North Carolina State Fair

On Sunday, Josh and I took the girls to the state fair. We had hots dogs, chicken fingers and funnel cakes. What great Fair food! We had a blast walking around looking at all of the games, rides, but most importantly, checking out the farm animals. I think we spent just about all of our time looking at the "doggies" or what most people call them, cows, pigs, sheep and horses.









In other news for the week, I started my job today at Treasures of Joy Christian Learning Center. Wow... you guys think two girls 11 months apart it busy! Try changing 10 diapers at once! I enjoy being in Caroline's classroom 1) because she's my baby and I still want to be there to teach her 2) because lesson planning is a whole lot easier :) It is quite a bit challenging handling all those babies, but they are so sweet and they don't talk back! It was sad for me to leave Makayla in her classroom, I missed her this morning. She is only like 10 feet away, but it seems so far. The other teacher in my room would let me take some "Makayla breaks" so I could peak in the door to make sure she was having a good time. Of course, my Caroline was the only child to refuse to take a nap and they both pretty much just ate applesauce for lunch, but they will learn. I had a lot of learning to do myself today, but I think I can handle it. It's only for a season. God has blessed us so much in the past two weeks, my trust in Him has grown immensely! I appreciate your prayers as we are challenged while Josh is in school!

Go Buckeyes!

I apologize for not getting any video footage up of Caroline falling asleep at the table. Our camera died right after we taped her, so we couldn't download it. Anyone want to get us a new one for Christmas???

This has been a fun relaxing week for the Bradley's. I'm not ready for Josh to go back to school. Why do we have to work? Speaking of work, I have put out my resume for some daycares and preschools so that Makayla and Caroline could come with me to work. I have a couple interviews lined up, but since I'm so picky about who takes care of the girls, I think I will be interviewing them more than they are me. It's nice to have some options to think about. I got to babysit a 3 month old today and I decided it would be really fun to get another degree in Child Development so I can counsel parents. I was really proud that I did not get the baby bug!

I think the best part of this week for me happened in Ladies Bible class on Wednesday night. We are doing a Beth Moore study on the life of Paul (so happy to be in the New Testament!). I hadn't done a lot of the study for this week, so I did more listening than talking. This lesson really spoke to my heart. The women were discussing hardships that we go through and how to deal with them. I felt like the whole class they were talking just to me (partly because they were :) And then we looked up this verse and it has transformed my week, "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." 2 Corinthians 4:17. It just put everything in perspective for me. I get so stressed worrying about where our money is going to come from and how we are going to make it the next year, but it doesn't matter, because Heaven is awesome! The Lord blessed Josh and me with some awesome time meditating with Him and I am so thankful.

To end up this post (since the week isn't over yet) we had a blast tonite at my cousin's rehearsal dinner. He had a football themed dinner and we got to wear our team colors. Thanks to Josh's mom, the girls looked absolutely ADORABLE!! Everyone was talking about how cute they were (good thing they aren't going to be at the wedding or the bride might get jealous!) We had a good time grooving to blue grass, eating great bbq and welcoming Allie into the Longaberger traditions of the Safley's. So... I hope you enjoy a few of our snapshots of our Buckeye family!

Special thanks to Bows by Emily for providing the bows seen in these pictures ;)

Boring Lunch

So today apparently Caroline's lunch was just a little bit too boring for her. She fell asleep with her peanut butter and jelly still in her hands! It was one of the best nap times we've had in a looooong time! Video footage to come!

Time to Relax

Phew.... It's time to breath. This past week has been extremely busy for the Bradley family. Of course, every week seems busy when Josh is in school, but this week I actually had a life to add to the business. Since it's not my month for children's worship, I was looking forward to actually sitting in class and worship, unfortunately, I got too caught up in making sure everything was set with this months helpers and talking with someone who also has a cervical rib, I missed all of class and was late to worship, maybe next Sunday! Monday we had my second bow party. I invited lots of other vendors and we ended up with my sister, Cards by Jennifer, Kaeli who knits, Cathleen who makes candles, and Rachel who sent some yummy cupcakes and her portfolio. I think it was very succesful for all of us.... now we just have to fill all of the orders. Thursday Kaeli and I threw a lingerie shower for our married friend Jenn. She eloped in May and is having her cermony on Tuesday, so she missed out on all the showers that usually happen when you wait to get married. We had a BLAST! Everything turned out great and we successfully embarrassed the bride, although puking wasn't in our plans, she still says she had fun!
In the midst of this, Makayla has been continually reeking havoc in her room. By the time she's three there is not going to be anything left in her room. We've already moved everything out of her room except for the furniture. Even though the closet has a safety handle, we still have to barricade it with the dresser before naps and bedtime. This week she managed to climb on the dresser and break the clock, but even more amazing, she managed to lift the side of Caroline's crib (we have the basic kind where you can lower the side) so now Caroline has a toddler bed because Makayla broke the sliding side of the crib. That sure did make for a fun naptime today!
On a more serious note, we sold the last of our furniture that we felt we could do without. We still have some miscellaneous items we need to post on Craigslist. I got to babysit twice this week, and I'm piddling around with some online work. We're trying to find some ways to make some extra cash to pay for the surgery and to make it until Josh finishes school. It's time to take some serious action. I'm taking suggestions.
But there have been two very big blessings this week. We found out that while Josh is doing is Capstone nursing his final semester in school, he will get paid for his hours of working. But the best, most immediate blessing is FALL BREAK!!! I'm looking forward to spending a week with my husband and family and getting to relax and gear up for the end of the semester.
Sorry there aren't any pictures this week. But I will post some as they come, hopefully we'll have some family fun this week!

The Pumpkin Patch

Today we took a trip to Aunt Jeni, Caitlyn and Jackson's house. We walked to the Pumpkin Patch and had great adventures there. Instead of tell you about them, I will just show you!

Caroline with icky hands

Just call her farmer Makayla

Caroline is always in such a good mood
Makayla and her cousin Caitlyn