My Boys Make Me Laugh

Bridger makes me laugh. As you can see in these pictures, Bridger is cute and has plenty of character (and cellulite). He has this cheesy grin that makes me melt and when Brody is laughing, Bridger laughs too- not because he knows what is so funny, but because he wants to laugh just like his big brother. When he isn't happy, however, look out. He is a pro tantrum thrower. We start them young in our family. If something isn't the way he likes it, he will arch his back and scream from his throat and it is loud and annoying. We were at Wal-Mart yesterday and he started screaming like that and people were looking at us like, "What are you doing to him?" Brody has thrown quite a few public tantrums but I have never been really embarrassed because people know kids throw tantrums. This was different- it was like Bridger was trying to convince people that we were abusing him. I guess we were, if you consider giving him snacks and juice and toys to play with to make him shut up abuse. I say tomato.....

Brody makes me laugh too. He is starting to say really funny things. Maybe they aren't funny things, but the fact that he says them is funny. Today I was feeding Bridger baby food for lunch and I spilled some down his pants. Here is what followed:

Me: "Oh man!"
Brody: "What wrong, Mommy? Mommy make mess Buh?" (Buh=Bridger)
Me: "Yes, I made a mess on Bridger."

About 20 minutes later, Brody was at the table eating his lunch and his chair back "came off" which means he ripped it off. He exclaimed "Oh man!" in much the same way that I had and said, "Dis wall down!" (this fall down). It was funny that he picked up on it.

Also, Brody is slightly anxious about elevators. He likes them, he likes to push the button, but he always has to hold our hands and he looks a little uneasy while we are in them. Twice this week he was in an elevator with either Adam or me and Bridger and both times, he grabbed Bridger and said, "Okay, Buh. Here go!" (It's okay, Bridger, here we go!) He was trying to comfort Bridger because he assumed Bridger was scared too- at least that is my guess. It was cute.

I don't have any appropriate pictures of Brody this week. I have one that I took in the middle of his nap after he took his pants and diaper off (which is a regular thing now a days) but I'm not posting it on our public blog for chesters to find.

We had our first Relief Society Meeting in our new ward on Sunday and I think it went well. I was a little overwhelmed looking at all the sisters and feeling a new love for them and thinking of the responsibility I have to makes sure their needs are met. I am getting used to the idea, though, and I am excited!

County Fair and Other News

Yesterday we went with the Livseys to the Columbia County Fair. It was fun for about the first 4 minutes. Brody went on a couple of rides with Hayden and we got to go see the petting zoo (it was really a sad place). Everything was ridiculously expensive and it was crowded and smelled like manure and cigarette smoke. Yummy, right? Oh well. Now we can say we've been to the county fair.

After the fair we went to Cici's Pizza, which is a pizza buffet much like Stevie B's Pizza, only way grosser. Stevie B's has the best breadsticks and a huge variety of pizza. I'm a pepperoni only girl, but Adam likes to try new things and they will custom make a pizza for you with anything on it- mac and cheese, baked potato, anything they have they will make into a pizza. Cici's food had a weird taste to it and was pretty disappointing, but they had really good mini cinnamon rolls. I think I had like 5. Or maybe more- who knows? We are glad we went, though, because now we know how much better Stevie B's is and we can tell the world.

Friday was a really long day. Brody didn't take a nap and Bridger only took a 45 minute nap in the afternoon so they were crabby and it was frustrating having to keep them quiet while Adam was sleeping (he is on the night shift again). I was trying to think of things to do to keep them happy and one of them was a sticker party. We got a cute Halloween package from Legrand and Valarie (Adam's brother and his wife) and it had 4 sheets of Halloween stickers in it. Brody loves stickers so we stuck stickers all over each other and it provided quite a bit of entertainment for us. Bridger was confused and I'm pretty sure he didn't like the feeling of stickers all over his face, but sometimes we all have to make sacrifices to make Brody happy, do we not?

