Forced Child Labor?

For those of you who know me well, you also know that one of my least favorite things is house work. I like my house to be clean, I just don't like spending every free minute I have cleaning it, especially since I'm a working mom. There are about a million other things I would rather do with my time at home than wash dishes or clean toilets, including spend quality time with Bryce and Brandt. So, I've come up with a genius solution. I go to work and Brandt cleans the house and makes the meals while I'm gone. His wages include food, a bed to sleep in, and some other necesseties such as diapers and clothes. Actually, we've come up with a compromise that works for both of us. He loves to help with everything from laundry, sweeping and mopping, cooking, and washing dishes to helping his dad carry in wood; I draw the line at cleaning the bathrooms, although I'm sure he would dig right in to that, too. Most of the time it takes me at least twice the amount of time to finish a chore with his help, but we have a lot of fun together and I'm hoping that he's learning valuable lessons in the process. He gets so excited whenever we praise him for doing a good job and helping and it's worth every smile we get out of it. He often claps and hollers "woo-hoo" after finishing something. Now if I could only get his dad trained to help so well...

FUN WEEKEND

Our weekend was jam-packed with fun. My mom ended up having both Amanda Jean and Rylie there on Saturday, so Brandt and I went to visit for the day, too.
These pictures of Jana and Amanda were actually from the week before, but I didn't get a post for them done and figured I might as well add them here. Brandt loves aunt Jana and calls her mom when she calls to talk to him. He likes to get pillows and blankets and make people lay on the couch with him and go "night night." It usually doesn't last long since he can't hold still long enough to fall asleep, but it's cute anyway. Actually my mom says they sometimes spend about an hour a day doing this and watching toons when she has him. I've never seen him hold still that long, so I guess I'll believe it when I see it!

Brandt gets a little jealous if anyone tries to hold "there ya go" AKA Amanda Jean and not him, so he's always right there trying to get some attention, too. When we all went to my uncle Dale's funeral a few weeks ago, Jana was handing toys to Amanda and saying "there ya go" everytime she gave her something new. Ever since then he has called her "thereyago", really fast like it's all one word. What a funny kid!!

Amanda was just getting crawling down last week, and when she was trying to show off her new skills, Brandt climbed on her back like he does us and then bailed off the side yelling "crash!" She didn't care too much until he kneeled on her hand as he was falling. She's definitely going to have to be tough 'cause Brandt is less than gentle when it comes to playing with her.

My dad got this tent for Rylie and helped the boys set it up on Saturday to give them something to do. Rylie was way excited when "papa" told him that he could take it home and use it to go camping with his mom.

They ran around like crazy men (what else is new when it comes to Brandt?) and had a blast playing in it all afternoon. They hauled a bunch of their toys in there as well as blankets and pillows. My dad even let them use one of his big flashlights so it wouldn't be dark while they were playing.

Rylie started pressing his face up against the window screen and so of course Brandt was right there with him doing the same thing. He is a little copy-cat anyway, but he especially idolizes Rylie and follows his every move. They did take a little break from playing to go out and help with chores. They got to sit on a cow, see the new baby calves, and ride in the tractor with grandpa. Of course, I forgot my camera (dang!), but they were so cute in their almost matching red and black snow clothes.

The boys both love getting in the "big tub" (hot tub) with grandpa. They were all waiting patiently for the rest of us to get ready so we could all go get in. Check out grandpa's sexy legs!!

Although a hot tub is supposed to be relaxing in theory, one doesn't get much down time when Brandt and Rylie are involved. They both love to splash and have fun, and they don't stay in one spot for long. Most of their time is spent playing musical chairs between grandpa, Bryce, and Curtis.

Brandt loves the jets and starts yelling "ooh, bubbles" as soon as we turn them on. It's so much more fun than playing in the regular tub!!

FFA here we come!

Some of my favorite childhood memories include going out to help with chores and seeing the new baby calves. Since it is calving season now, Bryce heads down to my mom and dad's to help with chores pretty much every day. Brandt is already at my mom's since she watches him for me and usually cries and begs to go out with him, so we take him whenever I'm home from work and can keep track of him while the others are working. HE LOVES EVERY MINUTE OF IT!! We got these pictures last week (ya, I'm a little slow), and even though it was freezing cold out there, he never complained once.

Actually, the only time he complains is whenever he can't be held by either his daddy or one of his grandpa's- my dad or "bampa Van," or when he thinks they're going somewhere without him. He especially likes it when they take him out in the corral with all the cows.

Van was letting him pet this cow since she's a calm one, but I couldn't quite get to my camera fast enough to get a very good picture of it.

Brandt spends most of the days that I work with my mom (thankfully!!), but he's still always happy to see her and hang out with her. Well, as long as he knows I'm not leaving him.

