Another boating trip

Today after Chris got home from school we headed up to Hardy Lake. It's supposed to rain for the rest of the weekend so we wanted to get out while we could. We were excited to try the new boat grill tonight that Chris ordered for his bday. Well it's always something with us....we had everything out and ready to grill and then realized our lighter wouldn't work. :( So no grilling on the boat yet. We said by the time summer really hits, we'll have all of the kinks of boating worked out hopefully.

For those of you that didn't get to hear the story of our last trip...ha ha, it's a funny one! Long story short, on our last trip we ran all around the lake, everything was great and then we anchored and ate dinner. When we got ready to go again, the boat was idling and Braden was sitting in the driver seat with me right beside him. Well apparently he pulled out the kill switch (the one you would attach to your life jacket in case you were thrown out and it would kill the engine etc..) just a bit and it killed the motor. Well of course we had no clue and couldn't figure out what went wrong. We ended up having to get towed in by a fisherman and put the boat on the trailer with our hands. Ha! Then once home, Chris and his dad were checking everything on the boat in the dark trying to figure out what was wrong until they thought of the kill switch. Yep, that's what it was! We were happy it was nothing broken, but come on seriously?!?!? What a hoot! Chris said, "are you going to blog this?" Ha! He knew we'd get made fun of for this one for a long time. :)

I made it my mission tonight to make Ethan stay in his life jacket. He actually did great! Does that thing look comfortable to you? Poor baby :(

Check out Ethan's hair from the wind...a little Donald Trump maybe?


Yep, the water is still freezing, but Braden wanted to check

Hangin' with Mom

Kisses for Daddy

Playgroup

Today we met our playgroup at Charlestown State Park. It was such a beautiful morning and the kids had so much fun running around on a new playground. Ethan and Logan (Sarah's baby) enjoyed sitting on a blanket together.

"Hmmmm, what is this? Maybe I can touch it. Can I eat it? Is it a toy?"

"Maybe I'll just put my arm around him...I'm sure we'll be good buddies."

Lilly loves babies...she had to get in on the action too.

The big boys...Tyler, Braden, & Lucas

Fun with Cousin Izzie

Last night Papa T & Mimi came over to watch the boys so Chris and I could get out for a bit. Yipee! They even brought cousin Izzie which Braden adores. They had a blast playing outside and of course Papa T brought McDonalds with chocolate milk...Braden's all time request from grandparents these days. Chris and I got to go down on the waterfront and eat fattening food at the chow wagon and watch Chris' brother's band play. We had so much fun! It was so nice to get out on our own...a much needed date night. :)

A few songs by Braden :)

It is pretty hard to understand Braden through half of this, but regardless it's pretty cute to hear what he's been picking up on at school. I guess sometimes our kids are listening! Ha! He doesn't even come to "circle time" half the time but I guess he's picked up on what we are doing from the back of the room. :) Oh by the way, that's poor Ethan crying in the background of the video if you think you hear a baby nearby...poor 2nd child. :(

Chris' Mini-marathon

On Saturday Chris ran his 3rd Kentucky Derby Festival mini-marathon. This is his last race of the season and I think he's kind of glad. :) This year he said he felt better than ever during this race and even got his best time of 2 hrs. and 3 minutes. The boys and I came down to watch and we lucked out on the rain big time... it quit raining right when we parked!! We've worked out a pretty good system now after 3 years of missed pictures, that Chris wears this bright green shirt and we position ourselves on his left side before the finish line. With 15,000 people it can be hard to spot people. Anyways, we saw him far away so we could cheer for him and he even ran over and gave us all a big sweaty kiss. Good job babe! We are so proud of you!!! Also congrats to all of our mini-marathoner friends! You guys are awesome. I got tired just standing there watching. Ha!

Here he comes after 13.1 miles!!

Waiting and watching for Chris...Ethan eventually dozed off and Braden was loving the helicopters up above.

