Brady's 10!!

I can't believe Brady is ten years old! That makes two kids in the double digits. It's so hard to believe that I'm old enough for that! :) Brady has really grown in the past year. He's doing great in school, and has finally developed a love for reading! This is his first year getting letter grades, and at the beginning, I challenged him to go for all A's the first six weeks. He didn't think he could do it, but I knew he could, and he did. I think because Avery has always done well in school, Brady wasn't sure he could follow suit. I think this year he's proven to himself that he can. He has become more self motivated with his work as well. Harry Potter is what got him into reading. He got to watch the movies first, but that made him want to read the books more. I love hearing him ask if he can read for a little bit before bed! I've always loved to read, and that's something I wanted to pass on to my kids, so it makes me happy that he's more into it.
It seems fitting(since he's a sports nut) that we spent the evening at soccer and baseball. Hopefully he's had a good day, and we'll continue celebrating this weekend with a sleepover!

A few of my cakes

I'm not a perfectionist about many things, but I am about decorating cakes. So, I'm putting these on here, even though it's killing me that I can see all the flaws. I'm going to press publish post and walk away before I change my mind. :)

Our brackets are filled out.

UPDATE...Chloe got 12 out of 16 games correct yesterday!! She's in the lead!


All five of us have filled out brackets for the basketball tournament. None of us watch basketball, or even care about the outcome, well, except Brady. He cares about all things sports, and would watch it nonstop if we let him. Anyway, this year he wanted to do the whole bracket thing, so we just all did it. Even Chloe! I'm going to crack up if she ends up winning, but I don't see that happening. I read all the names to her, and she just chose which one she wanted. The way she chose some of them was hilarious. First, she has Florida and Tennessee winning every game, until they play each other, then Tn wins. They actually win the whole thing, according to her. A couple of other funny ones...
Butler- "I picked that one because it has 'but' in it!"
Montana- because of Hannah Montana
Duke- because it sounds funny (she has them going to the final game)
Richmond- because Brady's rich

She's so funny! I was going to let her choose by color, but I didn't have anything with all the colors. I like the way she did it better anyway. Now, we wait to see who wins!?

The critter story!

Yesterday, you got the good part of our trip. Today, you'll get the bad.

We weren't in the cabin all that much, other than when we were sleeping. That's actually when the real adventure began. I slept with Chloe both nights, which is really an adventure all it's own! I tossed and turned a bit, and one of the times I was awake, I heard something out in the kitchen area. I can hear things when there's really nothing, and my imagination can really get me pretty freaked out, so I usually try not to wake Keith. This time, though, I knew I wasn't imagining what I was hearing. So, I woke him up and told him that I heard something, and that it sounded like a critter. He got up for me, and looked around, but of course the noise stopped. He's used to having to do this occasionally, and he was half asleep, so I don't think he thought it was anything. Plus, staying in a cabin in the woods, you can usually expect to hear things you might not at home. Anyway, we went back to bed, and Keith went back to sleep. I did not. I was awake on and off all night, still hearing the same noise. It was like something was in the kitchen, not just outside. When I have nights like that, I'm always so glad when morning comes!
Well, we got up and didn't see anything, so we just got on with our day. We were gone most of the day, but that night before bed, Keith finally heard the noise. I was glad that he knew it wasn't just my imagination, but not happy that it was, in fact, a critter. There was a mouse in the heating duct. (i'm sure it was not alone, but that's how i like to think of it.) It would climb up almost to the vent, and then jump up. You could actually see the mouse when it did this. It did this over and over and over. It was pretty loud, especially when it was quiet at night. At first, we started covering the vents in the kitchen and living room, until we realized that we were making it come closer to us in the bedrooms! That was almost my breaking point!! We seriously debated about waking the kids, and either heading home or getting a room in the hotel. We finally decided to just stick it out. We were heading home in the morning anyway, and there wasn't evidence that it had been in the kitchen the night before.
We didn't get much sleep that night. At one point, when we were actually resting, we woke up to the stupid critter trying to get into our room!! That is really not what you want to hear in the middle of the night.
In the morning, we packed up and left, and we didn't look back. We'll see if this experience changes our plans to visit different state parks. Maybe all we need is some time to forget the sound of that stupid little mouse jumping at the vents!
To the future residents of cabin 321, good luck. I really hope they get the critter out, otherwise it's going to smell bad in there!

Fall Creek Falls

Chloe tackled the swinging bridge on her own.

Avery called this the scary path. They're trying to look scared. Not sure it worked!

Nature constantly amazes me. This tree was so cool!

at the base of the falls

We had a great weekend trip to Fall Creek Falls. We don't often take the time to visit the beautiful places around us, so we're trying to change that. We rented a cabin for the weekend, and just spent time together. It was so much fun! We went hiking a little on Friday, and most of Saturday. We all went to bed pretty early because we were worn out by the end of the day. It was a good feeling.
We just went to a few overlooks on Fri. when we got there. We weren't sure if the weather was going to cooperate, so we didn't want to save everything for Sat. Chloe was very excited about seeing her first ever waterfall! The kids were all excited to go hiking, but Chloe was a little hesitant at first. When we first saw the big falls, and I told her we were going to hike to the bottom of it, she said she didn't want to. After I explained that there was a trail, she was ok with it. I think she thought what she saw at the overlook was what she was going to have to climb down! She quickly became comfortable on the trails, and was able to keep up a good pace. As she said, she had some jumping and hiking skills!! As well as she did, the boys were constantly ahead of us. They would have loved to just be set free, but we made them stay with us.
We were blessed with a beautiful day on Sat. It rained during the day on Fri., and then again Sat. night and Sun., so we felt really lucky that Sat. was so nice. It was a little chilly at first, but as soon as we got going, it warmed up.
I think we're going to try to see how many state parks we can visit. Some will be days trips, and others we'll have to stay overnight. I can't wait to see it all!

Avery

I took Avery to the dr. for his sports physical at the beginning of Feb., and he was two inches from being as tall as I am. I know that's not saying a lot, but still! I'm pretty sure he's grown since then even, because every time I look at him he seems taller. He's like a weed. He's outgrowing his jeans almost faster than I can buy him new ones. And the new ones I just bought look like they'll only fit for another month! It's crazy!
I've known since before he was born that he would one day be taller than me, but it's still slightly shocking. I know that if looking straight into his eyes seems weird, then looking up at him is definitely going to be an adjustment!
It's fun and scary watching him turn into a teenager. He's clueless and amazing at the same time! He lives in this blue sweatshirt, literally. He stands up for his friends and what he believes. He misplaces nearly everything he owns at one time or another, and can't find anything on his own. He's confident and sometimes responsible, when I really need him to be. He's growing up quickly, and I'm just thankful that I'm along for the ride!

btw...this photo is a sneak peek of our weekend trip. more pics to follow later.

Friday Favorites

Wow, I've actually done this two weeks in a row. I wasn't sure if that would happen or not. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty impressed. Of course, it doesn't take much to impress me. Anyway, my cd player/radio in my kitchen is really one of my favorite things. I listen to it pretty much every day. I've never wanted a tv in my kitchen, but I really love listening to music while I'm washing dishes or cooking supper. The kids even enjoy it, at least while they still listen to the same music!