Big Helper!

Brycen is most definitely a stereotypical 2 year old who loves to feel important and be a big helper.  He loves to do laundry (pictured below) and pulls his step stool up to the washer to put clothes in.  He then helps Mom move clothes from the washer to dryer, and after they're dry, he is in charge of taking them out.  (Mom puts away.)

Brycen also LOVES to help cook and bake. He has his "own" step stool that is the right size for the counter. 

Below Bryce is caught licking the bowl after making cake balls! 

Weekend with the Daly's

Opening weekend for Deer season is always a weekend where Beth Daly and I get together.  Now that we have kids, we enjoy getting our families together.  We met up at the Cedar Rapids Science Station for a few hours of fun.  They played with blocks, Lego's, dinosaurs, trains, and had so much fun running around it was very difficult to pry them away for lunchtime.  

Brycen and the girls digging for dinosaur bones (sorry the picture is blurry)

Mack, Brycen, and Addalie  eating the snacks we prepared on a bench at the Science Center.

Mack & Brycen sitting on a pulley swing

We had lunch at Panera bread where Addalie was nearly falling asleep at the table and both of the girls were sleeping within a few minutes being in the car.  Brycen, naturally, was awake and surprisingly went down for his nap well when we got home.  That afternoon we had fun playing around the house.

We had fun making home made pizza that night for supper.  We made the dough, put on pizza sauce and had fun sprinkling on pepperoni, Canadian bacon, peppers, and cheese.  Yum!  It was a hit!

Afterwards, they did really well and had fun in the bath together.  Real estate space was limited, but everyone played well.  We read books together afterwards and the kids settled in for bed.  The next morning, we played for a little bit, had breakfast, and then Beth, Mack, and Addalie took off.  Brycen and Mom spent the rest of the day together playing and decorating for Christmas!

All three in the tub!

Brycen & Mack brush, brush, brushing those teeth!

Can you ride a camel?

Thanksgiving weekend, Brycen and Grandpa talking about Uncle Steve and the fun happenings of the weekend.  Excuse the video as Brycen is eating lunch and has a full mouth of food at times.

Fara Thanksgiving

This year we hosted the Fara Thanksgiving at our new home.  It was convenient for Aunt Leigh, Logan, and Skylar because they have been visiting Papa Terry and Gran-B in Dubuque for a few weeks.  Grandpa and Grandma Fara came on Friday night late after Brycen was sleeping and everyone else came on Saturday.

The kids had so much fun playing, especially in the unfinished basement where it's toy central and nothing is really off limits.  They played a "sea monster" game quite a bit... which involved running around, screaming, something about putting them in "jail" on the couch, and hiding.  Needless to say, they had fun!

Grandpa Fara and the grand kids snuggled up on the couch watching "Super Why" before nap time.  Brycen is tired!

Playing around in super-hero capes!

Skylar with multiple capes on and a Bears helmet.  

We had our Thanksgiving meal on Saturday night with a smorgasbord of food.  Burke cooked a delicious turkey and we enjoyed some of the most amazing sweets made by Katie! YUM!

Layered red velvet cake with oreo and cream cheese between the layers and home made fudge and chocolate chips on top.  It was incredible!  Leave it to Katie to bring a fabulous dessert.

Everyone took off after lunch on Sunday when Brycen went down for his nap.  There were many plans to stop in Des Moines for Christmas shopping and we all enjoyed a little nap time ourselves.

Blanchard Thanksgiving

We were lucky to have Uncle Perry home for Thanksgiving this year! Brycen enjoyed spending time at Grandpa and Grandma Blanchard's house for two days with everyone.  We had a lot of delicious food made specially by Grandma Jo for every meal.

Brycen even enjoys "cooking" for us in the playschool kitchen at their house.  He spends so much time preparing cakes, desserts, cupcakes, cookies, and many other foods for us to eat.  He even has to put on his oven mitt to serve everything on a platter.  This is usually what Brycen gravitates to the minute we walk into the door at their house.

