The Bradshaw Clinic

Photographer in Training!

2011-03-19T16:39:00.000-07:00

Photography must be in our blood. These are some pictures I found on my card while downloading pictures to my computer. Ashley and Hannah took these with my Nikon dslr. I say they are pretty good, for me never showing them how to use it, let alone focus the images. Thats why I say it must be in our blood.

Apparently the couch was too boring, so they exxperimented with the measuring spoon.

What silly little kids!

A Mouse in our Family!

2011-03-19T16:28:00.000-07:00

A mouse in our Family!

Yes, we have mice, well actually one. His name is John Jr, and he is our little mouse. I know sometimes we eat dinner early and today dinner was quite ready by 4:30 and this is what happens when you are upstairs helping your husband get ready for work just for a moment.

To me the pictures just don't seem to do it justice. Out of 12 buns that were bought just 2 hours earlier, yes that's the funny part, I only managed to save 4. I guess he just thought well mom's not making dinner right now, I'm hungry, I can climb, there food lets go for it. An inpatient little boy, must be a Bradshaw.

October fun!

2010-10-31T13:40:00.000-07:00

Boy was October a busy month. Since we moved into our House and the holidays are finally here, it is really fun to decorate and make fun crafts with the kids: the kind that don't break, so here's a list of what we made:

Pumpkin bats
Pumkins Rolls
A table cloth
Bat-Ghosts for the Chairs
A witch pumpkin for Outside
3 kids costumes

Some of the crafts Lasted long enough to take a picture and some didn't make it. But the process was loads of fun!

Pumpkin bats: These made it, but they were mush even before Halloween hit, which was funny cause we had to use a hammer and pliers in order to get the wings in the pumpkin. They were as hard as a rock to begin with. The girls painted them all by themselves, which I was very proud of.

This one was Ashley's Bat and as you can tell it went to mush the fastest.

This one was Hannah's.

And finally this one was John's, hence the baby fangs.

Pumkins Rolls: I thought these were a great decoration cause the kids loved to play with them and they were pretty much indestructable. I just took some fabric and wrapped them around toilet paper, added a stem and a leaf and they were done.

A table cloth: this one ended up in the laudry after the girls drug it around our house like a blanket, however it did last about 3 weeks on the table.
Bat-Ghosts for the Chairs: these were fun for the kids especially John. We took felt and made ghosts and bats and put them on pillowcases that went on our dining chairs. The Instructions siad to use repositionable spray on glue. Bad idea for those with kids. John would take off the bats and the eyes and hide them somewhere cause I can only find a few bats at present. It wouldn't be so bad if they just got repositioned but he felt the need to take them off and hide them. They are most likely in a toy bucket now. He had fun doing it though. So alas, no pictures.
A witch pumpkin for Outside: This was a cute idea I found and copied from a magazine, however somewhere alsong the way the Witch hat either blew away or misteriously disappeared.

3 kids costumes: This year I was faced this the dilema of making versus buying costumes: and the decision was to make them. I started a little late this year but they were done on time, so that's all that matters. I had saved up 5 coupons and decided to check out Joanns and see what I could find. It's always a little scarry getting fabric cut cause you never really know what your going to spend. I always end up overspending, but this year was our year. I only spent $15 for the fabric for all three costumes which was quite unexpected. They were all pretty simple to sew with the exception of Ashley's chef hate. I think I spent an hour looking at the fabric and the instructions trying to figure out how to put in together, But other than that no major dimemas. It was a lot of fun to sew them and the kids thought they were great. Hannah's was the cowgirl, John was a doctor and Ashley was a chef. I tailored their costumes to their personalities. Hannah really loves horses! and Ashley loves to help me cook! John ended up as the doctor just because.

A Sad Tale of Our Swimmingpool!

2010-10-13T12:13:00.000-07:00

          Now that summer has come to an end, it would be fitting to share some pictures, because I am a procrasinator. It began when I was in school and college and has contuined on into motherhood. So sorry for all who follow our blog, I have intentions of posting photos, it usually comes a few months after the intitial thought of, "that would be fun to put on our blog". My excuses is,"I have 3 kids all under the age of 5" and I'm sticking to it.

