As of late…

Brady’s latest obsession is puzzles. She is doing like 5-8 a day now. She is actually doing a puzzle as I am typing this post. She has two princess 50 piece puzzles that we mix together in the same bag and she completes both of them in one sitting. Here is a picture from yesterday morning, first thing after breakfast.

Yesterday, I had out a shirt for Reese and she kept running away from me, but there was Dewy (my velcro dog) staring right at me, so guess who I dressed…. Apparently Reese and Dewy currently wear the same size clothes

Last Thursday the girls went to the dentist. The hygienist gave the girls a glove each, man did that make their day. They have played dentist everyday since. I heard Reese calling “Brady, come here, Brady come lay down”. This is the scene that soon followed. Now, Karl and I have to be patients too.

Preschool Minithon

Brady has been waiting for today for the last few weeks. Today she got to “exercise” at school. They held the annual minithon for fundraising towards classroom supplies and expanding the main campus. Thank you to all of Brady's sponsors: Auntie Andi, Beppa and GP, Danielle, and Grandma and Caddy. All together Brady raised $149.50, WOW!

 

So this morning when Brady woke up she was very excited about the minithon: or to her exercising and then a feast! But when we pulled we saw the middle schoolers were there from the main campus to help out, and when we saw that Morgan (a 7th grader) was there she was extra excited. Morgan is the student that watches the girls while I coach the MATHCOUNTS team. They had line time while Morgan read all 30+ students a story, look where Brady choose to sit!

 

Here are all the students lined up and ready for the signal to GO!

GO BRADY GO!!

Brady did get distracted a few times…

Here is Brady’s number 1 cheerleader watching the days’ events (or playing in the sand)

Brady started slowing down, so her buddy Morgan buddied up with her for encouragement!

Group picture time

Well after Brady successfully completed 17 laps! She decided to have a marathon of her own…the feasting marathon. If there was a prize to be won for eating today Brady literally would have claimed top prize! She ate, turkey, apples, strawberries, chex mix, chicken nugget, tortilla chips and went back at least 5 times to refill her plate. So all the picnic tables were full when we started eating with kids and parents….

This is the scene when Brady was working on her 4th plate, remember she went up again after that! She was the only one eating for like 10-15 minutes. I was in shock. The teacher says she loves to eat snack at preschool and eats all the time! WHOSE CHILD IS THIS?!?!?!!?

Finally after I convinced her to join her friends on the playground, I grabbed a couple more shots of my running and eating cutie!

 

Congrats to Brady and thanks again to all her sponsors!

The Fun Theory

So you have to go to funtheory.com and watch a few of the videos. It is an initiative by Volkswagen to have people do better things in life by simply making it fun. Like make it fun not to speed, or fun to throw away trash correctly, or recycle.

 

My favorite is this one:

 

http://www.thefuntheory.com/piano-staircase

 

I like this for many reasons. When I was in college I read in a magazine, the best way to get exercise in, when you have a busy schedule, is to add it in throughout your day. Things it suggested were parking at the back of the parking lot, or always using the stairs instead of elevator or escalator. I have tried to do this (a little more difficult with young kids) whenever I can! So it made me smile to watch what made people willing to get exercise in throughout the day.

 

Also,  I liked it because I recently realized I need exercise in general to be fun. I really look forward to Zumba. It is like I am in dance classes three days a week again! I will miss other events to Zumba, whereas I used to look for something to interfere with my scheduled exercise time!!!!

 

So if there is something you dread doing in general, see if you can make it fun in some way, then you are a lot more likely to do it!

 

Leave a comment about something you used to dread and made it fun and now like it? I want to hear your ideas! I need tips on how to make cooking dinner fun!

Wordless Wednesday: Race Boat Fun

Kids say the Darndest Things

Another great thing about the Daddy’s Day at the preschool was this handout. The kids had to say what their dad’s do for a job. FYI: The kid who said his dad works at Sam’s, well the dad is really a Marine Pilot. I cracked up reading a lot of these so I thought I would pass it along.

 

Brady did a GREAT job describing Karl’s job, can you pick it out?

Daddy’s Day at Preschool

Yesterday was “Daddy’s Day” at Brady’s preschool. I thought it was awesome for her teachers to come in on a Saturday so that Karl and the other dads could see what is going on in the classroom. The whole time was spent with Brady showing Karl all the different work she enjoys doing. Karl and Brady had a blast and bonded further afterwards with a trip to Krispy Kreme.

