Chalkboard Artists

Sweet Brady

I am blogging about something sweet Brady did tonight because I never want to forget the little things the boys did when they were young. But somehow I just know that this is just who Brady is and will always be, and I will have many more reminders of his sweet and loving disposition for years to come.

Brady loves his brother with an amazing love that cannot be described. He thinks of Jake as somewhat of a superhero...able to do anything and help him do anything right along with him. To say that Brady looks up to Jake or idolizes him would be a major understatement. They are brothers, however, and have their moments that can all too often get out of hand when someone isn't getting his way. I have learned that no matter what Jake does to bother or hurt Brady, nothing hurts Brady more than seeing Jake unhappy. There have been countless times where Jake has been sent to timeout for something unkind he has said or done to Brady, and it just kills Brady to know that Jake is sad and unhappy. In fact, there are times when Brady tries to cover for him or tell us that it is fine and he doesn't mind whatever it is that Jake may have done. It is also torture for Brady to not be able to play with his big brother while he is "learning from his mistakes." Tonight was another example of Brady being his sweet self when his big brother (and best friend) was feeling a bit disappointed;

The boys each had a piece of pie and Jake asked for another slice. When I told him no, he was disappointed and not too happy with me. He just sat with his sad look and sulked a little. Brady had a little bit of his piece left, so he broke off a little crust and put it on Jake's plate. Jake gave a little "half smile" and said thank you. After seeing Jake smile, Brady broke off another piece and told Jake, "That's all Jake because I only have a little piece left." Once again Jake thanked him and smiled. Brady then looked down at the little piece left on his plate and said, "Oh here Jake! You can have some of this too! It's really good!" With that, Big Brother and Little Brother shared the last little piece of Brady's pie together and smiled at each other the whole time.

Brady, you have a heart of gold. You are so kind to everyone, not just your big brother, and that makes Mommy and Daddy super happy. I love you!!!

Pumpkin Pie

The boys and I made one of our favorite desserts yesterday...pumpkin pie! We were anxiously awaiting Miss Karen and the gang who were on a long road trip and coming by to stay with us for the night, and we made the pies to share with them. See, on our trip to Louisiana with Jake and Brady, Miss Karen made pumpkin pie for us (should I mention that she let Jake eat almost an entire pie by himself?!) so we wanted to repay the favor with Jake and Brady's famous pumpkin pie. Unfortunately, they had car trouble and didn't make it here last night. The boys were very disappointed and even gave up having pie last night since they couldn't have it with Miss Karen. HOWEVER...they made it very clear, after I told them we wouldn't be seeing them today either, that they definitely wanted to have a slice of pie tonight! I guess you can only hold out so long when there are two delicious pumpkin pies in the refrigerator! We are hoping to see Miss Karen tomorrow, and we saved plenty of pie to share!

Take a trip to Chalkboard Island

I got another bright idea the other day. Much to my surprise Cindy actually was on board from the start. I have been wanting to paint something with chalkboard paint for ohhh about a gozillion years. I just could never decide what. Until a few days ago when I was doing some touch up painting around the house. I noticed a flat squarish surface on the front of the island and the lazy hamster in my head hopped on his wheel and went all Lance Armstrong and whatnot.

So, a trip to Lowes, $30 and 3 coats later...there it is. The boys could not wait to draw on it while I was painting it. Now...they could not care less. It's like they don't want to mess up the perfect blackness. Maybe later I will have to get the party started with some crazy doodles of my own. Truthfully though, I kinda like the blackness myself.

Monkey Bidness

My funky fresh cousin Jennifer made the boys this little guy. As soon as he came out of his package, he was up to no good. Eating our bananas. Swimming in our drinks, then drinking them. Riding on all the rides with the boys at Chuck E Cheese. Even stealing a turn on the Wii. That little dude is in to everything. We have named him Lucky, as he was born in Vegas. Thanks for sending him out Jen, look out for more crazy action from Lucky real soon.

Brady's Choice

Since the boys are big into making things with us these days, I decided on a recent shopping trip to have each of them pick out a boxed cake mix and frosting flavor of their choice just to have on hand for those times when we want to make something but don't have tons of time. Jake chose chocolate cake and chocolate frosting and Brady chose strawberry cake and strawberry frosting. (Just to clear things up, we did clarify that the frosting didn't have to match the cake mix flavor exactly!)

