Backyard Fun!

 

        Our Latest Addition to our backyard. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for the wonderful idea our kids have not stopped asking for a swingset. When we go to the store a see a swingset, John would say,"There's a swingset, we can buy that one!" Ashley would say, "If we are good, we can get a swingset!" and Hannah would tell other people, "We don't have a swingset yet!"

      The kids absolutely love their swingset, the girls were super excited to come downstairs this morning to see pieces being put together in the living room.  The down side to the parks around here is that there are no teeter-tooters to Ashleys dismay and no swings at Hannah's request.  So now we have our own little mini park. It fits perfectly where the pool used to be, so we didnt have to bring in any sand.

 

OOOOO soooo much fun!

 

Yes I am still missing my tooth, but I can still have fun!

 

Teeter totters are the best! downside is you need two, luckily there are three of them.

John loves the slide!

Photographer in Training!

Photography must be in our blood.  These are some pictures I found on my card while downloading pictures to my computer.  Ashley and Hannah took these with my Nikon dslr.  I say they are pretty good, for me never showing them how to use it, let alone focus the images. Thats why I say it must be in our blood.

Apparently the couch was too boring, so they exxperimented with the measuring spoon.

What silly little kids!

A Mouse in our Family!

A mouse in our Family!


Yes, we have mice, well actually one. His name is John Jr, and he is our little mouse. I know sometimes we eat dinner early and today dinner was quite ready by 4:30 and this is what happens when you are upstairs helping your husband get ready for work just for a moment.

To me the pictures just don't seem to do it justice. Out of 12 buns that were bought just 2 hours earlier, yes that's the funny part, I only managed to save 4. I guess he just thought well mom's not making dinner right now, I'm hungry, I can climb, there food lets go for it. An inpatient little boy, must be a Bradshaw.

October fun!

Boy was October a busy month.  Since we moved into our House and the holidays are finally here, it is really fun to decorate and make fun crafts with the kids: the kind that don't break, so here's a list of what we made:

• Pumpkin bats
• Pumkins Rolls
• A table cloth
• Bat-Ghosts for the Chairs
• A witch pumpkin for Outside
• 3 kids costumes

Some of the crafts Lasted long enough to take a picture and some didn't make it. But the process was loads of fun!

• Pumpkin bats: These made it, but they were mush even before Halloween hit, which was funny cause we had to use a hammer and pliers in order to get the wings in the pumpkin.  They were as hard as a rock to begin with.  The girls painted them all by themselves, which I was very proud of.

This one was Ashley's Bat and as you can tell it went to mush the fastest.

This one was Hannah's.

And finally this one was John's, hence the baby fangs.
• Pumkins Rolls: I thought these were a great decoration cause the kids loved to play with them and they were pretty much indestructable.  I just took some fabric and wrapped them around toilet paper, added a stem and a leaf and they were done.

• A table cloth: this one ended up in the laudry after the girls drug it around our house like a blanket, however it did last about 3 weeks on the table.
• Bat-Ghosts for the Chairs: these were fun for the kids especially John.  We took felt and made ghosts and bats and put them on pillowcases that went on our dining chairs.  The Instructions siad to use repositionable spray on glue.  Bad idea for those with kids.  John would take off the bats and the eyes and hide them somewhere cause I can only find a few bats at present. It wouldn't be so bad if they just got repositioned but he felt the need to take them off and hide them. They are most likely in a toy bucket now.  He had fun doing it though.  So alas, no pictures.
• A witch pumpkin for Outside: This was a cute idea I found and copied from a magazine, however somewhere alsong the way the Witch hat either blew away or misteriously disappeared.

• 3 kids costumes: This year I was faced this the dilema of making versus buying costumes: and the decision was to make them.  I started a little late this year but they were done on time, so that's all that matters.  I had saved up 5 coupons and decided to check out Joanns and see what I could find.  It's always a little scarry getting fabric cut  cause you never really know what your going to spend.  I always end up overspending, but this year was our year.  I only spent $15 for the fabric for all three costumes which was quite unexpected. They were all pretty simple to sew with the exception of Ashley's chef hate.  I think I spent an hour looking at the fabric and the instructions trying to figure out how to put in together, But other than that no major dimemas. It was a lot of fun to sew them and the kids thought they were great.  Hannah's was the cowgirl, John was a doctor and Ashley was a chef.  I tailored their costumes to their personalities.  Hannah really loves horses! and Ashley loves to help me cook!  John ended up as the doctor just because. 