After the race...big hugs for Daddy

Chris trained for the races with Travis (Sarah's husband) and his brother Jeremy. Braden thought he should be in the picture too. :)

The "fam"...Ethan was there too, but snoozing away by this time

Jeremy & Brandi

Braden & Tyler giving the daddies a #1

7 Months

This is a little behind now, but my little guy is getting big on me way too fast! He was 7 months on the 10th and has two little teeth coming in! His two bottom teeth broke through at the same time a week or so ago...which explained a lot of the snot and chewing on his hands. He is still my little love bug that smiles and laughs at anything you do! Why can't he just stay this little forever? :(


7 month picture

First Swim Lesson

Braden started swim lessons tonight at the Y. I had every intention of getting him in a pool at least once before swim lessons just because it's been a year since he's been in water and I knew he'd be hesitant. I also knew he wouldn't like me leaving him in the room by himself. After all, besides his church class he's always with me. Well it started out like I predicted it would...he whined, even cried and didn't want to do it or me to leave him alone. So I sat with him for a bit and it didn't take him too long to start having fun and wanting to participate so I eased out. I was actually very proud of him! It's a class of 3-5 year olds and it was very obvious everyone else had been in swim lessons before and the teacher knew a lot of their names already. I think he'll be excited for the next class now that he knows it's safe and fun.

You can tell he's nervous here because it definitely wasn't cold based on how he's standing. It was a sauna in there!!!!

Swimming across with Ms. Emily

Daddy & Ethan watching through the glass

This is what I mean about a sauna..poor Ethan was sweating!

He loved this part...She would whip them around really fast on this floaty.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!

All done! Good job buddy! Mommy & Daddy are very proud of you!!

First Boating Trip of the Year!

Today we made our first of many boating trips for the season. It was Ethan's first time on a boat...well besides when he was gigantic in my stomach at the end of last summer. :) We knew the water would be too cold to swim but we enjoyed driving around Hardy Lake and eating snacks of course.

All suited up and ready to go!

Mom makes a mean PB& J

Sharing some yummy fruit with Dad

Ethan was enjoying the boat too....looking around at new sights,

sitting in the big boy chair....

but NOT the lifejacket. We will have to work on this one!

Both boys enjoyed driving of course

Feeling the water...it was freezing!!

Just checking things out

Yeah for a successful first trip!

Sweet mornings

Last night we went to church so we had time this morning to lay around and cook a yummy breakfast. I wouldn't exactly say we get to sleep in around here, but it's always nice to not be in a rush in the morning and have Chris home with us. Chris made us yummy french toast with some cinnamon chip bread from Great Harvest-yummo! I think I'll be full for a week! The boys looked cute in their matching PJ's playing together. :)

Ethan checking out one of Braden's old ride on toys for the first time...he loved it!

5K Run "Help to Heal Haiti"

On Saturday our church held a 5K to raise money for Haiti. I signed up and the boys came to watch. :) I actually felt really good and ran the whole time...usually I need to walk a couple of times for a few seconds to catch my breath but this time I felt kind of like a runner. Ha! I ran with some great girls though and that's always motivating to keep going. Thanks Christy & Tina for making it a fun run!

Getting ready to go...Braden loves having his picture taken!

Another cheerleader for Mommy!

Tina, Christy, and me before the race

Finishing the race-always a good feeling!


Sarah walked it with Logan in the carrier and pushing Tyler! What a trooper!

All of us girls after the race. Since there were only about 200 runners in this race, Tina, Christy, and I all won prizes for our age group! Thankfully we all fell into a different age group so that worked out well. :)

Almost ready...

Chris went and got the boat out of storage last week! He has been sooooooooo ready to get it out pretty much all winter. :) Braden is excited too. Here they are getting everything ready for our first trip...which will actually be today. :)

Easter Day

On Easter day we went to Chris' aunt's house for Easter lunch and fun. Braden had a blast riding the gator jeep around and playing with his cousins. It looks like someone is going to want a power wheel now!

More Easter baskets

Ready, set, go. The egg hunt is on!

Ethan was enjoying being held by Granny & everyone :)

eggs for Ethan