Santa Came...

Bryson asked Santa for "suckers" but Jason thought that he really meant a pedal tractor with loader and trailer.  So Santa brought the tractor and a big bag of suckers.  He came down stairs and he went right over to the tractor and sat on it instantly.  He really likes it and he will use it A LOT this summer.

 Jaden got a new big boy bike, as you can see it is bright green and he LOVES it so much.  He also wanted a dress up tie, he loves that too.  Since we have been spoiled in the nice weather the boys and I went outside yesterday and they were able to ride their new tractor and bike.  We didn't last too long because of the wind, but it is nice to get out for awhile, since there isn't any snow.

After our little family Christmas on Friday morning we headed over to Garrison to spend the Christmas weekend with Jason's family.  We had Xmas with his sister, Jessica, and her family, his brother, Billy and his girlfriend, and Mike and Marlene.  It is always a fun time.  This is my boys and all their cousins.  L-R: Kristin(13), Bryson(2), Logan(17), Lucas(5), Kaitlyn(11) and Jaden(4).

Then Saturday evening we went to church with Jason's dad's side of the family.  We went to church with Grandma and Grandpa Flick (Flickinger) with most of that side of the family.  You can tell that being late is a Grimm thing, b/c we were a few minutes late for the service and 3 other families of Jason's cousins were right behind us :).  At least we weren't alone.  Then we went to Grandma Flick's for a delicious dinner (as always) and present opening.  There were many kids there, so my boys had such a good time running around and playing with all of Grandma's antique toys.  

We are off to Minnesota for more Christmas' this weekend.  Can't wait. 

Hope you all had a merry and healthy Christmas.  

Getting Ready for the Season

The kids are pumped for Christmas - aren't we all? We have made cookies and treats, we decorated the tree, we have wrapped presents, and even cleaned our house. 

What the kids have been doing:

Bryson has been talking so much lately, it is so fun to hear what he comes up with next - it is really entertaining when he says, "snowman" because it sounds just like, "oh man!" He also likes to watch the "Ginch" not Grinch.  He loves "lights" (Christmas lights) all over town and at our house.  He LOVES candy, cookies and suckers.  But even more he LOVES yogurt raisins.  It took us forever to understand he was saying "raisins", but we hear it so much now, we know right away. He also loves cheese sticks, and applesauce.  He is great at going to bed, he says good night to everyone and everything then walks upstairs.  He still loves his "lala" or "la-ly" which is his nickname for the nickname for blankie and shoves it in his mouth and puts it over his head when he is sleeping, which makes mom nervous.  

 Jaden  is still loving preschool - I was able to go to school with him last Friday to help the class make gingerbread houses.  The kids in his class are great, and his teachers are great as well.  He is excited for his pajama party tomorrow in school. He is so lucky. Jaden has been obsessed with computer games lately.  All he wants to do is play on my computer or on anyone's phone he can find.  He is also a little sweet tooth, but if it is not candy/cookies - he LOVES tacos.  Last night he ate 2 1/2 tacos.  Both

This is the boys enjoying each other watching a movie.  They really do get along and love each other!

Xmas 2011

Check out our 2011 Xmas card at this link. Enjoy!

Xmas 2011

NEW GARAGE

I am sure you have been anxiously waiting to see the finished product! It is done, we can park inside of our garage, and close the door.  WE LOVE IT SO MUCH! Can you heat the excitement?  Merry Christmas to the Grimm's. :)  My second night parking in the garage, it snowed - perfect timing.  Thanks to my wonderful husband for doing so much for this.

Fall into the Season

When I got home on Tuesday after practice I noticed there was a lot of leaves that had fallen, and Jaden has been asking to rake up a pile, so we headed outside in the beautiful weather and raked up a BIG pile of leaves.  Jaden loved running and diving into them, Bryson slowly backed into them and then plopped down.  What a beautiful season.  

Can you spy Jaden in the leaves?

