Our Disney trip, part 3. Last one, I promise!

At Disney's Animal Kingdom with Expedition Everest in the background. It is a roller coaster that Brady loved. Ask him to tell you about the creature sometime--it will be quite a long conversation!


Brady playing the drums at Animal Kingdom.

Our family at Epcot. The flowers at Epcot are beautiful!

Brady and Maya standing at the "famous" pool where we stayed. I say famous, because we heard about it the entire vacation!!

Brady and Maya inside the Tree of Life at Animal Kingdom.

Our Disney trip, part 2

Here we are with Stitch, which doesn't seem like a big deal; however, after riding the Stitch ride the day before and being scared out of their minds, it is a big deal! Brady had nightmares all night after riding that ride. I don't recommend it!


Maya was very excited to meet Daisy Duck!

This is only Day 2. I think we are in trouble!

At Disney Hollywood Studios.

Oh, no, they have been captured by Zurg! The Buzz Lightyear ride was still a favorite for Brady!

Our Disney trip, part 1

With a giant sea monster made out of Legos at Downtown Disney.



In front of the castle at the Magic Kingdom.

At the Magic Kingdom.

At Downtown Disney with Grandma and Grandpa.

Brady's new pose--not sure where it came from, but it made several appearances on our vacation. I was waiting for him to start rapping!

The Incredible Brady!

I'm Going to Call 911--Our Trees Are Blowing Down!

Here are a few pictures of our yard after Hurricane Ike rolled through! Pretty much all of our yard was covered with debris...limbs, leaves, twigs, branches, etc. Brady tried to call 911 to let them know that our trees were blowing down. We lost power for about 2 days and Brady took charge of the situation! He had a great time finding flashlights, etc!



Our driveway...

What our whole yard looked like, pretty much--just covered with debris. We only lost one big limb, so we were lucky. Our neighbors lost some trees.

Cleaning up...

Tackle Soccer!

Practicing throwing the ball in. Brady doesn't like not being able to touch the ball with his hands. So, he will try to get the ball near the goalie and then pick it up and move it away from the other kids. I guess he thinks that if he is near the goalie, no one will notice!

Dribbling the ball...

Oh, the look of victory. Of course, he only knocked down a few kids to get the goal!

I just thought this was a good picture!

Most of his team...

This one is blurry, but I had to include it. It is an action shot of Brady getting ready to tackle his own teammate to take the ball. Fortunately, he didn't tackle too much this time. I think he is finally starting to understand that there is no tackling in soccer. However, he did get frustrated and said that those other green guys kept stealing the ball away from him. We had to explain that that is what they are supposed to do!

Cute Girl!

Maya looked so cute in her new outfit that I just had to take a picture!

Brady's First Day of School--I own the place!

Brady walked into his third year at Faith Lutheran like he owns the place. He made sure to tell everyone how it is and what they should be doing. No one was exempt from his instruction!


Seeing how he measures up...


Feeding some unknown object to the class pet...



Don't they look so happy to be there?

Maya's First Day of School!

Maya had a great first day of school. She was a little apprehensive at first, but ended up having a great time!

Here is Maya and her teacher, Miss Shari. Miss Shari was also Brady's teacher when he was 3.




Here is a picture of Maya and her other teacher, Miss Amy. Miss Amy is also one of Brady's teachers this year.

Playing with her new friends...

Since starting preschool, Maya is often heard singing many new songs. She loves all the new songs she is learning at school!

Brady Turns 5!

Brady and Maya were so excited to get ready for Brady's football party. Here's the little football player and cheerleader. Brady had to wear one item from each of his favorite teams--the Buckeyes and the Browns.

Hitting the Pinata!

Blowing out the candles!

My Proud Reader

Here is Brady with all of his stars on his reading poster. We just finished the Kindergarten level of "Learn to Read" by Hooked on Phonics. He knows over 30 sight words and can sound out over a hundred more words! Amazing! He loves to read his books!

He was very excited to pick out his prize (Transformers) after filling up his whole poster!

Brady playing T-ball

Here are a few pictures of Brady playing t-ball this summer. He had a great time. He startes soccer again in September.

The Many Adventures of Maya!

Here is the cake that we were going to take to the cookout at Teresa's house. Apparently, Maya had other plans...after all, it was the cake that she won from WNZR for her birthday!

White is the new black...White Out, that is! Maya painted her fingernails and toenails a beautiful shade of White Out while Mommy was conducting a meeting!

And here she is after painting her fingernails and toenails with my polish. At least she picked a better shade this time!!!

Parenting tip: Never break from routine. If your kids are used to getting lotion after every bath, make sure you always put it on them after each bath, no matter how busy you are or how late it is. It doesn't matter if it is 8 p.m. and you are just then making dinner! Otherwise, they will take care of the problem themselves.

How To Make Sure You Get To Eat All Of The Strawberries!

While I was on a conference call today, Maya found the strawberries. I guess she was worried that someone else might get one...she took at least one bite out of every, single strawberry!

Campfire!

One of Brady and Maya's favorite things to do in the summer is have a campfire. We were able to enjoy our first summer campfire a few nights ago. They had a great time!

Roasting Marshmallows!

Relaxing by the fire.