The Rain Dance Worked!

I am backtracking a bit with this post, since I am little backlogged.

The week before Bradley's party our well went dry. We discovered that if we shut the pump off for a bit, the pressure would build back up and we would have more water for a bit longer. This tactic got us through until the well company could get to us, once they did, they dropped our well pump 40 feet deeper and we discovered that the water level in the aquifer was right at the level that our pump was currently positioned.

I had never really imagined life without water, but once I was put in the position it was really very intimidating. We do not drink our tap water so we had bottled water, but you cannot wash dishes, do laundry, take showers and the list goes on and on.

During the week of having water inconsistently, we had some rain! We were SO thankful for the rain, since it had been so dry, so in celebration I let the boys go out and play in the rain! They had fun and we sat out of the porch and watched the rain for a while.

 

 

 

 Bradley was little more excited about actually being in the rain than Jaxson was...

 

(Ironically, as I type this post, my mom is in trapped in her house in the thick of Hurricane Isaac with water ankle deep in her house and neighbors with water waist deep. They have had more water in the south this summer than they know what to do with...)



Bradley Turns 4

Come explore our curious Bradley is turning four is what was on the Curious George themed invitations and that they did.

It was another busy birthday party at our house with about 50 people in attendance. They started off by painting the driveway with sidewalk chalk paint and each child got a small container of ingredients to make their own when they got home.

 

 

We also had a bounce house.

 

 

For the main entree, we had burgers, brauts, hot dogs (for the kiddos), hawg wings and chicken skewers. I hope there was something for everyone.

 

 

Aunt Lorna did a fabulous job again this year with Bradley's cake. He loved it when everyone sang to him!

 

 

Hoping to add more to this post once I get picture from my official blog photographer, Aunt Deb.

 

 

 

The Newest Member of Our Family...

Since I long to have another child and my cardiologists have decided it is not in my best interest to do so, maybe a puppy will halp fill this void inside of me. Maybe a puppy will help me remember how busy a little baby keeps me.
Some of our friends had some lab puppies that they were looking for homes for and we went to visit them and I fell in love with them.
My dog, Dakota, that I found when I was 18 is in poor health. We found out that she had cancer back in March and is still in great spriits, but does not get around so well these days. She is the best dog and has been so incredibly loyal and protective to me throughout her years.

So I was hoping that we could get a puppy and Dakota could "condition" him and teach him how to be just as loyal and protective. I am not so sure this is going to work, but just maybe he will watch and learn.

Isn't he cute? After discussions about names and Bradley claiming that all of Dan's suggestions were horrible, we came to the conclusion that his name would be Truck.

So far he is a great dog and seems to love the kids, now all we need to do is get him housebroke !

Where else would you eat Sirloin Tips, Milkshake, smoked lamb, cheese nuggets and an elephant ear?

That's right, we went to the State Fair !

The boys had never been to the state fair, Dan doesn't remember ever going and I hadn't been since I was in high school. I had always been there while in the role of a livestock exhibitor so it was a little bit different going as an ordinary citizen.

The night before Bradley and I sat down and looked through the State Fair Program and we talked about things that he wanted to try to do while we were there. One thing he really wanted to do was watch the SuperDogs Show and he wanted to watch the Super Pull, but it was on a different night.

Friday, we left around lunch time and headed to Indy. We went to see the SuperDogs show, which the boys absolutely loved. We ate lunch before we left our house and then we ate all the way through the State Fair and it was all good. We went to see some friends and some family that were exhibiting livestock, walked through several of the farm and machinery displays, played beango (courtesy of the soybean foundation), ate some more and finally hit the Midway for a little bit.

Bradley at the Beango exhibit.



Jaxson is not a fan of the rides so he went fishing instead.

Guess who is flying in a big bumblebee in their yellow shirts??

We were exhausted by the time we loaded up to go home!



My Challenge to Myself... Bathtub Crayons? (It was a flop.)

