4th of July 2014

We came home from vacation in time to host our annual 4th of July party. As usual, we had a great time with our sweet families. My mom, Brooke and Michael, Brandon and Joanna and all of Michael's family came over for dinner and fireworks. It was so nice!

Tommy and Tessa actually got along pretty well, which always makes things better!

These sweet stair-step cousins always have a good time together!

 Nana brought all the kids these squirt guns.......they were a lot of fun until they started squirting the grown ups!

The best part of the party was finding out if Brandon and Joanna were having a boy or a girl!! They had their first sonogram the day before the party, so the big reveal was on the 4th of July!

If it was a blue firework, it was a boy and if it was a red firework, it was a girl!

And it's a ..................

GIRL!!!!!

That's right! Three girls :) My poor brother is going to be waaaaay outnumbered! But we're all very excited to meet her now that we know she's a her!

After the gender reveal, we shot off all our fireworks. Tommy found one with his name on it and had to have it! It actually turned out to be be pretty cool.

 The girls picked us some SUPER pretty flowers...........;)

And just a few random shots from the rest of the night..............

Aunt Brookie got lots of snuggles..........

And Nana ended up with some sleepy kiddos on her lap.......

The best part of the night is when we can stand out in the middle of the yard and we can see all the fireworks shows in Augusta, Andover and Wichita. It's beautiful!

I feel blessed that thousands of man and women give up their safety and freedom so I can have mine. Thank you to all who serve and made it possibly for me to spend the holiday with my family!

Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Whitson!

So, I'm a couple months late getting this posted, but thought I need to share some pictures from Brandon and JJ's wedding! It was such a fun, awesome day and we had some wonderful people there to help us celebrate!

The rehearsal was.........COLD. VERY cold! It got really windy and rainy, so we were a little nervous about the wedding day. As you can see, our umbrellas were pointless ;)

Luckily, the weather on the wedding day was better. It was still windy and a little chilly, but NO RAIN!! The wedding was at our house back by the pond and the reception was at the Benton Community Building. It all turned out so perfectly!! There are a million (and one) pictures, so I chose a few of my favorites.........

The groom seeing the bride for the first time....

The bride walking down the aisle--SO beautiful!

It's official!! Mr and Mrs. Whitson!

The new family....cute!

The whole wedding party--Michael got some serious height!

Love these two!

Or should I say.........I love these three?!? 

The reception was fun too!

 

It was a busy day, but SO much fun and turned out so perfect. We couldn't have asked for a better set of girls to join our family! I'm so happy for my brother!  

Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Whitson!

The rest of vacation

So while our first day wasn't that great (you can read about that in my last post), the rest of our vacation was pretty wonderful!!

Our kids behaved fairly well, with only a few melt downs--which is less than I expected since we were not at home and in our normal routine.

We did lots of boating, shopping, relaxing and EATING!

Our kids did lots of driving their aunts and uncles crazy  playing.....

 

 I got to spend a lot of time with this sweet (and ORNERY!) little girl!

 We saw some beautiful sunsets!

We had some delicious Mexican food and ate one of the BEST burgers I've EVER had.....

It's called a squeeze cheese burger and it's from the Squeeze Inn Cafe in Stockton, MO. Go there. You won't be sorry. It just oozes with melted cheese. Your hips will hate you, but your lips will looooooove you.

 We watched some REEEAAALLLY dumb teenagers jump off a REEEEAAAALLLLY high and steep cliff.....and not be able to get back up it! Three of them jumped into the water right by our boat. One of them climbed back up and the other two tried for 45 minutes to get up the cliff, but couldn't even get themselves out of the water. And it was getting dark. I told Tommy if he ever did something that stupid, he better not tell me about it!

Oh, to be young and dumb again.

The favorite part of my vacation was spending time with my little family. It's not very often that we're all together for several days in a row, so I loved getting to see my hubby and kids almost every hour of every day!

So glad this year was better than last!!!

What's in a name?

