The Nutcracker

My mom and I are taking Brennan to see The Nutcracker ballet next week. I got him some books and movies so he knows the story when we go since they don't do much talking:) To be honest, I really didn't know the whole story before reading these books with him. I think he will really be intrigued by the live performance.





I also got this Nutcracker at the craft store for him to paint while watching the movie. I think my mom ended up painting most of it:)

Christmas Happenings

I can't believe with everything "Christmas" we have been doing, I haven't posted anything. Maybe it has something to do with how busy we've been:)

One new {possibly yearly} tradition we did this year was a night time lighted Christmas parade in a town near by. It really is a great idea!

All of the floats were very pretty and festive decorated with lights. Santa is on a sleigh at the very end. These pictures aren't greatest, they're from my phone, but you can still tell how pretty it was.

We were invited by friends of the family and this is their float, Charlie's Carstar. So fun!

We have been building gingerbread houses and I'm sure there are more to come:)

Oh, and we have some trouble in our house too. This is "Ten" our elf-he is finding all kinds of things to get into and places to hang out.

Brennan really enjoys seeing what this little guy is up to each day!

Leibster Blog Award

I have received my first blog award! I received the The Leibster Blog award from Christi at The Chapters of Our Lives-thank you Christi!

The Criteria: the Liebster Blog Awad is meant to showcase bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers. This is all done in the spirit of the pay-it-forward.

The Rules: You must mention the link to the person who awarded you with the Liebster, and mention 5 other blogs with fewer than 200 followers who you think is worthy of the Liebster!

"Liebster' means 'favorite' or 'dearest' in German. This award, which originated in Germany, recognized up and coming bloggers! In accepting this award, I agree to:
Thank the person that gave me the award and link back to their blog.

* Copy and paste the award to my blog
* Reveal the 5 blogs that I have chosen to award and let them know by commenting on their blog
* Pay it forward by awarding it to bloggers they would like to honor

I am thrilled to receive this award and appreciate the kind words that were offered to me by Christi, but I think I am equally if not more excited to pass this on to some very inspiring women I have met through my journey. The five blogs I'm passing the award on to are listed below. Each of these women have had to experience the loss of a child. I know from my own experience how difficult each and every day is when one of the biggest pieces of your life is missing. Each one of these women have continued to face this new life showing their immense love for the child/children they have lost while holding on to hope for future children.

The A Team

J5

Ethiopia Makes Three

Our Rainbow After The Storm

Library Days

For the past 6 weeks we have been taking trips to the library after swim lessons. Brennan loves going to the library! We read books there and they have a "reading castle" that he sits in and looks at books, they have a great story time and puppet show offered a couple of times a year and we bring books and movies home. Recently, I found these book/animal sets. Brennan adores stuffed animals so these are perfect:)

He adores that so much that he sleeps with them:) I'm sort of a germaphobe so sometimes it bugs me that he snuggles up with these little animals that have been to other peoples houses, but he really enjoys them. And surprising enough, he doesn't mind that we have to return them. I guess he just knows it is part of the package.

Weekly trips to the library is something that Brennan really looks forward to. Swim lessons are almost over so we are going to have to set a certain time to go each week. It is so fun for him and the best part is it's free!

Almost...

Christmastime. I guess I consider December 1st officially Christmastime, although it does seem like we decorate right after Thanksgiving every year, mostly because of convenience. I can't say I'm quite in the spirit yet or if it will really ever come this year, but I've definitely put on the front for Brennan. Especially since he is getting to the age that he is really understanding and remembering.

We went to see The Way of Lights the day after Thanksgiving. Brennan loved it! It really is pretty and they put a lot of work into making it perfect.

The blue lights were blinking so it looked like water running down the hill.

We also put up our tree that day. It just seemed like a good time since we would be home all day anyway. Brennan had a lot of fun going through everything, especially playing with his train:)

Today.

I have struggled big time with Thanksgiving this year. Last year was cut and dry, I pretty much had nothing to be thankful for. I know that sounds terrible because obviously I did, but at the time I was in no mood to be "thankful" after losing my daughters. I sort of feel the same way this year although I think I'm a little more rational and I know I have a lot to be thankful for, but of course feel very unthankful that Reese and Scotlyn are not here with me. I miss them so much every day, I think about them all the time. Lately, I have been pushing so many thoughts about them out of my mind and it's not because I don't want to think about them or remember them, but it is still so hard. And just because I push a million and one thoughts out, doesn't mean there aren't still a million and one still there.

So with all of that being said, today, the actual day of Thanksgiving, was mediocre. We had two dinners with family and the company was great, but the start and end of the day were not so great. A couple of days ago I decided that one of Brennan's most favorite animals, Raffey, needed a bath. I read once in a magazine to put stuffed animals in a walmart/target bag, tie it and put it in the freezer for 24 hours to kill the bed bugs before putting it in the washer. So I did this and took Raffey out of the freezer and had a ton of laundry to (with bringing winter clothes up) so he didn't get washed right away. Well, last night at work Casey texted me asking where raffey is and I told him the story (he thought I was crazy). So this morning, the more I thought about it I thought I hadn't seen the bag recently. So I was looking everywhere for it when I got home and explained to Casey the bag he was in and Casey realized he threw the bag away. Like in the big trash can that has been picked up by the garbage man and taken to the landfill, threw away. Heart sink...I was so upset this morning, I cried. I told Casey he needed to tell Brennan so he did. He was actually okay with it this morning, until tonight at bedtime when he was ready to go to sleep with one of his most prized possessions. Bottom lip puckered out:( So we told him we would take him to get a new Raffey (this is not even good enough for me at the moment!) and that appeased him for a while. Then he was laying in bed and two times realizing Raffey was not there, he got teary eyed. I got upset again and I just think of our dear little Raffey sitting with stinky trash and not with my baby where he belongs. You don't even have to tell me how ridiculous this is because I already know! I remember when Brennan was younger, before he was attached to any animals, hearing a story about a friend whose daughter lost her beloved stuffed animal and the mother was distraught over it and I just did not understand why it was that big of a deal. I have even thought about that situation recently and thought about how now I can totally understand. I have been that very distraught mother over this:( Tomorrow will be another story, but today this is a sad event in our lives. I was even recently thinking that Bear (his other favorite night time animal) and Raffey would probably be two things I kept forever, that's how special he is. Plus, after going through everything we have and Brennan possibly being our last child I have been struggling with him getting bigger, growing up and really cherishing every little moment and the special things in his life. So maybe that has made it extra hard. Here is a picture of our loyal friend Raffey (with Bear), whom we miss with all our heart.

