Bradley is 6!

On the 19th of February Bradley turned another year older and more brilliant of all the things that make him so unique and meaningful in this world.  You can’t limit this kid to just one hand anymore.  Nope, he is six!! Count the fingers, 1, 2 3, 4, 5 (next hand), SIX! I can barely believe it and want my baby to slow down.  He however loves getting older in hopes that one day he wont have to listen to his parents.  Let me know if you ever figure that one out buddy! I still have to listen to mine :)

On Tuesday morning he woke up with the house decorated in honor of him.

He got to open a gift before school.  He got some new cool clothes.

Once he was at school we celebrated there too. Mrs. Wilson had him pick six of his friends and classmates to be his ‘candles.’ They sung him Happy Birthday and then he went down the row and blew out all his Birthday candles.  Hopefully he made a wish and had good breath!

 

After that Bradley and I passed out the cake pops we made for his class. He chose strawberry cake with green chocolate icing and lots of sprinkles.  This was his second choice after I told him I was not going to attempt decorating each one into a tiger.

 

His friends enjoying their treats.  Jordan and Stella

Patrick and Presley.

I came at snack time in the afternoon.  Since I did not make it there for lunch as I was still making the cake pops I traded his snack I had packed for some chic-fil-a nuggets.  He was thankfully surprised.

After school we did his homework quickly and had Sophia, Chase, Liz and Celia over for pizza and cupcakes.  He requested Ledo’s for that.  Smart boy!

 

  

hmmmm, what should I wish for?!

 

The cupcakes with worms on them were a hit!

 

Our Birthday Boy! We love him eleventy billion trillion as Daddy would say!

Bradley was pretty modest this year when it came to asking for a birthday gift.  He never really told us what he wanted.  There were a few bigger things we knew he would appreciate but we just don’t have all the space and land for the things he wants.  Maybe a real bow and arrow and battery charged real dirt bike can come later.  So, we ended up getting him some toy

snakes and darts to refill his guns. After school and before his party he wanted to open this one gift.  I said “you can open it but it’s not much so don’t be expecting something cool,” once he opened it he was so excited because he is so so so into learning about snakes right now.  He said to me “Mom, why did you tell me this gift wouldn’t be cool?  It is cool! I love these snakes and now I have new darts for all my guns I love.” It made my heart smile and melt all at the same time to hear his thankful and humble heart.  He is a great kid but lets be honest, he is still a kid and moments like these are refreshing in the midst of raising children!

 

The last little impromptu gift he opened from us was a little microphone stand.  I just figured why not since the boys have nothing of the sort. Also they have been into singing some of the top songs. It was a big hit right away.  We got a grand performance and since then Brad and I have been hearing ‘this girl is on FIIIIIRRRREEE’ and ‘Here’s my number so call me maybe.’ They are onto us but we hope to catch it on video soon.

 

 

 

These two always find time to have a relaxing moment together away from their brothers. 

It was a wonderful day of celebrating our Bradley bear.  Going from five to six he has grown leaps and bounds. 

We can’t wait to see what this year has in store for you Bradley!

Birthday Cousins

On the Saturday before Bradley’s birthday we went to Charlotte for Jackson’s Birthday party.  My mom got to our house on Friday night and on Saturday after snow, a change of plans, a movie out with Bradley and my mom we were finally on the road to Charlotte.

We were going to all go including Brad on Sunday because he and I had a deployment send off party to go to Saturday night but it was cancelled because of the snow and rescheduled for Sunday.  The same time Jacksons party was.  Brad stayed back to be with his buddies one last time before they deployed and we trucked forward in the snow to get there Saturday evening.  The roads got a little dicey for a bit because in some towns it was sticking.  Joanie is always the best hostess and she had yummy chili waiting for us when we got there. I completely forgot to pack my camera so I have my phone ones and some from Jen. Andrew and Jen drove down from Maryland to celebrate the birthday boys too!

    

It snowed really good at Nathan and Joanie’s but we had no clue to plan for it so the kids had no snow gear.  We ended up just waiting around and hanging out Sunday morning before Jacksons big party at the sports complex.

 

Jackson played football and basketball with all his 10 year old friends.  Luckily they had bounce houses , tons of them, for our kids to do since these games were too much for them to keep up with. 

We had a cake for Bradley at the party and sang to him.  I can’t believe my nephew is 10 and my biggest boy is 6!

We had so much fun and all of these cousins are looking at the camera and smiling.  That right there is a picture of success!!

We had to drive home Sunday night around 7.  I went to go pick Brad up at 10 at night from our friends house that he was at.  I showed up in pajamas thinking he was just waiting for me but they were all still up and partying. I ended up being conned into almost 3 hours of dance party.  We even got the guys to do a dance (or two)! Shhhh, don’t tell them we have proof! By the time we got home being exhausted was an understatement.

 

Dancing our hearts out with Becky, Stacey, Luke, Brian, Mike and Tori.

It would have been nice if Monday was a recuperate day but I had to prep for Bradley’s big 6 year old day the very next day!!

Loving One Another

 

February is normally a busy month for us and the week that holds the 12th and 14th kicks it off. This month we celebrated an 8th wedding anniversary and Valentines day.  Since Brad and I have our anniversary two days before Valentines day we normally only do one celebration and do not make a big fuss over the ‘love day.’ I normally just make it special for the boys from me and hopefully as they get older they can be a little extra thoughtful towards me on this day.  I remember getting flowers and chocolates sent to me at school or work from my dad growing up so I do find it sentimental. I want to teach the boys to be romantic men that are guys guys all at the same time.  Yes, I believe the two can exist together.

