Brady at 18 Months

So, Brady is actually a few weeks past 18 months now, but I need to stop a minute and document a little bit about this bundle of joy! i wish I could just remember what each of my kids were like at each stage of development, but the truth is, I can't. So I need to write it down. Because I WANT to remember this time.  He is so fun right now!  He truly makes me smile and laugh more than anything else in my life at this point, and I am so grateful to have this cutie!

So at 18 months, Brady is about average size. He is at the 50th percentile for height and about 40th for weight. My favorite physical features on Brady are his big, blue, expressive eyes, his mischievous grin with the slight gap between the front teeth, and, of course, his HAIR! We have cut it twice now, and it's about ready for another cut. People have asked how I get his hair to stay like that, but I don't know how to get it to do anything different. It wants to stand straight up, and so that's what it does!

Brady is very active. He loves to run, climb, kick, shoot, throw, catch (well, try to catch), and jump, especially OFF of things. He scares the crud out of me. He can climb ladders, which gets him onto the top bunk all on his own. And one of his favorite games is piling pillows up on the floor and then running and belly-flopping onto them.  He has recently started doing this off the couch as well! He's a little dare-devil! And he loves the kids to laugh at him, and will do about anything for a laugh.

For as active as he is, he also likes to sit on my lap and read books and will sometimes look at books all on his own, too. He especially likes books about animals, tractors, and sports. He also has gotten into watching shows lately and always has to sit in a "seat" while watching.

Here he is combing two of his favorites: climbing and looking at books. 

Yes, a book about QBs.

Watching a show in his favorite seat.

Another thing Brady is doing a LOT of lately is talking! It is so fun seeing his vocabulary grow every day. He seems to understand almost anything I say, and is saying so many things on his own as well. He says the names of everybody in our family, as well as some cousins' names. He also says the names of lots of animals: cow, horse, dog, cat, deer, fish, turtle, pig, duck, and more as well as all the animal sounds, which he loves to do multiple times a day. He says several body parts--eyes, ears, nose, mouth, feet--and clothing--shirt, pants, socks, shoes, boots, coat.  Foods--drink, bottle, yogurt, smoothie (moo-ie), apple, chips, bread, meat (which is about all he eats anyway, the picky little guy).  I guess I really can't list all the things he is saying, but it's fun now to see him starting to put words together. When he finds something we have been looking for, he exclaims: "Here are!" This morning, he handed something to Mariah and said, "Here, Yiya. Gank oo." Translation: Here, Mariah. Thank you. (Truth is you might need a translator, like me, to understand a lot of the words he says, but he is not afraid to try!) After Mariah, who was very slow to talk, this has been so fun for me! Plus, he usually tries to tell me what he wants instead of just whining. SO wonderful!

Brady also loves to help me in the kitchen as well as play kitchen on his own. One day I told him to go make dinner. When I went in to see what he was doing, I found this. He had set the table and had the pots of food on as well. Observant little guy!

Brady is very expressive and affectionate. He gives great hugs and kisses, and loves people. He is not very shy (yet, anyway) and shows a lot of emotion with his facial expressions. As a biased Mom, I can't get over how cute he is, and I love spending my days with him! Part of me wishes he would never grow up, that I could just freeze him right now in all his 18-month-old cuteness, but having older kids, I also know how much fun each new phase is and I would never want to miss out on those either. (And I'm pretty sure I don't have the energy for an eternal 18-month-old anyway.)  His siblings also all think he is GREAT and love to play with him. We sure love our Brady boy!

And just for fun, a favorite little picture series of mine. Brady playing with water...

So proud of himself!!!

January

January has been an interesting month. Some days, I feel like we're running, running, running, and other days I have a lot of time on my hands. I've filled that time with a lot of teaching, it seems. It's my turn to teach Mariah's preschool group this month, so I've been planning and teaching that, which I love. I also realized that Mariah needs a lot of extra help learning her letters, so I've been working with her on those as well. I started a new piano teaching/learning method with Connor and Mylie that has been a huge success (in its first three weeks, any) and that has also taken some time to get underway.  I've gotten everything but my purse replaced from the robbery back before Christmas, and we also have replaced our TV (first flat screen for this household--really!??), my phone, our diaper bag, and the wiring in one of our van doors, all of which broke in December. Not our luckiest month ever. Anyway, I'm starting to feel like my out-of-control life of a few weeks ago is back on track somewhat. Connor has been busy playing on a 4th grade basketball team that is competing in a couple tournaments this month, and Tony is in the middle of his basketball season, so we've been pretty consumed with basketball here as well.  Brady loves to "shoo" and will try over and over to shoot at the gym. Although he can barely get that big basketball above his head, he keeps trying, as if he thinks the next attempt is sure to go in! It's so cute watching him.

Well, that's our month in a nutshell.  Here are some photo highlights for January so far...

Tony's Christmas gift to me this year was a date night a month. Each one's description is in a manila envelope, which I get to open the first of each month, and then we decide on a day that will work. January's date was milkshakes and 20 Questions. We had a great time! Fun at-home date.

