Crazy Kids

It is kind of a nut house around here as of late. Presley is a mess. Now that she is walking she is IN TO EVERYTHING. I remember this stage with Brady, but Presley is much more curious than Brady ever was. She takes "no" as a challenge, while Brady took that as something he just wasn't supposed to do.  

 

Brady is a talker and talks all the time. I mean you wouldn't believe how much he can talk.

 

Caleb and I look at each other with our "this is our life" look nearly every day. Extra special days we give that look to each other multiple times throughout.

I thought I would share some highlights of our beautiful, crazy life...

 

Conversation with Brady while washing some dishes...
Brady: Mom, we need to get some CLR.
Me: CLR, what, why?
Brady: because you see how the water comes out all crazy from the faucet, it would fix that.

 

I walked in Brady's room the other day to find this...

This was while Brady was "cleaning" his room. Obviously he is super efficient in cleaning. She was dancing up there, by the way. Oh my...

 

In the car today Brady was singing a song we sing at church and functions some called Jesus is Lord. The men lead and the women echo. Well, Brady was singing and he turned to look at Presley and said, "Presley, you are supposed to sing exactly what I sing right after me."

 

Presley decided to feed Rylan(the baby I keep) a goldfish cracker the other day. Fortunately, I realized what happened and was able to remove it from his mouth before he chocked on it.

 

Presley did this while I was feeding Rylan his bottle one day...

She loves pushing buttons on the tv.

 

Presley keeps sneaking into our bathroom, opening the top drawer, pulling out Caleb's toothbrush, and brushing her teeth, her hair, or both.

 

Presley pulled some bread and ranch dressing out of the trash and continued to dip her bread and suck off the ranch. So gross. (I immediately stopped this and washed her.)

 

Presley has dumped an entire bag of goldfish, the complete contents of Brady's bathroom drawer, and pretty much any thing else she touches.

 

I was watching Full House while eating my lunch one day and Presley was rebelling against nap time. She apparently really likes Full House.

 

I promise I watch them. I can go to the bathroom and come back to mayhem.

Our lives are kind of crazy, but it is an oh so good crazy. I wouldn't give anything in the world for it. 

Jack-O-Lantern

I have so much to catch up on...

Caleb and Brady carved a Jack-O-Lantern Thursday morning. Caleb didn't have to be at work until later in the day, so they got to enjoy some time together in the morning.

 

Brady picked the design. I didn't see him clean out the "guts", but I am told he did. He said, "they are squishy."

 

Caleb went inside to get some scissors and Brady started carving into the pumpkin on his own. He is so independent it is dangerous some times. Luckily, it was just the jack-o-lantern kit knifes, not a real knife.  We have had them for several years so they aren't that sharp and they are small.

 

I can't say that carving pumpkins is my favorite activity. I don't like the cleaning out the guts and getting all sticky and yucky. I will do it, but I would rather paint the pumpkins! Caleb is such a good daddy.

 

Brady was so proud of his pumpkin. He carved the nose all on his own. (Ignore the real spider web in the back ground. Obviously I didn't sweep the porch or remove the cobwebs before the picture.) He looks huge in this picture.

Painting pumpkins

We picked up a couple little pumpkins at the Pumpkin Patch last week. I had told Brady we could paint them one day next week. He literally asked every day and some days multiple times a day to paint his pumpkin. Monday I decided we would paint them. The weather was perfect outside.

 

I painted Presley's while Brady painted his.

 

His is definitely unique!

 

 

Presley just watched all the action. Brady said over and over, "I think Presley really wants to paint." I kept telling him, she can paint one next year.

 

 

 

 

 This may become a yearly tradition. I enjoy this much more than carving. We did get a pumpkin gor carving. I think that will be a Daddy/Brady project closer to Halloween! :) Next year, I will have to get my own to paint.

 

I love fall decorations.

Being Kind

For a while now, we have had a problem with Brady being nice, particularly to my grandparents, his great grandparents. I am fortunate to have 2 living grandmothers, 1 living grandfather, and a bonus living grandfather(my grandmother remarried after her husband passed). They are all crazy about the great grand kids. It is such a blessing to for Brady and Presley to have so many great grandparents living and in good enough health to have a relationship. However, Brady is not always nice and friendly to them. That is really all they want from him, a hug, kiss, and some attention. Of course it was worse when Brady was tired, hungry, or trying to play, but that is not an excuse to be unkind to anyone. Ever. Period. (With this I have tried to make sure I am living the kindness I expect from my children. I am not perfect. Raising children reminds me of that every day!)