My first (and probably last!) pin to pinterest!

Source: facebook.com via Kim on Pinterest

Here is the link:)

learning and growing

I am constantly going back and forth between feeling like Brennan is still a little boy and my baby (which he is!) and getting to be such a big boy (which he is!). I am so thankful that he loves to learn. He loves for me to read to him and he is starting to read on his own. I am mostly so proud of the effort he puts into it. I know he would not be doing the things he does if it wasn't for the fabulous preschool program he is in.

He does need some practice with writing, something he is not a big fan of. He can write letters and his name well, but he has a hard time staying in between the lines and making his letters the same size, etc. Part of it is a lot of times he isn't trying his best. He does it just to get it done and doesn't put a lot of effort in. We have been practicing at home with the rest of his homework so hopefully soon it will just come more naturally.

Every week at school he learns a new letter and he has a book that he brings home to read to us. They circle the letter of the week throughout the book and each page has a picture of the word, at the end sometimes they draw their own picture. This week is "H" so he had to draw his house. This is the first drawing that Brennan has actually put thought into drawing something specific:) I am always proud of anything he does, but he never really tries to draw anything in particular, it is always just scribbles (he calls it that too). I was so excited when I saw this!

He explained what everything was and I loved seeing how everything came together in his picture:)

He loves tracing his hand and today he got a project to make Thanksgiving place mats to give to nursing home residents when they perform their Thanksgiving play for them.

Here is the turkey he made today on one of his place mats;)

Sometimes I get a little sad about how fast he is growing, but it is always exciting to see your child succeed.

Swimming

Brennan is in swim lessons again. He was in them in the spring and then we did some at our neighbors house this summer and now we're back at the Y.

A friend of mine told me she heard the day classes had very few kiddos in them and they were like private lessons. She heard right, Brennan only has one other kid in his class!

In the spring there were 5 kids and they took turns in the water so they had very little time actually swimming. I debated on private lessons and thought I would try this first. I'm glad I did because the teacher allows them to be in the water at the same time (with the noodle) so he is in the water pretty much the whole time.

I really like his instructor, too. He is good with the kids and has a lot of fun things for them to do. Brennan still loves the water. He has no fear:)

Hopefully I will have better pictures next time, I didn't bring my camera so these are from my phone.

Happy Halloween!

Trick or Treating crew:)

Brennan and GiGi:)

Brennan with Daisey and Duke (he thought it was funny that they wouldn't sit still and then they posed better than him!)

Halloween (and other associated festivities)!

My Mr. Incredible!

Brennan had his Halloween Party for school this morning...the kids had a lot of fun!

They had a "parade" in the classroom to show off their costumes:)

They played games, made artwork and decorated cupcakes, too!

Love the cupcake with 3 eyes, all different sizes:)

Brennan got these cute little monster fingers:)

and silly glasses:P

Oh yeah and the parents were wrapped up like a mummy :) Brennan did not want to wrap me up at first, but I talked him into it. I think he knew it wasn't going to hurt me, but something about not being able to see me, I guess. It wasn't too surprising because of his personality. I posted another example below, but he is so sensitive. It's hard to explain, but I love it about him. Anyway,I tried to help him and put it around my face and he did not like that at all (that's why I look like I have a hat and scarf!), he couldn't wait to get the tissue off of me!

Last week (or the week before?) was Brennan's pumpkin party at school with pumpkin picking. It was pretty chilly so we bundled up, but it was a lot of fun. His school parties are always very busy, his teachers put a lot of time, energy and creativity into his school and the parties do not fall short.

The pumpkin party consisted of picking pumpkins, carving one, making homemade pumpkin pies in the classroom (baking the pumpkin, scooping it out and mixing everything together and baking-yes quite amazing!)

Here is Brennan scooping the guts out of his Jack-O-Lantern at school at his Pumpkin Party. So speaking of Brennan's sensitive side, last year when we carved pumpkins, Brennan's pumpkin ended up with no mouth because Brennan was almost in tears when we talked about "carving the mouth". He is just very sensitive to people and animals and stuffed animals and pumpkins...and everything:)

Luckily, this guy got to have a mouth this year.

They made these adorable shirts last week to wear today before their party started. They are tie dye and the spider is their hand prints and they painted the pumpkins. Adorable!

Here are some Halloween projects he has been working on at school. Ghost and spider...spooky!

Skeleton and bat...I also posted a picture of the bats in the classroom because they were so cute all hanging up together.

We had our own Halloween festivities at home.

We decorated pumpkins for Reese and Scotlyn this weekend.

Brennan is resting up for trick or treating as I am posting this, so stay tuned for pictures with his friends tonight:)