Fall 2012 - Yay - just a little late!!

Summer ended and so did any time I had along with it!  :)  But my leaves are still falling so this is right on time!  HAHA!  We have had a very eventful Fall with back to school, me being the PTA leader of their homeschool "school" (a very large enrichment program), two of the boys playing baseball, one taking rock-climbing, my dad's health deteriorating, and trying keep up with it all.   Please forgive me for being so behind!  My goal in the New Year is to update this blog monthly so that it is much easier to keep track of.  :)  haha!   Below are some fun pictures and the stories behind them.   Enjoy!

***Click on picture to see full size***

Back to School  - Bubba B. (4th), Bubba (3rd) and little Bubba is in K.   They are loving school this year and I am continuing to enjoy homeschooling them.   I have to admit though, pre-K teaching was alot more fun!  I think Bubba B. would highly agree to that when it comes to math and Bubba when it comes to grammar and writing!  Each of those have gotten tons more difficult with them both being a year ahead in each subject.  It's not that 5th grade math or 4th grade grammar is hard, it's just a lot more work that neither of them are too fond of!  ;-)  I will say though that little Bubba is loving Kindergarten. He' reading really well now and starting to pick up addition/subtraction concepts pretty quickly. 

 


 Niagra Falls  - In September, Brandon and I took a trip to Niagara Falls (Canada side) and toured the Finger Lakes and Letchworth Park in upstate New York.   This was to celebrate our 15th&16th wedding anniversaries.   We had such a wonderful week!!

Church Campout  - boys dancing to Ghangham Style - yes, I know...  :)
 

Rock climbing- Bubba B. rock climbing it to the top!  
He also took a rock climbing course this fall (left) and loved it!

Bubba baseball -  Although he has never had an interest in basebal before, he decided this summer he wanted to try it.   However, his age put him past T-ball, past coach pitch and straight into kid-pitch!  He learned so much and really enjoyed it. We were so proud of him for working so hard.   They had an amazing team and were undefeated winning the Championship.  What a great first year! 


 

Little Bubba baseball - This kid has waited to play baseball since he was 2!  He was SOOO excited and remain focused on that ball during the entirety of every game.  Needless to say, he had a great season!


 

Pumpkin Patch 
 


Halloween  - Hulk, Superman and the Mad Scientist.  We were well protected!  
Superman even had his sidekick Lexi to help him out!





School Thanksgiving Feast
 



Chihuly Exhibit
 
 
 



Kids Science Fair - Brain Freeze Experiment - This was some serious fun!


Stream Clean - a wonderful opportunity in our community to help clean the streams.  Yeah, ummm, we only had two gagging incidents.  haha


My parents 45th Anniversary.  - My dad can't eat out at restaurants, so we provided them with their very own Cafe de Tyler.   The boys were the waiters and it was a perfect night!



My aunt passed away - My dad's sister.  This was a very sad day for us.


Thanksgiving - A wonderful dinner with my parents and hangout time with Brandon's family.  





 



My dad went into the hospital in poor health. - My dad has end stages of liver disease and his kidneys are now not functioning well.  We were in the hospital for 6 days beginning the day after Thanksgiving.  This has been a very difficult time for all of us and we are praising God he recovered from this episode and is now home currently doing well.  Our prayer is for a wonderful Christmas together and for many memories to be made. I am SOOO thankful to have them living just two minutes away.  Please continue to keep my dad and family in your prayers as we go through this together.  Thank you!


Our church's Mustache growing contest - we nailed it!!

Brady's 10th Birthday!

Bubba B.  is growing into such a wonderful young-man and we are so proud of him.   He loves interacting with his brothers, is super creative, has a niche for building/design, still loves Lego’s, and has become quite the talker.   He is full of ideas on how everything works and knowledge.   Some kids love to read what others have learned and some love to figure it out for themelves.  He’s definitely the latter.   We now have a box of broken items kept just for him to “discover” with.  :)   He has such a sweet personality.   He does a great job watching out after his brothers and caring for his friends.  He still loves jumping and climbing on everything, just as he did when he was two.  haha!  He has recently taken up rock-climbing as a sport and still enjoys gymnastics and soccer.  He blesses our lives every day and we are so thrilled to watch the Lord create in him a passion for life and others.  It's truly a joy to be blessed with him as our eldest son and to see him begin to blossom into an almost pre-teen.  Did I really just use the term "pre-teen" in a sentence?  Oh, boy!!  :)  

Once our kids turn 5, they only have a big birthday party with friends every other year.  This was Brady's year to choose whatever he wanted to do and to bring a friend - he chose Main Event.    They had so much fun bowling, playing laser tag and climbing the ropes course.  

Bubba B.'s "Lego Gear" cake.  Oh, yes, those gears and I went round and round!! - those little edge kept falling off and had to be glued back on with icing.   So thankful he wanted this cake on an off year.  It took all the pressure off and he had tons of fun decorating the top, including the #10 made out of gears. 

 This was his BIG gift from us and the grandparents - an IPOD touch.    His first electronic gadget of any kind, well, other than the Leapster he got when he was 5!  :)   Those 30min he gets on it each day are cherished!!

 

Yep, that pretty much sums up Bubba B! - creative and super silly!

Another one of his creative creations made at the Science Museum. 

VBS

This was probably one of Brady's highlights of the year!   

He performed a pogo stick routine at his schools Talent Show.  

 It was a HUGE hit and he did such a great job!

Brady loves running, but he is still too young for
any running type teams.  

So, we decided to sign him up for races around town
that he could run in.  

We ran in our first race together this Halloween and
 had so much fun!

  Brady's spring sports were Upwards Basketball and Soccer.  

He especially loves having dad as his coach!

Some science museum fun.  

Grossology - can you think of anything better for boys??!!!