Shelby Runs the Marathon

Be sure to check out www.shelbysroadahead.blogspot.com for all the details on Shelby's big day. She made it through the entire 26.2 journey.

Based on her advice, we watched Spirit of the Marathon while Shelby was in Chi-town. It was a very inspiring documentary about several folks preparing for the 2005 version. Got me all inspired to do Marathon #1 in 2010.

Swim Lessons

We had our first swim class on Monday night. I signed up to take a parent/tot swimming class up at Ahearn on Monday nights for 5 weeks. Our good friends the Yoders and Tadtmans (see sidebar) are in the class as well with their girls, so it makes for a fun time. This was Brady's very first time in the pool and he seemed to be okay with it. Not in love with it yet, but we'll give him time. He didn't cry, but he sure he did had a death grip on me. His favorite part was doing the back float. We even managed a cute look for Dad.
We learned how to blow bubbles and the B-man figured it out on the first day! The instructor had a good idea for teaching the kids to blow out and it worked. He still managed to swallow a couple mouthfuls of water, but hey, that's part of the process.
It was a fun time and we'll be back for more next week.

Pumpkin Patch

We headed out for the first ever family jaunt to the pumpkin patch on Sunday. It was very windy and a little chilly, but the sun was shining. A perfect day to go pick some pumpkins!

Brady wasn't so sure about his hat. He tried to undo the velcro, but couldn't quite manage to get it off. He still doesn't appear to be a fan of things on his head, but he at least didn't cry with the thing on, so that is progress. This one is too small, so we've got to find some new winter gear.
Very, very bright sun!
Going through the corn maze. The stalks kept hitting us when they would blow over, but Brady just thought that was hilarious. He especially loved to chase Dad through the maze, though I'm not too fond of carrying 16-17 extra pounds while I jog. That was a workout for Mom!
He spent some time riding around on Dad's shoulders. He doesn't look too thrilled in this picture, but he loves the view from up top.
Our last mission of the day was to pick out pumpkins. We had success finding suitable ones and took them back in the little, red wagon.
All in all, a very successful and fun day.

Haircut

Yes, I've been a very bad blogger. The B-man is all kinds of active and to be perfectly honest, I've just been busy with work and haven't had time to blog! But, here's a quick update.

Brady got his first professional haircut last Thursday, Oct. 8. It was just getting too long and much too similar to a mullet in the back, so off it went. We visited Mrs. Judy, our favorite hair person in the world to get the trim done. Brady did very well.

Entertained himself by pulling kleenex out of a box for awhile.
Then decided that the comb was kind of tickling him.

And then kept trying to turn around and check out the scissors and the comb and all that fun stuff!

His eyes are just so big in this pictures. And I've got the super grip on him to make sure he doesn't go flying off onto the floor.

And, all done! He didn't cry. Here he is trying to eat a lip gloss tube.

The process went very well and now his hair looks much better.

The B-man wears red.

But only for the Chiefs. Even when they are bad. Really bad. Here's Brady acting all serious with Dad.
And then goofing off with Dad.

Brady has some roseola last weekend, but is back to normal now. Full of smiles and giggles and pure entertainment. I'm trying to get a video of him "dancing." It's quite humorous. It's a rocking of the body with the hands in the air type of thing. Hopefully we'll be able to show that later this week. We are LOVING the bath. Lately we've been undressing Brady and then setting him on the floor in his bedroom. Once he hits the floor, he immediately spring crawls to the bathroom and pulls himself on the tub and starts banging around his toys and throwing them into the water. All of this, while he is completed naked. But, no pictures of that for you--we have some, but no need to post them for public viewing!

The B-man eats alone

Well, he at least tried to eat on his own. But it was our fault. We had some mashed potatoes the other night and the B-man was not happy about having to eat cheerios while we ate other food. So, we decided to give him some mashed taters and see how he did. I gave him a spoon, but he promptly threw that on the floor. Who needs a spoon when you have fingers?
Hand goes into potatoes, then to mouth. Try to lick off as much as possible.

Why can't I get more of this in my mouth??

Chipotle Shrimp with Radish and Jicama salad

So, tried another new dish on Monday night. Chipotle Shrimp with Radish and Jicama salad. It was quite yummy. I've never had jicama before, so that was a new experience. Found it at our local Hy-Vee. It's nickname is the mexican potato, or so the label said. It has the peel of a potato and the look of a potato, but the flavor is like that of a crisp apple. Quite good, actually.
Kudos to my friend Karla for telling me how to pronounce it (hick-u-muh). So, it's not substantial enough to stand on its own, but this will make a great side dish in the future. The taste of the jicama is a nice contrast to the spicy shrimp. It's got some red onion, cilantro and golden raisin in there, too. The rest is just some kosher salt, olive oil and lime juice. The fresh cilantro is key.

My apologies to my good friend Amy, who I know will not like this dish!