The last cuddle?

Last night I got to cuddle with my son. He woke up screaming and crying, so I went to see what was wrong; he was acting like he had a bad dream (I'm not sure if they can have dreams yet at their age-I've heard they have to be able to speak to dream, but thats what it seemed like). Nathan made him a bottle and I held and rocked him- he seemed like he just needed to be held for a while. I was all for that, since he never really wants to cuddle anymore. But last night he was content to just lay in my arms, and watched a little tv with me, and slept a little. :) I finally decided that he would sleep better if I put him back to bed, so as I walked up the stairs, carrying him close to me in my arms, I went as slowly as I could- trying to make the moment last a little longer. And as I'm writing this now, I want to cry because I've missed cuddling with him and I'm not sure if there will be many (or any) more chances to hold him like I did last night.

1st birthday party!

Jonathan had a great party yesterday! He seemed to have a lot of fun, even though he was a little tired (he wouldn't nap before the party). It was mostly family (My mom and dad, Rachel, Matt, Ron and Linda), and my friend Vanessa came too! It was nice because there was a lot of visiting as well as being there for Jonathan! Nathan helped Jonathan open presents first, and everyone gave him some really cute toys, books and clothes. Then we sang happy birthday to him, and my mom helped him blow out his candle. I had made Jonathan a bear cake (which didn't turn out to be up to my standards, haha. I'm not the best at decorating cakes...) Then we cut the cake... and gave Jonathan his frosted cupcake (the real cake had chocolate and butterscotch chips that I didn't want him to choke on). He LOVED it! And he made a mess, but it wasn't as big of a mess as I thought it would be.

The Bear cake. Not the best cake I've ever seen HAHA!

The table decorated for the party...

His highchair ready for the mess!

His banner....

The party hat that came with his kit... I didn't make him wear it for the party :)

People! Dad, Linda, Matt and Nathan

Vanessa- I caught her off guard lol :)

Matt and Rachel....

Mom, Rachel, Vanessa, Dad, Matt, Linda and Ron

I don't know who took this but me and Jonathan....

Nathan and Jonathan opening presents!

Toys and clothes!

And a bag!

Ribbon and more toys!

A book!

Matt playing with one of Jonathans toys :)

A winter hat!

Linda and Vanessa watching Jonathan


Playing with his toys...

Jonathan, Rachel and Mom

Nathan and Jonathan, and Linda, Vanessa, Dad, Ron and Matt

Singing Happy Birthday to Jonathan!

Mmm a cupcake!

He LOVES the frosting!

Savoring the taste! One of my favorite pictures!

He has a hold of his cupcake :)


Trying out the ice cream as well as the cake!

I think everyone had a great time and I was glad that they came to help Jonathan celebrate his 1st birthday! :)

A month gone by...

I can't believe its almost a whole month since I've written last. I was trying to wait till we got highspeed internet back, because dial-up internet stinks- anyways, it doesn't look like we're going to get it for awhile, so I figured I would just write. It has been a busy month. Before she passed away, my Grandma asked Nathan and I if we would live in their house- to keep it in the family. The rest of the family (immediate and extended) were ok with it, so we have been in the process of moving. We are mostly moved in now. There are still a couple of rooms that still need a lot of work (We are needing to clean out the house as well as move our stuff in) but thats okay. It is a bit hard living here, I will look in a room and imagine my Grandparents here and what they would be doing if they were still living, such as my Grandpa sitting at his kitchen table looking through all his mail... my Grandma working on her latest Jigsaw puzzle... or them both sitting in the living room watching the Lawrence Welk Show. I miss them a lot, sometimes I wish I could go back in time and just give them one more hug and tell them I love them just one more time...

On another note, I hosted Thanksgiving this year. My parents have been off on a cruise- in fact they will just be getting back in a couple of days. So they missed Thanksgiving this year, but I'm sure they needed a vacation more. Anyways, my sister and brother came over and I made turkey (for the first time!), mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, corn and rolls for dinner. I also made a fruit dip and fruit tray, and made a cheeseball (homemade, NOT storebought!) to eat with crackers. Dinner was so good- if I do say so myself lol. I know i'm bragging a little bit, but I'm meaning too! lol. But seriously, I was kinda doubting that I could pull it off, but I did pretty good for the first time.

