lately

Just a random assortment of what we've been up to lately...

Titus is perfecting standing - he loves to pull up on EVERYTHING! The last few weeks he has even tested out letting go a few times...crazy to think we may have a "walker" soon!

 Boden had "Character Day" at school - where you dress up like a character from one of our favorite books and then bring the book to school to share with the class.  He dressed up in his baseball uniform (t-ball t-shirt under his Cardinals jersey- had to wear them both) and took the book "Froggy Plays T-Ball." He had a lot of fun with it - he was so excited that he got to take his glove to school!

Boden is such an artist - he amazes me every single day with the elaborate drawings he comes up with - he will sit and draw for an hour sometimes - I asked him one day what he was doing and he said

 "oh,  I'm just using my imagination" - I love that kid!

this pretty much sums up Claire....sitting on the counter, crazy hair, hollering about something, with a dumped box of crayons...yep, that's pretty accurate.

Titus got ahold of a chocolate chip pancake I left unattended for about 10 seconds - lucky duck...

Boden read his first book! He is having fun learning to read and it is such a joy to see him grown and learn.  I love getting to see the lightbulbs pop on when he figures out a new word or concept.

It's been a pretty mild winter here - we had snow one day for about 20 minutes.  We've had a lot of days to play outside which the kids love and so does mama.

Boden's artwork was featured on the entrance wall at school - I just happened to take him to school one day that week so I got to see it and snap a picture.  He LOVES art!

in addition to standing Titus is constantly exploring the stairs.  I knew the day would come that I would dislike that double staircase...it's here! He makes a dash for the stairs every time I put him down (as long as the dishwasher is not open.  If the dishwasher is open he prefers to try to crawl in it instead). :)

Tea party with my favorites.  There is no photographic proof...but I was dressed up too! 

So that's a bit of what we've been up to - in between my kids catching every single virus and cold that comes near them. I'm so ready for spring and warmer weather to come!

Jesus and English

Happy 2012! We had a great end to our year, lots of visits from family, lots of exciting things happening and church, and lots of fun happening at our house with our 3 crazy kids.  I'll try to recap more of that soon.  I've just been so bad at getting on the computer and writing down my thoughts lately.

To start the new year we bought Boden a composition notebook to journal in.  He loves to write and we talk to him a lot about what he thinks Jesus is speaking to him, so we thought this would be a great way for him to record it, practice his writing, and learn to journal his thoughts.  On New Years Day Michael and Boden sat down on the couch and prayed about the upcoming year.  Then Michael asked Boden what he thought Jesus wanted to do in him this year.  And this is what he came up with:

"I think Jesus is going to draw me closer to Him"  How sweet is that? I asked Bo what the picture was and he said "That's me and Jesus, mom." Notice they are holding hands...Love it!

We do still have to help him spell words, but he knows all his letter sounds.  As I'm teaching Boden to read/write I'm realizing again how seriously confusing our English language is! Just today I was trying to explain that sometimes "K" sound is made with a K, sometimes with a C, and sometimes with a CK.  He kept asking why...which led me to wonder how in the world any of us learned all the crazy rules of our language and how am I going to teach the rules to my kids!?

little worship leaders

these two crack me up... a little morning worship time at the Brueseke house:

Preschool part 2...the school bus

Yesterday was Boden's first day riding the school bus! He was so excited.  He wanted to go out and wait for it long before it was time.  It was a weird feeling putting my baby on a school bus - it's impossible to me that he is old enough.  It's only the preschoolers on his bus and they have seat belts and a supervisor other than the driver, and they pick up/drop off at our driveway.  Otherwise, I'm not sure I'd be so ok with it.  We only live about 5 minutes from his school, so it's not a big deal to take him, except that I have to take the other two little ones with me and get them in and out of the car to take him into school and pick him up.  and pick up is in the middle of naptime.  So, we are all pretty excited about the bus! :)

He came home yesterday feeling like such a big kid.  He got to sit next to one of his classmates and talk and play.  The only disappointment was that he had to get off so quickly - he is one of the first stops.  

Today he was all ready with his lunch packed, his backpack on, and his bus tag around his neck, standing at the end of the driveway. We saw the bus coming, prayed about his day at school, and then right as he is about to get on he says he has to go potty...like, really bad.  I definitely did not want him to have an accident, so no way I can tell him to wait until he gets there. And the bus can't wait.  I told the driver to go on and that I would bring him to school.

Poor Boden, he was devastated.  I had no idea he was SO excited about the bus.  I knew he wanted to ride it, but he was really, really upset.  So upset I wasn't sure I could get him calmed down enough to go into class.  He kept saying things like:

"just call the bus driver and have her come back for me"

"I can't go to school if I don't go on the bus"

I can't calm down, I NEED to ride the bus!"

I tried calming him down by talking about how he gets to ride the bus home and how he can ride the bus tomorrow.  And, at least he still gets to go to preschool today and he will still see all his friends, and how fun that mama gets to take him today.  He wasn't having it.

