Conversations with a toddler

Ethan, with a throw pillow from our couch on his head, "Hey! Look at me! I'm a party!"
Me, "You're a party?
Ethan, "Yeah, on my head"
Me, "There's a party on your head?"
Ethan, "Yeah!"
Me, "Ok"

Well, At least he's not saying there's a party in his pants :)


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Playing outside in his playhouse, I bring Claire to his playhouse window and sit her in it.

Ethan, "NO CLAIRE NO IN MY PLAYHOUSE!!!"
Me, "Ethan, that's not very nice, she's your sister"
Ethan, "and my friend!" and then her gave her a hug...so stinking sweet!"

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Me, "Ethan, Can I call you Little Justin"
Ethan, pensive, "No"
Me, "Ethan, are you sure, Can I call you Little Justin"
Ethan, "No. You call me Ethan Michael Peterson.......(pause)....or Boy"

Family 5K....The family that runs together stays together, right?

Not too long ago I convinced my hubby to run a 5k with me.  Now I've always been the "runner" in our family and he's always been the cyclist...which is the nice way of saying, I'm pretty sure he's never run any sort of distance in his life :)  That being said, he also has a couple screws in his ankle and a metal rod for his fibula.  One night over a dinner date, he says to me, let's set a goal of running this 5k with 8 minute miles.  I just laughed because he wasn't even working out at the time...to which he responded, "you know I'm really competitive right".  I just said okay, knowing my goal was 9 minute miles...and that was pushing it.  Well, race day came, and both of us had been slacking.  I hadn't ran in 3 weeks, and Justin still hadn't ran at all.  My mom came down to watch the kids  and cheer us on while we ran.  We even had Ethan make a sign that said "Go Daddy!" on one side and the reverse side said "Run Mommy!"  He was so stinking cute and kept yelling "Go Daddy and Run Mommy Run " as we raced....and even after the race.  Justin did amazing!  Despite my pre-race joking that he should go ahead and give his insurance cards to the EMT's standing by.  He amazed all of us and came in 2nd in his age group with a time of  26.42 and I placed 3rd in my age group with a time of 28.37....not bad considering I hadn't ran in 3 weeks :)  It was a fun-filled family day full of physical activity (did you like that alliteration ha!:)  I told Justin, I've never met anyone who could mentally push through like he did and that he should quit his current job and become a professional athlete! :)  We finished off the day with some recovering that included a pulled pork dinner with friends and Coldstone Creamery icecream.  Hoping for more family races to come!

our cheering section gearing up for the race

Ethan and his Go Daddy sign pre-race

getting ready to cross the finish

getting ready to cross the finish

post-race smiles and trophies

Ethan, Growing Growing Gone!

Ethan's FAVORITE shirt!  We love it because it says Big Bro, but he loves it because it  has big letters and feeds his letter obsession.

Helping Mommy.  He's my big helper.  Whatever I can give him to help with I will.  This is Ethan helping me unload the dishwasher.  I take out all the knives but he gets to put the rest of the silverware away.  Great for learning small and big, small fork v. big fork, and "matching".

Not sure why he doesn't have pants on here, but Daddy and Ethan had some father son time and made a Tiger Mask together.  Ethan wore it all over the house saying "ROOOOAAARR"

You can barely see it in the pic, but we made a "countdown to homecoming game" for him.  It's in front of the line green paper on the fridge...with 11 days left.  We told Ethan that Mimi was coming up for the football game and every 5 minutes he was asking if we could go to the game now.  So, thought it'd be helpful if we made a countdown to football game with Mimi and each day he rips a piece of paper off.  Now he knows when it says "0" it's game day.   

Of course they stop right after I get the camera... always happens around here :)  but, Justin was playing Beethoven on the piano and Ethan & Christian start dancing to it, which meant shaking their booties.  It was hilarious...never seen anyone shake their booty to Beethoven :) 

Who Do You Think You Are?

We took a spur of the moment trip to visit my dad and kathy and ended the visit at my uncle bob's house.  they were so sweet and let us invade some of their old photos.   Here are just a few.

