Second part of February and onto March!

First, I have to say we had our first pet and yes, that is "had". Colton won a goldfish at their school carnival that Caden took over. We got him a nice bowl, pebbles, a tree, Caden even made him a scrapbook and then he decides to go belly up on us nine days later. Caden was devestated. The tears came and in the back of his scrapbook he wrote "Blackhead Grey Braun died 3-8-09. That night he wanted to know if Blackhead went to heaven. I told him I thought yes, God has a special place for pets and he wanted to know how he got to heaven because daddy flushed him down the toilet! ooops! So this got us into the spirit and soul part of our bodies-not sure if he understood it but was happy Blackhead was going to heaven. I cannot believe he was with us for 9 days and I didn't get any pictures! Oh well...............
Let's see what else happened in February.... Caden had his 100 day of school. He had to bring in a collection of 100 things so we put together 100 pictures of him in a folder with velcro strips so he could count them in groups and alone. He had red,white and blue day which he LOVED and pajama day, which was a big hit. He even got up infront of the class again and read to them. He is really loving reading. And the school carnival was a fun time also.
Onto March....I've had a few appointments and baby boy is growing on schedule. I thought it was weird I haven't taken any pictures of this belly with this one so I had Doug snap a few at 34 weeks. I'm hoping he staying in past the 37 week-unlike his brothers -because my doctor is on Spring break that week.
Caden did a Home Depot workshop day and built a race track. We kept it a surprise unitl Doug and him got there and Doug said Caden had this look on his face like "this is my surprise-going to Home Depot?" He said he had the best time and wants to go back so he can add some badges onto his orange apron he got. He also wants to do Lowes workshops too. (As always click to make larger)Caden then had his 6th birthday. Wow-where does the time go? He asked if he looked different and if I thought his voice had changed.He woke up to our tradition of putting balloons in the his room at night so they are there when he wakes up. Colton had gotten a free one when we were picking them out the day before and was holding his. As he let it go it hit the ceiling and popped. I thought he would cry but he just looked at it and said "oh cool". Sidenote: Colton's new words are cool, awesome and sweet. Caden also got to pick where he wanted to go and eat and he picked Joe Senser's Bar and Grill-I think he likes the 14 large screen tvs and the mini cheeseburgers. We then came back and and he opened his presents. He thought he was done and was a little disappointed I didn't put together a scavenger hunt but then he opened his last card from us I had taped a clue on the back and that started the hunt. When one clue lead him downstairs all the way to the back bathroom Doug went out and got his new bike and put it by the fireplace. He was surpised, at first he couldn't figure out how it got there but then realized that daddy wasn't with him the whole time so it was kind of funny to watch his face as he was contemplating it all. We then had cupcakes and he and Colton rode bikes.

Of course we cannot forget St. Patrick's Day... Caden said the leprachaun came to their room the day before and turned chairs upside down and left a hat and shoe behind. So they made traps to see if they could catch him the next day-it didn't work-Liam got away BUT he did leave behind some goodies for them. We are lucky our little leprachuan didn't leave a mess at our house. But Caden and Colton decided to make traps to catch him.
They were so excited they couldn't sleep at night. Every sounds they heard Caden would ask if it was the leprachaun. Finally they went to bed. And that night believe it or not daddy caught him in the trap and duct taped the door but the sneaky dude broke through the tape and got away. He was in such a hurry that he spilled some chocolate coins and left them behind so the boys did not get the leprachaun but got some goodies instead.


We also made Mrs. Leaman a goodie. I got a candle and took off the paper and then used rub-on letters to spell lucky. We put that into a takeout box with some rollos and filler, made a little tag and tada! cute little gift.
Caden ended the week with clown day. They wore silly clothes and got their face painted. On a sad note, we got a letter sent home that his teacher was cut for next year. She is a great teacher and worked so hard with Caden during his anxiety phase. She will be missed. I'm sad that other kids in our school won't get to experience her.
And here are some random pictures...

Waiting for the bus

Playing

Sleepy time-I have this same shot of Caden when he was little.

My 2 boys

Well off to bed for me. I had a late night at our spa night last night. A friend held it for our woman's group at church. We had 23 of the our 37 moms show up so it was a great success. I cannot wait until next year!

A man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense. Proverbs 19:11

February update and a wee bit of January leftovers...

I don't think I even posted these bowling pictures. At the end of January we did a bowling night at our new bowling alley. It was our first time at this place-it is huge-arcade room, bowling shop, private party rooms, private bowling lanes for parties, the main bowling lanes and then another 5 or 6 lanes off to the side and then a bar/grill restuarant. It is fairly new and new to us since we only go bowling once a year. It was Colton's first time and he had fun-he was even in the lead for awhile. He was doing good until his last throw were he went a little too far down the lane and his feet came flying out from underneath of him and bonk! His head hit the floor. Poor baby! He was okay though-hard head.

