She's Here!

Tabitha Karen Bradley was born yesterday, Sunday 2/10 at 11:14 am. 7 lbs 12 oz,  19.5 in. She is sweet and wonderful and the kids love her already. She and I are both recovering quite nicely.

Jamesy Update

James traveled to Virginia for work for a week in February and then again in May.  He has been traveling about once per quarter to meet with coworkers and sometimes clients and works solely from home when he is here in Utah.  His trips are always a good experience for him--he likes to touch base with people in the office.  It's nice when he's home though.  We all miss him a lot when he's gone.  He said he even misses us a little bit too.  It's great that he doesn't have to go very often.  Work has been pretty stable, interesting, challenging, and low-stress for him.  He really enjoys his job as a software engineer.  He's amazingly self-motivated and focused while working at home too.  We enjoy the flexibility in his hours, his early finish times at the end of the day, and having him close.  He enjoys not having a commute and wearing his pajamas to work.  And occasional midday jam session breaks at lunch-time.

James has been playing lots of music lately.  I got him a  fancy keyboard and microphone for his birthday and he enjoys playing with his friends and his brother.  He's recording some music on the computer too.  Speaking of his birthday, he's 30!  It was a big birthday, and he was thrilled to still have some hair left for it.

James has been camping with the Boy Scouts (he works with the 12-13 year-old boys) once a month.  They have also been doing a lot of hiking.  They're getting ready for their big Scout Camp backpacking trip in July up the tallest mountain in Utah, King's Peak.

Our garden is looking fantastic thanks to James's green thumb.  We've already enjoyed lettuce, argula, spinach, peas, strawberries, and broccoli.  We've got blue potatoes, onions, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, melons, and probably some other stuff to come.  And James planted asparagus, blackberries, and raspberries that should bear fruit next year.  We have a lot of baby fruit trees that are getting going too.  Hopefully someday they provide some shade for our backyard.  It is in full sun in the afternoons.  James has interesting plants growing all over our yard.  He's a free-range gardener, just like he's a free-range chicken farmer.  Our chickens, by the way, are doing well.  Cleo went broody again this year and James bought her a clutch of seven chicks from IFA which she is fostering happily.   He plans to keep Athena, Helen, and Penelope, and give the other four away.  

James is also our super-handyman.  He's always got a million projects. He just replaced the kitchen faucet at our rental condo and this week dug a trench to put in a new sprinkler here at our house.  It is wonderful that he's so handy and such a hard-worker!


Oh, and Jamesy aced the Dirty Dash this year.  Fun as always.  He got WAY muddier than me.

Here are some photos of The James this Spring:

 

 

Holy moly...what have we been doing?

I guess we've been doing a lot of stuff really.  Not too much blogging though.  ; )  We've been changing diapers, fixing meals, cleaning up, playing outside, getting into stuff, going on outings, potty training, doing lots of laundry, being together as a family, working, doing projects, fulfilling our church callings (our volunteer jobs at church), reading, scouting, and trying to stay sane all the while.

I think we're pretty content, pretty happy, pretty busy, sometimes a little stressed, and very lucky to have all the people and things we enjoy.

Probably the best way to update you on us all is one family member at a time.  Let's get started.

Felix at 9 months, Atticus at 4 years

February update

We had fun making Valentines together this year.  We did one round at our house and another round with cousins Sam and Simon.

Atticus gave his buddies at preschool a squeezable applesauce treat with his Valentines.  He wrote his name on each card.

  In my opinion, the best ones were the ones with missing letters.

Atticus got lots of fun treasures from his preschool Valentine's Day party.

The kids also really enjoyed baking Valentine treats.  Violet likes to turn on the mixer extra high and spray flour onto herself.

Violet hosted a tea party for some little girls in the neighborhood while Atticus was at his preschool party.

Felix tried to get in on the action too.

Speaking of Felix, he grew his first teeth.  Two of them.  He had a few grumpy nights from them and then got a cold on top of it all.  We've had a number of crummy viruses this winter.  He is doing just fine now though.

We've had a lot of fun playing outside this month too.  Even on the rare precipitous days this winter the kids have been happy to throw on a jacket and ride tricycles in the rain.

December & January Overload

 I know I'm not sharing new information when I say that December is a very busy month.  We had a wonderful holiday season.  Decorations, a VERY sharp and pokey tree, activities, parties, music, sugar cookies, gingerbread houses, family, presents, the whole shebang.  

 

We enjoyed some fun outings with cousins too, including bowling and the zoo.  As a family we also went to a New Year's Eve bash downtown.  The kids loved riding the train, playing the trash can drums, and playing in the bouncehouses.

And with a new year, come new antics--like putting a princess hat on your baby brother and trying to give yourself a bath in the sink.