Play Date

 Hockey, I guess you have to start them when they're toddlers these days!

 Brody and Claire racing on their scooters.

 Omi daycare extraordinaire offering some helmet safety advise to Brody.

 Max gives the best hugs and kisses of anyone I know.

 Good thinking Claire!  With that driver behind you, it's best to wear a helmet.

 These two are such good friends!

Just over a week ago Brody had a play date at the Eagan Community Center.  He went with Barry and Audrey and they had a blast!  He played with Claire, Max, Andrew, Everleigh, and Briggs not to mention all of the adults (Omi, GG, Sue, Bonnie, Ami, Jesse).  Briggs isn't pictured because he's just a little tyke and was busy being carried by his mama.  Andrew was there too I swear...I'm just told he found the car and it was love at first sight so he spent most of his time scooting around in it!  From what I hear Brody is fast!  Brody and Claire just loved running around in the wide open spaces of the gym!  If I was a stay at home mom, I would be visiting this gym during preschool open gym time every week!

Brody & Santa

The Brody/Santa experience, version 2011.  Maybe next year Brody, maybe next year.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone!  Here are some of our nice photo attempts over the last few weeks.  It will be a weekend full of family-Dockens, Mieskas, and Parks, so I am sure there will be a few more photos for next week!
We hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas!

Making Klub with Great Grandma & Grandpa Docken

 Brody was the salt and pepper person.  Here he is helping as Papa scoops to make the klub.  I think he did a good job right up until dinner time when all he wanted to do was sprinkle salt and pepper on his empty plate.

 Brody getting a good story from Grandpa Don.  He does pretty well sitting on his lap considering most kids wiggle away!  He did score one of grandma's cookies from him at the end of the night.

Helping Grandma Camilla keep an eye on the boiling num-nums.

On Monday afternoon Barry and Brody went to the farm to help make klub and side pork at Grandma and Grandpa Docken's house.  It's a Docken tradition and an absolute favorite of mine!  It's blood klub specifically so I won't get into the details.  Brody was a little helper (sort of) and had a fun afternoon hanging out at the farm.  It was ready to eat by the time I got there after work.  Even Brody tried some out this year!

Brody trying out some of his gifts, I think he loves them all!

 Omi made a blanket for Brody's baby.  It's just the perfect size!

 Paco and Auntie H gave Brody a "farm" as he calls it.  We found some foam pieces for hay bales and he loves to put them on the elevator and watch them go up.  I just love his super excited facial expressions.

 Josh and Whitney gave Brody green Crocs that I'm sure will be perfect for next summer!  For now he just liked taking them on and off since he could do it all by himself.  The poor kid has such hot feet though that when he took them off, there was a trail of wet footprints on the floor!

 Don't worry, he's not attacking Elmo.  When you squeeze him, he talks about colors.  So far Elmo is the only show Brody watches and requests, thanks Josh and Whit for his very own Elmo!

I think the pictures of Brody with his farm really say it all!  He's in love.

There is nothing quite like a kid opening Christmas presents.  What a difference a year can make.

Docken Christmas Early

 Lesson 1: If your kid loves barns, tractors, and farms more than anything, try to save that present for towards the end of present opening!  Brody gets an A for outstanding surprised/excited reactions to opening presents!

 "Hurry Paco, open my new farm.  Please!!"

 Max loved his huggable friend!  He also loved Claire and Brody's huggable friends.

 Claire and Brody playing with the new "farm".

 Playing with Claire's new play-dough kit with the help of Josh and Whitney.

"Look Auntie H, can you open this cool new toy?"

Sunday we opened presents with the Hebel, Docken, Park crew.  We ate great appetizers all day too.  The kids really had a great time this year opening all of their presents, they (and us adults too) were all so lucky to get so many fantastic things!  It's amazing how different things are just 1 year later.  It was a great day of family and food!  Sunday night after we got home and unpacked, Brody had a chance to check out all of his new goodies without distractions.  I took some nice pictures of that and I'll post them later.

Baking Cookies & Tractor Rides

 Morning bath before going to the farm.  Doesn't he look so grown up with combed hair?!

Papa gave Andrew and Brody a tractor ride.  I think Andrew enjoyed it too!

We baked cookies with GG.  I'm pretty sure Brody got his fair share of cookies on Saturday!

Zoo

Today Brody had quite the day.  He woke up to discover Omi and Audrey at his house!  Little did Brody know, Thursday night I plucked him out of his crib at 10:30, drove to the airport, picked up Audrey, and came back home to put him back in his crib.  This morning after I left for work and he had breakfast Omi, Audrey, and Brody headed to the MN Zoo.  I hear that visiting the zoo during the week from 9-10:30 is the perfect time.  The animals are all awake and there are no crowds to speak of.  It sounds like he had a blast looking at everything, watching to touch the stuff, and watching the penguins!  The pictures show that pretty clearly!  Barry got home around 11, just in time so that Omi could go enjoy the rest of her day getting stuff ready for Christmas.  I came home from work a bit early to visit and we made homemade pizza for supper.  I think it took Brody about 5 seconds to warm up to Audrey again.  They were best friends by the time I got home.  It must be in the Kuklok genes because he sure is a fan of her sister, Kelly, and her mom Mary Dee!

