Birthday Boy Brad

My sweet blueberry boy has turned 4!

Ahhh...this kid is seriously the sweetest boy alive.

Go ahead, spend 5 minutes with him and tell me you don't agree.

I dare you.

It was so fun making his day special,

because he is so easy to please

and gets soooo excited over the littlest things.

We had a lot of other things going on that day, 

so we had to go meet Dave at the park for lunch, cake and presents.

Bradley wanted a truck cake.

And since it is currently 1 billion degrees outside,

a lovely dirt cake with pudding and cream cheese sounded nice.

My kind of cake I tell you.

Those little trucks were perfect outside toys 

(have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE outside toys)

for the sandbox we have been working on.

I love that sandbox.
But I do not love the large amounts of sand that get's transported into the house.
Speaking of outside toys,
Bradley also got a new Razor scooter with wicked-cool light up wheels.
(and a really cool Shark helmet from great grandma)

Can't beat that when you are 4 years old.
Love, love, love this boy!

Bradley Stats
Height:  39.5 inches  (30th percentile)
Weight:  36 pounds  (50th percentile)

Hume Lake

Check out this family.

The family that has lived at the base of the Sequoia Mountains for 5 years,

but has never actually visited those mountains.

Pathetic.

But, we have officially made up for our delinquency by going 3 times in about 10 days.

(Without anyone throwing up!)

Whew!

I'm feeling bad that we haven't spent more time up there - 

what a beautiful place!

The humongous redwood trees are pretty darn amazing.

Most of our time up there has been spent at Hume Lake.

Here's Brooklyn walking on water.

A Jumping Jack.  

(HA!)

Bradley showin' some skin.

Aubrey showing her extreme double coverage water safety.

Dave the cold water wimp trying to figure out how to keep as much of his body out of the water as possible.

Our most recent trip up there included a camping trip with some of our great friends.

Our kids are all about the same age so we are quite a crew.

We took our fishing gear and attempted to catch a few fish....

with 8 kids under 9 years old...

Riiiight.

I'm pretty sure every fish in that lake was hugging the shore line on the opposite side of the lake.

And would you blame them?

Although there are a few kids in that picture that wouldn't have surprised me if they caught a fish with their bare hands.

Fishing poles are for amateurs. 

The most important detail of our camping trip is that we all stayed nice and clean.

Yeesh.

It looks like Bradley was punched in the eye,

Aubrey is missing a shoe,

they are both missing more than half of their clothes,

and from behind, it looked like a porcupine had attacked Aubrey's diaper.

We're hardcore like that.

Scars

You know, I have never had to have stitches due to an accident.

And I'm turning 30.

My boys however have already managed to acquire a few battle scars.

Are boys just genetically wired to injure themselves?

Yes, I think they must be.

Here's our latest wound story.

The kids were in the backyard playing while I was on the phone and 

Dave was planning Family Home Evening.

My conversation was interrupted when Dave asked if I'd like to have Bradley stitched up.

Wait, what?!

I came downstairs to find Bradley crying and bleeding.

Definitely not a good combination.

I checked out the cut and decided that since it was on his face and laying wide open that we better take him in to have it checked.

[Insert groan]

As it turns out Bradley basically hit the jackpot.

He got to stay up late, eat popsicles and play Angry Birds.

Oh and get his forehead smeared with glue.

He had the nurses ooing and ahhing and nearly got his parents reported to CPS.

Apparently when Bradley says, "Jack hit me" it sounds a lot like "Dad hit me."

Dave stepped in and cleared that one up.

Yeesh.

Dave says that amongst "the special people" also at the ER last night that Bradley was kind of like a little breath of fresh air so the nurses kept watching him and laughing about his funny little personality.

Bradley sat in his assigned chair in the waiting room with his shifty little eyes looking around wondering what exactly was going on. 

One of the nurses came up and asked Dave if Bradley was always this good at home.

Before Dave could say anything Bradley replied with his simple, "Yes."

Riiight.

He ALWAYS sits so perfectly still, doing exactly what he should.

The story I am putting together is that Jack was making it rain by filling up a glass cereal bowl with water and then throwing the water into the air.

