer, not the garden).  When I shut the freezer and turned around to run back in the house...the door was locked.

With both of my babies in the house.

With me in the garage.

With the keys and my cell phone and phone numbers in the house.

The chairs were not tied together under the table, leaving several openings for Jack to climb, stand on and jump off of the table, along with every other horrific scene I could imagine.

But the stove wasn't on at least.

Brayden and I tried to get that door unlocked for a good 10 minutes.  Then I saw the neighbors taillights pull into the garage and went screaming down our driveway for help.  He couldn't understand me at first because I was screaming at decibels to loud for other humans to hear and interpret, but then Amanda came out and some how I had a phone in my hand and Jeremiah's phone number (which is new and I do not have memorized).

Jeremiah checked his phone a short while later and noticed he had 9 missed calls so he called back and found out what was going on.  I went sprinting down our icy driveway to wait for him to come home and unlock the door.  I dug a hat and mittens out of the Xterra and the ladder out from the garage.

Then I set it up in front of the window and the boys sat with me while we waited for daddy to get home and unlock the door.


In case you are wondering, I saw Jack lock the door again this morning.  Thank fully I was actually on the inside this time.  It's cold here after all.

Three

Brayden turned three this January.  He grew FOUR AND A HALF inches this last year.

He asks questions way beyond his years, loves with all of his heart, asks permission before he does anything unless he isn't supposed to do it and is heart achingly sweet.

He is still a bit shy, and cried when everyone sang Happy Birthday to him.

I hear ya baby, it's an awful thing!

But we fixed it quickly with some cake!

He says things like "Yay Mama!" or "Yay Jack" and "Yay Daddy!".  When I get all dressed up he tells me that I look like Astrid, the lead girl character in How to Train Your Dragon and the current love of his life.   He adores pretty girls.

Without provocation he will thank me for making dinner and tell me it is "tasty".  Brayden can make his brother giggle, laugh and scream with delight.  His own giggle is so contagious and he can hit a baseball when it is pitched to him!  And he loves to spend the night with his Grammie and Bappa and any time he can get with his cousins.

Here are some of my favorite pics of our little buddy from the last year.

And my favorite, my all time favorite picture on Brayden ever.

Happy Birthday little one.  We love you even though we let people sing Happy Birthday to you.

Thanks God, for letting us be his parents.