Tonight we decided to make Brady's cake. He was very excited as usual. I decided to have the boys make the cake in a bundt pan and warm the frosting a little bit so we could pour it over the cake. It turned out very pink and very sweet! Jake wasn't a hug fan of the intense strawberry flavor, but Brady loved it!! Baking success once again!

Mixing it up!

Convincing little brother to steal a taste!

My little taste tester...

Caught in the act!

All done!

YUM!

My happy Baker!

While she made mallows...

Last week I broke the first rule of carpentry, which is measure twice, cut once. I measured once and cut twice. I bought a very nice piece of wood for another project, and cut it way too short. So then I bought another really nice piece of wood and cut it just right. Which left me with an expensive piece of oak sitting around. Hmm.

A few days later Brady was bored out of his mind so I promised him that on Friday we would use that extra wood to make a new little playfort for his action figures. He was more than a little excited. Every day this past week he reminded me of my promise. Then on Friday morning he held me to it. We went to Home Depot and got a few screws and borrowed Poppy's drill and we were ready to go.

Now, I'm not even a novice level carpenter. Plus, my assortment of tools is less than adequate. However, carpentry is in my blood so I tried to channel my Grandpa's skills. After a little frustration, a few choice words, and some good old fashioned force of will, we got the job done. Halfway anyway. After lunch we are going to a craft store to buy some stuff to decorate the inside and outside all "adventure" like. They'll play with it for about twenty minutes and then forget it exists for a few months. Probably. But hey, when you make a promise you keep it. I hope Brady learned that little lesson if nothing else. God knows he learned very little about carpentry.

Marshmallows

Yesterday the boys and I made a real treat...homemade marshmallows! The recipe is really easy (and very sticky)! They had some in a mug of hot chocolate this morning and they were delicious!! I can definitely see this being a recipe we do again, especially in the winter when we can enjoy hot chocolate and it isn't 110 degrees outside!

A Fun Filled Evening

Jake and Brady spent a little time this afternoon with Grandma so I could get some coffee with a friend (Thanks Mom and Bridget!). Then it was off to watch J & B's cousins play some basketball. The boys always enjoy being with their cousins, especially when there is an hour to kill between games and they get to go to McDonald's too! Here are some highlights from our evening.

Good game Mike!

Jake loves his cousin Mike

Brady and Uncle Steve

Brady rubbing Jake's leg, making sure he feels ok.

This is what a tired boy looks like....

....until you tickle him!!

Crazy B


And THIS is what happens when the boys have the camera...

Jake The Football

Claymation 2

Getting Ready for School

Since the school supplies are already out in the stores, I figured the boys and I would do some fun practice in their workbooks tonight. They really had a great time reading, writing, and coloring. And I might be a little biased, but boy are they smart!!

Wall-E....Crap-E

Well, that was a good idea in theory. Get off work early, go have a little supper, and see a new movie. Supper was good. The movie...a fat steamy turd. Halfway through, I got up and got my money back. The Disney/Pixar folks fell in love with themselves and their animation skills and forgot that movies need a story not just pretty moving pictures. I/we have never been so bored so quickly. Now I know how all those ADD kids feel. The boys sat there with blank expressions on their faces, not even cracking one smile. Jake left the theater angry. Brady looked like his brain had melted. Awesome. High five for me and my big ideas. On the bright side, since the wonderful folks at AMC gave us a full refund, we get to go see Iron Man again in the morning. Now THAT is a kick-A movie that will hopefully let the boys forget about this little misadventure tonight.

Donuts With Brady

This morning Brady was itching to "do something fun" (as he put it). We decided to make some homemade donuts together. Brady loves to cook/bake and I hardly have to help him much at all these days. I have never met another 4 year old who can crack an egg with one hand! Jake didn't feel much like baking, so the big guy sat and read the recipe to us. We covered some of the donuts in powdered sugar and some in cinnamon sugar. They were pretty good but not as light and fluffy as I had hoped from a yeast donut. The boys still loved them and for me it was all about spending some time with my boys doing "something fun!"