fun. Fun. FUN!

So, this past weekend was TONS of FUN!  We LOVE our time with our kiddos, but once they go to bed...It's nice to have some time for us too!  Some of our friends were so sweet to give us some free tickets to Paint the Town Red on Saturday night.  So, we found a sitter and once we put them to bed...We hit the town!  Or, should I say we "painted" the town!?!  HA!  It was a great time!  And, we found clothes with red and everything.  Ryan and Megan were so sweet to offer us the tickets and we had a blast with them!

And, we even had a professional picture taken while we were dancing!

And, YES - I'm happy to report that so far the NY resolutions have been fulfilled with January!  Richie played poker & went golfing with the boys earlier in the month.  I've been counting down the days to do this "painting with a twist" as my girls night.  It didn't disappoint!  We had a BLAST!  This was so much fun that I'm definitely going back!  It wasn't really a "night" but an afternoon and it was filled with FUN!  You show up a little early and put your drink order in...You get your spot and everything is set up for you.  Then, you paint!  Here are the group of ladies I went with: Kristy, me, Jess, Tara and Diane *Tara's mom* and they just happened to be Brady's speech therapists!  They are such a great group of girls!  I'm so happy to say that I feel like Brady has the BEST therapists...But, I'm lucky to now call them my friends.

Cheers!

My painting...This one was hard...It was a lil more structured than a "normal" class she said.  We started with just the outline of the barn in pencil on a white canvas.  Then, we do the rest!  It was SO cool!  When I showed Richie my painting he said that he thought it looked really good.  Then I showed him our group picture so he had to analyze it.  He thought that Tara's mom did the best overall job, but I had the best wheel...But, the worst water!  HA!  I think it's really cool b/c although we all painted the same thing...We each had some character to our paintings and it truly was "our own"...I will for sure be going back!

Yippee!  We finished!  What a fun experience!   It was a great weekend - with the kiddos and then when we each got some time. Super happy I can check January off...Now, I just need to think about making sure we make time in Feb to keep this up!

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Christmas with Mayme!

Well, we FINALLY got to celebrate Christmas with Mayme...Everytime we would plan a weekend something would happen...It was a fast trip, but better than nothing at all!  The kids warmed up quick and had some fun on Friday night with Mayme!  She was opening her presents and they of course were pumped to find a box they could climb in and out of and have a lil fun!

And, have a little wrestle time combined with tickle time and show and tell time...

The kids were happy to get to spend some time with her and of course, getting to continue the spoiling.  Poor Bria is battling teeth coming through and Brady ate something that wired him and made him a little outta sorts on Saturday, but overall it was a great trip!  Thank you Mayme for all of our goodies!  We love them all!  We hope you enjoyed your presents too!  I think Mayme was spoiled by all (including Tom and Barb!!) Love you bunches and hope you can come and visit again soon!

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Enjoying this weather!!!

LOVE when the weather is so nice and we can get out and enjoy it!  Tom and Barb came up last weekend and we were thrilled to be able to get out and soak up some rays!  These kids LOVE being outdoors and we love taking them to the park to play and see their precious smiles!

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Kiddos at school!

Bria at Montessori

Here in the above pic is one of the pics they had on their weekly emails.  She is in the butterfly shirt at the bottom left.  They were "coloring" during an activity one day a couple of weeks ago.  I'm now wondering if they were working on something for the upcoming art auction!

Ms. Trish texted me the above picture this week during a "sensory" activity with rice.  They said that all of the kids loved it, but Bria REALLY loved it!  They then made rice pictures to hang in the class!
Here she is painting...She LOVE LOVE LOVES to paint.  I'm so happy that she is liking Montessori School so much and is doing so well in Toddler 1!  There is a little girl in there that LOVES Bria and says her name all the time..."hi Bria" "bye Bria"...She says it so much that her mom had to ask which kid was Bria because that is all she hears about at home!  HA!  Too funny!

Brady at The New School

Brady LOVES art!  Anything from sidewalk chalk, to coloring to painting!  I walked in to get him one day this past week and he was painting with Ms. Faith.  He insisted on finishing before leaving!  HA!

This above picture cracked me up b/c Ms. Faith sent it to me one day last week.  He is napping and he looks like a lil man!  He LOVES putting his hands behind his head.  Precious!  He does this ALL the time!

And, I walked in and he was playing trains with one of his lil friends.  They are both going "choo choo" and I just LOVED it.  I actually took 2 pictures of them and in the other one (the light was too bad for me to post it)...But, the other lil boy had grabbed all the trains and had them pressed up to his chest.  I think he thought I was going to take them!  Hysterical!  It means so much to me to see Brady interacting with other kids and doing so well!  I'm so happy both kids are loving school so much!
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Bria at 14 months!

Here she is coming through the tunnel and teasing Brady! Awe, cuddling with her lil pillow before bed! Posing like a lil model at the fire station!  

I started this on my phone (by uploading the pics using blog press) but I didn't want to have to type out everything like a text message so I've been waiting to have time at my computer to really get going on this...

Bria at 14 months:  She is wearing 18 month clothes and is on the verge of 24 month things (depending on brand) she is wearing size 3 diapers still but could easily wear a 4, just staying in the 3's for less leaks.  She is in a 4 night time diaper though.  She is wearing size 4 shoes and I see her bumping up soon...

