Snow Day

This is how we spent our snow day ice day. We had every intention on building a snow man, but since the snow cracks when you walk on it, we decided on baby sledding instead. This was probably more fun anyway!

Ready, Set, Go!

Weeee!!!

Again!

Yay!

Once we all made it home safely, we have had a great ice day! Brady has especially! Mommy and Daddy came home early and we have played and played inside and out. He has spent a lot of time looking out the window as well!

Have Fun and Be Safe!

Date Night- Week 1

For the first at home date night, I decided we would just play a game. I wanted it to be one we can play with 2 people(obviously), one we don't play often, and one that would take a little while to fill up the 2 hours, so we wouldn't finish and turn the t.v. back on. So, We played Monopoly!

My comments: I had so so so much fun, not just because I dominated and seized all of Caleb's money and properieties! Caleb had fun too! At one point he even looked up and said, This is fun. That was before he landed on my boardwalk with a hotel. Ha! We laughed and talked while we played. It took about 2 hours from start to finish. They now have a fast die option, which we didn't use. I was afraid we might get bored, but we didn't. We truly just enjoyed spending time together. My husband is really funny and sometimes life gets in the way and I forget that. I say it was a success!

His comments: I really had a great time. I was dominating the board until she bought Park Place and Boardwalk. I would have been fine if it had ended at that, but it didn't. She decides to put hotels on all of her high priced properties. The end result, she kicks my tail. It was a really good time and I am excited to keep this new tradition going, as long as I can win some when we play games.

Date:         Monopoly
Cost:         $10
Time:        2 hours
Outcome: Success

There was absolutely no guilt involved. I was right there if Brady needed me, it was cheap, and we went to bed feeling like we actually spent some time together. This has made me even more excited about this challenge. We are already planning for next week.

Weekly Date Night!

Ha! What's that?
If only there was a way to incorporate a weekly date between 2 full time jobs, 1 child, church services 3 times per week, devotionals at least once a month, spending time with each set of grandparents and relatives, friends, grocery shopping, cleaning, birthday parties, swimming lessons, and anything else that fills our calender, I think our marriage would be better for it.

But where is there time?

And don't even start with the expense and the guilt that follows date nights. We try to occasionally(by occasionally I mean once every few months) have a night out for ourselves, only to come home feeling insanely guilty that we spent available time away from Brady and that we ate an overly priced meal and watched an extremely overly priced movie.
Money that could have been spent on groceries or diapers.

BUT we need time for our relationship without distractions. SO how do you fit it all in?

We have a solution! We think! We are starting to have weekly date nights.....

AT HOME!

What a marvelous idea! It just might work! Why didn't I think of this sooner?

 I read an article in a magazine at work the other day that talked about date nights at home. The couple challenged themselves to pick one night a week and put down the mop, broom, remote, computer mouse, or book and just focus on each other. They picked things they could do together at home once the kids were in bed for 6 weeks.

 I thought to myself, we could do that!

I approached Caleb with the idea and he loved it. We decided Friday nights would work best for us. Brady goes to bed by 8 and we usually are in bed by 10. So that gives us 2 full hours to have a date! We decided no t.v., internet, movies, or cleaning were allowed during this time.

We  had our first date last night and it went great. I will post later on the specifics. I am going to try and give a weekly update for the first 6 weeks, so you can be accountable to us and to give you ideas that you can try. We will see how it goes after that.

Challenge: one date per week
Location:   our house

Duration:   2 hours per date for 6 weeks
Cost:          $30 or less per date

                                

A Bachelor Connection!

I love the Bachelor! I used to watch every season in college. Then towards the end of my college career, I had to take some late labs and I started working a lot more, so my Monday nights were booked.  Then I got married and we had no money, no cable, and nothing to do. SO we watched A LOT of t.v.(more than I care to admit), but we only had channels 2, 4, 5, 8, and 17. That leaves you with little to choose from. We had the best time watching the crazy reality shows that come on.
Soon after a couple episodes I was back in the groove of loving all things trashy that are the bachelor. What is even better is Caleb was hooked too! I think he may love it more than me! Really! I am not kidding! If you come to our house on Monday night, you will probably also become addicted because his love for the bachelor takes over and penetrates through the entire house.

Really!

Anyway, This season the bachelor is Jake. I was a fan of Jake from the last season with Jillian. Of course I was going to watch it no matter who the bachelor was, but it is oh so much better when I already "have a connection" with the bachelor.

