Christmas 2008

Dawson Just Chillin' in his new chair

Mom and Dad with all the grandkids

Where's the love?

Morgan in Christmas dress....her baby had a matching one, she was so excited!!

Mason, Morgan, and Dawson (wow....they are all looking at the camera)

We had a great Christmas this year.....Christmas Eve we spent at mom and Dads. We had supper and the kids opened gifts....it was great to see the excitement on their faces with each gift. Christmas morning we opened gifts with the kids and had our traditional family christmas breakfast...which Joe cooks!!! In the afternoon on Christmas day we went to Jim and Junes and opened gifts with them as well.....the kids were all christmased out by the time we were done with all our christmas celebrations. It took me days to get the house put back together and get all the new stuff put away. Hope everyone else had a happy holiday!!!

Catching Up!!

Mason Before his first school Christmas concert.

Below, Dawson holding his baby cousin Maia.....she stayed with us for the whole weekend....wow....what an adjustment....especially for "OUR" baby....Dawson didn't really like having a baby around!!

Mason and Morgan telling Santa what they want for Christmas!!

All the grandkids before the Lensing Thanksgiving/Christmas....we were so thankful this year to be able to spend the holidays with My grandpa Lensing.

Morgan on a hayride in November

Halloween

Mason the pumpkin

Morgan the princess

Dawson the Chicken

Mason, Morgan and I on our traditional walk in Camden....we go every year in early October for Grandpa Kors birthday

Birthday and Chucky Cheese

The above pictures are of Dawson's 2nd birthday. When it came time to open presents, he opened the first one and it was cars, he refused to put them down to open the next present. Needless to say he ended up sitting on Great Grandma Marilyn's lap to open all presents and we had to eventually pry the cars out of his hands so he could open each present. He got LOTS of cars, trucks, tractors, and trailers and has had a blast playing with them ever since.(Note: Rylie is in the dragon costume, she found it during the party and wore it the rest of the time)

October 11th was Dawson's 2nd birthday, so we took the kids to Sioux Falls and did family pictures and Chucky Cheese. Family pictures took way longer than we thought they would and the kids were getting VERY crabby, as well as Joe!!! Despite the long wait at pictures the kids were excited to get to Chucky Cheese. Above they are waiting for our pizza to come. Mason told me to stop taking pictures because we just did them!!

Dawson was fascinated with the mouse on the wall, he kept going up to it and putting his face right up next to it.
As I have said before, Dawson LOVES Cars and Trucks. There were a few of them that he spent lots of time in. This particular car had a man sitting in it and he was just loving him up!!! He would sit in the cars and I just kept putting coins in, he got really upset when other kids wanted to have a turn as well.

Needless to say the kids were worn out by the end of the day. Dawson was out in less than 3 minutes, and Morgan made it about 5 minutes!!

Remembering Molly

This is Molly. Joe and I got Molly 8 years ago and she became our baby. I remember when she was a pup how she used to run behind us and try to bite our toes and how she used to chew on everything, including socks, shoes and other unmentionables!! As a pup she would whine all night because she wanted out of her kennel. Eventually we gave in and let her sleep with us occasionally. She always laid by us when we would watch tv, she loved to be close to people. Molly was always very hyper, she would bark at people outside and she would jump on people inside, but as she got older she calmed down a lot....people didn't always see that because she would still get very excited when people came over. But she usually just laid around all day, running away from the kids.

She was there when each of the kids came home from the hospital. She would sit by them and guard them from anybody who was visiting, like she was making sure nobody was going to harm them. She has been in a lot of family and holiday pictures through the years.

On September 26th, 2008, Molly died. She was always running around town if the kids left the door open to long. On this particular day she didn't get across the street fast enough and a car hit her right up the road from our house. It was very hard on Joe and I, we loved her like a child and it is hard to forget someone who has been there everyday for 8 years. Not a day has gone by since she died that I haven't thought of her. For the sake of the kids we told them that she got old and went to sleep. I know that someday they may read these blogs and they will wonder why we lied, but it was so hard on us and we didn't feel that they needed to know how it happened only that it did. We didn't want anyone blaming the others for letting her out in the first place.

I am writing this blog more for my kids than anyone else. I want them to know about Molly someday, because she was a huge part of our lives and she is missed very much.

Cheap entertainment!!

A few weeks ago, Joe brought home a large box from work.....the kids turned it into their fort.....it is just amazing that we buy them all these new and expensive toys and they want to play in a box!! Three kids inside was a little crowded so the older two kept kicking Dawson out, and he was having none of it. Mason even went so far as to write a note and put it on the door of the fort, it said, "only two people inside." Did he really think Dawson could read or that he even cared about Mason's rules? Oh well, Morgan got bored with it fast enough so Dawson and Mason could play in it by themselves.

These are a few of my favorite things

Pssst....Hi everyone, it's me Dawson!!! My mommy is busy and she is always on this thing, so I thought I would see what it is all about.

