Grammy's house is awesome!

We spent the weekend at Grammy Vo's house. The weather was phenomenal with highs in the mid-70s and lots of sunshine. Before we left Brenner kept talking about "Grammy Vogan, PawPaw Floyd and Shasta" (Shasta is their dog). Brenner had a wonderful time chasing Cookie the cat, playing with anything he could get his hands on, eating PawPaw Floyd yummy cooking, fishing, and going on his first lake boat ride!
Check out this cool dude! Brenner doesn't like bright lights (he always moans 'bright, bright') so he does pretty good keeping his sunglasses on outside.

BHP's first boat ride with PawPaw and Grammy. We are not for sure who had the most fun!

Brenner went fishing and caught a bass and bluegill. Brenner wasn't so impressed with the way the fish felt. Then PawPaw brought out some pliers to remove the hook...that was it for the fishing.....all Brenner wanted after that was the pliers!

Brenner even got to spend some time with Grandpa Bob - what a great weekend!

Things that Brenner loves

When Brenner was really small I used to make lists of likes and dislikes for his baby book. I hadn't done that in a while and thought I should share with friends and family. So here it goes...
Likes: playing outside, Emi, his buddies (stuffed animals), anything mechanical especially lawn mowers, four wheelers, and bulldozers, books, saying his toes stink, splashing in the bath, telling you what to do, horses, basketaball (yes that is the way he says it), riding his stick pony, watching Papa mow, helping (cook, sweep floors, laundry, pulling weeds....how long will this last?), watching the neighborhood kids go to the school bus.
Dislikes: brushing his teeth, getting sunblock put on, sitting in his chair for dinner, getting food on his hands (yet won't use his fork!), timeouts, getting out of his jammies.
These are just a few of his wonderful quirks that we couldn't live without. You can see most of the dislike are things where he has to hold still - go figure!
He loves his bulldozer books because "PawPaw Hinckle push dirt". He is able to say longer sentences now. The best is when he comes up to me in the kitchen, pushes my leg, and says "scooch" because that is what I tell Emi when she is in my way.

Speaking of Emi, what a tolerant dog. Can you see her? Yes - BHP piled all of his buddies on her and then hammed it up for the camera.

And here Brenner is completely zonked on his buddies. What a way to take a nap! I forgot to ask Grandma Val how long he slept this way!

Road Trip

We had our first big road trip with the little guy. We drove 500 miles to Minneapolis and it went better than Matt and I expected! We made plenty of stops along the way and Brenner liked looking at "Baby Brenner" on my laptop. While I was at meetings, Matt and Brenner went to the Mall of America Aquarium, the Minnesota Children's Museum, and Gander Mountain (well Matt had to have fun too)! Matt did a super job but was wiped at the end of the day. Luckily Brenner had no problems sleeping in the hotel. The trip threw some kinks into the potty training. Although on the way up he told us "poopy" and he held it until we made it to a gas station. Big boy! Brenner is also saying sentences now and learning more colors.
We stopped at Cabelas and Brenner loved gator-type vehicles. Up and down, up and down.

We met up with my friend Andi and her family at a yummy pizza joint. Brenner loved Neenah and Maya - kept talking about them for the rest of the trip.

There was a phone in the bathroom of our hotel. I thought this picture was hilarious. Which reminds me of another story. Brenner loves money and saw a quarter on the night stand. He wanted it so Matt told him he could have it if he pooped in the potty. Bribing him with money - nice one!

Brenner loves Clifford the Big Red Dog. The children's museum was having a special exhibit. When Brenner saw Clifford he ran over and kissed his paw. He had a great time - even though it doesn't look like it in the picture. He is probably thinking why am I sitting on Emily Elizabeth!

So peaceful on the way home reading Elmo Hide and Seek. But one minute later.......

Shrill screeching "OUT, OUT, OUT" ahhh who knew 500 miles could go by so slowly!

Brenner was on the road again once we returned home. Brenner, Papa, Aunt Lynnie, Uncle Chris, Krystee, and Colten went to the state fair. Brenner loved the tractors, animals, and people watching. He even ran into his girlfriend, Reagan, while watching the piggy races. Here he is with a big grin on a tractor. Oh - and we celebrating Krystee turning 16 - Stay off the road because she now has her license :)

Brenner watching the steers in the arena - so calm and peaceful. No matter - we love him anyway he acts!

The chatterbox

We can't believe what comes out of Brenner's mouth. Talk, talk, talk, talk, and then some more talking. He loves to talk about people and what they are doing. For example, his buddy Jack is learning his colors so anytime you ask about colors, he starts talking about Jack. He is also very curious. We were having mango the other night, and BHP proceeded to name family members and ask if they liked mango. We had to call Uncle Chris to find out because I wasn't for sure. Brenner is also into mimicking you. I have a good example. One night I was cooking dinner and Brenner pulls out a can of cream of mushroom soup and tells me "coffee". I later found out that he pretends to drink coffee with "Maw" (Grandma Val) in the mornings and that he always picks that can of soup - too funny. BHP is also becoming very good at songs - commonly singing the last words of each line. His favorite continues to be Jesus loves me....suppose I should learn more than the first verse!
Brenner picking "matoes" (tomatoes) off of our bushes. We have to be quick because he isn't gentle with them - so we usually end up with soft spot on them!

The orange pumpkin eater. He was wound for sound this night - we found pumpkin everywhere!

Brenner loves to help his mommy cook. When I start to get things out to prepare a meal, we hear "chair, chair" so that he can stand at the counter. This morning we had one of his favorites - "pakes" otherwise known as oatmeal pancake. As an alternative to syrup we use honey and he loves it. Yesterday I asked him what he wanted for breakfast and he said spicy chicken and oatmeal.....we decided just the oatmeal would be a good choice.

We had a special treat yesterday - Raygun (Reagan), Corwin (Corbin), and Mellie (Aunt Melissa) came to visit. We took the kids to a local park where they had a ball. Slides, caves, tires - you name it - they were on it. We also had some "Mark, set, go" races. This picture is great - Reagan was the last to leave but crossed the finish line first!