The Verdict is...

a healthy baby!

We had our ultrasound today, unfortunately it is rather anti-climactic. The baby was not cooperating and was turned backwards the whole time (meaning the back and bum were at the front of my stomach). The doctor pushed and prodded, but the baby wouldn't turn. So the doctor couldn't get any good pictures and we weren't given any. The doctor also wasn't happy with the view of the heart he was getting, so I'll go back in 8 weeks and we'll try again.

Wayne was determined to know the sex of the baby and I don't want to so we compromised. Wayne took in a piece of paper with the words "boy" and "girl" written on it and a security envelope. Wayne asked the doctor to circle one and put the paper in the envelope. Wayne will be allowed to look at the paper tonight on his way to Missouri for the week. He is not allowed to reveal it to me or anyone else! So don't try bribing him--Mom. ;-) I don't think I'll hold out to the end, but it'll be fun as long as I can. The doctor did also tell Wayne he wasn't completely sure of the sex because the baby wasn't cooperating, but he said he was "pretty sure". So we still may all be surprised.

So until we get pictures, or I break down and ask Wayne what the paper said, just know everything looks great with our baby so far. YEAH!

Big Boy Bed

We still have a few more months until the baby comes, but instead of wait and throw all the change on Brenner at once, we decided to put him in a big boy bed now before the baby arrives.

So last night was Brenner's first night in a big boy bed.It worked out nicely that with all the moving and putting up of beds, Brenner didn't take a nap during the day. Then that night Wayne was in charge of the kids while I watched the Relief Society General broadcast. Wayne had a friend over with his kids to watch a football game and all the kiddos stayed up way past their bedtimes. So Brenner was so tuckered out he had no problem. He got out one time, but when I went in he was pointing at the bed telling me to put him back in. He fell right to sleep.

This is during his afternoon nap today. Snuggled up with Bear and Crabby.

My little Cowboy

They had a cowboy day at preschool this past week. Aiden stayed dressed in his outfit the whole day.

At bedtime he agreed to a night shirt, but continued to wear his hat until prayer time.

Everyday since he has put his hat on and goes around the house yelling, "Yee-haw!" or pulling his hat off and saying, "Howdy little missy" or "Howdy partner" (depending on the boy or girl he's talking to). Too cute!

Dennis the Menace

We have affectionately nicknamed Brenner Dennis the Menace, with good reason. This sweet, adorable little boy is the most curious, distructive little monkey. Most all of our cupboards are childproof and those that are not we are constantly monitoring. Anything within his reach must be child safe or is in serious jeopardy. This week I just happened to document some of his antics.



I will admit to being partially to blame on this first one. I made the mistake of believing that Brenner would remain downstairs with his brothers while I went upstairs to rest for a little bit. About 30 minutes later Brenner comes up to show me he has powdered sugar on his hands. It also covered his face, clothes, legs, feet, etc.



I came downstairs to find this

Yes, that's butter he found to mix in(I guess it is also my fault for leaving the powdered sugar out.)

These are Brenner's footprints leading up the stairs



Then the next day while I was preparing to get in the shower, Brenner found a sharpie marker and gave my sheets a stripe.







Upon coming out of the shower I found a drawer of Wayne's clothing and a box of Q-tips all over the floor.

And just to accent my time as a single mother with one last mess, Friday night at a ward party Brenner decided to wander around to empty table and pull the pitchers of water down. He was stopped in all but one and it took us two trips to the bathroom and four huge wads of papertowels to clean up the mess.



This was all this past week while Wayne was gone. We won't even get into the previous weeks of lipstick, playing cards, spilled water, playing in toilets...



Just as Dennis the Menace never tried to be a bad kid, I don't think Brenner intentially tries to make me crazy, he's just very good at it anyway.


But he's still a cute kid!

Wayne's Desperation

Wayne and I had the following conversation while I was finally getting baby clothes organized back into boxes:

Marissa: "I look at all these cute little boy clothes and I would totally be happy with another boy. I love little boys."

