Our Little Acrobat

Bryce is quite the active little thing...he always seems to be moving...or attempting to move around as much as he can. We know the days of putting him in the bouncy are coming to a close because he always pulls himself up by the bar to chew the bar...
...or hang off it sideways...

...or to dangle from it trying to touch his toes to the ground.

(Don't worry...we never left the room when he was doing this...just quick ran to get the camera hoping he wouldn't fall out before we got the shot! :))

And we can officially say we have a sitter! I must say it brings a little more independence to my life as he can sit and entertain himself for small periods of time. But I also know this small period of independence will soon be replaced by no independence at all when he discovers crawling and I have to chase him around the entire house!

Odds and Ends

We've got a little Clark Grizwold going on at our house! We thought we better start small...but Chad is itchin' to put up more!

Last week Friday, Chad took Brielle to a semi-final football high school game in the bitter cold. This girl loves football...Chad said she was cheering, clapping, yelling...having a great time. And when Chad tried to leave to walk back...she flat out refused to leave until the game was over...oh how this was music to her dads ears!

Our little teddy bear!

Heres a little video of Brielle and Bryce playing in his crib. Oh how I could've watched them playing forever. I know there will be lots of fighting, but to see this interaction between the two of them makes me so hopeful that they're going to be good buds!

Its Beginning to Feel A Lot Lke Christmas

We are getting in the holiday spirit over here and were really excited to set up the Christmas tree this year because we thought Brielle would have a great time putting the lights on and hanging the ornaments and all that fun stuff. She did have fun...for about 2 seconds. The pictures below pretty much capture her contribution to the Christmas tree...one or two ornaments...and then off to do other things. Oh well...it was still fun watching her get excited about the whole thing.

Bryce took quite an interest in "helping" with hanging the lights this year

And just a few other pics of our little guy

Poor kid...gets forced to wear things that he can't say no to.

More Fall Pics

We had to take advantage of one more day of beautiful weather and leaf piles so here are just a few more outdoor pics of the kiddos.

Bryce was great for the photo op...Brielle not really interested (as you can tell)

This little guy turned 5 months old yesterday. 5 months!! Where does the time go? He loves to watch Brielle and smiles anytime she comes around and Brielle is so, so good with him...I can't even believe it. He's been rolling over both ways for about 2 weeks and has really gotten the hang of moving around. He loves to be where we are...does not like to be left alone in a room and makes it very obvious that he disapproves. Hes found his voice and what used to be an adorable cooing, blabbing has now turned into a high pitched woman screeching sound (kind of reminds me of my dad talking when he gets in front of large crowds...that high!) His sleeping habits could use some improvement as he's only given us a handful of full nights sleep, but we'll get there...I just need to remind myself that its extra cuddle time with my little guy (even though in the wee hours of the morning...that really isn't my frame of my mind!) He is so loveable and brings so much joy to our house.

This is a pic of our little ballerina...bed head and all! I found this little get up at Goodwill and it is so funny watching Brielle just prance around the house dancing and twirling. I attached a video at the bottom to give you a little idea of what her "prancing and twirling" really looks like.

We needed to get some raking done, so this was our solution for Bryce. He loved it...giggled all the time.

And our little girl taking advantage of our last leaf pile of the year.

I just had to join in on the fun

Here's the pic of Brielle dancing...sorry its sideways...silly me turned the camera the wrong way when I was videotaping! Sorry!

The Latest

Not much going on over here in the Carlson household lately

Our little man tried rice cereal for the first time last week and loved it...and caught on really well for it being his first time.

And of course since Bryce was trying something new...Brielle felt she had to get in on it and be fed rice cereal too. Crazy girl
Brielle is taking after her father in yet another trait...puzzles. She LOVES them. Every night before she goes to bed we sit down and do all sorts of puzzles with her. She is getting so good at being able to put them together by herself.



