U-S-A!!

Our friends Adam and Abby are leaving to work abroad in Switzerland for two years, so our small group bible study threw them an American-themed party.  Everyone sported red, white, and blue and brought their favorite American fast food/treat.  What fun!  To think I have lived in America for 29 years and this is my first real American party! 

My all-American boy

American husband

and American Brody!

Thinking they were coming to a baby shower, Adam and Abby were very surprised!

There were some amazing Cheeseburger cupcakes and fries (sponge cake) that our friend Jen made! 

So creative!!

Josh and Ryan - Wow!

Landon's first twinkie - he loved it!  Tried to tell me it was from the grain group so

he should eat them more often!

The Whole Gang!

Praying Switzerland is amazing for them!  We will miss them,

but look forward to welcoming them home in two years!

Trophy Husband

Late Friday night we were all a little bored at the Busch house, so after a conservation about sports with Landon - we decided to bust out some of our old trophies to show him.  He was so excited to see and play with them all!  Who would have thought two bins of old dusty trophies and medals would provide so much entertainment?  I must say though that he wasn't the only one having fun.  Josh and I were very maturely seeing who had the most accomplishments/trophies.  We were close to even, but he decided that academic trophies don't count.  Whatever - I am proud of my math and spelling bee trophies :) and I have sports trophies too - just makes me well-rounded!  After laughing at our ridiculous competition, we decided to just be thankful that God gave us talents and abilities that enabled us to earn trophies.  Funny though how things can seem so important at one time and then just collect dust and space later.  Seriously though Josh, you win.  You are better and I will let you prove that each morning when Brody wants to eat at the crack of dawn!  I'll even give you a trophy for best morning feeder as I earn my sleeping in award :)

My humble, trophy husband

Our trophy shrine

The Triad Letterman Jacket

Landon pretending he won the trophy....Ohhh YEAH!!

Brody's Favorite Spot

Brody has been a little monkey lately crawling in and on everything he can - on top of the train table, on couches, up stairs, ottomans, etc. but drawers are his favorite.  Proof is in the pics!

Fork in the Road

Today was one of those roller coaster days in my world of parenting.  The morning started off great - family all together, yummy homemade egg skillets for breakfast, and a B-E-A-Utiful day.  Not wanting to miss the sunshine - we decided to run a couple errands and go to the park.  Free stuff at Walgreens and CVS (mommy's happy) and off to the park to make the boys happy - or so we thought.  We put Brody into his stroller and he is happily taking in the outdoors.  So far so good.  Well, then we put Landon on his bike to ride along the trail.  3 year old + park + riding bike on a beautiful day = great experience...in a perfect world yes; but in the world of Landon not so much.  We turn right - mawwum (in his best whine voice) I wanted to go left.  You are going the wrong way.  It's fine buddy, it's goes in a circle we'll get there eventually.  3 seconds later, but I wanted to go that way.  C'mon it's fine.  This road is too bumpy.  I ignore.  You are walking too fast.  I slow down.  I can't ride my bike.  But you are riding right now I tell him encouragingly. :) Still optimistic this will be a good day.  I can't mom.  This part is too hard.  You can do it buddy, and I give him a little push.  DO NOT PUSH ME MOM (in a horrible, nasty voice that I thought only came out during puberty)  Time out.  You don't talk to mom like that.  Three minutes later.  Riding along again.  I don't want to go on this trail.  Throws his bike down and stomps the other way.  Landon get on your bike and ride to the playground.  Crying and screaming at me - I do not want to ride my bike.  Okay then Landon - we are going home.  Crying volume increases - I don't want to go home.  Then you act like a big boy and ride your bike to the playground.  Nooooo!  Okay then we are going home.  He continues crying hysterically all the way to the car.  At this point I am so frustrated and worn out.  Now mind you this all happened in about a 50 foot area on the track in about 30 minutes - 5 minutes of actual riding.  And also I would like to say that I try to be very consistent with Landon - I don't give in and don't let him win these type of battles although he tries and tries. So I am just frustrated!  Why does he act like this?  He is so blessed to have a beautiful day, a family that loves him, and a bike to ride - yet all he does is complain!  We get in the car and start heading home and I just feel defeated.  On the verge of tears of frustration I think Why?  What am I doing wrong?  How is it that I have a teaching degree, am blessed with a God-given talent for children and I can't get my own to cooperate?  Why does my child act like this when I don't spoil him and let him win?   And then I am at that fork in the road.  I can just be mad and frustrated and let it ruin the day, or I can pray and let God have it.  Well unfortunately I too often choose the first, but today I just let God know how I feel.  I just let him know my frustration - or rather tell him what he already knew.  And then an amazing thing happened...he gave me wisdom in the situation.  I got Landon to calm down and apologize to us for the way he acted.  We talked the rest of the car ride about the choices we make and consequences.  We talked about being thankful and not complaining.  And then I told him he was lucky.  You are lucky because today you get a second chance - and an opportunity to do the right thing.  You should take advantage of it, because we don't always get second chances and when we do we better take advantage of them!  When we get home we are going to go for a short walk around the neighborhood, and I want you to ride your bike.  I want you to ride without crying and complaining.  I want you to just have fun and be thankful for this day.  Deal?  Deal mom!  Okay here we go...and thank God our ride was so pleasant, full of much needed smiles and sunshine. 
So thanks God for answering my prayer!  Thank you for helping me remember that when we want to give up as parents that when we have to fight and take advantage of those life lessons!  So I hope Landon learned something today, but if not, I sure did!

Why do you DO all this?

I have to admit I went a little overboard on Brody's party this year (proof in my previous post).  I'm not sure if it was borrowing the cool new Cricut machine from my sister, the endless snow days leaving us cooped up in the house with nothing else to do, or just insanity, but I kept decorating, planning, and making stuff.  At one point my incredibly encouraging and supportive party planning husband asked me WHY are you doing ALL this?  That one question made me stop and think yeah why am I doing this.  I mean of course there are the obvious reasons like I love Brody and want him to have a great party, but why was I going through all that effort?  And then it hit me - because it's my passion!  God wired me with an intense love for children, fun activities, and themes/decorations - so parties, specifically kids parties are my specialty.  Sometimes I feel that people like Josh think oh man - why do you do all this?  Or am I a bad mother for not doing that?  Or why can't I do that?   But my answer would be - don't compare.  God made us all so different and talented in so many ways.  Sometimes I think it would be amazing to be a great singer, or dancer, or just one of those perfect moms that make raising children seem so effortless, but that's not what God made me to be.  I can keep comparing and wishing, or I can just thank God that I can throw a mean birthday party!  So relish in whatever it is you are good at and thank God for that talent - and I will try not to be jealous and compare :).  God made us perfect in his image and I thank God for all the talented people and mothers in my life!

Brody's 1st Birthday!!

I'm not sure how it happened, but my sweet baby Brody just turned 1!  He is such a joy with an infectious smile and I feel so blessed to be his mom.  To celebrate we had a festive winter "one"derland party for my little man.

The Birthday Boy

I went a little overboard on all the decor....

but Brody seemed to like it...especially all the balloons!

The activities...we had an inflatable, igloo, winter toys and animals, and

an ice pond (pool) full of pillows and balls to jump and play in.

Kiddos having a blast inside the igloo room

Waitingfor his cake

He loved the cake, but had had enough at this point...

could be the burning sensation from all the blue icing up his nose.

He was blessed with lots of fun, great people, and presents!  WE all love you Brody!