Bubble Pictures

We are having a bubble themed party for Ethan's 1st birthday and our neighbor took some cute pictures of him with the bubble theme!!!  They were wanting to borrow a bubble machine for a photo shoot with their young son and I had one!  I asked if they minded if I used their setup to get a few shots of Ethan.  Didn't they turn out great?!?!

My favorite!

Sore Mouth

So Owen is being REALLY dramatic these days about his mouth.  It is sore, his tooth is wiggly, his mouth hurts, his tooth is loose.... the list goes on and on!  And he talks about these things NON-STOP!  I swear!  He mentions it over and over again..... it is starting to make me crazy.  I acknowledge what he is saying, I check his mouth, I check his tooth...... NOTHING is wrong!  The problem, he WANTS to loose a tooth.  Many kids in his class are missing a tooth... many of them are missing multiple teeth.  Not Owen.  I'm not sure if it is because he is one of the youngest in his class or it is genetics but I don't even think he is close to loosing one.  But for my sanity... and his peace of mind.... I sure wish he would get a loose tooth sooner than later... I can't take the non-stop talk about it any more!!!

Here are some of the things he mentions beside just the above-
"If it hurts that means it is about to loose"  (funny how he has constructed that sentence)
"If your tooth is wiggly you can only eat soft food"
"I can only eat a little bit of hard food" (he says this when we eat something hard he wants to eat)

And the thing is, he isn't just saying these over and over again, he is acting the part of being in pain and agony at times..... UGH!  Help with the tooth drama!!!!

B, B, & BBQ

Most people don't know that Bikes, Blues, and BBQ, a bike rally that started in Fayetteville in 2000 as a fundraising event and is now a HUGE event that many people in Fayetteville don't even attend, has a special place in our heart.  Brad and I reconnected in front of Walton Arts Center during Bikes, Blues, and BBQ 2003 and that night I knew I would marry him!  We had to wait though, 2 days later he deployed for Iraq but our connection was SO strong that we decided to date long distance and see what God had in store for us!  Fast forward 2 years and we celebrated together with our family and friends (a sort of joint Bachelor and Bachelorette party) at Bikes, Blues, and BBQ the weekend before our wedding!

Fast forward 7 more years and we are here celebrating with our little family of 5.... celebrating in a much different way but it is still festive for us!  One thing we really missed when we lived in Louisiana was the bike rally that brought us together!  Then we had Owen and took him out, as a baby, to see the bikes.  Then we had Addyson and Brad seemed to miss 2 rallies in a row because of work.  Funny, like I mentioned earlier, most people in Fayetteville avoid the rally, they hate the traffic but not us.  No, it was always a trip down memory lane so when Brad missed it we were SO bummed!

Now he has a new job, we have 3 kids, and the rally is huge.... but we still went!  Last year we discovered this Mexican restaurant you can sit on the balacony and watch the bikes.  It is by the baseball stadium and away from the craziness of Dickson street.  A perfect combo for us!

We made a night of it.... Brad even left work early so we could head out before the night got too wild for kids! : )  We took a seat in the corner and settled in for a while.... maybe too long since Addyson decided to start making slop in her water...... known as feta water.....

See, when Brad and his brother were younger his parents would sit them at a different table in restaurants and they would get into trouble..... they made slop out of stuff on their plates and added who knows what to their water.... feta water..... so when Addyson started in on the "fun" I knew she came by it naturally.  And even though she was making a HUGE mess, she was quiet and she was actually pretty cute.....

until she started drinking her feta water from her napkin.... yuck!!!  Check please!!!!

From the restaurant we walked across to the baseball stadium parking lot where they had vendors and bikes.... lots to look at.  We are not in the market for anything but the kids got a kick out of seeing all of the stuff!!!

And we looked for their favorite bike.... this one took top prize since it was SO colorful!!!!

Then we stumbled across the perfect game, Progressive insurance was there with one of those water gun games where you race other players.... and it was FREE!!!!  Perfect!!!  We played several games.....

and we won prizes!!!!  Yep, the game was free and the kids got prizes!  It was perfect!  Owen got a hat and pencil and Addyson got a scarf, bear, and sucker!  We were leaving.... I thought the guy was kicking us off the game after winning so many times..... but Owen wanted to play again....

So we asked and they said we could play as many games as we wanted to!!!!  So he played.... and played... and played!!!!  It was a great night... fun memories made and fun memories relived!  We love Bikes, Blues, and BBQ!!!!

iPhone Pics of the Week

Cheering for the Sounders and getting ready to cheer for the Hogs!

