Wedding Bells

So I got a text from Darla today, the mom of Natalie, the little girl that goes to daycare and preschool with Alex.  She informed me that Natalie told her Aunt that when she turns 4 she is going to get married like mommy--to Alex that goes to Susan's and preschool.

Not sure I am ready for that--but they do make a cute pair!

This was the first day of preschool.  Not sure she looks like she is thinking marriage at this moment!

Cheap Entertainment

Our kids are perfectly content--actually TICKLED to sit with Daddy and watch UTube videos of tractors/combines farming on his iPod or my iPad!  They push each other back, so each can sneak in for a better view.  Brecke just squeals "tractor" and "combine" the whole time!  It is quite the sight!  Who need cartoons?

Ready to get Creative!

Nana made Alex a paint shirt for pre-school!  When I was little my sister and I each had our own paint shirts for school too.  Mom made Alex one just like ours with his name on the back and a dump truck on the front!  He loves it and REALLY loves art days at school!

Already!!!???

My dad is here staying with us while he helps with harvest.  We had to laugh the other night as we were both in the great room with Alex and Brecke and we were getting ready to turn the TV to Wheel of Fortune (the kids love that show), and before we turned the channel, Inside Edition was reporting on the previous night's Emmy Awards.  As we briefly watched the women on the red carpet, Alex says "ooooh pretty girls"!  Dad and I both looked at each other and laughed.  He is starting young admiring the pretty ladies!!

Stripper in the House

We have a stripper in the house!  She goes through different phases. First it was just unzipping a little, but would pick at her diaper through her jammies and get it unhooked so the diaper was just hanging in her jammies.  Fix=duct tape the front of her diapers.  Second, it is complete unzip but just sit in unzipped jammies.  Third, is this...

At least the diaper is still on!!  Doesn't she look so proud!!?

A Perfect Family Night

The kids and I headed out to the field to join Daddy for some farming.  Alex hopped in the combine with Uncle Brett, while Brecke, Daddy, and I ran the auger wagon.  She loved it and had to have said "tractor" a hundred times.  She laid claim to the CB/radio and pretty much didn't let anyone talk on it!

That is the "DO NOT try and take this radio from me" look!!!!

We may live in the heart of Illini Country, but the Barnards are diehard Cyclones fans too! It was a great victory and the only thing better than watching the game would have been to be there! We were dressed in our cardinal and gold and did lots of ISU chants!!!

Shiner

Alex's eye met the toy helicopter and I think the helicopter might have come out ahead!  Our "Air Jordan" (he was showing us how high he could jump) jumped and came down on another toy, while he fell, the corner of right eye went right into his toy helicopter and luckily the cut was small, but it is going to end up being quite the shiner I think later this week--just in time for preschool pictures!!! :) 

CARS 2!!

Grandma Lyn got us into State Farm headquarters to see Mater, Lightening McQueen, and Finn McMissle from the new Cars 2 movie!!  Alex was in heaven!

I-L-L-I-N-I

Mommy and Daddy got to spend the night with just Alex and took in an Illini basketball game!  As you can see he is pretty excited!  I am not sure if he is more excited about the game or the tub of popcorn he got to munch on the whole time!

10 Months Old and this is How You Celebrate?

Brecke is 10 months old today.  Yep--crazy isn't it?  She is doing so many things---more on that later.  She decided she would celebrate this milestone by lunging out of her crib.  OK...not sure it was a lunge, actually, I am pretty sure it was a head-over-heals sort of move...but the end result was the same...a loud THUNK!  Let's just say that I can still move pretty fast when I need to.

She is fine. I found her sitting up on her bottom holding her blanket--crying--but not screaming bloody murder.  A few seconds in my arms and she was giggling again.

The boys got home and lowered the crib.  That should keep her in for awile! :)

Fashion Statement

I don't know how he didn't fall flat on his face, but Alex was so proud of his new fashion statement. Mommy's boots added to the tractor shirt that he hasn't taken off for now almost two days--hopefully, today will be the day that we can peel it off of him.

Round and Round We Go!

Brecke just LOVES crawling round and round the ottoman--especially if big brother is chasing her or if Mommy is hiding around one of the corners. She just giggles and giggles and giggles!

Not Gonna Be Long...

Brecke is gonna be walking sooner than later! She is crusing around everywhere and this week she "walked" across the whole kitchen with Mommy's help (and a bit of antagonizing from big brother--notice he is pulling her hair in one of them).

She is SOOOO PROUD of herself!!

HELLO?

Brecke has this cell phone thing already figured out. She knows exactly what to do with her play ones and then when one of ours rings, she puts her hand up to her ear and says her own version of "hello"!

Pretty Girl

This is one of my favorite pictures of Miss Brecke. There is just something so simple about it and to me she is just one of prettiest little girls--ever. Hard to believe she is 9 1/2 months here.

Giving it a shot...

We are slowly attempting to learn to use the potty. We got some cool undies and he obviously loves to model them (notice the hands on his hips). The weekend we really dove into it, by Sunday night he came down with a fever and was out of commission for potty training the rest of the week, so haven't really pushed it since then, but we are trying!

Some Warmer Weather

Matt and I had a chance to head off to some warmer weather (Cancun) for five days. We told Alex we were going on an adventure like the "Cat in the Hat". He thought that was pretty cool and wants to go ride the airplane the next time! We enjoyed our time away. It was the first trip away together since Alex was born--so it was time. Thanks to Nana and Papa for coming and staying with the kids while we were gone.

My highlight was swimming with the dolphins--something I have always wanted to do. Here I am waiting for 2 dolphins to come up behind me, put their noses on my flexed feet and stiff legs and push me up and out of the water...it was SOOOO COOL! I can't even describe it! I got to spend about an hour just doing different things in the water with them. Definitely an experience I will remember!

"Shaking fins"

A view from our room.

Getting ready to head out to the airport. Goodbye 80 degrees...hello 17 degrees and sleet. UGH...but it was sooo good to see the kids!

Baths in the BIG tub!



 Brecke's first bath in the big tub.  She was 8 months old!

I have a picture similar to this of Alex. He was older, but right off the bat, she was very curious about her new bath tub.


She will sit the whole time during her bath with this little cup in her mouth.  (9 months here)



Happy Birthday Matt

Poor Matt. With the holidays and then celebrating Alex's birthday on the 1st, Matt's birthday sometimes gets the raw end of the deal. This year he got apple pie and Alex loved that he wore the same birthday hat that Alex wore on his big day!

Matt got some help blowing out the 5 candles.

Notice they were grouped in "3" and "2" for 32. :)

Matt got an Illini Forest Face. He lives out on one of our trees out back! Alex thought putting him up was pretty fun!

Happy Birthday Big Guy!

Hard to believe we celebrated Alex turning 3 already!! We had a small gathering of family and some of Alex's friends over for pizza, cake and ice cream. He had a ball!

He thought his cake was super cool!

Getting ready to blow--BIG breathe!

So proud of himself!

Alex's best buddie KK came to help him celebrate!

He had a blast opening all his presents!