Well this year the day the show began, my mom called and said her friend, Cynthia's neice, Corrie is one of the 25 girls.

I know Cynthia pretty well,so I was pretty excited to say the least. We watched for her neice and although I don't know her in real life, because I know her aunt, I feel she should win! Ha! It helps that she is super cute and seems really nice. She kind of stays out of the drama and has nice things to say. She is suppose to have a big part in this upcoming episode.

This has made watching the bachelor all the more fun. She has a website and blog that you can check out. I know she goes pretty far, but I don't know how far. I can't wait to find out!

Swimming Lessons

My parents got Brady swimming lessons for his birthday. There are four lessons in all and the first one was today. The three of us loaded up and headed out in the snow to go to swimming lessons. There was only one other little girl there. I am not sure if that is all who signed up or if the weather kept some away. Since there are four lessons, Caleb and I will be alternating who gets in the water with Brady. I went today. At first, Brady wasn't really sure. He cried a little when we got in and held onto my arm with a death grip. We tried to do what the teacher said, but we weren't really interested. After a little while, he warmed up to the idea and it was really fun! He loved the "jumping" in the water part! He also thought is was hilarious when the teacher threw the toy in the water and we were supposed to "swim" out and rescue it. By the end, he was loving the water and the teacher. Maybe next week will start off smoother. She gave us some homework to work on in the bathtub.

Things like:

• blowing bubbles in the water
• laying on his stomach and kicking
• laying on his back and kicking

They are mostly teaching him the basics of swimming and improve motor skills, how to kick, breath out not in under water, how to dig, and just getting comfortable in the water. It is really fun! I can't wait to go back next week!

Baby got a haircut!

I had a hair appointment scheduled yesterday. I decided I would ask the girl that does my hair if she could trim up Bradys while we were there. Of course, she said sure, because she has done my hair forever and she is awesome like that. We were starting to get some mullet comments about his hair style and he is over a year old, so I decided it was time.  Mohawk- Fine! Mullet-Not so much! Brady DID NOT like getting his hair did! NOT AT ALL!!!

When I sat him in the chair, He screamed!

I picked him up and I decided to hold him while she cut. He didn't cry as much. I fed him puffs while she got ready. She sprayed his hair with water and that was fine.

But that first cut, back to crying. Caleb was standing there like you wuss, that doesn't hurt.

I continued with the puffs until we were mulletless and all done. He didn't jerk away or hit. He just stayed really still and cried.

 I guess that is a success!

(I got my hair cut last, It was looking a little rough in these pictures.)

A B C.....

Brady loves books!

 He will sit and flip through them without tearing one page. As soon as we brought him home from the hospital, we began to read to him. We keep books in the diaper bag for Dr.s visits, church, car rides, restaurants, and any and everywhere else we might go. We read a bedtime story most nights. We also read anytime we get a new book.

I often find him pulling books out of the toy box, book basket, or diaper bag and just "reading" away. It is so sweet. He will even pull out my cookbooks and flip the pages and just look through them.

I love this interest in books, but this week it was brought to a new level. Tonight the sweet little boy picked up The very Hungry Caterpillar book my sister got him for his birthday, walked over to me, handed over the book, reached up and grunted, and sat in my lap while I read the entire book. He didn't try to turn the page, he just listened.

I always thought it was so sweet to see children pick out a book and bring it to be read without being prompted. I so wanted a baby that did this. Well, I got one and it is even better than I could have imagined. I hope his love for books and reading grows with him.

I strongly encourage you to read to your children everyday if you don't already. If you don't have children and plan to, I encourage you to go ahead and plan on making this a priority. You and your child will have some of the greatest memories of this special time together.

Happy Reading!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

My mom kept Brady last night while Caleb and I brought the new year in with a few of my favorite vampires. I finally got to see New Moon. I was so excited. I love the books, but do not usually love the movies that go with them. I was pleasantly surprised by this one. They followed the book pretty accurately, which is refreshing. Of course the book is always better! We had a great date night. I love Brady, but it was nice to eat dinner without wearing it or having to constantly feed someone else and to be able to go to the bathroom without someone trying to look  at what is in the toilet while I flush. ha! Hey, just keeping it real! We are so lucky to have so many capable people desire to keep him for us.

I am sure there are some wild and crazy things in store for 2010 for our little family. I wish you all the best during this new year!

