SCORE!

Thank you Aunty Marianne for the AWESOME presents! 
I love love LOVE the LEGO firetruck.

And B loves the hotwheels!  He has them all in the bath for races and car washes :)

I had that truck built in about 90 minutes. 
Just a teeny re-adjustment from Mom.  I'm getting really good!

Love you!
 

Happy Birthday Oli!

January is a big birthday month for us!  After celebrating Daddy, Cole and I headed up to celebrate Oli! 
We got to paint trains!!  I took it VERY seriously.

As if a party wasn't enough... We got to see Grandma and Bugga too! 

I'm not saying who, but one little guy is pretty crazy about his Bugga.

 

Happy Birthday Oli!

Tips From a World Class Sneak!

I find the best way to commit a crime is in the nude.  It's also best to act when surveilance is distracted.
For example, Dad was running a bath for me, so I quickly and quietly slipped out to sneak a few extra chocolate chips from his cake.  Unbeknownst to me... there were TWO guards on duty.  One of them had surveilance equipment!  I was totally busted.

 Luckily, it was a female guard.  I'm not trying to be sexist or anything, but when you get a lady guard, your first approach should always be to dazzle with cuteness.  The ladies are a sucker for cuties!

Okay that totally didn't work on this lady.  Yeesh!  I had to go for plan B. which is to make a run for it!

Plan B also failed!  I had no choice but to resort to scaring her with my Monster pose.

This guard was no joke...  I'm sad to say I was apprehended white handed and sent straight to the tub for corporal punishment.  It's hard work to be sneaky around here!

Happy Birthday Pops!

It doesn't take a genius to see that our Dad is a little older!

Of course, we wanted to make his day special!  Mom and Cole made a cake.  Cole even put Chocolate Chip Cookies inside for a special surprise :)

We are Dad's biggest fans!

Whoa Dad... that's a LOT of candles!

B tried to help with the huffing and puffing but he got totally smoked out! 
Nice work Dad!

Reset

Mom ditched us again this week.  Dad is pretty awesome, but let's face it.  When it's two little Vandys vs. one big one, there's not much of a game.  She rolled in late Friday night and we were in full on party mode!  So happy to see her but wow.. the morning was rough.  I was NOT happy to be woken up at 8:30 for Coley's basketball game.

  

Whatever Mom...  Gimmemahwafflesandlemmealone.

And... as usual... Cole was sunshine and smooches.  Whatever bro!

Today, I'm much happier and sillier and rowdier and basically, back to normal so I'm helping Mom put the house back to normal too.  Kitchen trashed - check!  Laundry piled up - check!  Cat food dish overflowing - check!  Markers scattered about - check!  Playroom in natural disaster state - check!

After a week of overpowering Offense, I was pretty confident.  Mom still went about cleaning and cooking and trimming nails, cleaning boogies, washing hair and swabbing ears.  I was quickly losing the upper hand!  So... when Mom took a break to help Cole color a batman and two-face picture, I decided to be two face myself!

I colored my face, my head, my hand, my neck and even my mouth.  Okay and the carpet too...   Mom wiped as much as she could up and told me to be ready for an all out scrub down tonight in the bath.  Sigh... this is shaping up to be a battle I cannot win.

While Mom was busy resetting the house and her boys, Cole was busy on his LEGO museum take-over.

Mom originally gave him two shelves.  As if that's enough!  He has now taken over his dresser, B's dresser, the reading nook, the armoire and Mom's desk with more LEGO creations.  Surprisingly, admission has not gone up!  I have a feeling we will all be living in LEGO world in the near future.

LEGO's and Buddies!

After our game, Mom and I found Braylon and we got to take him with us for the afternoon!  We went straight to the LEGO show!  B loved the trains.

This entire chess set and the moving men AND the board are all built out of LEGOs.

  Notice the portrait behind?  It's made of LEGOs too!

LEGO Wall-E!  LEGO R2D2!

Here we are with last year's winning entry - Lucas Oil Stadium.

Still Mom's favorite.

Cole thought this General Grievous was awesome.  Can you believe the mini figure was $35?!

Of course, B took out a train...  Mom apologized profusely and we left very shortly after.

B's second favorite entry.

And we got to help this guy build his kid sized castle again!  I could've stayed all day to help him, but Braylon wanted to play.

So I just helped a little.

And B helped too.  Notice his enormous shorts?  He put 4 pair of my shorts on and Mom could not get him out of the house until she let him wear at least one pair.

We spent the whole rest of the day playing inside and out.  What an awesome time we had with Braylon!

PS.  It was 62 degrees on January 12th!  What a treat.

Lions!

Coley had his first basketball game this Saturday!  We got there just in the nick of time as his team "The Lions" was just about to run out onto the court.  It's no joke.. They dim the lights announce the players and even have spotlights and Cheerios!

Mom was kinda glad we were late because we got to be right there on the court for a photo op!