We have continued with MOPS and our church group. Colton and I went serving after we dropped Caden off at school. We go with my small group and bring and eat lunch with a few ladies in our adopt-a-neighborhood program. This time we had Valentine's Day crafts to do with them. They really enjoyed that and the company.
Doug and I did a cheap date night on the 13th. Our church was hosting a free showing of Fireproof with free daycare. Very good movie with a very good message.
On Valentine's Day/Doug's birthday we went and got a pizza from a little pizza place that we used to go to when we lived in Savage. We had to show Caden his first house he came home to from the hospital even if he only lived there for 4 months! It hasn't changed a bit but the area has. I also found a template on the web and made a few Valentine Bingo cards. Colton always had the winning card-unbelievable! He had no idea what he was doing, he spent more time eating the candy hearts instead of placing them on the card.
The boys had Christmas all over again when they got a package from Grandma and Grandpa G. They had so much fun squealing and saying "oh yea" as they kept pulling stuff out of the envelope.
Caden was so excited when daddy let him use his "big hammer" and "real nails" to pound some wood and create. He decided to make something for his and Colton's room.
Caden is having fun in school reading and writing. He was a little disappointed when they got to vote on what to do with a free afternoon. The choices were singing, writing and learning about the presidents. If you know Caden you know what one he was all for but writing won out. He said only 4 people voted from presidents- disappointing day. He informed me today that he was going to go up in front of the class on Friday and read a book to everyone. I was shocked that he actually volunteered to do it. They have an all day read day on Friday-also known as pajama day. They get to wear their pjs and bring a pillow, blanket and stuffed animal.
Colton is having the time of his life cutting with scissors. He will take a piece of paper and stand over the garbage and cut. He also has learned to play a toddler game on the computer-a little mouse and keyboard control practice and he seems to have it down.
We have a funfair carnival at Caden's school on Saturday and I signed up for some baked goods to bring so I'm off to round up the indgredients for almond poppy seed tea bread/cake.
Have a great rest of the week.

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. Philippians 4:11

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day......and Happy Birthday to Doug! We are off to have a day of goodies and scavenger hunts! Have a great day.

Our week

We had a busy week this week. Caden has a fun month at school this month. This week he got to dress up as his favorite book character. He chose Chicken Chuck-whom I have never heard of before this year. He found the book in the library and became attached to it. I will have pictures of that later.

We also started up our woman's group at church this past week. I'm excited to be back. I missed hanging out with my small group. The book we will be studying this session is Great Moms raising Great kids. It looks like a good book.

Caden also go a spring retainer put in on Thursday. We are hoping that he will just have to wear this for about 6 weeks depending on how fast his teeth move. We are doing this as a preventative of having braces later in life. The dentist told us that they are now doing this with under bites and baby teeth. When they get the baby teeth moved the permanent teeth will comes in behind and hopefully come down where the baby teeth left off. It would be great if this works and no braces in the future. The dentist mentioned told me that he could tell my kids weren't thumb suckers and paci users for very long because if they were it might have pushed his teeth out! So I guess the littlest Braun will be forced to suck his thumb or a paci so the teeth will pop out more! The dentist also made a joke about when the boys were getting their little toys/rewards/surprises after the visit-Colton goes and sits back there with Caden since I can't. The dentist said Colton was going for a toy shovel but they discouraged him from it. The reason is that last weekend Caden was trying to get berries out of a tree with his orange shovel and came down and whacked Colton in the head-big bump and almost-almost split open cut. I think it might have if it had gotten bigger. So he was sporting a bump and bruise this week. It is looking much better. I'm just glad we didn't have to make a trip to Urgent Care and get stitches. I've had enough of that with Caden.

We also had movie night on Friday and Saturday night. Doug took both boys to the location movie rental place and both got to pick out a movie-Snow buddies and Underdog-a weekend of puppies. I'll leave you with some pictures from January. I have to go and create Caden's Valentine's Day treats and plan Doug's birthday night-Caden has some pretty good ideas!

On January 22 Colton celebrated his 1/2 birthday! Caden thought cupcakes would be a good treat so Colton got to pick out which kind he want and the frosting. He went with sprinkles all the way!

Coloring is a BIG hit at our house-any art project is!

Pick yourself up off the floor.....

It's me again and no, February has not gone by yet. I just thought I would post some pics on how we spend cold days in doors. These are from January-you know-during that freeze we had. Caden and Colton love to dress up in the wrestling and Viking gear.

Sometimes all at once....
But many times they just share.....

Ahhh, yes, January......

You know January was such a cold month that I could not possible get on the computer and type. It was freezing I tell ya! But now that February is here and the thaw has begun......Let's recap shall we.....

Hmmm don't think I rang in the New Year but that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who knows me. We have continued with MOPS and Colton is enjoying it but Caden would rather be in school all day. He tells me he just wants to read and write. His teacher tested him on his backpack books-which are books that they bring home every night. He was on level A and was hoping to move to level B but she tested him on level C and moved him right up to level D! He was a happy camper because the level C was "way to easy" according to him. I'm so happy he likes to read.

