It's Great That Bradley's EIGHT!

My Big Boy Brad is getting so old!!  And BIG!  I couldn't be more proud of who he is becoming.  I love watching him grow.  He knows what he wants.  He is always so prepared for everything, planning out every minute of each day.  He's such a sweetheart to his mom, still gives me a sweet little kiss on the cheek or the head after each family prayer.  I hope he never stops.  He loves his family, especially his new baby brother.  He is one of the most loyal members of our family.  He's a hard worker and enjoys serving others.  Especially the Elderly couple next door.  He has a strong testimony of the Gospel and bears it every month without fail.  He looks so forward to Fast Sundays.  He has been so excited for his baptism coming up!  He is learning so much in school and becoming such a good reader.  He doesn't like frosting, cookies, chocolate, or a lot of other sweets!  I wish I had that problem :).  He loves to be outdoors.  Riding his bike, jumping on the trampoline, playing soccer, or basketball.  He enjoys the wii.  Bradley is just all around a big, sweet, teddy bear!  Our family would be lacking without him.  We love him so much!  Happy 8th Birthday, Bubba!!

The usual glimpses of the past:

The recovery room after Bradley was born.  One of my favorite moments with him.

Bradley with Aunt Heidi at his first birthday party.  He was always so sweet with everyone.  

One of Bradley's favorite things in Alaska was Smoked Salmon.  This was one of his 3 gifts that he got for his 2nd birthday.  And he was completely satisfied :)

Bradley after opening a package in the mail for his 3rd birthday

At his 5th birthday, someone totally smashed his hand with a huge rock when they were playing outside, and he was so tough!  He totally blew it off.

 His sixth birthday was chilled out at the park.  We went back home for the cake and ice cream :)

Bradley is one of our kids who just hasn't changed a whole lot as he's grown ;). Just look at that cute, sweet smile!  I love it.  Love the dimples especially.  He sure loved his motorcycle cake for his sixth birthday.

And last year, his 7th birthday party,taking in his deep breath to blow out the candles!  So cute.

General Conference

Some of my favorite things I heard during this conference session:

"BINGO!!!!" shouted out during the prayer.

"Mom.... I pooped my pants...... JUST KIDDING!"

The clickety clacking of the keys on the laptop as Charity took notes with her super speed typing.

"Do you want to hear my four favorite stories that I heard during conference?!"

The sounds of everyone jumping up to grab a handful of M&M's each time a speaker said, "amen".

"Conference is one-hundred and eighty seconds??"

I wish I'd compiled this list earlier, there were so many more.
Luckily we have a DVR and I can catch the talks I missed (aka: all of conference even though we sat here with the TV on, poised in our seats, "watching" every session) later!  We did have fun together though, and I managed to keep my cool the entire time.

Lots of snacks, and lots of prizes for Bingo :)

Journaling

- Saturday was the Relief Society General Broadcast.  I got to go up to Nate's parents' house for a catered dinner (Kneaders- VERY good food, especially the desserts!), and then we all went to the broadcast together.  I had a lot of fun.  Jack did so well too, especially considering the fact that I accidentally left my diaper bag in MY car when we carpooled in Ali's car.  And he had had a pretty big pooping session in the middle of the program, so he really outdid himself with the patience.  He's such a great baby! 9-29-12

- Sunday we got to meet with the Bishop for Bradley's Baptism Interview.  That was really neat.  We have such a great Bishop.  He really knows how to relate with the kids.  It's so neat to watch Bradley grow up and reach this special point in his life.  He really is taking it seriously and I love that.  I hope he always feels this way about his membership in the church.  And I hope he always strives to strengthen his testimony. 9-30-12

- It's been another week again, since I posted, well, two weeks I guess.  I have a lot of catching up to do.  10-11-12

What's another name for a post with random pictures?

