Bronson is 2!

Where does the time go?  We have been so busy with life that these last two years have FLOWN by!  This boy's birthday brings with it lots of milestones for our family.  It was just last year on Bronson's birthday that we were eating our first meal together in an "almost" completed house, which we moved into two days later and two years ago since we sold our home in Rigby and started on this crazy journey.  This boy has been through a lot.  And he has grown up so much, especially in these last couple of months.  He is going to be a great big brother.

Here are a few pictures from the past couple of weeks.

Bronson loves trucks and especially construction trucks of all kinds.  He cries when we put him in his car seat because he wants to drive!

I caught him trying to ride on this loader in the kitchen the other day.

He absolutely adores his big brothers and sisters and wants to do everything they are doing.  He decided several months ago that this included going to the potty.  I did not want to potty train him.  I am very pregnant and the thought of running him to the bathroom all day and cleaning up potty messes wasn't on my radar.  However, every time I changed his diaper, he would bawl if I didn't let him sit on the toilet.  I finally decided that if I was going to have to run him to the toilet anyways, he may as well learn how to use it.  We have been at it for a month, and while he is definitely not quite what I would call done with potty training, he is doing exceptionally well, especially considering he is a whole year younger than some of my kids have been when we started!  I am so proud of him.

He has lately started closing his eyes tight every time I am the camera at him.  It isn't because of the flash... I rarely use a flash, but I think he thinks that if he closes his eyes he disappears and I can't take his picture.

This is his most common outfit around the house of late, a t-shirt, underwear, and cowboy boots.

However, we did get him a basketball outfit for his birthday, as he is super obsessed with basketball.  He had a basketball shirt that he got last year, that he has outgrown and it has become stained, so we were all relieved to retire that shirt and get him a new outfit.

We will be taking him to see the Harlem Globetrotters as a birthday treat next week.

The cake!  As we had a basketball cake last year, we decided to go with his other love of construction machinery this year for his cake.

I couldn't get a picture of him with his cake without him squinting.  Did I mention he loves his cowboy boots?

He practiced blowing out candles all day, so that he would be good and ready for his party.

Ian got the honors of lighting the candles.

This boy LOVES cake!

All of his brothers and sisters worked hard for the past two weeks to earn money so that they could go to the store and buy him a present.  They were so good to pick thoughtful gifts and were excited to wrap them up and give them to him.  He had a wonderful day.  When Dad came home from work, he took us to Panda Express (our kids favorite!) and we happened to even land there on a night when a balloon artist was there and made amazing balloon animals for each of the kids.  After our dinner, we came home, ate cake, and opened presents.  It was so fun to have a quiet little family party in which we all played for hours with the toys and prizes that Bronson received.  He had a terrific day.  And now we can officially say he is in his terrific twos!

10 Things About Bronson

1.  He is obsessed with his blankies.  He has had a certain minky blue polka dot blanket that was given to him at birth that he has always loved.  One day, he was traumatized as I washed it, and howled at the washer wanting it out.  I went in his room and dug out another blanket and told him how special it was too.  He bought it and somewhere along the way, he added two more.  Now he has to haul FOUR blankets with him wherever we go.  I can't simply read a story to him without first having to wrap him in four blankets.

2.  He does Sesame Street impressions.  He does an amazing Cookie Monster voice and also does Elmo quite well.

3.  His favorite food in the whole world is Mac 'n Cheese and also just plain cheese.  He begs for these foods every day.  He also loves cake... meaning the Little Debbies snack cakes that I buy to put in the kids lunches and he will ask all day long for cake.  Ashlyn bought him his own box of cakes for his birthday.

4.  He is incredibly independent and has to do everything himself.  It takes us a good hour before we can get out of the house, because he has to be the one to shut off every light.  He has to push the garage door opener.  Put on his own socks and shoes, put his lid on the sippie cup, unpeel his bananas and oranges, etc., etc., etc.  Along with this comes an obsession with buttons and all day long he finds buttons to push, which constantly disgruntles his brothers and sisters when he finds the remote control, turns off their TV shows and then runs for his life.

5.  He is obsessed with basketball.  He loves to get into my cedar chest where I keep Zac and my practice basketball jerseys from high school.  He puts them on in the craziest of ways and runs around the house screaming, "Go Bronson, Go Basketball!!!"

6.  He loves to cook and if he catches me putting anything in the mixer, he has to be right in the middle of it.

7.  Cowboy boots are an essential item with any outfit.  We had to get him some new cowboy boots for his birthday as he is wearing out his old ones super fast.

8.  He LOVES music.  He spends his days turning on all of the radios in the house and also the demo music on our electric piano.  Then he sings and dances like a crazy man.  He gets very upset if we turn off his music.

9.  When he goes to bed at night, he is a little OCD about his bedtime routine, which includes "potty up", turning on his fan, shutting his door, getting his jammies on, reading one story with all his blankies and animals.  Then dragging me over to his bed for prayers.  I then have to lay by him and we have to play with his stuffed kitty and Elmo for about 5-10 minutes.  I have to pretend that the kitty and Elmo want to drink his milk and then they do flips and sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  He won't let me forget one part of this routine and he laughs hysterically every time we play it.

10.  He is the sweetest little boy you will ever meet.  Some of his first words were Thank You and Please and he has never forgot them. He is always so good to remember his manners.  He also loves to tell everyone goodbye when they are off to work, school, or other and he always shouts, "Bye, Have a Good Day, I love you too!!!"  And we have to say it all back to him 3 or 4 times.

Can I add a bonus 11?

11.  He adores his family.  He would be lost without big brothers and sisters and is constantly grabbing their hands and dragging them off to play.  He loves his daddy SO much that it is heartbreaking when Daddy has to be out of town for work, as he cries himself to sleep at night sobbing for daddy.  Whenever he hears the garage door open, he goes running and screaming for daddy.  He loves to drive daddy's truck with him and help daddy with tools.  But he is also a mommy's boy and guess who he wants when he is hurt or needs a snuggle.

We love our little Bronson/ Bronco/ Buster.  We are so happy to have him be a part of our family, in fact just last night as we were eating birthday cake, Ashlyn said, "Bronson, I am sure glad that you chose to follow Jesus' plan so that you could come to Earth and have a body and be in our family."

I agree whole heartedly.