On the way to school he kinda calmed down and then he got upset again because "I can't pretend this is the school bus because it isn't yellow!", "This isn't the same road that the bus takes to school!", "my whole day is ruined now" and "but I don't wanna go through this door because when I come in the bus I go through a different door", and "but now I don't get to walk in a line with my friends!"  

We did finally make it into school and I dropped my little guy with red rimmed eyes off at his class. I told the teacher what had happened, just in case he has a hard day.  But, I'm hoping once he saw his friends and started playing he'll forget all about it.

I did have a hard time not laughing and smiling at some of the things he was saying (like that my van wasn't yellow so it wasn't like the bus), but I felt bad for him too.  While I know that in the scheme of things, this is not a big deal, but to him, today, it was HUGE! It was so not his fault that he didn't remember to go potty - at barely 4 I'm pretty sure that's still my responsibility to remind him to go before he leaves the house.  But, I think he learned a few things today.  We talked about not letting something bad ruin your whole day, and how he can still have a good day even though it didn't go the way he planned.  We repeated "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" several times until I finally got him to crack a smile.  And I'm pretty sure I won't have to remind him to go potty before the bus comes again...

Preschool!

Tuesday was Boden's first day of Preschool! He was so excited, talking about it all summer long.  It's hard for me to believe he is already 4 years old and ready for Preschool...it goes way to fast!

packing up his school supplies

The "Lightening McQueen" lunchbox! 

I have to admit I am really NOT a fan of character themed items for kids - shoes, t-shirts, etc. I try to keep it to pajamas only.  I had him convinced to get the gray and green backpack rather than the cartoon character one, and even talked him into a very sleek gray lunchbox.  But I noticed he just kept eyeing that obnoxious race car, and I felt guilty.  Who am I to judge what's "cool" to a 4 yr old?  So, we put the boring gray lunchbox back and left the store with bright red Lightening McQueen, and a very excited little boy.

 I may have gotten carried away and took a whole bunch of pictures...

"come on mama! I wanna go to school!"

 when we got to school we saw his friend Taylor who is going to be in the same class

 don't they look so cute walking down those big hallways?

He walked right into the classroom without me, didn't even look back.  Such a big kid. :(

Didn't even take 30 seconds for him to acquire some type of costume, no surprise there

This is his teacher, Ms. Kristine

I couldn't even get a wave "goodbye" - he was ready to play.  I was a little teary at this point, but so happy to see how independent he was about the whole thing.  I know he is going to love preschool!

We are so thankful for such a loving, intelligent, sweet boy.  God has really blessed us. Boden's name means "messenger" and we have been praying over him since his birth that he would be a light in this world...that through him, others would come to know Jesus as their savior. Even though it may seem like it's "just" preschool, this is the first big step for him to begin reaching out to the world and having an impact on his peers.  As our family and friends, we ask that you would please join us in praying for him and his new adventures in preschool.

I also interviewed him when he got home from school....I'll have that video posted soon!

Run Home Boden!

Boden had his first T-Ball game yesterday!  The YMCA started a Little Hitters T-Ball League this summer for 3-5 yr olds.  Boden has been so excited to play baseball, so we signed him up! And Daddy signed up to coach!  

Here's a few clips from the game.  It was HOT, but the kids had a blast.

  And Michael did a great job coaching too :)

the birthday ferry ride

July 15 marked Boden's 4th birthday.  Its hard to believe it's been 4 years already.  It's been interesting to have Titus - he looks so much like Boden that I'm flooded with vivid memories of Boden's baby days.  Some days it feels like it was yesterday, other days it feels so long ago.

To celebrate, we decided to go for a Ferry ride.  There is a pedestrian Ferry here that goes between Portsmouth and Norfolk.  None of us had been before, so we thought it would be a fun adventure.

leaving Portsmouth - looking towards downtown Norfolk

we thought Boden would be excited about riding the boat and seeing the ships...but I think he was a little  nervous.  I asked him if he wanted to come to the railing and look, but he kept saying "I can see them from here!"  He was content to sit on the bench and enjoy the ride.

Claire however was very curious!

when we arrived in Norfolk we looked for a place to eat dinner.  The first thing we saw was Joe's Crab Shack, right on the water, and Boden decided he wanted to eat crab for his birthday dinner.  Sounds good to us!  

waiting for his crab legs


turns out he LOVES crab legs!



the view was beautiful.  I kept trying to take pictures of all boats passing, but the sun was setting right in front of us and it was too bright for my cell phone to get a good shot...and the nikon was tucked away in the stroller, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

I did get a shot from the Ferry as we were leaving Norfolk to head back home


Claire with Daddy & Bubbe watching the Paddlewheel on the back of the Ferry. 

Finally a shot of all 5 of us...even if not everyone is looking, I still love it!