 

Here she is doing two person work. There are two bags filled with identical objects. The first person pulls an item from the bag, then without looking the second person feels around in the bag for the matching object. I think this is a great game what works on the senses!

At the Montessori preschool, practical life skills are readily worked on. Here Brady is setting a table and polishing silver (she calls this “oil on the tray”). They also wash dishes, make smoothies, create flower arrnagements, etc.

There are two options in the classroom for quiet time. In the ‘library’ where only two kids are allowed at a time or the loft which is one kid at a time.

WATER WORK! One of Brady’s favorites, she talks about it all the time. It is just transferring water from one container to another.

Karl said Brady loved doing her ‘sound books.’ She did these four times in the 1.5 hours they were together. They are handmade books that have about 4-5 letters in each one. She just flips through and works on their sound.

We are so proud of our Brady girl and the work ethic she has! We love you Brady!

Our Little Ballerina

Today was Brady’s first ballet class! She was looking forward to this moment all week. Then all day she kept asking me to put her ballet clothes on. So when the time came to get ready she was super pumped. She wanted to put her ballet slippers on at home so she could practice and take pictures. As soon as she was fully outfitted Reese said “I want to do ballet” I was fumbling over how to answer, when Karl said “okay, do it right here at home” She was luckily satisfied with that answer and started bouncing and twirling all over the house. Here is a sample of the pictures we took. Brady wanted to take the pictures in the kitchen because it is easier to turn with her ballet shoes in there.

 

This is the school she goes to. There is no lobby so I have to wait in my car while she has class. It is small and low key, but that is what I feel like is appropriate for us. I am not trying to make a prima ballerina.

On the students’ first day, the parents get to sit in if they would like to catch the moments on film. She did a great job, despite the fact the teacher assistant was absent and half of the class was off the wall. The only time she was following the teacher was when she noticed herself in the mirror and got distracted with her reflection. She is such a sweet little girl that makes me very proud.

I like these next two photos because of her tongue. The tongue means serious concentration is going on. I did this as a kid and I got it from my mom. These pictures make me smile so much!

Even with the craziness of today’s class she had a blast. She got home at 7:30 and immediately did running laps around the house. This is what she does when she is really excited about something. She asked if she could go back in the morning.

Orthnerism: Chapter 2

SO here is a Reeseism for you…. (remember she is barely 2)

 

I used the guest bathroom and she followed me in there. I don’t normally use that bathroom and there is a gate to that room so Reese rarely gets to go into that bathroom. She sees me using the potty and says “That’s Grandma’s bathroom”!

 

The interesting part is Grandma last visited in June, we have had 5 different sets of visitors since then!

 

And our little Brady girl:

I have been making several calls this week to pest control companies in VB.

 

Brady: Who were you talking to on the phone, Mommy?

Me: Another pest company.

Brady: Oh about Dewy and Pace?

 

HAHAHAHA

A year in the Life of a Blog

 

One year ago, I started the journey of blogging. It has been quite a journey. I know for a fact I take a lot more pictures because I want to have just the right picture for the blog.

 

I blog for you. I LOVE reading all the blogs of my friends and a few syndicated blogs, so I want to pass the gift back to my friends and family. I hope that you have enjoyed this past year’s posts and don’t worry we are going strong and should continue through the next year.

 

Here are some facts (and well my personal opinion too) about the Orthner Outtakes blog:

 

• As of right now there have been 6,429 views, 205 posts and 425 comments on the blog. That is on average 17.6 views,  0.56 posts and 1.2 comments a day.
• My first blog post was about goals. I have met five of my six goals listed. The only goal that I am lacking in is the weight loss but I am working on that (sorta). I go to zumba three times a week, I am just having a hard time with will power when it comes to eating! Some of the goals on there are life long goals, but I feel like I have continued to grow in those areas.
• My favorite posts are the running series: Wordless Wednesday and Orthnerisms/Bradyisms. I like the Wordless Wednesday because it is the easiest/quickest post to create. Plus it is a ‘scheduled’ post and I have found that I am addicted to schedules! I like the Bradyisms because it shows everyone the laughter and joy my girls bring me everyday!
• Besides the day I posted the link to the blog on Facebook (I got 66 views that day) when I first started last year, yesterday had the most views…59 views!!!!! And I didn’t even add a post yesterday!

So I want to know who is out there and what you think of the blog. Leave a comment below please and tell me your favorite posts or how often you visit the blog or suggestions for future blog post…I want to know….

Wordless Wednesday: Daddy gets Involved (per Brady’s request)