All aboard the reading train

A couple of summers ago I was trying to find a way to motivate my kids for summer reading, my kids usually don't need much motivation to read every day but I wanted to give them a loftier goal so we set a meeting and they kids set how many books to read. We didn't reach the goal but I guess the kids loved it because they asked if we could do it again this year. 

 We sat down and had another meeting and the kids decided that they could read 100 books between June 1st and September 1st. I thought it was a bit much but they were convinced they could do it.
We had a slow start and come June 30th with 16 books read I was pretty sure that we were not going to make it.

 The kids had fun though and come August, even knowing that they wouldn't hit the goal, asked if they could continue until we ran out of trains.

Due to James finding that his favorite series of books (Beast Quest) had published another 30 novels, we hit 100 novels by September 28th.

It was a fun experiment and one I am sure we will try again. 

Harvest Time

So earlier this year I wrote about our garden expansion. When I wrote and posted pictures then little did I know the bountiful harvest that we would start pulling from this little bit of land.

We had a garden full of squashes, berries, carrots, beets, parsnips, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, pumpkins, cucumbers, and more items I just can't remember right now. We have been blessed with a great harvest, our one pumpkin vine alone produced about eight pumpkins.  It has been a fabulous garden and we've enjoyed much of the produce. 

This is a picture of part of the garden after we had pulled about half of what was growing.in those boxes, yup we are well blessed.

One item that we tried this year was cabbage. We are not big cabbage eaters and the only reason we tried it was Eve was given one at school as part of a project, so we planted it to see. We don't have the best track record with cabbages. Laine was given a cabbage a couple of years ago for a school project and we killed it in a week. I wasn't expecting much of Eve's but it surprised me.

 Having never grown cabbage successfully we weren't quite sure when to pull it so finally in August we decided to take that baby out...we might have waited too long.

Half of the cabbage looked great, the other half was molding. Eve was still proud of what she had grown and we decided that if nothing else, those leaves make some awesome hats.

With all the harvest it has meant that my weekdays are spent canning all the produce we can't eat. So far I have canned pickles, watermelon jelly, jalapeno jelly, raspberry zucchini jelly, peach zucchini jelly, tomato sauce, and tomato soup.   Still on the menu beets, more sauce oh and a few more batches of frozen parsnips and carrots.  I feel like a pioneer woman here. 

So the garden this year was a success, we love the produce and the added space. Already we have plans for next year, items to plant, new spots for growing, and more canning ahead. 

Raising them right

Last spring Christian and I went to our first Comic Con event here in Salt Lake and then decided that we should take the kids this fall. Knowing how many people that were going to be there over the three days I went back and forth on this decision but September came and we were headed to the Salt Palace for the second Salt Lake Comic Con. 

First thing, I know many people complained about the lines to get tickets that first day. We were not one of them. It took us twenty minutes to find parking but we were able to walk right in, thanks preregistration.  I really liked being there on Thursday, inside lines were short and we were able to see everything we wanted to with minimal wait!

Our first stop was the free picture we got inside the Tardis. The kids thought that was a hoot. 

Matty spent most of the convention on on of our shoulders. So much better than bringing his stroller, we moved quicker and easier. It was also really cute.

 The kids were most excited to meet some of their favorite authors, They got to meet and talk to Brandon Mull (Fablehaven books), Jessica Day George (Tuesdays at the Tower), Shannon Hale (Princess Academy), Richard Paul Evans (Michael Vey) and Brandon Sanderson (Alcatraz Verses the Evil Librarians and countless others). They had fun learning about what it takes to write a book and some spoilers for upcoming books.

 We spent time over at the Kid Con area where Matty was very upset to find out that he could not open this Tardis, it really was almost the end of the world for him.

 The kids also did some super hero training, Matty took this very seriously and when aske what we wanted to be when he grows up he said, "the Doctor" notice not a doctor but The Doctor.

I laughed Saturday after we took this picture, we walked right up with no line. Saturday at 10 am the line was at least ten groups deep. Yay for Thursday at the con! 

We did finally find the big Tardis with the doors that opened so Matty was happy! 

There were also some weeping angels near by, we weren't too afraid though because we had - ice cream!

 My kids didn't want a lot of pictures with the cosplay people but Eve race across the floor to get pictures with this Anna and Elsa. She was super excited, I wonder if we can skip them at Disneyland next year...

The next day we were totally awesome parents and pulled our kids out a whole half an hour early from school and headed down to the con. We got to meet and speak with John Barrowman (Doctor Who) and even got to skip most the line because we had a small child (thanks Matt!) and then we went and talked with Paul McGann (Doctor Who). 

We also got to meet Eve Myles who is incredibly sweet and kind. She talked to us for a bit and even commented about Matty's tooth gap. She was just pleasant and completely awesome. 

Only two of my kids wanted a picture with the big snakes. They were super brave and I was surprised that they could even stand hold two giant snakes. 

Eve may not have stood for a picture with snakes but she was happy to stand with Gollum, 

Our last day there we spent most the time in panels as the floor was just crazy but our kids had a great time. Matty had such a good time that he doesn't want me to cut off his admission bracelet.  

Thanks Salt Lake Comic Con, we will be back! 

And we're back

So summer seemed to come and go with little acknowledgement from our Bradley Family blog. We did participate in summer, there were swimming lessons, art lessons, cooking lessons, family reunions, travel, and movies. It was a pretty busy summer needless to say and there wasn't much time for chronicling the fun...I hardly got any pictures.

But with the start of school came the return of sanity and order and we are all loving it. 

We did snap back to school pictures though and the kids were all super cute, even if James had to wear his Sunday shoes, since he left the others out and the dog got to them...ah the things you find out at 7:30 Monday morning. 