A Sad Tale of Our Swimmingpool!

          Now that summer has come to an end, it would be fitting to share some pictures, because I am a procrasinator.  It began when I was in school and college and has contuined on into motherhood.  So sorry for all who follow our blog, I have intentions of posting photos, it usually comes a few months after the intitial thought of, "that would be fun to put on our blog".  My excuses is,"I have 3 kids all under the age of 5" and I'm sticking to it.

          So back to our sad story.  We moved out to Buckeye and finally have a backyard, unfinished but still a backyard.  We got the girls a swimmingpool and they have loved it.  The sad story is that it only lasted a month.  I had been researching online for larger inset inflatable pools and reading other people's reviews.  I found one review that said a cat had popped their pool with its claws.  About a week later, their pool met its fate.  We got up one morning and it was completly deflated.  I grew up with cats, but at this moment, I do not care for them. So no more inflatable pools, we will have to either dig a big hole in the gound or save up for an above ground metal framed pool.

          The good thing is that I was able to get some pictures before it was destroyed by a pesky cat. Sorry, but no pictures of John jr. He loves taking a bath, but he hated the pool and wanted nothing to do with it.

Ashley loved the mermaid we got her and Hannah is in the backround ready to prounce and spray water !

They had a blast while it lasted.

Portraits


This summer we finally had our family pictures updated thanks to Grandpa.  The last family portrait was when I was pregnant with John Jr. It was quite the adventure getting everyone to sit still and smile.  Despite having several wingle worms, Grandpa was able to produce some awesome pictures.  We even had some individual portraits of our kids done.  The girls were pretty much done with taking pictures and got lucky with what we got.  John surprised us and was really good at getting his picture taken.  He is such a fun little boy!





Our Growing Family of 5!

 

Ashley



Hannah

John Jr.



 

John Jr.



John Jr.

 



John and I













The Latest News from the Bradshaw's

I do not normally like to bring family drama out into the public, however my sister has forced the issue by posting on her site.  Here is the post from her site:

Despite our best efforts we were shunned for doing good deeds, and misunderstood for the intentions of our hearts, we were shut out for doing that which was right, we were rejected for loving. And despite our best efforts we realize life must go on and good will prevail and justice be sought for the wrongs done here this day, and carry on we must, because life goes on. We must endure to the end all trails whether unjust or harsh. whether wrong or unfair. And all this for the purpose of life. To learn from the lessons we came here to be taught. Though my heart is broken I must go on and try harder even if I know I will fail in the end. Even if all my efforts are wasted I will not give up, I must keep trying.I must have hope, for without hope there is only despair. And with despair comes the end. with that end there is only bitterness and hate, and I will not, cannot let myself come to such a sad place. carry on sad heart, for there will come a day when everything is right again, and I shall rejoice because it is then I shall be reunited with the ones i hold dear.

http://laurecluff.blogspot.com/2010/08/hope-for-day.html

My thoughts on this post:

I would like to clarify this post for those readers who may be confused.This post is reguarding the way my sister views my marriage to my husband.She has had a history of mental problems and has a hard time telling fantasy from reality.She thinks that I am mentally and emotionally abused and has sought to tell others this fabrication of her mind.She has told me that I am being controlled and I cannot stand on my own two feet.I would like to correct Laure and let all family that reads this blog know that in no way, shape or form am I abused in my marriage.John lets me do as I will, buy things as I would like and assocaite freely with whom I would like.John builds me up everyday and tells me how wonderful I am, how pretty I am and how capable I am.I am very happy in my marriage!! and in no way am controlled by my husband. I find this post quite interesting due to the fact that she had called just a few months ago and apologized for giving false information to my family reguarding my relationship.She said she did this to take the negative attention she was getting off of her.Through investigation I have found she has been feeding information to my parents, without my knowledge, since we have been married so as to drive a rift between us to take the pressure off of herself.Aparently, since the trip to Utah, things have changed and she has continued to perpetuate these lies. I am a very private person.I do not discuss my relationship with family.Since my sister has moved to Oklahoma, I have only seen her on short visits.I believe she has twisted the content of these visits to fit her defintion of abuse and to validate her claims.I do not normally put private information on blogs. If anyone has any concerns please call I would love to hear from you.

