May 26, 2009
I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend and took a moment to really think about what this day of rememberance is for. Thank you to all of the men and women that have served our country and are currently doing so. I have great respect for these people and I ask that we remember them in our prayers and pray for their safe homecoming. I want to give a special shout out to my stepbrother, Jason, who is currently on active duty in Iraq. He flies the medical helicopters in and out of the danger zones and is risking his life everyday. We are looking forward to his safe return this summer. We spent our Memorial Day with the Cathcart family at a nice picnic at Ledges Park in Boone. We enjoyed a great meal and the great weather that we were having. Luckily, we were just finishing up when the rain started.
Brady’s enjoying the picnic too.
Jaxson helping Papa roast marshmallows.
This obviously wasn’t at the picnic, but a cute picture that I had to throw in.
May 21, 2009
Brad brought this ice cream cake home for me from Dairy Queen last week for my
birthday, which also happened to be the day after Mother’s Day. Note to self - "Get
ice cream cakes the day after a holiday and they are half off."
Luckily this little roadster likes wearing his helmet now. He goes very fast on his bike
and takes corners on two wheels (it’s a 4 wheeler) and has fallen off a few times.
Like father, like son. Jaxson even pretends to start his mower like Brad by pulling the
starter way back with his arm and then the sound effects start. It’s hilarious.
So Brad took this week off and we have been taking advantage of it. He couldn’t have had a better week off as far as the weather, but go figure that we also get bad colds. We are all still functional, but it’s annoying. We aren’t letting the colds get us down, at least not yet anyways. Yesterday we completed another milestone in our journey to re-landscape our whole yard. We tackled the south side of our garage that has been neglected since we’ve lived here anyways. Kris came down to help us out and went to Lowe’s with us to help pick out what to plant. We are very pleased with the results and glad to have it done. Now all we have left to do is the WHOLE backyard. . . ugh!
Before - see, I told you it was neglected.
Jaxson helping Daddy.
After
After. The small grass in the middle is a Pampas grass that will get to be 6-8 ft tall and
6-8 ft wide with a white plume on the top. I’m very excited to see it when it fills in.
The sprinkler kept Jaxson entertained so that we could work.
We took Jaxson to see Sesame Street Live this last Saturday and boy did he love it. It was so fun watching his face when the show started. His eyes got so big and he had the biggest smile on his face. He also kept saying "I wike (like) this!" throughout the show; it was so cute. It wasn’t too bad for the adults either. They had some humor just for us.
Jaxson enjoying the show with chocolate on his face.
Most of the gang.
May 11, 2009
First of all, I want to say "Happy Mother’s Day" to all the mothers out there. I hope all of you had a fabulous day and were spoiled! Our Mother’s Day weekend was quite the busy one. On Friday, we went up to Hubbard to spend some time with my mom. They just got their basement all finished and had several friends out for a little party. It was great because it reminded me of when I was in high school and we would all get together and have a lot of fun. We even got to see the Pelzers, who I haven’t seen since our wedding when Mason and Traye were gift carriers. I started babysitting for the Pelzers when Mason was 10 months old, he’s now 14!!! Wow, do I feel old! It was great seeing them! On Saturday, we went out to the farm for a little bit and let Jaxson run wild with the dogs, cows, and horses. Then we ran over to Eldora to see Grandma and Wendy real quick. My Uncle Warren also came up for the weekend so we all went to The Pizza Ranch for lunch and had a good time. Then Saturday afternoon we went to my stepbrother Levi’s high school graduation party. He will be graduating on Memorial Day weekend. Then it was a fast trip home so that I could change and get to work for the weekend. On Sunday morning, Jaxson and Brad went up to Gowrie to spend Mother’s Day with Kris. We figured they might as well spend it with Kris since I would be sleeping all day. They had a great time playing outside all day and Brad helped them do some landscaping. So to sum it all up. . . we had a fabulous crazy busy weekend, but we wouldn’t have had it any other way.
A beautiful rainbow after a thunderstorm earlier this week.
Jaxson is planting his own flower garden.
Traye and Mason playing with Jaxson.
Picture of Hawkeye for Brandy.
Brandon and Jaxson playing frisbee with Butch.
Three of Brandon’s favorite things.
Nana’s little helper.
Getting ready to mow with Papa.
Off for a motorcycle ride. . . it’s a good thing Mommy’s not here!
I was told they only went 10 mph.
VROOM VROOM
Happy Mother’s Day Kris!
The end to a busy weekend.
May 6, 2009
The pictures say it all. . .
Jaxson’s helping me wash the van.
He’s putting the silverware away for me.
My little clown.
My mom has been doing some major spring cleaning and found a bunch of stuff from when I was little. I think one of my aunts made this clown costume for Tanya or me. I remember wearing it when I was in preschool.
May 3, 2009
I’m going to backtrack a little and tell you all about Saturday. It’s not all that exciting, but here it goes. We got up bright and early to get down to the opening day of the Farmer’s Market. It was such a beautiful morning and we got to enjoy our usuals at the market. Brad got to have one of his Farm Boys breakfast burritos. He even talked me into getting one. It was good, but I think I’m going to go back to the other breakfast sandwiches that I’m used to getting down there. We splurged on watermelon, cinnamon rolls, a cherry tomato plant, and my best find yet, Vander Ploeg’s Raspberry Streusel Bread. It is absolutely YUMMY!! I highly recommend it. After the market, we came home and did a lot of yard work. I was able to get most of our newly landscaped area re-mulched, which makes it look 100% better. We stayed outside until it was time to head off to church. Now fast forward to when we came home today. We stayed outside until the sun went down. I think Jaxson has really been enjoying eating our meals outside on the deck; he thinks that’s pretty cool. Brad had the pleasure of cutting down our burning bush that was huge and 75% dead. It probably took both of us around 45 mins. to chop it down, but then it took him 2 1/2 hrs to dig the stump out. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a smile on his face as big as the one as I saw today when he got that thing out.
Jaxson loves to water my plants and flowers for me. I hope he’s actually getting some of the water on my tomato plant.
Brad’s fun afternoon project.
Our good Lord sure did bless us with such a beautiful day for Brady’s baptism today. All of Brady’s family was able to be at church for his big moment. He did such a good job. Brad and I got to stand up with Brady as two of his sponsors and we feel so honored to have been asked. After the service, we all went to Andy and Mindy’s home for a wonderful dinner and some family time. Congratulations Brady on your big day and we welcome you into the Lord’s family.
The baptismal service
Papa and Brady
The Cathcarts
"Cheese". . . now give me some cake.
We coordinated our outfits on purpose
Well, I think it’s safe to say that we all had a good time at the circus on Friday night. Before the circus started, we were able to go out onto the floor where they were doing pony and elephant rides. Miah rode the pony, but Jaxson didn’t want to have anything to do with touching one. He justed wanted to watch. They did put on a good show, a bit cheesy for Brad and me, but good.
Just clownin’ around.
Anxiously waiting for the circus to start.
The tiger show was very good.