They really are having more fun that what it looks like. I think my dad enjoys having Brandt tagging around behind him and wanting to help with everything he does. In this picture he was telling bampa about the "hay."

Brandt got to see his first calf being born. My dad, Bryce, and Van had to pull it and we watched the whole thing. When they finally got it, Brandt said "oh, cute baby."

I can't help but feeling so blessed to live where we do and have the opportunity for Brandt to start making memories of his own on the farm. What better place to learn some of those lessons in life such as hard work and helping out as a family. Plus, how else do you teach a kid about the birds and the bees other than letting them see it for themselves out in the field? :) Hopefully this little "future farmer of America" will have many more chances to enjoy life in the country.

FUN WITH "BAMPA"

Brandt loves his Bampa Lloyd and can usually be found trying to help with whatever he's doing. They like to tease each other and I'm afraid Brandt often gets the better end of the deal. It's no wonder he likes him so much; he's just a little spoiled!! Bampa shares smarties with him at church, gives him Dr. Pepper when I'm not looking, and gets down on the floor to play with him even when his back is killing him after a long day at work.


My dad has been remodeling their living room and Brandt has been right there with him through most of it. It's no wonder he knew exactly what to do with the tools and workbench that my parents gave him for Christmas!


Brandt loves to help bampa feed the fish and begs to do it whenever he's there. Of course, he has a little competition for that job when Rylie's around since he likes to help, too.



My dad's horse, Bud, whom he'd raised from a colt got sick and died a couple months ago, so he got Dunny from Kevin and Kelli's friend. He decided to ride it up to our house to keep it behind our house with the other horse and boy was Brandt excited to see him coming. Imagine how much more excited he was when bampa took him for a ride in the back yard! The second he got up there he reached down and grabbed the reins and started hollering "yee-haw!" I think he watches too many rodeos...

BOWLING FOR CHRISTMAS???

When Bryce told me that we were going to go bowling with his family for Christmas this year instead of the traditional Christmas Eve prime rib dinner at the Hemmerts, I have to admit that I was skeptical. We all got together at the bowling alley on the 27th and had 3 or 4 lanes all to ourselves plus yummy pizza, which Brandt buddy especially loved. It definitely worked out a lot better than I thought it would, and I'm guessing that it may become a new fun tradition.

Bryce and Tara. A little sibling rivalry maybe? Check out Bryce's awesome form. :)

Brandt thought it was so fun to pick out a ball and then push it down the lane. He did pretty dang good for a little guy. Can't wait to take him again sometime.

All of Bryce's family was there including the Kevin, Tara, and kids, Quinn, Mal, and girls, and Matt and Tiff. Also Grandma Jennie, Dan, Linda, and kids, and Jeff, Diana, and kids, including the cute new twins. It was a pretty fun group.

GO BRYCE!!

Brandt loves his cousin Kaylen and she is one of only a very few people whom he lets pack him around. Whenever we have family get togethers and I need him to take a nap, I hand him off to Kaylen because she's the only one he'll let get him to sleep.

Ward Christmas Parties 2008

Since we live so close to both of our families, we usually get to hit 2 ward Christmas parties every year. Brandt wasn't afraid of Santa, but he was happy to get his bag of goodies and get out of there.


Georgetown ward party. Note the wet pants- didn't soak through until right as I handed him off. NICE!!!


St. Charles ward party santa.

Brandt loves Mariah and went right to her when it was time to help the primary with Jingle Bells so Santa would come.

Bryce lives to tease him and kept pulling the ice cream away as soon as Brandt would get close to it. He had us all laughing. Then he bonked his head on the table and did a very dramatic "ow." We all busted up. We were sitting by the Hilliers, and I think it's been years since I've seen Jim laugh that hard! Life is never boring when Brandt is around!

HOLY 2009

So, as many of you are also probably thinking, where the heck did 2008 go? Now begins what could be the "January blahs," but I'm guessing that with Brandt around it will be anything but boring. Of course, we won't have a thousand events going on as we did in December, so I thought maybe I would use this month to do sort of a flashback on some of the fun things we did last month. As for now, I always swear against saying my New Year's Resolutions out loud since I usually end up breaking them anyway, but maybe I could mention just a couple of ongoing goals so that I'm not completely slacking. Plus we could all use a bit of accountability, right? My temple attendance has seriously suffered a set back since having Brandt, so that's probably the number one thing I need to work on. Also, Bryce got me the Book of Mormon on CD for Christmas (with a little helpful hinting from me) so I'm listening to that on the way to and from work and hoping it will help increase my scripture study since it's also been pretty much non-existance since Brandt buddy came along. How backward is that? Now is when I need that help in my life more than ever. Seems like whenever I start to prioritize my life around the teachings of the gospel and my family everything else seems to fall into place, so hopefully that will continue to happen as I start to make better use of my time. Mostly I just want to continue to spend time with my family and enjoy every minute of being a mom.