I have this verse on my fridge I have been really trying to focus on lately.  As Valentines Day approached and normally we can get annoyed with this holiday as a cheesy Hallmark ploy, I thought this verse made it a good reason to emphasize this love day.  There definitely is a Godly and spiritual way to love so why not embrace the holiday and throw some Jesus reasoning into it.

1 Peter 4:8-11 says, “Most of all, LOVE ONE ANOTHER as if your life depended on it.  Love makes up for practically anything.  Be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the homeless- cheerfully.  Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it; if words, let it be Gods words; If helps, let it be God’s hearty help.  That way, God’s bright presence will be evident in everything through Jesus, and he’ll get all the credit as the one mighty in everything – encores to the end of time. Oh, yes!”

This verse has really opened me up a bit when at times it may seem easier to be all the other things that are definitely NOT  love.  Whether it be something big or small that anyone did or did not do to me or for me. Really all I want or anyone else wants is simple.  To be LOVED. To be CARED about.  When you don’t feel these things than you don’t feel good so I try to put myself in others shoes and make sure I am doing my part to make them feel these two things and that starts with my family.  This is why this verse adorns my fridge :) Love makes up for practically anything!  It is so true because when I choose to love people in spite of things I forget what those ‘in spites’ even are most of the time.  If we give love it can make up for things that other people are going through and if we receive love we can feel its power making up for our hurts we hold.  God is good and healing so I definitely loved this new reason to celebrate Valentines Day.  When we focus on agape love (God given love through us) rather than Hallmark love it is, well, lovely!

Onto our Anniversary….

15 years we have loved one another

2 months engaged

8 years married

And three blessings made!

I love you Brad Woodward!

Liz and her mom watched the boys for us so we could go out to dinner to celebrate.  We really are going to have to think of something big for 10 years.  I say that but we shall see!

They had lots of fun too…..

 

Two short days later was Valentines day and the boys celebrated with parties at school.

The boys valentines to girls as school.

Gavin’s for the boys.  I don't know why but it always bugs me when boys give boys lovey dovey saying cards to boys.  So, I distinguish between the two and this year both the boys have little crushes so I wanted to let them have “Be my Valentine” cards for the girls. 

Valentines treat from me. I wrote them each a love note on the heart and they got worms and a sticky spider.

Bradley looking at all the cards from his classmates.

Heartbreaker over here! This was a perfect Valentines shirt.  Thanks Aunt Wiz.

Testing his spider that crawls down the wall. Since then these are all practically not sticky or in the trash.  Boys are so destructive and rough.  All the more reason to teach them to be loving and romantic.

My wee Valentines.  I heart these three so much.

 

My funny Valentine.

 

The house was quiet for a second and Brad and I snuggled together.

Later that night since Brad and I had already been out and Mike was away, Liz and I had a girls date.  We saw Les Miserable's and it was breathtaking and beautiful.  We went to a neat little local theatre.  We had some wine and popcorn and just sat and watched.  Always a welcomed combination and throw your bestie in there with no kids and its even better.

That is about it.  Another great, fun and tiring week we had filled with LOVE!

Bradley lost his 1st tooth!!

The day after we got back from our weekend trip, Monday night, Bradley lost his first tooth.  I knew this tooth had been hanging on by a thread and he wanted us to pull it out that night anyways.  It was dinner time and he had apple slices on his plate with anticipation of this thing coming out.  He had been eating some apples and I noticed he was eating off to the side of his tooth.  I told him to bite right into the apple with his loose tooth.  As soon as I said that and saw him chewing I noticed the tooth was GONE!! I said “Bradley, OH NO, I don’t see it anymore, I think you swallowed it!!” I did completely what a mom should not do and freaked and it made him start crying.  Then I started crying because it was my idea for him to eat the apple and he accidentally swallowed it.  I was thinking to myself that I ruined his entire first tooth experience.  Luckily, cool and calm collected Daddy in his polite way scolded me for getting Bradley all upset and then he fixed it.  He said “ It’s OK buddy, the tooth fairy will still come tonight and leave you money.  You will also have many more teeth to fall out and put on your pillow again. About five minutes later after things were calmer and we were eating dinner I said “I am so sorry buddy, I wish I would have warned you to try and not swallow it and look out for it.  If only I would have said something sooner.  Are you SURE you didn’t feel it come out?” Then he says, “Well, I did spit some apples out in the trash because I felt something hard!” I jumped up and ran to the trash and it was right there in his chewed up apple.  Phew!! I never even saw him get up and spit apples out.  I imagine I was distracted or busy in the kitchen. I didn’t know what to happened and he didn't know what happened but when we talked it out, we figured it out! I was so thankful for our discovery we stumbled upon.  His tooth was discovers, the tears were gone and after bed the tooth fairy came! Now, if only we could find that missing tooth fairy pillow just like we found the tooth.  I don’t know how some things just grow legs and walk off?!

 

We are so excited for him.  The tooth fairy brought him $2 dollars for this being his first tooth.  One bill and 4 quarters.  He requested both forms of money at different times before, saying how it would be neat to get coins and cash! That night he had a million questions about the tooth fairy.  How would she get in?  Will she still come if Gavin is in my room? All extremely adorable because he was so excited.  He finally went to sleep and the next morning at 6 am he ran into our room and said “ Mom, the tooth fairy left me so much money! One dollar and four quarters!” Later that day after school he was still giddy over the whole thing.  He got to write his name on the board in class for the kids who have lost their teeth.  He said to me randomly after school “Can you believe it that the tooth fairy came and left me money for my tooth?!!!” grinning from ear to ear.  I said “I know buddy, it is so cool isn’t it.  I believe it!”