November 2013

Luke turned 2 November 1st!  His birthday was on a football Friday so we had cupcakes late after a football game with Charmayne and her kids.  Lots of sugar that night!!!

 I just love this little guy so much.  He is such a talker now and loves to dress himself (nonmatching, backwards, inside out....the sad part is that I usually just go with it).  I love his funny little faces he makes, and I just think he is the cutest kid ever (well, tied in cuteness with my other two, of course).  He is still my "baby" and Brock gets on to me for treating him as such, but I just can't help it.  Now I know why the babies of the families are so spoiled. :)

We waited to have his party until Nana and Papa came for the District Championship game (Nov. 9th)...

 

The kids had so much fun with Nana and Papa!  We let Brek stay home from school on Monday so she could spend time with them, and she was in heaven.  I was too seeing as how I got to take a long nap while they watched my kids (took them out for treats, played outside and cleaned up accidents!).

 

Tyce

One of Luke's funny faces caught on camera!

My football player boys

Another funny sleeping pose from Tyce

That is a cracker hanging from his mouth.

Luke cheesing for the camera

Had to get a pic of Brek too

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we stayed home because we were in the playoffs.  It was our first Thanksgiving away from family.  Really weird!!!  We made a menu, and I got everything all planned out.  Did I mention I was just barely pregnant??  Yes, so I got to make Thanksgiving dinner feeling great (not) with the help of Brock (thank goodness he came home to help after practice or I would've never finished!).  I was actually really proud of how it turned out!  The turkey was great!  I did, however, decide I never want to have Thanksgiving by ourselves ever again!  It was horrible to cook everything for just our family.  We had leftovers for a month! ;)

the turkey

The Feast

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tyce

Luke 

He dressed himself.  Can you tell?  Yes, his shirt is on inside out and backwards.

October 2013

This month started with an awards assembly for Brek.  She is a very good student and always gets good awards.  She is pretty shy at school so she didn't want to look at me for the picture.

And of course, lots of football this month!!!  Overall, the games were nice and mild so it was pretty comfortable going to them.  One game was freezing cold though (first playoff game)!!  We had to go sit in the car at halftime to warm up!  At which point Luke peed in his diaper which leaked on to my lap.  Lovely.  Back in the stands after that where Brek started crying she was so miserable.  Finally headed to the car to watch the end.  Yes, we are troopers. :)  Oh yes, did I mention Coach Payne?  He had a TERRIBLE cold/flu/sickness during all of this as well where he faithfully stood on the sidelines coaching his boys!  But we won big!

I had to get out my camera to take pictures of proof that we were outside playing in water in the middle of October!!  Sometimes there are great advantages to living in the South.

As always, Brek is the boss.

 These next pictures crack me up.  I had to post all of them so you could see just how sassy my little girl is!

Gotcha, Mom!

Our annual Family Home Evening Jack-O-Lantern

I love Luke cheesing in the background!

Daddy getting Brek

Luke's hair is sooo long in this picture!  We loved his long hair so it took a while for us to finally cut it.  When we did, Brek cried saying she liked Luke better with long hair! :)  Sweet sister.

And Tyce!

Look what showed up on my favorite rocking chair!  I wonder who could have done this?  (P.S. Does this remind anyone in my family of someone??  Aunt Tamra!!!)

Before our church Halloween party (Oct 30)

Batman and Vanellope von Schweetz

I had more things for Brek's costume that would have made her look even more like the character, but this is what my stubborn child thought looked best!  Oh well!  She's still my cutie! 

Luke the lion was being super stubborn and didn't want to take pictures or wear his costume.  It came off not long after this.

Halloween day ready to go trick or treating with our friends!

Tyce, Trey, Brek, Alex

Brek and Alex

September 2013

In an attempt to catch up on our blogging since I'm so far behind, I am going to just sum up our months.  September was spent going to football games, taking Brek to and from school, and watching these two crazies!  My boys kicked it up a few notches since Brek went to school.  Here are a few pictures of what they were up to...

They were of course "playing so nicely" in their room.  I go to check on them and discover fingernail polish all over them!  Luckily, not anywhere else.  Miracle?  Absolutely!  I was planning on heading to the bank to open an account that day, but there was no way I was taking them now since they looked like they were covered in blood!  Have I opened a bank account here yet?  No, I missed my one chance! :)

And here are some pictures of them in their normal attire at home...

One night all ready for bed...

My little snaggle tooth

On a side note, Brek has been doing great in school and I think she enjoys going for the most part, but getting her there every morning is absolutely ridiculous!!!!  Her clothes are never right (although SHE picks them out every night), her socks ALWAYS feel bad and she has to go through at least 7 pairs trying to find the one that feels just right, and her shoes are a major issue as well.  In the beginning, the shoes were the biggest thing.  We bought her new tennis shoes.  After two days of that, she went back to her old shoes because something of course was wrong with her new ones (too slippery for PE).  Then we got to the point of rotating between 2 outfits because those were the only 2 pairs of her tons of clothes that she liked.  What did that mean for me?  Laundry every night!  Was it worth it for her to go peacefully to school in the morning?  YES!!!!  

Also, another issue was that she didn't like for me and the boys to walk her in to school (she would stand at the doorway and not go in to her classroom).  She wanted to walk in with her friends.  And if we missed her friends in the morning...major meltdown!  Finally, the school counselor started helping us out by walking her in every day.  Brek loved this.  So, things were going pretty smoothly for a while.  But now since the Christmas break it has been back to fighting her every morning to get to school!  The counselor has hurt her ankle and is never there in the morning anymore.  So the boys and I walk her in (15 minutes late mind you), and she stops at the doorway and won't budge.  Lately, the nurse has noticed Brek struggling and will come and get her.  

So if you have actually made it to the end of my long rant, I would love some suggestions or ideas.  This morning I turned to bribery (not the first time mind you), and it seemed to work for today.  If she gets to school on time for 5 days she gets Dairy Queen ice cream.  In the beginning, the counselor said she felt like Brek was just having a little separation anxiety.  Thoughts??