In other big news, our ward split last week. We were asked to go to the Stake Center on Sunday night and they created a new ward called the Grovetown Ward, which we are now members of. We lost a lot of good friends but we still live close and hope to see them every once in a while. Also, we now go to church at 12:30 which we learned today is quite brutal. It is nap time and crabby time and the I am pretty sure the nursery was a nightmare for those poor nursery teachers. Bridger was not a happy camper. Also, this morning Adam and I met with our new bishop and I got called to be the new Relief Society President so I got sustained and set apart today. I still kind of feel like I'm going to throw up whenever I think about it but at the same time, I know I will have a lot of help from the Lord, from Adam, and from the other members of our ward. I love our new ward. It is young and fresh and it is a new start. I know that obedience and willingness to sacrifice bring blessings and you know I love blessings! I am nervous and excited and confused all at the same time (I am too young for this!).

Happy Halloween!

Tonight we went trick-or-treating with Brody and Bridger. Bridger mostly just stayed in the stroller, but was admired by passersby. Our friends Rachel and Jonathan with their son Benjamin met us at our house to take pictures and then we were off. We just went up and down the streets of our neighborhood. Brody was a little confused at first. He would say "gickogeet" and then just stare. He would get his candy and we would remind him to say thank you and the staring continued. After a few houses, he was a pro. "Gickogeet", candy, "Dit do", turn around and go to the next house. He even started saying "Ah ah self" meaning he wanted to go to the door alone. At one such house, I stood back a few feet and let him knock on the door. Once he knocked, a fogger turned on and started blowing fog loudly at him. He freaked out and ran towards me. The guy answered the door and saw fraidy cat Brody holding onto me and said, "The first person I turn the smoke on for turns out to be a fireman. I feel bad." After that Brody was happy to have Adam or me go to the door with him.

Our neighborhood was quite festive. A lot of houses went all out with Halloween decorations. Even more had carved pumpkins or scarecrows or other scary things. It was fun to see all the other kids dressed up.

Brody scored, which means that really Adam and I scored. We didn't even come close to getting all the houses in our neighborhood and we had to empty his firetruck candy holder a few times because it was overflowing. We were out for about 45 minutes and then came home to put the boys to bed and started giving out candy. I'm already out of candy. It was a busy night.

Bridger's First Haircut

Bridger got is first haircut yesterday. I kept putting it off because I didn't want to cut his baby hair off, but he was getting shaggy around the ears and his bangs were becoming a little out of control. These are the before and after pictures. You can't tell but I cut off almost an inch in most places. He liked it at first (he got to play with a nose hair trimmer that has the blades taken out that Brody always likes to hold during his haircuts) but then towards the end he was swatting my hand away. Doesn't he look devastated that I cut his hair? Like "What did my mom do to my beautiful hair?"

He looks so cute- it makes him look like a big boy to me. He is a stud.

An Introduction

Hi. My name is Broderick, but you can call me Brody. I feel like it's time for me to let the world know that I am not just a cute face attached to a perfectly scrumptious body (that is how my mom says it). I have a brain too. I know all my letters and read books all by myself. I brush my teeth and put my clothes on by myself too. If I wanted to I could even change my own diaper, but I choose instead to punish my parents for not feeding me ice cream for dinner every night. They're trying to get me to do my business on a potty, but to be honest I only do it for the M&Ms or when I don't want to go to bed right away. They're so easily manipulated - like giant gobs of play dough in my hands! It's much more efficient to just use a diaper anyway, plus I can be in charge of my own time management and not a slave to nature. I'm trying to persuade my Dad to use diapers, but so far I've had no luck. I'll let you know if that changes.
I have a little brother named Bridger, but I call him "Boo" - you can too. Sometimes when we're bored we'll just laugh at each other for fun. He's cute, but not as smart as me yet. I'm trying to teach him how to pray and walk and eat stuff, but, like I said - he's not so smart.
I think lions are pretty much the best animal ever. If I could be an animal, a lion is what I'd choose. Not just because they have cool hair, or eat people, but because can poop wherever they want and nobody cares. Also, they can roar really loud and so can I.

Halloween Costume Woes

Hello friends! You may notice our blog looks a little different this week. It was getting stale to us so we changed it up a bit.

I always try to write within a week of the last post but it never seems to happen. This week is no different. If you are like me, you go to all of your friend and family blogs almost everyday to see if there is a new post and when there isn't, you are disappointed. Well, get used to disappointment.

This picture is of Bridger right when he woke up from a long nap. He looks completely wasted.

