Kohout Family Chistmas

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

First Santa Experience

Last Tuesday we learned a very important lesson.....dont wait until the week before christmas to take your kid to see santa. We stood in line for an hour at the mall! Thankfully Brian was with us so we took turns walking around the mall with Brody and keeping him entertained while the other stood in line. I was crossing my fingers that after an hour wait in line, Brody would not be crying when he saw Santa. Believe it or not, Brody ran up to him, jumped in his lap and proceeded to tell him that he wanted a train or "choo-choo" for christmas. He wouldnt smile for any pictures though...he was all business! So serious! We had been telling him for weeks that he would be going to see santa and would have to tell him what he wanted. BUT we didnt warn him that he wouldnt be getting the gifts THAT DAY. When Brody got down from his lap he looking up at me and brian and said "choo-choo?????" with the saddest little look, like "i asked him for a train, why havent i gotten it yet". it was so pitiful:( we told him Santa would be bringing it to his house in a few days. Thankfully no fits were pitched!

Brody was so excited this morning when he woke up and we told him Santa had been to see him ( and had of course eaten the cookies and milk he had left for him:)). Brody came downstairs to see his train table and trains, and then we had to practically beg him to open anymore presents. While brody was playing with his train, he kept saying over and over again " thank you , santa clause" "thank you, santa clause". SO CUTE!!

a GREAT birthday

My birthday was spent at work this year....no biggie...just a 12 hour shift on my birthday:) My family went out of their way to make sure my birthday was not forgotten though. It ended up being a great birthday! my mom showed up first thing in the morning at work with a cake for me and a platter of fruit:) such a sweet mommy! Then around lunch time one of my co-workers came to my door and told me i had a visitor. i told her to tell them i would be out in a few minutes, since i was still with a patient. She said " no, you better come now". Im thinking what in the world cannot wait a few minutes. i go out in the reception area to the sweetest sight i have EVER seen....it brought tears to my eyes! There stands the cutest little boy in the world holding a dozen roses for his mommy:) Seriously, the best birthday present ever. Then he took me out on a lunch date....accompanied by my amazing husband of course!

Road Trip

Brian, his brother Adam, and nephews Jordan and Josh went on a road trip this weekend to see the Colts/ Brocos game in Indianapolis. Brian is a huge Colts fan and Adam and the boys are big Brocos fans, so i was fun for them to watch their teams play against each other. It was a long drive for such a short trip, but it sounds like they had a blast! Adam got the tickets totally last minute and they hopped in the car saturday, got to Indy around 1 a.m., saw the game at 1 p.m. on sunday and got right back in the car to head back home. Brian literally walked in the door on monday morning at 6 a.m. took a shower and headed back out the door for work!

Brody's 2nd Birthday

Im pretty sure November 21, 2009 was the best day of brody's life so far.....im sure he thought so at least:) He was surrounded by the people he loves and our house now looks like christmas already hit, due to the amount of new toys EVERYWHERE! We had the grandparents, Parker and Linds, and Brody's "adopted grandparents", Brooks and Alice, over for lunch and cake and icecream.

Brian and Brooks have been working for weeks to build Brody a playset. I was so impressed the first time i saw it....they did an AMAZING job! We got it all set up in the yard the morning of his birthday and brought him out to see it for the first time with everyone there. He played on it for quite awhile, with the only thing able to get him back inside was the promise of more presents/surprises or "prizes" as he calls them:)

Later in the evening we had his little friends from small group/ church over for cake and icecream. He of course loved having them all over to play! oh, and he got embarrassed and shy each time we sung happy birthday to him....lol...how do kids learn to be embarrassed at such an early age?!

After a full day of celebrating my baby's 2nd birthday, i was feeling so incredibly thankful for all of the amazing people in his life (and ours) that love him so much and treat him like he is their own! We have such a close group of friends at church that i feel so blessed to have them around as brody is growing up, knowing that they will lead and direct him and help him grow into an amazing man of God! WE ARE SO BLESSED!

Potty Training

So we have been potty training for a few weeks now and surprisingly things are going really well! i know brody is still pretty young for this (he will be 2 next week), but i thought that now is as good a time as ever.... especially since hes the only child i have right now and he can have my undivided attention! i decided i would give him a week, and if he showed no signs of interest or improvement then i would try again in a few months. We had a very rough first 4-5 days with no successes and LOTS of accidents....but then a switch went off and he started to tell me when he had to go. He hardly ever has accidents at home now!! he still wears diapers or pull-ups when we go out of the house, because he just cant hold it long enough to get to a bathroom when we are out in public:) BUT i am thrilled with how great he is doing! PS...my baby will be 2 on saturday....i cant believe it!

