The Joy of having a little brother

Nick is home from school this week for Christmas break getting to enjoy having a little brother. Alex likes to get Nick going. Right now he is telling Nick 'you are a donkey'. He thinks it is funny. Nick doesn't. Nick is trying to explain. Here are reasons why Nick cannot be a donkey:
1. They crawl on the floor. I'm a human. I walk on my legs.
2. I'm not hee-hawing. (Alex says 'you say it' and Nick says 'I don't want to say hee-haw)
3. Donkeys don't broom (Nick is trying to sweep the floor and doing a horrible job).
4. I don't live in a barn. I am Mommy's son and will always be Mommy's son. I cannot live in a barn.
And so the argument goes on and on... Until I say that's enough!

Christmas pictures

Nick looks like he wasn't enjoying Christmas Eve too much- I guess he wasn't. He was not feeling good at all that day.

We gave Grandma Pruett a blanket that I made with Snapfish. It has the boys pictures all over it.
Ryan enjoyed being at his parents house for Christmas Eve and eating steak.

And below is proof that Nick really did not feel well on Christmas Eve. He slept most of the day. I knew something was wrong when he turned down bacon for breakfast.

Alex was so excited about opening presents. He understood when Grandpa said we have to eat supper first.

Christmas Eve

No time to post pictures tonight. We need to be in bed so we can get up early for Christmas morning. I'll post the pictures later but write quickly about our Christmas Eve.
We did our Christmas celebration with Ryan's family today. We went to Grandma and Grandpa Pruett's house and celebrated with Uncle Nathan and Aunt Charlene. Nick pretty much slept the entire day but he did wake up long enough to open presents and felt pretty good while we were doing that. Alex had a great time!
We ate a steak dinner that Ryan's mom had cooked. And then opened presents for most of the rest of the afternoon. Everything was great but Grandpa and Alex really enjoyed the musical instrument he bought for everyone (grandpa- that is). You'll see it in the pictures and hopefully a video.
I'm so excited about Christmas morning but praying Nick feels much better in the morning.

Dinosaurs Unearthed at the Science Center

I almost forgot to mention- we had a great day yesterday. Ryan was off work and we took the boys to see the exhibit at the Science Center. They seemed to really like it. There were 20 animontronic dinosaurs. They were huge. We were suprised that the Triceratops was that big. I can guarantee if we had taken Nick to see this when he had only been home for 6 months, he would have been scared to death when those dinosaurs started moving. Not Alex. He has no fear which means it is hard to keep up with him. I'm glad we two parents for two kids today!

We forgot the camera so we took pictures with our phone. It was dark in the exhibit with really cool lighting, but the pictures didn't turn out too great!

Christmas Eve

Nick woke up feeling sick this morning. We think he probably picked it up from me- congestion and sore throat. I knew he was sick when he turned down bacon for breakfast. We're letting him watch movies and relax and hopefully he will feel okay to go to Grandma and Grandpa Pruett's house today.
We have the Jeep loaded with presents and cookies to go to Farmington. The boys are super excited, but Alex is confused why he can't open the presents under the tree today. He'll find out what it is all about tomorrow!

An Old-Fashioned Christmas

Today we went to the Christmas program at Grandma and Grandpa Pruett's church. Grandma led the choir in a Cantata called 'An Old-Fashioned Christmas' and she sang 'O, Holy Night'. Grandpa sang in the choir and led the communion service. It was all very nice and the boys did pretty good sitting through the entire thing. They got to see Mrs. Barbara who they really like and give her a thank you card for all the gifts she had bought for them. I have no pictures of today but I'll find something to stick on here.

How about a picture of the boys doing their own concert?

When I grow up

Alex is doing a new thing where he just roars like a dinosaur- very loudly- at random people and at extremely random times. He kept doing it to the two girls watching him last night and he did it last week when I went to school to pick Nick up. I was late and the only people in the lobby were Nick, the principal, the counselor and two other teachers. We walk in the building, Alex looks at all of them and roars. I'm sure they are looking forward to having him in school next year. Alex did tell us he wants to be a T-Rex when he grows up so I guess he is practicing.
Nick has decided he wants to be a nurse when he grows up. I told him that is a great idea. Our friend Tony is a nurse and he gets to do lots of gross things :) Nick mainly just wants to give people shots. We will see...

