Brian

So I don't know how all these amazing women have the time or energy to make such amazing blogs. When I look at others amazing sites I am so jealous. I think I will try to include Brian and I in our blog more. It seems like when the kids come the parents are forgotten, but we are still here and have lots of life left. We have lots of interesting stories to tell so Braden and Ashley get to share the spotlight!!
Brian has just completed his second rotation here in GB. His first was family practice which he loved. He worked in a clinic in Flint and it was a really good intro into rotations. His second one was OB/GYN, he absolutely loved it!! He doesn't want that to be his profession or anything but he had a really good time. He saw lots of "neat" stuff, worked with wonderful docs who let him help out lots and learned a ton. He was on call 6 times during the 4 weeks he was on this rotation which was hard on us. Everyday he was up by 5 and to the hospital by 6. When he was on call he would go in at the same time and not get home until the following morning around 9 or 10. It was hard to sleep in bed alone and it was hard on the kids not being able to see their dad. But each time Brian would come home he had all sorts of exciting stories of what happened that night. For the first two weeks of the rotation he did OB, there he was able to assist in many deliveries, and a couple c-sections. Then he was able to take care of pregnant and laboring women. The second half he still got to assist on deliveries and c-sections but he saw lots of surgeries on all the woman parts. (sounds weird but I didn't know how to word it and you know what I mean) He saw ectopic pregnancies, tubal ligation, (tubes tied) cancer removed, and all sorts of other stuff. He really enjoyed it and learned so much.
This next 4 weeks he is back on Family Practice but with a new doc. The doc he is with is amazing seeing about 60 patients+ per day. He is a work-aholic but still a very good doc. Brian has only been doing this for 2 days but he is loving it and working hard.
I don't know how Brian does it, he is up bright and early every morning and out the door before we are up and before the sun is even shining. He is a great man and excited to help people.

As for me I am so busy being a mom. I never had a clue how much work this would be. I love it but its not easy. I try to be creative in my free time, I love to be working on projects. I am so lucky here we have the space for a craft room, it is also the computer room but I love it.

Happy Kids

Here is Braden with a "Real Smile." For some reason he has a hard time smiling when I am taking pictures and say, "Smile!" I really dont know what it is, I think he must have got that one from Brian. He is such a good kid, he makes me crazy at times but most of the time he is so sweet. He has always been so smart, he still amazes me with the things he says. His reply to anything I say is; "Oh Yeah!" He is so excited about life and a breath of fresh air.

Here is miss Ashley sporting her 2 new teeth. Yes I said TEETH!! I say this a lot but I cannot believe how time flys, I cannot believe she is 6 1/2 months old. I love having both these kids in my life, they make me happy. Ashley is so gabby, she always has a story to tell to anyone who will listen. Braden is always watching out for his sister, he loves her so much.

Projects

Braden loves to paint! Lately he has seen me painting a few things I have been working on and always wants to help. This time he was the one with the paint brush!! I think this year painting will be enough, I don't think we will be carving any pumpkins. Any ways this is Bradens masterpiece and he was so excited to show his daddy when he got home.

We met up with some friends to decorate some sugar cookies, it was so much fun for the kids and all us girlies got to sit and chat about life, kids and how much debt we are racking up with school loans. It was a good time and as usual scared the crap out of me. This is one of Bradens creations, if you could see the cookie from the side you would see the mountain of sprinkles, yummo!!

Here are some projects I finally finished. I was so excited about this witch one, It turned out pretty good I think. I topped it off with sparkles and I love it!!

For Project night with the ladies we made these cute fall signs and these Butternut Squash ghosts. I have really enjoyed meeting some wonderful women since I have been here. In Kirksville Brian was so so busy and studied at the school so I could hardly ever go to the play groups. Since arriving here in Grand Blanc Brians schedule has allowed him to be home at a decent time most nights which has been absolutely wonderful. Also allowing me to be involved a bit more, I am really enjoying it here.

Huckelberry Railroad

We visited a little historic village in Flint this weekend. It is such a fun nice little place. They have a train that you can ride on and a ferry that takes you out onto the lake and cute little houses that have been all restored. There is even an opera house with shows you can go see. They have decorated all the houses for Halloween and you walk around and trick or treat. We got treats, and apples and cider and donuts, it was really fun.

It seems like everywhere we go there is a carousel. I asked Braden which horse he wanted to ride and he wanted to ride the "little horse." Its not the greatest pictures but you can see how small the horses are. It was fun, and the fastest carousel I have ever been on, I was glad when it was over. I guess im getting old.

They had all sorts of old rides, it was fun.

Braden LOVES Clifford, its been just this last week that he saw the show and so it was funny that this was here. When Braden saw this big Clifford he was so excited. He wanted Brian to go with him to touch him. Its so fun to watch kids, they believe everything, those were the days. Life is so much more fun when you are a kid. It was so nice to dress Braden up and go out, it seems like they only ever wear their Halloween costumes once and only for a few hours.

We didnt get to ride on the train, all the tickets were sold out for the night which was really sad because that was why we went in the first place. Braden loves trains so much and we told him we were going on a train ride. He was so excited!! Then we found out that we werent going and we tried to cover it up by having him go on the little kid train and that didnt work, it was so sad. When we were leaving the train was just getting all loaded up with people and the man let him stand on it and look inside, he liked that but I really wish we could have gone on the ride. Oh well, there is always next time.

