ZOOtoberfest

We've kept ourselves pretty busy with work, school and watching football lately.  Wyatt seems to be enjoying his alone time while Blake is at school, and I have noticed that I feel like I have a little more time to get house chores done.  Here's Blake & Wyatt playing with a bean bag toss game one afternoon after school.

Wyatt & I went to Blake's school one day to eat lunch with her.  We got there a little early, so Wy had fun playing with some of the big kid toys :)

We have already had some pretty chilly mornings.  One morning while I was cooking the kids' breakfast, Wyatt came running into the kitchen exclaiming, "LOOK my painting!"  I was a little worried at first, but this is what he was "painting" on.  Of course, Blake had to join in too.

Blake has been doing really well reading her "Sam books" (these beginning reader books my mom bought for her quite a while ago), and she gets a little treat after reading every 4th book.  Well, one of her bigger treats (after reading 20 books) was to get to go to the zoo.  It just so happened that the zoo was having their ZOOtoberfest event that same weekend, so we made it a family morning at the zoo.  Here's the kiddos showing off their tattoos that they got from one of the vendors there.

 Wy & Daddy looking at the bald eagles

Blake, again, showing off the tattoo and her new bracelet she got at one of the booths.

 Blake & Wy-Guy sitting still on a bench together (rare moment)

 One tired guy!

We also got to visit with Great-Grandma DeCoteau and Grandpa DeCoteau this past month, so I FINALLY remembered to get the camera out and take some pics.  Here's Grandma DeCoteau & Blake.

Wyatt, Grandpa DeCoteau, Great-Grandma DeCoteau & Blake

Blake has really been enjoying kindergarten.  So much so that she often comes home from school and immediately begins playing school.  She loves reading, coloring, drawing and writing.  In fact, she decided to write her name on the hood (and side) of my car with a rock one day.  UGH!!!

 

Wy-Guy still keeps me on my toes, too.  And, he's quite the character.  Just the other day, Blake stubbed her toe on a kitchen chair.  Wyatt (in a very sweet and concerned voice) says, "Awww...Blake, that chair jump out and hit you?"  I have a feeling this was one of his first attempts at sarcasm, but it would be nice if he was really that genuinely concerned about his sister.

 

My last Wyatt story of the post:

 

Me (helping Wyatt get his pj top on):  I need your arm.

Wyatt:  Arrrm, Matey.  (He then grabs one of Blake's bracelets and puts it over his eye like an eye patch.)  Arrrm, Matey!  Where's your treasure?!

 

Gotta love my goofy boy.  Hope all is well with everyone.  Happy Fall!

Kickin' Off Kindergarten

Well, I'll start this post off with a cute Blake story that I forgot to include in the last post.  One day a couple weeks ago, I was fixing a quilt that my Grandma Brune had made me.  Blake wanted to know who made the quilt and if she had met that person.  I told her no, and she asked why she hadn't met my grandma.  I told her that Grandma had died.  We then had this long conversation about how everyone dies.  So when Bob gets home that evening, Blake opens up the dinner conversation with, "Today Mom and I were talking about how you're going to die."  Lovely.  Continuing with the same theme, Blake now keeps bringing up fun things to do and then she'll say, "You know, we should do that before you die."

I wouldn't want to leave Wy-Guy out, so here's a quick Wyatt story from a week or two ago.  The kids and I were in the car driving in town.  We were experiencing about the closest thing we get to stop-and-go traffic around here when all of a sudden Wyatt yells from the back, "Knock it off, Mom!  Either go fast or go slow."  Ahhh, I just love my back seat drivers.  Wyatt has really clung to that phrase - knock it off.  It cracks me up to hear him telling Blake, the dogs (you name it) to "knock it off."  Funny boy.

Blake started kindergarten this week, so we decided to start a new first-day-of-school tradition (not original idea, by the way...I heard of another family who did this, and I thought it was a cool idea):  Ice cream for breakfast.  Don't worry, I made them muffins to go with it.  The kids thought that it was really cool.