On Thanksgiving Day we were blessed to have Aunt Lu, Uncle Marc, and Andrea join us in Belle Plaine for more food.  Brycen enjoyed entertaining the group and had fun reading books with Uncle Marc.  Brycen

Brycen modeling Grandpa's reading glasses

On Black Friday, we came home to put up the Christmas tree and watched the Hawkeyes play a great game against Nebraska in Lincoln.  Uncle Perry came over and we had Chic Fillet (his favorite) for lunch.  Brycen enjoyed snuggling with "the boys" on the couch.  

Burke, Brycen & Perry cheering on the Hawkeys vs. Nebraska

Visiting Jean

About six weeks after Brycen started going to Harvest Christian, Brycen and I paid Jeanie and Pa a visit. It was long overdue, but we wanted to give Brycen some time to adjust to his new school and routine.

The days leading up to the visit, he could hardly contain himself and couldn't wait for Tuesday to be here to see Jean.  He immediately gave Jean the biggest hug and squeezed her tightly.  She read books to him and they all had a wonderful conversation.  We played for a while and Jean was so nice to dig out some specific toys that Brycen requested to play with.  Before we knew it, the time had come to leave in order to make his Dr. Appt for his flu shot. 

Leaving was the most difficult thing to do.  Brycen had a complete meltdown.  He resented me for even mentioning that we had to leave and was adamant that he was staying.  Needless to say, we left the house without shoes or a coat on and I carried him to the car in tears.  Jean was nice enough to let Brycen take home a dinosaur (brontosaurus) that he was playing with to help with the separation. 

There were so many smiles, laughs, and fun things shared in the short hour or so we stayed.  Brycen immediately was talking about the next time he would be visiting them and that he was going to stay all day.  He also told me that neither I or Daddy would pick him up... He was just going to stay there.  

Jean and Pa sold their home a few short weeks later and moved in November.  We hope to see them again soon after they get settled into their new home but it just won't be the same in a new environment.  We talk about them often and keep them in our prayers.  Brycen has been very interested in his dinosaurs lately and likes to play with the one Jean gave him. 

Asking Uncle Steve questions

Uncle Steve is currently stationed at the largest military base in Afghanistan.  He left in August and will get home in May 2014.  We talk about Uncle Steve quite a bit and have him in our prayers every night.  A little over a month ago, we were talking about Uncle Steve being in the desert and how he flies the Apache helicopters.  Brycen had so many questions to ask him so after a fun phone call we had with Steve, we video taped his next question.  :)  I know that Steve has enjoyed the interaction and interest from his Godson.

Here's a picture of Brycen calling Uncle Steve one morning on the way to school asking questions like, "Are you good? Have you been flying your helicopter? Did you wear your earmuffs? Is it noisy?"  

This is a picture that Steve had sent back to Brycen.

Little Eyes watching

Every morning, if Brycen's not already awake, Burke wakes Brycen up before he goes into work.  One morning, Brycen had a tough time waking up and was laying in bed for a while when I went into his room to get him ready for the day.  Burke was just leaving the house so Brycen popped up to wave at him as he backed down the driveway and drove away.  

Brycen noticed that Burke did not come to a complete stop at the stop sign and I remember that he said something to me as I was picking out his clothes.  He didn't mention any more about it until later that night.  We were on our way to Belle Plaine that evening for Thanksgiving and Brycen was chatting every second of the way like normal.  For a few short moments he was quiet and then asked Burke, "He Daddy?  Remember when you left and you didn't stop?  You need to follow the rules, Daddy."  

Burke and I looked at each other in awe and I had to tell Burke that he didn't fully stop at the stop sign this morning as he drove away.  Brycen surely noticed and made sure to let his Daddy know!  We had quite a laugh about it with family.  

Prairie Du Chein Trip

Each year we take a quick day trip to Prairie Du Chien.  Burke and I have been going since 2006 and this was the first year it looked like we wouldn't have time with a busy fall.  Luckily for us, we experienced a very odd fall season and many of the leaves turned a few weeks later than normal.  The weekend before Halloween we took a drive up for our annual trip.  It was the last year with just the tree of us and our first long trip  with Brycen potty trained.  

