Happy 5th Birthday Brady

Just going down memory lane.... Brady at 4 months old

Alex 2 & 1/2 years old...She was such a little mommy

5 months old

Brady...18 months & Alexandria...3 & 1/2 years old

2 years old

4 years old

Today is Brady's 5th birthday...his real birthday. I can't believe my baby is 5. It's so hard to believe that he's getting so big.

We started our day by going to the movies to see Toy Story 3. What a cute movie. We all loved it and recommend it to everyone. Brady is a big Buzz Light Year fan so he was excited to see it. After the movie, we took the kids to McDonald's for lunch, home briefly to do a few things like finish his cake and then off to the pool. We had a great time at the pool playing games with each other...just a great day. Then home for pizza, cake and ice cream. I think I forgot presents somewhere in there. Presents were opened all through the day. He had ours to open from Alex, mom and dad, some from grandmas and aunts. So all in all a great birthday for Brady. Oh and plus a shower at the end of the day with him singing Happy Birthday to himself, So funny and cute (wish I recorded the singing)

(I forgot to take pictures when we were out at the movies and the pool...didn't really think about it until I sat down to blog. We were having to much fun to have a camera in my hand)

After the movie, Brady played a game at the arcades in the movie theatre

Alex got Brady a Zuhu pet per his request for his birthday. It was pretty funny when he opened it because he had to make sure it was a boy Zuhu pet and not a girl one. Alex also got him a basketball outfit to go with it.

Such a funny picture. This year Brady is really into Iron Man among other things...

He wanted the costume, the helmet that talks and the gloves that light up and shoot missiles. Plus, I am hoping this will be his Halloween costume :)

Alex thinks the costume is pretty cool. Look how big the helmet is or is that his head.

Pizza for dinner

So Brady wanted a Soccer ball cake, an Iron man cake, a Spider man Cake, a Ben 10 Cake, a Batman Cake....What am I missing......

So, I said how about a soccer ball cake with Iron man and spider man kicking the ball. He loved the idea.

I think it looks pretty good....It was YUMMY!!!!

I snapped the picture at the perfect time...that never happens.

Happy Birthday Brady!!!! We Love You!!!!!!

Happy 4th of July

We had a great 4Th of July this year...We stayed home and did our own fireworks. No traffic or sitting around entertaining the kids and waiting to see fireworks.

The so prefer doing there own. We started by making our own flags.

Brady had a wavy flag.

Alex had a heart flag.

Fireworks.........

Sparklers...the kids love these ones because they can hold them and be that close to the action

Brady with his sparkler....again, love being in the action

Our new buisness...A Lemonade Stand

So now that our lemonade stand was such a success last week, we decided to make it the real deal. So Joe went to home depot and got some supplies. The kids really loved doing this with dad. I think dad enjoyed it too!The kids picked the colors yellow, pink, red and white.

Hard to see...Alex is helping dad drill in the screws.

More painting.

And more painting.

Brady drilling in the screws. Brady's favorite part.

The finished project.

It was hard trying to design this stand because it had to be light enough for me to pick up and put in my car. Our lemonade stand is a couple a blocks from our house so I have to put it in my car and drive down the street. So, the lemonade stand is partly wood with PVC tubes on the side that hold the lemonade sign and a vinyl tablecloth stapled to the front so you can't the ice chest.

Alex hiding behind the lemonade and Brady waving.

So to update...we have done the lemonade stand twice, a Friday afternoon and a Saturday morning. We have made back the money spent in lemonade, ice and cups plus lots more. The kids are excited to continue doing this. It is actually a lot fun. I have really enjoyed doing this with them.

Lemonade Stand

Alex and Brady have always wanted to do a lemonade stand...They have been talking about it for about a year now. So, today we are out grocery shopping. No talk about actually doing a lemonade stand today until we get home and I am putting groceries away. It's about 3:15 in the afternoon, I am tired and grouchy. But I decided to put a smile on my face, take the kids back to the store and get our supplies. We got ice, lemonade, lemons and cups. We came home mixed up the lemonade and set up our stand. We live in a quiet little area of our community plus a cul-de-sac so we knew we wouldn't get too many customers. So we decided to head out just down the street on the perfect corner where there is lots of traffic...those coming home from work on a hot and humid day. Oh was it hot. The perfect corner. We made $24.85.

That is all profit. I completely made back what I spent on supplies and then some.

The kids want to do this every Friday afternoon to earn money. I think it's a great idea. They have been plans on what to do with the money at the end of the summer.

Hopefully our community won't have a problem with this. I think this is the perfect opportunity for a teaching moment in making and saving money.

So 2 hours in the hot sun wasn't that bad when you walk away with $24.85.

We even had a jingle for our small business

Lemonade

(clap hands twice)

Crunchy Ice

(clap hands twice)

Sip it once

(clap hands twice)

sip it twice

(Clap hand twice)

Balitmore Inner Harbor

There are so many things we want to do while living here in Maryland and one of them was visiting the inner harbor in Baltimore. The kids love taking boats rides.

The dragon paddle boats...mom and dad did all the work. It was the longest 30 minutes of my life. My legs hurt so bad afterwards plus with the heat and humidity. I was glad when it was over. After doing the paddle boats we had to go indoors to cool off.

Life jackets are so attractive....

We took a water taxi from the inner harbor to Fort McHenry.

