Happy Anniversary!

This week was pretty normal for us. As I said in the last blog, I was waiting for Tyler's toddler bedding to arrive. It finally got here and it's SO cute! We got the toddler bed put together with all the bedding right away. We had to take a few pictures of Tyler in his crib before we took it down. It's kind of sad to put the crib away. That means he's not a baby anymore!! So, we were really curious to see what his reaction would be to the new bed. He loves it! There really isn't any change from the crib to the toddler bed. Except that he has fallen out a couple times and we found him sleeping on the floor next to the bed. The bed does have side rails that go part of the way down the side but he I suppose he has to get used to not being "caged"! :)

On Friday night I went out with a few girl friends for supper. It was supposed to be just a mom's supper but some of the daughters of my friends wanted to come out too. We went to Senior Frog's down in Waikiki. That place is super fun. There's always something going on at that place. They make funny balloon hats, they have contests for everything you can imagine. Tom stayed home and had a boys night with Tyler.

Saturday was our 5th wedding anniversary. We had our neighbors watch Tyler. They have a 2 year old son, Isaiah, who Tyler loves! Isaiah loves him too! Every time they see each other they just run to each other and are so happy. Tom and I went to the movie The Pineapple Express. Our recommendation is.....don't go! It was pretty bad! It actually didn't start out too bad but overall it wasn't good. We then went to Old Navy to look around. It's definitely different to go shopping, etc. without Tyler with. I can actually look around and not be distracted every couple minutes for juice, snacks and whatever else kids need when you are trying to look at stuff! :) After shopping Tom and I came back on base and had supper and drinks at JR Rockers Sports Bar. We hung out there until about midnight listening to this "funk" bad. We walked home (it only takes about 10 minutes) and got Tyler from the neighbors. We had a great afternoon/evening together!!

Today we took a nap with Tyler (and really nothing else)! After staying up past midnight I needed a nap!!!

Have a great week!

The Brouses

Happy 2nd Birthday Tyler!!

So, Tyler is 2 years old! Wow! We had his birthday party on Saturday. We invited our friends from the neighborhood, friends from Tom's work, and Tyler's Auntie Leane (daycare lady) and her 2 girls. We had about 20 people and lots of kids around. The backyard was full of Tyler's toys and they just had a blast.

Tyler has been able to actually be excited for this years party. We talked about it all week and about how he would have his friends over and we would have a party because he is turning 2. When we'd ask him how old he is he'll say "2" so proud. We decided to have pizza (everyones favorite) for the party. I also made taco dip, grapes, pineapple, carrots and celery.

When I went to pick up the cake at the Commissary (base grocery store) the lady brought it out and said "oops". I was just like...oh no! I looked and it said HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY TYLER but it had Tinkerbell all over it. They had obviously made a mistake!!! SO...thank goodness I was picking it up 4 hours before the party and they had enough time to make a new one! In the end he had his Tonka truck cake and was very happy. And YUM it was good!!

Tyler got lots of trucks this year. He also got his first John Deere tractor. It's so cute. He got a Geo Train set too! That's his favorite thing so far. He's really into trains right now!

We just had such a great day being with our friends and enjoying each others company. The kids all play so well together! Today we just cleaned up and hung out in the backyard (Tyler's favorite place in the world!).

I'm waiting for Tyler's toddler bedding set to come in the mail this week so he can start to sleep in his toddler bed. We have it here in the box but we're waiting to get the construction set bedding in the mail. I'm hoping he makes the transition from the crib to the toddler bed ok. If anyone has any suggestions on what works and what doesn't...let me know!!

Well, another weekend over and it's time to get off to bed!!

Have a good week!! The Brouses

Lazy dayz

This week was really quiet around our house. Tom and Caleb left on Tuesday afternoon for Georgia. Tom stayed over in Georgia one night after dropping Caleb off with his mom. He flew back on Thursday. We really miss Caleb and like I said, it's been really quiet around the house.

I had my first day with my new 2nd graders on Wednesday. They are good so far but of course they are just warming up so we'll see as we go! :) I have 17 kids in my class. That's quite a bit smaller than what I started with last year so I'm very happy about that.

We didn't really do much of anything this weekend. We are getting ready for Tyler birthday party next Saturday. His actual birthday is on August 10th (Sunday) but we're having his party on Saturday. We are ordering pizza and just going to hang out in the backyard with his friends. He has this friend, Isaiah, from a couple doors down. They just LOVE each other!

Tyler has a little cold. He took an over 3 hour nap today. Must have needed sleep today! I got to clean the office desk and go through some things I've been needing to do. That was nice!