 Last Sunday, Iowa State had a home volleyball game at noon.  We finally had a chance to go cheer them on.  It was a heart-breaking 5 game match against ranked Texas.  I love watching the Cyclones, they are so good. They boys had such a good time too.  Jaden yelled, "Go Cyclones" about every minute and Bryson tried to cheer too.  Jaden did slip up once and yelled, "Go Hawkeyes".  Not sure why that came out :) but I was glad he didn't get beat up.

Cute pic of the boys in their cute jammies.  They are getting so big and they still love each other so much!

Also - I don't have a picture yet, but my 9th grade volleyball team kicked some butt today in our home tournament.  They played so well and got 1st place.  We didn't lose a match, let alone a game all day.  I only had to call 1 time out all day.  They were covering their hitters and picking up blocks, hitting so well, passing well... They all showed so much improvement not only individually, but as a team as well.  So proud of them.

Apple Orchard

Saturday morning we decided to enjoy the nice weather and go pick some apples and raspberries at the Berry Patch Farm outside of Nevada.  It was awesome having Jason home to come with us.  The boys had so much fun picking apples from the trees, and Bryson I think ate more raspberries then we brought home.  We are missing Grambo's apple tree (that blew down in the storm) so we had to get extra apples to make some apple crisp.  

At Grandma and Grandpa's

My cousin Kristen's little boy Preston wanted to spend his 4th birthday party at "the farm". Meaning where my parent's and my mom's two sisters live within 40 acres. We had so much fun, playing games, bobbing for apples, riding on a hayride, and playing with many cousins. From my cousins on my mom's side, there are 8 kids and 7 of them are boys. And are all pretty close in age.

Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Marty also like to spoil the boys and bought them a police car to drive around and show off. :) They loved it!

Jaden's First Day of Preschool

Jaden is now in the free 4 year old preschool program at the elementary school. He started on Tuesday. He seems like he loves it. Here is his front step picture. (notice my beautiful gerbera daisies - they haven't been this bountiful for 4 years, they are so pretty this year.)

Professional Photos

We had pics taken earlier this month. Here are a few to enjoy! Our awesome photographer was http://www.destriandorf.com/ she was great. There are a few pics on her website as well. Enjoy!

pictures

Some pics of our summer... finally!

Summertime...

Last Sunday Jason's family farm was pretty much destroyed by the wind storms that went though. They lost buildings, crops, their garage, many trees and more. The whole area was just in shambles. Amazingly the house was fine and everyone was fine. Thank goodness. So Jason has been there helping get things back together since it happened. He's been back and forth many times. They need prayers to get everything back in order in a timely fashion. I can't figure out how to put on videos - but I could probably email some, if you want to see it.

On a brighter note - while Jason's been working, my mom came down for Jaden's birthday party weekend and we had fun while working to get ready for Jaden's parties (yes partIES). Friday we went to the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines. We had a lot of fun, we braved the heat and still enjoyed the zoo. The giraffes and lions came right up to us and we were able to see really how big they are. I didn't get any pics, but mom did, I will have to try to get them on my computer.

Yesterday morning we had a kid party for Jaden's birthday with a bunch of Jaden's friends. We had a lot of fun and again made it through the heat. We are very lucky to have such nice friends, and to have such nice kids for our kids.

Then we came home, took naps (well Bryson did) and then had most of the family over for supper and birthday cake. It was a cowboy party, and as always Uncle George and Auntie Denny looked like GREAT cowboys. Jaden got some cowboy boots and cowboy hat and lots and lots of absolutely great toys... we've been playing so hard today with all of his new things. Tomorrow (the 18th) is his actual birthday so I think we are either going to go bowling or to the Cars 2 movie. We'll see what I am up for.

I can't believe I am going to have a 4 year old. I like to look back at my old posts and watch him grow. Jaden is such a caring and polite boy. I am so proud of how he has grown up in to such a nice young boy. He LOVES tv and movies, books, puzzles, games, water guns, and his brother. He's been recognizing his numbers and letters (I can't believe it) and memorizing books, so he can then read them to me. He still LOVES fruit, popsicles and obviously anything with a lot of sugar... He likes to tell jokes and be told made up stories (he even makes babysitters tell him a "story from the door" when they put him to bed. He has been taking swimming lessons and for being a boy who does not like water in his face, he's been trying to be brave and has been putting half of his face in. I've also been doing a tball league with him and some friends. He's been getting the hang of hitting and running the bases the right way and hitting off a pitch.