 Ms. Serious posing for a first day of school picture for me.  She's definitely a Brune.

 posing with her brother, too

After we got done taking pictures, Blake was exasperated and said, "I know, I know, Mom.  Put my backpack in the blue rectangle and play until the bell rings.  Then, line up on the blue line. I got it.  Can I go play now?!  I need to find Kenzington and ask Carson who his teacher is."  At this point, Wyatt realized that he wasn't getting to stay, so he was in hysterics about that.  So, I left my big girl to do her thang while dragging Wy-Guy off the playground as he's screaming, "want play" and "need Blake".  BUT I did find out from another mom after school, that Blake kind of freaked out when the bell rang and a bunch of parents swarmed the lines of children to give their first school goodbyes.  Maybe she's not as confident as she puts on, but she made it to the correct line and now has the morning routine down pat.

When we got home from dropping Blake off at school, a friend of mine brought two of her kiddos over to play.  I could not resist posting this pic of Wyatt & Tyce playing with the wagon.  They were quite the buddies that day, and Tyce saved me from the wrath of Wyatt - definitely a good distraction.

Little Miss Blake is all about picking out her own clothes for school.  Oh Lord, help me.  She's even got her own modeling poses. YIKES!

On the second day of school, I got a call towards the end of the school day saying that Blake was sick, and I needed to pick her up.  Poor Wy-Guy was sleeping, so I had to wake him up and go get Blake.  As soon as we got home, Blake was all chipper and wanted to watch cartoons and have a snack. Ugh!  So, Blake spent the rest of the evening resting in bed or on the bean bag with no snacks and no TV.  After that little experience, she's told me several times that she will never be sick at school again ;)

One final Wyatt story:  Yesterday I told Wyatt that if he went poopy on the potty, I would give him ice cream.  I later found him sitting on the toilet whispering, "I can do it. I can do it."  Hilarious!  But, I gotta give him credit.  He did it!  Well, he got half in his underwear and half in the toilet - a start, at least.  BIG NEWS, though.  As I started to upload pictures for this blog post, Wyatt came and got me saying he had to go to the potty.  So, I took him in, and he pooped on the potty!!!  Hey, that's seriously a big deal...to me, anyway.  I HATE cleaning up those type of messes - yuck.  I'm sure we still have a little ways to go to finish up the potty training, but he's been doing really well.  Other than the half poop incident yesterday, he's gone one and a half days with no accidents.  I cannot wait to be freed from the diaper/underwear/dirty britches washing routine.

Happy Labor Day weekend to you all!

Kindergarten Interview

I thought it would be fun to interview the kids before each school year and record their answers here on the blog.  Hopefully, it'll be a fun little tradition.  I had a notepad with the questions on it, and then I read them off to Blake and wrote down her answers.  Well, here goes.  Anything in parenthesis is my explanation of what Blake is saying or referring to.  Here's Blake's kindergarten interview:

Me:  What's your favorite color?
Blake:  Red

Me:  What's your favorite movie?
Blake:  The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Me:  What's your favorite song?
Blake:  Twinkle Little Star

Me:  What do you want to be when you grow up?
Blake:  Artist.  Because I'm being good at not scribbling, but I'll use paint.  It's a good thing I'm taking paint to my school, so I can paint things.

Me:  What most excites you about kindergarten?
Blake:  Get to play with kids.  I'm smart at doing this (answering these questions), am I?

Me:  What are you most nervous about?
Blake:  That I'm going to miss you.  That's not a good one (answer), is it?
Me:  No, I think it's a pretty good one.

Me:  What are you most proud of so far in your life?
Blake:  I'm proud of seeing the dolphins when we went to Shelly's world (not sure how it became your "world", Shell...don't let that get to your head) and seeing the sharks at the aquarium with Collier.

