Braden's First Day Outfit

This morning I took Braden to Target so that he could pick out an outfit to wear to the first day of kindergarten.

As you can see from his smile, he LOVES this outfit. I think it is pretty cute, too.

By the way, GrandTom, Braden chose this location for the picture--he wanted to stand next to your birdhouse!

Family Fitness Night

Last Saturday night (or was it the Saturday before?) we held our first Family Fitness Night. It just might be our last Family Fitness Night, too. The bikes were loaded up in the truck, my running shoes were on my feet, and off to Veteran's park we went.

My very brilliant plan was for Kyle to ride bikes with the boys while I ran three laps around the "American Mile" trail. If you know my boys, though, you know that they LOOOOVE their momma, so my plan to jog off into the sunset didn't go over so well. On the first lap around the mile trail, I had Braden as my partner. We left Daddy and Garrett in the dust. Everytime I turned around to check their progress, they appeared smaller and smaller until I could just barely make out Garrett's fat little legs pedaling his bike. As Braden and I were completing our second lap, we caught up to Garrett and Daddy. Garrett was NOT happy and was NOT interested in the fact that I wanted to run one more lap. Instead, the whole family walked back to the truck where Braden and Daddy took advantage of the wide-open parking lot to ride some figure eights.

By this point we were starving and Family Fitness Night was somewhat of a bust. I decided we should make it Family Fun Night instead and go to Sonic. My again-brilliant plan was to park the truck, walk to the Sonic pavillion that is nestled against the Wolf Pen Creek jogging trail, and enjoy a picnic-style experience. The one flaw in my plan is that Kyle absolutely hates eating outside. Hates, hates, hates it. I don't know why I have such a hard time remember this little quirk about him, but I always forget it and am so surprised when he refuses to go along with my fun picnic ideas! We pulled truck into Sonic and ordered.

As I said, we'd given up on the Fitness component of the evening by this point which is a good thing because burgers and shakes were on sale for $2.99. Here is Kyle ordering with a bit of help from Braden:

Since we were parked, the boys took off their seatbelts and were crawling all over the truck. It turns out that taking pictures of booties is wildly hysterical. Here's one of the pics. This pic got a really good laugh even now when they saw the picture again. I have no idea what that spot is on Garrett's bootie.

After so much silliness in the truck, Daddy was ready to escape. Even eating outdoors sounded better to him than eating cooped up with some very wound-up little boys. We took our food over to the pavillion where we enjoyed a picnic after all.

Braden's Reading! Braden's cartwheeling!

Linsey here, Erin's sister, guest-blogging about my adorable nephews.

I want to be a fair aunt and write equally about Braden and Garrett, but I have to admit that I have more to say about Braden after my most recent trip. He's just growing up! Erin and Kyle finally enrolled Braden in gymnastics, which, being a former gymnast and coach myself, I'm really excited about. I actually coached for a semester in college at the same place he'll be going. Erin taught Braden how to do a handstand and now Braden is pretty fired up about gymnastics. We did some handstands and I tried to teach him how to tuck and roll out of it rather than crashing over backwards. Next we worked on cartwheels. I wish I had a "before" and "after" video but this "after" one will suffice. It took two tries. Notice the "hand, hand, foot, foot..."on the 2nd one. That was the goal. Now if only we could get those legs straight...



Now during all this Garrett came in and wanted to participate as well. I said "Garrett, can you do a roll?" and he promptly flung himself on the floor and started rolling sideways. I guess I'm a bad aunt because I didn't grab the camera to video tape that. Sorry Garrett.

Earlier in the day I took both boys to the teacher supply store. I knew this might be a terrible mistake but I'm always up for a challenge. Garrett narrated and picked up everything as we walked around the store "Look, dinosaurs...Look, cars...Look, books." Braden, however, started reading signs and posters everywhere. I looked at him stunned. "Braden" I asked, "How did you learn to read?" He looked at me like I was a total moron and said with a "duh" attitude "from books!"

