Brady...patient audience member

While Brady was waiting patiently for Connor's School Performance to start, he was hamming it up with Mimi and laughing hysterically with Aunt Julie. His smile (and his laugh) is so contagious!

Hippo Dress Rehearsal...

If the dress rehearsal is any indication...this should be an interesting performance on Friday evening. Connor is on the far right.... P.S. You won't need to watch the whole video to get an idea of what I am talking about.

Happy Birthday Grant!

Our good friend, Grant, celebrated his 2nd birthday with a cookout/birthday party on what turned out to be a great night for a cookout. The kids had a lot of fun playing outside and in the sandbox, the company was good, and Grant had an awesome Reese Pieces Cake. Happy Birthday Grant!

Connor's Upcoming Performance

Connor will be a Hippo in his preschool's Spring 2009 School Musical. They have been practicing at school for months and we have the CD in our car...I think he could do the whole performance, not just the Hippo song. Details of his performance to come later....

Future Soccer Star...Maybe

I won a gift certificate for two soccer lessons with Kinderkicks at the Montessori auction, so I thought it was a good time to try out sports with Brady (We have been a little hesitant to try the team sports for Brady because of the unsuccessful attempts with Connor). I'm glad we did. Today was Brady's 2nd soccer lesson with Kinderkicks and he did great! Last week, the 1st lesson was held inside due to weather and he was a little hesitant in the beginning. I thought he was being Connor Jr. right off the bat with his head glued to the shoulder. After a brief warm-up period and some brotherly assistance from Connor, he quickly joined in the fun with the other kids. By the end, he was wanting to tell the teacher everything.

Tonight, the lesson was outside at the soccer field and what a beautiful evening for it. Brady was very focused on listening to what the teacher had to say and other than a little reservations during stretching, he participated the entire time. In addition to getting the kids to kick the ball (rather than using hands), Ms. Janet also introduced counting, identification of colors, matching of colors, and learning left from right during the lesson. By the way, Brady showed that he knew these things and just needs practice on the Soccer basics. At the end of class, Brady told Ms. Janet that he would see her next week and she said he did great. Future soccer star...maybe! Since he did so great, I think we will continue going for a little bit. Plus, mommy enjoyed the one-on-one time she was able to spend with Brady at the field and talking about the evening on the way home.

Preparing for Easter...

This year was the first year we attempted dying easter eggs as a family event. Connor said that the Easter Bunny likes easter eggs, so we needed to make sure we had some for when the Easter Bunny delivers the goodies on Easter day. We set the boys up with 2 colors each and gave them a few eggs each to decorate with crayon and then dye. Of course, Connor used a yellow crayon for the yellow dye and Brady used a blue crayon for the blue dye, so the design was a little hard to see when complete. They did very well though in handling the eggs and waiting patiently for the color to get dark.

Wishing everyone a Happy Easter tomorrow!

Classmate Birthday Parties

The last two weekends have included birthday parties for Connor's friends from school. The first one was at Acros last Saturday evening and just Connor and mommy went. Connor had a blast jumping in the pit over and over again and swinging on the rope (even though he would always let go immediately). The second one was at Pump It Up and the entire family was invited. Pump It Up was a blast also especially since the big kids, aka adults, could also play. I will definitely have to consider one of these places for one of the boy's birthday parties, as it was a blast and the kids are worn out afterwards. As everyone knows, my boys don't normally nap, but they napped for over 2 hours the afternoon after the party.

Connor's Day Off

Connor's school was closed for Good Friday...while the rest of the family had to go to work and school. Brady had an Easter party planned, so he wasn't going to miss that! We recruited Papa Terry to spend the day with Connor. They spent the morning at the house playing trains, coloring, and pretending to make Papa eat a hot dog (which we have heard about several times). They then ventured to McD's on the west side for lunch and playtime at McPlayland. After playtime, they stopped at the library to visit Gma Donna and to their house to play Legos. On the way back home, Connor fell asleep so Papa joined him for an afternoon nap. Connor reported that he had a really good day.

Thank you Papa for spending the day with Connor.

Connor works really hard...

On the way home today, I asked Connor if he told all his friends about the dentist visit. His response was "No, I was WORKING today. I didn't have time to talk to my friends about what I did before school.". Apparently, his days are like mine...busy, busy!

