The Cathcarts

Lucky for Jaxson and I that Brady’s daycare lady took the week off, so that means that we got to have Brady at our house today.  He is such a good baby.  He reminds me of Jaxson when he was that age because he only cried when he was hungry and he was content as could be just watching us be silly.  Jaxson was so excited that Brady was going to spend the day with us.  He really wanted to show Brady his park and of course how he goes over the choo choo tracks.  So we spent quite a while swinging at the park and then walked down to the train tracks.  Jaxson was also a very good helper and had to help me make Brady’s bottle and helped me feed him. 

My goodness, somebody likes the swing.

My little helper.  Don’t worry Andy and Mindy, we only fed Brady like that long enough to get the picture.

I am SOOO sick of hearing about this stupid swine flu!  I woke up this morning and turned on The Today Show and of course, what did they spend the first 15 mintues talking about, nothing but the swine flu.  And then I hear that Gov. Culver is going to declare Iowa a "public health disaster" if these whole two cases are confirmed as the swine flu.  Are you kidding me??!!  Then I heard Meredith Viera ask a Dr. guest on the show if we were doing enough to protect ourselves against the swine flu?  I wanted to scream!!   VP Biden also said on TV this morning that he has told his family to not get on an airplane or any type of public transportation.  Way to go Joe!  Do you tell your family to avoid all public transportation during regular flu season from October-March?  I think everyone is going way overboard with this flu thing.  If they want to get so excited about something, why don’t they get excited about the regular ol’ respiratory flu that kills THOUSANDS every year, or AIDS, which is also a virus, that is killing people every minute. . . or cancer (not a virus) that is also killing every minute.  I think it is also hilarious how people are walking around with surgical masks on when they don’t even filter out viruses.  Let’s get a grip on things.  In the meantime, I’m going to go eat a big ol’ pork burger. 

My goodness, I was just looking at my calendar for this weekend and realized that it’s going to be May already.  Where did April go?  I know that I haven’t posted in a while, that’s because we haven’t been too exciting.  Our days pretty much consist of playing outside when it’s nice and staying inside when it’s not. . . how exciting.  Although, lately, Jaxson and I have been venturing out during the nice days to scope out different parks.  He thinks this is so cool.  I wish we would have done this a long time ago, but who knew there were so many different parks within a 2 mile radius?  Anyways, we’re looking forward to this weekend because we have several exciting things going on.  We are taking Jaxson and his friend, Miah, to the circus either on Friday or Saturday.  The downtown Farmer’s Market starts on Saturday.  We are going to church with our small group on Saturday night and we have Brady’s baptism on Sunday.  And in case you were wondering, yes, this is my weekend off, which makes it even better!  Here’s some random pics for ya.

This picture was taken back in Feb, but Jaxson found it saved on my camera and insisted that we re-create it, so here’s the new one.

His buddy, Miah

Miah came over lastnight to play some Wii.  Who knew cow racing could be so serious?

Jaxson is jumping his cow over a hurdle.

We went to Hubbard on Sunday morning to celebrate Easter some more.  We had a great lunch at my mom’s with all of her family coming over.  The kids even got to have a great Easter egg hunt in Mom’s basement.  Jaxson hit the jackpot on more candy and money.  We had great intentions of leaving Mom’s around 1:00 so that we could get back in time for me to sleep before going to work, but then I heard that my friend, Jill, and her husband, Eric, were also in Hubbard at her parent’s house.  So of course we had to make a trip out to the Dubberkes to see the fam.  We had a great time visiting with them and it was hard to leave.  We ended up leaving Hubbard at 4:30 and getting home just in time for me to shower and get to work. 

Lauren, Tessa, and Jaxson having fun drawing on the table.  Don’t worry, that’s what it’s for.

My Uncle Randy with his grandkids, Braden and Lauren.

Finding Easter eggs.

Going through all of his loot.

Friends for 26 years

Eric showing Jaxson all around the Dubberke farm.

Jaxson with his new buddy.

Jaxson and Gene

Jaxson flying his new kite at the park.

Opending day at the Cathcart house.

