Easter 2012

 The morning of the 7th, Brady and I went to go see The Hunger Games.  We were supposed to go with the Foys but they went out of town that weekend and I really couldn't wait any longer :) so we went together Saturday morning/early afternoon.  Kolton went over to his cousin's house to play while we were at the movie.  He thought he was pretty cute, so we had to take a picture. :) While he was at Jeff and Vanessa's they went to Atwoods to buy some things and found out while they were there that there was an egg hunt so the boys got to hunt for eggs in hay.  I heard they had a good time!

On the night of April 7th, the night before Easter, we decorated eggs.  Kolton was so excited! I let him pick out the egg dye we bought and turns out it wasn't a dye, but it was a paint that your painted on to the egg.  Cool concept but the eggs never really dried...they stayed sticky.  But, he thought it was pretty fun to paint them. 

He was meticulous about what color went where and how they looked.  He did a really good job on his eggs!

This is the picture I have of them with the eggs.  Haha. 

Then I look normal but Kolton looks a little funny...

And then we did silly faces...

And finally, Kolton decided we should both do mad faces...

All of our finished eggs.  So pretty!

Easter morning Kolton woke us up at about 7:30.  We came out and he hunted for his eggs and basket.  The Easter Bunny hid 15 eggs for him to find.  He had fun running around finding them all.  So fun to watch!

After he found them all we ate cinnamon rolls and watched a church movie.  Then we got ready for church.  I was teaching that Sunday and so I had a couple last minute preparations to do and then we headed out to church.  I thought the primary kids were going to sing so I was excited to watch him, but they didn't end up singing.  All well...maybe next year.  

We went over to the Brammer's for dinner that evening.  We tried to get a picture of the boys together in their Easter outfits.  I don't know what Vanessa got on her camera, but I didn't have much luck.  :) They were all too wiggly!

I love this picture.  Makes me laugh!

On April 9th we had a home-study done with DHS. A worker came to our house and talked to us and gave us some information about adopting and fostering.  We've been thinking a lot about becoming a foster to adopt home.  Its definitely a big and hard decision to make and we are still thinking about it but have signed up for the classes you have to take in case we do decide to do it.  We'd really like to just foster kids that we could adopt because I just don't think we could give the kids back after having them in our home and coming to love them, but we found out during our visit that if you don't take a child for more than 3 months than you are closed as a foster home and would have to start the process all over again to become certified again.  What if we don't come across a child we can adopt in 3 months? I don't want to have to go through all the training and inspections again, but I don't think we are up for the emotional journey just fostering would take us through.  So, we are trying to sort it all out and decide what is best for us.  

Brady also had a doctor's appointment.  He was able to go in and get two of the remaining three pins out of his finger and he no longer has to wear the splint.  They tried to get the third pin out but it slipped back in to his finger and so the doctor couldn't get ahold of it.  Brady's fingers were pretty stiff at first (especially his middle finger) but they gave him so exercises for him to do with is to get the movement back in it.  Its improved a ton! Most of the swelling has gone down in his finger as well and his shoulder really isn't causing him much pain.  Its been great.  That third pin is now trying to come out the other side of his finger, so we're hoping it will poke out soon so he can get it taken out.  

On Tuesday, the 10th, Kolton went to the dentist.  I wasn't planning on taking him that day but Brittney texted me and said that Sterling's office had some openings and so we could take Kade and Kolton to go get their teeth cleaned.   Kolton was pretty excited but a little nervous at the same time.  He really had no idea what to expect.  

 

He had some x-rays done and then got his teeth cleaned. 

Whenever he was nervous he'd shake his little feet.  It was cute. 

Sterling came in to look at his teeth and that was Kolton's favorite part.  He definitely felt more comfortable with Sterling in there than with the hygienist, who he didn't know.  

Sterling totally hooked us up while we were there and Kolton had a good time.  He ended up having 2 cavities that he'll need to get filled.  I hope this is a fluke and he doesn't leave the dentist every time with a couple cavities.  I'm also hoping Kolton will be willing to sit still enough for Sterling to fill them instead of having to take him to a pediatric dentist who will put him to sleep to fill his teeth.  That's just crazy.  He's been extremely vigilant about cleaning his teeth since going to the dentist.  He sometimes won't eat because he doesn't want to get his teeth dirty.  Then, when he finally eats, he has to brush, floss and use mouthwash again to get them "clean and shiny" again.  

As we all know, Kolton is an only child.  Thus, he is very used to being the center of attention...of a very camera happy mom.  SO, he loves getting his picture taken.  One day I was messing around with some stuff on my camera and Kolton asked if I'd take pictures of him.  So, we went outside to our front yard and he posed himself on his own for the next few pictures.  He's so dang cute! Even with food around his mouth. :)

He wanted one of him praying.  He thought it would be "so cute."

