Family Pictures

On Christmas day, our Brudnicki Family had an impromptu photo shoot. It was tons of fun getting everyone in the frame, while also catching Mason with a smile instead of the face he makes while trying to smile in photographs. :) I don't think we did too bad. 

But the best picture was the one where we caught Carson blowing an epic bubble from his gum. Jensen was the only one who noticed it before we saw the finished picture. Seriously, so awesome! You can't plan that kind of stuff.

Dangerous Hallway

I feel like maybe I need to put up a caution sign in my hallway. Remember back in September when Jensen broke his pinkie running and crashing in the hallway? We're pretty sure Uncle Adam broke a toe in the same hallway this weekend. 

Uncle Adam was playing Nerf guns with the boys and chased them down the hall into their room. My sister-in-law, Jenn, and I were sitting in the kitchen while they were playing and we heard a big crash. I went to take a look, thinking it was one of my boys who hit the wall, but I came upon poor Adam laying on the floor of the hallway. (Honestly, I thought someone that big would have made more noise running into the wall!) Jenn and I were laughing pretty hard. It was a bad combo of socks, hardwood, and running that caused him to slide and crash. 

Sorry about your toe, Adam. Don't sue us. :)

Christmas Morning Post

Dustin and I have decided we have the worst camera ever. For some reason the shutter stays open for an impossibly long time, thus creating my lovely blurry pictures. I've tried to figure out how to fix it, but apparently, I'm not smart enough.

Any-who, here's round one of our Christmas. The boys were up super early, but they were nice enough to stay in their rooms until 6:30. Since we knew we had all morning to play, we took it easy on the present opening. 

 Mason got a little bike with no pedals. We have severely lacked as parents in the area of teaching them how to ride bikes. We're hoping that this little bike will help Mason. As for the way he smiles for pictures, I don't think they make a gadget to fix that! 

 Carson requested cinnamon rolls for breakfast this morning. My original plan was to make them last night, but I was too tired, so I just made the dough and rolled them out this morning. I could SO go and eat another couple right now.

After breakfast and watching the movie ELF, it was back to opening more presents. 

 I really kind of hate all the Nerf Guns that have rained down on my house in the last week (Dustin won one at a company gift exchange) but I can't be too mad, because they will seriously do this for HOURS!

 Round 2 will be later this afternoon when Aunt Jenn and Uncle Adam get into town and we open even more crap…I mean presents...at Grandma's house.

New picture

While we were in Utah for Thanksgiving, my brother brought his nice camera, and I convinced him to take some impromptu family pictures. I actually think it turned out pretty well, considering we just found a rock to sit on while we were out one day and we snapped some pictures. It also helps to have some people who a) have a good camera and b) know how to use it. (Thanks Eric and Stephanie!) 

 We also took pictures of the other families, and then we plopped all the grandkids who were present on my parents laps and got a couple of really cute pictures of them. It cracks me up that the children with the biggest and best smiles were the little ones. Sheesh, you'd think my 7 year old could say "cheese" and hold still while a picture was being taken! Whatever- it's still cute!

Christmas Activities

We haven't gone too crazy with the holiday activities, but we've enjoyed a few fun things. A couple of weekends ago Dustin and I took the kids (including our to-be-sister-in-law's niece) out to Johnson City to see these amazing lights. It was like daylight under the canopy of lit branches. Very pretty. Wish I could say the same about Dustin's photography skills.

Last weekend we had our ward Christmas party. Truth be told, our kids already know that Santa isn't real, but they are totally okay with waiting in line with all the other kids to get a candy cane. We also enjoyed a tasty dinner and the kids had lots of fun doing some Christmas crafts and shooting marshmallow guns.

This last one really isn't an activity, but it does involve our Christmas tree. Apparently, Mason decided to take a dive off the chair and thought the tree would be a nice place to fall. This picture makes it look tame, but lets face it, when you drop 35lbs on to something, it leaves a noticeable mark. (Not only did he take out a bunch of ornaments, but he bent the branches pretty badly. I'm not sure I can fix it. Next year I'll be able to hide the damage fairly easily, but as for this year, we may have to be stuck with looking at the hole, since I really don't have the energy to turn the tree around and re-decorate it. Sigh.)

The tree left a few marks on Mason, too. Looks like he went face first into the branches.