Halloween Party Time

Our ward had their annual Halloween party (Brian was on call again) I really wanted to dress up but I didnt think I had anything to wear. I told Brian that I really wanted to dress up and I was so sad because I didn't think I had anything to wear. But I started going through some boxes and remembered I had some Hawaii stuff, I was so excited!! I was Hula girl, coconut shells and all and Ashley was a grape bunch and Braden a Lion. I think we ended up lookin' pretty good! I was so sad Brian couldn't be there, they really picked some bad days for him to be on call this month.

I was going to make the usual sugar cookies and decorate them, then I saw these Rice Krispy Frankenstein treats in a magazine. (I will post a pic tomorrow my camera just died) I spent the afternoon making them and they were a hit at the party! Luccily I was able to snatch the last one on the tray.

There was a chili cook off and Bingo and they had people decorated rooms and the kids trick or treated from room to room. It was lots of fun, so many great people here. I cannot believe it is almost Halloween. That means that my little brother Tanner will have been out on his mission for 1 year, Braden is 2 1/2 Ashley is a half of a year old, I am now half a year older, Brian almost graduates in 1 1/2 years (1 month away) Crazy, Time fly's!!

Fall Time Fun

This last weekend I took the kids to Three Cedars Farm with some friends. It was about 1 hour from our place and we met up with some friends from Detroit and other parts of Michigan, it was soo good to see them!
There was so much fun stuff for the kids, toy tractors, a chicken coop, a whole play house with slides it was all so nice and a great way to spend a beautiful fall afternoon.
This is Braden getting ready to go on the hay ride with Sarah and Adeline, he loves these girls.


The hay ride took us to a pumpkin patch where you could pick out a pumpkin, the kids loved exploring all the pumpkins in the field. It was really fun to watch them follow one another and discover.

Isnt this one of the most beautiful babies you have ever seen. We sure think so! Ashley is so pretty, she is so girly, I love it!! She is so happy and smily.

Last weekend Brian was on call but it was a beautiful saturday afternoon so I took the kids to a pumpkin festival. We all started the day out bundled up but after a while it started getting so so hot. I had Braden and I wearing 2 layers of clothes so we took off one and I stripped Ashley down to her diaper, it was that hot. It was like a summer afternoon but in October, it was so nice. It almost hit 80, crazy!
Braden loves animals, there was a little petting zoo and we spent most of our time there. They had pigs, and goats and sheep and turkeys and bunnies but the pigs were his favorite!

So I had just laid Ashley in bed and she started screaming her head off so I went in to check on her and she somehow managed to get all twisted up in her pj's. It was so bad (I dont know if you can tell) that her left leg was in the right leg of her pj's and her right leg was in the left leg of her pj's. I thought it was so funny that I called Brian up to see it. He thinks I put her pj's on wrong, but NO WAY, she got into this mess all by herself. The cute little girl that she is!!
There is a nature trail behind the library here and I know that our nice fall days will soon disappear into the cold snow, so we decided to take the kids out on a walk to see the leaves changing colors and get some fresh air. This is Ashley all ready to go!!




We decided to collect some leaves so Braden can make some pictures. Braden loved it, he would pick up every leaf that he could and crumble it into the bag. He was so funny!! It is so beautiful here! I love how we are in the country but close to everything. We live in a nice little quiet neighborhood and it has been really nice.

I havent seen too many kids around us, so thats been the only down side but hopefully we will find some to play with.

Gymnastics

We out Braden into Gymnastics because he is always hanging all over the place. We found a great place here in town and it has been so great! Braden is loving it, class is once a week but we have considered having him go twice a week because it is so much fun. At first Braden wasn't so sure about things and he wouldn't go near the teacher but by the end of the first day he was walking around with the teacher holding her hand. The teacher warms them up then shows them all the stuff they can play on and practice on the equipment and then she says go play and the moms and the kids go and play. They have all the real stuff, they adjust it to fit little kids it is amazing. There is so much to play on a long trampoline, and regular (gymnastic) trampolines all over, a bouncy floor, balance beams, bars of all kinds, obstacle course objects and everything you could dream of. Braden just goes town, he is completely fearless, he will do and try anything. The class lasts 45 min and by the end he is soaking with sweat. It has been so good for both of us to get out into the community and meet moms and kids and go play. I look forward to it all week. I really hope one of these days Brian will be able to come watch, he would love it.


Braden on the balance beam all by himself, I have to remind him to watch where he is going, his mind is always going 100 mph.
I love it that they can just climb all over everything and not get in trouble. It has been so good for him and made him have to work hard, he will attempt things that are much bigger than him and things that others are scared to do, that's our boy! Oh I was actually surprised that there were 2 other boys in the class, I was so happy about that.
I over heard the teacher talking to another mom saying how much organized activities like this help kids out in so many ways. She said that they have done studies and kids in gymnastics, etc, perform better in school. I thought that was pretty neat. It is much more than just going and playing they learn how to use their body and learn coordination.

The kids tend to hang out at the trampolines, Braden can get some serious air for a little guy.

Ta Da!!