Happy 4th Birthday Boden! We love you so much!

a new teacher in town

I've probably mentioned before that Boden's favorite activity is "school work."  He loves to sit down and do worksheets, practice writing his letters, and drawing and coloring.  Claire has recently expressed an interest in coloring too - mostly just because that's what Boden is doing I think...she always wants to do what big brother is doing.

Apparently, the other day, Boden decided to take advantage of the situation and decided he would be the teacher and he would teach Claire some new words using his flash cards.  I walked into the room and overheard "Claire, say unicycle....c'mon Claire, you can do it.....say uuuunicycle!"

I noted the blank stare on Claire's face, and suggested to Boden that she might not be ready for a word that big.  Maybe we should start with something a little easier.  He went back to his pile of flash cards and returned a moment later saying "Claire...say rocket ship!....you can do it.....say rocket ship!"

I just had to laugh....it was was sweet.  He was so intent on teaching her new words and was genuinely upset that she wasn't saying them.  He loves being a big brother, and I love watching them together.

ready for spring

We have had a couple days of some nice weather here. Yesterday, while all our friends and family in the midwest were snowed in and freezeing, we had a 70 degree spring day! I had been a little bummed about missing all the snow, but it only took about 5 mintues of my kids getting to run around outside for that feeling to wear off.  Here's what we've been up to:



Boden was supposed to be giving Claire a hug...

excited to finally get to use his big dump truck




I've also been doing some sewing and sewing planning getting ready for spring, now that I've finally got all my sewing stuff back together.  Here's the bubble skirt I mentioned before:



and a cute outfit for my friend Laura's baby girl



This skirt was really easy and fun, it really took less than 2 hrs start to finish - I plan to make a few for Claire for this summer and spring.  I got the tutorial from Prudent Baby, one of my absolute favorite websites (layer cake skirt tutorial here).  They have great tutorials for easy sewing projects and tons of other crafty (non-sewing) projects too.

And now, I've got a couple stacks of adorable fabric just begging to be made into spring dresses and skirts


including these fabulous prints my friend Kelly gave me just before I left Missouri.


I'm excited to get started! Kelly, I think you need to hop on a plane and come sew with me for a weekend!

ABCs

Boden has been working hard at learning his alphabet.  He loves to write and is always asking how to spell things so he can write them.  The other day I decided to see how many of his letters he really knew. I gave him a blank piece of paper and called out the letters one at a time for him to write. 



I was impressed! He did a great job.  I only had to show him examples of I, J, K, Q, R, U, V, W, X and Z.  I thought that was pretty good for 3 yrs old.  So here's me bragging on my boy...

Burning some energy

We've been looking for ways to burn some energy around here...Boden is practically bouncing off the walls and needs to RUN!

The second day we were here in VA we joined the YMCA.  We are so excited about all the fun programs they have, especially for Boden.  Two mornings and two evenings each week they offer a GEKO (Group Exercise for Kids Only) class for 3-5yr olds that is 30 min long and he can go to while I work out.  We drop them off in the Stay & Play area and then the teacher takes them to and from the class and I just pick him back up when I'm done.  We've taken him a few times and he loves it....well, except for the sit-ups part, I was watching last night and they were doing 10 sit-ups....Boden did like 3 and then told the teacher "this is hard!"...and then proceeded to watch the rest of the kids finish their sit-ups. ha.  We had a talk later about perserverence and how sometimes things are hard, but you have to keep doing them to get good at it.  He pretty much just stared at me and then said "but....sit-ups are hard, mom." Yes, honey, I know, I know.

One day I saw them playing a game where they scattered things all over the gym and then pretended to "pick up the trash" and had to run around and put the things one at a time in a hula hoop, another day they were doing relay races across the gym (yay for wearing my kid out!), and today I saw them playing on little stilt things (you know, the plastic cups attached to strings? what are those called anyway?),

and my favorite is probably watching them do jumping jacks....ever watch a group of 3-5 yr olds try to do jumping jacks? it's pretty entertaining.  Boden just jumps up and down and flails his arms all around. so cute.

They also have a parents night out on Sat night that you can sign up for once a month - they will watch your kids from 6-9:30 and you can go out, at no extra cost (its included with a family membership).  That's exciting to us, since we don't yet have babysitters here.  And twice a month they have a parents morning out that Boden can go to for 3 hrs and do "preschool" stuff.  I think he will love that!  They have an awesome outdoor pool and splash park as well as a nice indoor pool.  I'm excited about getting the kids in swimming lessons next month.  I had wondered how I would be able to do a mommy & me class with Claire while having Boden with us - but since it's at the Y, he can go to stay and play while Claire and I swim.  Perfect!

I think the YMCA is going to be great for us - after just 5 visits Claire finally quit crying through the whole thing and yesterday she actually went right into her class on her own. It's a great break for me during the day to get a chance to workout without children under my feet and what mom can complain about getting to take a shower while someone else entertains your kids?  That in itself is worth the cost of the membership!

**Pics are a little fuzzy, I know - they were taken on my phone