Lordy, Lordy!!

Today is a VERY special day for our family. My big brother, Wesley is turning 40!

I don't know about you but at times-I forget that I am almost 30-married with 3 kids. When it comes to my brother I still see us as young.

Wesley and I are 11 years apart and out of all my siblings-I have spent the most time with him.

When I was 5, my babysitter (Megan pronounced *ME*gan) became his girlfriend and from that point forward my brother taught me all about relationships. I watched them go through high school with each other. On occasion, they would take me on a date with them! We would go walk around the mall, go to DZ (discovery zone), or Krispie Kream!

When I was in middle school, Wesley had taken my friend and I to the town Christmas parade. I asked what he was getting Megan for Christmas and he pulled out her engagement ring! Being young-and a blabber mouth-I had to find out if she would say yes. I couldn't let my brother get turned down. (Keep I mind the was 6 years after they started dating) so I went into wingman approach and hinted "If he asked you to marry him, would you?"

So there in our hallway he proposed. Romantic huh? ;) Megan and Wesley went on to get married. He got a wife-i got a best friend. I was a bridesmaid-and I cried the whole time. They moved into an apartment down the road from our house. I helped them set it up and enjoyed swimming in their apartment pool. a few years later little Emma was on the way (my eldest niece) and they moved across town. I missed Emma's birth because I was coming home from vacation and she came early! (4days after my 15th birthday) but I have been there for Ellie and Kaiden's (their youngest 2 kiddos) birth. I had the privilege of witnessing my brother become a father and that is the most powerful moment of my relationship with him.

Wesley is by far my biggest role model. He is a hard worker-he loves his family and he is the best big brother. He gave me my love for Vanilla Ice and Sir mix a lot. He made my slumber parties more...entertaining by scaring us on the middle of the night. And he introduced me to my most favorite movie-the Lazerath.

I am blessed to have him and can't believe today he turns 40. Happy birthday brother!

last week in iPhone pics

I don't know about y'all but last week emotionally wore.me.out. Between the Boston bombing-Texas explosion-manhunt it was just a crazy week. For us:

We got a new roof

Amelia is becoming more infant like and growing her personality

We got a pocket hose. Best thing ever

God showed off with some beautiful weather

And we napped...

Aubrie caught a lizard (anole) that lived in a jar for 2 days-here she is hanging on some grass

boring.

Life here is boring. Which is a good thing I suppose. Madyson is almost out of school-so there will be some end of year stuff coming up.

Our daily life consist of trying to get things done with a growing baby. If you come to my house and its a mess-I apologize. My little "leach" (as we affectionately call her) likes to nurse-all. day. For never have nursed a baby before-I believe I am a pro. Well-she is. In the 3-4 hours a day (all 24 of them) that she is asleep and not nursing I may get a shower-do some laundry or a load of dishes. But right now-I am a dairy cow. Who'd a thunk it?

Aubrie Kate is busy getting ready for kindergarten. We are working so hard on getting her prepared. She is still missing some skills-but we have all summer-so I am not too worried.

Like I said earlier, Madyson is almost done with first grade. Next year, we move to a new school and 2nd grade....I am in denial.

Todd is coaching the girls Tball team this year- and its a barrel of fun on Tuesdays-

it drives her crazy that i take photos the whole time

aubrie kate mid dance....

How am I suppose to play with you taking pictures the WHOLE TIME??

Todd adjusting Aubrie's helmet

she hates wearing it-"It's hot"

Aubrie playing in the dirt....

We finally got a new roof!! (2 years in the making!) now we have to paint the house! :/ We might get it done in...two years.

Making your iphone YOURS!

I just now joined the iphone team. I know--I know--about 5 years too late.

Reason being-I loved my android! But we switched providers and the iphone was .99 when you switched the android was more-and I am cheap-so iphone it was.

While I was setting everything up-I found a blog that teaches you how to use the app CocoPpa.

4 nursing sessions later and I now have a cute iphone!

You can use the link above to see the big details-but Ill show you one fun thing you can do!

Say you want to make an icon for you favorite blog, The Broadus Bunch.

First you select your icon. You can search by tags, colors...here I searched for the word "Crown"

I selected this icon-next click on "Set up link"

this is your next screen-click on URL

type in the address. the http:// is very important

hit Ok

Select YES

Next hit the share button (the little box and arrow)

select your icon and add to home screen

ta da! Now-thebroadusbunch.com is a one touch icon on your homepage!!

My other favorite feature: See on my homepage how I have the mustache with "t bird" and the unicorn with "nana" those are one touch icons that will call Todd & my mom. Pretty nifty huh?

Like I said-this blog has great tutorial on how to use CocoPpa! 

Have fun!!

Weekend Fun!

Oh what a fun filled weekend! We are all out of undies due to the lack of laundry-(but I washed enough tonight to make it til Tuesday :)

Friday-Madyson came home from school with her AR tshirt. She has been in AR since kindergarten and loved it. But this year has taken a huge toll on her (with the death of my MIL-me being pregnant-the new baby) and her love of reading really disappeared. Most of her friends got their 50 point shirts first semester-but it took Madyson longer to get motivated and to get her love of reading back! We were very proud that she achieved this! We have watched her develop and change so much this year and deal with a lot of grown up things-she is back making all A's & B's and working very hard at school again.

Friday night we took the girls camping! Now-I know what you are thinking...camping with a 5 week old. Well-lets say...we took the girls camping...in the backyard.