It's Never Too Late to Give Thanks!

Has it really been over a month since I posted on this blog? Where did November go? And for that matter, where did the 1st half of December go?

We had a great trip to St. George for Thanksgiving. Here are some of the high lights.

The boys loved playing in Grandpa's leaves. This proved to be a fun activity all week long for all the grandkids. They also loved playing with the boys next door, who they have become friends with during our visits to St. George.

 We got to take the boys miniature golfing with my parents for FHE. My dad told Mason that a alligator would eat his ball at the end when he put it down the hole. Mason talked a lot about that alligator and the ball he ate.

 Mason got a little sick while we were there, so we spent plenty of time just chilling with Grandma while the other guys went on some other adventures. He particularly loved this monkey puppet!

 I was really glad we could see my Grandpa Jensen. He'll be 92 in March (if he makes it there) and I think the boys were thoroughly entertained by his wheelchair.

 All of my boys were pretty enthralled with their littlest baby cousin, Aubry. Aubry (and by Aubry, I mean my brother Jeff) was really in to attacking the kids.

 Dustin was stoked when he found a place that he could rent a side-by-side for part of the day. He, my dad, and the big boys had a great day out riding around. They even hiked up to some dinosaur tracks! The boys also loved riding out on the sand dunes. 

 My dad's garden also provided a lot of entertainment for the grandkids. Of course, this usually ended up with some pretty dirty bath water, but they loved it.

The weather was lovely while we were there. It was so nice, that we ate Thanksgiving dinner outside on my parent's back porch. We were very thankful to spend time with my older brother Jeff and my younger brother Eric and their families. We also got to see Dustin's sister Jen and her husband Adam, who were also in St. George visiting Adam's family. 

Overall, it was a great trip. Thanks to my parents for having us for a fun week. 

Petting Zoo

Seriously, who doesn't love a bunch of soft, cuddly, baby animals? 

Jensen's Mother's Day Out program had a petting zoo come to the school today and his teacher invited Mason and I to come back and enjoy the animals with them. I was glad I decided to pop back over to the school, because it was adorable.

 Those little pigs were really cute, but they were hard to catch! Mason kept walking up to the animals and saying, "Hi!"

 He was finally able to get his hands on this soft duck, who just wanted to get a drink.

 The bunnies were pretty easy to catch. They were also SUPER soft and very cute. I was amazed at how docile the animals were. Little children aren't always the most gentle. :)

 I love this picture. Jensen had so much fun catching animals, petting them and feeding them. Plus, he's just a handsome little guy.

We Like Blue

We know how to do the boy thing. So we're just going to stay on the blue path.

Jensen was the first to get his blue balloon. (He totally thought we were having a party for him.:))

 Carson got his blue balloon at school. (They wouldn't let me take it to his class, since balloons aren't allowed in the school, but they were nice enough to call him to the front lobby for me.)

 Mason got his blue balloon after he woke up from his nap. At first he didn't like it. I think he was still a little sleepy.

 I'm rather relieved that I don't have to re-do this nursery. It has been perfect for all of my boys.

Can't wait to meet you little guy.

Halloween Festivities!

Our Halloween would not be complete without our ward's Trunk-or-Treat party. In fact, it pretty much IS our purpose for Halloween. More than once we have chosen costumes due to what we wanted to wear to the Trunk-or-Treat. This year, such was the case.

Dustin has wanted to be a team of Harlem Globetrotters for several years now, and the stars aligned this Halloween. My job was to make the shorts and shirts, and Dustin found the headbands, wristbands, and the wigs. I'm not going to lie, I got the hardest job. But seriously, when you look this good, it makes it all worth it!

Mason refused to wear his wig. He wouldn't even put it on his head. Even for a picture. (I should have known better than to even buy him one.) But the other boys look awesome in their afro wigs! We did win the Best Costume award for a family or group, and I really think the wigs put us at the top. :)

 Good pictures of multiple children are hard to come by these days. It's a good thing I love them.

 The kids of course had a great time getting candy. They got so much, that we took part of their haul and used it to give out on Halloween. (I'm a total Re-Gifter!)

