What makes you happy?... at people

What makes you sad?... I sad at people 'cause I'm frustrated

What do you like to do?... play toys with Mason

What is your favorite color?... green

What do you like to eat?... waffles

What is your favorite toy?.. a boat

When do you feel frustrated?... I don't know...at some daddies

What do you really like?... toys

What are you excited about?... when its snowing

Where do you like to go?... McDonalds

what is your favorite song?... Jesus Loves Me

Do you like to take naps?... yeah

Who is your best friend?... Sam

At 2 1/2 Brody's personality is really starting to come out. He is proving to us that he will be our child that keeps us up at night in the years to come:) He will probably be the one that we take to the ER for broken bones or freak accidents. He is so darn ornery at times, but will then look at you with the cutest, melt your heart smile and you can't help but laugh at him. He is fully potty-trained (much to my delight) and has even been dry at night for the past couple weeks. I would like to take credit, but I think he is just highly motivated by candy:) He can count to 11 consistently and sometimes will go higher, usually just skipping 12. He can recognize about 1/2 of his letters and knows how to spell his name. He LOVES his big brother and can not wait to go to preschool with him next year (although I am not sure he totally gets that they won't be in the same class). He will rarely sit still for an entire episode of anything, but his favorites are probably Word World and Backyardigans. He loves Cars and Toy Story, but again - won't sit still for much of it unless he is super tired or sick. He is just precious when talking about the new baby - he always wants to hug my belly and sing to it. He is sure that the baby is a boy. I think he will have a tougher time with it than Mason did with him - he is still quite the mama's boy and you better believe that if I am anywhere in the house, he is probably within a few feet of me unless he is really absorbed in what he is doing. It is pretty funny when he realizes that I am in another room and will start yelling for me and asking "where are you??". His favorite thing to do at home, besides playing cars, is to "look at the pictures." This boy could sit at my computer and watch slideshows of our family pictures for hours - it is crazy! He especially loves looking at our Easter pictures for some reason. He is such a delight and I could not imagine my day without his sweet smile:)

When do you feel happy?... when somebody tickles me

When do you feel sad?... when somebody breaks my toys

What do you like to do?... play with toys with Brody

What is your favorite color?... pink

What do you like to eat?... food...oranges, cuties, pickles, carrots

What is your favorite toy?.. my snowplow

When do you feel frustrated?... hmmm....when somebody's not listening to me

What do you really like?... trash trucks

What are you excited about?... when I go to fun places

Where do you like to go?... Antioch Park

what is your favorite song?... Pit Pit Patter (a song I always sing to him that I learned in Jamaica on a missions trip)

What is your favorite thing to do at Preschool?... I like to make something

What is the best part of being 4 years old?... my birthday

Who is your best friend?... Ethan

At 4 1/2, Mason is just finishing up his first year of preschool - he was the oldest in his class and loved every minute of it. He knows all his upper-case letters and the sounds that they make. He can write his name pretty well and is starting to work on writing other letters. He can count to 20 and loves to wrestle with his daddy. He does rest time for an hour every afternoon and usually reads his Tag books, plays with cars or builds things with his legos during that time. He loves the movie "Up" and all of the Toy Story movies, but especially #3. He would watch anything, though:) He loves thunderstorms and gets really excited if he sees a dark sky. He also loves to fill up the bird feeders with his dad and watch for birds. He is very excited for the baby that will be here any day and I think might be a bit devastated if it isn't a girl. He insists that our family only has 1 girl and we need another one. He is very in tune to the feelings of those around him - he is always asking me if I am frustrated or tired and is quick to give a hug or say "I love you, mama" at the most random times. I think my most commonly used phrase with him is "Mason, are you the mom?" because he is always "mothering" Brody. Most of you who know him will know that one of his most commonly used phrases when leaving someone's house or if anyone is leaving our house is "You can come to our house anytime you want." It never fails that he says this - I don't even know how he started it, but he is always saying it! He has such a sweet spirit and is a joy to watch grow.

we had a wonderful Mother's Day at our house this year - I requested that we spend the day with just our little family, being together. The boys started off the morning by bringing me our traditional cinnamon rolls in bed. They had made me a card by spelling out "We (heart) U" with their bodies and then Andy uploaded them onto a card - so very cute. Then we headed off to church. We picked up some sandwiches and had a picnic at one of our favorite parks. I got to run some errands during nap time and then that evening we went to the Legends and walked around the T-Rex restaurant and sat and watched the fountains. We ate dinner at our all-time favorite restaurant, Johnny Carino's. It was such a fun day - Andy tried to do most of the care-taking with the boys which allowed me to just relax. Thanks so all my boys for making it a special day!

I have a lot of things on my to-do list before the baby comes, but the one thing I REALLY wanted to happen was for Brody to be potty-trained. Mason was potty-trained in April when he was 2 1/2, but I did not have high hopes for Brody as I had tried it back in February and realized he was definitely not ready at that point. So I decided to give it another go before the baby comes and much to my surprise, it went almost as smoothly as it did with Mason! The first day was not the greatest - probably about 50/50 with accidents, but he did not have one single accident the second day - even going #2 on the "big boy potty". Of course he has had his moments, but he is doing so well - I almost still can't believe it. What a relief! It has been nice to have my first break from diapers in 4 1/2 years! Here are some pics of our proud boy...