Some Thoughts From My Monday

Motivating Isaac to get and stay potty trained might just kill me.  It's breaking me down a little more every day.  He is in an awful backslide that seems to be getting worse.  We are mostly in pull ups and I feel defeated.

If Isaac's potty behavior doesn't kill me, Ben's scream certainly will

I just demonstrated the running man for Isaac...to a country song.  Which I suppose is better than to the "Wee Sing Best Hits" we've been rocking at our house for the past several days.

Ben's teeth really need to come in.  Or he needs to learn to sleep through them.

Boys sitting in the organ room watching the snow fall are cute.  Really cute.

Tantrums over a banana breaking a little can last for almost an hour?  Really?

Jacob coming home for lunch every day has never been more appreciated.

I can't wait to snuggle up in bed and watch Sherlock with Jacob tonight.

How many times have I said "you need a tissue" or wiped a snotty nose today?

Isaac playing relatively peacefully with Joanna this morning while we had presidency meeting was wonderful.  I think I may have actually contributed something to the meeting.

******I guess the day was just gearing up for being awakened at 1 am to Isaac throwing up.  Glad that day is over.  On to day two of whiny sick kiddos.

Jacob's Birthday and Then Some

I guess this is mostly a picture dump of cute kiddos doing some cute things, and maybe a little bit of Jacob's birthday too.

Ben loves phones.  He really likes the real phone with the buttons that make noise but will settle (sometimes) for one of the many old cellphones we have laying around the house.  His other love is climbing on chairs.

I recently made some finger paint for Isaac.  He loved it.  It was actually on Jacob's birthday so Isaac painted his daddy a lot of pictures for his birthday gift.  More paintings than we know what to do with I'm sure.

Later that night there was gift opening.

And then there was blowing out candles and eating cake.

One fine Saturday morning the boys were lucky to play with daddy and train tracks.  Jacob created this fine track.  The boys had a great time.

Like I said, this one loves climbing on chairs.  He especially thinks it's awesome when he can have a snack at the table.  I remember Isaac also really liked climbing on chairs at this age.  Certainly one of the most exhausting and fun stages of toddler hood.  The pulling Ben down from places never ends.

Ben has recently been expanding a little in the foods he'll eat.  We've had limited success getting Ben to eat anything bread like.  He doesn't like anything with that texture.  That is, until he got a donut hole from Lamar's.  You can be sure he ate that right up.

We've been experimenting with homemade soft pretzels and had a really delicious batch recently.  Isaac was eating his warm and thought he needed to hold it in a hot pad.  I thought it was adorable and funny.  

Ben wouldn't eat any soft pretzel.  I guess it wasn't covered in enough sugar for him.  Not nearly as donut like as he would have liked.  He did like sitting in his high chair on the floor though.  He loves that chair.  I had to put it back downstairs though because he kept trying to climb in it while strapped to chairs and I thought he was going to hurt himself.

We've enjoyed some warmer weather lately, even into the 60s.  It was really nice.  I let the kids out back to play recently and Ben thought it was awesome.  He hadn't been outside for a long time and was quite a bit more capable on his feet this go around.  He especially loved exploring the slide.

And what is it with my boys and brooms.  I have very similar pictures of Isaac at this age.  Maybe it's all kids.  But whenever I pull out the broom you can be sure that Ben and Isaac want to take a turn pushing it around for a bit.

Finding the Joy

I had the assignment of teaching in our Relief Society on the first week of January.  I was to introduce the new theme we as a presidency chose for the upcoming year:  Alma 37:6  By small and simple things are great things brought to pass.

As we discussed this theme we talked about it in terms of celebrating all the many small and simple things we as women do but often don't recognize.  So I've been thinking a lot about this for the past several months.  There are so many great articles and scriptures out there about this theme and it was so encouraging to read and study them.

The scripture in Alma references D&C 64:33 which talks about "be not weary in well doing" as we are laying the foundation for something great.  The footnotes also point to D&C 123:16-17 which has long been a favorite scripture of mine.  It's the scripture about a large ship being benefited by a small helm and that we should cheerfully do all things in our power and stand still with assurance that we will see the salvation of the Lord.

And then I read the first presidency message in the January ensign.  I loved everything President Uchtdorf said about setting goals and new years resolutions.  I especially loved the idea that we don't have to wait to become the person we were meant to be.  I also loved his thoughts on not letting fear get in the way of even beginning to try and improve.  I think his thoughts were full of hope and joy.