He made a giraffe

Baggo after soccer

Headed for ice cream for Nammie's birthday

She is taking her suitcase with her everywhere these days..... and it is empty.

Ethan learned how to spit.... his medicine out.... all over me.... at least we figured out (after weeks of no sleep) that he has a double ear infection.... hope he is on the mend soon.... if he'll keep his meds down!

Signing Addyson in

In "jail" at the restaurant

He takes his work everywhere with him these days!

Panther

Owen is so sweet.  This morning he asked if he could take his teacher an apple to school.  I think he sees other kids bring in treats for her and he wanted to do the same.  Let me ask this, is it common to bring gifts to your child's teacher other than on special days?  The other day I dropped him off and a mom was bring her homemade goodies.  Man, I wouldn't have even thought of it....... glad Owen did!

This morning was also a special day for Owen.  He was going to receive he award during prayer time for "Panther of the Month".  He will be Panther for the month of October but got his award today.  Prayer time happens first thing in the morning so the little kids and I stayed to watch.  We went to the church and waited for the kids to file in!

We sat in the back by the 5th graders.  It was neat to watch how good the 5th graders (and really ALL of the kids) are good in church even with this cute little distraction trying to ham it up for them.  I was amazed as I would watch a class walk in, genuflect, file into the pew, and then once everyone was there they would all kneel together.

Despite ALL the kids being there, church was SO quiet..... until Ethan started screaming.  UGH!  I was there alone (Brad and my mom had meetings they couldn't miss) and it was stressful.  Addyson was antsy and so was Ethan.  I felt like we were drawing so much attention to ourselves.  But, we made it thought... at least long enough to see what we came for......

We got to see Owen get his award!!!  Look how serious he is.... I promise he is SO excited to be panther!  Turns out when you are panther one of the perks is you get to play during nap time (is that really a perk?!?!) and he was super excited about that part!

I took several pictures trying to find one with a smile and not a single one.  I'm not sure he knew how he was suppose to react in front of the school.... or maybe it was a bit intimidating in front of the whole school!

Here are all of the Panthers for the month of October.  Way to go Panthers!

So after this award is given out they give out several more awards; best helper, good listener, asking good questions, being a good friend, and several others.  I didn't hear them all because I stepped out with the kids since Ethan was screaming and Addyson wouldn't sit still..... I didn't want to take away from anyone's special moment.  Then, when all the awards were over we went back in to catch the very end of the ceremony.

And I'm glad I stayed, I got a smiling picture of Owen with my phone as he was headed out!!!!

His teacher stopped his class so I could snap the picture!

There's my happy Panther of the Month!

Going for a Ride

Today was the first time I let Ethan ride in the car with the kids.  I have been afraid of his neck.  See, the kids, especially (mainly) Addyson, are not smooth drivers.  Addyson pumps the gas which makes your head go back and forth and I just worried about E.  But today he seemed SO interested so I let him try it.  (Owen wasn't interested, he wanted wanted to do art)

Ethan LOVED it!  He was so proud to be riding in the car and was smiling the whole time.  Even when his head was jerking all around, he was still smiles!

Me, well it was a little frustrating for me.... I worried too much.  I kept trying to tell Addyson how to drive (I''m a backseat driver by nature) but she wasn't listening.... or just couldn't figure it out, and it was making me crazy!  Not only was she pumping the gas but she was running into the flower bed rails which I'm sure didn't feel good to slam abruptly into something.

Again, Ethan didn't seem phased so I probably shouldn't have worried so much.  They were having a blast together and it was really cute to watch!

Don't they look like a married couple going for a drive?!?!  Addyson did best driving at the straight aways so I tried to keep her on the sidewalk as much as possible.... it was better for my sanity! : )

Finally I talked Owen into giving Ethan a ride.  See, Ethan didn't want to get out but I knew he had probably had enough of Addyson's driving so the kids swapped out!

"Hey Guys, wait for me!!!"

Finally, fast, smooth driving! Fun times!

It was actually fun for the whole family.  Addyson thought it was funny to run and try to catch up with them!  What a great way for everyone to burn some energy and have some fun after school!  I still can't believe Ethan is big enough to ride in this car!  When the kids got it for Christmas Ethan was just 2 months old and I couldn't even imagine him getting to enjoy this toy.  Now, he loves it!  Going for a ride with your siblings is fun!!!