So I read a lot of blogs and a few of the bloggers have had babies recently or are having babies soon. Some have written about how important it is to give your child the name that was meant for them. That you should pray and spend weeks upon weeks picking the perfect, meaningful, uplifting, inspiring name for your child. And that's all fine and dandy. 

But in my opinion, you name your kid whatever you like! I mean, I want my daughter to be happy and have a song in her heart and know she's loved by God. But I'm not going to name her Theophilia Carolina because that's a HORRIBLE name (sorry if that just happens to be your daughters name!). I liked the name Tessa!! And I want my son to be strong and to be a blessing to people, but I'm not going to name him Ekon Berwin (literally means strong blessing). We gave Tommy his name because it's what we liked and we wanted to carry on a family name! The name you give a person does not define them. If you call a dog a fish, he's still going to act like a dog because that's what he is and that's how he was raised to be.

If I name my daughter Tessa Grace (Tessa means harvester and Grace...well, hopefully you know that meaning), it doesn't mean she's not going to grow up to be happy and loved by God! She'll hopefully be a product of her environment and she'll happen to have a pretty name that I love! I feel like some people put WAY too much thought and emphasis on naming their kids.

However, that HAS led me to do some research into what MY name means (just for the fun of it). Here's what I found in my googling process.....

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 **This is what several websites said.....

The name Brady is a baby boy name.

Gaelic Meaning:
The name Brady is a Gaelic baby name. In Gaelic the meaning of the name Brady is: Spirited.

American Meaning:
The name Brady is an American baby name. In American the meaning of the name Brady is: Spirited.

English Meaning:
The name Brady is an English baby name. In English the meaning of the name Brady is: From the broad island.

Irish Meaning:
The name Brady is an Irish baby name. In Irish the meaning of the name Brady is: Spirited; Broad.

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 **The urban dictionary had THIS to say about my name.....

1. BRADY

 To leave a social situation without saying goodbye or letting others know you are leaving. A sneaky exit. 

A. Where did you go last night? Did you brady? I couldn't find you?
B. Yeah, you people are a bunch of losers.

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**And my name is also a medical prefix. It's meaning is SUPER inspiring....

BRADY

Type: Term

Pronunciation: brad′ē
Definitions:
1. Slow. 

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Yeaaahhh...........so just to sum that up for you, my name is a BOY name (which I've been told over and over and OVER) and it means spirited (true), broad (ha! true!),  slow (SO true) and is a slang term for being shady (NOT true!).

Awesome.

So let's just say I'm glad I believe that names don't dictate who you are!! I tried to make myself feel better by researching my middle name. It means lake. Woo-hoo. Loosely translated, my name reads Slow spirited Broad Island Lake. Thanks, mom. 

I decided to look up my husband's name to see what Mr. Google had to say about him. I was kiiiiinda hoping it would be worse than mine. Stupid idea.

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 **This is what most websites said........

NICHOLAS

GENDER: Masculine

USAGE: English, French

PRONOUNCED: NIK-ə-ləs (English), nee-ko-LAH (French)   [key]

Meaning & History

From the Greek name Νικολαος (Nikolaos) which meant "victory of the people" from Greek νικη (nike)

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 This is what urban dictionary said about my husband........

1. Nicholas

The coolest guy in the world, but can be an a**hole from time to time and is carefree when it comes to just about anything. Basically he just doesn't give a s***......

A Nicholas or Nick....enjoys chonga and the finer things in life....He is a drifter and a daydream believer....some might speculate that the Nicholas is a conceited, hopeless romantic, and is most likely a loner.

(Jessica)- have you talked to that conceited a**hole Nicholas lately?

(Britney)- No, why?

(Jessica)- Because i want to confess my love to him....his bad ass careless attitude just makes me go crazy for him.

(Nick off in the distance)- D**n straight. Nobody can resist this body. 

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NOT FAIR! My husband ALWAYS wins!! Of COURSE his name means victorious and I have to say that although my husband isn't nearly as douchey as the "urban dictionary Nicholas", the attitude is spot on! ;) My husband is a VERY cool guy that can sometimes come across as an a-hole (but really isn't) and of course that's what attracted me to him in the first place!