And I suppose that was the take home message for me in all of this.  We are meant to feel joy now, in the moment, successes or failures aside.  As we do the small and simple things daily to the best of our ability we take comfort knowing we are partnered with Christ and he can make our efforts great.  We can cheerfully do those simple things and know that we can feel that joy because we have done enough.  We don't have to rob ourselves of joy today based on past failures or fear of failing in the future.  Do our best and rest assured that we are contributing to a much larger picture of greatness. (Oh and I love this talk from Elder Bednar and especially where he talks about the brushstrokes of the painting in his office)

So my resolution for the year is to find the joy in my day to day happenings.  It's not all bliss and happiness all the time but there is always some moment of joy to capture in the day.  And that is worth focusing on.

A New Year

I have a few more pictures from the rest of our days in Utah.  It was a lot of fun watching these two cousins play together.  They actually payed quite well.

Sharing with Brinton, on the other hand, was a little more difficult.  Poor Brinton, he put up with a lot from Isaac.  I also love the little cutie in his stomping boots.

And big blue eyed Ben!  What a cutie.

The day after Christmas we headed up to Salt Lake to see the lights on Temple square and to check out the new shopping area.  I was not on my best behavior.  I was totally grumpy (I think the lack of sleep was catching up with me) and I apologize to all my family that felt the wrath of my grumpiness.  Poor Isaac, he usually gets the majority of it.  I'm working on being more even tempered but I do struggle...

The new shopping area is enormous.  I can't say that I'd really ever shop there but it was pretty and the fountain was really cool.  I didn't see it, but Jacob said during one of the water shows there was fire too.  He and Isaac liked that.

Though you can't see it from these pictures, Temple square was super crowded.  So much so that I had a hard time enjoying it (oh yeah, and I was grumpy).  We didn't have much time either because we were supposed to be at a wedding reception for one of Jacob's cousins up in Kaysville.  It was a brief stop.  And Ben was hungry and hated being in the stroller all bundled up so he mostly just cried the whole time.  Not cool.

And then we drove home to Colorado.  The drive home went smoothly and after a few rough nights kids were back on schedule and everyone was happy.  It was a good trip and fun to see both sides of the family.

We enjoyed a fun and fairly relaxing New Years.  We made cheese fondue (though I don't know what I'm doing.  I read a few recipes and tried but it was not very smooth.  It tasted good though.  Anyone have a good recipe or tips for making a good alcohol free fondue?), little smokies, and a cheese ball with crackers.  We had homemade french bread, broccoli, and carrots to dip in the fondue.  We drank our sparkling cider out of fancy glasses and showed Isaac how to clink them together to say cheers to the New Year.  He thought it all was awesome.  He especially liked eating by candle light.  I remember loving that as a kid too.  He thought he had partied hard.

We also called Grandmas and Grandpas and popped some of those confetti popper fireworks.  They are playing with the confetti in these pictures.

Isaac was super excited about staying up all night.  But he was also super excited about blowing out the candles from dinner.  So when I told him he could only blow out the candles if he was ready for bed he said okay.  So he made it all the way to 7:30 before calling it a night.  And that was about his normal bed time.  I wasn't complaining.

The other day we had pizza and rootbeer.  After Jacob and I were done with the bottles we let the boys play around with them.  Jacob even put a little water in them for the boys to sip.  It's funny to see this pictures and wonder what they are actually drinking though.  They sure thought they were cool.

I really love the wiping of the mouth with the coat sleeve.

Isaac started Sunbeams last Sunday.  Can't believe this little handsome one is in primary already.  I think he likes it but sometimes he tells me he'd like to be back in nursery.  I think he can't decide.

Yep, that's more like the Isaac I know and love.  Tongue out and ready for mischief.

Jacob built this car ramp for the boys.  They think it's a slide more than for the cars.  Whatever.  It keeps them happy for about 1/2 hour and I'll take it.

And that's our January thus far...oh wait, I still have pictures on the camera from Jacob's Birthday last week.  I guess there's more blogging to be done.  And maybe I'll share some thoughts from a lesson I taught recently...kind of addresses my take on New Years resolutions for this year.  If your interested in that stuff you'll have to come back another day!

And Then There Was Christmas

It's taken me forever to post these pictures from Christmas Eve and Christmas day because my dumb picassa uploader hasn't been working.  Frustrating.  And then I decided to try and get some more photos from Jacob and his mom but gave up that idea.  So, you get a pretty limited selection here.  I didn't take many photos.

We went to Cabela's on Christmas Eve day with Jacob's parents and sister and her family.  It was fun.  But Grandma Brunson probably has better photos of the adventure.

And this is the picture of the lost shoe.  See how Ben only has on shoe on.  That's because he stuck his foot through the fence and then it popped off, into the display area, when he tried to pull his foot back through.  That was awesome!  I tracked down a worker and while we waited for the maintenance crew, some teenage boy took matters into his own and and hopped the fence to retrieve the shoe.

After Cabela's we went by Scheel's.  Isaac and I rode the Ferris wheel and those photos are on Jacob's phone and Grandma's camera.  I'll see if I can get them later.  I'm sure they are awesome.