 

Love his smile! :) 

And, I just need to throw this one in here...Proof that he has moved from his belly button to his ear lobes.  Where does he get these things?? I really have no idea, but he's obsessed with his ear lobes and even others sometimes...

 His quirks make me laugh. 

Conference

March 31st Kolton had another game.  It was really foggy that morning and the field was all dewy so Kolton got pretty muddy but he had a lot of fun playing.  Grandma and Grandpa Brammer came to watch him.  He scored 9 goals at this game. 

 

After his soccer game we stayed and watched Kade play for a few minutes (they had come to watch Kolton play that morning too but ended up having to get their team picture taken).  We then headed to the City of Moore's Easter Egg Hunt.  I knew it was at Buck Thomas Park off of 12th street, but had no idea where it was in the park.  When I pulled in to the parking lot it was packed so I took the first spot I saw which was at the very front of the park.  Kolton's age group was at 10:40, I believe.  We got there at 10:30.  We started walking towards the back of the park and I started noticing people VERY far away walking with their baskets.  I told Kolton we needed to run.  I was afraid he was going to miss his age group's turn to hunt because once it starts, those things end FAST.  We literally ran the entire way (which was far!) and got there as the horn went off signaling the start.  Kolton just continued running right through to the field.  I felt bad for him afterwards.  He had just finished playing a long soccer game and then we had to run all the way to the egg hunt.  He was TIRED! He had a blast, though, picking up all the candy and eggs.  We've always gone to the Norman egg hunt, but this one is MUCH better.  It actually has real candy, so that is nice (although at least 3/4 of the candy is still in his Easter basket and this was almost a month ago!). 

Look at that face! :( All red and hot (and then with a little bit of mud on it from soccer :)) but still cute! 

We went and waited in line to go see the Easter bunny after the hunt.  As we were waiting a few mascots came walking by.  Kolton wanted to take a picture with the alligator from Andy Alligators.  He also said hi to the chicken from Chick Fil A and got some free stuff from both of them. 

While we were waiting in line the Easter bunny left for a bathroom break so Kolton walked over to a booth that was giving away a free book to each kid.  I stayed in line and just watched him (it was just a few feet away) so we wouldn't loose our spot.  I should have specified that he could only get one book, though, because he walked over there and picked up about 4 or 5 books and the lady working the booth said to him "oh, no, no, honey...you can just pick one book." Haha.  It was funny.  She was super sweet about it, but I can just imagine what she was thinking with this kid coming up and trying to take all the books.  :)

 

After we were done there we went to Jersey Mikes and got $1 subs.  With all these new businesses opening up around Brady's work, they all come in and bring them free food or coupons for free or pretty cheap food.  Its great! ;) We get free food at Schlotzsky's every time we go in there--the manager is super nice.  Anyway, Jersey Mikes had brought them these coupons to BancFirst that said with a donation of $1 you could get a regular sized sandwich so we did that for lunch.  Then we came home and watched the second session of conference.  That weekend we were supposed to hear from the schools if Kolton got in to pre-k.  All my friends were texting me throughout the morning and afternoon that their kid had gotten in and where.  I was starting to get nervous because we hadn't heard.  During conference, though, we got a phone call and Kolton got in to the afternoon session of pre-k at Southgate, which was our number 1 pick since it is right down the street.  I'm excited for him to go to school and make some friends.  I think he's going to love it. After conference was over we went to Jeff and Vanessa's for dinner.  Then the boys went to the priesthood session and Kolton and I stayed there so he could play with his cousins.  While we were there Kolton asked if he could stay the night.  He's asked to stay the night there before and then when its time to go, he decides he wants to come home with us, so I didn't think he'd actually stay but he did.  We then went and picked him up the next morning around 9 or 10.  We came home and got ready to watch conference.  I decided to try the whole "get a treat when you hear a certain word" game.  It worked pretty good for the first session.  I picked some words that were too common, though.  :) Like the word "Jesus" for example was said over and over and over.  Especially in one of the first talks that morning.  It was crazy! Only two of the words were candy and the other two I picked were crackers.  For scriptures we had pretzels, for Jesus we had peanut butter M&Ms, for prayer we had fruity tootsie rolls, and for temples we had teddy grahams.  Kolton enjoyed being able to run up there and get a treat when he'd hear a word. 

He also played a conference bingo he got at church in Primary.  If he got a bingo I was supposed to sign it and then he was supposed to bring it back the next week and he'd get a free ice cream coupon.  I forgot to bring it to church the next week so he wasn't able to get a free ice cream but he had fun playing the bingo. 

I really enjoyed conference.  My favorite talk was from the Saturday afternoon session.  It was Jeffrey R. Holland's talk. It really touched me as I listened to it. 

We had a great weekend that weekend, as always.  Life is just awesome sometimes!