This was one of the first Mondays with the big kids back at school.  Nate was sleeping after working the mid.  Noah and Erika wanted to paint.  So that's what we did.  Felt a little strange to not have my big kids there.  And normally I have this urge to save fun stuff for when they can be here, but we're back to school!  It's time for us to have fun without them.  And that we did.

This is from Nate's cousin Melanie's wedding.  They had this fun little "photo booth" with fun props.  We made our way over to it before we left and this is what we have to show for it :)  Pretty funny, even if we only had Nate in his glasses!

My pretty little Charity :)

Okay, so this is just adorable.  Erika wanted a picture of her Sticker Chart and I was busy, so Bradley volunteered.  And I had no idea how many he would actually take until I uploaded these.... there were a LOT!  Here are the three that I thought Erika looked the cutest in :).  I love that she knows how to show off her sticker chart in a picture :)  Her little hand gestures are the sweetest.  And I do get a kick out of the fact that Bradley found this entertaining enough to involve all the friends and Noah :).  Love it.

THIS is the drawing that Noah made for me the other day.  I absolutely LOVE the way my littles draw people.  Especially at this age.  It's SO cute!  This particular picture is of me, Noah and Jack :).  Jack is holding his binky and blanket :).  Almost makes me cry when I think of the thoughtfulness and time this little piece of work took.  My sweet little Noah.

I know I've posted a lot of these, but they are a big part of my life.  The little messages and notes these guys write on the white board are so fun.  Especially when they involve the family.  Kelly's so sweet to write this one.

My sweet little Jack Jack... he's already bigger than this!  AAHHH!!

I've said this a million times too, the kids LOVE their baby brother.  He is never going to have to look far for a friend.

AWWWW!!!  Milk coma :)

The end of his smile... he smiles a LOT while he's sleeping, but we have yet to get him to smile for us on purpose :)

Precision

I love all the little details that really bring out each kids' personality.  I'll always notice little Luke's hands on Jack's toes.  He LOVES Jack. And he's so sweet and actually very gentle with him.  It's a cute little relationship.  Having Bradley's arm around Noah was perfect.  They're buds, and it's totally something he would do.  And to have Noah's cute little smile when he was looking at Jack.  He loves Jack too, but Jack isn't as good for him as he is for everyone else for some reason.  But I love that Noah isn't phased by that :).  Then of course, Kelly's sweet little look.  That's so her.  And I love the face Erika is making.  You can tell she is buds with Jack and that she and Jack are perfectly comfortable in the arms of their big sis Charity.  I'm glad that Charity was comfortable with that position.  She's such an awesome big sister.  Oh, I just have the best kids.  I think this picture is good for reminding me of that.  They're such blessings.  Not sure where I'd be without them.

Here's the background behind this picture:
We took the kids over to Sarah's to do the School pictures (which I will post later) and she was kind enough to get out the black back drop afterwards to take pictures of the seven of them together.  I was so frustrated with the clothing choices I had, and looking at the picture, I still wish I'd had a better selection (apparently we're lacking in nice clothing- we get so many hand-me-downs for the boys, it seems silly to actually buy them stuff- but anyway).  After thinking about it for a while though, I figured black and white would mostly solve that problem.  SO anyway.  The kids were pretty good for about 5 minutes.  They posed really cute for several pictures.  But when she tried to shake things up and change the pose around a little, things started to get.... a little.... crazy.  There was however this one moment, while the kids were posed, and Sarah was behind the camera, that I randomly spouted out with, "K, everybody look at Jack!"  Somehow, don't ask me how, Sarah caught the perfect, precise moment, in the middle of all the chaos, and was able to provide me with this beauty.  I seriously can't believe it looks as good as it does.  Shortly after this one, all heck broke loose.  I don't really know how Sarah was feeling, but I was done.  I have a new respect for photographers after the last 4 photo shoots we've had with my kids (has it been that many?  Sarah is awesome!), there's just no way I will ever have the patience for that profession.  I do love this picture!