Apparently the bowl slipped out of Jack's hand, flew through the air and broke on Bradley's head.

Seriously?

Brooklyn (the Rockstar) said she pulled a chunk of bowl out of Bradley's forehead.

Have I ever mentioned what a wonderful Mother she will make one day?

So instead of having a lovely lesson on Baptism for Family Home Evening, 

we talked about how we don't throw bowls at people's heads 

and made get well soon cards for the victim.

Which lovingly included a drawing of a frightening looking ET character.

Complete with a brain.

(Jack claims that it was a sitting red chameleon...random) 

In the end, we are very grateful that it was nothing worse.

A $300 glob of glue is about all we can take.

San Francisco

Dave had a training in San Francisco,

so the family (including Grandma) decided to tag along.

First stop was to pick up a nice family friendly vehicle.

Oh wait.

Actually we just went into the Ferrari store to make the workers (and me) nervous.

Considering I probably can't even afford that bitty thing in the left corner...

We really just had one day to explore the city so we decided not to go home with wicked buff legs from walking all of the hills and opted for the overpriced trolley day pass.

Thankfully, it was worth the dough because the kids enjoyed that as much as most anything else.

Except for Bradley who appears to be seriously concerned about whomever is sitting next to him.

Our first stop was Pier 39 which proved that there were actually people under the age of  18 years old somewhere in the city.

I had previously considered giving each of the kids little collection cups 

because it felt like we turned more heads than half of the street performers.

1...2...3...4...

Are they ALL yours?!

We stopped for this photo for Jack since he's such a shark lover

and ended up being brainwashed educated by a super crazy hippie lady.

Save the Earth my friends, save the Earth.

Here we are trying not to gouge out the eyes of any unsuspecting sting rays.  

Then grandma whipped out her "grandma's can spoil kids, but mother's can't" card

and decided to take the kids on the 2 story carousel.

Which basically made their day.

Then she bought them ice cream cones.

Which I probably never would have done.

Those kids are pretty darn lucky that grandma came along.

After all, life is always considerably more enjoyable with grandparents around.

Someday I will be one.

Then I will buy carousel tickets, ice cream cones and popcorn at Target.

But until then

my kids will have to suffer with squished PB&J and water bottles.

The real highlight of my trip was

*drum roll please*

The Bushman.

He is a street performer who basically sits behind a bunch of bush clippings.

Waits for unsuspecting by-passers.

And then scares the daylights out of them.

Hi-lar-i-ous

Seriously.

This guy was Dave's favorite memory from SF as a child,

and always talks about "the bushman."

So we naturally had to hunt him down.

And it was worth the hunt.

I'm pretty sure I could have just set up a chair to sit and watch all day.

He did give Bradley a little scare as we passed.

Which explains the concerned look on his face.

Later that evening we took a stroll through China Town.

(Oh Hi Dave, thanks for joining us.)

Crazy place, that is.

We walked all the way there for delicious...

pizza.

Shameful, isn't it?

But hey, when you want to make sure that everyone eats...

you take the safe route.

As we walked home we passed a cute little park

which looked terribly out of place in the middle of the city.

We bounced them on the springy teeter totter

and let them run around on the fairly pathetic toys.

And what do you know?

We spend the whole day providing them with all kinds of new experiences

and they are really just as happy at a fairly frightening inner city playground.

Go figure.

Aubrey's 2nd Birthday

Oh my!

The baby in this house has just turned two.

photo by stephanieryanphotography

I sure miss that furry little head.

Oh wait...

She's still got it - times 10!

This girl brings so much sunshine into this family.

She's a happy and pleasant cherub who just loves to be with the big kids.

Basically, if they would all be as easy as this one,

then I'll take at least 10 more.

If only I didn't have to potty train them...

Anyway, we had a wonderful day spoiling little Miss Aubrey.

And OF COURSE wondering how two years have passed so quickly!

Can anyone honestly tell me that they don't want to just squeeze that little face?!

My goodness - I could just eat her for breakfast.