My goal was to blog about the weekly activities I did with the boys. My goal was not necessarily to have successful activities.

We attempted bathtub crayons, but they are more like soap shapes and they are  still not dry, five days later! I got this activity from googling and reading another crafty mom's blog and all the comments were so positive, so I thought it was a no brainer.

We got out all of the supplies; Ivory Soap, grater, soap dye, measuring cup, a candy mold and water.

Then we began grating the soap, I think it should have been more finely grated, perhaps that was one of our many errors.

We grated two bars and then added about a third cup of water and began to stir...

and stir...

Then we separated it into different containers so that we could add dye to create the crayon colors. Next, we pressed it into the molds.

We mixed in more colors and tried to press some out with cookie cutters.

So after all this, I put it in the freezer for a bit and let the stuff solidify a little bit. Then I pulled them out and set them on the counter to dry and 5 days later they are still pretty pliable.

I am game for trying this activity again in a few weeks, any tips on what to do differently would be appreciated...



In My Next Thirty Years...

Tuesday, I celebrated my 30th birthday at Pepe's with some of the girls that I am closest to and Monday night Dan threw a surprise party for me and invited some family. He also got me the most fabulous cake, leave it to him to find a good cake, I really think he is a connoisseur of cakes.

So in my next thirty years...
(Just my Top 10)

1. I want to have some fun.

2. Eat a few more salads. (Of course, had to include some lines from the song.)

3. Watch my kids grow and raise them to be productive members of society.
4.Become more well read. (Even if sometimes it is cheap trashy novels)
5.Grow old with and more in love with my husband everyday.
6.See more of the United States and leave the country a few times.
7. Expect to see life come full circle as loved ones are lost and new ones are gained.
8. Continue to blog about my family, so that our lives will be documented for our future generation.
9. Eventually, continue to follow my career path, somewhere in the field of education.
10. Make the best of each and everyday and find the positive aspects of each moment.

My phenomenal cake!

My surprise party; Dan's Mom, "Aunt" Cathy, Dorothy, Grandpa Felix, "Uncle" Craig. Those not pictured; Dad, Kristi, Arielle, her boyfriend Tyler, and Gary.
Thank you to all of them for helping me celebrate.

My "big rock" that Dan go me for my birthday. It's actually a landscaping rock! Ha!

My birthday dinner with the girls at Pepe's, thank you for coming Kristen, Amanda, Lorna, Dana, Valerie, and Ashley. Thanks to Amanda for that extra showy balloon that I almost popped in ceiling fan on the way out and for the decorations. Thanks to Kristen and Val for helping me drop off and pick-up the boys and getting me home.

Ringing in 30 in style!

My Challenge to Myself... Cardboard Towns - Bradley Town and Jaxsonville

For today, I actually had another activity planned to do while daddy was sleeping, but after having some other unexpected events occur, the teacher in me was flexible and quickly came up with an alternative and less complicated activity.

I feel like we watch way too much TV in this house, I have been trying to shut it off around 9:30am and leave it off until well after nap time is over. Some days are easier than others, it just depends on how many things I have on my to do list and if Jaxson is cranky. So this is an activity that we will continue to work on and add to in days to come.

So in the end we had some large sheets of cardboard that we taped together and then made roads and houses so the matchbox cars could have their own towns. We have the rug with roads and the plastic mat that you can lay out for the cars, but this was more fun since it could be personalized. Bradley drew his house and driveway, put a tractor store in the town, and he drew all his grandparents' houses. We talked about how cool it would be if they actually all were in the same town. His town had roads, parking lots, and of course it had to be a town in Indiana because it had a corn field. Jaxsonville had a road that I drew and some crayon scribbles.

Jax is sitting on his town, apparently Bradley's is better.

 

I think that Jaxson left his car in the cornfield, yikes what am I in for?

In the days to come I think we will add some 3-D elements to this town and elaborate on it more.

Up next week... Bath Tub Crayons! (At least that's the plan...)