Lane's Bowling and Pizza Party!

Crew's best friend Lane turned 3 on Saturday and we got to go bowling! What an experience, here is Taylor directing Crew where to throw the ball. He didn't really get the whole rolling the ball concept, so he basically decide to launch it like a shot. They had bumpers of course, but Crew also had to test the waters and tried throwing his ball down other lanes...

In between turns, they played games (pretended) because if we didn't distract them they wanted to keep bowling and not take turns.

Crew and Lane.

Classic pose... It was so funny he would be waiting for the ball to hit the pins, which took a full minute a couple times! Not sure why he thought he needed to hike his pants up, but it was so funny. You can also get a clear shot of the sweet shoes he got wear. He thought he was very cool!

Look at that follow through, way to go Cruiser!

Waiting for the ball to come back, classic...he liked to tap his shoes to here the noise.

If he wasn't standing pulling his pants up waiting for the ball to hit the pins, he would race back and lay on the ground and watch. He then made his rounds giving people high five!

Enjoying some french fries..

After bowling we went back Milt's Pizza where Kassi had a room reserved for their whole family, and we had pizza and Lane and Crew ran around and played. It was an exhausting afternoon/evening, Chris was working and chasing him around was tough, he definitely has a mind of his own!

Hanging Around...

Dad and his boys just hanging out watching TV. Crew is actually wearing big boy underwear, but that didn't last long :)

Court has been coming by a lot lately after school before Shane's basketball games at night. It has been great seeing her so much and Crew loves Tort so much too! Courtney wasn't feeling good one day so she took a half day off of school an tried to take a nap in Crew's bed, but Crew would not leave her alone, I guess our house isn't the "quiet" house to come and get any sleep :)

Happy Birthday Poppa Charlie!

We hope you have a great birthday, and we are looking forward to go out on Friday night to celebrate! Love you!

Adventures at Mommy's School

So today I had NO ONE to watch the boys. My mom normally watches them every other Friday but has to work now, so I was totally stuck. Daycare isn't open on Friday's, my grandma had knee surgery, and Rachel is in Mexico... so what does a mom do? I took them to school with me! Yes I was completely desperate, I had taken a bunch of sick leave the week before when I was sick and we are in finals week so I couldn't stay home.
One of the other teachers who has 1st period plan also had some TA's, so I dropped off Crew with them when I got to school and he played cars and watched his George DVD. He also happened to find the connecting office and ran into multiple classrooms disrupting class, but hey it's Friday right?
During this time Brody came with me to my office while I got ready for class which is right next to the main copy room, so Trish had a blast having Brody help her make copies and in her down time she played with him which was a huge help.
Time for my class to start so Crew comes back to my office and my TA takes over playing with him, taking him to the school barn, coloring, and making sure he doesn't see me in class, otherwise he would want to come in and they were testing... Brody just came into my class with me and played on a huge blanket with lots of toys, he was a big hit, and did really well :)
With about 20 minutes left in class, I finally let Crew in, and he became the class clown, running around, jumping off chairs, being Crew. Since the students were finished testing at this point I put Curious George on in my class and some of the students joined him while he was watching it too :) My students couldn't get over how much they thought Crew looked like me.. Overall it went okay, although I hope I am not in the position to have to bring them again. I owe all the TA's a coffee card for sure!

Brody Update

At Brody's doctor's appointment yesterday we found out that the best route for Brody's eyes is to go ahead and have the surgery done. I expected that, but now that it is a reality, it makes me nervous. It is a safe procedure though, and he will only be under anesthetics for 5 minutes. We have to go down to Seattle for this procedure because that is where the doctor is from, and he prefers using the anesthetics they have for babies.
It is scheduled for February 11, at 7:30 am, and will be an outpatient surgery, so we will head down early that morning and come back that afternoon. So if you would please keep Brody in your prayers as we get ready for his surgery, and also there is still a chance his eyes could heal on their own, and if they do we could cancel the surgery!

Here we go AGAIN!!

After recovering from his diarrhea and throwing up last week, Brody's eye got infected again. His clogged tear ducts have caused us many trips to the doctor, and back to the doctor we went today. He was also not a very happy camper the last 36 hours, not wanting to be put down, runny nose, and not eating or sleeping very well (the story of my life or I should say his life!).

Brody now has another ear infection and eye infection which can be directly related to each other, a small fever, and is congested. Again POOR BRODES! As you can imagine I was extremely frustrated bringing him into the doctor's office today because we are making trips there every other week it seems like, and he always seems to be sick. Which is causing him not to sleep through the night, and not eat solids very well or consistently. He is now officially 8 months old and this is not fun. I voiced all my concerns to the doctor, and they agreed, after looking back through his chart he has had an eye infection plus other infections and colds every month for the last 5 months! No wonder I am losing my mind!!
Conveniently I have a follow up appointment with an eye specialist tomorrow that we had seen in November regarding his clogged ducts and they will decide whether or not to do surgery or to continue and wait it out so see if it clears on its own. The pediatricians at the office I go to highly recommend that we have the surgery done because of all the infections, which are causing him other complications.
So I will be interested to see what the specialist says tomorrow, and for now I will give Brody yet another round of antibiotics, which he trys to spit out and crys about, and plan on getting up 3 or 4 times a night! But most importantly give him lots of cuddle and love time. It is a good thing I love him so much, and even though it is hard for me, I know that it is even harder on him, and I just want my beautiful baby boy healthy again, and longer than a week :)
The picture doesn't show how bad it really is....but you can get the idea. Mommy please fix my eye :(

January Sunshine

The past few days have been great with the sun being out. It is still not that warm, but at least we can be outside and get a few things done. Crew had fun helping Chris wash his truck and they also got the garge cleaned out too!