Halloween '09

Brody loved his first real Halloween! last year he dressed up and sat on andy and sara's front porch and helped pass out candy, but this year we let him trick-or-treat. He was the cutest little frog you've ever seen:) We went to Nathan and Erin's house along with Andy and Sara for a block party and trick-or-treating with the boys. Brody got the hang of it pretty quick. he toted his little bucket around and said "tick treat" at every door:)

Mountain Trip

We had an amazing get-away with my parents and Parker and Lindsay! We decided to take the trip without Brody (he stayed with his Meme and Poppy). We were able to do a few things that he isnt able to do yet...mainly RELAX:) and also go bike riding on the Virginia Creeper Trail. We stayed at the Martha Washington Inn and Spa in Abingdon, VA. We had one day of relaxing in the hot tubs, mineral pool, and got some time at the Spa getting massages:) The second day we rode 17 miles of the Virginia Creeper Trail...on bikes! Yes, i know, shocking...im not a bike rider. BUT before you are all impressed on the fact i rode 17 miles, let me explain. We were taken to the top of the mountain and rode DOWN. The ride down was so gradual, you really couldnt tell...but you hardly had to pedal:) The trail was probably some of the most beautiful country i have ever seen! It followed a river for the majority of the trip and we crossed over 30 bridges....it was just gorgeous! it was great getting to spend quality time with my hubby, parents, parker and lindsay...without having to entertain my sweet little boy at the same time:) Thank you mom and dad, for such a WONDERFUL trip!!

Girls night w/ the kiddos

i think it is so precious when kids get to the age where they have their own little friends. Last night Lorren and Savannah came over since brian was out of town and cole was working late. Brody and Savannah played for awhile at the house and then we decided to go grab some dinner at my favorite restaurant in Bunn. (yes, i know you are thinking there cant be more than one restaurant in bunn......but it is seriously SO GOOD!!) anyways, back to my cute story....i went out the garage door and lorren went out the front, so brody kept saying "bye, nanna" because he thought she had left. When we got out of the garage door and saw savannah on the driveway, he yelled "nanna!!!" and they started running towards each other with their arms wide open and gave each other a huge hug. Lorren and I were about to fall on the ground we were laughing so hard. On the way to dinner they were so cute sitting in their little car seats next to each other, they kept holding hands and giggling. And dinner was, of course, just as fun. they made us laugh the whole time at their cute little interactions. i just love to see brody starting to interact with other kids and its so cute to see them have their own little conversations.

NC Zoo

Brody took his first trip to the NC Zoo this past week. Brian was going with a group from the school, so Bro and I decided to tag along! we had a blast! i was the perfect day with perfect weather! We started telling brody the night before that we were going to see the elephants, monkeys, and lions. The next morning, while he was still groggy and sleepy eyed, i asked him if he remembered where we were going today......he put his arm up in the air (like an elephant trunk) and made an elephant noise. SO CUTE! needless to say he was very excited and knew exactly where we were going that day!

Camping/Horse Riding Trip!!!

Brian and I decided (very last minute) to go camping and riding in the mountains this weekend! Its been quite awhile since weve been able to do this together.....due to a young horse we were training that was unable to do a trip like that, and then of course having brody! This is something that we really enjoy doing together. Just us, the horses, and nature!

We went to Uwharrie national forest and camped at a great place called 4B Farm. We were able to have stalls for the horses to stay in and we camped in our trailer! We got this trailer about 4 years ago with the hopes of being able to camp alot more often...but then Nala and brody came along. The front part of the trailer has a tack room/ living quarters in it that we fixed up and made it accessible for electricity and put a bed above the gooseneck part of the trailer. So for 4 years its been sitting there waiting for us to use! i was so excited to be able to camp in it this weekend. i know...camping with electricity is not CAMPING to alot of people...lol. We did cook our meals over the fire though!

4B Farm is owned by the sweetest Christian couple. They actually have a church that meets on sunday morning in a little chapel they built inside of the barn, which we had the opportunity to attend! Now thats what i call CHURCH!! hearing the horses snort and neigh while you are worshipping the Lord....a little piece of what i would consider heaven!

