Catch Up

So this is me playing catch up.  I've been a little out-of-commission lately, and have lost all desire to have anything to do with my blog.  There's always that nagging in the back of my mind that I'm so far behind and I don't even want to think of catching up.  Well, I've made a feeble attempt.  I think I'm caught up till September now and maybe in another several months I'll catch you up until November.

It has been a really hard few months for our family, with the passing of my brother-in-law, but we all have so much to be grateful for. I am grateful (most days) for this blog and that it gives me the opportunity to document my kids and our family. Someday I'd like to turn it into a book, sorta like a journal. Ugh...just thinking about putting that together gives me another headache. Well, here's August-September for now......

Riley is the BIG 5!

My little Riley is the big 5! This was her first friend birthday party as well and BOY can I tell you she was SO excited about it! I've seriously never in my life seen this little girl more happy...EVER! She just couldn't believe that all her friends came to her house, all at once, brought her presents, all sang to her and that the whole day was all about HER! She was on cloud nine! She had a butterfly themed birthday party, complete with a butterfly cake and wings. It was a perfect day for my Riley Mae.

Selena Gomez Concert

This year for Emma's birthday she got a ticket to the Selena Gomez concert that was last September. LAST year, Katelyn got a ticket to the Justin Bieber concert for her birthday and so did Emma.  So I couldn't just take Emma and NOT Katelyn to see Selena Gomez. They were both thrilled when they found out their friends got tickets as well and we made a big fun day of it.  All in all, it was a really fun concert with good friends, which made for fun memories with my girls.

1st Day of School

The kids are getting so big. Katelyn is in 7th Grade now which is Middle School! Emma is in 4th, Mason is in 2nd and Riley in her second year of Pre-School. They are all a bunch of smarty-pants and make their mom so proud.

What the kids are up to....

Emma enrolled in an art class many months ago and has absolutely loved it! She may not our sporty child in any way, but can run circles around any one of us when it comes to artsy stuff. It's just totally her thing and I'm so glad she has found something she loves. In fact, a couple of her art pieces were chosen to be on display at the Eastern Idaho State Fair. She got a ribbon for each which were "Honorable Mentions". We were so proud of her!

Katelyn has been enjoying her cheer leading. She is a flier, which depending on the day she can either really like or really hate that. All the cheerleaders were given jerseys to wear to games (that they are not cheering at) or wherever they want. They don't start actual cheering at games until basketball season.

Mason and Riley of course loved their swim lessons the past summer. Their cousins Parker and Joshua went too and that is always fun. They both passed their classes and get to move up to the next class next year.

Bradshaw Family Stay-cation

This past summer Josh's family had a little family reunion, or as I would like to call it, a Stay-cation. It was like a little vacation but we stayed here in town.  Cheap, convenient, easy and fun.  We went horse back riding, then to Bear World then went to Grandma and Grandpa's for a dip in the hot tub and slip in slides. And you can't forget the ride behind the 4-wheeler from Uncle Josh. Those kids could do that all day long.  It was a fun FULL day!

Emma turns 10!

My sweet little Emma Dilema has turned 10. We celebrated by having a movie themed birthday party. I have to say it was one of the funner birthday parties we've had. She passed out invitations that looked like movie tickets and watched Soul Surfer on the big screen (a sheet in the backyard). It so happened it came out on DVD the day before, so it worked out perfectly.

As the girls arrived at the party they were given tickets they could redeem at the concession stands. Complete with nachos, popcorn, pop and candy. And the birthday cake came together amazingly! It was a cake shaped as bucket of popcorn. The girls LOVED it!

However, the highlight of the night for Emma is when she got a ticket to the Selena Gomez concert in September. She was over the moon!!!

I love my Emma to pieces and am so grateful to have her in our family!