          So back to our sad story. We moved out to Buckeye and finally have a backyard, unfinished but still a backyard. We got the girls a swimmingpool and they have loved it. The sad story is that it only lasted a month. I had been researching online for larger inset inflatable pools and reading other people's reviews. I found one review that said a cat had popped their pool with its claws. About a week later, their pool met its fate. We got up one morning and it was completly deflated. I grew up with cats, but at this moment, I do not care for them. So no more inflatable pools, we will have to either dig a big hole in the gound or save up for an above ground metal framed pool.

          The good thing is that I was able to get some pictures before it was destroyed by a pesky cat. Sorry, but no pictures of John jr. He loves taking a bath, but he hated the pool and wanted nothing to do with it.

Ashley loved the mermaid we got her and Hannah is in the backround ready to prounce and spray water !

They had a blast while it lasted.

Portraits

2010-09-20T21:51:00.000-07:00

This summer we finally had our family pictures updated thanks to Grandpa. The last family portrait was when I was pregnant with John Jr. It was quite the adventure getting everyone to sit still and smile. Despite having several wingle worms, Grandpa was able to produce some awesome pictures. We even had some individual portraits of our kids done. The girls were pretty much done with taking pictures and got lucky with what we got. John surprised us and was really good at getting his picture taken. He is such a fun little boy!

Our Growing Family of 5!

Ashley

Hannah

John Jr.

John and I

The Latest News from the Bradshaw's

2010-08-12T16:25:00.000-07:00

I do not normally like to bring family drama out into the public, however my sister has forced the issue by posting on her site. Here is the post from her site:

Despite our best efforts we were shunned for doing good deeds, and misunderstood for the intentions of our hearts, we were shut out for doing that which was right, we were rejected for loving. And despite our best efforts we realize life must go on and good will prevail and justice be sought for the wrongs done here this day, and carry on we must, because life goes on. We must endure to the end all trails whether unjust or harsh. whether wrong or unfair. And all this for the purpose of life. To learn from the lessons we came here to be taught. Though my heart is broken I must go on and try harder even if I know I will fail in the end. Even if all my efforts are wasted I will not give up, I must keep trying.I must have hope, for without hope there is only despair. And with despair comes the end. with that end there is only bitterness and hate, and I will not, cannot let myself come to such a sad place. carry on sad heart, for there will come a day when everything is right again, and I shall rejoice because it is then I shall be reunited with the ones i hold dear.

http://laurecluff.blogspot.com/2010/08/hope-for-day.html

My thoughts on this post:

I would like to clarify this post for those readers who may be confused.This post is reguarding the way my sister views my marriage to my husband.She has had a history of mental problems and has a hard time telling fantasy from reality.She thinks that I am mentally and emotionally abused and has sought to tell others this fabrication of her mind.She has told me that I am being controlled and I cannot stand on my own two feet.I would like to correct Laure and let all family that reads this blog know that in no way, shape or form am I abused in my marriage.John lets me do as I will, buy things as I would like and assocaite freely with whom I would like.John builds me up everyday and tells me how wonderful I am, how pretty I am and how capable I am.I am very happy in my marriage!! and in no way am controlled by my husband. I find this post quite interesting due to the fact that she had called just a few months ago and apologized for giving false information to my family reguarding my relationship.She said she did this to take the negative attention she was getting off of her.Through investigation I have found she has been feeding information to my parents, without my knowledge, since we have been married so as to drive a rift between us to take the pressure off of herself.Aparently, since the trip to Utah, things have changed and she has continued to perpetuate these lies. I am a very private person.I do not discuss my relationship with family.Since my sister has moved to Oklahoma, I have only seen her on short visits.I believe she has twisted the content of these visits to fit her defintion of abuse and to validate her claims.I do not normally put private information on blogs. If anyone has any concerns please call I would love to hear from you.

I had posted the above comment hoping to set things aright.. alas it was deleted, well I am now reposting it on my site.

To my sister Laure: no I do not hate you, but what you are doing is wrong and I have never attacked you or your husband or spoken ill of your marriage...Please stop doing it to me.

