Happy Birthday Bradley!!!

Ok he's had kind of a prolonged Birthday.. he's such a big guy he got to pick out all his presants.. he kept changing his mind between a Compound Bow, a Bike, or video games and mp3 player...so the final verdict was.. Video Games and an mp3 player...he had his Birthday dinner tonight he chose Ribs, corn on the cob and baked beans.. he also didn't want a regular birthday cake so he chose a Boston Cream Cake.. it was yummy!!! Tomorrow bright and early Ben and he get to go to 11 year old boy scout camp overnighter (his first, he's VERY excited!) then next week he gets to take a couple of friends to see a movie...
i can't believe he's 11.. but i'm so lucky to be his mom!!!
ta ta

this is a FIRST for me!!!

Ok for almost 13 years i have always had the "old car" or when we are looking for a new (new to us) car it is so Ben has reliable transportation to work.. well today Ben got ME MY OWN NEW CAR!!! i say Ben got it for me instead of WE bought it because it has been HIM who has really pushed me to understand that My Suburban really was on it's last leg and that it was not only un-comfortable but beginning to be un-safe for all of us to drive in... As much as i HATE a car payment the money we will save in gas and the monthly up-keep will almost make up for it... it is a Kia Rondo, never heard of it.. neither had we until we got heavy into researching a new car.. what sold me was it has a hidden 3rd row seat so we actually only are loosing 1 seat from the suburban (and the 3rd row can actually squeeze a tiny butt in the middle so its not actually any loss.. NEAT HUA!)..
i could hardly sleep last night thinking it all over.. we made the deal on Sat but had to wait until today to pick it up becausae they only had a red one in stock and our Credit Union is closed on weekends.. (my Dad's words of RED car's bring speeding tickets still rings in my ear!) so my only adjustment, i have to remember i'm not the biggest thing on the road anymore... it's alittle bit of an attitude adjustment.. but i'll manage...
i love it!!!
ta ta

Brad's graduated from Elementary school... will his mother survive???

Well we finally got to the last day of school yesterday... they had lots of 5th grade festivities and fun stuff.. Brad's Teacher really has been just the best thing for him. He has made such great friends this year and i'm sure he'll do great in Middle School next year...

the 5th grade did a musical this year and their "theme" was Elementary school musical, taken from the high school musical craze and "there song" was "were all in this together" with some parts kind of switched around/changed to suite their Bradford Elementary spirit..

here is the utube video of them singing there song for the last time at school

it's been kind of emotional for me and i don't know why.. he's growing up so fast i just want to put a brick on his head.. he is definitely on his way to being a teenager (insert mom freak out here)... he's pretty sure his mom knows ABSOLUTELY NOTHING and how she got to be an adult he's not sure... we had our first absolute MELT DOWN regarding clothing the night of the 5th grade graduation... he was told he needed to wear a collard shirt and long pants, he insisted he wasn't going to wear a tie which i said was fine but because he didn't tell me until 20 minutes before we had to leave about the dress he had to wear a long sleeved shirt (church shirt) which i said the sleves could be rolled up.. he wanted to wear a ratty polo shirt which i vetoed immediately... after he ranted and cried etc.. he put on the shirt, i rolled up the sleeves and then he said "if your going to make me wear this shirt then i might as well wear the tie!" i said fine, we get there and pretty much every kid is in a nice shirt and tie! I'll never claim KayLea is the drama kid EVER AGAIN! but it just goes to show it's starting to really FEEL the pressure of not wanting to stick out or do anything that anyone will think is weird or stupid etc.. (it's SCARY for sure, the peer pressure stuff!)

Brad and his best friend Mackie

as if our Wednesday wasn't busy enough with last day of school Brad bridged from Cub Scouts to Boy scouts last night... he has worked very hard to get every rank and he got the highest honor cub scouts has Arrow of Light.. i was very proud of him!

the above pictures are of Brad getting his new boy scout neckerchief by his new boy scout leader.. the 2nd is of him with his Cub Scout leader and his boy scout leader holding this thing i made for him to hang from his Arrow that he received.. it has all of his cub scout awards on it he can hang it up in his room to remember all his hard work... (yes i made it, i know I'm setting quite a president for Hunter but luckily i only have 2 boys, i have a friend who has 5!).. you can click on the picture to see a bigger view..

anyway that's all for today, we have our first play off game tonight for baseball.. i have total mixed feelings because once you loose it's over.. part of me wants it to be over so we can re-claim our lives from baseball.. then there is kind of a little part of me that thinks the boys would get a kick out of making it as far as they can (which is very Unclear how "far" this goes!)

ta ta

KayLea's Trophy

she's quite proud of the little thing.. i'm also posting a pic of her "trading card" we got them today... with her "pretty in pink" baseball glove... all girly all the time! i'll be sending some pic's to the Grandparents as soon as i get the boys in (hopefully this week)...

