Fourth Birthday Party

Thursday May 21st, Brenna and Brody had their last day of preschool! I got to join them at Owen Park for an end of the year picnic. They didn't seem to sad about being done preschool.

Friday, May 22nd was Brenna and Brody's birthday. In the morning before we left for Eau Claire, Steve and I sang Happy Birthday to them and they blew out the candles on their birthday muffins. When we arrived at Carrie's, Brenna and Brody spotted balloons tied to the mailbox and when they went in Carrie's her living room ceiling was decorated with balloons. The smiles on their face showed their excitement. They spent the day with Carrie and had a fun day. Bob and Carol, Carrie's neighbors gave them gifts. They went to watch the airplanes at the airport and ended up getting a tour of the airplanes! Lucky ducks. Saturday, May 22nd, we had Brenna and Brody's birthday party at our house. It was fun day with family and friends. The weather was perfect!

Desi, Jaxon, Olivia, Abbi, Avery, Brenna, John, Tyler and Jorja. All of the kids at the party.

Taking a swing at the birthday Pinata. Ty-Ty finally broke it open.

Working hard to open the envelope. Cousin Abbi is in the background.

Looking serious, but cute.

John, a friend from Eau Claire, made it to the party. Carrie and Matt came from Eau Claire too to help celebrate too. No pictures of them though....

Many swings were taken this day with the new "real" baseball bat from Grandma Merri.

Blowing out the 4 candles!

Jaxon and Olivia helped Brenna and Brody celebrate!
Cousin Angie, Heather, and Great-Grandma De-De were there too.

Brenna snuggling with Aunt Jessie...starting to feel the effects of a long, but fun day.
The party started at noon and Brenna and Brody did not go in the house until 7:00 PM to take a bath. Needless to say they slept very well Saturday night. We are lucky to have so many family and friends who care about Brenna and Brody. Thanks for helping Brenna and Brody celebrate and for all of the gifts.

Sunday, we went fishing for the second time at Lake Martha. Both caught two fish and were excited. Brenna and Brody like touching the worms! Brody and his big catch that is hard to see in the picture.

Monday Brody, Brenna, Grandma De-De, Angie and I went to watch the Memorial Day parade in Eau Claire. Brenna and Brody were excited to the Delong band plus the many other bands. I think they even kind of understood why there was a parade. We even became celebrities on Tuesday when our picture was in the paper and we made the slide show on the Leader Telegram website. http://www.leadertelegram.com/ memorial day slideshow.

Brenna fell asleep on the way home from the parade. She has her mouth and eyes open and is out cold. She slept for 20 minutes, woke up and said, "mom, I'm all done with my nap now." If only I could wake up that easily.

They also had to practice riding their new scooters from Aunt Jessie. The taping is not the best.

This Thursday, the speech language department had a get together at Houligan's for our program support person's 50th birthday. It was nice to get out and have a few laughs. Great-Grandma De-De babysat because Steve had volleyball. The kids love spending time with De-De as she lets them be crazy and drink Pepsi. :)

Brody and Brenna have both been battling coughs and colds. Brody has also had a fever and has thrown up a couple of times. I took him into urgent care tonight (Friday). We didn't have to wait very long, which was nice. The doctor was very nice and suggested antiobiotics. He heard a little wheezing when he listened to Brody's lungs so we will have follow up with that when they see their regular doctor on Tuesday. Brody's medical chart is starting to get a little thicker at Luther...

When we got home we played outside, Steve hooked the Doodlebug up to the bike and we went for a bike ride. Oh my, pulling 80 lbs behind the bike going uphill was a little challenging. I think I might feel it in my legs tomorrow. Surprisingly, Steve did not volunteer to pull the kids on the way there or on the way home...:)

I still can't believe Brenna and Brody are four. It just seems so much older than three and reminds me that my babies definitely are not babies anymore. They are growing up!!

Have a great weekend and I promise my next update will not be this long!

Good-bye Three, Hello Four!

Wow! It has been four years since Steve and I welcomed our double blessing into the world.

At 7:00 AM and 7:20 on May 22nd, Brody and Brenna made their grand entrance. The pictures I took of Brenna and Brody this morning were destroyed on my memory card, so I had to use "almost" 4-year old year pictures to compare. I'm sure I will have more pictures after their party. Who knew four years could go by so fast!?

The first two pictures are scanned and the blog would not let me move them around so the spacing is weird.

Then.......................

The pictures below were taken by by Katie Gross of http://www.kathrynroseimages.com/. If you are looking for a photographer, I would highly recommend her! And now......

Happy 4th Birthday!

Almost....

May 12-May 17th.

Last week was fairly uneventful. Carrie got to help out at Brenna and Brody's preschool two days, which I think Brenna and Brody liked.

Friday, there was a golfing tournament in Osseo so Steve took the day off from work. Sarah and Kelly's husbands were also at the same golf outing so we enjoyed a girl's and kiddo evening at our house. With six kids total, it was a house full but a fun time.