We rode 6 hours the first day we were there and 3 1/2 the second day! Wow were we sore!! I was so proud of Nala though.....she acted like an old pro. She has never been on a trip in the trailer this far away from home and has never been ridden for that long or on that type of terrain! We got Nala when she was a baby and Brian trained her totally by himself.....so needless to say we were VERY PROUD of her!!

It was so great to spend 2 days with my horses (my first babies). i dont get to spend as much time with them as i used to (before brody) , but i am so thankful they are on the same property as me now and i can go out my back door and visit them anytime! BUT 2 days of good QT with them and my hubby was AMAZING!

Mama's Boy

Just a quick sweet little story about my sweet little boy......This week brian was heading on his tractor out to the back of the property to throw out some corn for the deer, so Brody and i decided we would ride back there with him. We were riding along and i put my hand on brian's leg. Brody looked up at me and said "no,no Mama" and picked up my hand and put it on his own leg! SO PRECIOUS!! jealous of his daddy already....not sure how im going to explain to him one day that he cant marry me:) I tried several more times putting my hand on brian's leg to see what brody would do, and each time he would tell me "no" and point to his own leg! LOVE IT!

Brody's latest

Brody is growing up so fast these days. We feel like there isn't a baby that resides at the Kohout house anymore...just a little boy. He is into everything. If Brian does something, Brody automatically assumes that he can do it too. He loves life on the farm, and being around the horses. Here's a few pictures of Brody playing with buck in the pasture, "helping" work on the car with Brian and trying to sneak a kiss from one of his girlfriends- Savanna.

Communication

Over the past 2 weeks Brody has been talking more and more. Its like a switch went off, and he is putting words together! Today (after some prompting from me, of course) he said "thank you, meme" to brian's mom for dinner! So cute! We started teaching brody some sign language when he really little. And he has been so great about using it to communicate. Its really taught him some manners before he was able to talk. He says "thank you" in sign language all the time to us.....without prompting from us...which is amazing! and makes me feel like im doing something right ....lol! He uses "please" quite often too...mostly after was say "what do you say if you want that, brody". BUT, it really has taught him how to be polite before he knew how to use the actual words. I love that he is starting to communicate more with words! I dont know if other parents do this, but whenever brody says or does something new, i think we make him sick of it because we get him to do it over and over again. When he knows we think something is cute, he does it repeatedly because of the reaction we give. He started saying "oh-no" a couple of weeks ago. So we get him to say it all of the time:) We were on the way to take him to Brian's parents house for the weekend, he started PRACTICING saying "oh-no, meme" and "oh-no Poppy". He said it over and over again to himself, like he was trying to get it just right so he could show them his new words....lol.

Hacker!!!

Apparently somebody hacked into my blog.....*cough, cough* MELISSA:) Although ....EVERYTHING in that blog post was very true. We have been blessed to have Jonas and Melissa live with us for a few days before they move. Its been wonderful to get to spend some extra time with them...although it will probably make me miss them more. We've had alot of late nights just talking and hanging out after we put the boys to bed. We love them dearly and will miss them so much! I feel so blessed to have them in our lives and i am so excited for what the Lord is going to do through them when they go overseas!

Jonas and Melissa are so awesome. There little boy Luke is so much fun too! I love having them in our home. Melissa is making a yummy chicken parm meal for us all tonight. I am going to cry for a long time when they leave. 

Putting it together...

i know its been awhile since ive posted. weve been enjoying our summer! between lots of trips to the beach and doing alot of work around our property, weve been staying extremely busy! Brody is learning new words all the time and this week ive really been able to tell hes starting to put more words together. Ive been hearing lots of "bye-bye, Mama" and  "Hi, Dada" and "uh-oh Mama". This week he did pull out a new one...he spilled a drink while we were eating dinner out and kept saying "oh no, oh no, oh no". it was really hard to be upset about the spilled drink when you are hearing words come out of your sons mouth that you have never heard him say before. We could stop laughing. Then later, i was having trouble changing his diaper because he was being so squirmy and he said "oh no, Mama"...so cute:) i love seeing his mind work....its like he has to put alot of thought into how to get his mouth to say more than one word. im enjoying this age so much....i love to his mind working. 

