Jacob's Graduation Pre-K 2009

This morning Jacob graduated from ECC, the Early Childhood Center, Pre-K class of 2009. One of our past school Superintendants, Mr. Paden gave the commencement speech and it was wonderful.

A very good family friend, Ruth Atchley was given the "Grandmother Volunteer of the Year" award. Ruth taught Jerrod, Trista and Brandon in our Children's Church for many, many years and she now volunteers at the Early Childhood Center.

We also got the wonderful news this week that Jacob's transfer was accepted so he will be attending Kindergarten at Pratt next year. So MeMe will know if he gets in trouble. We will probably both have to go through some adjustments next year. I just hope that one of the most wonderful Kindergarten teachers in the school system will still be at Pratt next year, which by the way is the daughter of Ruth Atchley, the Grandmother Volunteer award winner. She loves teaching and has a true compassion for children, just like her Mother does.

Congratulations Jacob!

Roaring River Has Just Begun 2009

Like father like son, except Jacob doesn't look as into it as Jeremy. Don't you just love Jacob's little fishing vest? Even if he doesn't fish he wants a fishing permit to hang on the back of his vest. We bought him a hat our first trip to Roaring River this year but he won't wear it because it doesn't have a big hook on the bill of the hat like PaPa's. So we will be purchasing one on our next trip which will hopefully be at the end of this week, Memorial Day weekend. If I didn't have to work 3 days after Memorial Day I would be staying for a couple of weeks. Darn snow days that we have to make up. ;(

Jacob talked his Daddy into helping him look for crappie heads (crawdads). They did finally find one as you can see. I would have rather had the crawdad in my trailer instead of the lizard they found. I looked in his little bug keeper that we keep in the trailer for lightning bugs and there was a lizard in it. Might I say it could have gotten out since the lid does not lock shut, so I talked him into letting it go.

There is a park in the resort for the kids to play at. Kylee and Katie are a BIG help with Lauren. They take her to the park and keep her entertained. They always try to do things that Lauren can do with them. I am glad that they have a good time when they are together.


Trista and Jacob went fishing with Jeremy so she decided to take some scenic pictures of Jacob. I really don't care for the one of him looking over the edge of the cliff. The one of him by the waterfall is good but they came back to the trailer and Jacob had nothing but his wet underwear on. Well, guess what!!! Jacob fell into the freezing cold water and thank God he grabbed a tree root and held on until his Mom could grab him. I am just glad I wasn't there when it happened. Trista is always telling me to keep my eye on him when we are around the water. I'm just glad that it happened when he was with her and not with MeMe. We have a wonderful time together with family and friends when we go to Roaring River. It is such a relaxing place to be.

Madilyn

Isn't she beautiful!!! This picture was taken when she first got to MeMe and PaPa's house and she had just woke up from a short nap in the car. It took her a little while to break away from Brandon. She is definately a "DADDY'S GIRL." Brandon is a good Daddy. He takes care of Braden and Madilyn during the week while Ashley is at work from 7pm until 7am. He calls her his chunky monkey.

Lauren quickly discovered that she isn't going to be able to hold her and feed her the bottle like she use to. So we decided to get out the toys and they had a great time playing together.

She is definately a baby on the move now. She is crawling around everywhere and pulls up so it probably won't be long until she is walking around everywhere, then it will be hard to keep up with her. Aunt Trista was able to get one picture with her.
Before Brandon & Madilyn left I gave her a bath in the kitchen sink. I just figured that the smaller the tub the better!!! She loves her bath time. I think you can tell by her beautiful smile. MeMe loves giving her babies their bath, soaking them in baby lotion, putting their pj's on them, and then I just want to rock them to sleep. She was almost asleep before Brandon got her in the car. She was a tired little angel after playing with Jacob and Lauren. I just wish I could see her every day. She is growing up so fast. We love you Madilyn.

BRADEN'S BIRTHDAY PARTY

Today we celebrated Braden turning 5 years old. As you can tell it was a bowling birthday party and it was a little hectic with 4 and 5 year olds. They had a blast but Braden and Jacob would get a little upset if they didn't knock all of the pins down. They are both very competitive and like to win all of the time! Go figure since both of their dad's, Brandon and Jeremy are also competitive.

I am not sure about the poses in these pictures, but aren't they cute! ;D

Jacob would lean in what ever direction he wanted his ball to go and that still didn't help it.