Nick brought a certificate home from school this week that said he was on the principal's brag board. He knew nothing about it and didn't seem to care. But I made a big deal out of it so hopefully he'll continue working hard at school. We are really proud of him. He is doing a great job in Kindergarten! His paper is the one next to the KB flower and the certificate is pictured below.

Here is a video clip I made in K-mart last week. The kids at church sang a song called 'Toys' and I wanted video to play while they were singing of kids shopping for toys. The boys had a great time until I told them to put all the toys back on the shelves.

I'm looking forward to posting pictures of the boys opening all their toys on Christmas!

While I'm waiting for the video to upload:

We seemed to be obsessed with hot lava at our house. Everything must be compared to hot lava. Are these noodles as hot as hot lava? (not- are these noodles as hot as lava?) We have lots of discussions about hot lava. Mommy, would you swim in hot lava? Why wouldn't you want to get in hot lava? Would it hurt? So on and so forth.

Nick and Alex have also hit the little boy stage where they just say stupid things over and over to each other and they both think it is hilarious. My cousin Jenni warned me about this stage, and it did drive me a little nuts when they just kept saying 'sleeping beauty' all through dinner. At the same time, I am just so happy that they get along so well and truly are becoming best friends.

Thanksgiving

Nick had a 'feast' at school for Thanksgiving. It was really cute and fun. They served the kids pudding, popcorn, and apple juice. Then each class sang a song for us.

For some reason, I didn't take many pictures for Thanksgiving, but I did get this one of the boys watching a movie at Grandma and Grandpa Pruett's house. We spent Thanksgiving day there and had really good fried Turkey. We spent Saturday at Grandma and Grandpa Bradley's house.

'Tis the Season

Well, it's the wrong one, but I'm playing catch-up. Here are pictures of the boys at Halloween. We went to church this year and Ryan and I decorated the Jeep with Packers Football stuff- like we were tailgating. Nick was a pirate and Alex was a fireman. They had a great time and really enjoyed the candy. Alex seemed to get it much better than Nick did on his first halloween. I think this was because he had Nick telling him all about it and decided if Nick thought it was great, it must be okay. Plus, Alex really likes candy. (oh, and they are trying to do scary faces in the picture.)

And today is...

Grandma Bradley's birthday

Happy Birthday from Nick and Alex! We love you Grandma.

Here are the boys with all of their Grandma's on my Mom's side- five generations. From left to right: Alex, Grandma Hunn (my mom's mom), Grandma Harman (Grandma Hunn's Mom), my mom (Grandma Bradley), Nick, and me

Happy Birthday, Grandpa Bradley

I have a lot to catch up on- so to honor my Dad today, I will post pictures of Nick and Alex with their Grandpa Bradley. I will also mention that Grandpa Bradley is a very fun playmate. He lets them ride tricyles all over the basement, play Nintendo (NES), jump on the trampoline he bought for them, takes them to McDonalds to play every Wednesday night, and more...

He is also a great teacher and godly influence in their lives.

These pictures are all from the summer. I guess I haven't taken any pictures of the boys with Grandpa Bradley for a while.

Grandpa reading with the boys at his house.

August? We went to the zoo with Grandpa and Grandma Bradley and Aunt Jackie and Logan. All three boys rode the carousel.

Finally! This is something I've been intending to do for a while. You can still read about our trips to China to get Nick and Alex at www.youbelong.net/pruett. But I would like to post our current lives here and will start working on that!

We have been home for six months with Alex. It is hard to believe. His English is amazing, and he is happy and a joy to have in our home everyday. Nick is the greatest big brother. They both say and do hilarious things everyday, and I've got to start writing it all down. Nick has made it through almost a half a year of kindergarten. It is hard to believe he has been home for two and a half years now!