We have recently moved Jaden upstairs in the same room as Bryson. Jaden has been downstairs since B was born. It has been going great, Bryson is always asleep by the time Jaden goes in and goes to bed. But tonight Bryson was still awake and as I write this I've been interrupted 4 times of Jaden coming out of his room saying Bryson is making noise and waking him up. Pretty funny having a 4 year old telling on his 20 month old Brother. :) Jaden said, "I told him, shhhh." Pretty sure Jaden wasn't trying too hard to go to sleep.

My other boy will be 20 months old on the 25th. He is also such a big boy now. I love this stage from about 18 - 24 months. They learn so much and I can see him changing from a baby to a big boy. He is saying so many new words, including, "poop ball" which I taught him yesterday. Pretty funny, and it is really clear - (Don't ask.) He really likes water, kitties, slides, balls, cars, balls, doing whatever Jaden is doing, balls, and did I mention balls. We have a friend who was trying to get Bryson to say her name and this is how the conversation went...
Meyer: "Bryson, can you say Meyer?"
Bryson: "ball"
Meyer: "Meyer"
B: "ball"
M: "Meyer"
B: "ball"
well finally Meyer gave up. A few days later Meyer came to Jaden's party and Jaden ran over yelling "Meyer" and Bryson followed with a "mmmmmmm". So I guess he has gotten away from calling her "ball".

I have been so bad with updating this, and I finally get a chance to write this up and now i have no pictures. I used to be so good at this. :)

Until next time....

Down It Goes

Jason tore down our garage yesterday. We are going to build a new one - hopefully this year, but it might be a little while before we completely finish. Here are some pics of the work Jason did. Not sad to see it go.

Summertime

I have been horrible at updating this lately (or for the past 6 months or so). But we've been having lots of fun in the summer sun. I didn't get out of school until after that first week of June, but since then we've been going and going. June 10th - 15th we went up to Minnesota to visit Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Marty. We also enjoyed our time with all of our other family too. We had a bon fire with smores, we play with over 250 water balloons, went to the Mall of America and went to the Sealife exibit. Joe brought over his four-wheelers and took Jaden for a ride. We really had fun.

I also had some tickets to go and see the twins with 2 college friends, and when we got there it started raining and ended up being postponed... so hopefully I'll be able to make it back up there when they reschedule.

We have also been to Hickory Grove beach, and last week we finally made it to the pool. It was a little chilly but obviously we all had fun.

This weekend is Jason and my anniversary - 6 years - and I talked him into coming to Kansas City with me for the weekend. I really excited, and we've never been to KC before. Hopefully I will update after we get back. :)

Twins Game

Last weekend Joe and Renee invited us to go to the Twins game with them. We had a blast. We had so much fun having adult only time, and the boys were with grandma sandy and grandpa marty, so they didn't even know we were gone.

What we've been up to....

I have not posted forever. We seem to always be busy. This past weekend Jason and Jaden went to the farm and Bryson spent the day together cleaning our house and enjoying the beautiful weather. Sunday we spent a lot of time all together outside. We walked to Dairy Queen, grilled out and played.

During my spring break from school in March (a whole two days) we took the boys overnight to a hotel water park in Williamsburg, IA. Jason's sister Jess and her kids, and Grambo and Poppy also came to play. Jason, Jaden and I had a blast swimming and playing in the water. Bryson, however, HATED the water, and was mad the whole time in the pool area. He did LOVE walking around the hotel room and peeking in Jess' ajoined hotel room. We had never stayed in a hotel with the boys before and they were awesome.

A few random pics:

Haircuts

Bryson before and after his haircut. He really had a sweet mullet going on before we cut it.

Jaden after his haircut we really needed it done...

Silly pictures of the boys enjoying smoothies... they love "mooovies"

Bryson being silly and loving his blankie