Jonathans birthday is coming up, or rather his birthday party. His 1 year birthday is on the 18th, but we are celebrating it on the 13th. I'm going to try to make a bear cake for it, unless I chicken out and just buy a cake... :) I think I'm going to try though. I'm very much excited to celebrate his birthday and then Christmas soon after!

I think I have rambled on for long enough! For those of you who have blogs that I usually read, I am sorry to have missed so much of yours. When I get highspeed internet I will try to catch up as quickly as I can! I am looking forward to reading all that I have missed!

Grandparents' obits...

I basically just wanted to save these so I'm putting them in here.

Keyt, Evelyn V.
Evelyn V. Keyt October 30, 1919 - November 4, 2008 AMITY - Evelyn V. Keyt was born in Turner, Oregon to Warren and Anna Hatch Pitman. She was the fourth of five siblings. She grew up near Florence, Oregon. She graduated from Oregon Normal School (WOCS) and taught elementary school at Perrydale. Evelyn married Kenneth Keyt in Monmouth on May 30, 1943. She became a special education teacher and superintendent of Special Education for Yamhill County. She was a member of the Amity Church of Christ, Perrydale Goodwill Club, and Polk County Historical Society. Evelyn was preceded in death by her husband, Kenneth on October 19, 2008. She is survived by her sons, Keith of Tacoma, Ron (Linda) of Salem; and daughter, Nadine (Tom) of Perrydale; many grandchildren, great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. Viewing will be from 2 to 8 p.m. Friday, November 7 in the Dallas Mortuary Tribute Center. A graveside service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, November 8 in the Bethel Cemetery in Amity followed by a memorial service at the Amity Church of Christ at 12 p.m. Arrangements by Dallas Mortuary Tribute Center.
Published in the StatesmanJournal on 11/5/2008

Keyt, Kenneth Klinton
Kenneth Klinton Keyt November 25, 1915-October 19, 2008 AMITY - Kenneth Keyt was born November 25, 1915 to Henry and Lucia Keyt. He was born in the same house where he lived the rest of his life. Ken had three sisters, Frances, Lucille and Ruth. He began farming after his graduation from Perrydale High School and spent his life farming that land. In 1943, Ken was married to Evelyn Pitman and they had three children. Ken served as a member of the Perrydale School Board for a number of years, as well as several farm organizations during his life. He was a loving father and grandfather and a friend to many. Ken was well known for his honesty and integrity, and a longtime member of the Amity Church of Christ. Until just the last few years, Ken and Evelyn had the opportunity to travel to many different countries. Kenneth Keyt is survived by his wife, Evelyn V. Keyt; their three children, Keith of Tacoma, Wash., Nadine and her husband Tom of Perrydale, and Ronald and his wife Linda of Salem; numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandchild. Graveside services will be held on at 1 p.m. on Saturday, October 25 in the Bethel Cemetery with a Memorial service to follow in the Amity Church of Christ. Service arrangements are under the direction of Dallas Mortuary Tribute Center in Dallas, Oregon.
Published in the StatesmanJournal from 10/22/2008 - 10/23/2008

Grandparents...

I'm not sure how this blog is going to turn out, but I will try it.

This last month has been a rough one. My grandparents were in a horrible car accident on October 10th. They were trying to cross a very dangerous highway near where they lived. They didn't see a car coming and tried to cross, and that car hit them. They both went to different hospitals. My grandpa went to the Dallas Hospital, and then to Corvallis Hospital. He was paralyzed from the neck down and had to be on a ventilator. My grandma was taken to the Salem Hospital with badly bruised ribs and a contusion on her heart. They both were in the hospitals for about a week and a half. My grandma had an angiogram done and we found out that she had just weeks to live. There was almost 100% blockage in her heart. My grandpa, who was able to mouth words after getting a trachea put in, asked and was told about how my grandma was. He asked to be taken off the ventilator after he found out she wouldn't live much longer. He didn't want to spend the rest of his life paralyzed anyways, that's not who he was. He was always a very active person. We all got to say our goodbyes and our "I love yous" and on October 19th they stopped the ventilator. He was 92 years old. By the time we had the service for him, my grandma was out of the hospital and in a private care facility. She would never be able to go back home, needing 24 hour medical care. Last weekend she started refusing to eat, and got really weak, and she had more and more problems. It seemed like she had given up. She had told me before that she just didn't want to live anymore. If I was 89 and my husband of 60+ years died, I would probably feel the same way. She died this last Tuesday, November 4th. The service will be this Saturday. I loved my grandparents very very much. They had good long lives, and they loved and helped many people. I have learned so much from them. They were the hardest-working people I knew, and devout Christians. They were the type of "Christian" that you don't see everyday anymore (unfortunately). They LIVED it. Its so hard to believe that they are gone, I miss them so much. I thought I would post some pictures of them as sort of a tribute, though they deserve much more.

