Ca-Razy Storm!

We had a very quick developing and very violent storm come through at 5 AM.  We knew there were going to be some thunderstorms, but expected nothing like this!  It must have formed directly over Bellevue because we got the worst damage. 

I woke up to hail hitting the house, heavy rain and hearing the wind whip around outside.  When I looked out the window I couldn't even see across the street very well because of the heavy wind and rain.  It was like a hurricane out there!  The small trees out front were bent over to the ground, the basketball hoops were all knocked over and I tried to turn the TV on to see if there were any warnings.  Our weather radio wasn't even going off.  The dish had no signal and the power went off right around then too.  Collin woke up screaming because his night light went off and the fan in his room wasn't going so it was quiet and dark and he was scared.  Collin's screaming woke up Brady and he was a little scared at the darkness but I was already up out of bed and so I went and got the boys. 

We decided to go to the basement just in case, and besides, we had to babysit the sump pump since the power was out and it was raining so hard.  We still have the tent up so the boys went in there and we had our flashlights and camping lanterns out.  We tried to tune the radio to find out the weather but the stations were still playing music.  About 10 minutes after we were in the basement, the weather radio finally started beeping and saying there was a warning.  But it was only a severe thunderstorm warning, rather than a tornado warning like I expected it to be.  And it had moved so fast that the warning wasn't even for our county, it was one to the west in Iowa across the river from us.  The wind had died down a bit here but it was still raining hard.  We heard on the radio that the winds here were gusting at 78 mph!  A category 1 hurricane is 74 mph!!

The sump pump was filling up and we had to fill and dump buckets outside for a little while to get the water out.  We stayed downstairs for a while longer and had set up our blankets and pillows in the tents and tried to get the kids to go back to sleep while listening to an easy listening radio station.  Wasn't happening after about an hour of being down there.  So I took Collin upstairs with me and put him in my bed since it was starting to get light outside because it was now after 6 AM.  He wasn't so scared anymore and went back to sleep.  So did Brady in the basement with Aaron.  The sump pump alarm went off again and Aaron emptied it out again.  At about 8 AM when we woke back up, we looked outside to see what it looked like.  The sky was party sunny and it was a complete mess on the ground!

Most everyone in our neighborhood had minimal roof damage with a couple missing shingles, but not much because it's a new neighborhood and there are no big trees.  Not true for us and our neighbors because we have the big trees behind the house.

Here's our big beautiful tree.

The big thick branch fell from the top and took 2 or 3 other branches out with it on the way down, landing on the chain link fence.

Here's Brady and his friend for a little perspective of how big the branches and the tree used to be.

 Later our neighbors, who had a branch fall in their yard, came over to help clean up ours.  It was him and his 2 teenage sons working with chainsaws to cut up all the branches and get them off the fence.  It only took them about 4 hours of labor with all 4 of them working on it.  Love the Midwestern neighborly attitude!!

The damage to the fence and how much they had to clear on the other side of the fence.

We are just renting here and the rental agency was grateful that we cleared the tree ourselves, and I guess the home owners are going to pay to get the fence fixed.  Luckily, it was just a few sections that need replaced.  Thank goodness that the whole tree didn't fall over toward the house!  Definitely an eventful night/early morning!

Summer's here early this year!

It has gotten warm early this year.  I am definitely not complaining about this!!

On a rainy day we had, Jorie and Brady were just not playing very well together.  They were just getting on each other's nerves and not wanting to play games with each other.  So I decided to get a little creative and figure out something to make them happy again (and to keep me sane!).

So we put up our tent in the basement, got out the little chairs and put a movie on for them to watch in the tent.  Problem solved!!  All the other neighborhood kids have been playing in it the last couple days too because it is pretty cool to have a tent in your basement!  I can be a fun Mom sometimes!

On Saturday, Brady woke up and told Aaron that he wanted to take the training wheels off his bike and learn how to ride his 2 wheeler.  I was very skeptical that this would be a success but Aaron had more faith in Brady than I did.  After only about 10 minutes of helping him get balanced and holding on, he let go and Brady took off by himself!!

I was so happy for him and so ashamed of myself that I didn't think my son could do it!  I should know better than to doubt the determination of a 5 year old!

Learning to get off and on

Aaron helping him balance and walking beside him

10 minutes later, off he goes riding in the cul-de-sac by himself

 We have had the slip-n-slide or sprinkler out several times already and school isn't even out yet!  I couldn't resist this cute picture of Collin.  He wasn't wearing a swim diaper to help keep his pants up but it was so darn cute!  He is my water baby and would live in the water if I let him!

By the time summer actually gets here, we will have already been doing all of the normal summer things!  That's OK though because I love summer!  Now I just need to work on my tan a little more because my legs are still pretty white!  Speaking of tans, Brady has a really good one already!