Eve is our lovely 4th grader this year- go Utah History!!!!! I wonder if we have to memorize the counties and the county seats again? 

James is our second grader and right now everything is addition, subtraction, and eventually multiplication --gotta love those flash cards. 

Laine is the big sixth grader, big man on campus. She has finally decided that she no longer wants to grow up and stay in elementary school forever, I am okay with this. 

So there are my three back to schoolers off for 180 days of exciting learning. I just hope that we get our science fair projects done on time this year...but I'm not holding my breath. 

Happy birthday Matty!

I noticed this week that I am woefully behind in updating summer adventures. So here is my attempt to catch up with a belated happy birthday to our very own three year old toddler.

What to say about Matty, well I could probably sit him down to tell you about himself. Never have I met a more verbal child than he is. That kid is always jabbering and having conversations about his toys, shows he likes, games, or the goings on of his day. These conversations start when he wakes up to when he goes to bed making anywhere you have to be quiet difficult, church, movies, you know. I guess it wouldn't be bad if he knew how to whisper but that is not that case. Even with the jabbering he charms everyone he meets and believes that everyone is a friend. He is a good caretaker with a sweet soul that just wants to help. He follows me everywhere and will help with any chores, his favorite is dusting. He is also on his way to becoming a potty champion...thank heavens. 

Matty is a true Disney Boy and our current Disney favorite is Handy Manny. Matty loves to walk around with his tool box and fix things. He is also a fan of super heroes (Spiderman), puppies (except the one that actually lives in our house), Frozen and Wreck-it-Ralph (he can sing all the songs for you), and Dinosaurs (he can properly name several). This kid is all boy. 

Now as every three year old knows you cannot have a birthday party unless you have party hats. So he made sure we got the hats and people wore them. 

He also was happy to open all his presents and keeps asking when he will be receiving more--yes, a true toddler. 

So there he is our happy three year old. We love him and are so glad that this happy talkative boy is part of our family.

Color me....

Last September I jetted off to Morgantown, West Virginia to participate in my first Color Me Rad race. For those of you unfamiliar with these you basically participate in a 5K and as you hit about every kilometer or so you run through a color station where you get colored corn starch thrown at you.  I know it sounds odd but it is honestly one of the funniest 5Ks I have ever done. 

This year I decided to stay a little closer to home, though I love WV and the people who work on the Morgantown race, it was nicer to stay where I didn't have to add two travel days to my schedule. 

This year the plan was to take the girls with me, leaving the boys at home. Laine had a change of plans though and went to Virginia to see her mom, so it was just Eve and I. 

Eve was super excited to participate in this 5K and she was even more excited that it was just her. 

The Color me Rad 5K is a party, and before we got our party on we started for some photo ops in our nice clean white shirts. 

Before we even left the starting gate Eve (and I) were already covered in the color.

 The 5K was about the same path we did a month or so we were ready. We had fun passing through each station, laughing at the other participants and just having a good time. We even stopped now and then to take a selfie or two...

This picture is as we are heading towards the end, We knew were getting to a color station when we would see a cloud of yellow, or pink, or blue that stretched on for a half a block. Eve learned the trick of standing on the outside so she could get the most color. 

After the race we were covered, Eve more than me, but all smiles. 

The boys were very sad that they didn't get to participate in the run, they kept asking if they were going and weren't happy that mom and sister stole away in the morning without taking them. We did bring them home some of our color packets to let them have fun too. 

After a quick but fun colored corn starch fight the boys were also covered and super happy. 

 So here's to a fun race, well see you next year!

The Epic Denver Trip- part 2

Have I mentioned that Denver is magic? About two days before we left on vacation Matty decided that he wanted to start potty training. That boy was a potty training champ on this trip. I think we only had accidents when he was napping or down for the night. Magic Denver, we think you are awesome and I thank you. Could you send some of your magic to Salt Lake because we have regressed a little.

Okay on to our great trip adventure. One morning we went to check out the Denver Aquarium, even a week later Eve cannot stop talking about how cool it was. It was a fun Aquarium and everyone's favorite part was walking in the fish tunnel and seeing all the fish. 

I think that the kids loved having dad with us the most. It isn't often dad goes to the zoo, museum, and aquarium with us. Those kids just loved being around him, and I understand why-he is a fantastic father. 

The top of my list to visit in Denver was The Garden of the God's. I had read about it on my cousin's blog and knew I had to go. It was awesome and we had a great day there doing some hiking and just playing together. 

Matty enjoyed showing us where we needed to go on our map. 

It isn't often that Christian and get a photo together, and it is even less often that I like any of the pictures (I am not a fan of most pictures I am in) but we had Laine take one while we were on vacation and I loved it. 

 The kids loved hiking and were pretty good at it. the one thing that they did not like was the horse poop that we had to deal with on the first half of the hike. I was impressed with the other family near us that were wheeling a stroller over the rocks and steep trail.  We had a ton of fun though and I think that James is quite awesome at hiking, he is a natural.

On our last day in Denver we went to explore downtown. We found the Money Museum at the Federal Reserve and that was just great. The kids had a ball designing their own money and learning about how the financial world works. 

We then took the free bus to the capital where we walked around and explored. We also found two of the three mile high markers. 

Downtown was fun. The kids enjoyed showing off their talents playing the pianos that were around.

All in all the vacation was a success. We had a fun time with family, ate fantastic food (there might have been an elk and buffalo hot dogs consumed), and saw some fun things. The ride home was even pretty good. No blizzards or storms, just a bunch of Fablehaven and stump dad questions. So thanks Denver, we had a great time!