A little dose of my daily joy

Pumpkin Patch Festival

Throwing hay is soo much fun when you are 3!
Jaden, Abby & Connor

1st attempt to get a group picture, why do they make it so difficult?

2nd attempt, notice how neither of them will look at the camera!

They had pony rides, and Jaden said he wanted Brody to go first. By the time Brody was done, Jaden was off to the next activity with Connor so he didn't ride the pony.

After the festival we went to Boat House Grill for lunch. They put a playscape in, so the big boys had tons of fun playing while we waited for lunch. On the way home Jaden wanted to ride in Brody's carseat, (which is the same as his, but faces backwards) so I let him. Pick your battles right? His feet were crammed into his chest, and the straps were so tight he could barely move, but when we got home, he said, "Mommy I want to ride in Brody's seat all the time". To which I thought "whatever you are silly", but I answered him, " We'll see". Brody enjoyed Jaden's seat so much he decided to take a little nap in it. I love the open mouth.

Fire Truck Visits the Preschool

This is my preschool class this year. They are a fun lively bunch and Lisa and I are having a great time with them. Last week the Fire Department came to visit us. The kids got to go inside of the truck and talk to real fire fighters. They loved it! Jaden and Brody got to see it too with their classes.

Finger licking good

Brody has been eating more table food lately, mostly because he hates baby food. He has never really liked it and he would much rather eat whatever we are eating. He also would rather feed himself than let me feed him. So last night we had meatloaf and mashed potatoes. I got an excellent meatloaf recipe from Josh's Grandma and it is the only recipe I use. In fact, I hated meatloaf until I tried this recipe. Josh's Grandma passed away when I was pregnant with Jaden. It makes me sad that she will never get to meet our boys. But every time I cook with one of her recipes, I feel like a little of her is with us. We love and miss you Grandma.

What am I using the wrong end of the spoon?
Maybe I will just use my fingers instead of the spoon

Aw, much better, I'll just put the spoon down now

And since I did not have a blog when Jaden was little, here he is eating mashed potatoes around Brody's age.

No spoon, all fingers

YUMMY

New Floors

After Jaden's birthday party last weekend, my parents loaded up both kids and took them to the river for a week. I missed my babies a great deal, but the dirty carpet in my house was driving me nuts. I scrubbed it soooo many times with my little green steam machine, only to see the same spots reappear a few days after being cleaned. So I had a brilliant idea, rip out the carpets and stain the concrete. This was the cheapest way to get my floors done. So Josh and I geared up and got to work. And boy did we work work work. I am really happy with the results and I think all of the work was totally worth it. Josh and I worked great together and had some good quality bonding time by taking on such a big project.

This is what the floor looked like after lots of scrubbing and it still had lots of scrubbing to be done.
We went to Home Depot and talked to a "professional" there. He sent us home with several of the wrong products, and we ended up going to Home Depot 4 different times. The cement had TONS of paint on it and we found it very difficult to get off, even with the acid paint stripper stuff. By the end of the 3rd day of scrubbing, we pulled the pressure washer out of the garage and used it on the floors. Josh power washed and I sucked up all of the water with a wet vac. I know what you are thinking, FUN FUN FUN! I am not even going to pretend that it was fun or easy because it definitely was not. But I do think there is a certain pride that comes from working hard and doing a project yourself. I am very proud of us.

This was the first day. Josh had to do some work and I was getting anxious about all the work ahead, so I ripped up the dining room by myself and pulled out all of the carpet tacking.

This is what the floor looked like after we etched it, which it the last step before staining

First coat of stain

And finished look with all of our furniture back in

View from the dining room

It is hard to tell from the pictures, but the floor does have a great marbleized textured look. We did all of this in 6 days and for $300. And just like that NO more dirty carpet!

Jaden turns 3!

This past weekend we celebrated Jaden's 3rd birthday! I can't believe my baby is already three years old. He is such a big boy now. Jaden had a whole week of birthday celebrating. His Grandma B picked him up from school on Tuesday and took him to lunch. On Thursday I took cupcakes to school and he had a mini party with his school friends. On Friday Grandma and Grandpa Webb came to visit and we went out to eat and opened presents. And then Saturday we had his party at Chuck E Cheese. I think he might be a little spoiled, but hey you only turn 3 once. The last 2 years we have celebrated his birthday at our house and had huge parties, which equalled alot of fun, but alot of work for me. Chuck E Cheese was soooo easy. I booked the party online and chose the first party slot 10 am. We got there at 9 and had the whole place to ourselves for an hour and a half. So Jaden and his friends had the run of the place. At 11:00 it became a mad house full of people so we went to our table and had juice and pizza. Chuck E Cheese came out and did a little show and greeted all the kids. Then we had cake, played a little more and then called it a day. It was perfect!

Jaden got a birthday crown, and medallion
Blowing out the candles

High five from Chuck E Cheese

Chuck E singing Happy Birthday

Dancing with his friends

This was Jaden's favorite ride

Racing with Connor

Cruisin in the big truck

When we got home we opened presents, and most of Jaden's presents were Yo Gabba Gabba related. Last year his favorite TV show was the Backyardigans, this year it is Yo Gabba Gabba. I tried DJ Lances hat and glasses on and Brody didn't think I should be wearing them, or maybe he just wanted to put them in his mouth like everything else.

It was such a great birthday week. Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate Jaden's birthday!