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Weekend Rewind

Let me start by saying I have ZERO pictures to show for our weekend.  That could mean one of two things: A.) it was so busy I had no time to grab my camera or B.) it was so boring there was nothing to take pictures of.  The answer is mostly A.  Busy, no time to grab camera and throw in a side of I never even thought to grab the camera.  Here's what our weekend was like...

I can't even remember what we did Friday night so we're skipping that recap.  Saturday morning we got up bright and early to get the sheep fed so we could get our day started.  Aiden's baseball team won their ball game Thursday night which put them within reach of the Championship game Saturday afternoon. They played the other team from here in town (boo, playing against your best buddies) at 9:00 Saturday morning.  It was a steamer - high humidity, high temperatures.  Both teams played their hearts out and unfortunately we lost, 10-7.  Double unfortunately, we had to turn around and play the 11:00 game for 3rd and 4th place.  The boys had zero time to take a break, cool off and get their heads into the second game of the day.  Once again, they played their hearts out but came up short, 7-6.  Such a heart breaker but those boys held their heads high and felt good about their season. Their record in the regular season was 10-2, pretty darn good!  Both of those losses were to the two teams they lost to in the tournaments.

After the game we found some shade and stayed to watch our friends play in the Championship game.  Sadly they lost.  They looked like a completely different team than the one we played first thing that morning - I think the heat had gotten to them.  We had a fun day at the ball field but didn't come home with the wins we wanted to.

After the game we swung by the ice cream place and grabbed cones then headed to my parent's to get the Sweet T's.  We rushed home and I grabbed a shower while Aiden, Tate and Andy went to feed the sheep again.  Andy got home, grabbed a bite to eat then left to meet his dad and brother for the Lynard Skynard concert.  He said it was pretty awesome, they sounded great.  Meanwhile the boys and I ran to town for pizza, then home to watch the Olympic Trials in women's diving and men's gymnastics.  

I have started watching 'Parenthood' on Netflix and can safely say I am now hooked.  4 episodes in since Friday, I already want to be a Braverman!

Sunday morning we ran to town for a quick errand.  Home for lunch then Andy and Aiden left to meet up with Aiden's 4-H club.  They were doing their livestock tour that afternoon.  A livestock tour is when they go from farm to farm looking at the club member's animals. The club leaders can give tips/suggestions and it's neat for the members to see what others are showing at the fair.  After they made it home we ate a quick supper then went to the ball field for Brennan's last PeeWee ball game of the year.  Wow those ball season's went fast this year!  I'm sad to say goodbye to baseball until next Spring but excited to move into football in another 6 weeks.

So, it was a semi-busy weekend but I did get to sneak a quick nap Sunday afternoon while Andy and Aiden were gone and the babies were napping.  Boy did I need that!

Up this week?  AIDEN'S TENTH BIRTHDAY!!!  Holy cow, how is my first baby double digits already???  To celebrate he is taking a group of friends to the local swimming pool then having them all over to spend the night Wednesday -- pray for me! :)  Thursday night, Aiden's birthday, instead of celebrating, he is going to his last sheep workshop before the fair.  Brennan has swim lessons Monday through Wednesday, Thursday he is going to a fun day camp called Messy Scientists. Can't wait to see what all they do!  The week will go fast and then it'll be July - how?!?  And the 4th of July!!!  Then we are less than 2 weeks til our fair and summer is more than half over.  Sad face.  :(

Have a great week!

Life Lately

Gosh I feel so awful for neglecting this little blog of mine.  I love writing my posts, hearing from you gals and getting our memories down on 'paper'.  Some day I'll get my poop in a group and get back to regular posting.  In the meantime...

Here's life lately:

Tate went to the pool for the first time this summer.  It took him a few minutes to warm up to the water but after he got used to it he loved tolerated it.  It helped that Aiden's good buddy, Conner, was there playing ball with him.  Tate conked Conner in the head with the ball and he totally played it off perfectly - feigned pain and sunk into the water.  Tate thought it was hilarious, thus a new game was born. :)


Pagliai's Pizza.  Oh my!  It's my absolute favorite pizza in all the land, and I do love me some pizza so for this to be crowned 'Erin's Favorite' is a big deal! I could it eat it every single day and never tire of it.  Mmmm!


