Chocolate, a visit from grandpa and some gingerbread men

Noteable Quotables by Brayden

1."You're making me crazy!" I wish he didn't hear that one from me.
2. "I went potty at nursery today and I missed, so I cleaned it up and I tried to wash my hands but I couldn't reach." Gross. But I still had to laugh.
3.(In reference to an apple that he wouldn't finish earlier so I gave it to him at lunch) "Mom, it's old, did you get it from the garbage?"
4. Sitting on Santa's lap--"I want two gums of packs."
5. "I LOVE it." Brayden really loves everything and everyone. It's great. I love positive people. Now we just have to work on Caleb, whose favorite phrase is "No, mama." Mike's favorite quote is when Brayden runs up to him and says "I love you, Daddy."

Farewell Penny Cherry

Wednesday, Nov. 7th, Mike's mom, Penny Cherry, passed away from complications to heart failure. As Mike's sister, Kristi, said, "We're happy when we think of her, but we're sad when we think of us." The pain of separation is hard, but we are glad she has been righteous and there is no question about her salvation. She touched more people than most people I've met. Hundreds of people came to her funeral and many told the family it was the best service that they had been to. I'm sure a lot of it is because they all had so much love for such a wonderful person. And then another big part of it is because of the doctrine that was taught. There were many powerful messages shared. If anyone wants to check out in a little more detail things that have happened, check out pennycherry.blogspot.com.

Things unique to Caleb

1. Ma--means more. He used to do the sign for it now he just says ma.
2. The way he signed more was to fold his arms like he's saying a prayer.
3. He loves putting things in and taking them out.
4. He loves tools. Can't get enough.
5. He loves all things dairy. We buy string cheese in bulk just for him.
6. He tries to say "Ah oh," but it comes out "Oo oh." He has the proper intonation though.
7. He grins sideways. I think it's probably like the crooked smile Edward has in Twilight. :)
8. He loves Elmo. He got pretty mad at me today when I moved Elmo away from the pile I was sweeping in the kitchen.
9. He really likes Bob the Builder. We have one book of Bob and Caleb goes for that book first every time.
10. He's a mama's boy. It's getting better now that nursing is over. But don't expect him to ever let Mike go to him in the middle of the night. I wish this was actually cute, but it's a bit irksome.

I know there are more. I think about them all the time. I think part of me still expects a clone of Brayden; silly, I know, but I still kind of think it. His little individual personality kind of surprises me sometimes.

Cider Mills with Bastians and Whiteheads

This weekend my brother Phil, his wife Noelle, and her sister's family the Whiteheads, all came to Michigan to visit and to check out the cider mills. We chose two favorites, Dexter Cider Mill and Jenny's Market. We wanted to go apple picking at Erwin Orchards, but it's a bit of a drive and we didn't really have the time. Next year! Heather Whitehead is a photographer, so she spent quite a bit of time snapping the shots at the mills and I'm posting of few of the highlights here. There were so many good ones it was really hard to choose!

The boys started off the morning playing Frisbee.


Here is Noelle, me and baby Shannon hanging out waiting to enjoy the cider mills and donuts.


Cute pics of Brayden and Caleb




New family fav. Thanks Heather!


Phil and Noelle


Here are the Whiteheads and a really good picture of pumpkins.




Noelle showcasing our apples for the caramel apples we did that night. Yeah for cider mills and apples!!!


Some other highlights were that Tanner and Brayden had a sleepover in the boys room, Phil and Rick got to watch a really good University of Washington football game (although, I think in the end they lost), Heather and Noelle did my dishes for me, we ate Cafe Rio salad, we visited Hogwarts, oh, I mean the law school where Heather and Noelle's dad went to school and walked through the Arboretum. When we drove home from the Arb, Brayden fell asleep so he missed Phil and Noelle's departure and when he woke up and realized they were gone, he was so sad. Even while they were here he kept asking, "Where's Noelle?" I think he loves his aunt and uncle! Thanks Whiteheads and Bastians for a great time!!

Sissy Visit

While I would love to enumerate all the super fun things my sister, Michelle, and I did while she was here, tonight it will have to suffice that I just put up a couple pics of the good times. :)

Yeah for running!

Sharon Thacker is a planner and a go-getter. She and Mandy are always coming up with fun parties and the latest and greatest was a race. She found one that was actually not on a Sunday and it was a 5k and a 10k. I was pretty stoked. I can't really do long runs anymore with my knees, so 5k was perfect. Mandy and I ran the 5k and Mike, Sharon, and Eddie ran the 10k. Mike pushed Brayden in a jogger and I pushed Caleb in the other jogger. I ran a 28:58 as the official time, but we started probably a minute or 30 seconds behind everybody because we took a "before" picture. My goal was to finish in under 30 minutes, so I'm pretty happy. And I had zero knee pain or tightness, so I'm REALLY happy about that. Mike had a good time too--I don't remember the official time, but he had under an 8 minute mile for his 6.2 miles. And Brayden even got orange ice cream after the race because the whole theme was "melon days." So Brayden got melon ice cream. He had been begging for it since the day before when we got superman ice cream and then afterwards saw orange. Oh, and incidently, we ran the race on our 5 year anniversary. I think that is a great way to celebrate.