Bria still has 8 front teeth with 2 back teeth coming through now & more on the way that seem like they are taking forever to completely break through.  She eats a lot though!  HA!  She will typically eat a really good breakfast (usually a banana & waffle) and then have a snack around 9 and that is a pouch if she is at home and lunch is hit and miss.  She will then nap and have another snack and then dinner around 5:30.  Sometimes it seems like she will eat a lot, and other times we are wondering what she ate.  We did a great job of getting her off of bottles (AM and noon) but the night time bottle has been very hard to break.  She likes her bottle more than Brady ever did and she doesn't drink milk out of a sippy very well at all.  So, I don't mind giving her that last bottle because that is how she gets milk!  So, I'm hoping by the time she hits 15 months we can be done with that last bottle!!!  But, if that is the worst habit we have I think we are ok!

She is really starting to say a lot.  She knows "bubba" really well and it is really funny because the pictures of Brady as a baby she knows that is him.  But, when we ask Brady who it is he will say "sissy" so we get a good laugh out of it.  Bria knows the animal noise for the following: dog, sheep, cow, tiger and elephant (really well) and she will lift her arm up with the elephant noise.  PRECIOUS!  She says hi, bye, baby, nana (banana), bubba, momma, bubble, baba and papa, eat, bite and dadda (although she really likes calling Richie bubble)...It's funny!  She does make some funny noises and her facial expressions have been HILARIOUS here lately!  She has a little scowl that she has been sporting lately and it is really funny.

She is doing well at Montessori and her teachers LOVE her.  Especially Ms. Emily - she also really likes Ms. Emily too.  They joke by calling Ms. Emily her 2nd mom and Ms. Trish like Richie (being the fun one who plays rough)...I couldn't be happier that she is doing so well.  She is a very smart girl and starting to become more loving.  I just love it when she does want to cuddle up and snuggle.  My sweet and onery baby girl is already 14 months (almost 15 months) and growing and changing every single day!  I'm so proud of her and love her so much!

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Brady at 28 months!

I said "Brady it's time for bath" and needed to take care of Bria's poopy diaper...Literally, less than a minute passed and Brady hopped on in the tub!  I think he forgot to take off his clothes first!  PRICELESS!
Brady wearing his "big boys" trying to give him a little motivation on potty training!  He LOVES them!
This is "Gangsta Brady" and about the only time he wants to wear his hat...IN THE HOUSE...
Well, I'm massively behind on posts...But, I needed to do an update on the kiddos.   Brady at 28 months:  He is wearing size 3T tops and 24 month/2T pants.  He is so skinny through the waist, but has gone through a grown spurt here lately and he is getting really tall.  He is wearing size 7 shoes and size 4 diapers.  I'm pretty sure he has all of his teeth!   He is very hot and cold on the potty training thing.  He will say "poo poo - potty" but then go and hide to poop.  OR, he could sit for 10 to 15 minutes on the potty and give a toot and read his potty time with Elmo book but do nothing...We just don't know what we will get with him!   He is VERY sweet and a sensitive lil guy.  He is such a loving boy and loves hugs and kisses.  It is so sweet at how he just loves to roll all over you and love on you.  I would say he is most loving toward me (Richie says that he is a total mommas boy) but he has been sharing the love a little more lately!   And, great news on Brady!  He is LOVING his new school.  LOVING it!  Loving it so much so that I never thought I would be happy about my child not wanting to come home from school, but he has been showing me ALL around his classroom and the toys he really likes trying to stall!  One day, I noticed he had been showing me stuff for 15 minutes!  We still needed to pick up Bria!  It means SO much to me though that he is really enjoying school and fitting in so well!  SO PROUD!  He is starting to be more social also.  Not only with his peers, but with adults too.  He still has a long way to go, but he is getting better every day!  His eye contact has improved and he has been saying more 2 word phrases.  His most favorite thing to say right now is "Whoa, cool!" And it is hysterical!  He can also tell you that he is "2" when you ask him.   Brady is counting to 20 and can label those numbers.  He still knows all the letters in the alphabet and can label all of them.  When I sing the alphabet song he doesn't sing along with me, but when I pause he can fill in the blank with what goes next.  Still good on his shapes and colors and is really into his flashcards.  I made him a book with pictures of him doing different things and in one of the pictures he is "Sad" and when he gets sad he will make this noise "oooohhh whhoooo" and then say "sad"...So cute.  We have had him on a gluten free diet for about a month now and it is going really well.  I think it is something we are most certainly going to stick with.  We are even thinking we may ALL go gluten free!  It is more expensive than eating normally, but such a hassle making 2 and 3 different things to eat.  And, since we have to pack his food everyday it would just be easier for all of us to do the same!   We are so proud of Brady and can't believe that he has come so far so quickly!  Can't believe he is already 28 months old!  WOW...He will be 3 before I know it...
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Catch up!

Last weekend we went to Boingo Bounce for Hunter's 2nd birthday! It was so much fun! There were so many kids there! They were all jumping & bouncing & running around while the parents chased & mingled! We were so happy to get to go to his party! I hope these guys are buddies for a long time to come!

















After Hunters party we hurried home bc we had Kin, Kate & Cannon over for a birthday dinner for Kate! Cannon has grown so fast & it's just crazy watching him crawl & pull up. He's such a sweet baby!








Dinner was great! And I made a sopapilla cheesecake for birthday dessert & it was DE-LISH! I can't believe I didn't get a pic of the bday girl! But, it was a really fun Saturday!

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Fun with Papa & Baba

Ok, I'm having to go back a lil bit...But, the kiddos rang in the new year with a visit from Papa & Baba! We took them to Boingo Bounce & they had a lot of fun! It was a nice & fun visit! ;)) Lots & lots of playing!












While they were here, Richie and I were able to go & visit with some good friends! This is just us girls (Ashley, me & Kim) the guys were too busy chatting to take a pic! It was great getting to catch up!


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