Piano Man

Here is a video from Bradley's first grade talent show at school today.

He played two songs, The Indian Song and My Robot.

He is excelling really fast in his piano lessons and loves to show his skills where ever there is a piano. His uncle Jeff is a good teacher, then again he should be, he does this for a living.

Family Fun

Saturday was definitely a fun and busy day for us. On top of the sleepover, hit-a-thon, baseball pictures, and shopping, we still found time to take the kids to Mulligan's Golf and Games for some mini golf and to get some batting practice in for the boys.

Bradley did pretty good considering the machine pitches a lot faster than he is used to. Richard is a little rusty!

Olivia was not too interested in the batting cages, but maybe it was because she wasn't awake enough yet. She woke up pretty fast for golfing. Both the kids loved it. We didn't keep score for them. Olivia pushed the ball a lot more than hitting it. Towards the last few holes Bradley was getting the concept down and was doing pretty good.

We did keep score between Richard and myself. I have a little bragging right here. I did win, by two strokes. Yeah! I also got the only hole in one!!! I do have to give Olivia some of the credit for the shot. My ball bounced off the curb, hit her foot and ricochet into the hole. Pretty awesome accidental shot, if I say so myself. Richard tried to call interference, but I say it counted.

After our fun filled day we went out to dinner. No sense in trying to fix dinner right! The kids were very well behaved all day, well until our waiter decided to ignore us and not get us our check. They got a little antsy than, but who can blame than, so did I.

Hit-a-Thon

Yesterday Bradley's baseball league had a hit-a-thon fundraiser. Each kid was asked to collect pledges for each hit out of 20 they got, or a lump sum donation. If a child was able to raise $50 then they would have their name put in a drawing for prizes.


Bradley collected $5 a hit and a $10 lump sum donation. Bradley was really eager to hit all 20 balls. He ended up hitting 9 balls and collecting $55 for his baseball league.

Special thanks to Grandma Janet, Honey, and Ivy for your donations. We chose not to solicit everyone because of all the school / sport fundraisers out there and the economy. So I hope there are no hurt feelings :)

McBreakfast

Do you ever wonder if you are feeding your kids too much fast food? Lately with Richard working overtime and Bradley playing baseball we have been eating out more than usual. It always remind me of a story my mom told me about when I was younger (The following is probably not an accurate re-telling, but it does the job).

When I was between 5-7 years old, we were driving home after a softball game (sound familiar), when my mom said we were going to McDonald's (again). I had a fit because I didn't want any more Happy Meals. I wanted "real food. "

Not your typical kid reaction right? Well that story sticks with me and I am worried one of my kids are going to follow suit. Especially when it is so fast, convenient and sometimes cheaper than making a full blown meal.

However today I got a little reassurance that I haven't totally over exposed my children to the fast food world.

My mom had Bradley and his cousins Jacob and Trace for a boys sleepover night. She decided to take them out to breakfast. When they pulled into McDonald's parking lot Bradley said "McDonald's has breakfast?" and Jacob and Trace look at Bradley like DUH!

So I guess if we feed them breakfast at home everyday we are at least starting the day out right. We will just have to keep trying for those healthier alternatives to McDonald's.

Hammer Time

It was time again for the kid's building workshop at Home Depot. This month they made a flower pot holder.


Bradley was very serious and went right to task. I was in charge of stabilizing his pieces while he hammered. I was afraid he was going to hit my fingers, but he ended up hitting his own instead. That did not stop him. He kept on going no worse for wear.

Richard and Olivia were hard at work. Olivia is really getting used to swinging that hammer. She was very courteous and cleaned up all her tools and her brothers. I just wish I could get her to clean up her own toys!

Here are the finished project, Home Depot even gave us the flower and the pot. How nice? Bradley has decided to give his to his teacher for teacher appreciation week. So he painted his green with polka dots, because his teacher's favorite color is green and she loves polka dots. Olivia wanted to paint hers like a rainbow, and have polka dots too. So I convinced her to have rainbow colored polka dots.

The kids can't wait for next month's project. They really like building something with their own hands, then getting to paint it!