I had posted the above comment hoping to set things aright.. alas it was deleted, well I am now reposting it on my site.

To my sister Laure: no I do not hate you, but what you are doing is wrong and I have never attacked you or your husband or spoken ill of your marriage...Please stop doing it to me.

Our new Home

Yes , we finally moved into a house.  I'm sure many were wondering, How many kids and how much furniture can you fit into a 2 bedroom apartment.  The anwser is 3 kids, a living room set of 3 couches and way too much stuff.  I will tell you, buying a house was quite the process, after trying for three different properties, we callled it quits and decided to go and buy a new home.  Once we did that it was so mcu smoother, no greedy banks and pesky real estate agents thinking oh.. you can go for $10,000 more.  I know they were thinking ... It's not my money, no skin off my back and I get a bigger commission.  No offense to those real estate agents out there that are honest and nice, we just ran into some bad luck with real estate agents.

So we bought a spec home in buckeye, az.  Once we picked a house and a mortgage broker, we were signed and moved in within 2 1/2 weeks.  It went so quick I couldn't believe it. So we bought a 2 story, 3/2 with a loft and a very open kitchen.  There is so much space were still not sure what to do with it all.  The good thing about cramming so much furniture into a tiny apartment is that we didn't need to buy any when we moved in, with the exception of a refridgerator.

Within the first week, we started to hear the ice cream man in our neighborhood.  That was a first for us, so bought each of the kids a looney tunes ice cream: ashley got bugs bunny, hannah got tweety bird and John got sponge bob.  I also thought it was a nice way to take a picture of our house.  I took one all by itself, but it looked so lonely.  A home definetly needs a family and kids to complete it, so here it is:

Easter and Birthdays!

                      Easter was filled with Easter Baskets, pictures by Grandpa and Easter egg hunts.  John's family always has an Easter egg hunt for all of the grandkids in their backyard.  It's fun to watch them and see how inpatient they get why they wait for the eggs to be hidden.

When I was pregnant with Hannah, I thought nobody wants to be in the hospital or have a birthday on easter, so I was induced early.  Well low and behold, guess who's birthday landed on Easter this year, you guessed it, Hannah.  She loves horses to death and can even mimmick their sounds to the T.  Whenever she see's one while driving, on tv or in a book she says "Bri....neiggghhhh" (okay so my spelling dooesn't do it justice, but you get the point). So she asked for a Horses for her birthday cake.  Luckily she has asked for a real one yet.

This picture is for you "joe".  Last year, Hannah got her face planted in her cake.  Since no-one in particular planted her face in the cake this year, she decided to do it herself and thought it was so much fun!

Hannah loves her new horse and her princess!

 Poor John, He had to spend his 1st birthday surrounded by boxes. This is what it looks like when you've lived in a 2 bedroom apt for 3 years, decide it's time to expand and have no where to stack boxes.

                This is one of John's favorite games, "peek a boo".  The girls didn't get into it that much, but John loves it and now plays it on our stairs. Only now he runs away and wants you to chase him.

Back to blogging !

Okay! So I am back to blogging after a bit of a break. However, it was a valid one at that. We decided to take a leap and buy a house. I love our new house, but boy do I hate moving. It is fun to have twice the space but it is a pain in the rear to pack, move and then find you don't know where anything is once you get there. I couldn't decide what photos to post so I figured I'd just start by updating our Easter pics and go from there. I guess the photographer in me has a hard time deciding what to share and what not to share, so why not just share it all. Hope you all enjoy!