This lady here is my mommy.....she was my first love. I love her so much that I would hardly go to anyone else when I was little, even my daddy!!! Daddy always tried really hard to make me come to him and love him as much as my mommy, it just wasn't gonna happen, mommy's the greatest!!! I have lots of favorite things, but mommy is my all time favorite!!! I love to just sit on her lap or have her carry me around, although mommy says I am getting to big to carry, thats just cause she takes such good care of me that I keep on getting bigger and bigger.

This here is my blankie. Now, I love this blankie almost as much as my mom and dad...it's so soft and I love the little fringes on the outside edges....my mom says I wouldn't even go to sleep if I didn't have my blankie with me. I used to hold the fringes up by my face when I was little, but I'm big now, so I don't do that anymore. (Well, maybe sometimes!!) I love to cuddle on mommy and daddy's lap with my blankie, mommy says I am the most cuddly of all us kids!!

This is my daddy!!! It may have taken me awhile but he has become one of my favorite things in the whole wide world. Mommy says I was 20 months old before I even said "daddy." This really drove daddy nuts.....sometimes I wouldn't say it just to see how he would react....he tried so hard. My favorite things about daddy are his truck, his trailer, his truck, our wrestling matches, did I mention his truck....I really like his truck!! My daddy calls me "Thor." I guess it's because I am so big!!!

These are MY trucks....actually they are Mason's but I took them as my own. We have lots and lots of trucks at our house!!! I LOVE trucks, cars, and trailers that hook to the trucks!!! Wow, they are so much fun. Mommy gets a little crabby when I constantly ask her to "fix it", I have a little trouble hooking up the trailers. She also gets crabby when I sit on her lap with ALL my cars and trucks, but she lets me because she loves me soooo much!!!

This right here is another of my favorites....my cup!! I don't go very far without it, and I lose them in the house or outside lots and lots.....mommy is always wandering around looking for my cup.....it's really funny when I hide it really good and she doesn't find it for a few days.....she makes a really funny face when she puts it in the sink to wash it!!! You know I think I heard her say something about taking it away soon.....I don't get it, why would she do that?

This is molly!! She doesn't really like me much.....I think it may have something to do with me chasing her around the house with my 4-wheeler, or maybe because I really enjoy hitting her, especially with my cup!! I have lots of fun with molly!!!

Well, I think I hear mommy coming, I better go. OH.....Don't tell her I was using the computer...she gets really upset when I touch the buttons!!! See ya!! Dawson

Outdoor Fun

The kids have been enjoying the warm weather this week. Here we have everyone taking a ride on the 4-wheeler with dad. Morgan is never ready for the picture on the first shot, but was really getting into it in the next two. Dawson is always happy just being on the 4-wheeler and Mason, well he had just had a little fit and wasn't in the mood for mom's pictures, go figure!!!

Dawson working on his dunking skills!!!

"Smart Cookie"

Morgan has now decided that she knows EVERYTHING. She will come to me and tell me some story. One day she came up to me out of the blue and said, "mom, we always look for cars when we cross the road, or else we will get runned over." While this is very true, she said it like she was teaching me, because I didn't already know!! The other day we were looking out the window watching the leaves fall, I asked her why the leaves were falling, her response was to look at me with a look on her face like, mom you are so dumb, and said "Because they are yellow mom, trees only have green leaves!!" Well I guess she told me!!! I asked her how she knows so much, and she replied with, "cause I'm a smart cookie!" I asked her who told her that and she said, "Becky!" So thank you Becky for telling my daughter she is a smart cookie, I don't know what I would do if she didn't let me know how everything goes!!

Milestones....

Here stands my baby on his first day of Kindergarten. He looks so big, yet to me he is still so small. I can still remember holding him in my arms when he was a baby, and his first smile, the first time he rolled, sat up and crawled, the first time he walked, drank from a cup and ate with a spoon. I remember his first tooth coming in and his first tooth falling out and of course his first day of preschool. As a parent you remember all these things, but nothing really prepares you for their first day of Kindergarten. It's like they are all grown up and don't really need you anymore. Mason didn't want me to bring him to school today, he wanted to ride the bus like everyone else, but I NEEDED to bring him today, I needed to keep him my baby just a little bit longer.

Here is Mason on his 6th birthday. We were camping at Arco park for the weekend so we had his party out there. We had cupcakes and ice cream cups. Mason had begged for a pinata, so we got a spiderman one from Wal-mart. I think Mason hit it 3 times and the head broke right off, so none of the other kids got to have a chance....oh well!!! This is the group of kids that were at the campground this weekend.....this isn't even all of them....some had left and some were sleeping....there were also big ones who didn't want to be in the picture...go figure!!!

Out of the mouth of a child...

For those of you who don't know, my Morgan is a bit of a story teller. She always has something to tell people, it usually has to do with something completely off the wall. Her favorite seems to be telling Becky things like, 'Umm.....Becky....ummm.....I got new pants" or "Ummm Becky.....We got a new van" it is quite a joke in our family. However, she gets quite embarassed when you laugh about it in front of her. Her newest embarassing moment was at my mom's house. I had gone there to visit one night when Joe was golfing, and the kids needed a bath. Morgan, being a little fish, had to stay in for quite a while. Well what happens to our hands and feet when we are ing the water for long periods? They get wrinkley, right? Morgan comes up to me and says, "Mom, look at my hands, they look like grandma!!" I burst out laughing and told her to go tell grandma, she got embarassed and wouldn't even look at my mom.....oh, the things that kids say!!