So, Brady and I came up with a plan. We made a "Nice Chart" and some ground rules. Caleb and I would be on the watch for acts of kindness by Brady and each act of kindness earned a sticker. We set a goal of 20 stickers and then a prize of picking out a toy at Toys-R-Us. It took Brady a couple days to really comprehend the deal, but once he did he had an amazing transformation. Along with each sticker, we wrote down what he did that was nice and talked about why it was nice. He began requesting to give the great-grandparents a hug instead of the other way around. He also doesn't expect a reward, it has just become more of habit. This has been very helpful in communicating exactly which acts are nice and which are not. We tried to keep it all very positive and not focus on the unkind moments, but the kind moments.

He finally put his 20th sticker on his chart and today we took our special outing. I let him pick where he wanted lunch and then we went to Toys-R-Us for his prize.

He chose Chic-fil-A which worked out perfectly because it was really hot today and he got to burn some energy in the play place. While we were eating, he looked up at me with his big blue eyes and said, "Thank you Mommy!"

He decided he had played enough and was ready to go so we headed to Toys-R-Us. Brady was so funny shopping for his toy. He took it very serious and wanted to be sure to make the best decision. This is what he finally settled on.

We made a quick trip to Wal-mart and then came home for a nap. Little Presley slept the entire time we were out! So nice!

Here is my sweet girl today! She loves her play mat!

 Note: I stole the chart idea from a friend of mine. I wish I would have thought of it on my own. It really does take a village.

All About Brady

I did a quick questionnaire with Brady a few months ago and I thought I would do it again since we are just a couple of months away from adding a new baby to our family. I hope to do this in a few months after she is born to see if his answers have changed!

I also have seen several Meet My Mom and Meet My Dad questionnaires on Pinterest and thought I would throw those in as well!

1. What is your name?         B-R-A-D-Y,  He spelled it out!           

2. How old are you? 3
3. Where do you live?  Murfreesboro
4. What is your favorite color? Purple
5. What is your favorite animal? Snake
6. What makes you happy?  my snake
7. What makes you sad? I don't know, but you know what makes me mad? That Kayla(Brady's aunt) left her car at Gigi and Papa's, because she is not supposed to do that.
8. What is your favorite toy? cars
9. What is your favorite food? Macaroni
10. What is your favorite song?         ABC's

11. Who is your best friend? Grady
12. What do you want to be when you grow up?(added by request from my mom:)) A man just like my daddy

Meet My Dad.

1. What is my daddy's name? Caleb

2. What does daddy do for fun? baseball

3.  What does daddy do at work? make money

4. What is daddy's favorite thing to eat? Strawberries

5. What is daddy's favorite thing to drink? Tea

6. How old is daddy? 2

7. What is daddy's hair like? brown

8. What is daddy's favorite thing to do? look at the computer

9. What is your favorite to do with daddy? play baseball

10. What makes daddy the best? he plays ball with me

Meet My Mom.

1. What is mommy's name? Amber

2. What does mommy do for fun? clean the kitchen

3. What does mommy do at work? make money

4. What is mommy's thing to eat? Macaroni too!

5. What is mommy's favorite thing to drink? Tea

6. How old is mommy? 2

7. What is mommy's hair like? brown

8. What is mommy's favorite thing to do? watch t.v.

9. What is your favorite thing to do with mommy? clean the kitchen

10. What makes mommy the best? the baby

Park, Peer Pressure, and Proud Parents

Today, Caleb was off and the weather was so nice. We decided to pack a lunch and head to the park. Brady literally jumped at the idea. He loves the park! He loves his daddy! So, daddy plus park is a win win.

After we ate our lunch the boys played baseball for a little while. The wind was a little chilly on that side of the park, so they stopped.

Brady spent some time on the playground. Brady and I frequently visit this playground when the weather is appropriate. Brady has discovered how I expect him to act and knows what he can and can not do. I have invested a lot of time and efforts redirecting him from undesirable behaviors. Most of the time I feel like it is pointless, especially with all the other kids around. Some parents, like me, continually watch and monitor their children. However, others seem to open the van door to let the kid out and then open the van door to pile them back in.

As Caleb and I were sitting on the park bench observing the kids playing, we noticed Brady had picked one particular little boy to play with. The boy was a little older than Brady and a little bigger. Brady was the follower of the friendship, chasing the kid and doing particular park activities when the kid suggested them.