My Grandparents:
Kenneth Keyt (1915-2008) and Evelyn Keyt (1919-2008)

Episode 4: Ohio Trip- Monday and Tuesday

Monday and Tuesday was kind of a blur... :) Monday morning we hung out at home for a bit, and then went to Bob Evans for breakfast. If you have never been to a Bob Evans, you need to try it! It is a really good breakfast place although they do have a lot of lunch and dinner stuff too. Unfortunately I think they are only on the east coast... and possibly only Ohio- but I'm not sure about that. Anyways, it leaves Ihop and Denny's in the dust; its so great! After that we went by target to grab some diapers... I thought that 40 for the trip would be enough, apparently not! Then we kinda lazed around for a bit and Matt had to go to work. Beth had wanted me to come see their house renovations so we all went over there and visited for a bit, and then later that evening we went to the Kohlers to say our goodbyes. Tuesday morning we left for the Pittsburgh airport at 6 am. I was up around 4 am packing, that was lots of fun... :) We got to the airport and waited to board. We were finally just settled on the plane when a flight attendent came and asked us if we were the Brake family. We said yes, and they said they had overbooked the flight to San Francisco. They asked us if we would like to get to Portland a half hour early and get two free rountrip tickets to anywhere in the US (besides Alaska or Hawaii). So we decided to do that, so instead of San Fransisco our layover was in Chicago. It ended up being a good thing because from Pittsburgh to San Fransisco the flight was going to be over 5 hours. From Chicago to Portland was 4 hours and Jonathan was so bored on the flight (He would not play with any of his toys) and wanted so much attention from everyone on board that it seemed like we got to Portland JUST in time! :) On the flight to Chicago Jonathan slept the whole way, and on the flight to Portland he slept for 2 hours. So that was nice. We all were cranky this day so we were just all glad to be home! But we had a very good time on the trip!


Jonathan playing with his toys Monday morning


Playing with the Rockband drum pedal (he kept trying to play with that and with the rockband guitars- I guess he really wanted to play lol)


Cute overall outfit! :)


Playing with Matt (He looks sad or mad in this picture, but he wasn't lol)


Matching hats!


Mmmm!


Kissing or biting Matt's hat :)


What a little stud!


This has got to be one of my fav pictures of Jonathan! What a cutie!


Hehe, I like this one too! :)


At Bob Evans, playing with a crayon (with me watching closely so he wouldn't eat it- which he tried to do! lol)


Cute!


Eating applesauce


Jonathan playing with Jamie :)


And Jonathan inspecting her face and teeth lol :)


Nathan playing around with a motorized cart at target. Jonathan had fun lol (as I'm looking around to see if security is coming! Haha!)


Jonathan


Cute video of Jonathan climbing on coffee table


Megan and Jonathan at Beth's house


Kaylee, Beths daughter


Kathy and Jamie


Nathan playing with the boys, Ryan Jr. and Tyler...


Ryan Jr. and Tyler


Kathy and Jonathan watching Nathan and I play Rockband (again! lol)


So cute sleeping!


Gwenna (Robins daughter) and Robin in background.


Jonathan playing with and eating the xylophone at the Kohlers


How cute!


Still cute!


More cute! HAHA


Grace and Jonathan. She was really cute with him- you can tell in the following video :)




Me and Jonathan at the Pittsburgh airport early in the morning lol


Jonathan sleeping on Nathan on the way to Chicago. He slept the whole flight (1 hr 15 min.)

Jonathan wasn't the only one who slept the whole flight lol :)

Chicago, the city I want to go to the most to visit and sightsee...

Chicago! I really want to go back!

On the flight to Portland

And we're home! :)

And that concludes Episode 4 and our trip! :) Finally lol!