Sunday, April 28, 2013

Speed Boat

Brady loves playing with his new speed boat, and he's really quite good at it.  He gets really close to the pool walls, but manages to rarely hit them.  He's in this squatty position partly out of excitement and partly because he's trying to keep warm... poor guy.
...much better.


Pick A Movie

Anna Belle LOVES picking movies from the DVD case.  She hardly gets 30 minutes into one movie before she's picked the next 3 movies she wants to watch.  Her favorites, right now, are Meet the Robinsons, Sound of Music, and Annie.  She repeatedly says, "Pick a movie!"  I'm also impressed with how quickly she learns the music from each movie... smart little thing.

Friday, April 26, 2013

Funny Thing Friday

When Brady sees that I'm washing the master bedroom sheets, he asks, "Who did it?"  He thinks that someone must have wet the bed.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

To Grandmother's House We Go

We had a few bags of things to bring to Grandma's house, so we went for a visit.  We met Grandma at Michael's (on a wedding errand).  We also went to a few other stores and picked up a previous order (also wedding errands).  Brady really wanted to go to Toys 'R' Us, and Grandma obliged.  He kept saying he wanted Corvettes.  It's not until we got home that I realized this entire little race pack was Corvettes; all the racing logos must make them unrecognizable to me.  He's quite pleased with himself.

Grandpa grilled steaks, so Brady was outside helping him.
 After shopping, we went to Grandma's house for dinner.  The kids slept in the car for awhile, which gave me time to assemble Anna Belle's shopping cart.  She had a really hard time figuring out that the shopping cart was inside the box.  I'm glad she wasn't awake during the assembly.  Anyways, while we were outside, the priest's children came over.  They immediately walked inside and got "Mrs. Bacot's chocolates."  Anna Belle promptly brought her shopping cart inside and began peeling.  Have I mentioned how much she loves peeling crayons, logos, packages, etc.?  It's difficult to see with the shadows, but you can see the row of Kisses in the baby seat of the cart.  She put the rest on the bottom rack of the cart.

After peeling every Kiss in the house, Anna Belle came over to help Grandma and I place monogrammed stickers on the boxes for the candy table.  She was actually quite helpful... really... no sarcasm.  If only child labor laws weren't so strict, I could hire her out as a professional peeler.

Here's a little video of Anna Belle while we were still at Toys 'R' Us.

Grandma also got Brady a remote control boat; Taylor will be so excited!  We have talked about how fun it would be to play with an RC boat in the pool.  Brady and I are looking forward to putting in the batteries and trying it out today.  

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Minnie

If only Anna Belle's bow had white polka dots...  She insisted on wearing her leotard for most of the day.  Why not?

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

I Got My Brady Back


It's probably been over 3 years since Brady's been really sick (beyond a minor cold).  It was hard to see my joyful child so lethargic, feverish, and depressed from those vaccinations.  I'm happy to report that on Monday he woke up as his old self.  He wrestled with Anna Belle, cried when it was Anna Belle's turn to pick a movie, had this giggling fit when watching his shows, finally regained his appetite, etc.  He was really sweet, easy going and cuddly when sick, but I'm happy to have my healthy, vibrant boy back.

Monday, April 22, 2013

Pretty Girls

Yesterday, we heated up the entire pool for Allison's birthday celebration with the family.  When my sister told me Kim and Maddy were in town, I decided it would be fun to have them over for an afternoon swim.  Kim and Aunt Megan bought these precious matching dresses for the girls.  Anna Belle loved to mimic every cute little thing Maddy did, so I know she liked having a matching dress.
 The photo below was taken right after Maddy kissed Anna Belle's cheek.
 Still sick Brady came out into the sunshine.
 Don't worry, Maddy brought him back.
 ... and here's how Anna Belle felt about it.
Poor Anna Belle hurt her lip on the edge of the pool.

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Cy-Palooza

On Thursday, the kids had their first doctor's visit in 2 years, which meant they were due for vaccinations.  Anna Belle did really well during and after the doctor visit.  Brady was traumatized during the whole visit.  I believe he's still traumatized from the stitches he got after the dog bite.  He fought when talking to the doctor, he wouldn't do the hearing test, blood pressure test, etc.  Oddly enough, after his fourth shot, he was the most relaxed.  It was like he finally realized the worst part is the shot.  He now admits it only hurt a little bit.  Hooray!  Well that's not the worst of it...  Brady has had a horrid fever!  Poor little guys slept all day Friday.  We kept him out of Cy-Palooza, but let him play the baseball game.  He had a rough night last night... poor little guy.  I can tell he's tired of being sick.  Fortunately, today should be a fun day for him.

