Build-A-Bear

This week, Brady and his pals all experienced Build-A-Bear Workshop for the first time. Brady and Nathan created race car driver bears and Reese made a ballerina monkey. Don't worry, we brought Cash's "Putt Putt" bear from home so he wasn't left out. Brady's favorite thing was putting a heart inside "Speedy" before he was sewn up. His new "tummy bear" even got to accompany Brady to a teddy bear picnic at school yesterday. The sweetest part of our trip was when Nathan picked out a special bear to give to his new baby brother Nolan who's actually being born today. Happy Birthday Baby Nolan!

Batman!

Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na Batman! Tonight, Brady and Daddy went to Chick-fil-A to eat dinner and meet Batman. As you can see, Brady had the time of his life! I think Batman might start to takeover Spiderman in the Bartels' house. One thing is for certain, Brady enjoyed his special night with his favorite superhero...Daddy!

Chinese New Year

To check your Chinese horoscope for 2009, click here: http://shine.yahoo.com/page/2009-chinese-horoscope/. FYI, Brady's Chinese astrological animal sign is the Rooster and Cash is the Rat. Poor Cash!

Belly Laugh Day

Are you celebrating Belly Laugh Day? Yes, believe it or not, this actually is a national holiday! Every Christmas, I give my family a calendar full of quirky yet official holidays with corresponding pictures of the boys taken throughout the year. Now, with the help of my blog, I can share them with all of you! Be on the lookout for my personal favorite, No Pants Day!

Funny

It may have been the two margaritas we just drank at Cafe Adobe, but Greg and I thought this was one of the funniest things we had ever heard. Brady had been admiring the EXIT sign near our table so we asked him what letters were in the sign. He matter of factly and proudly responded, "E-X-one-T!" E for effort right?

By the way, Greg and I have decided tonight that Brady really does believe that HE is Spiderman. No joke!

Happy 10mth Birthday Cash!

Cash is reaching many milestones in his old age. Trying to eat a variety of new solid foods is one of the them. Today's food of choice: Brady's toes!

Friends

The last park pictures reminded me of my favorite pre-blog picture of the playgroup at their Christmas party that I didn't get to share. You can't get much more adorable than this!

Discovery Green

These are pictures from our latest playgroup adventure to Discovery Green in downtown last week. The boys (Hogan, Nathan, Brady) shooting the bull.

Brady, Nathan and Reese jumping on the "trampoline".

The boys taking a break and enjoying the view.

Cash discovering nature in his own way while eating some leaves!

Drink Up

All this news about Brady, I need to give Cash the spotlight for once. This week Cash started holding his own bottle and sippy cup. Whew, this makes my job easier and I'm sure makes the people on 290 happier now that I'm not feeding Cash in the backseat with my short arms while driving at the same time. Go Cash!

Pirates Go Potty

Believe it or not, Brady's poor Potty Prize board just had one lonely sticker until tonight. Brady is the champ of holding his possessions ALL DAY except for nap and bedtime when he is wearing a pull-up. None of Potty 101's suggestions were working and I was seriously thinking about retrying this summer. Luckily, Daddy tried a new approach tonight with Brady while playing pirates. Daddy told Brady that pirate captains don't pee pee in their underwear, they pee pee on the potty. No more than two minutes later, Brady himself asked to go to the potty. Yea! Funny thing is literally "midstream" Brady yelled, "Let's go get my prize!" and began to jump off the toilet. Daddy almost got splashed himself and not by walking the plank!

Potty Time

As a mom, I fully believe in bribing my children. There are no boundaries when it comes to potty training Brady. M&M's didn't work. Cookies didn't work. New spiderman underwear didn't work. Stickers with the hopes of getting a prize didn't work. Any ideas what actually worked...MONEY! After a full week of potty training, it only took one crisp dollar bill in his hand to make Brady instantaneously go pee pee on the potty. Thanks Grandma and Boompa for the bribe! We'll see what happens in the morning...I wonder if Brady will accept my debit card?

Future MLB Player

Brady Bartels

3 Year Stats

HT: 38 in (75%)

WT: 32.5 lb (50-75%)

Future NFL Player

Cash Bartels

9 Month Stats

HT: 29 1/4 in (75%)

WT: 23.7 lb (75-90%)

HEAD: 48 cm (97%)

***at 12 mths, Brady was 28.8 in and 22.13 lb