Easter

What a fun Easter season for the Brandts! We have been talking about Jesus dying on the cross and rising for a few weeks now. Even though Macklin knew what Easter was about, it didn't help much once the candy started coming in. Today, as he was upset that he couldn't eat more candy, we had this conversation...

Mack: Can I have this candy?

Me: No, you may have more after church. 

Mack: But I want this candy.

Me: Macklin, what is Easter about?

Mack: Jesus dying for us.

Me: Right, so let's focus on that.

Mack: No Jesus, I want this candy! Can I have this candy?

(Repeat entire conversation two more times until we got to church. Good thing we live close!)

Easter cookies from last week. I learned that trying to roll out cold dough is not very successful. 

 

 

Easter started for us last week when our sweet grandparents started sending fun packages! They kids loved them and Macklin always wanted to see what was in them right away. 

Goodies from Grandpa and Mema

You introduced Macklin to Peeps - marshmallows will never be the same again. 

Goodies from Grandma 

Justin really enjoyed seeing the Peter Rabbit books again and Macklin wants the egg candle on his birthday cake this week. 

Easter Baskets from Mimi and Papa

We opened these this morning. Macklin enjoyed going through each egg to see what was in there and then helping Macy go through hers as well. Macklin said "Shakers, just like story time!" He was excited about those and we already started growing the grass. 

 

 Easter at the Brummers

We had a hard morning with the kids. Macklin was not obeying very well and Macy was just not in a happy mood for our lunch. But, we are still celebrating Jesus and that doesn't change with my kids attitudes :) Here are a few pictures of the fun that we had with friends after church. 

Happy Macy & Sad Macy

2nd Official Family Easter Picture (as a family of 4)

Easter Egg Hunt - Macklin was way more excited about opening the few he had then finding more. 

   

More Kids Looking for Eggs

 

 

Oh sweet baby Logan, how you get cuter each time I see you! 

 

Sunny Days in March

This past week has brought some sunny days - perfect for playing outside! Macy has started using the little car that Macklin loved. And, what a surprise, she loves it too! She still has not really figured out how to "drive" it. She rides down the sidewalk in shock with both hands out in front in the air (like in one of the pics below). Macklin is still enjoying his Strider bike. He is way fast now and I have to run to keep up. He is doing a good job of stopping at street crossings. He surprises me most of the time on his last minute stops and then his look at me like "What, you thought I wasn't going to stop?" 

Life is always interesting when your big brother is pushing you around the yard. 

But still very enjoyable! 

Polo shirts, gym shorts, and cowboy boots = a 2 year old that dresses himself after his nap

Spring time brings spring babies! Welcome baby Caden! 

Stomach Bug

I think this may be the worst picture ever posted of myself on this blog :) After a crazy last 48 hours, this is the only one that was taken...good thing! 

We were caught by a 24-hour stomach bug over the past couple of days. It hit Macy first on Saturday night. She was a mess in the arms of her sweet daddy when I came home from my track meet. She had gotten sick at a funeral at church. Sick again in the car ride home. And then, sick every 20 minutes between 7-9pm. She finally settled in after that and got a pretty good nights sleep, even taking a bottle in the middle of the night. 

No big deal I thought, my baby is sick and my heart breaks, but we will move on. Sunday was a fun family day. Monday came around. All is good....until....our friends left from a little playdate (still praying they are not sick)....then I went down. When I get out of the bathroom, Macklin says "Mommy, my tummy hurts." Ten minutes later, Macklin gets sick up and down the hallway. Then I get sick cleaning up his sickness....that is when we called in for reinforcement. Good thing Justin was having a teacher work day at school (no students) and he came to our rescue pronto. We both were sick all day. I laid in bed for 5 straight hours, missed practice, canceled a variety of events. It was sad....until it got more sad. As I was getting ready to get Macy dinner, Justin laid down on the couch and started feeling bad. He felt worse over night and then stayed home from school today! 

We were a mess! Good thing Macy felt better. I don't know that I could clean up after another at the same time! But, I did learn from these past couple of days. I learned to be grateful for our health, each day. I learned that I have a husband that will do whatever I need him to. I learned that I hate watching my babies feel bad. We are on the rise! 

March Madness

Training the girls early...black and gold is the way to roll! 

Last week we had a fun dinner with friends at the Brummers for a Selection Show Party. Any excuse to dress as a family has me hooked in a heart beat! We came wearing our Mizzou best. Too bad that didn't help them win in the first round...now to cheer on my bracket pics and beat Justin. 

What happens when your son gets mad that you have to leave???

You become a family of three for the picture! 

Mizzou vs Illinois but still buddies

The crew! 

Track Season

The track season is officially in full swing. We have had two meets now and are excited for what is to come this season. I am again coaching the distance squad (milers and 2 milers). I am working closely with the mid-distance coach (also my xc assistant) to see where our kids could do the most this year. At our meet in Grand Junction this past weekend, we won the boys side and didn't even put in about 100 points worth of kids! The girls have some solid contenders but I am not sure that we will be deep enough to compete with some of our regional powerhouse teams for the league title...but it is still early. We have a lot of kids on both sides that are set to do some really big things this season.  

Here is our team warming up at our first meet at Montrose. We brought about 85 kids and had tons out this weekend with conflicts. I am the "warm up crazy coach" for being particular about what kids wear during warm ups. We sure did look sharp though! Teams were intimated...and they should have been. We won this meet on both the girls and the guys side by a large margin! 

Here I am with two of our 800 runners. We have a rule on the team that if you lose your sweats and Coach Brandt finds them, you owe me ice cream. Now, normally this means a small 99 cent sundae from McDonalds. These boys ran into City Market to get me a full half gallon of ice cream! They definitely made me laugh when they said, "This is for next week too!" Way to think ahead. 

Last week we branched out and I took my crew down into the Glenwood Canyon to hit up an old Jeep trail on the north side of the highway. We did our warm up into the Canyon on this bike trail...we are rebels for sure! 

MOPS Playdate

We were able to have a perfect little MOPS playdate at our house on Friday. The weather was still pretending it was spring. Our yard was all cleaned up (not yet green, but clean) and we filled it with babies! What a fun day and what a great reminder of how grateful I am for our lovely outdoor space. Thank you to my hard working husband and friends that helped with the labor. I can't wait to enjoy it more and more this summer. 

Every time I have a playdate with my MOPS friends, I always try to get out my camera. It just seems that as moms, we can get carried away in our daily tasks that we don't take time to just smile with our kids. That is what I tried to capture today and I just love some of these shots! 

 

We did celebrate this young man's 5th birthday! 

 

 

Baxter looking for leftovers.