We can count on every night being a bath night for our kids. Brielle and Bryce both love taking baths, so a big chunk of our night is spent together in the bathroom (exciting I know...we lead such wild and crazy lives!)

Brielle has been good at sharing her bathtub with Bryce. She wants to help with bathing him, so she thinks its okay to dump a big cupful of water on his head like we do to her. So far...she's been unsuccessful...but one of these days I think her persistence will most likely pay off.

Its that time of year again with raking and blowing leaves. But this year we were really excited about it because we knew Brielle would love jumping and playing in them. Chad is in the picture below...Brielle, Hunter, and Bryce are just helping to bury him. Just another reason to love fall!

Great Grandma Lohman bought Brielle a set of roller skates so we thought we'd try them out one day. Well it looks like she takes after her mother when it comes to being on wheels...unsteady, slow, and terrible. (Poor girl, I better prepare her for the fact that shes going to finish dead last in all the roller skating races she participates in during elementary school and will most likely hit a pothole, tear up her knee and chin and chip her tooth if she tries roller blading! Where were my Dora knee and elbow pads when I needed them?!)

Bryce has such a quick, easy smile...just love it! He looks like such a little man in his flannel!

And I just had to post this pic of him sleeping. I thought it was so sweet that he has his arm wrapped around his little monkey blankey and him sucking on his hand. Even though the day might have been long...when you walk in and see this it just makes you forget it all and love them all the more!

And this is a video of Bryce giggling...oh he had so much fun playing in the leaves!

Latest Fall Happenings

We made a trip back to Michigan for my cousin Val's wedding a couple of weeks ago and while we were home we were also able to get in some good family time.

The happy couple (sorry its so far away)
Grandpa C assumed his new role of "horsey" for the evening...

Brookey and Brielle followed suit as "ponies"

The double duos...Brookey and Brielle and Bryce and Peyton

I can never get these 2 to sit still long enough to get a picture

Love Peyton's confused look in this picture...and Brielle is totally no interested

Grandpa and Bryce time

Once again...the little ponies

The two boys on the Grotenhuis side...Bryce and Grant

We couldn't go back to Michigan in October without making a stop at Crane's Orchard. Of course we chose the windiest day to go, but we still had a really good time.

I just had to throw this in. It just cracks me up that Bryce can always fall asleep whenever he has a hat over his eyes.

We also made the trip out to JB's Tree Farm for the 2nd year in a row to get our pumpkins, check out the animals, and play in the corn maze and bales of hay.

No, you are not seeing things...Brielle is actually reaching out to touch a goat! We couldn't believe it either! Hmmm..maybe I should return to the farm with baby chicks and bunnies to see if shes still terrified.

The 2 with their pumpkins

Chad chasing Brielle in the corn maze

Playing around on the hay bales

Our big girl

We have these great Japanese Maple in front of our house and it always turns a beautiful red in the fall, so we wanted to get a pic of the kids in front of it before the color fades. I just love this pic of Bryce in front of it.

Every night after bath time Brielle needs her "princess dress" on. (How she got into princess stuff is beyond me...but just wait...there's more princess stuff to come!)

Of course we had to do a little pumpkin carving this year and this is the finished product (sorry these pics are in reverse order)

Brielle checking the pumpkin guts out...

...and yes, thinking she would like to take a bite out of it

We went trick or treating at Penn State's campus once again this year. It was cold and raining so I didn't get many pics. Brielle had a great time this year. She wasn't afraid of the people handing out the candy, but she was definitely freaked out by those dressed up like the character from Scream (can't blame her...I would be too!)

This year was Chad's year to decide the costume. Naturally he chose to have Brielle be a mini Theo Epstein and go as a Chicago Cub!

and we had Bryce go as a little cow

Chad might have been able to choose the costume, but Brielle was still able to add her own special "flare" to the costume...notice the sparkly pink princess shoes?

Bryce wanted to go a little more formal under his costume...you just never know when you might need to wear a tie!

And just a random pic thrown in