Me:  What new things do you want to learn in kindergarten?
Blake:  To color (draw) alligators, sharks and dolphins and ponies.  Sometimes I don't really know because I draw straight lines and they look more like robots than ponies.  Can I color?

Me:  What else do you think you'll learn in kindergarten?
Blake:  Drawing & coloring and learning stuff.  Is that what I'm going to do in kindergarten?  But, did you know that I like red and blue and dark pink?  Can you ask me what my favorite food is?

Me:  OK, what's your favorite food?
Blake:  Two kinds.  Mac n cheese and chicken nuggets.  Write that down there.  Make sure you put down mac n cheese and chicken nuggets. (Insert sing songy chant of "mac n cheese and chicken nuggets" here).

Me:  What was your favorite thing about preschool?
Blake:  Playing.  Well, there's two options, and singing.  Like the butterfly song and the apple song.  Let's sing the apple song.  Can I have a blue marker?

Me:  What is your favorite toy?
Blake:  My Little Pony set

Blake:  Mom, why do you keep laughing?
Me:  Because you are pretty entertaining, Blake.

Penny For Your Thoughts

Well shortly after her fifth birthday, Blake swallowed a penny.  She was lucky not to choke on it, but I ended up having to examine her stools to make sure that it came out.  Awesome.  Thankfully, the treasure hunt ended after only a few days.  Let's just hope not to have to go through that again - ICK!  In more pleasant news, our new furniture arrived around that same time.  Here's my goofballs pretending to relax.  Don't let them fool you, they rarely relax ;)

Daddy enjoying a little quiet time on the massive bean bag while the kiddos watch some cartoons one morning.

We decided to let the kids stay up late last week to see the blue moon.  Well in our case, it was more like an orange moon.  We have a few wild fires burning in the area, so we have had some pretty spectacular reddish, pinkish, orangish colors in the night sky.  Of course, you can't really see the color very well in the picture.  Oh well!

One corner of the kids' closet has a weird sort of shelf/storage formation.  Last week, I decided to turn it into a reading nook.  The kids love it!

They especially love hanging another blanket to make it more like a reading nook with a fort feel.  I just love the feet sticking out!

One morning while I was doing dishes, I caught Blake looking at herself making funny faces in the reflection off the pans.  What a goofus!

Blake has been very interested in what it takes to care for the dogs lately.  She's been asking about what we have to do to keep them healthy and likes to help me feed, water and give them attention.  Here's Maddie getting some morning lovins from Blake & Wyatt.

Poor Wy-Guy is going through detox right now.  I finally took away his bas (pacifiers).  I was going to do it this summer, but with the surgery and all, it just didn't seem like a good time.  He's been getting a little too attached to them lately.  He used to just use it for nap and bedtime.  But when he started to ask for it during they day, I realized it was time to quit cold turkey.  Here's my little addict...a bit ticked off after his first day with no ba.

It was so sad, but also kind of funny the first day without his ba.  He kept whining and pleading with me, "But momma, I NEED it!!!  Me need mines ba!"  Poor boy!  He's doing alright, though.  We're on our third or fourth night without it, so I think he'll pull through.

Blake's Fifth Year Video

Welp, here's Blake's fifth year video. The first song is her favorite song to sing around the house. Enjoy!

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Cheesy Fifth

During her preschool years, Blake attended a couple birthday parties at Chuck E Cheese's in Billings.  So, she was dead set on having her birthday there this year.  She was also VERY persistent about wanting an orca-themed birthday party.  She saw the movie Free Willy at Grandma & Grampy's house this summer and has fallen in love with the animals ever since.  Well here goes, Blake posing before her birthday with her brand new whale purse.

Wyatt was loving the rocket ship ride.

I made little photo booth-type props for the kids to hold up to their faces for pics.  I was actually surprised how much fun the kids had with them.  I wasn't sure how well that would go over.

I also made a little orca splash jar, where the kids could tip the jar and make it look like the orcas were swimming.  And, I even found a little blow up orca for a table decoration.