Our new Home

2010-06-29T21:38:00.000-07:00

Yes , we finally moved into a house. I'm sure many were wondering, How many kids and how much furniture can you fit into a 2 bedroom apartment. The anwser is 3 kids, a living room set of 3 couches and way too much stuff. I will tell you, buying a house was quite the process, after trying for three different properties, we callled it quits and decided to go and buy a new home. Once we did that it was so mcu smoother, no greedy banks and pesky real estate agents thinking oh.. you can go for $10,000 more. I know they were thinking ... It's not my money, no skin off my back and I get a bigger commission. No offense to those real estate agents out there that are honest and nice, we just ran into some bad luck with real estate agents.

So we bought a spec home in buckeye, az. Once we picked a house and a mortgage broker, we were signed and moved in within 2 1/2 weeks. It went so quick I couldn't believe it. So we bought a 2 story, 3/2 with a loft and a very open kitchen. There is so much space were still not sure what to do with it all. The good thing about cramming so much furniture into a tiny apartment is that we didn't need to buy any when we moved in, with the exception of a refridgerator.

Within the first week, we started to hear the ice cream man in our neighborhood. That was a first for us, so bought each of the kids a looney tunes ice cream: ashley got bugs bunny, hannah got tweety bird and John got sponge bob. I also thought it was a nice way to take a picture of our house. I took one all by itself, but it looked so lonely. A home definetly needs a family and kids to complete it, so here it is:

Easter and Birthdays!

2010-06-29T21:12:00.000-07:00

Easter was filled with Easter Baskets, pictures by Grandpa and Easter egg hunts. John's family always has an Easter egg hunt for all of the grandkids in their backyard. It's fun to watch them and see how inpatient they get why they wait for the eggs to be hidden.

When I was pregnant with Hannah, I thought nobody wants to be in the hospital or have a birthday on easter, so I was induced early. Well low and behold, guess who's birthday landed on Easter this year, you guessed it, Hannah. She loves horses to death and can even mimmick their sounds to the T. Whenever she see's one while driving, on tv or in a book she says "Bri....neiggghhhh" (okay so my spelling dooesn't do it justice, but you get the point). So she asked for a Horses for her birthday cake. Luckily she has asked for a real one yet.

This picture is for you "joe". Last year, Hannah got her face planted in her cake. Since no-one in particular planted her face in the cake this year, she decided to do it herself and thought it was so much fun!

Hannah loves her new horse and her princess!

Poor John, He had to spend his 1st birthday surrounded by boxes. This is what it looks like when you've lived in a 2 bedroom apt for 3 years, decide it's time to expand and have no where to stack boxes.

This is one of John's favorite games, "peek a boo". The girls didn't get into it that much, but John loves it and now plays it on our stairs. Only now he runs away and wants you to chase him.

Back to blogging !

2010-06-29T20:16:00.001-07:00

Okay! So I am back to blogging after a bit of a break. However, it was a valid one at that. We decided to take a leap and buy a house. I love our new house, but boy do I hate moving. It is fun to have twice the space but it is a pain in the rear to pack, move and then find you don't know where anything is once you get there. I couldn't decide what photos to post so I figured I'd just start by updating our Easter pics and go from there. I guess the photographer in me has a hard time deciding what to share and what not to share, so why not just share it all. Hope you all enjoy!

climbing comes before walking

2010-03-09T18:58:00.000-08:00

These pictures are just too cute not to share and it was too hard o pick just one, so I thought I'd share them all. I thought boys learned to walk first and then climb, but John wanted to mix things up a little. For all of John's fussing, he sure had a great time and he loves the dishwasher and helping mom unload the dishwasher when I'm trying to load it. He was next to the dishes one minute and the next thing I knew he had climbed up on top.

John Jr.

2010-02-08T09:09:00.000-08:00

Here's a few pictures of John Jr. It seems like our blog is filled with pictures of Ashley and Hannah,so I thought we would change it up a bit. John is crawling and trying to walk along furniture. He's getting so big. He refuses to eat baby food and insists on table food. He just got his two bottom teeth and he'll bite if you'll let him.

Samsclub Chocolate muffins taste great, but there great only once. They make the biggest mess possible and crumbs get left everywhere and get trailed all throughout our home.

John is comming for the camera, watch out!

We take our kids to cabelas' often and show them all of the animals. We've even taken them fishing. John decided he wanted to try a fresh lobster from the grocery store. And yes it was live. Ashley and Hannah wouldn't even touch the lobster. John Jr. however, was more than willing to touch the lobster. It was quite a sight.

