Ho Ho Ho

We had a special visitor at our ward Chirstmas party...SANTA!  And Brady is not scared of him at all.  He saw Santa at Bass Pro earlier and went right to him and then did not hesitate at all at the party either.  He seems to kinda like this Santa guy :) And he got a candy cane (to spread all over his body of course).  Brady also knows that Santa says "Ho ho ho."  He is such a smart boy.  He seriously picks up on things so quickly and it never ceases to amaze me.  He is starting to talk in short sentences and everything.

 Sunday we did graham cracker houses with everyone at my parent's house.  Brady loved the all you can eat candy and had fun throwing some on the house with Quentin.  We did this all the time growing up, but haven't done it the past few years.  It was fun to start the tradition again.  And who am I kidding, I loved the all you can eat candy too :)

Christmas Time Is Here

Sticking with tradition, I managed to get the tree put up on the day after Thanksgiving...and this year we have a REAL tree...in size.  It's still an artifiicial tree, but we upgraded to a 7 footer instead of our little one that sat on the table.  Brady enjoyed playing in the box of course!

 I decided to wait to decorate the tree until we could do it as a family, which really meant waiting until Quentin took his registry on Monday because he was much too busy spending all his time studying,  Well all that studying was worth it because HE PASSED!  Not only did he pass, he got a great score too!  We are soooooo proud of him and all his hard work and it's great to see that hard work finally pay off. But instead of celebrating by decorating the tree, my parents took us all out to eat at Cheddars, which was delcious!  By the time we got home from that it was time for little Brady man to go to bed, so we saved the tree for Tuesday and Brady had a blast!  He helped decorate the tree at my parent's house, so he was a pro :)  He kept grabbing ornaments and saying "To the tree!"  It is so fun to hear him talking.  He tries to say so much.  Some of it is undecipherable, but he sure tries and most of the time does  a pretty good job.  Anyway, he is such a great helper and he definitely loves to help!

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween

This Halloween was definitely more fun with Brady than last year, even though he still doesn't quite grasp the concept.  My mom found us this Tigger costume at a garage sale (thank goodness for Grandma's garage sale finds!) and Kirsten told me we should do costumes for Quentin and I that went with Brady's so I did.  Quentin got to be Eeyore and I got to be Winnie the Pooh.  Although Quentin will try to make it seem like I slaved away at these costumes, they were pretty easy and didn't take much time.  And cheap.  And thanks to Aliisa and Mom's help, they turned out pretty decent.  Friday was our ward Halloween party at church.  Brady was not thrilled to take a break from running around the gym to take pictures.  He is no longer a fan of the camera, sadly.  His "other family," the Housemans, were there too. Allison dressed as a BYU cheerleader and Matthew was a BYU football player.  Brady loved to wear his helmet.  And likes to wear it at daycare too.

 On actual Halloween, Brady had a Halloween party at daycare, then we headed to my parents for pizza and did some trick or treating around their neighborhood.  Brady loved to ring the door bells and knock on the door and got pretty good at saying "trick or treat."  He is also quite the pro at saying thank you - he would say it multiple times and then sometimes even as we walked away.  What a grateful kid!  Also between the church party and actual Halloween, I got a hair cut, so you can see before and after :)  The last picture is to show off Eeyore's tail.  Quentin was a good sport!  It is so fun to do these things with Brady as he grows up, and I'm sure they will only get more fun as he begins to understand them more each year.  We love our little Tigger so much!

Grandpa Bell's Visit

 Last weekend Grandpa Bell came to visit!  I also got my wisdom teeth out last Friday, so I'm sure that I wasn't the greatest company in the world I also can't tell you for sure all the fun things they did with Grandpa since I spent most of the weekend relaxing in bed.  I know it involved a lot of eating out and they were kind enough to bring me a few milkshakes.  They also went to this kids event that had all sorts of fun things.  It had a giant inflatable slide, but apparently Brady chickened out on that one.  He did enjoy looking at the fire truck with Grandpa, and I think Grandpa enjoyed that too since he was a fire fighter for quite a while!  There was also an area with balls and bats, which I'm sure you could have guessed would be his favorite.  This boy absolutely loves balls and bats!  Thanks for visiting, Grandpa!  Come back when I can play (and eat) next time.