I can't end this blog without showing a few pics of Braden's little sister and our precious angel Madilyn. She is also growing up so fast. It is hard to believe that she is 6 months old now. Isn't she a cutie!!!!

This is the first picture taken of me and Madilyn together since she was born. MeMe is usually the photographer. MeMe and PaPa love you both very much.

Spring Break 2009

We left friday morning at 4:00, Robert called at 3:00 to see if we were up getting ready. I told him that we would be ready even though I had not gotten to sleep until 1:30 after getting things together and doing my hair which takes about 45 minutes just to dry it. I loaded Jacob up in his pj's, pillow and blanket. I did get dressed but also had a pillow and blanket for MeMe. He woke up when we got to Roaring River ready to trout fish. I had to explain to him that we had to set up the trailer first and get the heater turned on because it was COLD outside. Once he got out of the truck he decided that he would go to MeMe and PaPa Fweeman's (Freeman's) trailer where it was warm. After getting the trailer set up and the heater turned on I got him dressed and headed to the fish hatchery to feed the fish. This is something that we do every day besides going to the fish store to see if there are any new toys that he might not already have.
As you will notice in most of the pics Jacob's left eye is closed because he said that the sun was in his eyes and he could only open one. Later that day we took him to the playground area where a bunch of mom's had brought their children, blankets, and picnic baskets so Jacob had lots of kids to play with.

He wanted to show us how strong he was and that he could go all the way across the monkey bars. He wanted MeMe to try it but I told him that I wasn't strong enough so he proceeded to tell me that I need to start lifting weights to make me stronger.

After the first trip of going to the creek with RJ, Zac, Kylee & Katie and Jacob coming back to the trailer with his only pair of tennis shoes wet I decided to go to Wal Mart and get him some wading boots and oh boy he thought they were cool and immediately wanted to go and try them out in the creek, so off we go Jacob, MeMe and PaPa. He said that he wanted to look for taddle poles (tadpoles) and crappie heads (crawldads). As you can tell in the pics he was very careful about turning over each and every rock.

New Family Member

This is Jerrod's new dog, his name is Dalli. He is a Blue-Heeler that was a Valentine Gift from Jennifer. Doesn't he have beautiful blue eyes? He also has really sharp little baby teeth which Jacob and Lauren can both confess to after today. Lauren kept getting mad because the dog was just playing with Jacob and not her, that was until the dog bit her on the finger. She didn't cry but she did make that pitiful little sad face and then came over for MeMe to kiss her finger.

Jacob was really liking it when Dalli would get ahold of his shirt, growl and then he would shake his head. They sure are cute when they are puppies but then they grow up!!!!!

T G I O

In case some of you might not know what that means: THANK GOD IT'S OVER. I mean hunting season. Now all of the camo can go back in its tubs and not be laying out all over my house. But now I have to decide where the newest dear mount will hang in my living room among all of the angels that I collect. HMMM!!!!! There are already two full mounts hanging in the living room so I told Jerrod he needs to come pick one out to take to his house. It really sounded like a good idea to me. ;) His house is rustic and outdoorish looking.


Then my son-in-law wants to know if I have a pot big enough for him to borrow so he can boil his deer skull in because he is going to do a european mount. I DON"T THINK SO!!!!! He asked me about a large pot that I fix stew in and I said, once again, I DON"T THINK SO. I will have to say on his behalf that he does a wonderful job on the mounts that he does for people.

There is a good thing that comes out of hunting season though. We donate the meat from the deer to needy families in the area. It is also a time when Mike, Jerrod, Jeremy and Jeremy's dad Neal spend time together doing what they love to do.


Now starts the fishing. Jeremy's Grandpa has a dock that they seem to want to visit quite often. In fact Jeremy took Jacob with him last weekend to the dock and when they came back Jacob came in and gave me a kiss but I think he had been kissing the fish before he got to my house. His face smelled like fish and so did his shirt where he would wipe his hands after he played with the minnows. There is also the trout fishing at Roaring River. Last year I couldn't figure out what the smell was coming from the bay where they store their fishing equipment until I smelled the towel that was left in the bay. OH MY GOSH as Lauren would say. I didn't want to wash it with the rest of my towels etc. and I didn't want to spend $1.00 to wash it by itself so I decided to just throw it away. OOPS!!! I then had to explain to Mike what had happened to his towel that he uses when he goes trout fishing. We now use disposable shop rags. The good thing about the trout fishing is that we have a wonderful fish fry at Paradise Valley and again it is something that the men love doing together. They fish and the women shop. Sounds like a good time to me.