One afternoon, Mariah wanted to invite her cousins over for a party. They baked in the easy-bake oven, colored, did make-up and fingernails, and watched a princess movie. So fun!

A little outdoor basketball on a nice day. Notice how much snow we have here?!?

Connor and a friend went BB gun hunting, and actually got a squirrel. Not bad!

Mylie's Baptism

It's hard to believe, but Mylie is 8 years old, and on New Year's Eve, she was baptized, along with her two closest cousins, Jaxon and Sarah. The three of them were all born within three weeks of each other and are great friends!  It was such a special day, with so many family members there for these three cute kids. My mom made her pretty white dress for her to wear after the baptism. She loved it. Thanks Mom!

I'm so grateful to have a husband who holds and honors the priesthood and was able to perform this wonderful ordinance for Mylie.

Certainly not one of my favorite pics of myself, but I have so few pics of me one-on-one with my kids, I wanted to include it anyway. I am so proud of her!

Beautiful sisters!!!

Teichert Cousin Gift Exchange

From Salt Lake, we headed straight to Cokeville Monday evening (yes, with our window still broken) for a Teichert family picture and cousin gift exchange.  I'll let the pictures do the talking...

Our entire family was together for the first time in awhile, and it was so great! Just wish it could have lasted longer. 

Our Annual SLC Trip (one we'll never forget)

Every year, our family makes a trip down to SLC to see the lights at Temple Square.  We also like to do a few other fun things while we are down there. Sometimes we stay overnight, sometimes we go to a fun center of some kind, and ALWAYS we eat somewhere fun and special.

This year, we headed down Sunday night. We had dinner at the Bishop's house that night, so we were kind of late getting out of town.  It snowed most of our trip down, so by the time we got down there, it was after 8:30.  We found a place to park on the street right behind the Conference Center, and then quickly grabbed our coats, hats, and gloves, and headed down the block to Temple Square.  The lights were BEAUTIFUL, and because we were late, there wasn't much of a crowd.  We even got right up front for the Nativity Scene presentation, which we have never been able to do before.  We stayed for about an hour, and then decided we better get going to our hotel and get to bed.

As we approached our van, I noticed that my passenger window was down.  I knew I hadn't unrolled it, and couldn't figure out what was wrong for a second.  Then I realized it was broken.  Still, my naivety showing here, I wondered how it could have broken like that.  Then it hit me. We'd been robbed! I rushed over to the van and looked in. The glove box had been emptied, there was glass everywhere, and my purse was gone!  SOOOO frustrating that somebody would do that! We called the police immediately, but all they did was give us a reference number for our insurance. We called and cancelled our credit card, and three purchases had already been made.  After that, we didn't know what else to do. The confirmation and address for our hotel had been in the purse. Luckily, I remembered the name of the hotel, and the thief hadn't taken our GPS system, so we were able to look up the hotel and get there. We covered the window with a blanket, then later with a plastic bag and duct tape. Tony had his wallet with a debit card, and so we decided to still try to have a fun trip.

Monday morning, we swam at the hotel for awhile, then Tony and Connor worked out while the girls watched TV (such a treat!) and I showered and got ready.

We were going to go to Trafalga, a fun place with arcade, laser tag, mini golf, climbing wall, bowling, and a couple small rides, but our passes had been in my wallet. So we had to make new plans for the day. Instead, we headed downtown for some fun.  We rode the Trax system around downtown, where it is free (since we didn't have any cash, except for just enough to park in a parking garage this time). The kids thought that was great fun!  We went in the lobby and public areas of the Grand America Hotel. We had a great time looking at all the fancy things, going to the toy store inside, and seeing an incredible gingerbread house!  We also went into the Joseph Smith Building and looked around a bit.  We ended that trip with lunch at Tucanos. SO DELICIOUS!  We all love that place!

Although I'm sad and kinda frustrated about the robbery (and losing my purse that I loved!) we still had a fun trip, and made a memory we won't forget!

Christmas Eve

We had a super fun Christmas Eve this year. We started by making candy cane reindeer and delivering them to a nursing home in Green River. We sang Christmas Carols and handed them out to the residents there. It was really a neat experience. (I didn't take any pics, however.)

Next up: ice skating!  We all had a great time. Connor and Mylie really caught on and were skating all over the place.  

At first, Mariah was determined to do it, but after so many falls, she finally got frustrated with it. But in the end, she said she wants to go again.  

Brady wished he could try.

The best part of the ice skating, though, was doing it with cousins. 

In the evening, we all headed to Grandma's house for a party. We played "Reindeer Games"...

...stuffed ourselves with all sorts of yummy treats...

...and ended with the Nativity. Connor and Mylie were narrators this year, and Mariah was a shepherd.  

Brady was just in the way, until Tony discovered this awesome "Brady cage."  Worked great!

Christmas Morning

We had a FABULOUS Christmas morning this year!  Everybody was happy with what Santa brought...

After Santa gifts, we had breakfast (waffles with jam and whipped cream) and then the REAL fun began: Family Gifts!  The kids (minus Brady) all earned their own money this year and bought everybody a gift. They were all so excited about the gifts they had chosen for everybody, and were equally excited about what they got from each other.  It was so fun, feelin' the love!