The Lions played a great game.  Like Mom, I find basketball a little dull so I entertained myself by dumping my bag of veggie chips on the head of the opposing team's coach from up above.  He was not as amused as I was.

And check it out!  Cole got to guard the cutest little lady!  I was a little jealous.

  Great first game Lions!  We can't wait to come back and cheer some more.

Famous!

Well it looks like the Momparazzi isn't the only one out there snapping pictures of me now!

 

 

Mom was reading the paper while B and I were in the bath and she almost fell over when she saw this.  I was totally unfazed and more concerned with telling Mom that I won the math competition featured in the photo.  When you live in a town the size of ours, you're bound to be in the paper at some point!

Can you believe the Real Estate transfer section right next to this photo also shows our house purchase?  The amount is a little off, but hey... what a keeper!

Vital Signs

I went to Dr. Kermit's office this morning and shocked everyone by being super nice.  I loved being the center of attention and didn't even cry when they pricked my finger for a lead test.  I did cry just a little when they gave me a stinking shot, but that was quickly over.  Cole was there answering questions and telling them all about how great I was.  I didn't mind putting on a show to impress the nurses.  I counted and talked and answered questions too.  Not surprisingly, I'm a big boy.  I gained 3 lbs and grew 3 inches these past 6 months.  I'm 29.8 lbs and in the 71st percentile for weight and 36 inches in the 85th percentile for height.  Let's see how much MORE I grow by the summer time.  Lookout big brother!

Year In Review

2012... What a year! 
Here's our breakdown of the key moments we lived through this past year:

We said adios to B's chronic ear infections with a quick tube job by Dr. Miner.
We were thrilled to experience a very early Spring and spent as much time as possible outdoors.
Mom got back on the road running.
Dad took up P90X and we did too!
B's personality really came out.  He's fiesty and funny and we love him!
B started daycare and quickly took over.
Daddy spent summer weekends at home.
We got to go to church again.
Cole took another round of swim lessons, played baseball and started basketball too.
We went to Great Wolf Lodge.
Cole had an awesome 5th Birthday at Chuck E Cheese.
We had a great summer with our neighborhood friends.
Cole did a fantastic job with his eye patch and got to ditch it after 6 months.
Cole started Kindergarten and loves it!
Cole mastered all of his letters and can write like a champ.
Cole can read too!
Bryce learned to talk like a pro.
Bryce learned to color and eat with utensils.
Bryce started pooping on his potty and telling Mom and Dad when he peed.
Mom, Dad and Cole all ran races from 5K to a full marathon.
Cole mastered LEGOs
Vandyville relocated to an awesome little town full of awesome people.
B fell in love with Gangnam Style and can do almost every move.
Cole fell in love with Nick Romney and was devasted by the election results.
We celebrated B's second birthday with a big bash in the new house.
We had an amazing Christmas and a blow out NYE party :)

What a year!  We are so excited about 2013 and all the new adventures it's sure to bring.
Thanks to everyone who helped make 2012 great :)

Happy New Year!

Earlier this week Mom and I decided we should throw a New Year's Eve Party for my friends and their families.
We got busy making decorations right away.
Check out my special party hat!

It's hard to see, but B did some of his own decorating.  The WHOLE hallway to be precise.

I helped Mom put up signs, blow up balloons and make a campfire treasure hunt for my friends.  Then we got busy making a big dinner!
When the guests arrived, we quickly busted out a Gangnam Style dance off.

After dinner, we did our flashlight treasure hunt.  We all found tons of poppers, chocolate and candy.
Awesome!
We did a countdown at 9 o'clock because we were all super excited to do our poppers.

Then we partied REALLY hard.  We trashed the whole house!
What better way to ring in the new year than by getting rowdy with your buds?

I think this little man may have had the most fun of his life :)

We were unstoppable!

Finally, we all got our pjs on and sleeping bags set up in my room. 
The Moms let us help make our own s'mores.
Then we did a toast to 2013 and good friends.
*Sparkling Grape Juice

The Moms and Dads were pretty quick to remind us that we are not to replicate this scene for a long long time ;)

The S'Mores were a big hit.  Especially for Micah and Levi who have not had them because they're not usually gluten free.
Luckily, Mom and I found gluten free graham crackers!

Gaines was more interested in the bubbly than the s'more.  Uh Oh!

Levi and I passed out approximately 7 seconds after our heads hit the pillow in the tent.  Gaines was out after about 4 seconds.  Micah couldn't sleep and neither could Josiah so they decided to party on with the grown-ups.

They rang in the New Year at midnight!
Happy New Year Werner Family!

Happy New Year Scott Family!

And I'm sure you won't be surprised to know we were up at the crack of dawn playing LEGOs!
Thanks for coming to my New Years Party Micah, Levi, Josiah and Gaines!
Here's the great times with great friends.