Our black raspberries are changing color!  I bet by the end of this week we are picking our first bites of those yummy little berries.  The boys can't wait!


Green beans!!!  I've picked twice and canned 9 quarts (which doesn't sound like much. I just tell myself that if I'd have canned pints like I did before having 20 kids that would have been18 jars!!).  Heading out tomorrow morning to pick again.


This past weekend was Andy and Aiden's Father/Son Basketball Camp hosted by the Iowa Hawkeye Men's team. They went last year for the first time and couldn't wait to go again this year.  The three little ones and I went up Saturday morning to watch Aiden play 'Beat the Hawk'.  We stopped Coach as he walked by and grabbed a quick picture of him with the three I had.  Andy has a picture of Coach Fran and Aiden.  Ha ha, Tate looking waaaay up at him cracks me up!


Aiden playing 'Beat the Hawk' against my favorite player, Nicholas Baer.



Saturday night Andy and Aiden ran out to the farm to feed the sheep so me and the other 3 went for a short walk.  We went by the war memorial and I snapped this picture of the flags flying in the breeze.  So pretty.


 Working the sheep is quickly becoming a family activity.  Tate has gotten pretty brave around those sheep, loves petting them while Aiden is working on setting them up.  Sunday morning he decided he could set them up himself.  That smile!!!


Brennan was terrified of sheep since 2 winters ago when a mama jumped out of her pen to get her baa-ing lamb that Aiden was holding.  This is huge to have him holding Nubby all by himself!


Mutton busting!!!  Tenley's a natural. :)


Bren's having an awesome ball season.  He hit a home run Sunday night!  Of course, put that into perspective - it's 7 and 8 year olds and they tend to overthrow the ball but he did make it almost to 2nd base before they got to the ball so that's a pretty good hit if you ask this mom!  Brennan's the cutie all the way on the left.


That's life lately!


Tenley Louise || 7 Months Old

Oh Sweet Loulie, 7 months come and gone!  Gosh you are a sweet baby - everyone says that so it's not just me being biased!  You are always SO darn happy, you flash that sweet smile to everyone you see!


Just last week at Aiden's ball game cousin Jeri, without knowing she was doing it, taught you how to clap and now it is non-stop clapping from you!  Your claps make the sweetest little pat-pat sound, melts my heart into a little tiny puddle of love!  You clap while eating, clap while laying flat on your tummy (that's quite the talent I must say!), clap when being held, clap when laying in bed, clap, clap, clap!  But as soon as I put the phone in front of you to record the clapping it ceases and you just smile at me. :)

You are a very good little eater, Lou.  I'm shocked but you are my first baby to like peas!  You've never gagged over them like your brothers did.  You love green beans, sweet potatoes, carrots, all the fruits we've tried ... so far you are not a picky eater!  We started off feeding you half a container of food in the evenings, quickly moved that up to a whole container in the evenings and now you eat a whole container twice a day - once first thing in the morning and the other time in the evening.  You are still drinking 6 oz. bottles, about 5 a day.  Any time I think you might be ready for 8 oz. you waste 2.  In the past few days you've started opening your mouth for the food, kind of like a baby bird, which makes it much easier to get the food where we want it - in your tummy!


You are still taking a morning, afternoon and evening nap.  If it wasn't for having to go take care of Aiden's darn sheep we'd have a pretty good schedule of 9:00, 1:00 and 5:00 down, but driving out there twice a day has that a tad messed up.  You take it all in stride though!  While at the farm you sit in your car seat looking around and babbling to yourself, the sheep and the shade tree I set you under.  Night time you sleep well with a few exceptions - once in a while you'll half way wake up, usually around 4:00, and sometime needs a pacifier to go back to sleep.  Other times you soothe yourself. And with the sun shining so bright so early in the morning it's near impossible to get you to sleep past 6:00!  Some mornings it's 5:15 when I hear you singing to yourself.  I'm wondering if I can cut out your evening nap, maybe that will help you sleep until 7:00.  ???