July 4th

We spent our 4th of July at the beach house of course:) we did get to stay for almost a week which was wonderful! brian had the week off of work and i took some time off as well. The 4th is my favorite holiday to spend at the beach house. you can literally see 20 different sets of fireworks going off at one time from our house. It sticks really far out on a point in the sound...so you can sit on the porch and see topsail, surf city, wrightsville beach, holly point (the list goes on and on) 's fireworks....not to mention all of the other random people shooting them off, up and down the beach! its so amazing! we tried to keep Brody up to watch them, but he was exhausted from a day on the boat. however...our crazy dog (who is all of a sudden terrified of fireworks) runs down the hall to find a place to hide, busts into brody's room, knocks over something onto the pack and play, and of course wakes him up. So, since he was awake at this point we brought him outside to see them. he wasnt too sure at first but ended up loving them. he called them "booms":) the next morning he looked outside and asked if there were going to be more!

Brody also got to ride the tube for the first time. yes, i know he is only 19 months old! he rode it WITH brian. AND you have to understand that i come from a family where my brother and i were water skiing behind the boat, all by ourselves, at the age of 3!!! so hes got to get used to being behind the boat at a young age! He definitely did not LOVE it.....but after he rode it for awhile he started waving and blowing kisses. So its a start:)

Row Row Row your boat...or something like that

Brody is getting a pretty good vocabulary down...he doesnt put 2 words together yet, except the occasional "bye bye, Momma". We were heading home in the car on sunday (fathers day) and Brody said something like "boat, boat, boat, (pause) daaaaay!". i thought it was cute that he was actually babbling a little bit....but then he said the same exact thing again...and then again. So i thought id better pay attention and try to figure out what he was trying to say..or come to find out, SING! i will spare you all the details of how we tried to find out which song it was, but it was "Row Row Row your boat". the "Daaaaay" on the end is his version of "Dream". I dont really sing this song with him much, so i called my mom to see if she sings it with him...nope! so i was pretty baffled at how he picked up this song out of all of the ones we constantly sing with him! Come to find out, that when my sweet friend Sara was keeping him one day for me this past week, she sang it over and over for him....he apparently asked that she sing it alot :)

Father's Day

Let me just start by saying thanks to my sweet husband for being such an amazing daddy to Brody. Brody is so blessed to have him as his daddy! One of my favorite things to watch, is Brody trying to "help" his daddy around our farm. He wants to ride on the tractor everytime Brian is on it...he wants to help feed the horses...he wants to pull weeds from the garden...pretty much anything brian is doing Brody wants to help! i love that Brian knows it will probably take longer to do it if Brody is "helping", but he lets him help anyways:) Thanks for being such a great Daddy, Baby! we Love you!

We got to be with both of our dads on father's day this year! we are so blessed to have such Godly men as our dads! Thank you both for raising us to serve the Lord and seek Him in all we do!

I forgot the best parts....

So i totally forgot to blog about 2 of the funnest parts of the beach trip for brody! first thing...he got to ride go-carts for the first time! he LOVED it! i guess the kids are suppsed to be 2 years old before they ride with a parent, but they let brody go anyways since hes such a big boy! he had a blast! he turned his steering wheel the whole time brian was driving....i really think he thought he was driving himself! everytime they would come by the deck i was watching from, brody would get a huge grin on his face and wave really big at me...he was so proud of himself:)
The other thing brody had a blast doing on the trip....We went to Big Al's (a burger place) for dinner. In the middle of the restaurant there is a dance floor and juke box. Brody got out on the dance floor with his 3 yr old cousin, Madison and had a ball! they danced up until it was time for our meal! Gotta love something to entertain the kids while your waiting for dinner! brian took some pics on his phone...i will have to upload them later! oh how i wish i had had the video camera!

Nags Head

We got to spend 4 glorious days at Nags Head this past week! Brians parents rented a house for all of us.....brians brother, his wife, their 3 kids (9,7, and 3 yrs old), brians sister, her husband and little boy ( 10 months old). It was such a great trip! he had a BLAST with his cousins! they were our permanent babysitters and great entertainers for Brody. Its always nice to have everyone under one roof for a few days to spend some good quality time together! Brody of course loved the beach and had a blast at the pool as well! Brody learned how to say "Meme" right before we left to go to Nags head, so everything was "meme this" and "meme that"! He asked for her the whole way home too! He loves his Meme:)We had a great vacation but we came home EXHAUSTED....Brody woke up so early every morning ready to play with his cousins, and we stayed up pretty late spending time with the family.