Princess Ava's 5th Birthday

Me and the boys went to Illinois Easter weekend to celebrate little Miss Ava's birthday.  Melissa was hoping to have her new house done by then, but it was not complete enough to have the party there.  So we went to Plan B and had it at one of the party rooms at the hotel that they finished renovating up the street from their neighborhood and it worked out great!  Less set up and way less clean up and since her in-laws owned it, it was free!

I of course had to come bearing gifts for both my girls!

I made them some cute ruffled, tiered summer dresses with hair bows to match and they both loved them!  I found a link online with great directions and it was my first time sewing clothes, so I think I did a pretty good job! :)

Me and my Sadie girl with her dress

Ava had to put hers on right away as she was opening some other gifts she got as well

Time to party!!!  She wanted a Disney princess party and that's what she got!

Princess kissing her frog? :)  She wore her Rapunzel dress to the party

Ava, her BFF Audrey and Brady really wanting some cake!

Entrance to party and some decorations.
Pink, purple and white balloons, flowers, tissue balls and candy

Sadie enjoying her snacks

Princess Ava with her Mom and Dad

Collin is enjoying the ice in the drink buckets

Even the boys had fun playing in the Princess castles!

The girls and their Kendra

The party was so fun, but we did have a little bit of a drama after the party.

We took the kids over to the new house to see it because it was mostly done.  The main floor was completely finished and the only furniture that was set up was the bed frame in the master, a couch and a couple end tables in the living room.  The kids had a blast running around in the house.  There's just something about an empty house that is so much fun. 

They were not being overly wound up, but Ava ended up tripping and falling onto the only piece of furniture around-the bed frame.  She knocked out one of her front teeth and knocked the other one crooked.  Poor thing!!!  She kept saying "Put it back!  Put it back!"  After several hours of bleeding, crying, calling around trying to find a dentist to see her and finally convincing her it was OK she was doing much better.  Their dentist got her in at 8am on Easter morning and said that there was no permanent damage and that the other one would just fall out in a year anyway so it would be fine.

The kids are getting into their Easter goodies from the Easter bunny and Grandma.
You can see how Ava is holding her mouth kind of funny.

Collin getting into his Easter stuff

Love this picture!

So that's how Easter started out.  Our plans of an Easter brunch kind of went out the window and we ended up not doing much on Easter.  I went to the Gray's to stay over night and then head home the next morning and my Mom and Dad went to spend Easter with my Grandma.  What an eventful weekend!!

Easter festivities and Chester the Raccoon

We got to have Chester the Raccoon come and stay with us the week before Easter.  Chester gets to go home with someone in Brady's class every week and they get to do fun things and keep a journal about his adventures.  (We had Miss Raccoon visit us back in the fall.)

Here's some fun things we did with Chester while he visited.

Had a popcorn party sleepover on the air mattress the nigh Brooklyn and Madison were babysitting the boys while we were at the ball.

Chester helping put Brady's stilts together

Brady is getting better on the stilts

Collin coloring Easter eggs

Chester helped Brady color his eggs too

 We went for a walk at the parade grounds on base.  It is a big open grassy area with a little gazebo and some canons, flags and other stuff as well as a track to walk around and some really pretty trees.  All the trees were blossoming and it was a beautiful day.
I took the chance to take a couple pictures of the boys while we were there.

Brady in a tree with Chester

Monkey in a tree

Daddy with the boys in the gazebo

My big monkey

 Brady's class also had an Easter egg hunt at school and so Collin, Chester and I came to school to watch and then take Brady home with us after it was over.

Brady with Chester and his eggs in his bucket

Brady and his friend Jack

Some of Brady's class after the hunt

Here's one of the pages of Chester's journal. 
Brady drew a picture of him and Chester and it was really good. 
He even put stripes on the tail and circles around the eyes. 

Brady really enjoyed writing in the journal and having Chester visit.  What a fun thing to do for the kids.  When I go back to teaching kindergarten again, I might have to steal the idea!

Air Force Ball

Aaron and I went to the 55th Wing Birthday Ball.  Last year Aaron went by himself because Collin was still a baby and I didn't think leaving him with a babysitter would make him very happy or the babysitter!  So this year, I got to go with him and we had a fun night dressing up, dancing and chatting with some of his co-workers, as well as seeing some of the commanders that were in town from Tucson.  The night before the ball, we had the commanders over for dinner at our house and it reminded us that Aaron really did work with some awesome people at D-M.  It's nice to run into them again.

Yikes!  My legs are white!  I need a tan!

Crazy hair!

