August & September

The local zoo in Grand Rapids hosted a kids day in August, with $1 admission and lots of free extras and exhibits. The kids and I went down for part of the day, accompanied by Aunt Melissa.

Emma looking stylish in her aquarium appropriate sundress!

Luke was so excited to see all of the animals!

The aquarium. Luke is obsessed with fish!

Wendy's restaraunt had a booth set up with free hair spray painting. Luke decided that he'd like his two favorite things on his head....orange circles. I almost lost him in the leopard exhibit!

Examining how small our hands our in comparison to a gorilla's.

Am I the only one who sees he resemblance?!

We had a great time at the zoo, seeing all of the different animals.

Emma turned 6 months on September 11, the same day as Jacob and mine's 5th wedding anniversary. She was officially halfway to one! :( I love every stage that she goes through and watching how she grows and develops, but it is bittersweet when we leave one phase behind as we move on to another. The phase at 6 months led to...SITTING! This was huge for everyone in the family, because it meant that Emma could see things from our point of view. She had been getting frustrated with always laying in something and missing out on the action. No longer an issue, she's a happy clam now that she can sit!

One Sunday afternoon, we went to Nana's house for dinner and dessert. I know I probably should even admit to letting Luke do this, let alone taking pictures but I couldn't resist. He LOVES chocolate! Melissa and I made brownies to go along with our hot fudge sundaes, and we had to do SOMETHING with the batter that was left in the bowl.....

At least I gave him milk to wash it down with, right?

Thanks to Grandpa Randy, the entire family fell in love with grilled corn on the cob. Luke especially!

This is just a sweet picture of my two kiddos, I love getting to spend my days with these two!

We hope you are all doing well, check our our next update for some Halloween fun!

Where Do I Begin?

Five months of catching up, I'm not sure where to begin! Sorry I haven't updated in so long, we've had a jam-packed summer! I'll start with the month of July.

We went camping with some friends over the 4th of July weekend. Luke had a blast playing outside with his friends, Anthony and Lillia.

We went swimming, ate ice cream and collected snails.

Luke thought it was so cool to sleep on a couch/bed!

My two cuties on the 4th. Emma was less than impressed with all the picture-taking.

Luke discovered a new love, shuffleboard! Here he is practicing to whoop Puna on the court next summer. :)

The campground had several activities throughout the weekend. We played games at a carnival, took a hayride through the woods and rode in a big monster truck as it did donuts in the dirt!

Luke absolutely LOVED playing with the sparklers. I suppose a little boys fascination with fire starts at a young age!

We took an afternoon to teach Luke about tennis (the very little that we even know). He always amazes us at his coordination, and hit more than a couple balls!


He even has all the poses down!

We had a great time camping with the Quick family, and look forward to more camping trips next summer. It's pretty convenient that Luke & Emma's Nana lives at a campground!

Grandpa Randy came from Florida during the middle of July to visit for a long weekend. We had such a nice time taking walks, going out to eat, and playing at the park with him. We also went down to Grand Rapids one afternoon to celebrate cousin Miya's 3rd birthday! Here are some pictures to highlight Grandpa's visit.

Family photo taken by grandpa after bruch at a local hotel.

Daddy with Emma by the lake.

The whole gang together for a picnic lunch at the beach park. Luke, Jacob, Emma, Cassie, Miya, Laura, Kyleigh, and Travis.

Cousins Miya and Luke enjoying their picnic lunch.

The kids with Grandpa.

Cousins Emma & Kyleigh, just 6 weeks apart. You'd never be able to guess from their sizes, but Kyleigh's the older one!

Laura and Kyleigh at the park.

Miya & Luke riding in a car at Miya's party.

The birthday girl, Miya, in her new princess outfit!

We had such a nice time visiting with Grandpa, and look forward to seeing him again soon!

The rest of our month was filled with walks to the park, picnic lunches, a wedding, and many playdates with friends! We also went swimming, played in the sprinkler and went to a petting zoo. View the next update for the months of August & September!