Blake riding a race car.

Scuba Wy

Blake the orca and Kenzington the dolphin

Crabby Wy-Guy

Wyatt was taking swipes of the icing with his finger the whole entire time the birthday girl was meeting Chuck E Cheese, listening to her happy birthday song and blowing out the candles.  By the time the little festivities were over, Wyatt had taken most of the icing off of one corner of the cake...ugh, little brothers!

Blake seemed to have a pretty spectacular fifth birthday party.  I'll post her fifth year video here in a bit - ENJOY!!!

Aliens & Wally in North Dakota

We usually get the chance about once a year to go visit Uncle Gene & Aunt JoAnn in Garrison, North Dakota.  This year we also got to meet up with Uncle Louis & Aunt Jeannie (from North Carolina), Aunt Joyce, Grandpa DeCoteau and Grandma DeCoteau, as well as Bob's cousin, Patrick, and his kiddos, Taylor and Jackson.  It was so great to get to see everyone.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the kiddos with any of the adults...ugh!  My camera broke, so I was pretty much relying on my iPhone.  Anyway, I'll get right to the pics.  Here's Wyatt just hanging out at our house before we left on our trip.  That's just how he rolls ;)

Blake & Wy had a blast getting to hang out with Taylor & Jackson.  They would be second cousins, I think.  Anyway, all the kids were so well behaved the whole time we were there.  It was a really nice break for me not to have to entertain the wee ones the entire time.  They spent quite a few evenings snuggled up together watching movies.

Blake trying out the mask that Patrick and the kids brought.

The guys got to do quite a bit of fishing at Lake Sakakawea.  Wyatt kept saying, "Dat. Big Fish. Daddy caught."

Gene & JoAnn had a badminton net setup in their yard, and the kids enjoyed getting to try the sport for the first time.  As you can see, Wyatt was in his own world most of the time :)

 Wyatt taking a turn on the bouncy horse in the basement.

One day, I decided to take all the kids into Bismarck to go see the movie Turbo.  We ended up stopping for lunch after the movie at Space Aliens.  Space Aliens is kind of like a Chuck E Cheese's with a space theme, but the food is WAY better.  We all had a good time eating some especially delicious fries and playing games.

Poor Jackson was wedged between the kids' car seats for the trip.  He was quite the trooper.  Of course on the way home, they all crashed!

Bob and Wyatt went for a walk one day, and they came back with several little frogs.  Here's Wy-Guy watching them in the bird bath.

I picked up some Socker Boppers at Walmart when we were in Bismarck.  I think I had more fun with these than the kids.  Every time Wyatt would start to get cranky, I would just knock him around with the boppers a few times until he'd start giggling - good stress relief for Mom ;)

Blake was finally tall enough this year to try out the pool table.  Maybe some day she'll be as good as her daddy.

Gene & JoAnn also had a lot of fun outdoor activities for the kids.  There was a dart board and even a swing in the trees outside.  Here's a pic of the kids trying out the dart board.  I didn't get any pics of the kids on the swings, but that was a big hit, as well.  My kids love to swing.

One morning, Jackson went fishing with his dad, and I took Taylor, Blake & Wyatt to down town Garrison to see Wally the Walleye.  I'm not too sure that the kids were all that impressed, but I thought it was hilarious.  They were actually watering the flowers in front when we showed up, so Taylor was nice enough to kink the hose for a quick picture.  You can see her sitting in the grass in the background.  Wyatt was cracking me up because he kept telling me that Daddy caught that fish and put it up there.

It was lunch time when we were in town, so we stopped by Ye Olde Malt Shoppe for some lunch and ice cream.  Wyatt thoroughly enjoyed his chocolate ice cream, but I'm pretty sure that shirt is now ruined.

And, I'll finish it off with a cute pic of Wyatt reading his shark book before bed one evening.

Overall, we had a great time, and the kids really enjoyed getting to play with Jackson and Taylor.