Monday, February 18, 2013

The Adventures of Brady's Flat Stanley

WOW!  What a trip!  After being folded and cramped in that little envelope for several days, I was finally opened by the most beautiful little girl.  She straightened out my arms and legs and gave me a loving hug.  Her name is Jennifer.  She is Brady's cousin.  She is 11 years old and goes to school in Northwest Oklahoma at Garber Public Schools. She is in the 5th grade.   Her school is Pre K thru 12th grade!  She will go to the same  school her whole life.  There average students per grade is 25.  That is a total of 350 kids in the whole school.



After getting all stretched out she showed me around her house.  It is a farm house out in the country.  So different from the city where I came from.  When you look out the front door all you see is land.  The next house is over a mile away.  There is so much room to run and play.  They even have a pond on their farm to fish out of. 


Would you believe they keep cows in the yard!   These are some of the calves that have recently been taken away from their mamas.  So they cry (moo) all night long.  They miss their mamas.  Some nights it was hard to sleep.  Jenni says that is just part of living on the farm and you get used to it.



About a year ago Brady's grandpa Bill brought out a bunch of chicks.  Jenni's farm had a building to use as a chicken coop so they fixed it up.  The chicks grew into some very colorful chickens who lay eggs.  I got to help gather the eggs everyday!  Some days they get as many as 13 eggs.  They give/sell some to their friends because they can't possibly eat that many.  Smoky the rooster is in the background.  He is a really nice rooster.  They spend lots of time caring for all their animals.

























They even have a pet rabbit!  He was very skittish.  I don't think he knew what to think of me.



Jenni has two brothers Jake and Josh.  They are 13 and are twins.    I got to play video games with them.  Jake has promised to take me fishing in their pond if I come back this summer with Brady.


Brady also has another cousin Jessi.  She is 16 and rarely home.  She plays on a basketball team and they have been in the playoffs.  She is very active so I haven't got to spend much time with her.



The funnest part of Jenni's house is her new puppy.  Her name is Lucy and she is a Golden Retriever.  She likes to chew on everything!  I thought she was going to eat me a couple of times!

On Saturday I went to spend the day with Brady's grandma Kathi. She lives in Garber too.  She makes really good cookies. 





We went to the mall and had lunch.  Their mall isn't anything like our local ones.  Most of the stores are closed.  Only a few remain.  Jenni says she sure wishes she could come home with me to shop!




 After lunch we went to visit Brady's great grandma Chesnut.  She lives in a nursing home and is 89 years old. 




Back at the farm they have a swimming pool and Jenni tried to dunk me.  The water was so cold!  She said I could come back and swim this summer!  I can't wait!


I helped Jenni bake cupcakes.  She is quite the baker.  She got that blue mixer for Christmas from Santa.  That was all she wanted!  She hopes to one day own her own cupcakery!


On Sunday we went to church.  It was a big beautiful church and I was able to meet Pastor Long.  He was the one who gave the sermon.  It was very nice.





Jenni had a Flat Stanley a few years ago too.  If anyone is interested to see where her Flat Stanley went here is the link to her Flat Stanley's Blog.  http://theadventuresofjennisflatstanley.blogspot.com/

It was awesome to visit a rural area.  I have seen animals and areas that are so different from the city where we live.  I hope to go visit again this summer.  There is so much to see and do. 

Flat Stanley


Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Ethan's 3rd Birthday

...some of my favorite pics from the weekend...






oh, I love you, too, Brandon :)






...THEN & NOW...

Ethan & Camden (3 years old)

Cade (2 years old) & Brady (3 years old)

  Brady (almost 7) & Cade (almost 6)

...awww...

Friday, December 23, 2011

Christmas with Grandma's Chesnut

Let the celebrating season begin!  We had a wonderful dinner with my mom, Grandma, sister and her family tonight.  I cooked a turkey and all the fixings.  It was so much fun!

We loaded our plates and filled our bellies. 

Then after a period of rest... we started playing games.  The first was the headband game.  Way too funny.  Each person gets to ask a question about who/what they are.  You go around the circle until someone guesses who/what they are.  I think the funniest one was Josh drew "toilet paper". 























Then we started playing Christmas Charades.  Let's just say mom needs some acting classes!!!  Kimi, still not sure how you were able to translate pointing at a dog to get God!  We made it through the whole deck of cards.

While we were enjoying the games, the big boys decided we needed to be caroled to.  Let's just say American Idol will not be issuing invitations this year!








What a great start to our holiday Season! 

Monday, August 22, 2011

Back to School



The teacher recommended Cade go into our daycare's Kindergarten class
because he was bored with their pre-K curriculum.
After I dropped him off in his new Kindergarten class,
I think I cried as much as I did
when I left him as a tiny baby at daycare the first time!
We plan to do kindergarten again next year,
either back at our old daycare or at our grade school,
but I think Chad will have to do that drop-off.
I'll just sit in the car with my tissues!


Thursday, June 23, 2011

HOMERUN!!


My plan tonight was to get a video of Cade, and I opted to use our camera instead of the camcorder for the technical ease to use afterwards. Well, user error to blame, the video didn't happen...of course when Cade knocks it to the fence on a pretty young, small, and feminine team and they send him ALL.THE.WAY.AROUND...and he slides into home base. IT WAS AWESOME! I'm so proud, I feel puffed up like a tick, and Chad is over the moon!

Here's the really bad video that I got of the second at-bat (and last of the season) which was a TRIPLE! User error with the start of the video and camera stubbornness with focusing at the end of the video...so all you can really tell is how far he hit it as he runs betweens 1st & 2nd.


Wednesday, June 22, 2011

finally...an UPDATE on cousins

















can't get them to sit still for a picture?? POPSICLES!!



















Camden & Ethan @ 1.75 years:






















why the looks of disgust??
oh...something over there...
























Cade & Brady @ 4 & 5 years:

























While the big boys took a quick potty break, the little guys played a game of catch...that actually looked like they knew what they were doing!




Sunday, May 15, 2011