 

Pumpkin Carving

To finish celebrating Quentin's birthday, we carved our pumpkins.  Brady L-O-V-E- LOVED it!  He was not so helpful on the actual carving, but he sure loved picking the goop out.  And then putting it back in.  I made him wear one of my t-shirts in case he got super nasty.  I remember we always used to wear my dad's old shirts for potentially dirty projects.  What a good idea, Mom!

 I didn't know how much Brady would really notice or care about these pumpkins, but he sure loved them.  Brady's is the Mickey Mouse one (isn't he so talented?) and Quentin did the ghost/tree one.  It's kind of hard to see in the pictures, but they turned out pretty well.  Brady even got to stay up almost an hour past his bedtime to see the finished products! 

 After Brady went to bed, I got to start on mine while we watched Modern Family.  I did a witch riding a broom stick.  After carving Mickey and the witch, I could barely feel my hand it was cramping so bad!  But they are pretty impressive, if I do say so myself.  Today I will roast the seeds! 

Happy Birthday Quentin!

Yesterday was Quentin's birthday.  He turned 26, and our celebrating began with dinner with my parents and Kirk and Kirsten at his favorite restaurant, Texas Roadhouse.  It was Kirksten's first time there, and I think they liked it. The food there is sooooooo yummy!  Brady always fills up on the rolls and he loves the applesauce.  When you go there for your birthday, they make you get on this saddle, so I made sure to bring my camera along so we could always remember :)  They even let Brady sit in the saddle for a little bit,

After dinner we went to the grocery store and picked out pumpkins to carve.  I thought it would take Brady forever to pick one, but he went right up to a really good looking pumpkin and tried his best (to no avail) to pick it up.  Then he got to ride in the cart with them.  He kept saying "punkin" and was pretty upset when he had to briefly separate from the pumpkins in the car.
Presents this year were pretty unexciting since we are trying to make it through the next 7 months without any student loans.  Did I mention just 7 more months until we are done with school?  He got two shirts from my parents, which was more of a need than a want, but he likes them so I guess that's good.  From me he got this licorice that he likes, rainbow chip frosting, a caramelo, and IBC root beer.  Then this morning I made cake batter pancakes (from pinterest of course) and served them to him in bed.  I may have enjoyed them more than Quentin, they were delicious!  I'm going to take a stab at making a home made cake, so we'll eat that Sunday.  Three days of celebrating sounds pretty good huh?  Stay tuned for our pumpkin carving post.

Lately

Here's Brady sporting his Mizzou gear and fighting Butters off his snacks.

I know I am wayyy behind on updating here, but life gets busy, especially when you're chasing around this cute kiddo.  And trust me, he is tough to keep up with sometimes!  We haven't really had much excitement lately.  Quentin went to an ultrasound conference for school for about a week in September, so I had a brief encounter being a single mom.  Let's just say I am glad it was brief.  Brady is a good kid and I'm blessed to have family close to keep me company, but it's nice to have live-in backup.  Anyway, Quentin had a group project that he has been working on for about a year that they presented at this conference, and his group placed third, much to their surprise and their teachers (who were less than supportive and kept telling them how bad their topic was. Hmmm...)  Did I mention only 7 months until graduation? But who's counting?  One fun thing we did when Quentin was gone is visit the dog park.  Brady insisted on taking a ball in and then was less than thrilled at the dogs who wanted to share.  And there were some big ones.  At one point, there was a dalmation up ahead and Brady pointed to it and said "Cow.  Moooo."  It was sooooo cute!  Almost, kid.  The closest thing he's seen to a cow in real life anyway.

When I needed some extra time after he ate to finish making breakfast burritos to keep handy in the freezer (which I very much recommend), I kept Brady busy playing with bubbles.  My mom used to do this with us too.

 Brady is not as fond of the camera as he once was.  Remember that cheesy face that couldn't get enough camera time?  Well, I know it's hard to tell, but this is the same kid.  Fighting to not have his picture taken.  Yep. He is very independent now. 

