Gobble Gobble!

I AM SO THANKFUL

I am thankful for my wonderful husband who works tirelessly all day, yet comes home to a house full of chaos and dives right into to his night job, daddy. He often goes with so little so that Luke and Emma can have so much.

I am thankful for my two beautiful children, who bring such joy to my days. I'm so blessed to be able to wake up to their smiling faces each morning, and to tuck them into bed most nights. They keep my days exciting and entertaining. I just love watching them grow!

I am thankful for my family, who is always there to support us and provide us encouragement. I am thankful for friends who let me comlain about a long day, but also remind me in the many ways I am blessed.

But mostly, I am thankful for an awesome God, who has given me much to be thankful for. He has provided me with everything. I am thankful to live in a country where men and women fight selflessly so that I may worship Him freely.

Thanksgiving was busy, like all the others. We started our morning by making a turkey with Luke. He recently discovered how to use scissors and is eager to practice any chance he gets. I cut out the body and wings, and he helped me cut out the feathers. He's becoming quite good!

We went to my mom's house for dinner, and spent time with Aunt Melissa, Aunt Laura, Miya and Kyleigh. It was so nice for Luke and Emma to see and play with their cousins.

It is extremely difficult to get two toddlers and two infants to even look in the same direction at the same time, much less get them all to smile!

Luke and Miya are such good buddies!

Emma thoroughly enjoyed herself on her first Thanksgiving. She loved trying the sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, baked beans, and cranberry sauce. And lets not forget the yummy desserts!

Emma was intently eyeballing my piece of dessert...

And so excited when I gave her a taste!

After dinner (and dessert) and Nana's house, we went to Grandma and Grandpa Bradley's for (more) dessert. Luke loved playing with Uncle Jesse's race track and eating Grandma's brownies.

From our family to yours!,

Love, The Bradleys

Jacob, Cassie, Luke & Emma

October Fun!

We had so much fun celebrating Halloween and the harvest season in October. We visited a local pumpkin patch one Saturday afternoon with Nana, Papa Dave & Aunt Melissa. There were so many pumpkins to choose from that Luke could've walked around the field for hours! Finally, we decided on the winners.

My two little pumpkins!

Time for the big weigh in!

The pumpkin patch also pressed their own cider, made hot fresh donuts, and offered hay rides around the property. We enjoyed all the festivities!

Aunt Melissa, Emma, Luke & Jacob on the hayride.

Luke loved watching the elk and buffalo from the wagon!

The following weekend, we took advantage of a chilly quiet afternoon after naptime to carve our pumpkins. Luke had such fun drawing all the different types of mean and silly faces!

Daddy & Luke drawing faces for our jack-o-lanterns.

Luke was so proud of how well his face turned out. He even got to help daddy hold the carving knife!

Daddy's, Mommy's & Luke's jack-o-lanterns.

During the entire month, I worked really hard at getting Luke excited about wearing his hippo costume for Halloween. We looked at pictures of hippos, read books about them, and even crawled around the floor pretending to be hippos. I thought, "Great! This Halloween will be so fun. Luke actually gets the concept of dressing up!"....Then October 30 arrived. We were meeting some other friends at a local nursing home to visit the residents and trick-or-treat. Luke decided that he did NOT want to be a hippo. He wanted "to dress up like Luke. He was okay to wear just his jacket." "Really?" I thought. "I have to force my two year old to get free candy?" Ugh. Thankfully, about halfway through the nursing home, Luke got sick of watching all of his friends fill their bags up with candy and he decided to put his costume on.

Luke and his friend, Isaac the frog, after visiting the nursing home.

(Notice how we got the costume on....not the hood.)

This smiling lady bug did such a great job cheering up the residents at Newaygo Medical Care Facility!

The nursing home was a great practice for the real thing on Saturday. He still took some persuading to get into his hippo gear, but had a blast running from house to house saying "Trick or treat!", and giving a very enthusiastic "THANKS!" when he was done.

After we made the neighborhood rounds, we walked over to our church that was hosting a 'trunk-or-treat'. Typically, people decorate their vehicles and pass out candy from their trunks. This year was pretty cold, so the gym was set up with creative stations. The picture above is Luke fishing for his candy at the 'Fishers of Men' station. We had such a fun Halloween night, and I think Emma liked watching everyone walking around in their costumes.

We hope you all had a very happy Halloween!

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.