About a 15 minute ride.

It was such a beautiful and clear day. So hot and humid. But at least we had a slight breeze at times which was nice to cool off.

WOW...look at those guns!

Brady and Alex in jail. So, I asked the kids to get inside this cage so I could take a picture until I shut the door, just a little to get the full affect and they both were freaking out. But you can't really tell in the picture. They look like they are enjoying it.

I wasn't really crazy about touring Fort McHenry at first but was pleasantly surprised. Before walking around we watched a 20 minute video about the history of Fort McHenry. It was very interesting. I was happy to have gone and toured this historical landmark.

Father's Day

For father's day the kids wanted to make Dad a smiley face pancake. I am the worst at making pancakes. For some reason they never turn out right but today they did. Did I mention that this was pancake #4.
Whip cream for the hair, eggs for the eyes, sausage links for the nose and bacon for the smile.
Too cute!!!!1

Alex's Dance Rectial

Alex had her dance recital last weekend. She was in 3 dances; tap, jazz and a ballet. She is a beautiful dancer. I know I may be bias but I love to watch her dance. She is so graceful. Dancing is in her blood. Brady had a hard time watching the 2 and half hour dance recital but we made it through. He was excited to give her flowers afterwards.
It is definitely different seeing her in make-up because she does look so much more grown up.
Again, picture rotation issues. I figured out how to do it but my computer won't let me.
Just rotate your computer.

Too much has gone by....

Yes, it has been just over 2 months since I have blogged. I have been so busy and so much has happened but I decided to just blog about the really important things that happened. So read on and on and on.

Brady's Early 5th Birthday Party

Brady's real birthday isn't until July 5. I know that is still 3 weeks away but with school ending this Tuesday and everyone having different summer schedules, we decided to do his party early with hopes that everyone would be able to come. And we succeeded. All his friends were able to come and it was a great night. Again, picture needs to be rotated...but being that we had his party at the pool we decided to make it a little easier and do cupcakes.

Oh and the theme other then the pool was iron man. So we put iron man rings on each cupcake.
In our neighborhood we have several community pools but the mushroom pool is the best for kids. Well Brady has been in love with the pool since day 1. He was so upset last year when it closed for the season and he had to wait 6 months for it to open again.
I think he had been planning his birthday party at the pool all year.
So here is Brady with all his friends.

Here are a few of his friends in front of the mushroom. You can see Alex in the background being the center of attention kind of like Brady at Alex's party....

We were very lucky because the weather was expected to have thunder and lightening around the time of the party. We had a few thunder issues where we had to exit the pool but it worked perfect because the kids got to eat pizza and have cupcakes. So it didn't interfere with the party and the kids still had plenty of time to swim.

This is a smaller part of the pool for the little ones. So some of our friends hung out there.

Brady taking a break and enjoying some food with Grayson.

Brady and Ethan eating chips and fruit. Another friend of Brady's Justin is in the background with his sister Kaylee. Kaylee is in Alexandria's first grade class at school.

More chillin and eating...

Singing Happy Birthday to Brady...I had a candle but forgot the matches so we just sang.

My 2 sweet little babies. I think Brady is tired of the camera and just wanted me to take the picture.

More friends, Sisters Evelyn and Lily.
I thought the chocolate faces was too cute.

Brady with Ethan and JJ being boys.

Boys will be boys

The kids love playing in the pool with dad.

The birthday boy...almost 5.

I am sure this early birthday thing is a little confusing. We did the same thing last year. Last year he thought at his party he turned 4 and his real birthday he turned 5. It took a little explaining to convince him that he was still 4.

But I think it's good this year. He seems to understand a little better now.

opening presents....

more presents.....

We missed sharing a birthday with you, Cambria.....That was an awesome party last year. Brady still talks about it. We miss you guys.

Thanks to all Brady's friends who came to his pool party. You all made it so special. Brady had a blast with all of you.

So now we wait for the real day.....

Brady's Soccer game

Brady had another season of soccer. He loves soccer and couldn't wait to get started again. Joe was his coach so that made it even better and more special. Brady looked forward to every Thursday night for practices and every Saturday morning for games with dad. Brady is holding his trophy. Last Saturday was the end of the season soccer party. We had it at a pizza place here in town called "Italian Market." The kids ate pizza, hung out and received their trophies from their coach. Brady definitely got the hang of soccer. This was his second season playing...Last season he was a little unsure of what to do and how to play. But this season he completely understood and did really well. He can't wait until the fall to start up again.

Brady's Preschool Graduation

Brady had his preschool graduation about 2 weeks ago. It was the cutest thing...all the kids wore caps and gowns. So precious. They walked out in a line to their seats, sang some songs and waited toi hear their names to get their diplomas. So cute that I almost cried. Just so precious and hard to except that I don't have babies anymore. Well brady Brady has not been a baby for a while but now it is completely official. He's a little man about to start kindergarten. ***If anyone knows how to rotate pictures on the blog, please tell me because I can't figure it out.*** Uncle Aaron happened to be in town so he was able to attend. Brady loves his Uncle. It was nice having some family around. Living so far away makes it hard having family around for important events.

This is Brady's friend from Preschool, Vihuv. I hope I spelled that right. They became great friends on the first day of school. They are always together when at school.

We are off to kindergarten in August. That will be a big day for both Brady and Mom.