America's Got Special Talent

Last night Tyson performed at the America's Got Special Talent show.  It was amazing!  I'm working on getting the video, but will share the few pictures I took.  I think Tyson was born to perform!  He was so excited for his "performace".  The entire drive there is legs would not stop moving because of his excitement.  His group was awesome.  Tyson knew his parts so well.  He had to act like a buzzing bee and a seal.  As the bee he put his arms out and buzzed all across the stage.  As the seal he clapped his hands together like fins and made a fantastic seal noise.  And of course his bow went on and on.  All the other kids has left the stage and he was still standing out there bowing.  The place was packed and it didn't even phase him.  I think he might have a future in drama! 

Every performace was amazing and every performer had the time of their lives.  But the most awesome part of the night was watching the high schoolers work with these performers.  They were all so good with them, and they were all so patient with them, and they were all so proud of them.  Abosolutely amazing!  There are awesome kids out there.  There are kids who are going to grow up and love and respect my boys the same way family does.  It was almost a sense of relief.  Next year you are all invited to come down and experience this with us. 

Sorry for all the "awesome" and "amazings" in this post.  But really it was so awesome and amazing!

This is how Charlie sat the entire night!

Buzzing Bee is ready!

The Seal

And the bow after his part!

The bow is coming!  The bow is coming!

And bow!

 

Read this today and thought I would share!

40 Tips for Happy Health Life - MUST READ & SHARE
Health:
1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants, and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
4. Live with the 3 E’s — Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.
5. Make time for prayer and reflection
6. Play more games.
7. Read more books than you did in 2012.
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
9. Sleep for 7 hours.


Personality:
10. Take a 10-30 minutes walk every day —- and while you walk, smile.
11. Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
12. Don’t have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
13. Don’t over do; keep your limits.
14. Don’t take yourself so seriously; no one else does.
15. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip.
16. Dream more while you are awake.
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
18. Forget issues of the past. Don’t remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don’t hate others.
20. Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
23. Smile and laugh more.
24. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.


Community:
25. Call your family often.
26. Each day give something good to others.
27. Forgive everyone for everything.
28. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
30. What other people think of you is none of your business.
31. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your family and friends will. Stay in touch.


Life:
32. Do the right things.
33. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
34. Forgiveness heals everything.
35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
37. The best is yet to come.
38. When you awake alive in the morning, don’t take it for granted – embrace life.
39. Your inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

Last but not least:
40. Enjoy LIFE!

Sports Day

Yesterday we spent the entire day watching sports.  Joel is in Vegas, so it was just me and the boys.  We started with Tyson having his first basketball practice.  One of our friends offered to take him so I let him go with them.  He went by himself to basketball practice.  This may seem like a little thing to most people but in our world it really is a big deal.  I am always amazed when my little man can do things just like a "normal" kid.  It feels good.   

Next up was the men's KSU basketball game.  We had an extra ticket so we drug our friend Trysta with us and she is way better at taking pictures so I actually have pictures to share.  The boys were so excited!

 

 

After the game we stuck around to get some autographs and Charlie was all about it.  Tyson wanted the autographs, but was too star struck to get close to them.  He kept saying, "Charlie will get them for me!"  It was pretty funny the little brother was doing all the work.  Charlie stood in line like a champ and then posed for pictures.  He had a blast!

Shane Southwell and Charlie had a great talk about Mario and Luigi!

Will Spradling

I love that Nino Williams is smiling at Charlie the entire time he is signing.

So proud!

And last, JO #21!  They were all so nice to him!

 

That night we went back to Bramlage to watch the women play too.  Tyson of course picked the girl named Brittany to cheer for. (remember his obsession with the Chipmunks!) We waited for autographs from them too, but we didn't get any pictures.  Both the men and women won.  It was a great day to be a Wildcat!

 

And of course after that game I had to come home and watch the Packers beat the Vikings!!  What a fun day!

Merry Christmas!

I have a ton of things to go back to on this blog but I think I will start current and then scatter in some old ones as I go.  Christmas was wonderful this year.  The boys were so into all of it.  Santa, Christmas music, Elf on the Shelf, and Tyson also informed me that "it is Jesus's birthday."  Gotta love that kid, you never know when he is really paying attention.  December is always a crazy busy time of year, so I just took it one event at a time and I have managed to stay migraine free, which for me is amazing! 

Our countdown to Christmas is a little different than most.  The boys don't really know the date or understand the calendar very well so we just convince them that December 22nd is acutally December 25th and is Christmas day in Kansas.  So far it has worked out very well, because Santa comes here on "December 25th" and then we go to Iowa to celebrate.  By the time we see most of the cousins Santa has visited them and there are no questions asked.  It is silly I know, but I don't want to have to explain why Santa comes early to Kansas.  So anyway, we had our Christmas here and it was awesome.  Tyson was a bit into the stage where it was all about me and my presents, but we tried to get him excited to give too.  I LOVE giving presents!

Christmas Eve bubble bath!

Santa even brought Molly a new bed!

The Aftermath

Molly, the pirate dog

 

We started our Iowa celebration with the Lundstrom's, and with 2 new babies this year it is starting to feel a little more "Baldus-like".  Lots of food, lots of presents, and lots of great family time!  Since there are still quite a few less kids I buy them matching pajamas every year and we try really hard to get a picture with all of them.  You can follow the progression with me.  Makes me laugh!

 

And we're done! :)

 

Next up was the Baldus side of the family.  I once again took zero pictures of this craziness.  We had an awesome sit down dinner with all of us at one table.  It was so nice.  The present opening is something everyone should witness once in their life.  During gift opening Charlie would open a present and then go around the room and give EVERYONE a hug.  Probably the best story this year was when Tyson opened a present from my brother.  He opened it up and got excited about the Wii game, kept looking to see what else was in there and pulled out a Vikings jersey.  He picked up the jersey, said "it's too big", dropped it on the floor and then held up the Wii game again.  I loved his reaction! 

 

The day after Christmas we all went bowling together.  It was a great visit with lots of fun times.  Tyson decided he wants to move to Iowa.  I think it has something to do with all his cousins living there.  He loves spending time with all of them.

 

 

 

 

 

Skipping Ahead a Bit

I have a lot more to catch up on but this story is too cute not to share.  Elf on a Shelf is everywhere these days so you are probably aware of who he is, but he flies to the North Pole every night and gives Santa an update of how the kids were that day.  Then he flies back and sits in a different place.  Tyson and Charlie are amazed by this little guy and enjoy every morning finding him.  Well, the first day he came Tyson came home from school after a fantastic day.  I found him standing right in front of the elf telling him exactly what happened that day at school.  He said, "I worked really hard during table time.  I had a really good day at school with all smiley faces.  And I got 100% on my test!  Will you tell Santa that?"  So cute!

Cuddle Time

Charlie was relaxing before school the other day and Molly decided to join him.  It was so cute!  They laid together for about 10 minutes, which if you know Charlie at all, NEVER happens.

Happy Halloween from Spiderman and Collin Klein!