We had a delicious Christmas Eve dinner with Jacob's family.  It was sure nice of Rachel to host us all in her new apartment.  Grandma chose to sit at the kids table.  I was grateful for a chance not to have to worry too much about my kids during a meal. Thanks Grandma!

After dinner and some time playing we let Isaac and Ben open their Christmas pjs.  

And then we tried our best to get a good picture of all three kiddos in their Christmas pjs.  It was comical.  As you can tell from the header of my blog, the picking the nose and giving stink eye, was the best brother shot I got.  Cute Ruby knows how to pose though.  Look at those little hands clasped together.  Cute.

We then shared the nativity story accompanied by holding up the right figures from the wood block nativity set we made for Rachel and family.

And after that it was time for the traditional Brunson reading of "The Magic Curtain."  I love Isaac holding Grandma's hand.

We then packed up the kiddos and drove back to my parents house.  I thought for sure Isaac would fall asleep on the car ride home but no chance.  He was so excited he actually talked for the whole 30-40 minute drive.  Non-stop.  It was funny.  But it made getting things ready a little late.  I was certainly tired.

But here it all is laid out the night before.

And the next morning...

They boys were happy.  Santa brought stockings and new books.  Mom and Dad gave tools and cars to Ben and Isaac got tools and train tracks to add to his ever growing collection.

I love this rare photo of my mom reading to Isaac.  Isaac talked for days after we got home about missing his grandparents.  He keeps telling me he wants to go back to my "grandma's house."  He can't seem to grasp that his grandma is my mom.  I'm sure that's a hard concept.

I also like the picture of grandpa getting in on the train playing action.

Later that day we said goodbye to my side of the family and headed up to SLC again to see more of Jacob's family.  These little cousins enjoyed each other's company.

And more presents were opened.  (If you are wondering about Isaac's pjs, this was the only accident he had all week in Utah and it's the only time I didn't have extra clothes in my bag.  Oops.  So we did a quick rinse in the sink and threw his clothes in the dryer just in time for dinner at Jacob's uncle's home.  And for any who are curious or can offer help...he's back to daily accidents again.  And now the m&m's on the fridge aren't working.  I'm out of ideas and really out of patience.  What I'm full of is frustration and apparently tears today.  Blah!)

I also really love this picture of Grandpa Brunson and the boys because if you look close you'll see that Grandpa is wearing one of Ruby's necklaces.  Awesome.

All in all it was a really fun Christmas and Christmas Eve.  We enjoyed the time we had with both sides of the family.  It was our first year having to split time and I think it went really well.  And don't worry, I have lots more pictures from our trip to share in other posts.  

But before that, here are some things I really want to remember about this Christmas season with our cute boys.

Isaac was so excited to see Santa.  He was certain that we had to go "to town" to see Santa because of the "Santa Clause is coming to town" song.  Good thing we were able to go downtown to see Santa.  I think he thought that was good.  

After watching A Charlie Brown Christmas Isaac was certain that he needed to write a letter to Santa.  I did help him write one but I didn't try and get it in the mail.  The letter was pretty simple, something about wanting a hammer for Christmas I'm sure.

I had been talking to Jacob about going to a local nursery, Bath Nursery, to see live reindeer that they bring in for the holidays.  I then asked Isaac if he thought he'd like to go to Bath Nursery to see some reindeer.  He excitedly asked "What's bath nursery?"  He didn't care so much about the reindeer he was more interested in what this bath nursery was all about.  I'm sure he was thinking of his church nursery class all having a really good time in a big bath.  And that probably would be awesome!

We put up the Christmas decorations Saturday and had left the tree for Sunday.  When we picked Isaac up from nursery he was inviting all his nursery leaders over to our house to see our decorations.  He thought they were ultra amazing, apparently.  

Ben loved all the fun things we did this year.  He was really cute about saying "ho ho ho."  He learned it from Isaac playing Santa.  He had turned a bin over and gotten a stuffed reindeer to pull his sleigh.  Ben thought it looked fun and hopped on behind Isaac.  Isaac started saying "ho ho ho" and Ben followed suit.  Initially Ben would only say "ho ho ho" when he was sitting on a bin but he soon learned to associate it with Santa.  It was so funny to see him sitting on a box saying "ho ho ho."

Ben also really liked the music from the polar express.  Especially the "hot chocolate" song.  Jacob started doing a little dance and singing that song and Ben could not get enough.  He was laugh and laugh.  Then, when we were putting the boys to bed that night Jacob started doing the dance again.  I left Jacob talking to Isaac while I headed into Ben's room to put him to bed.  Ben started bouncing in my arms and saying "hot chocolate."  No one ever have known that's what he was saying, but it was.  He would say it every time Jacob sang that song and danced.  Awesome!

It was really fun having these two cuties around this Christmas.