 Really I was trying to capture the cute outfit (the shirt at one point was tucked in).  He's just a little man!

 Sunday I decided to get out these Halloween window clings.  If I was smarter, I would have saved the initial thrill time to coincide with General Conference so that I maybe could have heard a whole (or at least most of) a talk.  Maybe next time.  Probably not.  Thank goodness for the Conference edition of the Ensign!  And yes, we did stay in our pajamas most of the day.  And now that it's getting cold, Brady gets to wear his footie pajamas, which I love for some reason. Anyway, he had even more fun when Daddy showed him he could stick them to your face.  Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of that.  I probably still can though, because Brady has not forgotten this trick, and still thinks it is quite fun.  I just need to trick Daddy into joining him again...

 Brady has an obsession with shoes.  Really, I can't help but love it.  I share his passion.  Mostly for tennis shoes.  Brady got some new shoes (that he has not grown into yet) in the mail the other day and wanted them on right away.  He then modeled them for Quentin, Aliisa and I.  As in did little poses and lifted his legs to make sure we all saw.  Then he wouldn't let me take them off, and cried at bedtime when I had to.  He really likes to wear shoes all the time anyway, but it was so cute to see how excited he was.  Also, he likes to put on other people's shoes.  Not just put them on, but walk in them.  And while he may not be able to say he's walked a mile in your shoes, chances are he's walked a few steps in them if they've ever been within reach for him.

 It is so fun to watch him grow up.  He learns so quickly and speaks really well for his age.  He is learning new words everyday.  Yesterday he said "bless you" to Butters when he sneezed.  He tries to say almost everything he hears.  And usually does a pretty decent job of it. 
One more story and I'll tie it up.  The other day when I went to lunch, I checked my phone and had a text from Lori that said something like, "Kylie was sitting on the floor building a tower with the blocks.  I couldn't figure out why Brady was standing so still and quiet behind her.  After a few minutes, he grabbed a few strands of her hair, yanked them out, shoved them in his mouth and ran.  Without looking up Kylie yelled 'Bradyyyy...I hate it when you pull out my hair and eat it!'"  Obviously this is a recurring event if she knew what was happening without looking up.  For some reason, my kid loves to eat hair.  I don't know why.  It's disgusting and I always make him stop and spit it out when I catch him.  I just didn't know this obsession went to the extent of ripping hair off people's heads.  I'm hoping it's something he outgrows...fairly quickly too!

Nemo

Brady has been obsessed with Nemo lately. He asks for it every day. Multiple times. Basically all the time. I try to be a good mom and not just let him watch movies all night long, but I do give in, especially when I need to get something done. I turned it on the other day so I could work on dinner and when I looked over to check on him this is what I found... Butters and Brady were just chillin together, watching Nemo. Or "Meemo" as Brady calls it.

NurseryTime!

Can you believe my baby is old enough to go to nursery?! He had his first adventure in nursery on Sunday and did great! He stayed by himself the whole time! I'm hoping he doesn't figure out that when he goes, that means mommy leaves which leads to tears before I even leave (like he recently has figured out about daycare). I think he will really like playing with the other kids, and I'm sure it beats hanging out in Sunday School!! Here he is cheesin for the camera right before church...
Here are Brady's 18 month stats:
Height: 33 1/2 in (85%)
Weight: 26.4 lbs (55%)
Head: 49.5 (90%)
He did really well at the doctor, but I think he remembered Nurse Kari gave him shots the last time because he wasn't too thrilled to see her. Luckily this time he didn't need any shots!! Woohoo!

Brady really does get more fun and cuter and cuter each day. It is fun to watch his personality come out (even if it includes tantrums), and we are blessed to have a happy, healthy little boy! He has started talking a lot more, and says new words every day. He is also very much in the copycat phase, so I guess we better really watch what we say and do! He loves to give hugs and kisses, including to his stuffed animals and even the characters in his books. He also loves to "feed" and "give drinks" to his stuffed animals and books. It's pretty darn cute. Brady loves his Grandma and his new favorite is Uncle Kirk. He is really good at saying "Kirk," which might be part of the reason he loves him so much. We're lucky to have Kirsten and Kirk close by now to play with all the time!

