1st day of school

Brooklynn started school this year at Christ Lutheran.  Her teacher came for a home visit and made the mistake of asking Brooklynn to be her helper.  She said that there would be kids that would not be as good at making friends as her.  What Brooklynn heard was that she was going to be TEACHING Kindergarten.  She was very excited to go to Kindergarten and finally be in charge.  Luckily, Mrs. Sunderman is a great teacher and Christ Lutheran seems to be a great fit.  It's a huge relief to have her learning so much this year, and Mrs. Sunderman even has her help some of the slower working kids from time to time.  I do think that they need to work of their religion curriculum though - One of the first things that they covered was the ten commandments.  The drew pictures on ten different pages of paper to define the ten commandments.  There was one picture I couldn't figure out.  I asked Brook which commandment it was.  She told me it was Thou shall not commit adultery.  When I asked her what adultery was, she said it was when your daddy doesn't love you and the only thing you get to eat is oatmeal and the only way to stay warm is by burning your furniture.  I'm pretty sure I would have no way to explain adultery to a Kindergartner, but that seems a bit out there to me!  Of course, I also had a parent come up to me and ask me if it was true that Brooklynn's real name was Ericka, and we called her Brooklynn for short, and her teacher congratulated me on the baby that we had the week before parent teacher conferences in October, so maybe I shouldn't be going to the school board quite yet.  She is becoming such a great reader though and her writing has gotten really great too.  We feel very lucky to have such a smart, imaginative little girl!

Our Summer

This summer we got a toy hauler.  I never saw myself as a camper person, but I vowed to give it a try.  We took the toy hauler to "the pond" , which is a place that we ride up by grove lake, two or three times.  We took the toy hauler to Yankton the weekend that the Lutz clan goes on thier annual lake vacation.  We took the toy hauler to the black hills and stayed at Nemo.  We took the toy hauler to Missouri to go riding.   Turns out there was a reason that I never saw myself as a camper person.  The reason is that campers break.  A Lot!  We blew tires, replaced batteries, fixed water heaters, broke jacks, braved storms, and held our breath through too small paths and washed out roads.  Brooklynn had a great time and AJ slept through every night without incident.  I don't think that adults are quite as resiliant as children though, because on the was home from Missouri, Aaron broke the bad news to Brook..."turns out we're hotel people".

AJ's 1st Birthday

AJ turned 1 in June.  He started walking the week before, and he got his first haircut too.  He looked very handsome.  We thought about not having a party because people are not really AJ's thing, but I was sooo excited about the whole birthday cake eating part, that we had it anyway.  I always think I have everything all figured out, and I'm always wrong.  AJ did really great with the people and the whole cake thing wasn't nearly as exciting as what I built it up to be in my head.  The cake was completely adorable though.  Grandma Susie made a little turtle for him.  Grandpa Beckman got AJ a rocking bull that he got in South Dakota.  He had been working in South Dakota for a while and was really excited when he found it.  He got Brooklynn a rocking horse when she was little that she still plays with almost everyday.  So - I was sure that the rocking bull would be a huge hit.  Once again - totally wrong!  He is terrified of it and cries whenever we try to get him to play with it.  I'm sure he'll grow into it...if Brooklynn doesn't have it worn out by then.

Brooklynn's 6th Birthday

Brooklynn looks forward to her birthday all year long, so it's a huge relief when it finally arrives.  We gave her the option of having a friends birthday party or a family party this year, and she chose a friends birthday party.  We made our annual reservation of the giant jumpy house and invited her entire Kindergarten class on the last day of school.  I have to say that attendance was a little higher than we had anticipated(or hoped for)...She had a blast though and only four children cried and only three needed bandaids.  All in all a great birthday.

Easter 2011

I've done a horrible job keeping a blog.  Huge surprise.  It's November and I'm caught up through January.  So - here is my atttempt to catch up to still be able to have a record of our year - starting with Easter.  Easter was a lot of fun.  AJ was at the age where he was just starting to eat solid foods, and since he LOVES food, this was great timing.  Brooklynn as always was looking forward to spending time with family.  Everything for her is an opportunity for a social event and she LOVES to be around people.  We went to Creighton and spent time with Aaron's Grandparents and spent some time at Grandma Susie's and Grandpa Bob's playing with our cousins.  AJ dislikes people as much as Brooklynn loves them, and even cried when Grammy tried to talk to him.  It might have been the first time that a baby ever cried at Grammy! She won him over though!  He does feel at home and Grandma Shirley and Grandpa Tuff's.  I guess there is no denying who his father is.  Brooklynn also enjoyed spending time with Aunt Karen.  She was in Nebraska for a while because uncle Bob passed away.  Brook had a great time getting to know her and playing Mexican train with her.