anyway all for today..
ta ta

Happy Father's Day!!!
well today ended up being a busy one... Yesturday KayLea had her last T-ball game it was so fun and so sweet, when they were passing out all the trophies she shouted "MY FIRST TROPHIE!!" it was very cute.. she was cuttling it like one of her baby dolls and as i'm typing this i can't remember when the last time i saw it was... will have to remember in the morning to keep an eye out for it... then later in the afternoon the boys had their last regular season baseball game.. it was a nail biter forsure.. never thought my stomach would get tied in knots over little league.. our little team was in first place and yesturday's game we were minus several boys due to a big hockey tournament that some of the boys play in... they were ahead by 2 runs then the other team got up to bad the only thing they had to do is not let a run go and they wouldn't even have to get up to bat they would automatically win.. will they got 4 runs... then our team came to bat and we were almost half way through the batting line up which means our weaker players (hunter included in that group) were up to bat... they pulled through and got 2 runs so they tied (they don't do overtime for regular season games).. anyway and we found out today that the other team just below us lost so we are still in first place...
anyway that whole ramble was to show my excuse of why i was so exhausted last night and i was suppose to make a cheese cake for Father's Day (one of Ben's favorites) so i figured i'd go to bed early and wake up extra early make the cheese cake and then breakfast for him in bed etc.. well i overslept and ended up rushing like crazy getting everything situated.. so we brought him his breakfast (waffles) and said eat up quick we have to get ready for church!!! thats the only down fall to early church (9am) we have to be out of the house by 8 to make it on time... doesnt leave allot of time for father's day breakfasts etc.. and the kids were singing for father's day so we had to be ontime!..
anyway it was a good day, we gave Ben his presant (Serius satellite radio for his car.. he's been longing for it for some time and i found one really cheep in the clearance isle at walmart.. go me!) and we had bbq and mashpotatoes w/ carriots mashed with them (something his mom did when he was a kid.. the kids actually loved them..)... anyway then Ben hit the hay he has to be at work early tomorrow..
and i almost forgot HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD!!! i tried to call but alas he is a globe trotter and he's in Switzerland for business meetings...
anyway i'll post pic's tomorrow of KayLea and her trophie i'm exhausted and it's way past my bedtime...
ta ta

ok i've been slacking..it's taken me way too long to post this...
Last friday i went with the 3rd grade on a 2hour bus ride (each way)to Rocky shores state park up on the gulf of Main (did U know there was such a thing, i didn't!) it's basically like the Gulf of Mexico, or Pugit sound, still the ocean (Atlantic) but with lots and lots of tide pools.. the kids got to see a few lobsters, tons of crab and lots of other little sea creature.. it's amazing how different the stuff is from the Pacific.. we'd go to the tide pools with Aunt Sandy allot when we were little (long before she had kids so she was the "FUN" aunt who would put up with us way too long)... anyway even the same stuff looked quite different. We had such a great time, the weather was PERFECT!! not too hot not too cold, the only issue i had with it all is if you notice in the first few pictures the rocks were covered completely with this very slimy VERY slippery sea weed... we all took quite a few tumbled and were so sore the next day.. my legs looked like someone had come and hit me all over...

above pic's: Hunter and Hunter with our "group" on the hunt for sea creatures.. and then Hunter being brave and holding quite a big crab (one of the biggest we saw in the pools) he actually got stuck by this bad boy but he was quite the big guy and didn't fuss too much..
all in all it was a very fun day and i know i need to enjoy these while they last!!!
ta ta

HUNTER!!
Well, Hunter has been busy the last week or so... tuesday night he had a concert of which i posted a youtube video clip of the 3rd grade singing (yes thats ALL of the 3rd grade in his school.. small hua!)
and today he finished (just in the nick of time!) his native american dwelling project, he chose to make an adobe and of coarse i couldn't just go buy clay i had to see if i could make it (I know you'd think i'd have learned by now!).. it might have been better if it had a week or so to dry but it turned out ok, i just couldn't get the clay to stick to the cardboard under it so i spent about an hour last night hot gluing it where it was coming apart.. (can't say this is what i drempt of when i was thinking of having kids!).. i could rant and rant about weather or not these projects really teach the kids something or just show how crafty their parents are but i have to say Hunter did the majority of the work on this one so i guess it acheved the desired effect..
anyway i think i also decided i have busy kids.. last night we rushed to baseball practice then directly from there to Cub Scouts meaning Hunter couldn't finish his math homework or finish the latters on his project so we woke up very early this morning so he could finish which he did in plenty of time but now i'm exhausted (of coarse i stayed up last night so his project would be ready for the final step this morning) hope Hunter is not falling asleep.. i know i am.. anyway tomorrow i go with him and the 3rd grade to Rocky Shores it's the ocean tide pools.. he can't wait and if i get to bed early (and maybe even a nap) i'll be excited about it too...

Check out KayLea today at her game.. hope this works!