4 Years!

Yep, it has been 4 years since we tied the knot! To celebrate we had a weekend getaway to Kansas City. And thanks to Michelle and Kendall, a babyless night away! I'll admit, it was a little weird not to have my little man around, but it was nice to spend time together and have a lot more freedom.

We headed to Kansas City Friday night and went out to eat with the Walkers, the (other) Bells, and Randy. It's always fun to see everyone and catch up, and of course to see how big all my nieces and nephews are getting! We spent the night with the Walkers and then our day of independence started Saturday. We got to go to a movie (also thanks to Michelle and Kendall for letting us use their vouchers) so we saw Batman. It was really good and I already can't wait for the next one. Between the movie and dinner we got to enjoy some shopping and then we went out to eat at Em Chamas, a Brazilian restaurant that was soooooo good I can't even begin to describe it. It was the best meat I have ever tasted! After feasting on our scrumptious meal we headed to our hotel, the Sheraton, and got to stay in a fancy room. And believe it or not, I was so anxious to check out the fitness room that I dragged Quentin with me to work out. It was the nicest fitness room I have ever seen in a hotel (which is actually not saying a whole lot, but this was niiiiice) and it made me miss my gym membership. After that we sat in the hot tub for a while and then relaxed in our room until we decided it was time for some snacks, which we failed to bring with us. This took us on a wild goose chase through the ghetto in search of some simple little treats. I feel like we're lucky we made it out alive. But we did get our snacks :)
It was soooooo much fun and a great way to celebrate our 4 years of marriage! It was really nice to get my Brady man back. Thanks so much Michelle and Kendall! We owe you one :)

18 Month Pictures

Click Here To see Brady's 18 month pictures we had taken last night

Thank Goodness for Pinterest

As many of you know, I am a bit of a pinterest addict. It's pretty much the best idea ever and I have to give a big THANK YOU to my sister Kirsten for introducing me to it. I have gotten a ton of good recipes, organizational and crafty ideas from it, and it's wonderful! I have to say that I am not really individually creative. I don't think of ideas on my own, but I am pretty dang good at copying other people's creativity, and that counts for something right? Here is my latest pinterest copy cat. It was a fun project and different than anything I have done before. Overall I am happy with how it turned out. I tried my best to match the colors, but if I did it again I would lighten up the colors just a bit. The splash on the top canvas was different on pinterest, but I tried to do mine to match the shower curtain more and I don't like it as much, but oh well. I'm still pretty proud :)

Summer Fun

Brady has loved playing in the water this summer with Grandma. I'm sure it's especially refreshing with the record high temperatures we've had, but even without that, we have quite the water baby on our hands. He has always loved water, even if it's just to wash his hands :) Here's our water baby at work...

Gone Fishin'

My first activity with the scouts was fishing for pack meeting today. As I'm sure you are all aware, I am not much of an outdoorsey person. Luckily since it was a pack meeting, families are allowed to tag along so I got to bring my two favorite guys. Which also means I did not have to touch a worm or fish. It was super hot, so we only stayed a little over an hour. It was 104 degrees according to the bank we drove by on our way home! I didn't catch anything, but Quentin caught one. You can't tell from the picture, but Brady was pretty excited by it. And then even afterwards he kept pointing to the water and doing the sign for fish. We were so happy to get to hang out with Daddy for the day. He has worked every night this week, so besides 4th of July, we have only seen him for about 15 min each morning. Brady always asks for him first thing every morning, and then when we're home in the evenings he periodically goes to the door and points and says "Daddy!" He sure does love his Daddy and we miss him when he's at work. But we are so lucky to have a Daddy who is willing to work so hard to make life a little more comfortable financially. Only 10 months to go until graduation :)

Biker Dude

I could be wrong, but I am 99.9% sure this is the cutest biker ever! Even in his pajamas :) And if you can believe it, he is even cuter in person.