Back to Cy-Palooza, formerly known as Mayfest at Cypress Academy of Gymnastics.  This is a week where they cancel classes, do shows for the parents and give the kids trophies.  Taylor took Anna Belle and I stayed home with Brady, since I'm the only one who sees the kids at gymnastics anymore.

 Taylor got a lot of cute action shots with Anna Belle in mid air.

 Miss Suzy, photo right, was Anna Belle's teacher when she took classes on Saturdays.

 Grammy came to watch Anna Belle too.












Baby girl and her trophy (and my roses).


Yesterday's HEB Post

So... yesterday was a busy day and I failed to make a post.  Here's our Wednesday HEB trip pics.  They aren't always this cute and sweet, but we have our good moments.  They're both particularly happy because Anna Belle gets to color Mommy's shopping list and Brady gets to play with the iPad.



Friday, April 19, 2013

Game Tomorrow

This weekend's game is at 12:45 PM, on field 9 at the Queenston CFSA Sports Complex (we play on the same field in the same complex for every game).  Click here for our full schedule for the season.

Anna Belle will be going to Grammy's house because I will be at Ann's bachelorette party, which starts with a pedi at my favorite spa, Fiori... so excited.

Taylor slept in a bit (on purpose) and ate breakfast with the kids and I this morning.  Before he walks out the door, Anna Belle yells with a lisp, "Kisses!"  Taylor had already kissed me goodbye, so he kissed Anna Belle and Brady.  As he walked away, Anna Belle says, "Mommy kisses."  I love her affection and consideration of others... sweet girl.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Daddy's Back!

Taylor's back from his trip - hooray!  I think I channelled all of my excitement into house chores.  I made the most difficult Somoa Bundt Cake ever.  Here's the recipe link.  It was good, but not good enough to justify the time.  I set the table about 5 minutes before Taylor walked in the door.  I knew that Anna Belle would eagerly wait in her chair, and alas, she did.  Taylor got home around 9:30 PM (the immigration line was really long); the kids were SO eager to see him : )
 I cleaned the fridge, which probably doesn't happen as often as it should.  I believe it's the first time for me to pull out all the shelves, because (after buying this fridge 2 years ago) I didn't know that 2 of the 3 shelves are sliders.  There wasn't really a lot of expired food, but all the shelves needed a good wipe down.  I also changed the shelf heights a little bit.
 Grammy gave these buckets to the kids for Easter, and I've been looking for a cute way to use them.  Here's a link to the blog post that inspired me.  I've been keeping sunscreen and goggles in a beach bag on the top shelf of the laundry room, but this really works out better because the kids can climb on the adjacent chair and reach things themselves.

A friend of mine recently painted her laundry room.  I would love if my laundry room was painted, but it's hard for me to justify the effort.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

HMNS with Pops!

Yesterday, Papa came over for lunch, and then we all hopped in the car and went to the Houston Museum of Natural Science.  It was Papa's first time.  Anna Belle calls him Pops, with a lisp.  It's about the cutest thing ever.  Last time I went, with just the kids, we only saw the dinosaurs and butterfly pavilion.  This time, we saw those and the African animal and energy exhibits too.



After a lot of walking, Papa and I were quite tired, and the kids had a delirious burst of energy.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Practice

We had our first baseball practice last night (sorry, I didn't take any pictures).  Brady did well at throwing and catching the ball.  He generally has a pretty good swing.  Towards the end of practice, the coaches wanted 2 boys at a time to race around the bases.

First Try:  All the boys ran the bases.

Second Try: Coaches stood behind the two boys who were supposed to run, to block the non-runners.  As soon as they said go, the other five boys ran around their coaches to run all the bases.

Third Try:  One coach holds onto Brady and Aidan.  One coach holds onto the other three boys.  Only the two who were supposed to race ran the bases.  Brady turned and ran into his coaches hand.  It looked like a cartoon with the coach's hand on Brady's head, and Brady running into the hand with his body at a 45 degree angle.

Fourth Try: Same as the third.

Fifth Try: It was finally Brady's turn!  He and Aidan joyfully ran to first, second, the pitching mound and home.  Both boys jumped up and down with their fists punched to the air to celebrate.

We have another practice on Thursday.


Sunday, April 14, 2013

Game Day

One of our favorite restaurants, Clay's,  is just a block away from the baseball complex.  It was a nice place to go with the team (and our family / fans).  I love that the horse is practically posing.

 The brothers... and a very sleepy Anna Belle.
 The boys got their names on the back of their jerseys this week.
 Brady still wanted to run to the pitching mound, but he's finding the base before he gets all the way there... small improvements.

 Brady's playing pitcher, and everyone has to give the ball to the pitcher after a hit... so Brady went behind first base to retrieve it.



 See the ball on the right?  I love catching these shots.
 Brady's cutest little fan, who absolutely insisted on wearing her zebra bow.