Christmas 2016

We decided to give the boys Christmas PJ's again this year, because it seemed like, once again, they were all in need of long jammies. They were all pretty excited, especially Hudson!

 The boys exchanged gifts with each other this year, and they all did a great job picking things that their brothers would love. Carson got this Perplexius game from Mason and we've all been having fun with this labyrinth brain buster!

 Hudson got Jensen this really fun car designer kit. It's basically a bunch of fun building pieces, but it also came with lots of wheels. The little engineer in Jensen has been loving this!

 Carson got Mason some Walkie Talkies. Mason is still figuring out how to hold down the button while he talks, and then remembering to let go of the button so the other person can talk to him! I also learned that Santa should probably give Mom some batteries in her stocking next year so that we don't have to scrounge around the house and steal batteries from things in order to make our presents work. :)

 And Jensen gave Hudson a mini trampoline. Hudson was so funny when he pulled the paper away. He yelled, "I got a person!!!" We hope this fulfills a lot of sensory needs for some of our boys!

 The boys also got a fun Simon game from their aunt and uncle, as well as a book called "Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction" accompanied by some tools to help them build said weapons. Carson is already building.

They were also very grateful to receive books from Grandma and Grandpa Jensen (who got to watch them open presents on FaceTime this year) and a gigantic inflatable Bowling set from another aunt and uncle. Lastly they got a cool marble run from Grandma and Grandpa Brudnicki, which they are currently trying to open up as I type. I better go supervise that…

Thank you to everyone for cards, gifts, treats, and expressions of love. Merry Christmas!

Wandering No More

Our Wandering Wise Men shared the last week before Christmas with us, helping to remind us of our Savior and providing some fun activities to enjoy together as a family.

The Wise Men shared this wonderful video with the boys, which we watched for FHE before Christmas.

Choo! Choo! The boys had a great time playing with the train tracks for a couple  of days!

This year on Christmas Eve, the Wise Men brought the boys a "Christmas Light Scavenger Hunt" and they had fun trying to check everything off when we drove around that evening.

And just like last year, the Wise Men finally found the baby Jesus. They also reminded the boys to continue to search for Jesus in the upcoming year. 

I really am thankful for this wonderful season when we get to enjoy a happiness and peace that just doesn't seem to be easily found during the rest of the year. That truly is a gift from our Heavenly Father.

Wandering Some More

Our Wandering Wise Men have continued to wander throughout our home. They even showed up while Mom and Dad went out of town for the weekend (a big thanks to Grandma for keeping up the fun!)

Carson is usually the first to find them, although Mason has been quick to discover them on a few occasions.

Our Wise Men tried their hands at caramel making, but didn't get too far. We helped them finish it up and then delivered a bunch to our neighbors that night.

They built themselves a cozy little log cabin. This has also inspired my kids to play with the Lincoln Logs again!

Carson was looking forward to the day when the Wise Men would make his lunch for him! He was not disappointed to find them like this one morning.

Our little friends decided to keep up their strength by doing some light lifting.  The boys got a kick out of this!

And in other significant news, Mason lost his first tooth! It had been wiggly for a few months, but he came home from preschool and suddenly realized his tooth wasn't in his mouth anymore. I guess he lost it at school and probably swallowed it! Another huge thanks to Grandma Brudnicki for playing the part of the tooth fairy while we were gone!

Wandering Again

We are doing our "Wandering Wise Men" again this year. I loved doing it last year (even if it meant one more thing for me to do each night!) and the boys kept asking me if we were going to have our Wise Men come again, so of course, they have reappeared in our home for this month. 

I decided to keep it really simple and reuse everything I created (and thankfully saved) from last year. For one, the kids were looking forward to repeating some of the activities, like cutting paper snowflakes and writing letters to our missionary cousins. Secondly, it's been a year, and they don't remember everything the Wise Men did last year!! Nonetheless, I decided to add a handful of new ideas on to my calendar and then I can switch it up from year to year without having to create very many new ideas. 

So far, they have loved looking for the Wise Men and enjoyed participating in the activities that they have suggested for our family. Here are just a few that we have done in the last week.

The boys donated money to the Ronald McDonald House one evening.

We had fun playing a game that they got out for us. Mason was particularly tickled with this one!

Last year our Wise Men were roasting marshmallows together. This year they decided to go fishing. I've got a whole 12 months to decide how they will spend an evening together for next year!

Much to be Thankful For

This Thanksgiving we were blessed to have family and friends join us for dinner. It's always nice to break up such a big meal between several households, too!

Besides our Brudnicki family that lives close by, we had our wonderful friends, the Bogles, over to celebrate. They are getting ready to move really soon, and we could't pass up the opportunity to spend the day with them. They have been wonderful friends for many years, our kids get along, the adults get along and they will be sorely missed at our house.

The food was delicious, the company was lovely, and we were definitely filled with gratitude for our bountiful blessings.

Happy Halloween!

We had a successful Halloween at the Brudnicki house this year. Thanks to most of my kids picking costumes that we had used in years past, it was much less stressful than it could have been!

Here they are ready to go to our ward Trunk-Or-Treat.

 Jensen wore Carson's Harry Potter costume from last year. (I think we'll get a lot of use out of this bad boy!)

 Mason wore the Captain America costume that Jensen wore last year. (FYI- Mason is SOOOOO big! He's only a pound and a half lighter than Jensen!)

 Hudson wore the adorable monkey costume that Carson wore when he was 2. I played the part of the Mom in the Yellow Hat. 

 Carson wanted to dress as his favorite golfer, Jordan Spieth. Dustin played the perfect caddy (which also helped to identify Carson for the non-golf fans). We also have to give a shout out to Grandma Jensen who gave us the idea to make a trophy for Carson to carry around. While it was a bit of work for me to figure out, it made his costume!

 This year we also let each boy pick out AND carve his own pumpkin. This meant that I, Mom, helped to clean, design and carve all 5 pumpkins that we ended up with. Fortunately, I kinda dig this stuff, so it was pretty fun.

 The boys were all so proud of their pumpkins. This is my favorite picture of them this year- they're all looking and smiling!!!! Plus, they look cute in their costumes.

 I sat out in our driveway and had all our pumpkins by me for light (and company) while Dustin took all the boys trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. Our neighbors all loved the pumpkin designs. Carson carved the Picachu, Hudson had a cute cat face, I did the owl, Jensen carved the wolf howling to the moon and Mason wanted bats and a moon.

Now that the boys are getting older, I think this is a tradition we can continue to do year after year.

Carson Hits Double Digits

On Sunday, Carson turned 10 years old! It seems like the math got mixed up somewhere in there, and yet, the fact still remains. Since his birthday was on Sunday, he took his favorite sugar cookies to share with his primary class. We also hosted birthday dinner. Carson requested noodles, like always. But he was gracious enough to let Susan choose the flavor of birthday cake. He was very happy she chose chocolate!

 I chose to do something new to decorate the cake, and everyone loved it. It was perfect for all the family choco-holics and the kids loved eating the candy off the cake!

 He got great presents from his family, including fun books, and his favorite gift, cold hard cash! 

 We kind of let Mason take the center stage for the birthday party this year, but Carson invited over his 3 buddies from school to play at our house. (We kept laughing at the boys in their Under Amor shirts!) 

And since Carson isn't a huge fan of cake, we did donuts with his buddies. I think Dustin might have a future in birthday donut creations! Happy Birthday to my Carson boy!