Dawson

Finally we come to Dawson, or as Joe likes to call him, Thor. Dawson will turn 2 on October 11th and he is all boy!!! He walks like a boy, talks like a boy and acts like a boy. He likes to wrestle with Joe and even his brother when he isn't ready for it. A few months ago, Mason was sitting on the living room floor watching TV and Dawson came walking in, he took one look at Mason, smiled, lowered his head and ran right into Mason, knocked him right over, and Dawson, being the little Devil he is, laughed histerically and ran out of the room.

Dawson is such a fun child, he gets into a silly mood and just acts like a goof. His laugh is so contagious and you can't even stay mad at him. However, he is also a little devil. He likes to get into things he knows he shouldn't, he takes things from Mason and Morgan and runs away laughing. Right now he is in a hitting an biting stage, not a lot of fun. He is very cuddly and will sit on my lap for long periods of time. He is very much mommy's boy, but is slowly beginning to like Daddy more, I guess thats the way it goes!!!

Morgan

Morgan is our family princess. She is just a girly girl. It's all about barbies, babies, dress up clothes, you name it she wants it. Just the other day we went to the store for groceries and she had to wear her red heeled princess shoes, she could barely walk through the store!!!! On Saturday her and I went to a baby shower, someone said to her, "Morgan, you have such pretty hair.", and she replied with, "I know." I keep telling her she needs t0 say thank you but she doesn't get it.

Morgan just turned 4 on July 30th. She asked me for days, "mama, is it my birthday yet?", when the day finally arrived, I told her that morning it was her birthday and she replied with, "Where is it?" To her a birthday isn't a birthday until you have a party.

This past year Morgan went to the 3 year old preschool program in Russell. It was all day on Wednesdays and she absolutely loved it. This year she will be going 2 days a week, so we'll see how she does with mom as teacher.

Mason

If I had to describe Mason, I would say he is shy and very, very stubborn. Mason will be turning 6 on August 31st. It is so amazing how time flies, I still remember the day he was born. You just never think they would grow so fast. Mason has been going to preschool in Russsell for the past two years and will be starting Kindergarten on Sept. 2, 2008. I know that once he begins elementary school that time will really go a lot faster. He is very interested about what things are made of. He went throught a phase where he would ask a million questions, like, "Mom, where does ketchup come from?". He is also very into writing. He is constantly asking me how to spell things. And just the other day we had a discussion on the way home from the lake about astronauts. He was looking at the moon and I told him that an astronaut once landed on the moon, and oh my word did the questions come flying, "what is an astronaut?", "Where do they come from?", "How did they get there?" it was a 20 minute question and answer session. I'm just waiting to see what comes next.

Tammy

My life is very uneventful. I started teaching preschool last year and will continue with it again starting in October. I work Tuesday thru Thursday, teaching 3 year olds one day and 4 and 5 year olds the other two. Last year was a huge challenge because I got the job two weeks before school started and was not very prepared.....on top of that I had Mason and Morgan in class as well as many other family members.....I really don't recommend this, my kids liked to throw hissy fits on a regular basis. Other than that I spend a lot of time with my three little munchkins, and although there are many, many, many days that they drive me up the wall, I don't know what I would do without them!!

Joe

Ok, I'm going to back up a little and talk about each of us. In April 2007 Joe started his own plumbing and heating business, Brust Mechanical. It was a little rocky in the beginning, but we are now doing great and he is almost too busy some days. Joe spends his time, when he's not working, golfing and with family. In the winter months he is on a bowling league in Tyler, I guess he can have a guys night out!!

Mason

Mason lost his second tooth on Tuesday. He had been working on it for days and he bit into a candy bar and out it popped. He lost the first a while back but there wasn't a hole because the other tooth had already come in....he thought it was pretty cool to have a hole in his mouth....although he is having trouble eating his favorite summer time food.....Sweat Corn!!!

I really can't believe my baby is starting Kindergarten this fall. Where does the time go!! He is so excited because he gets to ride the bus all the way to Ruthton everyday. I'm excited because he'll be out of my hair EVERYDAY!!!

Ooops, there is Dawson awake from his nap....see I never get enough time to sit down!!!! See ya!

Just Beginning

Well here I am starting my own blog.....I here everyone talking about it and how great it is. I just hope I get faster because I don't have that much time to spend on the computer.

Anyway, life in the Brust house is never boring. As you can see my three little rugrats are growing rapidly and keep me very busy....especially that one holding the hose!!!

We have had a very busy summer, filled with lots of camping and time at grandma and grandpas lake cabin. One weekend we took the kids to Yogi Bear Campground near Sioux Falls. They had a great time!! We went on a wagon ride with Yogi and we rented four wheel bikes that all five of us could fit on....the kids really had fun on that but it was way to much work.....or I'm just out of shape

I'm not really sure how to do all this yet so hopefully it works out okay. Bye for now!!!