HAPPY 8TH ANNIVERSARY TINA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, has it really been 8 years!!! I can't believe it. Thank you so much for 8 wonderful years, and here is to an ETERNITY more! I LOVE YOU!

Webkinz and writing

I am so proud of AJ and how well he has done learning to write!!! We started doing a journal (like i used to do with my class) back in January and he has improved TONS!!!! (The first one he did on 1-29-08 and the second one he just did today!)
GO AJ!!!


Translation: "Bruschi has a puppy room."


No need for translation!! :) YAY!!

Far more importantly in his world...AJ loves Webkinz. He got one for his birthday, one for Christmas, one for Easter, one for a reward for finishing his first journal and his newest one...just because. (Actually, he and Richard got twin lions and Julia and Sophia got Twin kangaroos so they can have matching friends even when they are far apart!)

So these are the pictures of his newest lion.."Simba" (Richard's is named "Mufasa")

How Cute are They!!!

This just had to be posted, They just love each other so much, I can't even stand it!!!!! :)

AJ...our little Olympian...FINALLY!!!

AJ had his Olympics at school this week. This is the third year that he has done it and at the events for the last 2 years I spent the whole time pushing him (literally) to participate in ANYTHING!!! This event started the same and we were a little concerned. But with many-a-pep-talk from Brandon and I, and some bribery...i mean "incentive" ...of a McDonald's happy meal, he participated in the final 3 events. He ran the hurdles, (This was the stepping stone from refusal to attempt and, therefore, meant that i had to hold his had ALL the way around the track) He threw the Javelin, and he did the final lap race. He even stood on the "podium" (for about 2 seconds) to get his medal!! We were really proud of him. He really pulled himself together and was brave, and pretty fast, i must say!!! :)





This was the happiness that he was feeling after standing on the podium to get the medal! Note the clinging...this was AMAZING progress by this point! :)


And here is the better picture... I swear he is Dr. Jeckel and Mr. Hyde sometimes!

Julia...our olympian wanna-be!

So, after taking what felt like FOREVER to get AJ to participate, "Coach Ed" offered for Julia to run too and before I could really respond she was at the starting line and jumping the gun to run. What a difference between our 2 little personalities!!! The best part was that when everyone came around and stopped at the finish line Julia took a 2ND lap, and probably would have tried for a 3rd, if i hadn't grabbed her!! :) She thought she was pretty hot stuff (as did all of the parents there!) She just cracks us up!!




When we went back to the classroom for the little snack, Julia, of course, had to sit a the table and have her snack too. She didn't even sit next to AJ or even at the same table. She just had to be like the big kids! This all gives me a lot of hope that shipping Julia off to school will go much smoother than it did with AJ!!

Our moving plans have been finalized!!!!!

Tina and I have finally finalized our moving plans. After much discussion, we decided to just make a plan (even if I don't have a job yet) and execute that plan, and everything will work out.

I am flying to Utah on May 7th and I will return the 13th, for job searching and interviewing and swedish pancake eating (hopefully :). Then, Tyler, Jeremy (hopefully) and I will roll out of Massachusetts on the 30th of May and arrive back home in the early morning hours of the 5th. We are so excited to have a plan, and that we are FINALLY returning home!!!!

Can't wait to see all of you!!!!!

Julia's FIRST hair cut!!!

Well, We finally did it!!! We cut Julia's hair, and yes, that meant all of her curls. I think it came out really cute, but the cutting of the curls was quite traumatic for me, i'll admit!!!
SO here is the documentation...
BEFORE:


DURING: (She did a GREAT job of sitting and letting me cut it. She thought she was pretty hot stuff!)


AFTER: TAH-DAH Here she is, and I have to say she is pretty darn cute!!!

B or BEE night!

Tonight we had such a fun little activity. We knew a little while ago that we wanted to watch The Bee Movie when it came out. So we decided to be creative and have a "B night" So we had Burgers on Buns for dinner and then we watched the Bee Movie. AJ wore his Ball pajamas and Julia wore her Blue pajamas. I wore a Brown shirt and Brandon wore a Byu t-shirt. Treats were the really fun part...we had Banana Bread with Butter, Blue Bunnies (peeps), Bears (gummi...), Butterfingers,Blue Boxes of Berry juice, Buttered popcorn (that was pushing it! :) The kids even watched most of the movie sitting in a Box!










...........................................................................
AJ took this B-theme to heart a little too much when he got a Bump on his head before bed. (It wasn't that bad, Brandon was dumping him out of the box and it didn't end well...but it was all about DRAMA!!!)