As we got into bed that night (after Braden made up my bed in his room) Braden had a book with him. I crawled up next to him and asked if he could really read it. "It's just colors" he told me. But he could- he could read it! And it wasn't just colors, it was pieces of clothing and the word "oops" too. So then it was time to experiment...

I grabbed a book from his closet that looked like a beginning of first grade book (I teach 2nd grade so I know this stuff). Guess what!? He could read it! He knew words like "what" and "will." I have 2nd graders that still have trouble with those. He only got stumped on about 2 words (I remember one was "flashes"), which is when I realized he's not sounding out these words, he just remembers them. We'll have to work on some strategies. Okay so maybe there's a lot of kids that read before kindergarten but this is my nephew and I was proud! I bragged on him a lot and he just grinned and grinned.

He starts kindergarten and gymnastics class on the same day. What a big kid! "I'll be busy that day" he told me. Busy growing up...and I, for one, have mixed feelings about that. And I'm not even the mom.

Off to church!

On the way out the door this morning, Garrett grabbed one more article to accessorize his outfit...his "dragon hat." He LOVES this hat no matter the weather. He caught a glimpse of himself reflected in the truck door and said, "hey! I look like a beach dinosaur!"

He proudly sported the dragon hat all the way into the children's classrooms at church to the amusement of quite a few little old ladies.

This picture is a bit foggy because the camera fogged up as soon as I left the cool comfort of the house and walked into the muggy outdoors. Don't look at my poor cast iron plants in the background--it has just been too hot and sunny for them.

Braden has learned...

...to make his own sandwiches! This is a ketchup, cheese, and fruit snack sandwich. Braden has become very creative in the kitchen. He never has eaten the food I cook, and I don't often make something else for him. He likes to make what he calls "mixtures." He takes a bowl and adds a variety of foods to eat. A mixture might include things such as pretzels, cheerios, and cheese crackers, with a pop tart on top. He looks so very proud of his creation!

...to draw Target big rigs. He loves, loves, loves drawing big rigs, and his latest ones have been of the Target variety. Perhaps I spend a bit too much time (and money) at Target.

V-I-C-T-O-R-Y! That's the Poo-Poo Battle Cry!

Picture this: Me, Kyle, and Braden gather around Garrett's potty. Garrett sits on the potty, little feet on a stool. All of us tell him, "just push the poo-poo out, Garrett!" Braden offers to show him how it is done--and then actually shows him. Garrett returns to his potty, grabs the little green handles, grunts a time or two and....

...nothing.

We know he has to poop, he just won't do it in the potty. The offer of ice-cream hasn't been successful, so we upped the ante and offered a trip to Chuck-E-Cheese. Still nothing. Braden, however, now really wants him to go and is being the most patient and kind teacher of all.

All the poop talk must have worn the kid out, though, because he just crashed on his bed. Maybe when he wakes up, he'll feel the call and push it out, push it out, waaaaay out!

Thoughts on blogging...

A few weeks ago, Grandma Scheele wanted to know why I haven't updated my blog...

It's kinda complicated. One, our internet service has been acting crummy for weeks now. The guy has been here the last two days and seems to have fixed the problem. Two, I'm not sure if anyone actually reads this blog. I wondered if I was wasting my time. Three, posting on my blog reminds me of my mom, and that makes me sad. You see, I started this blog mainly for her to be able to see pics of the boys and read stories about their craziness. Since she died, I'm just not as motivated to post stuff.

Now that the internet is working again, and now that I know others want pictures/stories, I'll try to get better about it.

Here's a quick one: Right now, I'm at the breakfast table on the computer, and the boys are on the couch eating their third mini-bag of popcorn. A few minutes ago, Braden gave a big piece to Garrett and told him to deliver the mail to mommy. Garrett came running to me, I opened my mouth, and he put the popcorn in it. We repeated this a few times. All the while, he and Braden were yelling, "Mail for Mommy!" Sweet little boys.