 As I casually watched while reading my Kindle, I noticed the boy Brady playing with climbing up the slide. This is a huge pet peeve of mine. The slide is made to slide down. It is dangerous for one kid to go up while one goes down. I have relentlessly taught Brady we do not climb up the slide.

One of my most vivid childhood memories is of my sister going down the slide at a fast food play place at a birthday party as another child climbed up the slide. One bloody mouth and nose later, I decided I, nor any children under my care, would be climbing up the slide. I was a little girl, but it made an impression on me.

Back to today...

The other child yells down to Brady, "hey climb up here." It took every ounce of my being to not jump up and scold Brady before he had even done it. I believe I actually said out loud to Caleb "oh he isn't allowed to do that". However, Brady looks at him and says ok, but walks around to the ladder. Caleb and I were so impressed. 1 point for Brady. I was so happy I didn't interfere. Lesson learned, sometimes you need to see how it plays out before you get involved.

Several rounds around the playground and the situation was replayed with the exact results. 2 points for Brady.

Then the other child decided maybe this kid physically can't climb up the slide, I should help him. We watched as the wheels turned inside his 4 year old or so brain. He grabbed Brady's hand and proceeded to try and pull Brady up the slide. Before the "ady" of Brady left Caleb's mouth, Brady was maneuvering his hand free from the grip of peer pressure and continued to run around to the ladder.

Homerun for Brady.


This was much bigger than him climbing up the slide or not.

I have had many proud moments during this parenting journey, as well as some embarrassed and not so proud moments. I am certain more of both will show up in the future. But for today, I am proud! I am proud that my tiny, baby boy is becoming a secure, confident, strong,well- behaved little boy. I am proud that he remembered what he was taught and to apply it even when it wasn't popular. I am proud, I let him. I am proud, I was able to witness him obeying without me constantly reminding him.


 I hope I can remember this when he is 16 and hopping behind that wheel for the first time. I pray I can remember when he is picking up that girl for his first date. I hope I can remember when he moves his things our for college.

I want to be the type of mother who teaches by words and example, then trusts her children to follow her. I don't want to preach and smother, but with a toddler, it can feel like that is all I do.

I needed to witness this today. I needed a glimpse of the child we are raising. I needed a boost of confidence that maybe there is a chance he might turn out all right.

Brady amazes me every day.  I am often in awe of things he does or says and have no idea when, how, or if I contibuted to his amazingness.  He is truly a special little boy. I tend to blame myself for his faults, but not for his strengths.


 At least today, I feel as though we are doing something right and I can sleep a little sounder. Whatever that "right" thing is, I pray it sticks around and this was only a preview of Brady's reaction to peer pressure.

Today was a good day!

Oh, the difference a week can make...

This week we have attempted to get back to normal around here. Brady has gotten back to regular nap and bed time. He also seems to be in a more cooperative mood. This is good for every one.

I have lived in Tennessee my whole life and the weather has always been crazy. Sunny and warm one day and freezing and snowing the next. It is always a toss up on how you should dress any given day, any given season, except summer is usually hot and humid, but I have worn a sweat shirt or long sleeves on the 4th of July before. You learn to go with it and love it. 

This week has been no exception. The first part of this week was FREEZING! Literally! Today and yesterday, however, have been so nice. It was in the 60's today! Caleb didn't have to go into work until this afternoon, so we all spent some time playing outside.

Brady loves baseball and got a tee for Christmas. Caleb and Brady found a helmet in the garage, so Brady had to play with it.  

We played other things outside today as well, but I didn't get any pictures of that. His go to thing to play outside with is baseball. Sometimes I wish we could play something different, but that is what he wants. Brady always knows what he wants.

He kept asking me if I was watching the ball game and eating a hot dog. Ha Ha!

Sliding into a base after a good hit.

I personally like the changing seasons for their own unique characteristics, but I will take a nice, warm day in the middle of winter to enjoy with my boys any time.

Happy Weekend!

Salt Dough Ornaments and some other stuff, too.

1st... Here is what Pablo has been up to...

Brady was not happy about Pablo stealing his swippers. He didn't touch him., though. 

2nd... Check out this real life, true story Wii bowling game Brady dominated...

That is right, my 3 year old slaughtered me. All but one frame is a spare or strike. I texted this to Caleb. Let me just say, he was one proud dad!!!

