Little Shepherd Boy

Brady had his first Christmas program this past week. He was so adorable singing his heart out and doing his actions. Here are a couple pic's and a video...I hope ;-)

Endless Days of Summer...

Keeping ourselves occupied isn't that difficult!

At the Beach with Gramma Deb

My mom came to visit for a few days during August. We packed a ton of stuff into 3 days. We wish it could've been longer, but, we had a great time. We went to the beach, drove down to Cape Hatteras in North Carolina. My mom and the older boys climed some 920 spiral steps up to the top, on a crazy humid day. I got the luxury of staying below with Brady! Phew!

Happy Birthday Austin!

Austin celebrated his 7th birthday on the 7th of August...wow! He had a pirate birthday with his friends. We did a pirate craft, treasure hunt and pinata (can't forget the roots). He had a blast, and walked away with a lot of booty!

Family Photo

Late last year my good friend Steve Mohr took this great picture of our family. He is not even a photographer by trade, but he is a talented guy and a great friend. Thanks Steve!

An Unstoppable Force (The Nap)

It seems that Brady is starting to grow out of the daily nap time. But a hot day of playing baseball at the park will take it all out of you. When you're that tired, the floor will have to do.

Riding Bikes

Since we've been in Virginia, we've been having lots of fun. Brady is potty training, boys riding bikes, Shelby getting a transfer (not included in the fun- but a blessing!).

Brady has been quite the entertainer- he randomly will shout out, "Chicken big butt", which will apall most. He picked up potty training quite easily, making Crit & I 3-3 in the potty training dept! It's easy if the kiddo is ready! Don't start early, or it's a fight! We have been telling him he will get a big boy bike if he is a big boy and poops & peepee's in the potty! The first day we started potty training, he said, "mom got go pee". The rest is history! He was having trouble with the poopy so we told him he could play the DS on the potty when he is pooping...it worked. He's doing great! Yeah Brady! Needless to say, he got his big boy bike. He's still trying to figure out how to pedal...potty training is much easier!

Dylan and Austin are having a blast. Austy really misses his best buddy Kage, and has gotten to talk to him on the phone- which really made his day! We've had lots of play time with our friends and their kids-BBQ's, fight nights, and mexican fiesta's. Dylan finally kicked his fear of riding bikes- we threatened him by taking his video games away til he learned. Needless to say, he learned in a little less than 5 minutes! We have the boys registered for school- Dylan in 3rd grade and Austin in 2nd. Mommy can't wait til the day after labor day, as she is going nuts! Brady hopefully will also start preschool, as long as he stays potty trained that is!

Here are some pictures of all the fun!

OBX, North Carolina.

Once we arrived in Virginia- we really need a true vacation! We went with Nic & Cheryl to a beach house in Kill Devil Hills, NC, on the outerbanks. We spent 4 beautiful days there. We didn't do a thing except: swim in the pool, play at the beach, eat, shop, read, and watch, The Office. Sound like heaven on earth? That's what we thought. The house we stayed at had a swimming pool- and crazy Brady was jumping off the side by the end of our trip! We spent a lot of time each day at 2 different beaches- one in Kill Devil Hills, and one near Nags Head- called Coquina Beach (our boys call it shell beach). Last summer we found a dead shark and hundreds of washed up puffer fish- so the boys really remember that beach. We built sand castles, boogie boarded, and swam in the ocean- spectacular. We had to leave on one occasion because a huge thunderstorm started rolling in- beach and lightning don't mix! Here are some fun pictures from the beach & pool.

Moving to Virginia...

We had such a fun time driving across the country. However, we were glad to arrive. We took a week to drive, making several stops in Montana to see friends and family, and stopping in beautiful places like Rapid City, SD (Mt. Rushmore- which Brady lovingly calls: Mountain Dudes), Sioux Falls, SD (beautiful waterfall), Chicago, IL (who wouldn't stop there?), and Lexington, KY (Hello good friends). Here are some pictures from our mini vacation. The first picture is of several 2nd cousins on Crit's side: Brady, Josie, Ada, Will, Dylan, Clark & Austin. The 2nd picture is in Sioux Falls, at Falls Park. I told the boys to pretend they were falling in- Austin is quite the actor- eh? Then the last picture is of the bigger boys enjoying the magnificence of the tallest building in North America- the Sears Tower in Chicago, IL. That was a highlight (of course we stopped at Stbx and got a mug of Chicago). I wish we could've stayed longer...it was a neat city- well, with the exception of all the tolls! We lost count. We got off one exit and you needed to pay .30 to get out! And you could only use change- which we didn't have. So we had 7 days to go online to pay .30 on our debit card or else you'd get a big ticket! Weird! Needless to say, we arrived safely in Virginia Beach on Saturday, June 28th.

Dylan and the Dynamites

Dylan's soccer team this fall is called the Dynamites. This year he has advanced to a level that uses goalies. The entire team takes their turn playing goalie, but Dylan especially loves to play it. He even has his own goalie gloves.

Happy Grandparents Day