The love affair continues between you and your brothers!  You are each other's biggest fans!  Nothing makes my heart happier than to see you all love each other so much.  Aiden scoops you up off the floor and hugs you then you whack him in the head - ha ha!  But he just adores you!  Brennan gets mad because every time he lays down beside you to have a chat or to play Tate the baby hog comes running up and gets in between you both.  :)

You can sit up fairly well by yourself but always face plant to the side when you try to reach over for something.  We haven't given up the baby carrier yet, even though I think you are ready for sitting in carts, because I love being able to grab it and carry you in to the store without having to unstrap you from the bigger car seat.  You are still light enough to carry around in it, too.  With your brothers I was always very ready to move them up because they were such lugs. Not you, Loulie Girl!  You are my little peanut, my runt like Papa called me.  I did promise your seat to someone else, though, and they will be wanting it soon so I'm going to have to give it up sooner rather than later. Not ready to say goodbye to that baby stage yet, though.


You are a mover, Girl!  You are full fledged army crawling now!  And you get up on all fours and rock back and forth a bit.  You started that Sunday and I figured by week's end you'd be taking a few little 'crawls' but so far today, Wednesday, you haven't.  There's still a few days left in the week, right? By the time I write your 8 month update you'll be crawling, I'm sure of it!  You want to go go go, being held in one place chilling just isn't your thing.  I'd love to say you like relaxing on my lap but nope, you need to be up and bouncing.  Daddy can get you to sit still with him, that's probably because he's more calm than I am and you can feel that.

You are the happiest girl but you let us know when you are mad!  It lasts a total of 7 seconds then you are back to being happy again.  When you have cried actual, real tears, your sweet little eyes get all red and you have the prettiest sad face I've ever seen - I just have to giggle and smother you with kisses because it's so darn cute!


Your hair is getting a little longer, a little fuller, but by no means is there enough to put a barrette in yet.  That's ok, we love your headbands!  Something silly I want to tell you about - you are 7 months old and EVERY SINGLE DAY OF YOUR LIFE you've had pink on.  Whether it be in your outfit, your socks or your headband.  It sounds silly but I have wanted YOU for so long that I feel I MUST have pink on you.  Can you feel how loved you are, Tenley? Because you are!  You were wanted so badly and now here you are.  I pray you always feel how loved and wanted you are.

Now for your stats.
Weight: 17.4lbs
Height: 27 1/2" (crude measurement)
Clothes: 6-9 months clothes (I can't believe you wear the size that correlates to your age!!!)
Diapers: Huggies or Pampers, size 2 (this blows my mind, too! You are a little girl!)


I have had some people say you are big for your age and I just have to blink in amazement at them.  Are they looking at the same little girl I am?  You are perfect, no matter your size, but you are small!  They must be nuts is all I can say.  Others coo over how little you are.  Big, little or in between you are my Tenley Lou and I love you completely!


Cheers to another month of firsts, lasts, and everything else!  I love you sweet little Princess!

Weekend Rewind

YOU GUYS!!!  I need a major vacation, one where I do nothing but sit and watch the water!  I'm exhausted from summer and it's only week 2!

Last week was non-stop go-go-go and the weekend was exactly the same.

Our town had their annual festival/party/whatever you want to call it.  Temps were in the 90's all weekend, throw in some humidity and you have a HOT one!  We don't participate in too much where Fun Days is concerned but we always go to the parade and we always have a party at our house.

I didn't get many pictures of the parade this year, nothing tripped my trigger, but it was still fun to watch.  The boys each got full grocery sacks of candy, plus they saw friends, so it was a great time for them.


That afternoon a local business sponsored a free swim at the pool so Aiden and a bunch of his buddies went for the afternoon.  He came home exhausted, a good time had by all!

That evening we had our party.  We have always only invited our friends from the big big city but this year we decided to invite friends from down here.  Of all 6 couples from here we invited only 1 was able to come.  They brought their 2 super cute kiddos and Tate had the best time with them!  Running through the spinkler...


Sliding down the slide into the little pool...


Playing at the water table...


The big kids had a water balloon fight, which I didn't catch on camera.  :(  Then they just hung out the rest of the evening - we barely saw them!  Sigh, they are getting older and you can tell.  It's a crazy thing to watch happen right before your eyes.

