sledding adventure

So - we've learned that there is a fantastic sledding hill just 5 blocks north of our house. We promised Brady we would take him, but it had to be warm enough that we could stay out for a little bit. Trying to find a weekend afternoon that cooperates with weather and a 1 yr old to take a nap and all before it gets dark is challenging! We made it just before dark - but had an AWESOME time! It was a nice "relive our childhood" for James & I also.


to our surprise - Brady went down by himself on the 3rd run!

James & Brady ready to push off on the first slide down

Brady fell off - face got covered in snow and only laughs, no tears!

Samantha was "SO OVER" sledding at this point

James took Samantha down for her first ride

Me & my kiddos - glad we bought a long sled! We even did one slide down with all 4 of us!

my first ride down with Brady

James - trying to act 1/2 his age and do one of the jumps that was built up - love his face on the landing??!?!? :)

Halloween 2010

Halloween was a crazy busy, sugar-high weekend! Brady celebrated with 3 parties (and Samantha with 2) on Friday the 29th ~ preschool, daycare and one at Uncle Brad & Aunt Sara's. Saturday the 30th was Brad's birthday, so more fun and sugar :) Sunday was actually Halloween and we took the opportunity to trick-or-treat outside for the first time - now that we're in this kid-friendly area. It was a BLAST!! We had around 130 trick-or-treaters and Brady went to approx. 35 houses and came home with over 150 pieces of candy! James had to carry his bucket the last stretch because it was too heavy!

Brady taking his swing at the pinata

Brady & Samantha grabbing candy when the pinata finally broke

Samantha - my little NDSU Bison cheerleader

the crew of church friends' kids at Brad & Sara's

Jeff Gordon & NDSU cheerleader - ready to go!

"real" trick-or-treating!

3 of us dressed up - granted, mine wasn't a big stretch

Samantha & mom

Samantha got the hang of it! Now we're in for trouble!

Brady's 1st day of preschool

Well . . . it's happened, the start of the schooling process. Brady is going to a preschool called "Brighter Beginnings" in South Fargo about 2 1/2 blocks from daycare. He goes Mon, Wed, Fri from 12:30-3pm. We lucked out that one of the fellow preschool moms is able to pick him up at daycare and bring him back.

I was really thrilled not to have to take him for his 1st day . . . . I would have been a puddle! James took him and I picked him up for his 1st day, just in case there was any nervousness/anxiety issues. He did great! James says he was so excited to go in that he momentarily forgot to give James a hug goodbye and when I picked him up, he talked nonstop! It was awesome!

ready to go!

NDSU Bison backpack he picked out

ready to get in dad's car

standing at the door of preschool

standing by his name on his cubby

Samantha's doing stairs

Ok - so she actually did her 1st set of stairs on July 31st, but I'm a little behind with the pictures of it. She literally tried one step, turned to look at me and did the whole flight with no trouble . . . dang! Here's the proof:


here was the look of "i'm gonna do it"

she turned and . . . she's off!

Brady was leading her up

Brady at the top cheering her on

And she gets to the top, turns with a big smile on her face and claps for herself :)

SAMANTHA IS 1!!

Happy Birthday baby girl! Your first year has gone so fast and you've grown so much. Can't wait to see what the next year holds for you!





YAY!! Samantha's 1st birthday is here!

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY BRADY!

I can't believe you're 4 years old today, it's totally cheesy - but I remember the 1st time I met and held you like it was yesterday. Now you've grown up into this funny, intelligent, inquisitive, caring, knowledge-hungry little boy who will be starting preschool in a few short weeks!

Happy birthday to our 1st born, so proud to call ourselves your parents!

1st day home from the hospital