3rd... Today at Kroger, Brady said, "wait mom, we have to put some money in the red bucket." I think my lessons in giving are sinking in!

O.k. Now what this post is really about...

When I was a little bitty girl, my mom and I made salt dough ornaments. I don't remember it, but we still have those sweet reindeer ornaments floating around somewhere. They are more like antiques now, so I don't put them on the tree.

When I got a little older, I made some on my own. Then I used the recipe for a demonstration project in college and made one for everyone in my class. Caleb got one as well.: ) It is on our tree as we speak.

painted, but before adding the ribbon. Brady painted some.

I decided this would be a good year for Brady and I to make them. We made our batter, cut out our shapes, and waited. Then we decorated like crazy. 

We made ornaments for various people, friends, Sunday school teachers, and family. It made for a fun, sweet day. He loved it! I loved it!

One of the finished results. It is really cute it person. 

I meant to make a hand print one, but we got carried away with the cookie cutters and I forgot. Oh well. 

Here is the recipe. It is really easy.

Salt Dough Ornaments

2 c plain flour

1 c salt

water as needed, I used a little less than a cup.

Mix ingredients, adding water slowly as needed. Roll out dough. Cut into desired shapes. Make hole for hanging before baking.

Bake 200 5-8 hours. Do not brown. 

Decorate with paint and ribbon. 

Pumpkin Muffins

Brady and I made these 2 ingredient muffins on Tuesday that are all over pinterest. He loves to help in the kitchen. This is what the recipe called for.

We added a few of our own ingredients; chocolate chips, cinnamon, a little nutmeg, and brown sugar on top.

 The muffins are completely gone so I guess they were good. Brady kept telling me while making them, "he didn't wike the orange stuff"(pumpkin). I just told him he did and to just try it. It turns out he loved the orange stuff.

He is a great helper. I have made pumpkin muffins before, but these were so so so easy. We will definitely be making these again. So easy and no oil or eggs required! 

Happy Day Noah!!!

My nephew Noah is one today!



I may have stole this picture from my sisters facebook. Thanks Amy!

It is hard to believe one whole year has past since he this little.

We are so thankful for Noah! He is so sweet and even tempered. He adores Brady and wants to do everything Brady does. I am so thankful Brady has cousins close to his age to grow up with. Praying for many, many more birthdays for this little guy!

Happy Day, Noah!!!

(Brady says Happy Day instead of Happy Birthday.)

Check out that massive band-aid on Brady's knee. He fell on the side walk and had to have the BIG band-aid. :)

"Sweet Tie"

While getting ready for church Sunday night, Brady marched into our bathroom and announced that he needed a tie!

Caleb let Brady pick out one of his ties. To our surprise, he picked the one that matched. Caleb tied it for him and we continued getting ready.

When it was time to leave, it was apparent that this baby was on to stay. So we chose to let him have this battle and headed to church. He turned a lot of heads at church!

It is pretty stylish!

I really love this kid!!!

Sick Days and a video

Brady and I have had a couple of sick days the past couple of days. I stayed home from work with a sore throat and fever yesterday.  Within a few hours, Caleb returned home with a sick Brady. He was acting lethargic and had a temperature of 101. He walked in and asked to go to bed! We knew he was sick for sure!!!

His fever came down with Tylenol, but returned within a few hours, so we stayed home today as well. I hate it when he is sick, but fortunately it isn't very often so I have plenty of sick leave to use until he is 100%. We are very blessed that Brady is rarely sick and try not to take that for granted!

Last night, I took this video while Brady was in the bath on my phone.(sorry about the quality) His fever was temporarily under control and he was really sweet while in the bath. We usually have are best talks when he is taking a bath. Maybe because he is trapped! Ha Ha!

I was finally able to get him to count and answer some questions on camera.

 Watch out for the random "cheeeese"s that must accompany any camera, apparently!

We are still working on six, for some reason we can't quite get that one down and seven kind of sounds like sandwich, but oh well.

He also thinks that "Y" is at the end of everything, because it is at the end of Brady. Logical to a 2 year old I guess!

Happy Friday! Stay warm and well.

2 year old check-up

Brady had his 2 year old check-up today.

I had planned on only working a half day this morning, but we had another snow storm last night. The roads were really, really icy this morning. Since I was only working until 12 anyway and I would have had to go in late, I decided I would just take the whole day off.

I think it is safe to say that Brady HATES going to the doctor.