Then upon seeing this gown--which we have had since Parker because we didn't know if he was a boy or girl--I said
"But then I look at this cute little gown and think, wouldn't it be so nice to have a baby in this?"

Wayne: "Tell you what, I'll make you a deal. You spit out a boy and I'll let you put him in that for a few hours."

I Wanna Be Like Daddy...or Mommy

Oh the cute Brenner. He loves to play with shoes. One day while playing with his Daddy's shoes I noticed that Wayne's shoe was about the size of Brenner's lower leg. So we tested out my theory. Sure enough, Brenner's leg fit in all the way to the knee! It almost looks like he has huge feet.

A few days later Brenner decided to try on Mom's shoes for size
What a goof



And just to add some more cute pictures of Brenner--Wayne forgot to put Brenner's bear and blanket away one morning, so I found Brenner walking around the house with them.
Bear named "Bear".
And he wasn't about to give them up

School Days are back!

I have mixed feelings about being back in the school routine. I love that it means the boys have something to do everyday, but it also means I have take them somewhere everyday.
Parker started school on August 19th. He's in first grade and Mr. Johnson is his teacher. A friend of ours had him last year and they LOVED him. So Parker is very excited.

Then Aiden started preschool this past week. He has preschool every morning, which makes him feel very big. He keeps saying, "Parker, I go to school every day you go to school."

Now Brenner spends his morning asking, "Where Aiden? Where Arker (Parker)?" Poor kid.

Air Show

Offut Air Force Base is just down the street in a town called Bellevue, NE. A few weeks ago they had their annual air show. We were told it was something that shouldn't be missed. So we headed over to the base for a few hours of fun.
We got into the base just in time for the national anthem to be sung while a parachuter carried the flag across the sky. It was a great moment to see the base go completely silent and still as everyone stopped to put their hands to their hearts and salute the flag.

Under this plane is a LONG line of people. They are waiting to get into the cockpit. It was like this for almost all of them, so we decided to pick one plane to go into and call it good.

We stood in line to get into the C-130. It's really awe inspiring when we walk around next to these planes and realize how HUGE they are.
In the cockpit of the C-130


These fly over our house all the time
The boys had a program with a lot of the plane pictures and names in it. So they would walk around trying to find certain planes and then would yell once they spotted them.
One of Wayne's favorites was the B-2

I liked watching the stunt planes Upside down

Wayne took the boys inside a big cargo plane that didn't have a very long line

Then we squeezed three boys into a two seater prop plane. The boys LOVED it.


Then when we were standing around a camera man and reporter asked if they could talk to us for the news. The reporter interviewed Wayne and the boys. And Aiden made the cut! Here's the clip. (In the background of the first girl they talk to you can see our family standing, and then Aiden is the last to talk.)

http://www.action3news.com/global/video/popup/pop_playerLaunch.asp?vt1=v&clipFormat=flv&clipId1=2810859&at1=News&h1=Crowd

Football for Parker

Parker told us he didn't want to play soccer this year. Wayne wanted him to do something and the only other option out there for his age group was flag football. So our not very big, or very athletic little Parker is playing flag football with other 6-8 year olds.

First day of practice
Hiking the ball
Being the quarterback

The first game

Doesn't Parker look so tiny? Parker did run with the ball on one play and he did pull the flags off a kid (though the kid didn't have the football). And he's having a lot of fun and that's what matters, right?

Soccer for Aiden

Back in California we had Parker play soccer when he was four. At the time Aiden was very upset that he couldn't join in. We told him he had to wait until he was four. Would you believe the kid remembered?!?! From the day he turned four he constantly either told us or others that he was going to play soccer because he was four. Well he finally got his wish.

The first day of practice...doesn't look like he knows what's going on.

He figured it out after awhile.

Then came the "Big Game" as Aiden called it
and he's on the sidelines...only for a bit
It's Mighty Kickers soccer and his team is the Rhinos I have no great action shots because there wasn't much action. But he had fun.
And Brenner cheered on the sidelines.