From left to right- My Grandpa Bradbury (who sadly I never got to meet :( he passed on before I was born), Uncle Wendal, Aunt Betty (my dad's sis), and my grandma Bradbury

Grandpa and Grandma Bradbury

Grandpa Bradbury getting ready to carve the Turkey with Grandma Bradbury

There are the young bucks, Grandpa and Grandma  Bradbury

Grandma and Grandpa Bradbury

That's my dad!  He was 8...pretty sure we have the exact photo of my brother somewhere :)

And there's my dad as a baby, looking just like his mom :)

My Uncle Bob and Aunt Doris with their 3 children.  They've been married 64 years!!!!  Uncle Bob is 18 years older than my father so most of my cousins are more my dad's age :) ha!

Weekend Getaways

Took a spur of the moment trip to Terre Haute on Labor Day to visit Pappy and Gma Kathy.  It was such a blast to visit everyone.  Ethan was having so much fun playing with them that we had to take his shirt off because he was getting so hot and sweaty...hahaha!  We also managed to swing by Great-Uncle Bob and Great-Aunt Doris's house for some pizza and more playtime and a little family reminiscing. 

Playtime with Pappy

Picking up shreds of paper that Pappy would put in his hand and then say "Ahh-choo" and release them into the air.  Ethan LOVED it.  Wanted him to do it over and over. :)  It's funny how things never get old to a todder.

Pulling herself up at Pappy and Gma Kathy's

Playtime at Great-Uncle Bob and Great-Aunt Doris's

Playtime with Great-Uncle Bob

Growing, Growing, Gone!

Claire is 8 months!  She's crawling everywhere, pulling herself up and standing, and chatting up a storm. She's still a daddy's girl and loves her big brother.  She still doesn't sleep through the night...boo!  And we've recently started supplementing with formula which has made her a much much happier baby.  We're convinced that I wasn't producing enough for her and she was probably a grouchy baby because she's been starving for the past 8 months.  We've also added some jarred organic stage 2 baby foods to her diet as well as continuing with table foods.  She's still small for her age...the joke around here is the only thing that's growing on her is her hair, which is as crazy as ever :)  She definitely has an opinion on things and will let you know when she disagrees!  She's very interactive and loves to play and grab and pull and is VERY ticklish.  Here are some pics of the past month.  Enjoy!!!!

Blueberries...YUM!

Daddy's girl

Princess Claire...at least that's what Ethan calls her.

Double pigtails

Playing

Playtime with the kiddos I watch

pulling herself up

playing with Ethan

Crazy hair Claire, after I took out her pigtails.

FHE Ideas for kids

One of the best resources for our FHE's, having a toddler, is our church nursery manual, "Behold Your Little Ones" (2008).  We often look the manual up online and then adapt it to our family...mostly shorten it :)  Here's an example of one of our adaptions.

Adapted from....

 Lesson 11: I Love My Family

Behold Your Little Ones: Nursery Manual, (2008), 48–51

Preparation

Cut Figurines (Color them, if desired). Place them in a container. (I printed them for you J on a separate page)

Figurine Link

 http://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/images/gospel-library/manual/37108/37108_000_011_01-love.pdf

~Opening Prayer

~Song: Families Can Be Together Forever #300

~Lesson:  Show the picture of a happy family.  Tell the children that Heavenly Father has given each of us a family. Explain that our families love us and we can show our love for our family by being kind and helpful.

~Game: Hold the container and ask a child to choose a family figure. Tell the children what member of the family it is (mother, father, brother, sister, or baby), and have the children repeat it with you. Suggest a way they can show love for that family member (by picking up toys, sharing, smiling, and so on). Invite them to pretend to do the action. Repeat this activity with each family figure.

~Song:

Sing or say the words to “A Happy Family” (Children’s Songbook, 198) and do the actions below. Invite the children to join you.

I love mother; she loves me. (place hand on chest)

We love daddy, yes sirree; (nod head up and down)

He loves us, and so you see, (extend arms)

We are a happy family. (hug self)

I love sister; she loves me. (place hand on chest)

We love brother, yes sirree; (nod head up and down)

He loves us, and so you see, (extend arms)

We are a happy family. (hug self)

~Conclusion:

Encourage the children to be loving and kind to their family members. Invite them to say, “I love my family.”

~Prayer:

Invite a child to give the closing prayer.