Christmas Pictures 2009

2010-02-04T13:30:00.000-08:00

Christmas time was filled with baking, sewing, shopping, wrapping and enjoying the Christmas Season.

I posted our Gingerbread house as a tribute to Joe and Christi. One year we tried to make them completley homemade and needless to say after 11pm and 10 batches of gingerbread dough we called it quits. It was an experience to look back and laugh at. So this year we tried the store bought one, which actually stood up with John's help. The directions said you can decorate after 15 minutes of setting up the walls... we found out this is not so. The kids had fun eating the candy and licking the icing. The girls were eating the candy faster than we could have them help us decorate it.

Our finished Gingerbread house!

Ashley and Hannah are just waiting to open their ponies. And yes they already knew what they were and they had to be rewrapped before Christmas day.

Getting two kids to smile for the camera is enough, but getting 3 kids 4 and under to look is another. The probablity is 2 out of 3.

Ashley loves her pink pony!

Hannah is our little princess. She hates to leave the house without a princess dress.

John seemed more interested in Hannah's princess costume than his helicopter.

Ashley and Hannah are our little princesses. They love to play dress up and stay dressed up with necklaces and crowns and anything girly.

Blogging update: Ashley's Birthday

2010-02-02T18:45:00.000-08:00

I can't believe its February already, where did the time go? I've had pictures sitting on my computer just waiting to be uploaded to our blog. Now that the holiday's have past, time for a little update. So thought we'd start with Ashley's birthday. Normally we make a cake of an animal or a cartoon character of some sort. This year I asked Ashley what kid of birthday cake she wanted and she kept on requesting a pink birthday cake, so pink it was.

Hannah was just as excited to open up presents as Ashley was even though it wasn't her birthday. The funny thing was Ashley didn't mind.

I still can't believe she is 4 years old already, where has all of the time gone.

My attempt at decorating a pink cake with icing tips.

4 years old = 2 years old

2010-01-12T14:11:00.000-08:00

Okay so I am back to blogging after the holidays. Soon enough I'll post birthday and christmas pictures.

I have come to the conclusion that my 4 year old is really 2 years old. I know some things are my fault and I need to be more careful, but this one will make you laugh. So I went grocery shopping and didn't get a chance to put everthing away--meaning the toiletries cause it was time to make lunch and then feed the baby. So why does everything seem to happen and go wrong when I decide to sit down and feed john? So ashley decided to take my new bottle of shampoo from the kitchen counter and into her room unbenonced to me. A little while later Hannah comes out and says, "ashley make a mess". I go into the room to investigate and there is my full bottle of shampoo, entirely empty. Yes 13 fl oz of strawberry shampoo all over the floor. Shampoo doesn't clean up it just sudds up. So after 5 rinse and dumps with the steam cleaner, shampoo is still in the rug--- I'll have to tackle it later. Note to self... no more strawberry shampoo. The upside is that their room smells like strawberries.

Halloween Party, Games and Portraits!

2009-11-06T08:05:00.000-08:00

This year for Halloween I got ambitious and decided to make three costumes. I didn't think it could be done- cause last year I ended up sewing Ashley's on Halloween. I got an early start and it was fun. John jr. was a dinosaur mostly cause it growls more than he cries. I let Ashley pick out her costume- so she decided on a blue tinkerbell. I added some purple cause she was a blue princess last year, Can you guess what her favorite color is? Hannah was Princess Minnie. She absolutely loves minnie mouse and I saw a costume online and said oh.. I can make that and it turned out really cute. It was a lot of work, but its always fun to see the end result. I even learned how to do an invisible zipper. Youtube videos are a lifesaver. It's good for more than just music and stupid videos. I had so many pictures that I liked from Halloween I had a hard time deciding which ones to post, so I thought I'd try and do a slide show instead.

We've been trying to get John to sit up on his own for weeks and he always would fall to one side or the other. No kidding, I sat him up to take his picture and he sat there all by himself and has done so since. Yeah! He was a cute dinosaur.