He rarely gets sick, so we don't go that much. (Such a blessing!) It seems to really scare him when we do go for check-ups, though. Brady cried from the time they called his name until we were alone in the room. Whenever anyone entered, he would say, I have to potty while screaming. We went to potty once, but then I realized he was just trying to get out of his check up! Crazy Kid!



Brady and I before we left the exam room. I was trying to distract and calm him from his recent shots before he traumatized all the kids waiting in the waiting room.



Stats:

Weight: 29 lbs 11.5 oz- 70th percentile 

Height: 36 1/2 inches- 90th percentile

BMI: 15.7 (They didn't actually tell me his BMI. I calculated it on my own because I wanted to know and am a nerd like that. I calculate like 40 BMI's a day, it gets in your blood!) 

Developmentally he is right on track and maybe a little ahead in some things.

Here is the list of things the pediatrician expected him to be doing at 2 years:

•  saying about 20-50 words and making 2-3 word sentences- he says way more words than that and says a lot of sentences.
• using a fork and spoon to eat- does well with both
• climbing stairs and throwing a ball- Constantly both
• Likes to show independence, may say "no" often- Definitely nothing to worry about there.

It is always nice to leave the Dr. with a good report! I am so thankful for a sweet, healthy little boy!

Brady did have to get his finger stuck and one vaccine. Of course, he hated that as well. He kept telling the nurse, "all none"(done). He was really sweet to everyone as they were leaving our room and as we were leaving, though! They all had to laugh!

He loves his snow boots!!!

We ended up getting milkshakes on our way home for a treat. Brady said, "all betta" when I gave him his.

You can see his little finger all bandaged up. By the way, I ordered a kids shake and got this huge one. Brady didn't even drink 1/4 of it.

When we got home, he told Caleb, "Brady sick" and held up his finger. I am not sure he understood the whole doctor thing! Ha ha! The good thing is we don't have to go back until he is 3.

Birthday Festivities

Since Brady's birthday is 2 days before Christmas, we have to work a little harder to make it special.  It is so easy to get caught up in the holiday stuff!

Caleb and I try to both be off for his birthday. We have been able to do this for both birthdays so far and hope we can continue this in the future.

I made breakfast and we asked Brady where he would like to eat. He came up with his room. So, that is where we ate! He put the towel down himself. Ha!

Then the 3 of us headed to a local pottery painting place and let him paint one piece of pottery. He picked a football piggy bank. He had a blast picking the colors and painting it all by himself. We just let him go at it. He thought he was so big!!! Caleb and I are anxious to see it when it is finished. Ha ha! There is no telling what it will look like. We pick it up next week.

We had a few more errands to run and a couple things to pick for his party that night.

We decided to just do a small party with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins that could attend. We had around 10 people over last night for Brady's birthday party.

I made dinner and we all had cake and ice cream. It was nice to have a sit down dinner and enjoy each other!

Brady opened all his gifts and made sure to hug and thank everyone! It was nice to not be overwhelmed with people and presents, especially since we are known to throw a tantrum here and there.

Brady got that awesome table above from my parents! It might be almost the size of our first kitchen table at our apartment. Just saying! The kid is loved!

Next year, we may try for a big party again, but this worked great for this year.

I don't think I will be hosting a bigger party in my house, though!  A bunch of 3 year olds and their parents in the middle of winter, I don't see that happening, unless we get a bigger house. Ha! I will have to start thinking and looking into ideas now.

Sweet Noah was the only other little one and he barely made a sound. He is such a cute, sweet boy. His birthday will be here before we know it! Ahhh!

All in all it was a great day! I am so thankful for that sweet boy and I hope he always knows how special he is. We may have to get a bigger house to hold all his new toys. Between birthday and Christmas, our house closely resembles a toy store right now.

I will update on all our Christmas fun and more on potty training later!

Look who's 2 Today!

Happy Birthday Brady!



This is the cake I made for Brady for today. I was really nervous about it, but I think it turned out o.k.



I can not believe my little, bity baby is a big 2 year old today.



It seems like just the other day that Caleb and I walked into the hospital to have our sweet baby boy!

And now we are having breakfast picnics in his room!

He has grown so much and is so sweet and so funny!

He has blessed our lives beyond measure!!!

I love this little boy more than he could ever know and can not imagine one day without him!!!



Brady 12-23-2008





Brady 12-23-2009



Brady 12-23-2010

What a difference a year makes!