Chris had a few days off in the middle of the week which was so nice considering he had worked 6 days in a row and all weekend. So after they got done washing the cars, we took the boys to the park to play on the toys and kick the soccer ball around.

A Special Gift

My Grandma Pat who passed away 10 years ago made these very special sweaters for her future "lions" (great grandchildren) I have a whole tote full of sweaters, booties, bibs, receiving blankets, and baptism things for my kids. When my grandma found out she had cancer she got busy knitting enough sweaters so all of her grandchildren would have enough sweaters for their future kids. She had a heart of gold. When Crew was little I had this stored away, and once we moved I was able to find all of these special gifts. There are a ton of pink and purple things as well... hmm, I wonder if those will ever get worn :) In fact if I do ever have a girl I promised my grandma before she passed away that her middle name would be after her, Patricia.

I made the boys put on these sweaters, because I wanted to get a picture of them wearing these classic "home" and "away" sweaters.

Those of you that didn't know my grandma Pat, she was her grand kids #1 fan, she attended all sporting events and she had 15 grand kids! She would sit up in the stands during all the games with her knitting basket and knit away while always cheering us on. She was an amazing woman to say the least, and is a big reason I am the person I am today. I think about her very often and know how much she would be enjoying her 11 great grandchildren today! I could probably do a two page entry on everything that she did for me, she was truly one of a kind. I seem to miss her the most during the holidays because family was everything to her and she had a way to make everyone feel so special.

Crew was not too excited about wearing this, but he will understand someday, right?? :)

FLU!

Where do I start and with who? (detailed, continued at your own risk..) :)

Brody started things off having some diarrhea on Friday, which was very frustrating considering he had finally been feeling better again and eating solids. Of course besides getting more teeth (another "I" tooth, he has two fangs now) you would never be able to tell anything was wrong with him. Saturday morning I got him out of his crib and he had thrown up all over himself and his bed. He wasn't even crying!
Sunday morning and still diarrhea at every diaper change, up the back type of thing, and we had his dedication that day, so I was just praying that he would "stay clean" to get through the service. Also that morning I woke feeling nauseous and not right, if this wasn't such a special day we would have definitley stayed home.
After the service and lunch we finally made it home and not an hour later Chris and I were both throwing up over and over again. We had to call our parents to come get the kids, Brody ended up staying with us and Crew went to Price's. The rest of the afternoon was just a blur, with headaches, spins, and many many bathroom trips. Brody then started throwing up that night too. I hate puke! To be throwing up myself and cleaning up baby throw up is just gross! Chris and I tried to tag team it the best we could.
I called in sick on Monday, obivously, and Chris luckily had the next day off. Chris slowly recovered on Monday and I thought I was getting better too, until round two hit that night. So I had to miss Tuesday of school too, and couldn't even get out of bed. Brody's diarehhea was still not better Tuesday night, and everytime I would feed him solids he would throw up. So in my prime condition last night I drove him into the doctor... It doesn't matter how sick you are, if your child is sick, they are first. He is on a pedialite diet right now, no formula until he can tolerate it.
This is one NASTY flu, wow! We are still recovering over here, Chris is better, and I am FINALLY today starting to feel like I can eat and walk around without being dizzy, and my headache is gone! Hopefully Brody gets cleared up too, although he is still as happy as can be. Even after he throws up he is all smiles.....
Crew managed (keeping my fingers crossed) to not get the flu yet, and we appreciate the help from our family that has stepped in to help out!!
You really appreciate the small things in times like these! Pemberton Family we feel your pain!!

Brody's Dedication

This past Sunday at church Chris and I went in front of the church and dedicated Brody. Our church does not baptise baby's instead their parents chose to dedicate them and then they have the choice on their own to get baptised when they are older.

Here is the verse we chose for Brody:
Psalm 25:4-6 Show me your ways o Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Remember, O Lord, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old.

Our prayer:
Jesus: What a special day this is to be able be stand up here and dedicate Brody to you, we thank you so much for giving us this precious gift. It is our commitment to you that we will do our best to raise him in your word and ways. We pray for your love, guidance and wisdom as we raise Brody with the hope that one day he would make his own decision to follow you and have a personal relationship with you. Amen.

It went very well, and I was most nervous that Crew was not going to do very well having to stand in front of church. When Chris was given the microphone, Crew really wanted it, but I had to hold him back and try to change his focus on all the people out in the audience. Brody did great, he just tried to grab at the bible and certificate so the pastor took Brody from Chris.

After the service we went out to brunch with our parents to celebrate.