 It was too warm on Halloween to wear the wigs, so they just looked cute, instead of over the top hilarious. It was funny to hear people when the boys would come up to the door. "Oh, cool, you're a Harlem Globetrotter! Oh, look, here's another one. Wait, a third!" (Then upon seeing Dustin and I with the kids) "Hey, it's a whole team!"

 The candy getting was good this year. Plus, when you have several kids, and they all stay out for an hour and a half, and you live in a neighborhood like ours, then, yeah, it's a lot of sugar.

This holiday alone may destroy all hope of me having a normal pregnancy weight gain. (And I was doing so well!) I might have to go to drastic measures in order to save myself. 

And speaking of baby, we get to have our 20 week ultrasound NEXT WEEK! I think all my friends and family might be more anxious than either Dustin or I are about what we're having. :)

Pumpkin Carving 2013

Our attempt to carve a pumpkin went a little better this year. Last year I made the mistake of doing it a week or so before Halloween, forgetting that I live in Texas, where we have very warm Halloweens. That pumpkin rotted pretty quickly. This year we waited, and thanks to a cool front (we don't actually get very many "cold fronts") I think this little guy will last just fine for a couple of days.

The boys remembered pulling out the pumpkin guts last year. I was a little surprised they were much more willing to do it this time around!

 The big boys helped pick out the face I carved. Jensen liked him because of his "angry eyebrows."

 The boys were also thrilled that I put an actual candle inside the pumpkin. Mason kept singing "Happy Birthday to You" when I was lighting it. :) Even though I did the vast majority of the work, I'm still glad that the boys had fun "helping" to carve our family pumpkin.

I HATE Fire Ants

Why, why, why do these darn fire ants like Mason so much?

And perhaps the more important question is why can't he learn to stay away from these darn ant piles?!! (Seriously this thing is an ant metropolis in our back yard- complete with a couple of suburbs!) Of course I warned them about this one and gave very specific instructions to the boys about not playing anywhere near it, but you know how that played out.

Time to call the pest control guys out again.

It's Off!

 Today we finally got rid of the cast. It was a long month of a stinky, itchy, dirty arm. Having never broken a bone myself, I was interested in how they put the cast on and took it off. I love Jensen's face in this picture. He was laughing rather hysterically when she started sawing through the cast. I think the vibration of the saw (which kind of tickled), plus the excitement of it finally coming off, added in with his nervousness about being cut, made him laugh harder than he needed to. The nurse was very patient and stopped when he stared to feel too scared. But we eventually got it off. And boy was that arm yucky! I was very thankful I had brought along my nail clippers, because as soon as his hand was kind of washed off, I made sure to trim those nails back down to an appropriate length!

For the next couple of weeks Jensen has to wear these two little bands called "Buddy Bands." These will help him to keep the finger protected, but also allow him the mobility and flexibility needed to help his fingers to regain strength. He's been cracking me up all afternoon because he still acts like he can't use that hand at all. 

While Jensen really never complained of any pain in his hand, or even about any of his discomfort, it was clear that he felt very restricted and upset about having that arm in a cast. He often had a hard time controlling himself, whether he was excited or mad. The temper that we said goodbye to a long time ago reappeared, which was difficult for all of us to deal with. But I'm really hoping that the loss of the uncomfortable cast will help our happy Jensen come back.

Soccer For Carson

We have been looking forward to this fall for the boys to be able to play soccer. Especially Jensen. Unfortunately for him, he broke that pinkie right before the season started, so we thought it best for him to sit out and not play, so as not to re-injure himself, or injure another player with his cast. But we have enjoyed watching Carson play and improve his skills as a soccer player and a team mate. There he is- number 44.

 He's gotten much more aggressive since playing as a 5 year old. We really like his coach, who is an elementary school teacher. She really works well with the kids, and they have fun playing with her.

Carson has only had two games so far (since one of his games got rained out) and he's been able to score a goal in each game. In his first game he made the only goal for his team, scoring from about mid-field. During his game today he was able to block a kick near the goal and then kick it right in. His finger got a little jammed during the body block, and he got a little teary, but he was still excited (and he wasn't hurt- thank goodness!)

 And even though I was really nervous about doing the mid-week practices, so far, it hasn't been too bad. Luckily for me, I got a new calling at church, so I now don't have to go to Mutual Activities on Wednesday nights, which is when Carson has his practices. Plus, he really enjoys the time spent with his team learning how to better play.