Shanahan's

when you're driving and you just happen to catch a glimpse of a little boy in the backseat with a miniature Santa hat on his head.  I was so startled, I laughed out loud.  and Brady, who had forgotten he'd put it on, was so shy and confused why I was laughing at him.

PSA: these are at Costco and they are soooo delicious.  I am not a huge fan of pretzels, white chocolate, or peppermint candy canes... but something about these and that combination is phenomenal.  although I will say that Chris doesn't think they're that great.  but I love the sweet and salty and crunchy and smooth and everything about these.  they've been my drug of choice lately.

dinner at shanahan's for the hospital board Christmas party.

the hostess on the way out saw our walking selfie and offered to take a picture of us.

and let's be honest that basically these look the same as the night before except for my hair.

the red pants dress rehearsal

I let Elizabeth ride in Abigail's carseat on the way home from the gym.  she thought it was amazing.  

I time all of Brady's reading lessons.  because I'm weird.  I even sometimes pretty the lap button with each section.  right now all the sections are to read the words, read the words again, read the story, and then read the story again while answered comprehension questions.  I think this lesson was something like 3 minutes, 1 minute, 8 minutes, and 7.5 minutes.  the various parts of the lesson vary but we were almost right at 20 minutes!  I will say though that I've started doing tickle breaks in the middle of the lesson which helps Brady stay engaged and motivated and I pause the timer while we do our tickle breaks.  but the actual learning part of the lesson was 20 minutes.

I'm not sure if it's because it's just her nature or if it's because she's watched and learned from Brady, but Elizabeth is starting to be sooooo cute with Andrew.  even the way she says his name is adorable. she's kind of a punk (like giving him a binky and then taking it away again once he's stopped fussing) but it's just really fun to watch.

when he's not being neglected, Andrew is just the happiest kid.

I started stressing about what I would wear to the hospital board holiday party.  I had an idea in my mind (pretty much the only option I could come up with from my closet) and was curious if it was weird (so out of my comfort zone) or if it was something other people would wear.  what would we do without google?

these brothers have a strong bond already.

I love that Andrew looks like he's doing a gangster pose.

have I mentioned before how Chris gets jealous that when he and Brady and Andrew are all together, Andrew mostly just looks at Brady and not really at Chris?  I told him it was nothing to be offended about, just that Andrew probably preferred Brady and thinks that's his father since he's always around.  ; )  my honey loves me.

don't mind this kid.  just doing his hair before heading up for bed.

also, this is his hockey outfit.  he literally wears it for every moment we are at home... even while sleeping.  I thought for sure it would taper off after he got tired of the long undressing/redressing process involved in going to the bathroom... but nope.  going strong still.  Abigail wore princess dresses, Brady made up a hockey uniform.

I texted weed and asked if she would help me with my outfit.  luckily she was an enthusiastic yes.  jacket was a gift from aunt libby, shoes from target, pants inherited from grandmother.  thanks, granny!

and because I love before and after pictures...  just kidding.  kinda.

I considered this black clutch.

until I realized that the teeth marks would be super visible if I set this on a table.

enter Chinese wallet!  I really just needed it to fit my phone and lip gloss so it was the perfect size.  mother... do you remember where grandma got this?  I was sure I'd remember but of course I've forgotten.

and my completed outfit.  since the clutch is from grandma and the black shirt I wore under the blazer was actually purchased for me by my mother... I felt very well dressed by the strong and giving women in my life.  still an outfit totally out of my comfort zone, but I felt special getting to wear and use these items from some of my favorite people.

and that concluded my dress rehearsal.

Abigail's fashions

we've been having unusually warm weather.  but still, Abigail was anxious to wear her hat, scarf, and mittens.  she walked downstairs, ready to wear this outfit to school.  how do you find that balance of letting your kid confidently wear clothes they love and protecting them from outfits that will have other people making fun of them?  

I let her wear the whole thing except that I had her put on full length black leggings... and I brushed her hair, which naturally broke up what she had going on above her shoulders... since she had on the hood of the hoodie and then the hat and then the scarf.  I can't remember exactly what she looked like when I dropped her off, but it was a significant improvement considering I only asked her to change one thing.

here's our daily Andrew picture.

monkey see, monkey do.

I did a reading lesson with Brady out of his reading lesson book.  for the first time since October 14th.  the book made a pretty significant jump where it dropped all of the special symbols (like a line over the long vowel sounds) and font and went to a regular font and no symbol clues.  it was sooo confusing/frustrating for Brady even though he was fine reading that font in regular books that had no special symbols.  after a few days of frustrating lessons, I just dropped it.  we did some "lessons" of just him reading books to me (mostly bob books) but that eventually faded out too.  he's not a fan of bob books because there's really no plot and his questions never get answered.  so, mostly, he's just been reading random stuff that he sees around and sometimes reads some easy reader books.  I decided to try the reading lesson book again and Brady and I were both pleased and surprised at how easy it was for him again.  so even without formal lessons, the time off was still a time of learning for him.  anyway... we'll see what kind of schedule we do with it going forward.  it's just nice to know that it's an option again.  and just to note... the first lap was reading all of the words two times through, the second lap was reading the story the first time through, and the third lap was him reading the story the second time through while pausing at points to answer reading comprehension questions.

Brady told me a few weeks ago that he wanted a drum for Christmas.  it was the first I'd ever heard of it so I thought it was a fleeting thing.  not the case.  he's really into drumming now... with Lincoln logs and a boppy pillow.

Christopher had a bishopric meeting at 8:30 and bedtime was ROUGH... especially because Brady was exhausted and out of control.  I sat in the hall and waited for my kids to fall asleep while I read this conference talk about how hard is good.  these are screenshots of some of my favorite parts.

and honey and I watched some this is us before bed.  I love that show.

photo dump

i take too many pictures that blogging them is overwhelming.  more overwhelming than that is looking through the thousands of pictures on my computer.  soooo i will press on and continue my attempts to edit and narrow down pictures for the blog on a somewhat regular basis.  i love being able to look back at everyday life around here.  here are some pictures from the 9th to the 13th.

the boys

the girls

the book she decided she didn't want to read afterall

the off the shoulder strapless look

my mil did this swaddle.  when i came home i found brady had pretty much shimmied his way out of it.  ha.

the outfit baby girl wore for almost a week straight

the joys of two kids

the love of a big sister (kissing his head, his arm, his hand, etc.)

playdough roads

learning about bridges, bumpy roads, straight roads, and curvy roads

our guest room is lonely and yearning for some visitors.  any takers?  we're all ready for you!

how i took attendance at youth night last week.  we were still missing a lot of people at this point but it came in handy as a base number to go off of when buying refreshments.

the matching swaddles

baby girl is infinitely happier these days now that she has brady.  i wish she loved me as much as she loves him.

when the unsuspecting get kisses

i got some purple skinnies from banana and last week had the courage to wear them.  definitely out of my comfort zone emotionally but they are by far my more comfortable pants.  even if i'm too fat to button them...

don't worry... no one got hurt.

my new favorite way to take pictures of brady is by turning the camera around and letting him see his reflection on my phone (does that even make sense?)... he was just scowling at his reflection.  different than his usual smiles.

 i take way too many pictures.