Everyone left by 10:00 and to bed I went - I was tired!

Sunday afternoon we went to the War Memorial Dedication here in town.  Some amazing and selfless community members put in countless hours designing and building the monument. The dedication was amazing, gave me goosebumps, even in the 90+ degree heat!  They did an amazing job.  Brennan sang in the children's choir - God Bless America and God Bless The USA.  I've never been to a war memorial dedication before but I am so glad I went!  If your community ever has one you must go!  I didn't get many good pictures but I'll share the few I snapped.




We drove back by last night to get a couple pictures without the crowd.  Beautiful.



Brennan had his second ball game of the season last night - thank goodness the temps had dropped a tad and there was a nice breeze, made it really nice out last night.  He had great hits, fielded the ball and threw it to first to get the batter out.  He's a pretty darn good ball player!

Throw in there choring the sheep and we've done a lot of running.

And so now I need a vacation. :)  I might be exhausted but it's really so much fun following these kids of mine around from event to function to ball game etc.

What's up this week?  Well, Brennan has another basketball camp this week in the mornings, today I have a meeting at noon, I have a haircut Thursday, Aiden has his last regular season ball game tomorrow night, friends are coming to play one afternoon, and I know there's something else I'm forgetting in there -- better check my calendar!!  Have a great week!


Friday FAVORITES

Here are my FAVORITES from this week...

Seeing Tate sitting in the chair at the dentist's office was one of my FAVORITE things this week.  I mean, come on!  CUTE!!!  And such a big boy!  He did just as awesome as his big brothers did their first times!  I was SUPER nervous with each of them their first time and had no reason to be!  In fact, the big boys LOVE going to the dentist. They didn't get that from me, I wouldn't say I love it. :)



Showing off his clean teeth with big brother, Aiden. Great job, Tate!  Another FAVORITE of mine is how much Tate loves his hero, Aiden.  Those two are so sweet together!


Getting the sheep sheared this week was a FAVORITE of mine.  The two we sheared were already on the small side, now they look REALLY small compared to the other two.


This little girl is always a FAVORITE of mine!  She taught herself how to blow raspberries this week...while eating her baby food!  Peas flying in NOT a FAVORITE of mine.  :)


Watching my Brennie Joe read a good book is a FAVORITE of mine!  We ran up to the library, by his request, to check him out a couple books.  This one is in the 'Eerie Elementary' series and he's devouring it!  Yay for reading a good book!  (Currently I'm reading 'The Rumor' by Elin Hilderbrand.  Loving it!)


FINALLY, after years of trying, I have a poppy!!!!!  For sure my FAVORITE flower blooming in my garden right now!  Yes, I had to put a cage around it to protect it from those pesky rabbits, but the beauty of the flower offsets the ugliness of the cage I think.


Link up with ERICA and tell us about your Friday FAVORITES!

Stranded \\ Netflix





Today I'm playing along with Shay and Erica for their "Stranded" link up series.

What three Netflix series would I take with me if stranded on an island?

First, how cool is this deserted island that it has Netflix? Ha ha!  Between the books from last month and the Netflix series this month, I might start wishing for this desert island in real life. :)

When I saw this topic the first series that popped in my head immediately was 'Ally McBeal'.  I would watch this series over and over again, happily!


I'd follow it up with 'Gilmore Girls'.  I'm a GG junkie!  Love GG!!!  I can't wait for the four 90 minute episodes that they are coming out with later this year!  I wish I was Lorelei.  Or Rory.  I'd take either of them.  :)


My final series would be 'The West Wing'.  Not so light hearted as the other two but there are humorous moments.  Plus it's just a darn good show!



Which series would you take along?


Weekend Rewind // Life Lately

Good Monday morning to you!  I hope you had a fabulous weekend, ours was a good one.

Life lately has been all about summer and fun!  Last week on Thursday we met my mom for lunch at Pizza Hut, one of Brennan's summer bucket list requests.  He loves their ranch pasta on their buffet!  Before heading to lunch we hit up the park with cousins - park and time with cousins screams SUMMER to me!