These past few weeks have been so busy for me! I always thought that moms that didn't work were full of it when they said they were really busy. What do they do all day? Stay at home with their kids, half of them in school and get stuff done, right? Wrong. The only time I can get stuff done is when the kids are in bed. That happens twice a day- nap time at noon and bedtime at 7. During nap time I usually have grand plans of cleaning or making cards or making phone calls but noon comes around and I am dead. When I can I just take a nap at the same time as the boys. That means that all the stuff I have to do has to be done after they go to bed at night and the last couple of weeks I have had stuff at night. Last week was the RS Visiting Teaching Conference which I was in charge of and we have had birthdays, ward activities to get ready for and I even got a girl's night out this week! Needless to say, the house is a mess, we have had leftovers a lot and I am really looking forward to the weekend.

Thursday the boys and I went to a play group Halloween party. They had their costumes on and we got to see all the other kids in the ward and their costumes. It was really fun. We decorated cupcakes that were oh so yummy and everyone traded candy. Tonight is our ward Fall Festival and I have been trying to get all of our costumes ready. I am going to be Mary Poppins and Adam will be Bert. For weeks I have looked at thrift stores and online for things to put together my costume. I finally put it all together last night and......it looks RIDICULOUS! Adam said I looked like a mime. I guess Mary Poppins on a tight budget isn't as easy as I thought it would be. Adam's costume looks great. I guess he'll just have to go with white trash Mary Poppins. We will post pictures of it all later.

Yesterday I walked into the living room and Bridger was standing up next to the tv holding a toy in both of his hands. Yes that's right- he wasn't propped up on anything- standing all by himself. I am dumb and loudly said, "Bridger! You're standing all by yourself!" and he fell down. I have tried to get him to do it again today but no luck.

Brody is all about doing things by himself these days, or in his words, "Ah ah self". Sometimes it is annoying when I am in a hurry and he wants to put his shoes on all by himself (especially since he ALWAYS puts them on the wrong feet) but it is neat that he is learning to do things for himself. Another cool thing he did this week is spell something out by himself. We play the letter game a lot that Adam's sister Stalina got for him. It's a tin school house with magnetic letters inside with a matching card that the letter fits in. Adam works with him a lot and he now knows all of the letters. So we were at his friend Hayden's house the other day and in Hayden's room, he has letters that spell out him name on the wall. Brody pointed and said, "H" and so I pointed out the rest of the letters and as I pointed, he said "A-Y-D-E-N". It was really cool. I didn't know at that point that he knew all his letters. When we got home I pulled out the letters and quizzed him and he knew them all. Some sound the same- like G and J but he knew them all. I was really proud of him. He even says the word for some of them like D- Dog and B-Bus. I like him.










Oh- I just remembered one more thing I was going to write. The other day Brody sat on the couch by himself and read himself a book. He looked at the pictures and described them using his limited vocabulary. He is so intellectual.

Happy Birthday Adam!!!

Today is Adam's birthday. He is 27 now, which to me is really old but to many of you reading, it is probably really young. We are actually having his party on Friday because it is our good friend James' birthday this week also and we are doubling the fun and having a party with them. Today probably didn't feel like a birthday for Adam but hopefully we will have enough fun on Friday to make up for it. Today I brought him some cookies to share with his friends at work. I remember when my mom used to bring in cookies or cupcakes or whatever we wanted her to bring when it was our birthday. Then everyone liked me for the day, even the people who didn't normal like me.

So these pictures are some that I found in one of our old picture albums. I don't mean albums that are old; I mean albums that contain old pictures. I know what you're thinking and no, we don't put covers on our albums. I love pictures of Adam when he was a little boy. He was cute but not in a weird I like little boys way. His baby picture slightly reminds me of Bridger and he is also quite attractive. The one with Adam in red pajamas is with Legrand and is also one of my all time favorite pictures. You can just see how much they love each other. Sometimes when Brody and Bridger are playing, I see that between them and I love love love it. The picture with Adam lying on the ground is with Stalina. I wonder what they are laughing about.

It is now after 11pm which is way past my bedtime. Adam, Happy Birthday!! I love you and hope you like being old. And to all of you out there, I'll let you know how it feels in a few years when I am old.