They have been begging to go-and we wanted to test them out in a tent-but I needed to be close to civilization with Miss Mia-so we figured the backyard was as good of a place as any! (I mean we do have a crazy family of raccoons living in our bushes...more on this later)

So we grilled hamburgers and hotdogs-built a "camp fire"-made smores and pitched a tent! Todd and the girls slept outside...and Amelia and I camped on the couch-in case anyone came wondering in during the night :)

Saturday-Todd was hunting with his friends so the girls and I headed to the country to visit my parents! It was a beautiful 70+degree day (I CAN NOT WAIT TO GET THE KAYAK OUT IN A FEW WEEK!!)

The girls fished with my dad and uncle and my mom, grandmom and Amelia went to the produce stand and to get ice cream :) Also, FINALLY-Madyson learned to tie her shoes! We have been working on this for years! And she would never "catch on" finally-we were sitting on the dam and we practice a few times and it finally clicked. I have never been so happy!

Sunday-we had our church picnic

We had a great time of fellowship with our friends. I have gone to this church my whole life-and I love being a part of it.

After the picnic-Amelia went to hang out with my aunt, Todd went to Softball practice and Madyson and Aubrie kate and I headed to the Nature Center to a first grade art show about Monarch butterflies. We have an amazing art teacher at the K-1st grade and she teaches the kids all sorts of stuff. Each first grade class of 20-25 had 5 kids selected to participate in this art show. Madyson was selected and we were very proud!

Madyson with her ribbon and artwork

Her classes art :)

After we all got home-we ran to Kohl's to get Amelia a few outfits. I had some Kohl's cash that was about to expire and never have had a baby that stayed in newborn clothing for more than 3 weeks, so I only have 10 outfits. I picked up a few more until she can finally wear 0-3!) We had dinner at Sweet Peppers then stopped by and visited with some friends before heading home!

It was a longggg weekend! But we had a great time! Coming up this week-we have a Life Group, a tball game, and lots of fun plans this upcoming weekend!!

One Month! What I am loving

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Amelia is 1 month old!

She is still wearing a NB size diaper and Newborn clothes (not to be confused with 0-3 months..we aren't there yet)

At her 2 week check up she was 6lbs 3.4oz :) -I would say (based on her size-she is close to 7lbs now)

Her schedule:
 She still sleeps a lot. Usually she is awake (eyes open checking everything out) 4-5 hours a day 2 in the morning and 2 in the evening. She sleeps 3 hours-then diaper change, eats and back asleep.

She gets a little bit of everything when it comes to food. She takes 2oz of formula a day-she has expressed breast milk when company is over and nurses the rest of the time for 20-35 minutes a feeding.

This whole nursing thing is out of the norm for our family (madyson couldn't and my milk went away with AK due to meds I had to take for my incision infection)-but she is pretty demanding and strong-willed and would starve herself if she didn't get to nurse. So, she wins.

She does not cry unless she has a dirty diaper or is hungry.

Some things I am loving this go around is:

The Fisher Price Rock-N-Play. I purchased ours 2nd hand from a friend and Amelia sleeps in this 85% of the time. Since she is so little it snuggles her perfectly. It is also really light-which is great since I have a "baby weight" limit on what I can pick up. "Nothing heavier than the baby..."

Blooming Baby Bath: This was a gift and we adore it! I bath her in our sink because it is easier than a big bath tub. And when we are done-we put it in the dryer-then back in the bag and under the sink-so it doesn't take up a lot of room!

 Honest Company diapers: We received a ton of pampers, huggies and other brands of diapers as gifts. We have been using those and are very thankful for them! But we also ordered Honest Company diapers and I have to say-they are the only ones that have not sprung a leak! (and they are so cute!)

Source: zulily.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Born Free Bottles-We use the glass bottles and they are great-they keep air out and have the perfect flow for my slow eater :)

That is the extent of our baby supplies for the first month! We have homemade blankets and burp cloths and she rocks carters sleepers all day...almost everyday :)

It's been a WEEKEND~

My gracious-we had a full weekend and I am SO tired!

Friday-my parents came to spend the night with us! Todd and my dad went hunting Saturday morning so it was easier for them to leave from our house than try to meet (there wasn't a middle to meet at)

We ordered pizza, my aunt, uncle, and cousins (who moved to Louisiana) came over and the kids played. My sweet cousins met Amelia, and then when they left we watched Les Miserables.

Saturday they guys got up and went hunting-my sister and my nieces & nephew brought donuts over and all the girls (and the lone nephew) ate breakfast, got ready, and picked up my cousin and her 2 kids (4 adults and 8 kids!) and we went to the Mississippi Children's Museum!

my mom with the kids-#8 was by madyson

After hours of playing-we headed to lunch and then did some shopping. Needless to say we had lost our minds! Kids ages 13, 9, 6.5, 5.5, 5, 2.5, 1.5, and 4 weeks....

We survived the day and then came home and RESTED for church on Sunday.

Sunday we got up and had a grand day! I am so sad though-for some reason my memory card deleted over 20 photos I had taken of Todd and the girls and our family-so I have the ones my mom took to share :(

After church we headed out to the country to hang out with my family for lunch and such.

The girls got their-changed clothes and went to the lake to go fishing. (They are my girls!)

um...when did I get a kid this big?

We ate lunch-hunted Eggs-and then the rain came! We got home around 330 and took a short nap-then made dinner and watched the finale of The Bible on History. It was very powerful-and the girls really have enjoyed it. It made the whole "Jesus dying on the cross" idea very real. We have had great conversations each week about Jesus' life. I love exploring the Bible with the girls.

Today we are hanging out-relaxing. Madyson had school today due to a missed day back during Hurricane season.

This week we have our first tball game-Amelia turns 1 month old (OH MY!) and a few other fun projects...