June 2009

Hi again! I apologize that it's been so long since I've posted anything, We've had an action packed month of June with both ups and downs. I'll start first with the sad news. I have a friend named Jessica, she is a single mom of three children. She had her fourth baby, a boy named Ethin, in January of this year. Ethin was born with a congenital heart defect. Basically, only half of his heart was functioning. He has already survived two open heart surgeries, but was well on his way to recovery and doing great. He has been living at a children's hospital in Ann Arbor, about a 3 hour drive away from home and her other three children. Ethin was schedule to come home shortly after July 4th. On Saturday, Jessica was home for a benefit to raise money for Ethin. We were at the benefit with her when she received a phone call from the hospital that Ethin had suddenly passed away. I cannot put myself in Jessica's shoes, but just watching her crumble to the floor after learning she had lost her son was one of the hardest things I've ever witnessed. She's been weighing very heavily on my heart over the last two days. It's so hard to understand God's will in times like these, and as a mother I can't even let myself go there too much.....Please pray for Jessica and her family this week as they make funeral arrangements for Ethin on Thursday.

On a more positive note, the month of June has been great. Emma is growing exponentially it seems. She is 3 1/2 months old now and weighs 14pounds 11ounces. She's so expressive in her communications with us, and ADORES her big brother Luke!

Lucas got his first black eye earlier this month by hitting the window sill. Then, just last week he struggled with another bout of tonsilitis. Thankfully, he recovered quickly from that and is back to his normal self again. We've spent our days playing baseball in the backyard (his batting skills are impressive for a two year old!), walking to the park, and playing with friends. Luke also got a new bike that attaches to the back of Jacob's, which he LOVES to ride. We can go on bike rides as a family now, I town Emma in the trailer behind my bike.

Here are some pictures of the past few weeks....enjoy! :)

Battle scars... :(

This was taken after Luke helped Jacob with yardwork.

The new big boy bike! (notice how he can't even reach the pedals yet. He's just content to just ride back there!)



I know you can't see Luke very well, but this was taken while Luke was talking to Emma. I just love the look on her face, she loves her big brother! She was just squealing!

My typical sweet girl.

Memorial Day, Yard Sales, etc.

I hope you all had a great Memorial Day weekend, I know we did. Jacob had a 3 day weekend and we definitely took advantage of his time off. On Saturday, we spent a majority of the day at my mom's house planting a vegetable garden. We don't have a great spot in our yard to plant a garden, so my mom let us plant in her garden. I'm so excited to teach Luke where his fruits and vegetables come from this summer. Laura, Travis and the girls also came up camping for the weekend. Luke and Miya had a blast playing with each other! On Sunday, we took Jacob's truck to a mud run. It's a very Michigan thing to do, so don't laugh! A mud run is when a bunch of big trucks get together and take turns driving through swampy areas and big mud puddles. It sounds very silly, but it is actually pretty fun. Luke LOVES watching Daddys truck get all dirty and drive through the water! On Monday we went to some friends house for dinner.

This week it hit me...I LOVE yard sales! I finally have the rocking chair that I've been wanting since I was pregnant with Luke. I found it at a yard sale for $20! I've also gotten some really great steals on clothes for Emma. I think I may becoming addicted to them! I figure I'd have to spend the money on clothes for the kids anyway, and this way I can buy much more for the same money. That's what I tell Jacob anyway! :)

Luke had a great week this week. He took a nap for me 3 days! His behavior has been slowly improving too. He always has been a joy, but he's gotten so fun over the last couple of weeks. His vocabulary is improving every day, and he's speaking 4+ word sentences now. His new favorite song is a popular Sunday School song called "Who's the King of the Jungle?". It's so fun to see him starting to understand the concept of Jesus. If we forget to pray before a meal, Luke sure reminds us! :)

Emma is doing great this week too. Her eye coordination seems to be slowly improving and she is starting to focus on faces that are closer to her now. We are still having her eyes screened on Monday morning anyway, just to be safe. It's amazing to me and I am so thankful how much that they eye doctors can pick up on at such an early stage of life! I'll let you all know how it goes. She is also starting to talk and communicate with us more and more. I'm trying to attach a small video clip of her talking, hopefully it will post correctly. She is still mesmerized by the camera, so she tends to freeze when she sees the blinking light. But, I did get a few seconds of her talking and smiling. I hope you enjoy. She's changing so fast these days, and seems to be growing out of her clothes by the minute!

