Fishing

Another highlight of visiting Illinois was fishing.  Brady got a new Spiderman fishing pole.  I sure am glad Katie likes fishing because this is an activity that I have absolutely no interest in.

18 Holes

While visiting Nana & Papa in Illinois Brady played his first full 18 holes of golf.  He's been wanting to golf on a real golf course for a long time so this was a very special day for Brady.  It was a LONG round (probably because he played every hole), but he did great.  When I asked how he did he said he got 5 birdies and that he beat his Daddy and Papa.  Since Brady did such a good job golfing maybe we need to have a once a month tradition of Brady and Cory golfing while Ellie and I go shopping.

Rain and Rainbows

We have been in desperate need of rain.  Last night swimming lessons got cancelled because there was thunder and lightening in the area.  I told Brady we really needed the rain so it was ok that swimming was cancelled.  He looked at me and said, "Mom, we really need rainbows too." 

Summer t-ball

T-ball is finally over and we are all relieved.  It has been a good experience, but it has been miserably hot every week.  I think our coolest week was 95.  The team was all 3 & 4 year olds.  I was expecting to have a full roster, but they actually keep the teams at 6 kids.  I liked the setup as they get to bat more which is their favorite part.  For fielding they just spread out in the infield since there aren't too many hits to the outfield.   The skill level was pretty varied, but I guess to be expected with the age group.  One little boy stepped up to the plate the first time and held the bat by the barrel. Oh my.  It too most of the season to correct it.   Brady had fun.  He is a pretty good hitter.  Fielding still needs some work.  I think he enjoyed chewing on his glove more than fielding balls. 

Way too hot!  Even in the shade.

Summer Visitors

The last week we have had lots of visitors.  Within a 8 day span we have had Cory's mom, my mom, Melissa, Grayson and my grandma and grandpa come stay with us.  It's been great having lots of visitors, but I have to admit I'm enjoying the peace and quiet today.

Grayson and Brady had lots of fun together.  They had their moments, but for the most part they got along pretty well.  Now that they are getting a little older it's pretty hilarious to listen to some of their conversations and see what the two come up with.  Do these two look innocent?  Don't let them fool you.

One of the more funny occurances was the teeth brushing incident.

Brady comes into my room.  "Mom, Grayson forgot his tooth brush so I let him use my spider man toothbrush."  Me to Brady, "We don't share tooth brushes, but I can get him his own to use."  Brady says, "We already brushed our teeth."  I'm thinking, you never brush your teeth without either someone overseeing it or me doing it for you so we go to the bathroom to check things out.  Yep, both boys have attempted to brush their teeth and left toothpaste evidence everywhere.  I asked Missy if Grayson had his toothbrush and he did so apparently it must of been the allure of brushing with Spider Man.

They also spent a fair amount of time pretending to be various super heroes.  I continue to be amazed by how much Brady knows about super heroes since he has never watched any of the shows.  Maybe wearing super hero underwear results in you becoming an expert in the field?  This weekend Brady was the Hulk.  How in the world does he know about the Hulk? 

We also had fun testing out the new 3D TV in the basement.

Boy or Girl?

So one of my new pet peeves is Ellie being called a boy.  I realize that sometimes it's hard to tell with babies, but when I am uncertain I always error on the side of caution and keep any comments gender neutral.  For example, "What a cute baby", not "What a cute boy".  However, over the past month I have learned that not everyone is as cautious as I am.  Pretty much anytime I put Ellie in blue she gets called a boy. 

Here is the latest 'boy' outfit.  Would you put your little boy in strawberry bloomers and a strawberry top?

Maybe this is why my mom taped a bow in my hair every day as a baby.

KC Sea Life Aquarium

We have been wanting to check out the Sea Life Aquarium for a couple months now.  It opened back in April, but our schedule has been so hectic we hadn't had the opportunity to visit yet.  Overall we were impressed, but in typical Woods family fashion we blew through the entire aquarium in about an hour so didn't feel we got our money's worth.  Everyone knows I like a good deal so this did not score high on the value meter.  Brady enjoyed looking at the fish and sharks.  He didn't want to put his hand's in the touch pool and decided that the sea horses were 'very scary' and he couldn't look at them.  The funny thing is that most kids would find the sharks scary, but he had no problem with them.  Ellie slept the entire time.

While we were at Crown Center we also checked out the dinosaur exhibit. 

Ellie - 1 Month

Our precious Ellie is 1 month already.  The first month has gone by so fast.

Here are some highlights:

• Sleeping -  3 - 4 hour stretches, but the last couple of days she has given us a 6 hour stretch.  I am hopeful the trend will continue.
• Favorite activities - Sleeping in the sling or bouncer or being held.
• Dislikes - Bathes or anything that is cold.
• Notable accomplishments - Rolls over during tummy time.  I would call it a head flop then roll more so than a true roll over.  Brady did the same thing.  She also has been regularly smiling.  At first I thought it was gas, but I really think they are real now.
• Eating - she is a GREAT eater.  The doctor joked at her 2 week appointment that she was a over achiever since she had already gained a pound from her birth weight and they typically just like to see them back to their birth weight by 2 weeks.  I think she's probably about 9 - 9.5 pounds now, but that is just a guess.
• Other notable activities - Ellie took her first trip to Wichita this month.  Also she moved to size 1 diapers today!

Brady Writes His Name

We have tried to encourage Brady to do artwork and work on writing his letters, but he really hasn't shown much interest.  He much prefers building things or doing active activities.  In the last couple of weeks he has all of a sudden wanted to draw and color pictures and tape them on the walls.  Yesterday he pulled out a marker board and said he was going to write his letters.  To our surprise he started writing letters and they were pretty good.  Then he told us he was going to write his name.  By golly, he wrote his entire name.  What else is this little boy holding back that he hasn't showed us yet?  He was very excited to show us and we were so proud!

Happy 4th of July

Since we're still having 100+ degree temperatures we didn't do too much on the 4th.  In the morning we participated in our neighborhood parade.  Brady thought it was pretty cool.  We did a very last minute decoration job so next year we will have to step it up a notch.

In the evening we went and watched the Olathe fireworks.  We had great views of the show and everyone had fun!  Happy 4th of July everyone!

Lake Time

We went to Wichita for a couple of days for Niki's wedding shower and to visit family.  On Monday evening we went to Pam & Les's so Brady, Grayson, Megan & Lexi could play in the lake.  When we were pulling into their driveway I told Brady we were going to swim in the lake.  He started laughing and said, "We are not going to swim in the river, that would be so silly!".  Apparently we need to have more lake time as he was thinking that you should only swim in pools. 

The boys had lots of fun together and Megan & Lexi were a huge help since I was watching Ellie and couldn't really swim.  Cory traveled to Denver for the day for work so he was not able to join us.  Luckily he was able to get a direct flight from Wichita so I was able to hang out there and still have him drive back with us the next day.  Unfortunately for Cory his flight was over four hours delayed so a day trip that was already going to be a long day turned into an extra long day!