On Monday we hosted our 2nd Annual Bradford Cook-Out. Basically we host this for our family and friends that don’t have other plans. We spread the word around our church and our other friends. We ended up have 46 people here!! 16 of those were kids, mostly boys!! It was so much fun, especially since the weather cooperated…….We had a bunch of yard games going on and we grilled up chicken and brats. It was great. I love hosting events like this. I just love seeing people have a good time and be able to relax a bit. Looks like it has officially turned into an annual event!

What a fun weekend we had!! On Friday night we headed out to the OSU baseball game with friends. We sat out in the bleacher section in the outfield. It was nice because the kids didn’t have to sit still, but it was a bit too far away for my taste. I need to be right where the action is if I’m going to be attentive. But I probably still would have just sat and chatted, like I did out in the bleacher section. The kids loved it. Really what they loved was being with their friends and eating peanuts, popcorn and waffle fries.

This morning before it got too hot I took Eli to our local skate park. I had thought of doing this before, but just never had. Eli loves his scooter, so I thought this would be perfect. He really did like it. He spent about 30 minutes there until he got ‘bored’……………I think it would have been more fun with other kids. They also have a big hockey rink for street hockey. He liked riding his scooter on that too. After that we picked up some lunch at Subway and headed to the park where we met friends. Eli just wasn’t himself. He seemed really tired. We went down to the creek at the park and he just wasn’t into it. All the other kids were in the water, collecting things. He mainly watched them or threw a few rocks into the water. We will have to go back because I think he was just out of it!! When we came home I made him lay down for a nap. He’s been asleep about 2 hours!! He needed it, we are headed to a baseball game tonight. It doesn’t start until 7, so they will be up late!!

I really feel like I have a completely different life then I did last week, and it because, well, I do!! Now that Sydney hasn’t been coming over its just me and Eli. Sometimes this is great, and sometimes not so much. That little girl really did keep him busy. He is so tenderhearted and great with little ones.

Now Eli and I literally have 6 hours to do as we please and we’ve been taking full advantage of that the past few days. Yesterday we went to a park, where I assumed he would make friends, since he always does. Of course we were the only ones there……..after awhile some toddlers came and he enjoyed ‘helping’ them around the park for awhile, but then decided that bored him. So then we went to the store and bought more flowers to plant. He helped me plant those….And then today after he had some time with Gram I picked him up and we met friends at the park. I have to say, its been a nice time.

Why does preschool have to end already? Eli’s last day is tomorrow and I am going to be so sad to see it end!! Last Friday they had a picnic after school to celebrate the end of the year. This is our first year at this preschool and I really couldn’t be happier with how it went. His teachers were wonderful women. People I could see myself being friends with outside of preschool. They just love the kids to pieces and that makes all the difference. On Wednesday they had all of the parents come back early and they had made a slideshow of the year. Then they gave us each a copy. The teachers were crying through the presentation. It is just so touching to see how much they love our kids. He will be at the same school next year, but a different classroom with different teachers. Here are some photos from the picnic…..

On Tuesday Sydney’s mom quit her job. So I am unemployed. I can’t say that I am really sad about this, although I really did enjoy having her here. It was the best job I ever had and although it was getting harder with her crawling about, it was getting even better because she was in such a fun stage. Her mom is looking for another job and I told her that I am willing to watch her 2 days a week this summer if she found something part-time, so there is a chance I will get her back. I just cannot believe how much I’ve gotten done the past two days without worrying about where she’s crawling to. I do miss her though!

On Saturday Daddy and Ethan were busy with baseball picturees and practice so Eli and I were home. We are together so much I needed to find something different for us to do. I had gone out in the morning and bought the flowers to plant in our flower boxes on the deck. So I let him help me, I mean really help me. Although I wasn’t able to get pictures when he was “planting” them, I got some good watering pictures. He LOVES to water flowers which is great because I often forget, especially come July, so hopefully he will continue to help me.

If you remember from reading my blog last year I got a kitten for Mother’s Day last year. We have all thoroughly enjoyed having Brody in our family. Some of us (Eli) enjoy him more than others. After seeing the way he loves (torments) the cat I can only imagine what the people at the humane society thought we when came in to adopt a kitten with 2 young boys! They were probably thinking that this poor kitty didn’t stand a chance.

I will never forget within the first month of having Brody I heard a terrible noise coming from the family room and I looked in and Eli was holding him by his tail.

Today I finally got a few pictures of the non-stop “affection” Eli gives to our poor cat. He is a wonderful pet and he takes a lot from the boys. He also stalks them and pounces at them. Eli thinks its hilarious, Ethan, not so much!