Brody turns 7!

Brody turned 7 on June 7. It was his golden birthday!!! 

We told him he could pick anything for a trip for our whole family to take for his golden birthday and he chose to stay at the Great Wolf Lodge in Wisconsin Dells. More pictures about that later.

These same questions were asked of him at ages 6, 5, & 4.

What is your favorite color?
*Red

How old are you?
*Seven!

Where do you live?
*in Minot

Who lives with you?
*Julie, Dad, Dane & Reed

Who is your pet?
*Marby

What do you like to watch on TV? 
*Teen Titans Go & Paw Patrol & Blaze & Umizoomi

Who are your friends?
*Skylar, Delaney & Branson, Brailynn, Quinn..

 Where does your dad work?
*Where oil is

Where does your mom work?
*nowhere

Where do you go to school?
*Longfellow

What do you want to be when you grow up?
*Construction builder & a sprinkler fixer & a firefighter

What is your favorite toy?
*Demolition Lab

What is it like outside?
*Windy!

What is your favorite food?
*pizza

What is your favorite thing to say?
*Woohoo, yay!

 What is your favorite song?
*TNT by AC/DC

 When do you go to bed?
*at 8:30?

What is Mom good at?
*cooking

 What is Dad good at?
*helping us learn

 What is Mom's favorite color?
*Purple & Pink

What is Dad's favorite color?
*Black & Maroon

How tall is Dad?
*6 feet tall

What is Dane good at?
*listening

What is Reed good at?
*being naughty

 What is Dad's favorite thing to do?
*Help us learn

What is Mom's favorite thing to do?
*Play with us

What animal would you be if you could be one?
*Snake

 Who is the nicest person you know?
*Dad

How tall are you?
*8 tall

 How old is Mom?
*34

How old is Dad?
*38

Do you know any jokes?
*Knock, knock
Who's there?
banana
banana who?
Knock, knock
Who's there?
banana
banana who?
Knock, knock
Who's there?
banana
banana who?
Knock, knock
Who's there?
banana
banana who?
Knock, knock
Who's there?
banana
banana who?
Knock, knock
Who's there?
banana
banana who?
Knock, Knock
Who's there?
Orange
Orange who?
Orange you glad I didn't say banana?


 What is something Mom always says?
*Stop being naughty.

 What is something Dad always says?
*Listen!

 How are we the same?
*We used to wear glasses, but now you don't. We both don't have socks on. We both have hands, arms, feet, legs, a face.

 If you could be on a cartoon, who would you be?
*Shrek

Where is your favorite place to go?
*To granny's!

Dane Voeller, Age 8

I asked Dane all these same questions at ages 4, 5, 6, & 7. Here are his answers to the same questions at age 8....

Interview with Dane R Voeller, Age 8:

What is your favorite color?
*Blue

How old are you?
*Eight

Where do you live?
*in Minot

Who lives with you?
*my mom, Julie, my dad, Dustin, my brother Brody and my littler brother Reed, and my cat Marby

Who is your pet?
*Marby

What do you like to watch on TV? 
*probably Teen Titans Go

Who are your friends?
*Connor, Paul, Braylon, those are my main friends, then McKaine, Kaidra, Niji

 Where does your dad work?
*Whiting Oil

Where does your mom work?
*She doesn't work anywhere, but she watches Reed

Where do you go to school?
*the Longfellow Elementary

What do you want to be when you grow up?
*NHL hockey player, left wing or center

What is your favorite toy?
*iPad time

What is it like outside?
*Rainy and stuff

What is your favorite food?
*hot dogs

What is your favorite thing to say?
*I don't have anything that's really my favorite thing to say.

 What is your favorite song?
*Shoot to Thrill

 When do you go to bed?
*mom wants me to go to bed about 7:15

What is Mom good at?
*playing piano, not blowing her temper so much, being nice

 What is Dad good at?
*good at his job, being funny at the right time, teaching me how to play sports

 What is Mom's favorite color?
*Purple

What is Dad's favorite color?
*probably silver

How tall is Dad?
*6 feet

What is Brody good at?
*Making me mad, drawing and coloring inside the lines, telling stories.

What is Reed good at?
*walking around, being funny, trying new stuff

 What is Dad's favorite thing to do?
*Watch a Twins game

What is Mom's favorite thing to do?
*Sit down outside and read a magazine

What animal would you be if you could be one?
*Lion

 Who is the nicest person you know?
*Mom, and my whole family

How tall are you?
*almost a little shorter than 2 meters

 How old is mom?
*25...?

Do you know any jokes?
*I forgot all my good ones.

 What is something Mom always says?
*Calm down!
We're going somewhere exciting!
I have a secret!

 What is something Dad always says?
*Good job, Twins!
Please listen to Mom, tomorrow!

 How are we the same?
*We are both stern to Brody sometimes. We both have bare feet right now.

 If you could be on a TV show, who would you be?
*Cyborg on Teen Titans Go

Where is your favorite place to go?
*any waterpark

Halloween 2016

Brody's kindergarten program

Mom breaks a finger - April 2016

One Thursday in April, while home alone with Reed, I fell down the stairs (for no real reason whatsoever) and ended up with a broken pinky.

My feet slipped off the front of the step and in my effort to catch myself and make sure Reed didn't fall as well, I landed on the side of my hand, breaking a bone in my pinky finger 3 different ways, all crossing each other in different ways. After seeing a hand doctor, I was scheduled for surgery to set the bones.

Right pinky, broken....

Left pinky, not broken.

Whole hand, puffy and bruised. 

This is just a picture of my left hand and arm, showing all the bruising from the attempts the nurses made to get my IV started before surgery. That was honestly the worst part! After 5 nurses unsuccessfully poking and prodding me, they put me under with gas in the OR & did everything they needed to once I wasn't screaming. I suppose that was somewhat easier.

About 10 days post-surgery and the first time I'd seen this part of my hand since before surgery. It was in a hard cast the whole time and was in one for another week or more following this appointment where they removed my stitches. 

Of course, this is my right hand, because who catches themselves when they fall with their non-dominant hand? 

Things proved to be difficult for a while until I developed some skills with my left hand, surprisingly! However, shampooing one's hair in the shower, changing a diaper, cutting up chicken, all are quite difficult with one hand!

X-ray following removal of stitches! 

The doctor put 4 screws in that one little bone and said it was the hardest time he had setting a bone. Luckily, the joints were not damaged!

After a couple of months of hand therapy, I have mostly full regular use of my finger and hand again, with minor aches now and then, and minimal awkwardness of a crooked finger!

I'm just glad Reed didn't get hurt and it wasn't worse!

Of everyone in our house, I am quite surprised I was the one to have a broken bone. Thankfully, it was me instead of anyone else!

Boys March 2016

I think this might have been the 100th day of school. 

Either way, Reed insists on being in all the pictures the big boys take now.

Device time after school one day....

Easter egg hunt

Reed's new favorite expressions...