Tagged

So now that I am rejoining the blogging world, I realized I was tagged by my sister-in-law Noelle. I have to come up with 7 Little Known Facts about me. I think this might be hard since I'm kind of an open book. But here goes:

1. I am a compulsive zit popper. I think I have scarred the top of my nose from trying to pop all the clogged pores up there. My brother, Neal, and I bonded to popping our zits in the bathroom at night before we went to bed.

2. I love Cinderella. I don't really consider myself to be a huge romantic, but maybe that's because I've becoming jaded, because I was obsessed with Cinderella as a kid. I've tried to get Brayden to watch it, but he won't go for it.

3. I have a terse mood. When I get really tired and stressed, I get "terse." I think I alienated a few people in college when this would happen. I wouldn't realize it at first and I would wonder why everybody was looking at me, and reacting to me funny. Then I would figure it out and take a nap and the world was a better place.

4. The only time I have been out of the country was going to Canada. A couple times when I was growing up we went to Vancouver and then I have been to Niagara Falls on the Canadian side.

5. I am a sun-worshipper. I love hot sun. Basically, I just love hot. I hate cold. Except for right after I'm done being pregnant.

6. I love hot water. Showers, hot tubs, etc. Can't get enough.

7. I am the longest shower-taker ever. I really need to work on this though. Brayden is feeling abandoned when I shower.

So that's it for Natalie trivia. Sorry there isn't anything earth-shattering in there. I'm a pretty simple person. :)

Mr. Clean, Mr. Clean

Brayden as of late is obsessed with "spraying." Yesterday while I talked to Mandy about my new rug, he sprayed the entire bathroom and his entire bedroom with Windex. And I have to say, he is one pretty thorough boy. And you think I would have learned from my mistake and made sure that today I really did put away the cleaning supplies, but no, I guess I'm a little dense, and I left them on the kitchen counter. So while I was putting Caleb in bed, Brayden Tilexed my entire kitchen. I'm really praying that there isn't bleach in Tilex and that my kitchen chairs are not ruined. Everything else seems fine. I was able to go behind Brayden and Windex everything to remove the Tilex. I then rinsed him off in the tub to get the Tilex off him. I'm very grateful that he didn't get any in his eyes. It would not have been fun to wake up Caleb and call poison control and run to the ER. All in all, it ended pretty well. And my kitchen is remarkably clean right now.

One Fine Day

This has a hint of sarcasm to it. But only a hint. I had a relatively good day, just a hard evening. Every week Mike is gone several nights, so thus far it hasn't been hard to have him gone. But tonight got a little tiresome. I started to lose it right before bedtime. But now kids are asleep, and I think we're going to have an eventless day tomorrow so kids can get back on sleep schedules and BE HAPPY! On the upside, I found a really cute area rug for my front room that I really like. I even bought it. Now I just have to decide if I really think I should keep it. Well, I think I should keep it, I just have to find a way to justify it now. :)

Wicked!

So for my birthday, I got a ticket to Wicked to go with some of the girls. To all those that read Elizabeth and Sharon's blogs, sorry about the repeat! But it was soooo much fun. I really enjoyed the singing, the acting, and the jokes. I think humor really makes or breaks something, and they did a good job. I still have in my mind "Ga-linda" bouncing back and forth when she stands. Thank you Sharon for getting the tickets and driving! Now I just need a weekend get-away with Mike to Chicago and we can go see Wicked there as well. And maybe visit the enormous H&M. :) That would be a sweet vacation.

Celebrity Look-alike

Hmm, I don't think this really worked. People used to stop me in the street to tell me I looked like some girl on some show. They always said the same person, whose name I can recognize but not regurgitate, but she is not a person on my "profile." And I don't really think I look like Minnie Driver. But hey, it was fun to see what they would say!

Phil and Noelle

My brother got married about a year ago to Noelle Tanner. We are finally getting to know Noelle because she and Phil moved to Columbus, Ohio a month ago. Previous to this we had met her briefly the week of their wedding when they were so busy they had the entire week planned by the hour. We love her! Here's the cute couple! Don't they look alike?