  Then I looked up his middle name, James, hoping it meant super nerd or something super lame (like lake). 

This is what I found...........

James means Supplanter

Now, I wasn't sure what a supplanter was, but it sounds SUUUUUUPER lame, right? No. It's not.

This is what google said about supplanter------Supplanter often refers to governments and rulers of countries, and it comes from the verb supplant, which evolved from the Latin supplantare, meaning "to trip up or to overthrow." 

So to review, my name means Slow spirited broad island Lake........ Nick's name means Victorious Ruler. 

Slow spirited broad island Lake........Victorious Ruler. 

Yeah.

Well, Victorious Ruler, this Slow spirited broad island Lake loves the heck out of you and I'm glad I got to marry someone with such a fabulous name!

A Shocking Day.....literally

Every 4th of July, we go on vacation with Nick's side of the family. This year, we went to Stockton, MO. We left on Thursday afternoon (June 26) and we were both off work until Monday, July 7th. TEN SWEET DAYS OF VACATION!!!

Last year's vacation was.........a little.............horrible. You can read more about that here. So I figured there was no WAY this year could be worse than last year and was excited to head out! As soon as we were done with work, we packed up and started our 3 1/2 hour drive. And it went great! We only had to stop twice for a potty break and kept the kids entertained with lots of snacks and they were pretty much perfect travelers! I was so glad. Vacation is much more relaxing when they aren't crying/whining/pooping constantly.

And they met a huge M&M on the way there that was the highlight of the trip for them!

I think Tessa hugged that thing no less then 10 times.

We got there around 8ish and ate a quick dinner and went to bed. 

And then we woke up the next day. That was our first mistake :) We should've stayed in bed.

Nick and Tommy got up to go fishing with his dad. Tess stayed at the house with me. We were going to go shopping, so we were getting around. I was sitting on the middle of the bed and told Tessa to come up there so we could get her dressed. She reached up from the end of the bed, so I held onto her hands and pulled to get her up (which we have done a MILLION times in the past!). I pulled gently for a second, but couldn't get her up, so I let go and she walked around the side of the bed. She was kind of being whiny, but didn't say anything. I picked her up and when I touched her right arm, she started crying. I remembered hearing about one of my cousins getting part of their arm popped out of the socket when they were little like Tess, so I started trying to move her arm. I moved her shoulder and she was fine, I moved her elbow and she was fine, but when I touched her wrist.....oh goodness. Heartwrenching. She was sobbing (which is unusual for her) and had big, huge tears and kept saying, "Kiss it, Mommy!! Kiss it! Huwt. Huwt! Kiss it!"

Saddest. thing. ever.

I thought maybe we had pulled a muscle or something, so I gave her some ibuprofen. When she continued to cry for 20 minutes, I called Nick to come back (and thank God, they were JUST getting ready to put the boat in the water). He got home quickly and we packed her up and drove her to urgent care. She cried the whole way there (and by that point, I was sobbing too) and refused to move her right arm or use it for anything. I kept trying to get her to hand me stuff or point to something to see if she would use it and she just wasn't having it.

We got checked in and she finally seemed to be settling down and not hurting so much--I think the ibuprofen kicked in. She held her baby and I held her. We got called back after 15 minutes or so. The doctor examined her, they did an x-ray and confirmed that she had Nurse maid's elbow. Weird name, but apparently a very common occurrence. Basically, I had dislocated her elbow. Mom of the Year. HORRIBLE feeling to know you popped your own kid's arm out of socket! The x-ray showed that her radius was 5mm further up than it should have been.

But praise God, it was a super easy fix. The doctor held her hand and just turned her arm back and forth a few times and then gave it one really hard push up. She let out a loud wail and cried for about 20 seconds and then stopped and stared at her hand. She moved it a little and cried a little, then moved it again and realized she was perfectly fine! After that, you would never know anything had happened (except for the 900 stickers the doctor gave her and she plastered all over her shirt!).

