Angry birds!!

My dearest husband is on a quest this year to become the best primary teacher ever. He is so creative. I have seen him do a treasure hunt around the church, a maze in the classroom, stories being acted out. Really he just does incredible things but this past week he surpassed himself.

While teaching a lesson on Lehi's dream he had the kids play "Angry Birds." He set everything up and the kids pretended to be those standing in the building flinging angry words at the followers of God. It was so much fun that we played it the next night for Family Home Evening. The kids loved flinging the birds across the play room into the cups.

I really do think that my husband is on the way to becoming the best primary teacher ever! I wish I had had him as my teacher!

Mother of the Year

Dear Mother of the Year Board,

I am submitting my application for 2012 mother of the year. Bellow is the story and photographic evidence on why I believe I deserve such an award.

On Sunday last my four year old was acting up, I know what you are thinking, "You have a four year old acting up and you think that you deserve mother of the year?" I understand and ask you to please bear with me. Finally I sent him to bed thinking he could get some good rest and we would start anew in the morning. I also thought that maybe the doppelganger that had replaced my normally sweet child would disappear during the night.

Instead in the morning I found something completely different, my four year old felt so comfortable in his own skin that he decided that the best use of a slightly early bed time would be to foster his art talent.

Did he use the wall? No.

Did he use paper? No.

Did he use a book? No.

No my ambitious child decided to branch out into a new medium- the human body:

Please note how well this is actually drawn. notice the details of the scribbles and the excellent shading.

Not only did this budding artist color use his chest, he branched out to an area of skin he could not see while he colored- his face.
Each cheek and forehead adorned with lovely green circles. What more could you ask for?

I have saved the best for last. His best work was saved for a surface he could actually see. His legs-

So dear board, I hope this application meets your standards. I have gently fostered my child's independence and creativity and lead him on a future career path as a tattoo artist.

I anxiously wait your reply.

6 months!

I am not sure I can believe this but our little baby is six months old. The kids ask me constantly if I can make him stop growing but I have to admit I love having a boy who is slightly more independent!

Matthew decided to conquer rolling over and sitting in the same week period. He loves sitting and struggles to sit up on his own when he is on his back. He loves eating too, well eating everything except anything green. Every time we feed him beans or peas he bursts into screaming tears. He loves everything else though. Favorites tend to be sweet potatoes and bananas but really as long as it is not green he is fine.

He loves playing with his toys and tends to favor his carrot and his big Mickey. He is also a drool beast. I have never seen so much drool come out of one baby.

He had his 6 month appointment today and he is weighing in at 16.69 lbs (33rd percentile) and is 26 inches tall (32nd percentile). We also found out that the bruise under his arm is not a bruise but a strawberry hemangioma. The reason it took us so long to think something was wrong because the hemangioma is under the skin. So we are now using medication to fix that one. I wish I had asked earlier but at least we are fixing it now.

Matthew continues to fill each day with laughter and tears and joy and we just love having him in our family.

December happenings

Time really does fly. I meant to update this blog with all the fun December activities that we have been doing but now December is almost over and I haven't post any of them. So here we go- all our December adventures in one blog post.

We made gingerbread sleighs-
And went to James' preschool program.
He played a chime in Silver bells and was awesome.
Matthew also became a red-nosed-baby at the program.

Participated in the Bradley family nativity where Laine was Mary, Eve was the angel
And I think James was a shepherd.

We made caramel and chocolate dipped pretzels.
Went and visited the elves at Gardner's Villiage
Went bowling with the Bradley cousins. Even the babies had fun there.
Wore funny hats with the Bellamy cousins
Santa came to visit and brought way to many presents.
So that is about out. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Bradleys.

5 months

Some how my little snuggly baby is now a big 5 month old. He is jabbering and laughing and working on his sitting. Of course he can't roll over yet but we are working on it. He is all smiles and is really a happy baby. He has discovered his toes, loves his teddy bear and carrot, thinks that crinkly paper is the best thing ever. He loves to bounce, jump and raise his legs over his head. He hates tummy time and sleeping in his crib. He is getting some independence which leaves me with a bit more time which has been great.
He is particularly enjoying Christmastime and lying under the tree. He just stares at the lights and ornaments. He keeps trying to grab all these things too but I am able to place him where he can't reach.
We also started rice mash this week. It has taken him a bit and he seems to spit out quite a bit but he likes it. He is becoming quite the eater and is finally getting that food goes in the mouth and stays there. Though today he got some on his bib and decided he wanted to eat that instead.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

The Christmas season is upon us and that means parties! We had our first Christmas party on Friday followed by the second on Saturday so Christmas is in full steam.

The party last night was our ward Christmas party. The gym was awesome. They had made a tent with Christmas lights and the food was great. I loved that they took time out to make coloring books for the kids and even made them chicken nuggets while the adults got a great herb chicken.

Matthew thought the party was great.
The girls were super excited to sit with their friend Natalie at the table nearest the stage.

Well they thought it was fun until the entertainer for the night decided to sing to them.

They weren't a fan of that. The kids did love dessert though-

Then came the highlight of the show- The Primary Christmas Pageant. The kids practiced for a few weeks for this and were super excited. James got to be a sheep with the other three-year-old boys. He was super cute.
The girls were Lullaby girls...don't remember them from the nativity story? Yeah I didn't either. But they stood up there and sang rocking baby dolls and just looked cute.

Of course James started to get bored with the whole thing and spent most the pageant playing with his new sheep ears...

...or his shirt.

It was fun though as was the party this morning. We can't wait for the next weekend's extravaganzas.

Thanksgiving Weekend Recap

Things have been crazy this month in the Bradley household. Thanksgiving weekend was no different.

The kids had Wednesday off from school and Christian decided to take the day off. So we decided to take the kids on a pre-Thanksgiving outing to the Aquarium. They love this place and they got a chance to see the workers feed both the sting rays and the Caimans.

We spent Thanksgiving with the Bellamys. There were great games and crafts for the kids. James had a fun time playing with the glitter pens. It took a full 48 hours for the glitter to actually dry but it looks great with the lights on the tree.
On Friday we went with the Bradley's to a tree farm to cut down a Christmas tree. We had a great time and loved that we could stroll through rows of Christmas trees that they would cut down for us. It was an adventure driving home with the tree on top of the car but we made it and the tree is now lighted and looking good.
James and Atticus thought it was fun to play hide and seek between the trees.
Matthew had a great time all snuggled in. He was got to go through Christmas trees, be carried over some of the rows and had quite a bumpy ride.
Christian and I took turns pushing him. I have decided that who needs weight training when you can carry a 16 pound baby in his stroller.
The fam with the Christmas tree!