Christmas Wrap-Up Part 2

We had absolutely NO plans for Christmas Eve this year. We usually spend it with my family, but this year we did Christmas with them a couple days early and my sister had to be at her in-laws. That left us free on Christmas Eve. It turned out to be so great. We just lounged around and played with Brady all day. It also gave us time to get ready for Santa!

Christmas # 3

Brady woke up around 6:30. Caleb went in his room and got him first. As soon as they turned the corner to the living room, Brady knew something was different. He started pointing and babbling something like that sounds like that. He saw what Santa had brought him. We told Santa that Brady is so blessed with such wonderful friends and family, he didn't need much and Santa could take the other gifts to the little boys and girls that did. He did get a wagon, which he (and I) love! He sat in it the entire time we opened gifts from each other. We didn't do much this year, just a couple gifts each and a stocking. It was fun!

Christmas #4

We had to be at my mom's for Christmas with my grandmother on my dads side. She always wants to have Christmas breakfast and so we continue that. It used to be at her house, but it has since been moved to my moms. My mom invites some of her family too because they don't have any where to go ON Christmas Day because we do her families early. Anyway! We ate a wonderful breakfast, opened more gifts, played a little, and rushed out the door to be at Caleb's parents.

Christmas #5

Caleb's parents always have Christmas breakfast too. Caleb doesn't have any living grandparents so he only has Christmas with his immediate family. This is sooo different from my family, we have it with everyone! All holidays really! Anyway! This year with his family we decided to only do gifts for kids and Grandparents which includes Calebs parents and Brady. It turned out great. Of course Calebs parents got everyone gifts and way too much I might add. We all enjoyed playing with Brady and Calebs Rock Band before we ate breakfast, again.

We left Brady at there house for the rest of the afternoon while we went to dinner and a movie.  We had such a great and not stressful holiday(for the most part, Ha!). We ate too much and got too much as always. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family!

I will leave you with this last picture. Caleb went out to put all the gifts in the car Christmas Morning. Brady followed him to the door and this is what I saw when I turned the corner. I had to be sneaky to get a picture! He is such sweet little guy!

 

Thanks for sharing Christmas with us!

Christmas Wrap-Up Part 1

We had such a wonderful Christmas with our sweet little boy! Technically it is his second Christmas, but since he was only 2 days old last year, I kept refering to this as his first Christmas. I don't think he is going to know what to do without all the food and gifts this next week. Our Christmas is usually spread out over the entire week of Christmas.

Christmas #1

It started on the Sunday before Christmas with my mom's family. My grandparents and aunts/uncles and cousins. We have recently become a family with a lot of children and so this day was WILD! We only get gifts for my grandparents and all the kids. We had some great food and fun times with our family. I didn't do a very good job getting a lot of pictures. Like I said, It was wild!

Christmas #2

We had Christmas with my immediate family on Tuesday before Christmas. My brothers were in town from Sunday to Wednesday, so this was the best day to do it. This is usually one of my most favorite times of Christmas. We all get each other gifts and our parents still get us several gifts. We eat, pass out the gifts, and take turns opening one gift at a time. I love it! You can see what everyone gets and we have so much fun. It is very relaxed and fun! 

Unfortunately, this year my sister, dad, and sister-in-law all had the dreaded stomach virus, so they were not able to really enjoy the time together. We still managed to have a good time, but we did leave the sick ones on one side of the room and tried to keep our distance. Brady had a hard time. He just couldn't understand why Poppy and Aunt Amy weren't giving him tons of attention. He kept trying to sneak away and make them pick him up. It was a little heartbreaking. Despite all the sickness, Brady still managed to rack up at this Christmas. Seriously! We may need a bigger house!

My brother Drew

Yep that is a four wheeler. Thanks Bryan and Amy!

If you were married to a sickling, you had to sit by them. Sorry Bryan!

That would be my snuggie!

Caleb and Brady playing with the blower. Caleb likes manly gifts. Ha!

At least Brady could go to his Sue Sue

Yep, that is a John Deer Tractor! Oh boy, he is going to be rotten! It is a little big, but he loved it anyway. And it is way cute!

Thank you so much to everyone! No one else came down with the virus after this, I think! Hopefully next year we will all be well for Christmas! The worst part is that the sick ones didn't get any of the Gigi's cupcakes I brought. I felt sorry for them for that alone. Ha!

Merry Christmas!!!