I didn't get a picture of us all together that day, but here is one I took on his changing table the other day that shows off a little bit of his chubs, even though he is kind of a peanut :)

Carrots, yum!

It has been a struggle the last 6-8 weeks to get Brody to eat solid foods because of his run of being sick and colds, the poor guy. So he finally has been back to eating again, and just like his dad, Brody loves carrots. Personally I wish he liked something else more, they kind of gross me out :)

Crew loves to help feed Brody, more of less stand on my lap, climb up the high chair, and do everything possible to get our attention.

This is Brody's ball popper that we got for him, we finally just got batteries, and man he loves this thing. You can see how serious his face is, his whole body just shakes out of excitement as soon as those balls go shooting in the air!

Crew is great with this toy, he chases after all the balls that go flying and brings them back, as you can see Brody is trying to make him stay :)

Terrible Twos...

This weather over the past two weeks between the snow and rain has made it difficult for us to get outside or somewhere were Crew can really run around to get out all of his energy! He loves to go up the high school and we play basketball in the gym where we let him run around, but now with bball season it seems like the gym is always being used. So being in the house a lot has given Crew some more time to explore ways to get a reaction out of us.
Crew has always been a little difficult, very high strung, a ton of energy, etc., but lately he seems to have pulled some new "tricks" out of his bag! Some of his latest are:

1. Waiting until Brody is asleep, going into his room, turning the light on and climbing up the side of his crib yelling at him to get up...
2. Pulling and lifting Brody(we have a strong dude) out of the exersaucer, and Brody landed on the ground...Brody did not cry by the way.
3. Jumped on top of Brody
4. Throws toys across the room at Brody (he has pretty good aim)
5. Bedtime/nap time, how many times is he going to keep getting out of bed?

He is always constantly in Brody's face, some of the time he is actually nice though, giving kisses and loves, and showing him toys, and Brody LOVES it. The rougher the better for him, he just giggles and laughs.

So you are probably wondering where is his mother during all of this? Seriously he waits for any second I am in the kitchen, changing a load of laundry, or going to answer the phone. That is his favorite time, when someone calls, it is his cue to find something naughty right away. He even knows when he does one of these things he says himself "Crew timeout" and runs around the corner and sits in his spot, where I give him a timer for 2-3 minutes. And yes we spank too, which doesn't seem to even phase him half of the time.

It is a good thing Brody is such a chill baby, we are very busy right now! The hardest thing is just trying to be consistent and develop more routines, especially with bed time.

Crew on a positive note :) is seeming more interested in potty training the last couple of days, although he seems to really want to to try before nap or bedtime (stall tactic), but has been successful. Yeah Cruiser! He loves to read his potty book while sitting there.

Right now Crew is totally into his cars, and sets them up every where in the house, and he also loves play dough, coloring, playing his candy land shapes game, puzzles, playing animals and tractors with his barn, and hitting balls everywhere around the house, and don't forget running and diving on the bean bag chairs! The first thing he says when he wakes up is George (for Curious George) or Mickey. He also loves a lot of the disney movies (Cars, Toy Story, Shrek, Tarzan, etc). If he could pick what he could eat right now it would be chic chic's (chicken nuggets), yogurt, waffles, oatmeal, grapes, mac n cheese, PB & J toast,spaghetti, pudding, fish/ritz/wheat thin crackers, popcorn, fruit snacks, and his favorite of all chocolate milk! I can't count how many times he says "mom, more chocolate milk", too bad I don't always give him his way!

My favorite time is when we cuddle before bed and we read, (Clifford and Richard Scary's word book are his favorite right now) I tell him stories and we talk about the day, we pray (it is so cute to hear him say "dear Jesus", and his amen is pretty cute too), and say I love yous. The best part of my day is when he says very clearly "I love you too mom". Then no matter how naughty that day was, everything is okay :)

I just hope that terrible twos are gone by three....

Family Pictures

In November we had some family pictures taken as a gift for my parents for their 30th anniversary.

Chris and I got some pictures of just the two of us, we had not done that in while :)

The boys did good, not a great shot of the two of them, but they did well in the family photos!

Treven and Christina's Wedding

One of Chris' best friends Treven got married on Friday night and Chris was in the wedding. It was kind of fun to get dressed up a little and have another night out.
Matt and Carole. Matt was also in the wedding, it was fun to get caught up with some people we haven't seen in awhile.

Happy New Year!

This year we had a low key New Years party at our house. Court and Shane, Tyler and Alli, and Kassi, Jeff and Taylor and Lane. We thought it would be nice to not have to worry about babysitters and to just hang out and play games, I think next year we might get a babysitter :)

Brody and Taylor, she was very helpful with the boys the whole evening, although by the end of the night no one could control Lane and Crew...

The husbands....Chris, Tyler, Shane and Jeff. We played Family Feud on DVD, husbands vs. wives, it got a little competitive!

Court and Alli. Alli was one day past her due date, she was a trooper, and she looks great! Little Kade Allen should be here soon.....

The rough and wild boys in their Cars pj's.

A calm moment in the evening...

Trying to figure out the blow horns at midnight, we also lit off a few fireworks for them too.