November Instagram

November was a busy month, full of anticipation of Thanksgiving and the Christmas Season!!

Levi started putting up the outside lights~Levi and the boys chillin at Atwoods~I did some Advent prepping~Grant playing with the Nutcrackers~We decorated our tree~We enjoyed popcorn tins~Grant and Wyatt got a package from Aiden and Shayen~I got Christmas Mice for Grant~He played with them in the Batcave 

Wyatt and I played ball at Grant's OT~Grant gave me bunny ears while playing around in the car~Wyatt did LOTS of dot pages~We made snow playdoh~Grant ate a HUGE cotton candy at Golden Corral with Daddy~First snowfall~A nap after our big Thanksgiving meal~Grant enjoying our new vacuum~My favorite time of year!!!

Preschool Thanksgiving Feast

The boys had their annual Thanksgiving Feast at preschool! Grant has been talking up a big game that he was going to eat turkey this year! I wasn't going to hold my breath on that, and its a good thing to, because when the time came, he chickened out...or should I say turkeyd out! HA! But regardless, they enjoyed their feast! There was a lot of leg work for me, as I had two children to follow around, but I caught most of their fun and games!! 

They started off with the feast of turkey, mashed potatoes, popcorn, carrots, and pumpkin pie. Wyatt ate popcorn, carrots, and pumpkin pie. Grant just ate popcorn and pie, just like last year! They got to sit right across from each other, so that was nice for me to be able to talk to them both at the same time!

 Then they separated and went to do three different activities: A Thanksgiving Journey around the church, Quiz Time and Musical Chairs, Bowling and Pin the Feathers on the Turkey.

 Each boys' group playing musical chairs!

 Each group listening to Mr. Mark tell them a story about Thanksgiving! He asked Wyatt's group, "Who here loves God?" They collected these items as they went through a few of the offices around the church!

Bowling and Pin the Feathers on the turkey!

And I just love this picture of Luke and Wyatt with their finger on their lip! Just like they are supposed to in the hallway- "Hand on your hip and your finger on your lip!"

It was a wonderful feast! Can't wait til Jesus' Birthday Party this month!

November Artwork

Another month in the school books!! The boys had a fun month at school and are doing such a wonderful job! They sing adorable songs and teach me all the things they learn! They love school and that makes me happy!!

What else makes me happy is adorable artwork! Here are this month's masterpieces:

This month, they boys learned opposites, focused on Letter I and H, the story of David and Goliath, and memorized the verse, "Give Thanks to the Lord, for He is Good" Psalm 107:1. Of course, they learned all about Thanksgiving!!

(Grant's work on left or top)

 Pumpkin Pies!

 These were their placemats they used at their Thanksgiving feast!

 Cornucopias!

 Grant wore the Pilgrim hat and Wyatt wore the Turkey hat and feathers at their feast.

 Binoculars...not sure why....

 Hand magnets!

 Grant had to find pictures of food in magazines that he was thankful for and Wyatt made a turkey booklet!

 I is for Invisible I's

H is for Horse

Thanksgiving Visitors

This was our first year since before we were engaged that we celebrated Thanksgiving with any of our family members. We've always lived too far away! But this year, my parents decided to spend Thanksgiving at our house! It was a wonderful few days filled with LOTS of eating, LOTS of playing, LOTS of giggling, and LOTS of shopping (well, for some of us!). We had a wonderful visit and are so thankful for them, and for their willingness to drive out and see us so often!! We love having Mimi and PawPaw come visit!!! Sadly, I took only one picture this whole weekend!! But its the one that counts!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and remembers how much they are blessed!! It's hard to forget what blessings I have when I see these smiling faces!!!
Now, I think these boys might be a little excited for all the Christmas festivities to begin...

First Snowfall and Hot Chocolate

When Grant saw snowflakes on my WeatherBug app, he was soooo excited! I told him it probably wasn't going to snow, but the weathermen think it might. So during church, I was in working in their classroom, we looked out the window to see it actually WAS snowing!!! They were so so so excited!! It wasn't a whole lot of snow, but it made the excitement of the season come alive! As soon as we got home from church and had lunch, they wanted to go out and play. Nevermind it was only 23 degrees! I am so thankful I just bought snow pants for Wyatt and boots for Grant! So after 15 minutes of dressing the boys, they headed out to play!! I couldn't believe they actually played outside for about 45 minutes!! They haven't done that in soooooo long, so go figure they'd stay out that long on the coldest day of the year! But they had so much fun! They explored in the field and then moved back to the clubhouse. I watched them go down the slide and attempt to make snow balls! When they were ready to come in, Grant showed me his gloves and said, "I tried to make a snowball but all I got were muddy gloves!" They are very impatiently waiting for a big snowfall to make a snowman and snow angels and go sledding and have a snowball fight and.....the list goes on and on!!