Apparently, kids don't talk about what is going on in their lives like we do. I am good friends with some of his classmates parents, so I know about their vacations, new houses, new cars, etc. I will ask Connor if he knows about his friend's happenings and he always responds with "No, we don't talk about that!". However, he did know that one of his classmates mom (my co-worker) lost her voice to Laryngitis, so that must have been important news to share.

Stinky Poo...Potty Training

Brady's lack of interest in potty training has led to some frustration from parents that has led us to make comments about his potty training more frequently. These comments are usually during a diaper change that we would all like to avoid one day. The other day, I was changing his diaper and all I got out was "you are almost 3" when Brady finished my sentence with "I know, I know, and I need to be potty training". My reaction was a mix of humor and more frustration! These are the general conversations about potty-training.

Due to Brady's resistance to potty-training, we have decided to delegate the potty training to big brother, Connor. He has been promised a reward for his success - good luck Connor! Apparently, Connor's potty training tactic is humiliation. I guess he assumes that if he teases Brady enough about the smell he produces, that it will lead to potty training motivation.

"Brady, you stink. I'm leaving!"

"Daddy, I have a question for you. Will you change Brady's poopy diaper because he is stinking up the whole house?"

"What's that smell - you smell like a Skunk?"

Progress to date: humliation only motivates Brady to play along..."I stink and the whole house is going to blow up!"

Below is an interview with Brady regarding his thoughts on Potty Training...Enjoy!

Zuki Fun...Now, can we go to McDonalds?

At the last minute tonight, we decided to go out to dinner with the boys and pulled into Zuki Hibachi Grill since it was right there (and we had been wanting to try it with the boys).

What a fun experience! Wasn't sure how Connor was going to react since he started the evening out with his ears covered. He kept asking when they were going to get started and set the grill on fire. They both really got into the fun of the dinner prep where the chef tossed around the spatulas and eggs. They thought it was hilarious when the egg landed in the chef's hat. Brady was a little freaked out by the fire, but then got back into the game. The chef threw some eggs on Connor's plate which he quickly devoured and praised the chef for.

Unfortunately, we didn't plan ahead for Brady as he isn't really a fan of meat, vegetables, or sushi (only fruit these days). After everyone else at the grill was served, Brady asked when they would bring him his food. I had to apologize to him and promise him that we would get him something on the way home. He announced that he wanted McDonalds, which got the other people around us laughing.

I asked Connor what he liked best...he said EVERYTHING! I liked the eggs, the sushi, the rice, and even the broccoli. He ate lots of my scallops and he always eats his share of California Sushi Rolls. He said the chef was funny and enjoyed watching him. He told Brady that next time we would take him to a babysitter and HE would come to Zuki with mommy and daddy. Yes, we will be returning (especially since they were well behaved) and hopefully be better prepared for Brady next time.

Good thing about travel...catch up on reading, but miss my boys!

On Sunday, I left for DC for a conference on all the hot topics in my field of work, tax. Sounds like fun, huh? Spent about 7 hours on Sunday doing the airport scramble. From Monday morning until Wednesday morning, spent exhausting amounts of time rushing from seminar to seminar, regretting that I didn't provide my own caffeine since the hotel skimped in this area, upset that I had no blackberry service during the seminars, and looking forward to alone time in my hotel each evening. Wednesday late morning, I repeated the airport scramble all over again arriving home about 6 hours later. I had a co-worker with me, so that made the trip a little more bearable. I also got to see the Cherry Blossoms again this year, which I learned only bloom for about 10 days.

Good things about travel...I read two really good novels during my travels (Everyone is Beautiful and the Last Lecture), I got a break from the boys, watched some "live TV" and got lots of great goodies from the vendors. I hope I get a call about that Wii or IPhone I won...wishful thinking.

Bad thing about travel is that I missed my hubby and boys terribly. My oldest was telling people that I left...and failed to finish the sentence with the fact that I would be returning in a few days. I think he was a little upset with me in the beginning.I did get to talk to the boys on the phone, which I think they really enjoyed even though they were trying to talk all at once.

I am very glad to be home (with my boys and in my own bed), but welcome travel at least once a year for the opportunity to catch up on my reading! Cause it ain't happening with two wild boys!