First Picks from the Garden!

i know that when you plant a garden the end result is of course lots of veggies..or so you hope! So why am i actually shocked and excited to find them? Today when we got home from our beach trip we thought maybe there would be some veggies ripe enough to pick. when we went to the garden we were shocked at how much everything had grown over the past few days we were gone! it was so fun lifting up the leaves and finding fresh, organic, produce right there on our own property....i love treasure hunts! we had a zucchini bigger than brians forearm! we picked some squash, zucchini, green peppers, and green beans. i have to admit..i was very skeptical when brian wanted to put in a garden. i knew it would be alot of work...but it was something he wanted to take on! and boy, am i glad he did! some pics are posted below of brody with some of the veggies. later i will be posting pics from our wonderful trip to NagsHead with brians family!

18 month check-up

At Brody's 18 month check-up yesterday he was 29 lbs 8 oz (85th percentile) and 36 inches tall... which is pretty much off the charts height-wise! (greater than the 97th percent) So he definitely got the tall genes from his daddy and his PopPop!

Potty Training?! and other big boy things

no...dont worry...im not potty training yet! but brody is definitely showing some signs that it wont be far away! i dont even know where to begin with this! i will definitely be enlisting the help of my mom-in-law for this one. she had her kids potty trained before 2 yrs old...so i know its possible:) anyways...brody has started telling me this week that he needs his diaper changed! everytime he needs it changed he comes to me and points at his diaper and says "momma, momma". He started this about a week ago, i dont think theres been one time since then that i have had to check for myself! ive heard people say that as soon as they start showing signs of being ready, to not pass the moment up! SO....i guess i gotta start getting some pointers and do some reading on potty training! im NOT looking forward to it though! any advice is greatly appreciated!

Today brody moved up a class at church:) i feel like everytime hes around older kids, he grows up on me! So the class he is in now, gets to go outside on the playground during church. I got to see him going from his classroom to the playground today....holding onto a little rope following all his friends. He looked so big! I cant believe he is old enough to do that!

Hes learning more and more words. i love when he just says a new word out of the blue, that i havent even tried to teach him! last night we were walking out to the barn to feed the horses before bed, and he pointed up at the sky and said "moon". He also FINALLY learned how to say his "MeMe's" name (brian's mom) this week. he couldnt figure out the difference of saying Momma and Meme. but he finally did it!

Memorial Day

There is so much to say about this weekend....stop reading now if you dont have time because this will be a VERY long post:)

i dont know where to begin except that is was WONDERFUL! My family has had our house at topsail beach since before i was born. i have SO many memories there! ALL of my summers growing up were spent there. and now Brody gets to enjoy it! its crazy that i was running around this house at 18 months old and now i have an 18 month old running around it!

The whole family was able to make it down this weekend....my parents, grandparents, my
brother parker and his new wife lindsay, and of course me, brian, and brody! it was so nice for us to all be under one roof for 4 days! Brody got to know his greatgrandparents and aunt and uncle very well! he figured out all of their names by the end of the weekend too! Mema (he calls her Mamaw), Papa, Parker (Ka-Ka) and Lindsay (something like Din-sey). its so fun to see him developing relationships with the most important people in his life! he had them all wrapped around his finger...he even got his 87 year old greatgrandmother in the sandbox with him:)


The weekend was more relaxing that i thought it would be. i had overly prepared myself for a weekend of NO relaxation and chasing brody around everywhere! if you have ever been to our house its RIGHT on the water. i mean, walk down the steps and take just 10 more and you will fall off of the bulkhead into the sound. so running around the yard really isnt an option for a 18 month old. i had honestly thought about taking a leash to attach to him! i was really worried about it! i knew i would have to hold his hand every minute he was outside (which he hates). but he actually did really well! we put the baby pool in the yard for him and that kept him very happy and contained:) it was also great to have so many people around to entertain him and keep an extra eye out!

My mom made the weekend so relaxing for us! she took care of brody alot of the time for us and told us that since she would have a whole week at the beach house in june for her vacation, she was going to give us our vacation by taking care of him! i even read an entire book while i was there...i cannot tell you the last time that has happened! it was SO nice! i LOVE MY MOMMY:)

Brody LOVED the beach. we had the boat down there with us, so of course he loved that. he thought it was fun watching everybody ski and wakeboard and would say uh-oh and get pretty worried if anyone fell:) he got braver and braver at the beach as the weekend went on. he ran in and out of the water and loved the sand! What a wonderful weekend...beautiful weather, my sweet boys, and my family who i love spending time with! it couldnt have been better!