Warmer Days

On this cool, rainy day I'm going to post some warm, sunny pictures!

The kids' preschool was closed a couple of weeks ago for teacher prep day.  We walked to the park in St. George and played for a long, long time before heading home to eat lunch and take naps.  This was our first time at this particular park; both of the kids loved it.

Brady and his gross motor skills--no problems climbing through/over/in/under obstacles!

 Brenna was happy to just run around in the grass.  She just likes to be FREE!

 No trip to the park is complete without some swinging.

 Both kids did enjoy this thing (what is "this" thing called, anyway?).  Brady tried to climb to the top but didn't quite make it.  They both played under for several minutes.

 Brenna did eventually stop running around in the grass and decided to play on the playground equipment.  She was a little skeptical of this at first.

 But quickly figured out how to traverse it!

Chiefs!

I broke out the pink Chiefs jersey over the weekend in hopeful celebration of the upcoming football season.  Brenna looks adorable in it!  I'm sure I am biased, but oh my goodness, could she look any cuter?

Baseball!

Brady has become a baseball-loving kid in the past few weeks.  Driving his truck remains his favorite outdoor activity, but playing baseball has moved into the #2 spot.  He REFUSES to hit off the tee and insists that we pitch to him.  It's been quite fun and you know it makes mom and dad happy to have a baseball-loving kid!

Pre-School

Tuesday, August 21st marked the first day of the fall term of pre-school.  Pre-school for Brady and then Brenna is in the infant/toddler room at the same place.  Having one drop-off and one pick-up makes life much easier for Mom & Dad.  And both Brady and Brenna seem to be very, very happy and well-adjusted. 

There were both pretty excited when I stopped to take their picture outside. 

Brenna was really, really, really excited!  

They both have been getting glowing reports from their teachers. Brady is very helpful and is a very good napper.  Brenna is not a very good napper and is kind of bossy, but is all smiles and loves to dance and throw balls.  

Reading Books

A couple of weeks ago (Tuesday, 8/21, to be exact) Brady "read" his first book.  He loves to read books and has really started to enjoy longer books, including several by Dr. Seuss, and P.D. Eastman, along with the Curious George books and the Berenstein Bears books. 

Well, The A Book featuring the Berenstein Bears was his first book.  I sat down on the bean bag chair to read with him and he picked out the book, sat down, looked at me and said "Mommy, I'll read this book tonight." Oooooh, mommy was so proud! 

So he proceeded to read the book to me.  Fortunately it has lots of pictures to describe angry ants advancing over an apple, apricot, ax, etc. 

He read the entire book and then wanted me to read it to him to make sure he didn't miss any parts of it. 

I love this kid!

15 month checkup

Better late than never, right?

Brenna's 15-month checkup  was on July 25th.  She's doing great, though she is kind of small.  Really, who am I kidding?  She's small.  Period. 

28.5 inches, which is the 6th percentile.

19 pounds, 5 ounces, which is the 5th percentile.

She's a shrimpy, but a darn cute one.  She's very, very active and can almost run, thanks to her trying to keep up with her brother.

Poor thing; she was very tired after getting her shots.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

In true Smoller Family Blog fashion, I have to write this following entry down before I forget. 

We've had a little regression in the potty training lately, which led to my favorite Brady-saying to date.  Earlier this week I asked Brady if he'd rather wear pull-ups or big boy underwear.  I also told him how big kids wear underwear and he could, too!  He looked right at me and answered "Mommy, I'm just a kid."  And then proceeded to choose pull-ups.  So very sweet and funny at the same time.  Much as I really, really, really, really want him to be out of pull-ups altogether, his little statement was a nice reminder that at his age, he is still a kid. 

On another note, we attended the last story time of the summer at the Manhattan library and it was monster day.  Everybody got to take home a monster mask.  Even with his sad face, he's still pretty cute.  And do you notice who is hiding behind him?

 The little monster watching a movie.

Nana and Papa bought a great tool bench for Brady and he has loved it.  However, his sister loves it as well.  Here she is checking out the table saw.

 And being caught red-handed with the safety goggles.