Thanksgiving

We had a great Thankgiving and we hope everyone else did too! We have so much to be thankful for! On Wednesday we headed back to my parent's house. We had the Parker Thanksgiving on Thursday and it was great to catch up with everyone and Brady loved being the entertainment for everyone. On Friday morning Andy and I got up super early and headed to Walmart. I don't know what I was thinking when I thought that there wouldn't be very many people there since it was in a smaller town. Silly me! We got there at midnight and it was packed! Oh well, we got everything we went there for. We got home around 2:30 a.m. and went back to sleep for a few hours. We laid low for most of the day and then did a workout at the gym. Then it was time for the Petersen Thanksgiving. It was nice to see everyone that was able to make it. It was great for Brady to get to play with his cousin Cadence. It was so cute...they were giving each other hugs and kisses. We headed back to Ankeny on Saturday morning and got right to work on a few things. Laundry, cleaning the house to get ready for Brady's 2nd b-day party, putting up the tree, putting up Christmas decorations and outside lights, etc. We grabbed dinner at Legends as we were out and about running errands. And on Sunday it was another day of busy, busy, busy. Grocery shopping, home organization and more cleaning, cooking/baking and family time. It was a very hectic and busy holiday but it was a lot of fun! I can't believe that in less than a week Brady will be 2. My baby is getting so big!

The newest Petersen

On Tuesday my uncle Tom and aunt Jen had thier fourth little one. I got the exciting call that it was a boy! They didn't find out what they were having. Little Thomas Allen was a little peanut at 6lbs 6 oz. He joins big brothers Tyler and Trey and big sister Taryn. We stopped in the hospital to see them on Thursday morning. He is a cutie!

Foto Friday

My little monkey after bath time

2 Year Pictures

Here are a few of my favorites from Brady's 2 year picture shoot. He didn't really want to stay still to get a good picture so Jen had to do some serious action shots! But I think they turned out great and really reflect what Brady is in to...any form of ball!

Black Friday Ad!

Well Brady made his modeling debut (ha ha ha!) in HyVee's Black Friday ad. His cute little picture is in the MP3 player. Just had to share!

Look at me mommy!

One of Brady's favorite things is to get in to my hair accessory drawer in our master bathroom. His favorite things to play with are my hair bands I use for working out. He loves to put on the these head bands and sometimes will put more than one on his head. He makes us laugh every day! At least he hasn't gotten in to my make-up drawer yet!

Mr. Messy

Brady just loves to make a mess. Whether it's on the main floor of our house, his room or the basement. We do make him pick up all of his toys before we go to bed so it does lessen the load on us. Plus, he needs to learn to pick up after himself.

Boys will be Boys!

Well the below pics are what Stephanie and I came across while the boys were playing...Brady and Holden playing in the cooler with the ice and beer. I thought I knew for sure all the words that Brady knew but he surprised me when he was playing in the cooler and Holden grabbed a beer and before I knew it I heard Brady say 'No, MY BEER!'...I was like 'What?' When did he even hear that word let alone know that these cans were beer, etc...oh, my! But it was so darn funny that I couldn't be mad... ha ha!

Brady's Preview

Check out Jen's Photography Blog (on the right side on my the blogs I follow) to see Brady's 2 year picture preview. She did a great job, once again!

Cathcart Thanksgiving

On Saturday evening we had the Cathcart Thanksgiving. It was fun to see Steve's sister (Sandy) and all of Andy's cousins. We always have a great time when we get together. After lots of good food, all the kiddos played together and had a blast! Here are some fun pics!




Brady Joseph and Brody Joseph (and both their mama's are named Mindy! Ha ha!)

Jaxson holding Holden, Addison, Brady and Brody

Worldess Wednesday

Fun in Gowrie

On Friday afternoon we headed up to Gowrie so we could spend the weekend with Andy's side of the family for Thanksgiving. We laid low on Friday night and Brady got to play and we watched a movie. I'll post more this week about the weekend! Here's Brady having fun playing with daddy.

Andy's Big Project!

Andy finished the big project around our house...he put up beadboard/waynescoating in Brady's room. It's something I've wanted to do for a very long time. With Bryce's help they have it all done. It was quite the undertaking. It was much more difficult and time consuming than anyone thought. But I think the results are SO worth it (easy for me to say, huh?). I just love it! We went somewhat tall with it but it will also help serve as some additional insulation for Brady's north/west windows. The decorating isn't done on the walls but I couldn't wait until it was totally done before posting. Thanks for all of your hard work honey!

Cathcart Dance Party!!!

It's no secret that Brady LOVES to dance. But even more so he loves it when mommy and daddy dance with him! So here are some fun out-takes and a preview of our daily Cathcart Dance Party! We hope everyone has a great weekend!

Christmas Cards

A couple of weeks ago Jen took some family photos of us to use for our Christmas cards. She did an awesome job (like always). I have ordered them already and they were delivered yesterday! So now it's time to address all of them! I can't believe the holidays are right around the corner. We have the Cathcart Thanksgiving this weekend already! Wow! And then Brady's birthday party in just a couple of short weeks! I can't believe he'll be two!!! Anyway, here is a sneak peak at a couple of the pics we got but I'm not publishing the one we used for the cards...the 2 below and the one that we have as our blog header were some of our favs! And of course a cute one of our little monkey!

A couple of Brady 'Funnys'

Here are a couple of funny stories from our little monkey!

I got a call this morning from Andy and he said that there was a little 'issue' that happened at our house this morning...Brady locked him out of the house!!! Andy's car has been parked outside while he and Bryce have been finishing up the home improvement project (they need the garage as work space). Andy went out the front door to do something quickly outside and Brady shut the door behind him and locked it! The garage was closed, Andy didn't have any keys with him and all the doors were locked...he said he finally got Brady to unlock the door. Guess it's time to put some child-proofing on the door handles!

One other funny thing Brady has been doing lately:
Whenever there is a song on and we're singing along (or sometimes Andy just breaks in to song), Brady will put his finger up to his mouth and go 'shhhhh' 'shhhhh'...I think he's trying to tell us that we're bad singers! Ha ha!

A couple fun stories for the day...sorry, no pictures today!

Chocolate Push-Up!

I forgot to blog about this a while ago. One weekend when we went back to my parents, Brady got a fun treat. A chocolate push-up fro Schwans. It was so funny to watch him eat it and boy did he get messy!