Wyatt called himself Puffy Pants Man. He wasn't so sure about those snow pants. He had his pajama pants on underneath them and he kept asking if his pants were falling down. I think the two pairs of pants weirded him out. But he stayed warm and dry!

Grant called himself Mr. Marshmallow Man. He reminded me of Randy from A Christmas Story- "I can't put my arms down!" He really could, but he looked like he couldn't! 

After snowtime, the boys came inside for haircuts, a warm bath and the only logical thing to happen next was....hot chocolate!!!

Snow and hot chocolate....it must be almost Christmas time!!!! Yipppeee!!

Sleeping Crazies

I'm really never surprised by what I see when I check on the boys each night before I go to bed. Sometimes they play for a little while before they go to sleep, and sometimes they crash. But they are hardly ever as I left them. I snapped some pictures last week of them in all of their sleeping craziness...and cuteness!

 Believe it or not, Grant is in that pile somewhere....

See, I spotted him!

 This is usually how Wyatt looks! He doesn't seem to have as crazy of sleep antics as Grant does. He usually just crashes each night since he doesn't nap anymore! He's such a little angel! 

 Grant made a "candy ice cream mountain" one night. He came out and wanted me to come in his room so he could explain it. When I checked on him later, his "mountain" had been added too and he was sound asleep at the bottom of the mountain!

 Another precious shot of Wyatt!

And two nights I found them both sleeping in the top bunk. The first time I took a kid off the top who I was scared was going to fall out. I thought it was Grant but turns out it was Wyatt. When he woke up in the morning on the bottom bunk, he was rather confused! The next night I couldn't bare to separate them since they were so sweet and cuddled! So I took their picture instead! I love Cuddles next to Grant's cheek and Wyatt's lovey draped over his head!!! 

I love these two sweet boys...and they're even sweeter when they're sleeping!

Mommy Moments

It's been a while since I've posted about the funny things the boys say. I wish I was better at documenting these things, but I try and make a note of it when I get the chance! Here's a few doozies from the last few days!

- Wyatt says, "Mom, I love you all the way to Neptune." I say, "Wow, that's really far!" Levi says, "What about me Wyatt?" Wyatt replies, "I love you all the way to the Lake. Both of those places are the farthest away."

- Wyatt: "Does God have unicorns to make rainbows? Because unicorns make rainbows you know."

- Grant: "Why do they call pillows pillows? And candy canes candy canes? And trees trees? And Christmas Christmas? And feet feet? Isn't that just so weird?? What a weird question."

Like Brother, Like Brother

I've been noticing that my boys speak exactly the same way. They mispronounce sounds the same way (I'm sure Wyatt will be enjoying some speech therapy in his future, just as Grant is now!) and they also mispronounce words the same as well. We always try to correct their speech whenever possible but sometimes, I hate to correct them because they just sound so sweet and innocent. But I know its necessary. So before I they learn how to speak correctly, I'm jotting down the few words they BOTH mispronounce the same!

• Instead of window, they say windoan. "Can we roll down the windoans?" It's so funny because even when I say, "Say windOW," they say, "That's what I just said!" 
• During their Pledge of Allegiance, instead of saying Liberty, they say Liverty.
• Santa doesn't drive a sleigh, he drives a slave. Ooooops....darn Santa Slave Driver!
• They both love "rock n roll music" as they say, and their favorite instrument in the "gintar."

I guess brothers share more than toys, bedrooms, clothes, and love...their share speech impediments too!

Like Brother, Like Brother

 

Growing Pains

Grant hit the terrible 5.5's. You didn't know those existed?? Yeah, neither did I!! But its true. He is growing up before my very eyes, and some of it is very hard for me to swallow. 

I know a lot of it started because he's the oldest at school, and he knows it. He relishes the fact that he's bigger, faster, stronger, and smarter than all the kids, whether he is or not. He definitely thinks he is. He also thinks he's way bigger and way better than Wyatt at anything and everything. Its causing some friction between him and Wyatt. There's also been friction between him and me and Levi. We expect a certain level of responsibility from him, as well as a certain level of obedience. We've noticed an increase in the always annoying sighing, "Whatever!"'s, door slamming, and the worst- "But I don't want to!"  I know he doesn't do these things to be rude on purpose. He really is a kind and loving kid. He's just trying to be more independent and has reached the point where he doesn't like to be told what to do. And since he's only 5, he he has many many many many more years of being told what to do, we have to make some adjustments. We all learning how to embrace his independence while still maintaining the level of obedience and respect that Levi and I deserve as his parents. 