Aubrey's 2 Year Stats

Weight:  22 pounds 

(below 3rd percentile)

Height:  32 Inches  

(8th percentile)

Angry birds, Happy Jack

You know, 

sometimes I don't know where the time has gone.

It honestly feels like it was just yesterday 

that the nurse handed me the cutest little fluffy-haired boy.

He came early which brought pure joy to his

very uncomfortable mother.

I had no idea at that time what a breath of life had just joined our family.

But for all he put me through during those "toddler years,"

he has turned into quite a fine young fellow.

And I truly miss that boy when he is gone because he is so full of passion,

spunk, and excitement.

Not to mention he still has a smile that makes me swoon.

Will I ever get over that?

We celebrated in style this year.

Because let's face it.

This guy is worth celebrating!

Brooklyn and Bradley spent hours yesterday preparing some decorations.

And then I lost at least a year of my life staying up way too late decorating.

Because let's be honest,

out of all of my kids,

Jack isn't the one that's gonna let me slide.

Momma's got to bring her game.

Thankfully, we've kept the expectations low.

Streamers.  

"Special" cake.

As long as I've got those, I'm golden.

So after MUCH deliberation,

he decided that he wanted an 

ANGRY BIRDS cake.

Maybe a little weird for a guy who's only played this game a handful of times,

but hey, when the boy decides,

this Mother makes it happen.

Thankfully, he's forgiving when it comes to that "special" cake.

I am clearly an amateur.

We celebrated all day long for this boy.

The guy who is sure that he grew several inches last night...

Should I break it to him that he's probably the size of a boy who just turned 5 rather than 6?

Nah.

There's enough character in there to compensate for that small body.

We sure love this guy.

Being a Mother is an interesting adventure where you often wonder

"Where did this kid come from?!"

That's our Jack.

The guy who has strengths where I am weak,

and who constantly challenges my mothering skills 

by having a brain that is wired completely differently from my own.

But man is he fun to have around.

So, I guess we'll keep him.

STATS

Height:  42 inches
(3rd percentile)

Weight:  43 lbs
(32nd percentile)

Wildlife Part 1

I am allergic to cats.

Because of that, I have been telling Brooklyn that she wouldn't be able to have one.

Which broke her little heart.

And caused her to start making a large collection of yarn balls which were for

"her cats that she would have when she was a grown-up."

Which caused me to envision her as one of those "cat ladies."

You know, the one's with hundreds of cats prowling  inside of a 400 square foot house?"

Yuck.

So, basically I caved and demonstrated stellar parenting techniques
by doing exactly what I said I wouldn't do.
Meet Rosie.

In my one week of experience in being a cat owner, 

I have discovered a couple of things about this little cutie.

A)  This particular cat has (at least so far) an amazing temperament.

I never thought of cats as being the friendliest of pets, but this one has been awesome with the kids.

B)  This poor thing is a survivor.

Life at this household will bring plenty of love,

but not always manifested in the best way.

The poor kitty has endured lots of "toddler handling."

Like being picked up by the tail, carried around by the neck (shudder),

sent down the slide,
and thrown into a bucket full of water.

Poor thing.

But, as I said before, she has survived all of those things and has never scratched or even hissed.

She's doing better than me!

C)  She's no dummy.
She know that when  "Wild Aubrey" comes out to play,
she better take cover under the rose bushes.
D)  She thinks she is Brooklyn's child.
No joke.
Brooklyn carries her around like she's a newborn child,
and then she'll climb up and sit on Brooklyn's shoulder.
And then Brooklyn will nuzzle her little nose into that fur.
Ok barf, seriously, it's just a bit too much for me.
I should mention though, that after a full inspection,
Brooklyn says that Rosie has 6 bellybuttons.
Uh, Brooklyn..........oh, never mind.
Those ARE very nice belly buttons.
E)  Litter boxes are fantastic.
If you don't have kids who like to play in "sand."

And most importantly, a Mother can only stay strong for so long
when she has children who love animals like these kids do.

Yep, we are an All-American Family.
A husband and wife,
2 boys,
2 girls,
one obese dog  (who looks like a bear statue in this picture)
and a kitten named Rosie.
Oh, and a minivan.

Not bad, if you ask me.