Brenna (3), Jaxon (3), Olivia (4), Brody (3). Brenna and Brody will be in 4K with Olivia.

Kelly and Alan's youngest daughter, Jorja. She is almost a year old. Very busy and cute!
I didn't get a picture of the youngest member, Avery (almost 6 months).

Saturday, I wanted to get some stuff I had ordered from Auntie Lisa, so the kids, Grandma De-De and I met Lisa in Bloomer in the morning. We had breakfast at Mane Street Cafe and stopped at Bohemian Ovens to get a cookie for Brenna and Brody. On the way back, we made a few stops in Eau Claire but then got home before lunch to stay inside on a day that ALMOST felt like winter.
Aunt Lisa and Brody.
Brenna with Great-Grandma De-De. People say Brenna looks like her Great Grandma.
Great Grandma Dale (De-De) as a little girl. I do see a resemblance to Brenna! Since it was so cold, it was a good day for making Brownies. I think Brenna and Brody got a little carried away with licking the spoons. :) They loved posing for the pictures with chocolate on their face.
Sunday, we spent some time in the morning organzing and cleaning. Then because it was so nice out we decided to go to Osseo to go to the park. Steve stayed home to do some work outside. Brenna and Brody rode their bikes and I walked. Uncle, Aunt Jessie, Tyler and Abbi joined us. We ate lunch and then spent time playing at the park. Grandma De-De ate lunch with us too! It was so nice to sit outside and feel warm. It ALMOST felt like summer.
Cousin Abbi
Two peas in a pod..... Aunt Jess-jess and Brenna
Brody went with Uncle and Tyler over to the baseball field to practice catching and throwing. It was really cute watching Tyler teach Brody how to throw a ball correctly.

When we got back to Jessie's, we played outside. Both love jumping on the trampoline. They also played basketball and just ran around.

I left the kiddos with Jessie to go and workout. When I was gone they decided to go back to the park again. This time to fish. It was a full day with A LOT of outside time. I'm thinking they will probably dream about riding bikes and playing outside.

Brenna and Brody are ALMOST four years old. In less than one week, they will be 4. We are celebrating their birthday on May 23rd at our house. They are ALMOST done with preschool. Very hard to believe...It is ALMOST summer vacation! Fourteen days to go. Yeah!

Muffins for Moms

May 4th-May 11th
Better late than never. I'm a little behind with the blog again....

Thursday, May 7th, was muffins for moms at Brenna and Brody's preschool. All of the kids stood up in front and sang three songs. Then we ate muffins and had time to play. Brenna and Brody were very excited to see me at their school! I had tears in my eyes before they even started to sing. I decided I just need to wear some dark sunglasses so I can let the tears flow.Brenna was watching one of the Pastors talk.

Brenna and Brody kept hugging my arm and giving me kisses the entire time I was there. I definitely felt wanted. :)

Afterwards, I dropped them back of at Carrie's and I had to go back to work. Brenna and Brody weren't too upset that I was leaving as the Delong band, which they love listening to, was practicing over by Carrie's house. I asked Carrie to take a picture of the kids and I since I rarely get a picture with my children. I tried to get Carrie, Brenna and Brody running to watch the band but only got a picture of the band.

Thursday evening was kindergarten orientation at Sherman. I stayed to help out and the kids went to Grandma Merri's. I even got to sneak in a quick dinner at Cancun with Shauna and Cindy afterwards. The kids had fun riding their bikes at Grandma Merri's.

Thursday night, Brody had a fever in the middle of the night and started with a cough. On Friday when I picked him up from daycare, he was lethargic and had a fever. His fever finally broke Saturday but he ended up throwing up three times Sunday morning. We think he threw up from the cough, not from the flu. Hopefully we are due for a long healthy stretch now. I think Brody has had this same virus three times in the past three months.

Saturday, Steve took Brenna and Brody to Eau Claire to get a Mother's Day present. I went with Sarah to get a pedicure and run some other errands. I did way more shopping than I originally intended to, but when I get out without children that tends to happen! It was a fun morning.

Brenna and I joined Nana and Papa at the Golf Club for a Mother's Day lunch on Sunday. Brody stayed home with Dad to recuperate. Even with Brody sick, I still had a nice Mother's Day! Steve had taken Brenna and Brody shopping for Mother's Day gift on Saturday. They were quite the shoppers and surprised me with a nice table/chair set for our deck, sandals (slip on Nikes so I quit wearing Steve's) and perfume. I told Brenna and Brody that they are the best gift!

On Monday, we went to Sports Clips to get haircuts. Brody's hair was getting very long. He kept saying, "I need a bad haircut." On your first visit, you get upgraded to MVP, which basically means you get a shampoo, warm towels, and a massage. Both Brenna and Brody said they wanted the MVP treatment and they both liked it! I was jealous watching them get pampered. :) Brenna had two ticks in her hair. Surprisingly, she did not freak out.

Summer vacation is coming up quickly. Yeah! I can't believe I will be able to actually see my children more often in less than one month!