Last Weekend

Yes that is a Cookie Monster snuggie and no, we did not buy it.  Daddy and Brody snuggling while watching "Elmo" on Saturday morning.  He got the snuggie at some school white elephant type thing.

Bottoms up!  Brody loves smoothies!  If you try to use his smoothie cup for some other beverage he thinks you've lost your mind.  Barry has fresh baked cookies in the background, all while I was at school on Saturday butchering my lab exam and sailing through my presentation.

It was a busy weekend and not really in the way that it should have been, but it went well and I'm just about to pay for it in a couple of hours.  Friday Barry was dropped off at my work by his carpooler from school.  I left work a little late which makes traffic especially annoying.  A smart person would've come home and studied, I chose to enjoy the evening relaxing with Barry and finishing my presentation.  Saturday morning I got up early to study and went to class to finish up the lab portion.  After class I came home and we left for Isle, MN to go to the benefit for Barry's uncle that was recently diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.  The turn out for the benefit was amazing.  The place was packed all night!  I'm glad we went.  Brody was sure a trooper in the crowded space where he couldn't run around.  He slept the whole way up and the entire way home thankfully (nap and bedtime).  Sunday we cleaned and cleaned some more (much needed and much more needed).  Hung a TV in our living room and did some reorganizing to minimize clutter that toddlers bring to a house that's lacking a play area.  We tested out the TV by watching some football, it passed the test.  Then we headed to the mall (yikes!) to find a Christmas gift since time is short for shopping and next weekend we open presents for my family.  I don't like shopping, Barry doesn't either and hates crowds, and Brody can be a terrible shopper, which he was on this occasion.  It took too many snacks to name to get him through the adventure.  After shopping we made our own Red Lobster dinner of shrimp pasta, cheddar biscuits, and garlic mashed potatoes.  Well Barry made the whole thing, I just ate it!  Barry and I caught up on some TV shows on Hulu and called it a night.  Wait, what?  Oh yeah, I have a final tonight and it's amazing how well I can procrastinate on much needed cleaning projects when I should really be studying (thank goodness for multiple choice exams).  Funny how when you have a toddler, husband you only see on weekends, and a household to somewhat try to maintain that studying just finds a magical way of seeming less important.  I cannot wait until after my exam at 7pm tonight! I get to come home to Brody and a couple of friends visiting!  Kicking off the Christmas season in full force now.  I can relax without guilt, wrap presents, find some more, bake, send Christmas cards, and more.  I'm looking forward to Friday too when Barry will come home for 2 weeks and my long-time best friend Audrey will come home for Christmas break.  Let the holiday festivities begin!  I really wish I had a job where Christmas meant a 2 week break.  Oh how I miss those days that are long gone.

Snowy Farm & Christmas Tree

Putting a few finishing touches on the tree.

If you come over, the first thing Brody will show you is the "tree" and then he'll tell you "daddy", meaning that daddy brought the tree in and set it up.  Who else?  "Mommy!"  Who else?  "Me!"

The end of our tractor photo shot.  We took some cute pictures.  I just love the red color and the fact that he's smiling in some of them!

Papa has a small shovel at the farm and Brody was trying it out for the first time in the snow.

Walking with papa to the tractor, just as excited as ever to go ride in the "tractor" and feed the "moos" "hay".  Can life get much better than sitting in a warm tractor cab in your very own seat next to papa?

Rubbing heads with daddy.  He just loves to rub heads with daddy, it's pretty cute!

Snow!

This weekend we had a lot of fun! It's amazing how much fun a person can have when they should be doing school work. Toddlers are a whole new level of procrastination that I never had before! Sean, Heather, Josh, Whitney, Barry and I got together for our annual sibling birthday celebration. We had dinner at Buca's for 3 hours while Omi and Papa babysat Claire, Max, and Brody. Today we went to the farm to take a few photos of just Brody since I do not have any professional ones, only 100s of candids of Brody in action. We were able to get a few shots that we liked...more to be posted later. We also got our Christmas tree. Brody enjoyed his first mini candy cane. He ate the whole thing with a few "mmmmm" sounds mixed in. We Skyped GG while we brought the tree inside and set it up for decorating. Later Brody had fun with the ornaments although he didn't understand why all of the "a-panes" on the tree were not toys for him. He got a kick out of turning the lights on and off since they're plugged into the light switch that he can control. We listened to the Rat Pack Christmas music and he danced along.

I have a bunch of pictures to post of recent photo shoots of my whole family, the grandkids, and just Brody. Photos we took for fun and photos we took for Christmas cards. I'll post more either later this week or once my class is done December 12! I cannot wait for December 12 around 8pm because then I will be free to enjoy the holidays without feeling guilty about not being a good student and studying.

Oh, I almost forgot about the snow....yesterday Brody enjoyed watching the snow fall outside. Today he had his boots on and walked in the snow with Papa. Then he road in Papa's side chair in the tractor to feed the cows. After that hard work he helped shovel the walk way with his own small red shovel at the farm. Pictures of that to come later.