Santa Visit

We headed to Union Station and Crown Center last night to check out the trains and to visit with Santa. Unfortunately all the toy trains were not up and running. We did get to see a few and Brady was happy to see the display.





After waiting for about an hour in line we finally made it in the Crayola play room where Santa was. Brady was very excited to run and jump around on all the equipment.

When it was FINALLY our turn to see Santa Brady was terrified and wanted NOTHING to do with Santa. I relayed Brady's Christmas wishes to Santa in hope that Santa will still deliver a new train and transformer.

After our long wait we were all starving. We heading to Fritz's for hamburgers and french fries. Brady was much happier after some much needed food.

Getting ready for Christmas

Brady has definitely been getting into the Christmas spirit. This year he is very excited for Santa to come and enjoyed helping his Daddy Brad put up the Christmas tree and helping me put up my Snow Babies. We will be heading down to Florida this year to spend Christmas with G-Ma. Since G-Ma does not have a chimney we explained to Brady that Santa will be making his way through the back sliding door.



Brady taking a picture of Brad's masterpiece


We did some picture posing the other night for our Christmas cards.


Brady likes to put on his Santa hat and say, "Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas"

Since he did so good I let him take a picture of me in front of our tree too.

Visit with the Coopers

While Brad was on his trip to NY Brady and I took a road trip to Indianapolis to see my best friend, Michelle, and her husband, Josh. Michelle and I were roommates in college and we were together on spring break when we met Josh. Fun times with both of these amazing people at Indiana University. They are now the proud parents of Kendall and Brinkley. Brady had a great time playing with them. Hopefully it will not be another 3-5 years until I see them again. (I forgot my camera so not the best pictures- I was able to use my phone to get some shots)

Brinkley on her bike. (Notice Michelle's outfit in the background :) Josh is so proud!)


It was such a nice day that we were able to go outside and play and take a walk around the neighborhood.



Kendall and Brinkley. Such beautiful little girls.



Kendall was nice enough to share her bike with Brady


Brinkley in style in her barbie jeep

Brad's hunting trip to Upstate New York

Brad took off for about 10 days on a hunting trip to New York with Jesse and Rob. They brought their guns and bows to seek out some deer and bear on Jesse's family land. Jesse successfully got a Doe and had a bear spotting, but none of the others were successful. They had some good guy bonding time nonetheless. Brad took some pictures along the way.

Here are some windmills Brad was fascinated with that were about 30 minutes from their destination.


Here is the cabin where 6 guys stayed for 3 days and 3 nights. Those are some tight living quarters.


They were able to have some fun on the ATVs as well


The outhouse

Halloween

Brady decided he wanted to be Spiderman again for Halloween this year. We went to a party hosted by the Domingues' and trick or treated through the prairie village shops. Our trick or treating mostly consisted of me holding the bucket and saying, "trick or treat" since our anti-sweet loving child had no interest in collecting candy. He was much happier when we later went to Barb and Dan's. He ran to the door every time the doorbell rang and helped Barb hand out the candy.



Max, Amy and Ian's 2 year old son, was Bob the Builder.


Thing 1 AKA Jason Domingues


and Thing 2, Allison Domingues were in true Halloween spirit

We took Lori and Meredith to Brady's school where they had a Halloween open house with different stations and events to participate in. Meredith dressed up as a princess. Below she is using her creative skills to make a pretty bracelet while Brady is running around in the background. Continues to be the trend with these two.

Brady did finally sit down long enough to eat a hot dog

They both decided to get their face painted. Brady got a baseball on his face

and Meredith got a pretty butterfly

Pumpkin Painting

Meredith came over the other day to help us paint our pumpkins. Meredith is very precise with her painting techniques while Brady is much more spastic. Their painting strokes seem to match their personalities. They were both masterpieces nonetheless.

Pumpkin Patch 2009

Our annual trip to the pumpkin patch was a fun adventure once again. Lori and Meredith came with Brad, Brady and I. Brady and Meredith had fun playing on the playground, running through the hay bale maze, riding the tractor hayride, and picking out their prized pumpkins.

Brady and Meredith watch as Brad takes a turn at the pumpkin slingshot

On the tractor hayride

Brady and his pumpkin

What a difference a year makes... Here is picture of Brady last year measuring about 3 ft 1/2 inches.

This year he is at 3 ft 5 1/2 inches. What a big boy! We have to see what he measures in at next year :)

Half Marathon

October 17, 2009 I was able to accomplish one of my lifetime goals and finish a half marathon with a time of 1:58.36. I am so happy to have shared this goal with two of my sister-in-laws, Lori and Steph. I am now determined to try and beat my time next year. It was a great experience and I thank my amazing husband for all his support and coming with Brady to cheer me on. It was so nice to see their smiling faces at the finish line.

Steph crossing the finish line.

I am so proud of Lori and all her hard work and dedication. Most of her training runs consisted of her pushing Meredith in her jogging stroller. Not an easy feat. Mer is a trooper and hung out with the boys (Uncle Brad, Jesse and Brady) during the race cheering her mom on.

Steph concurred the 13.1 miles as well. She did a lot of her training with her loving husband riding his bike behind her so she did not have to run by herself in the dark. What a great guy!

I have to thank my friend, Cherie, who convinced me to do the half marathon. She is a veteran and has now ran 4 halfs herself and accomplished a PR this time around.

Our great great friends, Kara, Mark and Kate came to cheer us all on as well. I can not thank them enough for being there at the finish line. Kara was so sweet to let me wear her coat after the race since I was freezing:) What a friend.

Meredith comes over to play

Brady and I got to pick up Meredith at school the other evening and bring her back to our house for a fun evening playdate. Brady and Meredith had so much fun together. It is fun to see them interact more and more.

We started out having a nice dinner.


Next we all did several puzzles together


Still eating... Brady seems to want to eat and eat and eat these days. He continues to grow quickly.


Next is was bath time. They had so much fun pouring water and playing with the trains. I left them for a few minutes to find them jumping from the toliet to the bath and splashing water everywhere! That game quickly ended.

After bath we put a movie on the bedroom which turned into a pillow fight.

and wrestling on the bed

They found out it was very fun to hug each other and then fall together on the bed.