I can't get enough

You can never have too many pictures of a baby smiling...

Really tasty

We grilled steaks and had sweet corn for dinner tonight. Brady LOVES sweet corn. He ate it right off the cob. I started him with a half of one. Ate it all and then had the second half.

When we was done, he finished off part of Grandpa Johnson's too. I love summer!

Makes me smile

The boys and I went to the Farmer's Market this morning. In addition to my veggies, I picked up a beautiful bouquet of flowers for $5. Gotta love that. Brady needed to smell them when we got home, so he climbed up on a chair and said "Smell pretty." It made me smile.

Bumbo

Now that Alex is able to hold his head up fairly well, we have started using our Bumbo seat with him. He does pretty well in it and is getting stronger every day.

I have been getting out some of the baby toys for Alex. Brady discovered his old friend the red elephant. He took off with him under the table the other night while Alex was in his seat. Brady thought this was hilarious as you can see from the picture. I think he thought he was teasing Alex.
Brady decided he needed to sit in the Bumbo too. He wasn't so sure that it should be just Alex's seat.

Fam Fest

My sister Jen wanted all of us to head to the cities for what she called Fam Fest '09. She wanted to plan fun activites for the day and just hang out. We went last weekend and had a wonderful time. We started our day at Como Zoo. Brady loved the Sparky the Sea Lion show.

I love this picture of Alex. He has such a great smile and a giggle that melts your heart.
Brady and Daddy walking around the zoo

Following the zoo we took Brady to Como Town. What a great park for little kids! Brady was tall enough to do many of the rides and he loved it. Here he is on his first ride by himself. These cars were awesome for him!

Brady and Daddy took a spin on the tea cups.

The favorite of the day was the cars...had to do another one.

We then headed to Como Park for a picnic lunch. Brady had lots of fun drinking from the water jug and stealing pear slices from Aunt Jen!

When he finished eating, Brady noticed grandpa had laid down in the grass to take a little rest. He of course dog piled him.

We then headed back for nap time. My mom, sister and I did a little shopping...child free I might add! Then it was a tasty dinner at Jen and Jerry and then off to the bowling alley!

Brady's first time bowling

Brady has seen bowling on tv and he has his play bowling set at home, but he had never gone to do the real thing until this past weekend. He was SOOO excited. Here he is with his bowling ball.

Alex patiently sat in his seat puffing up his cheeks and blowing bubbles while we all got ready for our game. I just had to laugh at the faces he was making.
The alley we went to had great ramps for little kids to use. Brady was able to bowl all by himself. A big deal when you are 2.

Nearing the end of our game Brady said, "Brady loves bowling" and gave his ball a snuggle.

He got pretty tired toward the end and didn't want to let Uncle Jerry put him down. Jerry managed to bowl and hold Brady. What talent!

Candids

I can't believe how strong Alex is getting with holding his head up. Check this one out!

While at my grandma's this past week, we were doing some cleaning for her. Brady found this hat in the closet. Pretty stylish huh?

Alex update

Well...Alex managed to get his thumb all the way in his mouth for the first time this week. He gave it several noisy sucks before it slipped out. I am hoping that this doesn't become a habit!

Alex had his 2mo. check up today - a few weeks late. At 2 1/2 months old he weighs 14 pounds. I can't believe it! He is 23.5 inches long. Growing like crazy. Best of all, he has slept from

11pm-6:15am for two nights in a row. Praise God for sleep!

Headed Home

Following a great week in Hilton Head we headed for home last weekend on Saturday. We were packed to the gills! Both boys were great travelers once again.

The Smokey Mountains were definitely the prettiest part of the drive.

We stayed in Indianapolis on the way home. Brady was tired and needed to move from being in the car for 14 hours. Needless to say, when he found a huge bed with 9 fluffy pillows, silliness ensued!

More Hilton Head

After a whirl wind week of returning home and grad class, I am finally finding the time to post the rest of our pics. Brady is becoming more and more interested in "rides" and arcade games. Here he is riding the tow truck while we were out shopping.

Arcade basketball was a HUGE hit at Fuddruckers one day when we stopped for lunch. Brady could not get enough.
He was constantly bending down trying to figure out how the whole thing worked and where those balls were coming from.
I think Daddy and Grandpa had just as much fun as Brady did!

Following our outing, we headed back for nap time. There was a bit of commotion coming from the room so Andy went in to check it out. This is what he found. Little feet sticking out from under the blind. Brady was watching some kids play shuffle board outside his window.

Caught in the act!

Our final trip to the beach.

I had to take this one to prove that Alex was there. I am leaning him back because he was strapped into the Snugglie on me!

A wet family photo

Hangin' out with grandpa on the lifeguard stand

Hilton Head Part 4

Today was spent at the pool and the beach. A nice low key kind of day...what vacation is all about. Here is Brady wearing Grandpa's sunglasses.

Showing off his "muscles"
Playing in the waves with mommy tonight. Brady loved sitting in the sand and letting the waves come up and splash him. We were there close to high tide tonight, so we saw some good ones.

Alex must be on a growth spurt because the last two days he has wanted to eat constantly. After 6 oz. before bedtime tonight and a bit of fussy time, he crashed and fell asleep on the ottoman! Didn't look comfy to me, but he was out.

Hilton Head Part 3 - Bye Bye Waves

Mothers have ideas... Ideas of how things should be in a perfect world. My mom and I talked and thought, "Gosh, wouldn't it be wonderful to get a family picture on the beach while we are on our trip?" We discussed, planned the outfits, and had this surreal idea of how things would go. We didn't plan on the wind, the screaming children, the hungry infant, the bright sun... Our "perfect" pictures didn't turn out so perfect. I have countless pictures of windblown hair and screaming children to show for our great "idea." Here is the best of all my gems.

The cutest picture of the bunch.
Another great mommy idea. I wanted the perfect picture of my boys. Brady holding Alex in the sand with the dunes in the background. Yeah right. Brady dumped Alex right in the sand and we had two unhappy children. We gave it one more try on the boat. Andy got this one just before Brady pushed Alex off of him and said "All done!"

Mommy and Daddy are smiling...the boys are not.

Following pictures, we thought that a little playtime was in order. Grandma and Grandpa graciously kept Alex for us and we headed back to the beach with Brady. We had a blast. Here are a few pics from the evening.

Playing in the waves with Daddy.

Digging in the sand

Showing mommy his toys

His first taste of salt water!

Making a "mountain" with mommy

Wet, salty, sandy, and happy!