So we've loosened the reigns on some aspects.

I've let him make his own lunch or dinner a few times. 

I moved his current season clothes to the bottom rack of the closet so he can pick his clothes out each morning. He used to NEVER care about what he wears. And some days he still doesn't, but he definitely has opinions most days, which usually include a NO JEANS policy. This has been a really hard area for me to let go of because he has some cute things in his closet and many of those items get overlooked for "sporty" or "comfy" clothes. 

And most recently, I let him pick out his new pair of shoes. I've always been picky about their shoes, as I am with mine. I like them to be not too flashy so they go with most of their outfits. I like them to be machine washable, because of the obvious dirty boy syndrome we have going on. And I want them to stand the test of time, usually why we go with Nikes. But Grant insisted on this crazy pair of Sketchers. They are about 5lbs per shoe AND light up!! I still don't know why he was drawn to these. But I guess buying these saved me $25 over the pair of Nikes I was leaning towards.

I know this is a new stage in life, as there will be many more to come. I hope I can find the balance in allowing him to be independent while also teaching him to be obedient and respectful. I pray that I can raise him to become a selfless, kind, thoughtful, and responsible young man that would make any mother proud!!! Praying praying praying!!!

FireHouse Field Trip

On October 29, these two boys got to go on a field trip to the Fire Station. Grant remembered going last year and asked all month long if they were going to do that again. He kept telling Wyatt that he wouldn't be able to go because only the kids who were 4yrs old and older could go. 

Ms. Terry told me the day before that they were going to be heading to the fire station. Grant was beyond excited. Wyatt seemed indifferent. He kept saying he didn't want to go anyway. (A possible defense mechanism?!)  But as we were driving to school the morning of the field trip, Ms. Terry called and offered to take Wyatt too! Wyatt was a little hesitant, but then decided he wanted to go! Grant replied, "Woohoo! First field trip ever for Wyatt Broeckelman!" It was so cute how happy he was for Wyatt! 

It was a teachers and kids field trip only, so I didn't tag along (although I totally would have!), but they had a fabulous time!! I'm so happy my boys are able to experience this year at school together!!

Fort Hays State University Tigers Game

My brother-in-law, Cooper, is the assistant football coach at FHSU. We've been wanting to get out there and watch a home game sometime this season and we finally found a day to go! It was the last game of the season and turned out to be the most beautiful day to go an afternoon football game! All the family met up at Summer's house and headed off to the game. The kids (and us!) sported our very first FHSU shirts (I'm hoping nobody confuses my tshirt for a Missouri Tigers!)The boys were so excited to be at a real live football game (we obviously don't get out much!) and they cheered and cheered the entire first quarter!! FHSU got on a good roll so there were lots of "TOUCHDOWN!!!!!!!" cheers! We also heard "Run it back! Run it back! Run it back!" quite a few times, as well as, "Defense!! Defense!" They were pretty sweet! 2nd quarter brought two boxes of popcorn. Halftime brought a few minutes to run and throw the football around with Levi.. 3rd quarter brought lots of wiggles and playing around the stadium seats. 4th quarter brought alot of "Is it almost over?!" I guess they wore out their enthusiasm in the first quarter! Either way though, we all had a wonderful time!!

After the game, we headed down to the field where the kids got to run and play and chase! We met up with Cooper and he took us over to their new indoor practice facility. It was a kids dream- an entire open area to run and scream and play!" It was a wonderful day spent with Levi's family!! I guess we will have to do it again next year because I think we turned out to be the good luck charms Cooper needed to finish with a winning season!

 1st quarter enthusiasm!!

 Piper loves cheering on her Daddy's team!!

 Haylie and Wyatt clapping as hard as they could!!

 Sweet little Collins was tired and wanted to go home, but she was a trooper and oh so adorable!

 Just hanging around the 50yd line, no big deal!

 Wyatt keeping Collins company after the game!

 Grant playing peek-a-boo. He loves holding Collins and being her biggest cousin.

 The indoor facility- can you just hear the laughter echoing??

Super cute FHSU cousins!!