I had a leadership retreat in the middle of the month with my small church group. We went up north to a lake cabin. A couple from our church owns a home up there and so graciously offered it to us to use for the weekend. It was a great weekend. The focus was prayer. We watched Jim Cymbala and did some personal and group prayer. Lots of good food-there were 4 of the 7 that are pregnant so we had plenty of yummy-ness to go around.

Colton is finally potty trained. He no longer wants to wear pull ups or diapers. We do put them on at night but he would rather wear underwear. There are some mornings he wakes up dry but there are some where he doesn't and I'd rather have that pull up on. Now if he would just go by himself-he like an audience-mainly me.
We also got Colton's 2 year (ummm 2 1/2 year) pictures taken along with a brothers session. If any of you did not get the password and want it let me know and I'll email it to you.

I've started going to a bible study with a group of woman from my MOPS group. I missed the first session because of my sciatic nerve acting up but hope to make it this Tuesday. We are reading the book Having a Mary Heart in a Martha world. So far I like it-although I'm only on the second chapter.

I had my 28 week doctor appointment at the end of the month and the active little guy is growing right on schedule. He did not like the nurse pressing around for the heartbeat though-she stayed a little too long and he gave her 2 strong kicks to get away from the tummy, which is probably better than me kicking her for getting too close to the belly button. I cannot stand when they get close. Good thing my doctor knows to stay away from that area!

On the last night of the month we had bowling night. Caden spelled out bowling on the calendar-he's been having a hard time in school with anxiety and making choices- so we pick a treat and he gets a letter for each good day. He has been doing better though. We've only spelled out movie and bowling and he has seemed to forget about it. I'm not sure what brought it all on but the month of December was hard on him. But never fear the "old" Caden is back!

Here are some pics of how we spent the freezing month of January....

Art time is a big hit at our house...both boys love to draw and color. We have art galleries all the time.

Sometimes playing all day is such an exhausting experience
We love cars and trucks and anything with wheels...all my "boys" do...
Thanks to Aunt Jackie we have another Viking outfit in the house-good ole Tommy Kramer in the house. Caden likes to wear it which is a surprise because he still states he doesn't like the Vikings.
Pics of bowling to come next time...still on the camera:)

New Year's Resolution..........

What New Year's Resolution? Jackie wanted to remind of one I had. Something about posting once a week.....hmmmmm must be the pregnancy mind.....yep I'm going with that:)
Since January's been kind of slow I'm going to recap December-well Christmas. Oh before I forget I need to post the kids and Santa photoWe went to our bank. They offered a free 8x10 and free juice and cookies-who could pass that up? Colton was wide eyed the whole time.

The boys had a lot of fun this Christmas. We did our family Christmas before we headed out to do the big parties. We got a birthday cake for Jesus.

The boys decorated their own tree so they thought that they should have their own presents under them. Caden put his gift from his teachers under there and then he and Colton made some pictures for us and wrapped them up. They also each decorated a plate. Caden put all of our names on it including Matthew-who he and Colton have named the baby. I feel sorry for they baby when he comes because he is going to want to know who this Matthew kid is. Colton also went around wrapping up old toys to give us. It's the thought that counts right?Both the boys got 2 Eric Carle books. Colton loves his Brown Bear, Brown Bear. He even reads it to us at night.

Caden got his own ipod shuffle. He loves listen to our ipod so we thought this would be a good gift especially when we travel. He was so excited and happy when he saw what it was.The Saturday before our Christmas we took the boys to Target and they got to pick out a present for us and for each other. They both had a good time doing that. I think that will be another tradition. It was one of the activities I put in the advent stockings.

Colton was more into unwrapping this year. He finally understood what was under the paper.

They both thought their football slippers were cool. Colton's were too small and I have yet to take them back. Oh well I guess baby boy number 3 will enjoy them!

I caught Colton with my camera and was in the process of telling him that my camera is not for him to touch unless I'm with him and as I'm doing this I'm going through the photos he took and look what I found....I guess he wasn't the only one taking pictures when I wasn't looking....

Once at the Brauns the kids performed Away in the Manger....

Opened presents......

Reading together.....

Posing for pictures.......after I took this picture Colton said do one of our backs.....so they turned around for me.

There were many outtakes before I got one with all four eyes open!

Played with the leftover paper and ribbons.....

Hung out with family....

Woke up Christmas morning, opened stockings and spent some more time with our cousins....

Then we headed to South Dakota and opened more presents and spent more time with family.

I still have the after affects of my cold and sinus infection. I'm told that it may linger. I'm not sure if its pregnancy related or not-I'm betting it is. I had a dr. appt. on the 28th and little boy Braun is growing right along schedule. He is an active little dude-moving and kicking. He really gets going when all is quiet at night. I think he's wondering were the screaming and crying of his big brother are. It's weird how you forget the feeling of when the baby moves. Slowly rolling his way across the tummy and then power kick. I wonder how you can preserve that memory? More to come on what we've been doing in January......update in ummmm February? just kidding-I think.