Outdoors Man

The Saturday after we got back from Utah, Kolton had his first soccer game.   He was a little timid at first but after about the first quarter he had warmed up and was back to his normal soccer playing self.  He's playing on a 4 year old team this spring.  We had asked to be put on Kade's team when we signed up, but for some reason he wasn't.  He was put up with the 4 year olds because I guess they had a lot of 3 year olds sign up so they put some of the kids that were supposed to be on the 3 year old team up with the 4 year olds.  I called and asked to be switched to Kade's team.  Then we found out that Kade's team had 11 or 12 kids on it.  We went back and forth and had a hard time deciding what we should do.  We really wanted Kolton to be able to play with Kade but with 12 kids on the team, he'd only be able to play for maybe a quarter of a game.  In the end, we decided to put him back on the team he had originally been on, because they only had 6 kids on their team.  Its been good for Kolton to play with kids who are a little older and have played soccer before.  I know they are all really young, but it really does make a difference.  The 4 year olds have a much better grasp on it than the 3 year olds did last fall.  We've had a good time watching Kolton play and he's had a blast playing soccer again. Here's one of his 3 goals I think he scored that day.  Brady has yet to be able to see a game because of his work schedule.  He has every other Saturday off, but every other Saturday, Kolton hasn't had a game, so we've had pretty bad luck.  Anyway, so I video tape them all so Brady can watch it after work. 

A few days after we came home from Utah it was raining.  I had planned on bathing Missie that morning.  She had been spending a lot of time outside for the last week or so.  We had Diesel over (a solid black male) to hopefully breed with her (we miss having puppies!) so she'd been outside with him quite a bit and was pretty dirty and stinky.  He had gone home the day before so I wanted to wash her up.  I decided to just do it in the rain.  We were going to get wet anyway... :) Kolton put his swimsuit on as fast as he could and jumped on the trampoline while I bathed Missie in the rain.  It was pretty fun, actually! 

 Speaking of Missie and Diesel breeding...I think it was the day after we got home, Kolton was looking out the back window, watching Missie and Diesel.  Diesel started to try and mount Missie and Kolton started freaking out.  He started yelling and banging on the window.  I was back in my room making my bed, so i came running out to see what was wrong and Kolton started telling me that Diesel was hurting Missie and I needed to go make him stop.  I tried not to laugh as I looked out and saw what was happening and then explained to him that no, he wasn't hurting her...he was trying to make puppies.  He gave me a weird look and asked "That's how they make puppies??" I told him yes and luckily, for me, that was good enough for him and he asked no more questions. 

On the 20th of March, while Kade and Emery were over we made bunny masks.  They looked so cute running around hopping like little bunnies.  It was hard for me to get them to stay still so I could take a picture. 

 Like every little boy, Kolton LOVES to be outside.  We have gone on so many walks and bike rides I can't even begin to remember them all.  He loves, loves to ride his bike.  I love the trail we have just right by our house at Little River Park.  We park in the parking lot, he rides his bike around the trail a time or two, we stop by the park they have there for him to play at for a while and then he rides his bike back.  We love it. 

 I watched Kade and Emery one night during youth.  I took them outside to enjoy the nice weather and let them run around.  They took turns jumping on the trampoline and playing basketball.  Usually, Kade and Kolton would jump together instead of separately, and then Emery would have her turn. 

 I included this picture because it makes me laugh.  Kolton's face and body position is just weird and then Kade looks like he is trying really hard not to land on Kolton.  It makes me laugh every time I look at it. 

 Emery thought the trampoline was so cool! She kept letting herself free fall face first.  She'd do it over and over and just smile each time.  It was cute.  She tried jumping some, but mostly walked around the trampoline and did the free falling thing. 

 They were FILTHY after playing outside, so I brought them in and gave them a bath and then had some quiet time of coloring.  I love when they all sit down and color together. 

 Ahhh...Kolton and his sports.  Can't get enough of them! He may be a little bit obsessed.  :)

 

We went to the science museum with Brittney and her kids one morning.  I want to say it was the 23rd of March.  Kolton loves this place.  We did all the usual things...kid play area, jungle gym, the gymnastic mats upstairs, and the trains.  The kids had a great time!

 

 

 Proof that still at 4 years old, he likes to play with his belly button.  I would have never guessed, when he was a year and a half and started doing this, that it would become a habit for years.  :)

 

 We went to breakfast the morning of Saturday, the 24th.  Brady had off work, so we headed to Jimmy's Egg.  It was pretty good.  Brady loved their omelet, and I'm a huge fan of breakfast food, so I loved it too! :)

 We definitely have a back seat driver.  He is always asking us to switch lanes and to go around a certain car.  He even will prompt me to put my hands at 10 and 2.  I like to just use one hand and hold the steering wheel at the bottom but that just isn't good enough for him and if he catches me, he'll request that I put my hands on "two sides" as he says.  Sometimes I oblige, and others I don't, but it makes me smile that he even notices.