It was such a sad experience :( My sweet girl hardly every cries when she gets hurt, so seeing her tears and hearing her beg me to kiss it so it would feel better.......whew. I was a goner. And I CAUSED IT!!! That was the worst part. But I did feel much better that the doctor said it was extremely common in her age (at least I'm not the ONLY bad parent in the world!).

I pretty much gave Tessa whatever she wanted for the rest of the day (mother's guilt). We did some shopping and hung out around the house most of the day. I was so glad to have our horrible morning behind us!

But it was not the end.

It was around dinner time and we were back in the bedroom. I was getting some stuff put away when I heard Tessa make a weird noise. I looked to my right and lo and behold---she was ELECTROCUTING HERSELF!! Whaaaa?!?!?! She had her hand on the electrical socket and sparks were flying all over the place.

Talk about a freak out! I started screaming at her to stop and she jerked her hand away. I ran over there and picked her up (not by her hands, mind you) and started hugging her and asking if she was okay. She seemed fine, was breathing fine, looked fine. She kept hanging her head and I could tell she was upset because she thought she was in trouble (and she SO was, once I realized she was going to be okay). Everyone had come into the bedroom because the lights had flickered and they heard me asking Tessa if she was okay. Upon further investigation, a fan was plugged in and my little girl took a dime and stuck it between the outlet and the fan. This was the result....

Again, PRAISE GOD that Tessa was okay and the carpet didn't catch on fire and the socket still worked fine.

Needless to say, we went to bed shortly after. I wanted nothing more to do with the day! God had gotten us through both incidents and I was ready for some sweet dreams. Luckily, that was the worst day of vacation and the rest of it was full of good times!

Girls Weekend

So for my 30th birthday (even though my husband threw me the best surprise party EVER), I decided I needed to celebrate big and plan a girls weekend (with NO children) to Kansas City. My cousin lives up there, so my mom, sister and I decided to had up there on a Friday evening and stay there until Sunday afternoon.

We left right after I got off work a few Fridays ago. As soon as we got there, we headed out to eat. My cousin took us to a great little pizza shop. Brooke and I shared the appetizer sampler because it all sounded so good. That way, we got to taste a little bit of a lot of stuff!

 

Garlic cheese toast, toasted raviolis, cheese sticks and chicken wings (which I didn't eat, but took Brooke's word for it that they were delish!). It was SO good. 

 

We ended up ordering lemonade cake for dessert for all of us to share, but I'm so wishing I would have gone for this instead........   Housemade BACON MAPLE ice cream?!? Yes!! WHY did I get lemonade cake instead? My life's biggest regret.......(just kidding--that would be the time I offered to help Nick mow the yard). But I DO wish I would have tried it.

After dinner, we went gambling at The Isle of Capri. I can do slot machines for like.....30 seconds. And then I'm bored out of my mind. But my mom could play them a penny at a time for HOOUUURRRSS. I would rather pluck my eyelashes out one by one. So we set a time limit of one hour. It wasn't the best hour of my life but hanging out with my sister and cousin made it better! And in all fairness, I DID get a free t-shirt.

We went home after that and stayed up talking and laughing (my favorite kind of night) for quite awhile. I went to bed before everyone else because I wanted to enjoy some peace and quiet (kid free!!) and read my book for awhile.

We got up bright and early so we could hit some garage sales, but it was raining (boooo!). I love rain, but not on a day when I have no children or responsibility and could garage sale to my heart's content. But we did find one good church sale that was indoors, so we stopped there. And then we went to a bunch of different thrift stores. I just want to give a shout out to Brooke and Whitney for persevering through 3 thrift stores so I can get my kids the wardrobe of my their dreams! I know my mom enjoys it, but these 2 girls were troopers! And I got TONS of cute stuff for my kiddos!

After that, we had a delicious lunch at Panera and then relaxed at Whit's house for awhile. I took a 1 1/2 hour hot, QUIET bath and read some more. Then we headed out to dinner with one of Whitney's besties, Jackie! We hadn't gotten to meet her even though we'd heard tons about her, so we were SO glad to put a face with a name!