Caleb's First Haircut

Today I went to an activity committee meeting and returned an hour in a half later to find two chairs parked in front of the TV, devoid of children, but covered in hair, with hair all over the floor. I heard the boys upstairs, so I went up to the bathroom, opened the shower curtain and found all the males in the house taking a bath together. Oh how I wish I could take a picture of that. Mike had given everyone, including himself, a haircut while I was gone. Impressive! Then they were all showering/bathing together to get rid of the hair. This was Caleb's first haircut at 10 months old! But he totally had a baby mullet that Mike and I weren't super fond of. Now he and Brayden have matching haircuts. Mike said he couldn't make all three of them match because I would have been too mad if he cut the boys' hair as short as he cut his. I wanted to get all three of them in a picture, but alas, I only got the boys. By the way, if you look closely at the picture of the two boys, you may notice purple and red lines, or sticks, sticking out of the couch. Brayden, today, was "hiding" straws in the couch. Silly kid. Oh, and sorry there are no before and after shots. There would have been if I was in the house when all the haircutting took place. :)

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf . . .

We read the story of the Three Little Pigs last week or so, and Brayden loved it. The next day he stood outside my shower and screamed for 20 minutes (yes, I take 20 minute showers) saying that the big bad wolf was going to get him. So I told him we were safe in our house of bricks and eventually he got over it. I told this little story (in greater detail) to my two brothers that are on missions, and Neal emailed back with a picture of three piggies. Now Brayden wants a picture of the big bad wolf.

Brayden and Ethan

So Jessica sent me a couple pictures of the boys when they were playing in the sprinkler. I think the pictures say it all. This is so typical of these boys. :)

Happy Birthday to Me!

I had a great birthday. We went camping with Ryan and Elizabeth Elder and Phil and Noelle (my brother and sister-in-law). We went to Warren Dunes State Park. It was great. This is the first real camping I have been able to do since we camped at Yosemite when we were engaged five years ago. We had a great campsite. It was shaded and right next to the bathroom and a park. We had electricity so we were able to plug in a griddle for cooking breakfasts. MMMMMMM. Plus Warren Dunes is right on Lake Michigan, so we spent two days at the beach. And the best part about this beach is that it looks like the ocean, but since it's a lake it is fresh water. No salt!! We got up there Thursday late afternoon, went to the beach for an hour or so, came back, made a super yummy dinner of VeriVeri Teriyaki chicken, asparagus, and new potatoes and corn. For my birthday dessert we did those huge chocolate Cosco muffins. They are practically cake anyway. The next day we biked to the beach, and played a bunch. We had burgers and then the next morning we packed up. The Elders took off and we went back to the beach and then to lunch at Panera. That night was Phil and Noelle's one year anniversary so I made them Veenstra salad and they went to Gallup Park and paddle-boated around and walked and listened to music. Mike picked up flowers and had them waiting for Noelle when they got back and then we did fondue. The next day at church we all struggled to stay awake. Brayden fell asleep at church for probably the second time in his life and Mike and Caleb fell asleep also. Then a family in the ward had us over for dinner because their oldest son just was called to the Hong Kong mission where Phil served. We were in charge of dessert and so we brought fondue. Again. Next time we get together with Phil and Noelle we're trying fondue on Oreos. I think that would be really good. Anyway, pictures will be forthcoming. Sorry about the novel. :)

Happy 4th!

We had a great fourth of July. We planned on meeting Phil and Noelle at the zoo in Toledo, going to dinner at Champion House for my birthday and having a smashing time; unfortunately, none of our plans worked! But we still had a pancake breakfast and went running in the morning. Bastian family tradition is to run the 6 or 8 miles to the ward pancake breakfast, but I felt like we were keeping with tradition even though we only ran two miles. It even sprinkled in the morning to remind me of Seattle. Phil and Noelle still came up, so we left so I could get movie star sunglasses and since Champion House was closed, we went to California Pizza Kitchen in the mall, which was open. Super yummy. We finished the night off with chocolate fondue back at our house. It was a great day.

A sweet neighbor

Our neighbor Barbara is a nice, spunky old lady that had a pet bat as a little girl, is a master gardener, has a cat names Don Juan (named after an old boyfriend) and loves to always stay busy. Several times she has seen us leave for a family bike ride. One time Mike told Barbara how Brayden doesn't like the bumps. So she made Brayden a pillow for his bum so it wouldn't hurt when we hit the bumps. It was really nice. Brayden always wants to take his "soft pillow" out whenever we go for a ride or jog. By the way, his bum never hurt when we rode, he just got scared jogging with Mike one time when it was really bumpy and the fear has stayed with him. Ironically, the pillow does seem to help.

A Mini Mike

Caleb is a mini Mike in the making. He loves electronics, he is always happy, he is becoming loud and now he is becoming the handyman. Here is Caleb "helping" Mike fix Brayden's trike.

Church Shoes

A week ago Mike and I were rushing to get ready for church (of course we were running just a wee bit late) and Mike asked Brayden to go get his church shoes. Brayden decided that his slippers were his church shoes and we came downstairs to Brayden in full church garb and slippers. It made us laugh. So of course we stopped to take a picture. We were already late, what was another minute or so?