Overall, nothing really going on. I am posting some of our other summer pictures. I didn't take any new ones this week! I should have some next week with his birthday party!

Love you all and miss you!!!

Back to work for Kari

This week I went back to work. I had a GLC (grade level chair) meeting on Tuesday morning and then my first "real" day back to work was Thursday. It felt good to get back to my classroom and get things reorganized. I met the 3 new teachers on my gradelevel. We have 6 2nd grade teachers in all, 3 of which are new to our school. Actually they are all first year teachers. They all seem nice and ready to dig in. Students start back on Wednesday so we still have Monday and Tuesday for getting ourselves ready.

On Saturday we went bowling here on base. The bowling alley here is nice. It has tons of lanes and it also serves food, drinks, etc. We have gone bowling every summer with Caleb. It was a good family night. After bowling we went our for supper at the sports bar/restaurant on base. We seem to always go there. It's close and the food is very good. Tyler likes to look for snails out in the grassy area. We always manage to come home with at least a few shells.

Today, Sunday, we haven't done much. We went grocery shopping this morning and now Tyler is napping while Tom and Caleb was the cars. I think when Tyler gets up we are going to go to the beach. We don't have many days left with Caleb here so we are trying to squeeze as much in as we can.

Tomorrow Tom an Caleb are going to Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park. Caleb has wanted to go all summer but we didn't get to do that until now. I have to work but those two will have fun. Caleb and Tom leave Tuesday night to take Caleb back to Georgia. Tom will stay over one night and then fly back.

We just sent out the invitations to Tyler's 2nd birthday party. We are having a pizza party at our house. I just can't believe that he'll be 2~ where has the time gone!!!

Well, not much new this week!! Hope you all had a relaxing weekend and may the week fly by for all of you!! :)

Love~The Brouses

Wow....it's been a busy summer!!!

Hi Everyone from Hawaii~It's sure been a crazy few weeks! We had most of the month of June by ourselves and then we have had company for about the last month or so. First, our friends Dale and Patti Thormodsgard from Utah came. They were here for almost 2 weeks. During the time they were here we went to the Honolulu Zoo for the Military Appreciation Day. It was Tyler's first time at the zoo. He was pretty exited to see some of the animals but wasn't AS excited as we thought he might be. Caleb has been there before but it was a great day with friends and family.

While Dale and Patti were here we also stay a week at Bellows Resort on the east side of the island. We usually stay there at least once during the summer. They have cabins and the resort is right on the ocean. The cabins have 2 bedrooms, showers, refridgerators, stoves, microwaves and tvs. They are super nice and cozy. They are perfect for a getaway. We spent lots of time at the beach and of course more time just relaxing! Tyler ended up getting sick while we were there. He had an almost 103 degree temperature with one throw up. It was kind of weird but must have been just some little bug. The only thing the cabins don't have is air conditioning so keeping him cool with his fever was a little tricky. At night it's really not bad with the windows open and the breeze blowing in but the daytime was a little rough for him. Overall though the week was great! Oh yeah, how could I forget the shark sightings 2 days in a row. We have been to Bellows SO many times and never had sightings and this year they had to days with sightings. They had to close the water/beaches for a few hours while helicopters flew over looking and the lifeguards looked over the waters on jet skis. Pretty crazy!! We are in the water so much and never really think about being so close to creatures like that...that is until they have sightings!! :)

Tom's aunt Connie was our next visitor. Dale and Patti and Connie overlapped each other by a day so we were pretty full in our place! Connie lives in Minneapolis/St.Paul area. She is 67 years old and came over here by herself. She is Tom's dads sister. We went to a few beaches and spent lots of time at the pool. She really wanted a hawaiian tan before she left. And she did end up with one! She just left yesterday so we have an empty nest it feels like.

Today we just hung out and cleaned the house. Tyler wanted to get outside today but of all days to rain it did it a lot of the day today. He did spend some time with his neighbor friends before supper. There is a little boy and one girl on our block that are both just 2 years old. They all have so much fun together. Whenever one hears another outside you'd better be ready to go too! They play so well together.

Tyler and Caleb got a little mustang car from Dale and Patti. It's battery operated and goes 2 1/2 miles per hour on low and 5 miles per hour on high. It holds 130 pounds and is too cute. It even has a little radio that plays music. Tyler is learning to drive it and all his little friend loves to drive it too!

I start back to work on Thursday. I am not excited to go back but it will get us back into our routine and I work so much better with routines! Caleb will go back to Georgia on July 29th with Tom. We just can't believe how fast the summer goes by with him. It's like he just got here! Well, I can say I will be able to keep up with the blog much better when things slow down a little! Thanks for reading!! Have a wonderful week!!

The Brouses!!! :)