Amazing Grace

So, We watched the most amazing movie last night, called Amazing Grace. It is a true story based on the man who wrote the song. He was a captain of a slave ship for 20 years, repented and became a christian monk. He was a pastor to a boy named Willim Wilberforce, who became the most influential abolishinest in England, and was the primary force in abolishing the slave trade throughout England. It's a really good movie.

Jenson Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Family tree template - Roots

Jenson Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Funny Story: AJ's family tree confusion!

So i was having one of our MANY conversations with AJ about life (he has just been a non-stop chatter box these days) He had made some comment about Julia and how much he loved her. There was a pause, and then he says "I can't marry Julia, HUH?" and i said "No, because she is your sister...but she will always be your sister...and Brothers and sisters don't get married cause they can only be brothers and sisters (Something like that, but i figured i had made my point.)
So there is another pause and then he says, "But i could marry Sophia!" (I almost died, but i toatlly held it together)... SO i said, "no probably not because she is your cousin and (laughing to my self..he, he, he) "Cousins usually don't get married!"...i couldn't resist--i added, under my breath, "but it has been known to happen."

SO a few minutes later he asks me, did you know daddy when you were little. and i told her that we didn't because we met when we were grown ups..

OF COURSE, during this whole conversation i am just thinking "don't ask about grammie and grampie, PLEASE don't ask about grammie and grampie!!!"

I think the best part was how hard my parents laughed when i told them the story!

Hopefully we cleared things up so that he doesn't want to follow in his "grammie and grampie's" foot steps some day!!

OH, KIDS!!!

Funny story: Julia and "Fee-Fee"

LOOK...IT IS A MIRACLE....I AM BLOGGING!!!












Ok, Julia is just talking up a storm!!!

Today we realized that even though she is talking very well she still makes some crucial mistakes in her commentary!!

SO she was standing next to murphy and he was wagging his tail about something and we really didn't think much of it. Then Julia says what sounds like "Pee-nis". Brandon and I looked at each other to see if the other had heard it too. She said it 3 or 4 ore times until i said "Julia are you saying penis" which she responded with "yah". Then she says "fee-fee(what she calls murphy), my bum, fee-fee penis my bum." Brandon and I were somewhere between horrified and hysterical with laughter when we realized what she was talking about....Murphy's TAIL (wrong appendage there girl) had hit her butt when he was wagging it. So we did a qhick review of puppy anatomy and moved on, but it was pretty funny!!!

Kiddie Kandids!!

Well, we got our ususal christmas/birthday pictures in January again (it is just not worth dealing with the insanity before Christmas!!!) I LOVE the way they came out. Aj just loves his little pets so we brought those with us...he was so excited to have a picture with his pets he wanted to hang it in his room. And Julia was so funny. Can you believe how LONG her hair is..it is crazy. I really need to cut it (just a trim)but i'm so sad to cut the curls because it is not looking like it is going to come in curly!!! And the pictures of them together...Is AJ such the little stud muffin big brother, or what and Julia just loves him so much!!! CUTE!!!

Finally...Christmas pictures!

Christmas Eve my parents, my aunt, uncle, and their 2 girls and one of their boy friends, my sister, her husband and their 2 kids all came to our house. It was busy and crowded to have that many people in our little apartment but still fun. Poor BRandon and Richard (My brother-in-law) were both sick and spent most of the night in their beds! :( We did our tradition of having a birthday cake for jesus and singing happy birthday to him. IT is a fun little traditon but we didn't even cut the cake since we had so much junk food!!! That is a Lantz event for you!!

and more...

Christmas morning....In Tina's family growing up santa always left the stockings on the beds after he filled them so that is what he does at our house. AJ was stressed for a few days before christmas because santa was going to come into his room. Luckily, we were able to reassure him and he went to bed GREAT the night before. (He was convinced he had heard sleigh bells and had to hurry to get to sleep) Julia went to bed fine but in the morning we found her stocking on the floor next to her bed. She had pitched it out when she woke up to find a foreign object in her bed...even if it was full of toys!! :)




After stockings were open we got to check out what santa had brought! Aj's reaction was cute and Julia was just loving the whole thing. Aj's big gifts were his patriots helmet and uniforn and his bike. Julia's big things were a baby doll set (stroller, swing, carrier, etc.) and horse thing (se picture, we have no idea what to call it!)









The first present that AJ wanted to open was this little present from Brandon and I (not even a Santa one) he had been holding it and feeling it the night before and i think he knew it was a little animal of some kind!! He went right for it when we said they could go to it!!