Those huge drinks are fishbowl margaritas from The Salty Iguana, just in case you were wondering!

The girls decided to go dancing after dinner and being the non-dancer that I am, I opted to stay home and watch a movie I'd been dying to see. They felt bad because they thought I'd be bored, but let me tell ya......this momma's idea of vacation is ANYTHING not involving children! Not that I don't love my kids (and by Saturday night, I was missing them).......but.........I definitely enjoyed the quiet and relaxation of not being responsible for 2 other human beings! They got home super late, but it sounded like they had a wonderful time, so I'm glad they got to go! And my movie was pretty good, too!

Sunday, we slept in and then went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. SO good.  We headed home after that and I got to see my two little munchkins!

It was SUCH a good trip and we always enjoy our girls time with cousin Whit! My 30th birthday trip was perfect!

Come again?

The other night, Nick had to mow the yard and I decided to exceed my wifely expectations and help him. I did this at the risk of knowing he would probably not like the WAY I mowed or the direction in which the cut grass flies (because he's insanely anally obsessed careful with his lawn). But I forged ahead in hopes that I could lessen his work load.

We always take the kids for rides on the lawn mower because they love it and it keeps them entertained for the two hours it takes to complete the yard work. I had Tommy on my lap and we were having fun laughing together and cuttin some grass!

However........we have this power line for our outdoor light that comes down from an angle and anchors into the side of our yard. We go underneath it to mow and it's usually hazard free. But I was getting closer and closer to where the power line meets the ground. I was trying to cut in as close as I could so that Nick wouldn't have to weed eat too much around the base of the line. As I turned left to circle around the line, I turned the wheel pretty sharply (because I was TRYING to get a super close cut to impress my hubs with my mowing skills!!). But the wheels locked in the turning position and the mower would not straighten out. It sent us around the power line a few times and each time, our heads got closer and closer to the line and I fuh-REAKED out!! Not once did my mind think to put my foot on the brake. Nooooo, that would've been too easy. Instead, I screamed for Nick and tried to shove Tommy's head onto my lap so the power line wouldn't snag his neck and drag him off the mower!! Just as I was picturing both of us being decapitated, the wheel unlocked and we shot across the yard like a rock out of a slingshot.

THEEEEEN I thought to put on the brake. Duh. It took traveling across the law at 6 mph warp zone speed to think to myself, "PUT YOUR FOOT DOWN!!!"

Nonetheless, I kicked Tommy off the mower and decided to finish mowing the law by myself. Nick was looking at me like I was a dramatic moron (uh, I'm sorry Nick, but have YOU almost snagged your kids head on a telephone wire?!? No?!? Then don't judge!) and said that it must have been an operator error. Yeah. I was all, "Come again?! Operator error?!"

It happened again as I was turning the corner around the brand new shed we just built. I was making a left and it got stuck and at the last second before I crashed into our 4 day project, it straightened out. I literally missed the shed by mere inches. Again, Nick blamed my lack of mowing skills.

And then................sweet vindication..............

Yup. That just happened, folks. That's the front left tire. On the ground. Off of the mower. As in, it is NO LONGER ATTACHED TO THE MOWER. As I was mowing through our yard, just shortly after the shed incident of 2014, the wheel FELL OFF!! AS I WAS DRIVING!! I felt the mower jerk and all I could think as I watched the wheel roll away from the mower was, "HA!! Operator error, my ass!" Obviously, there had been an ongoing problem with the wheels or shaft or whatever part of the mower that holds all the tires on! I was sad for Nick that he'd have to deal with fixing it, but it felt really good to know that I wasn't crazy and had no part to blame in turning uncontrollable circles on my lawn mower. I practically ran (ok, let's be honest here--I don't run. It was like a quick amble) to Nick to tell him what happened and clapped gleefully when he said, "Oh. You were right."

Yes, sir. Yes I was.