Baseball also screams SUMMER in my world these days!  Tenley has made some super sweet friends at Aiden's ball games.  These two girls played and played and played with her last week.  Aubrey and Ally, two girls Tenley will probably always look up to. I hope Tenley is just as sweet as these two are.

Friday was National Donut Day so we took advantage of the reason to head to the nearby Amish community to the bakery for donuts and more park time.



Sweet Little Lou is getting to be such a big girl.  She can hold her own bottle, even though I don't let her do it very often.

Andy and the big boys went fishing Friday night.  That Brennie Joe, he is a fishing master!  He caught 6 of the 7 fish that night!  Andy caught the other one.  Poor Aiden, he didn't have any luck.  They all had fun being out there, though.


Andy hollered for me to come running Sunday morning -- Loulie was pinned under the Batcave!  Ha ha, she didn't cry or holler, just made one of her girly cooing noises.  Ha ha, so darn cute!  I had to snap a quick picture since she wasn't hurt or upset about being under there!

Aside from all of that we've been working the 4H lambs.  2 of them have something called 'sore mouth'.  Basically it's like canker sores along the sides of their mouths.  They are contagious to both other sheep and humans so we are keeping our distance from those 2.  Such a bummer because they need the most work.  Sigh, hopefully we can catch them up once that clears up.  One of those 2 also has a fungus on it's nose, again, something I believe to be contagious.  I haven't found any concrete info on it on the internet so calling the vet tomorrow to see if there's anything we can do to clear it up sooner than later.  We won't be showing that lamb at the fair if it doesn't get cleared up.  Bummer.  In the meantime, the 2 healthy ones are growing and doing really well when Aiden sets them up.  I'll try to snap pictures of that and write up a post on it so you can understand what I'm talking about.  You don't just drag them into the show ring and step back, there's a little finagling with them to get their legs set up right, their heads pulled up so their necks are in a semi-straight line, etc etc.  Stay tuned for that post...

Also, we are working on the bathroom in the basement!  Phase I of the basement remodel is almost complete, finally!  Last weekend we laid the tile but we didn't do too good on getting enough mortar under some of the squares so Andy's been working on finding the loose ones and getting them re-mortared into place.  Finally yesterday we were able to grout it.  I'm going to make you wait until it's all done to see pictures.  After the grout's dry we will start hanging the boards on the walls - think shiplap.  I'll then paint it and once that's done we can FINALLY install the toilet and vanity/sink.  I can't tell you how excited I am to clean the shower in there! It's all dusty and gross and gives me hives, ha!  My goal is to have it all finished by end of June.  I should maybe let Andy in on that info, his goal is probably different than mine. :)

Have a wonderful week!  Like I said last week, our June is super packed and this week really kicks that off!  Brennan has basketball camp M/T/W, Aiden has 4H camp T/W/Th, we have a ball game T/Th, Brennan had his first one last night, and we need to work sheep and get them sheared (I hope) this week.  Oh, and dentist appointments this morning for the 3 boys!  Tate's first trip to the dentist, wish me and the dentist luck! :)

Talk soon!

From The First To The Last

Wednesday was the boys' last day of school.  They were let out at 11 and as they got off the bus at our corner I could hear a bunch of kids whooping and hollering - it was pretty darn cute!

Tate couldn't wait for the big boys to get here!



We had to take the obligatory last day picture that morning.  Here's a side by side of their first day of 1st and 4th grades and their last.

First day on left, last day on right.

Aiden, started 4th grade as a 9 year old, ending 4th grade as a 9 year old.  His teacher was Mrs. Draisey.  This year he participated in flag football, basketball, soccer, baseball and 4H.


Brennan started 1st grade as a 6 year old and finished 1st grade as a 7 year old.  His teacher was Mrs. Sprouse.  He participated in flag football, soccer, baseball and Clover Kids.


Brennan told me a few weeks ago that this summer he really really wanted to meet Grandma Jean for lunch at Pizza Hut so he could have pasta.  We decided since June is so busy and July will be busy with the fair to go ahead and get that marked off his Summer Bucket List right away, so yesterday we met Grandma for lunch.  We also picked up cousins Charley and Nora Jean to go along with us.  Looks like Brennan's summer (and Aiden's) is off to a great start!

On to 2nd and 5th grades!