Jacob's work is slowing down after this week, for which we're all thankful for. My mom just got a new camper that she's offered to let us use this summer, we're so thankful. It's great how God just sees a need and finds a way to meet it. Jacob and I have been talking for a while about buying a small used camper to start taking small family vacations with, but we just didn't have the extra money for one this summer. We're thankful my mom was so generous in letting us borrow this one for the summer! We already have a couple of camping plans with friends this summer. :)

Here are some video/pictures of the kids from the week.

Emma talking

Luke spent time playing in my canning pot this week.

It didn't take him long to try and go swimming!

Emma is really starting to like her floor gyms!

This is Jacob's truck before and after the mud run!

Correction

Yesterday I mentioned that you needed to open an account with Google in order to view my blog. After researching a little more, it turns out that you do not need to create an account because I will leave my page public. This way everyone can check in on our family without having to create yet another account that you will rarely use. Don't we all have enough of them already?!

Anyway, in just about an hour from now, Jacob's gracious mother has offered to take Luke for the afternoon. She lives near Jacob's work, so he'll just pick Luke up on his way home from work. I love my dear boy, but he's driven me just a little bit crazy over the past week! He has decided that naps are entirely voluntary, and he never 'volunteers' to take one. I'll put him in his room for over an hour, and he'll just play, sing, and jump on the bed. I suppose it does give me some quiet time, but within an hour of getting out of his room, it's very apparent that a nap would have improved his mood and made the rest of our day go much more smoothly!

Luke has been testing the boundaries that are set for him. My day is filled with asking him to "Please stop driving Tonka trucks over your sister's head." Needless to say, I'm looking forward to a quiet afternoon with just Emma. Who knows, I may even end up with a clean bathroom! :)

On the left is a typical 'Luke' face before he gets disciplined.....on the right is the face he shows me after he's been in trouble.

Emma had her 2 month appointment last Tuesday. She's a very healthy 11 pounds! The doctor said that she's doing great! The only thing we're keeping an eye on are her eyes. She seems to have a difficult time focusing on things that are closer that 18 inches from her face. We're praying that she is just developing slower in this area, and that she will grow out of it. Either way, we feel so blessed that God has trusted us with two of His amazing children!

Jacob's work is full swing into the busy season. He has been working long hours and most Saturdays. Needless to say, we're all looking forward to Memorial Day weekend very much!

Here are some more recent pictures of our family for you to enjoy.

My beautiful Emma at 2 weeks. It's hard to believe that she'll be 10 weeks on Wednesday! More pics of her to come.

The Bradley's

"Yeah!"

Welcome!

As many of you know, I have a profile on Facebook that is available for you to view pictures of our family. However, I came to realize that it was hard to keep people up to date on our family, and you also need to have a Facebook profile yourself in order to view my page. So, my new attempt to keep in touch with you all is this....a blog. My hope is that this will be an easier way for me to keep you all posted on what our family is up to, and you will also be able to view pictures and videos that I post.

To view the blog, I think all you have to do is create an account on Google. Then, someone may have to fill me in on this, but there should be a link on the top of this page where you can choose to follow my blog. When you follow the blog, I believe that you will be sent an email whenever it is updated. I would love feedback from everyone as I get into the swing of things to see if this is something that is worth continuing.

I have a 2 year old who is boycotting bedtime, so I'll have to write more later.
Love,
Cassie