We were so blessed today that most of our family could get together and go to church with us at Hope.  I know, you’re saying "But it’s not even Easter yet."  Well, since our church has so many members and Pastor Mike usually puts on one heck of a good Easter service, they held two services this evening and are also having several tomorrow.  We went 45 minutes early and were lucky to get 17 seats together.  We learned from last year when we had to sit in the gym.  Once again, Pastor Mike delivered just like he usually does.  The theme this year was "The Greatest Comeback Ever."  Of course he had to talk about some of the greatest comebacks in sports history, but then he also related it to Jesus’ comeback.  What an awesome thing that Jeses lived, died on the cross for us, and then rose from the dead. . . all for us.  Let us not forget what Easter is all about and praise Him.

This guy was also at the Christmas service doing a hand painting.  Today he started with a blank canvas and a few minutes later I could see a cross developing, about halfway through he had a beautiful painting of a cross, and then at the end of the service I looked over and this was the end product.

The service also included fabulous singers and ballet dancers.

This morning we headed out to the WDM DMACC campus for a good ol’ Easter Egg Hunt.  I haven’t been to an egg hunt since I was a little girl, so I was kind of looking forward to it.  The WDM Fire Association put on the egg hunt and threw about 200 pieces of candy and little toys out on a small area for the 0-3 year olds.  Well that’s all great and everything, but when 200 kids show up, that’s not so great.  It was a stampede to the toys and candy.  It’s a good thing that Jaxson really didn’t care how much he got because he walked away with one bite size Snickers.  Not even in an egg, just the piece of candy.  We ended up finding Jack and Ben, who had a few eggs, and they were very nice to share some of their eggs with Jaxson.  Thanks guys!  After the egg hunt/stampede, we went and saw the firetrucks that they had there.  The boys got to sit and "drive" them.   All in all it was a good time, but I think I will be hunting out a different Easter Egg Hunt next year.

The boys excited about their candy.

More firetrucks

Jack was driving while Jaxson sat in the back.  Hang on tight!

 

Play Time [Boy Stuff] — Stephanie @

April 5, 2009

A Birthday Weekend [Family Stuff] — Stephanie @

This weekend has been full with birthday celebrations.  On Thursday, Steve and Kris came down and the whole Cathcart crew went out to eat at Fuddruckers to celebrate Brad’s birthday.  They have great hamburgers and ice cream.  What else do you need for a good birthday celebration?  On Saturday, we got to go to the Clive Fire and Police Department for our neighbor, Miah’s, 6th birthday party.  Miah had 13 friends at her party, so Brad and I got to help out and make sure we didn’t lose any of the kiddos.  The kids had a blast playing outside, but the best part was when we got a tour of the firestation and we got to see the ambulance and firetrucks.  A firefighter was giving us a tour of the firetruck when they got a call and had to leave.  It was pretty cool because they let us watch as they got their gear on super fast, got the truck ready, and took off with their lights and sirens on.  I don’t know who liked it more, the adults or the kids.  Ann, Miah’s mom, and I thought that it was pretty cool that the women were the ones driving the firetrucks.  After the shortenend tour, we got to enjoy pizza, cake, ice cream and presents.  Jaxson had so much fun and we were so glad that we got to be a part of it.  Thanks Barrons!  Then on Saturday night, Heath, Tanya, Devon and Kade came over and we all went out to eat at Rock Bottom to celebrate Brad’s birthday again.  After supper, they all came back here for some cake and ice cream and to play a little Wii.  I’m proud to report that I kicked all of their butts in The Price Is Right.  Today, we are trying to take it a little easy and we are just loving this snow that we are getting. . . NOT!  Brad said this morning, "Yes, my birthday wish for snow did come true!  Yeah, it was probably my wish when I was 10."  Happy Birthday Honey!   

Nana and Brady

The birthday girl waiting to dig into her cake.

The whole crew

Jaxson on Miah’s new bike.

Learning about the firetruck.

Getting ready to leave on a call.

Learning about the ambulance.

Silly Kade

Silly Jaxson

Happy Birthday Brad