Harvest was in full swing and our drive was very entertaining mainly due to the hundreds of combines, tractors, wagons, oggers, and other farm and construction equipment on the roads and in the fields.  We went to Cabellas where Brycen got to sit and pretend to drive in an ATV.  He enjoyed looking at the dozens of animals all around the store and spent most of his time in front too the very large fish aquarium.   

After Cabellas, we went to a local brewery for lunch where Brycen was determined not to eat at.  It was probably our first battle in a restaurant with him.  Good thing there were veryf ew customers there at the time.  

We went to Pikes Peak where we took a nice hike together.  Brycen had a great time looking at all of the trees, leaves, and his favorite was picking up acorns.  We left the park with two very full coat pockets of acorns.  In fact, we had to pry him away from the piles of acorns and bribe him to get back in the car to leave.  

He slept almost the entire way home and it was probably the most enjoyable trip yet... Even with the restaurant outburst.  :)

Tall Tales

Brycen has quite the imagination! He loves to imagine and play out scenarios regarding the simplist of things; why a car is parked in a certain place, where someone is going, why things are arranged a certain way, and more. 

He tells stories all of the time and I wanted to note quite the tall tale he told during harvest that started with driving a combine.  On the way home from school one day, we saw a combine in a field combining corn.  As he pointed it out, he told me that he had drove a combine before.  I gave him a puzzling look and asked him where and when?

He responded that he drove Grandpa Fara's combine on Tuesday. I asked if he parked it in the right place and offered to call Grandpa to ask him.  Brycen quickly said, "no, no, no, don't call him!" He said that he combined the corn for a long time. 

When we got home, he repeated the same story to Dad.  Burke asked Brycen how he came home from the farm and Brycen responded saying that he had brought the 4 wheeler back. (3 1/2 hour car ride!) Burke then asked where he parked the 4 wheeler and Brycen didn't skip a beat and said in the back in the grass.  Burke started making his way to the porch to look and Brycen again started yelling, "no, no, no don't look!"  Burke even went on to ask what color the 4 wheeler was, Brycen answered quickly, "purple." Burke smiled and said, " well, Grandpa Fara's 4 wheeler is red, it must not have been Grandpas 4 wheeler you drove back. 

The story went on and on and parts of the story grew after while.  Each time we asked Brycen to tell it, amazingly, the smallest of details stayed the same.  He really kept to his story and stuck to it like it had actually happened.   

The greatest part was, when we did get back to the farm, he did get to drive a combine! 

Weekend at the farm

We traveled back to the farm in mid November to visit Grandpa and Grandma Fara. Brycen was in HEAVEN because Uncle Eric and Grandpa Fara were just finishing up harvesting corn. 

When we arrived at their house late Friday night, Brycen was wound for sound. He was running around entertaining us all when all of a sudden he comes running in the living room saying,"everybody come look. Quick! It's a surprise!" He made sure we all went in the kitchen to see that there was a bowl of dinner mints in a small glass cabinet. (Brycen LOVES the soft dinner mints!) it was so funny!

This is Brycen on Saturday morning. The picture was taken around 6:45AM and his enthusiasm for farming shows. 

Brycen had fun doing chores with Grandpa and feeding all of the animals. While doing chores, Brycen told Grandpa that, "he had a lot of jobs to do." They drove the Massey tractor to feed a bale of hay to the calves and filled buckets of corn too.  Brycen loved the kittoes and sometimes attempted to pick them up but settled for petting them while chasing them around. 

We visited Great Grandpa and Grandma Fara on Saturday night in Manning. Brycen had a great time having supper with them and exploring their house. He had fun playing with the cards and tractors there too. He even left with a new tiick! 

We saw a small baby bull snake sunning itself on Saturday while exploring. 

Brycen in the Massey. 

Probably the highlight of the trip was when he got to ride in the combine with Uncle Eric and Katy.  He was so interested in how things worked and had some questions but did a lot of observing. The fun came when he got to swing the oggor out and dump the corn into the wagon. He even got to DRIVE the combine for a few minutes!

Brycen and Uncle Eric in the combine. 

Brycen driving.