Brady's preschool took a field trip today to see a guy that does a "Funtastic" musical show for kids.  So they got to dress crazy with crazy hair to go see him.  We bought some green spray for Brady's hair and he wore his tie-dyed bright green shirt to go with it.  He had a fun field trip and it was even more fun because he got to wear his favorite color from hair to toe! :)

Skate City

On Wednesday mornings, they have Tiny Tot skate at Skate City.  We had never been rollerskating before but we decided to try it out.  We met Brady's little friend from school there.  They have all of the younger kids only during this time and they tighten the back wheels of the skates so they don't slip so much.  They also have a couple employees out there on the floor helping the kids so the parents can kind of relax and watch them have fun.  Brady did really well.  I was quite surprised.  He had so much fun with his friends and he wants to go back even.

Brady and Raymond

Miss Glam Skater Jorie

Doing pretty well at the limbo

Collin learned how to "cheese" for the camera.
He had a good time running around the skating rink
and playing with the lockers while the big kids skated

He started slipping just as I was taking a picture of him skating.
But he actually caught himself before he fell, even though it looks like he's going down here!

I promised Brady that we would go back again this summer and he's very excited about that!

Brady takes Mr Cuddle to the vet

We really love Brady's teacher at school.  She is just so good with the kids and she really loves what she does.  Her sister was here visiting, who is a middle school math teacher, so she came to school with Mrs. Brown to help out in the class.  She did some really cool math things with the kids that you would think would be way above their heads as 5 year olds, but it was really fun for the kids to do charts and graphs and 3D shapes.

Her husband was also visiting and is a veterinarian.  So on Thursday they had the kids bring in a stuffed animal to be treated by the vet.  When I asked Brady which stuffed animal he wanted to bring, he said this teddy bear.  It belonged to my Dad, who gave it to me and I gave it to Brady.  He knows it is very old and very special but he said that he needed to be seen by the vet so he could be taken care of.  He is the sweetest little boy!

At school they each got to take turns assisting the vet with another "patient" as well as having their stuffed animal "patient"  be seen.  Brady came home with a diagnosis paper, a prescription and a little yellow pill in a bottle, as well as an eye patch for Mr Cuddle. He has been missing an eye for years and Brady wanted the Dr to look at it!  (As far as I know, the bear has never really had a name so Brady decided to name him Mr Cuddle.)

Brady with the brave little patient Mr Cuddle-eye patch and all!

His diagnosis and prescription

The next morning Brady was insistent on giving Mr Cuddle his little yellow pill (M&M)

What a good little patient and helper!

Brady's Robot Birthday and a surprise guest!!

We knew Aaron probably wouldn't be home in time for Brady's actual birthday.  So we planned his party for the weekend after his birthday hoping Aaron would make it home.  My parents, sister and girls came for the weekend and Aaron's Mom and Dad, sister and grandma were coming as well.  It came down to the last couple days that we thought Aaron would be letting us know his plans for coming home.  But he said it was not likely that he would make it home.  He was partly right because it was pretty much a stroke of luck or something because somehow he made it home on Friday night before the party on Saturday.

I hadn't heard from him for like 2 days (which happens sometimes because of his flying schedule and the difference in time zones).  But I got an email saying he would call me.  But then nothing for another day.  Friday afternoon at about 1 pm I get a text message asking if there's room at the dinner table for one more!  As soon as I saw the text I knew he had to be somewhere in the US where his phone was working.  So I called him and found out that he was back in the US at the Houston airport headed to Omaha.  He hadn't called or anything because he knew he would ruin the surprise because I would press him for details of what he was doing or where he was!  He even told me later that he didn't use the credit or debit card in fear that I would see where he was  making the transactions.  Only 5 of 28 people on his crew made it back that night and he was one of them.  It was such a fun surprise and we surprised his Mom and Dad who came later that afternoon when he came home.

Anyway, now on to the party pictures.  I'm warning you that there are a lot of pictures and I am so happy with the way that everything turned out I'm posting a lot of details.  Most of these are on FB so you've probably seen them on there already.  In case anyone wants a robot party of your very own, I'll post some links at the end too! :)  I think I had as much fun planning this as Brady did enjoying the party!  He was so excited when he saw all of the decorations going up!

All back together again!

Robot sign I made for the front door

Party decorations in the basement before the party
We did red, green and blue with robots and gears for decorations

Food table and banner I made

Brady, waiting to dig in!

 I had to stick with the technological theme and name all of our snacks to go with the theme!  I know, I know, the kids can't even read but it was still fun! 

My favorite pictures of Brady from the last 5 years

Robot bean bag toss game I made

Goodie bags

Tags I downloaded

The real cake-I kept the topper I made last week from the practice cake! :)

Pinata time!



Aaron busted it open!

Kids coloring robot pictures

Ava's all done!

 Aaron's family was very happy to be there and very happy that Aaron actually got home in time!  His Grandma was visiting from Maryland and wanted to see him before she went back home and she got to!

Because my Mom takes all the pictures, we hardly ever get pictures of my Mom and Dad with the kids or at all!  They were here and a big help as well so we were also very happy to have them here with us too!

Here's the link for the Robot Printables I downloaded and ordered the Invitations from as well!