Boys and their toys

Mike was dropping off one of the young men after an activity, and his family was having a garage sale. They have two boys who are now significantly older than our boys, so they gave a bunch of stuff to Mike. The one thing Mike was most excited about was a monster tricycle. It has HUGE tires and is sturdy enough that Mike can ride it with Brayden--and he does! Brayden has to swivel his hips a little bit so that he can reach the pedals, but he does a really good job of pedaling. He fell a little bit, but he's pretty good at catching himself. So all in all it is a good toy. Brayden is quite agile. He is also getting pretty good at climbing the poles in our basement. It's really quite amazing. Caleb is working on his skills as well. All in one week he has mastered crawling, pulling up, babbling, etc. He's figured out how to turn the TV on and off and accidentally turns movies on and off. He's really starting to explore everything. One of the funniest things (I think) that he does is when he wants us, usually Brayden, he calls "Ah. Ah." He usually does it when I'm trying to put him down for a nap. He calls for Brayden and then Brayden comes in and gets Caleb laughing hysterically. I'm sure it does wonders to calm Caleb down right before going to sleep. Cute boys. Including Mike.

It makes it all worth it . . .

Yesterday, while I was trying to get Brayden and Caleb down for a nap, I heard Brayden running all around my bedroom instead of lying in bed sleeping. The last week or so, he's been asserting his independence and trying to fight sleep. So I went upstairs to see what was up. He had pooped, not a big deal. So we went downstairs, changed his diaper, and then I went out to the dumpster to throw it away. When I came back in I was feeling kind of disgruntled that Brayden wasn't asleep and all too soon Caleb would be awake, but when I walked in the door Brayden said "I like you Mom. You're pretty." It made me laugh. It was nice to have a sweet little comment rather than tantrums about sleeping. And we walked right upstairs and he went right to sleep. Yeah for napping sweet little boys.

Grandma Bastian and Uncle Dan visit Michigan

When Brayden was born, none of Dan's friends believed that he was an uncle. So he had to take a picture of Brayden to school to prove that at age 8 he was an uncle. Now at age 10, he is taking being an uncle very seriously. He's great! He and my mom came out to help me because I had surgery. I had a tennis-ball-sized cyst on my left ovary that needed to come out. By the way, I don't really recommend surgery. This was "minimally invasive," but it was not fun! So my mom and Dan came to take care of me and the kids so that Mike could continue to work hard being a full-time student. It was great. I'm a little hazy for part of their visit, but I am so glad they came. Here are some of the highlights.

This is my favorite picture!!! Dan jumping over the sprinkler.

Grandma and Caleb

Dan and Brayden making funny faces during a rousing FHE.

All the fam.

Little side note: I was still TOTALLY drugged at this point. You can probably tell from the picture.

Summer Time

Now that summer weather is in full swing, Brayden had a couple friends over to celebrate. Zoe and Charlie came over to play in the sprinkler with Brayden. I think they had a blast.

Inaugural Run for Caleb

One of our favorite pastimes when Brayden was little was going for a run in the morning with him in the jogger. This was mostly due to the fact that Brayden refused to sleep past 6:30 in the morning, and what else can you do that early in the morning besides work out? Plus I really needed to shed the baby pounds (as I do again). So while I was sick, Mike took Caleb for his first run ever while I took a nap and Brayden was at the petting zoo with a friend. (I think I slept 4 hours!) Caleb seemed to enjoy jogging. He fell asleep for a little nappy-poo, just like Brayden used to do. One ironic thing, Brayden doesn't like to go running anymore. Mike took him during February when there was a lot of snow frozen on the trails and it was really bumpy. Apparently he got pretty scared and now he doesn't like to go. He'll get over it. :)

Happy Easter

Happy Belated Easter! We would have posted something sooner, but we ended up getting really sick. We had this nasty virus that gave Brayden 105 degree fever and Caleb a double ear infection and trouble breathing and left me sitting on the couch doing nothing because it hurt to get off the couch. Mike got out lucky, he just got little sores on his hands. Kind of wierd, but it was just how the virus manifested itself in him. So now that we are all healthy, I'm catching up. We had a great Easter. It was the little window of time between Brayden getting sick and the rest of us getting sick. So we were able to enjoy the day. We had planned on having a big group dinner, but we didn't want to risk getting people sick, so we cancelled. So it was just our little family. Brayden had fun with a little Easter egg hunt in the morning. He and Caleb got their Easter baskets and both immediately tried to get their candy. Actually, Caleb liked the grass. Okay, so Caleb's basket was really for us. Anyway, Brayden also got stickers from Grandma, so one of the pictures is the fun he had with stickers. I'm still finding stickers in random places in the house. Ah, you gotta love being a kid.