John's family decide to have their own Halloween party this year. It was so much fun with all of the cousins. They had a cottonball walk, bowling, fishing, donut eating contest, cake walk, coin toss, pumpkin pinata, prizes and candy. It was a bit crazy with all of the toddlers but it was fun to watch them play each game. The donut eating contest was quite funny. Most of the donuts fell off after a few bites and the kids didn't know what to do, they just ended up eating them.

After all of the games were over, Hannah decided she was tired and was going to take a nap on the stairs. Of course when I run to get the camera she perks up. It looked posed, but these are some of my favorite photos of the day.

It's become a tradition for Grandpa Bradshaw to take portraits of the kids in their costmes each year. They always turn out really cute. The picture with all three kids are hilarious. The box just wasn't wide enough for all three of them and John somehow forgot to sit up. Oh.. well it still made some great pictures to laugh at.

"One Liners"

2009-11-04T07:49:00.000-08:00

As our kids have learned to talk and express themselves, they have developed some great one liners and even I have contributed.

Ashley: randomly in the car will say lets go home and gets some "ice cream sandwhiches" or "cheese" or "frenchfries". Each time it is something different.

Hannah: "I'm not crazy" When we tell Hannah to do something like don't throw a fit, she'll say, I not fit and then add never. Everyphrase ends in never.

Hannah's crying and fussing tends to go on and on and can drive one crazy. Hannah has now picked up one of my phrases- "I don't want to hear it" So when she cries now and she's not hurt, I say Hannah "hush" and her reply is always "I don't wanna hear it"

Another new one for Hannah is "What's your problem Daddy or mommy what's your problem" A little background on this one. Hannah is the flashlight queen. She loves them, a little too much. She'll bite the buttons off of any mag lite. And then continue to deconstruct the flashlight to the nuts and bolts including the bulbs. So earlier this week, she wanted John's mag lite and he was playing with her and teasing her with the flashlight. Well aparently she had enough and has coined the phrase, "what's your problem daddy".

This morning I have coined a phrase that made John laugh a little too much. We are potty training, Ashley and pee and poop are our lives. Sometimes I find a present right next to the toilet. Thank goodness our bathroom isn't carpeted. This morning while getting breakfast ready, I have coined a new phrase, "I stepped in something and I know it not water." Yes Ashley left me a puddle of pee in the kitchen. Why? is beyond me, she knows where to go to the bathroom. I guess that's why they call it potty training and not potty trained. Cause at what age are they actually potty trainied?

Fun pictures with the kiddies!

2009-10-01T09:16:00.002-07:00

We have been working with Ashley all year to pedal her bike. Well finally it has paid off. We put her on a larger bike at walmart and she pedaled down the aisle. Hurray! So looks like we know what to get Ashley for christmas. She took so long to learn that she has outgrown her bike. That's okay cause Hannah has a bike now.

Hannah has proclaimed this bike as her now. She says its her "purple pony" Not many people know but Hannah loves horses and ponies. It was really cute to hear her call it her purple pony. Whenever we go to the park, she'll ride the spring loaded pony toy forever and not want to get off for anything. I just hope she doesn't ask for a real pony... I don't know where we would put it.

Maybe purple is the wrong color for a little boy, but he still looks cute.

John is getting so big now. He's rolling over and having fun exploring the world of toys.

This is Hannah's doggy. She won't go to sleep without him and sometimes he even makes it on outings in the car. John decided he would snag it while the girls were playing with their bikes. Its was a good thing Hannah didn't know or she would have a fit.

Haircuts

2009-10-01T09:16:00.001-07:00

We decided it was time for the girls to get haircuts. Why not just do it ourselves I thought, how hard can it be to cut staight? Turns out very hard. Ashley was the first guniea pig. Needless to say it turned out shorter than we had imagined. She just wouldn't sit still. I got frusterated cause the scissors weren't cutting straight,so John took over. And he was even more inpatient that I was. I learned when you cut hair it should be damp, not wet. The problem with that is her hair dries to quick and starts to curl up on me. So after I took back the scissors it got even shorter, it was quite the experience. Luckily she won't care if its a little uneven. Hannah got more of a trim. That's my adventures in haircutting..maybe we'll try the hairdresser next time.

Baby Food!

2009-10-01T09:15:00.001-07:00

John is almost 6 months now and he's eating baby food. Yeah! It did not go so smooth though. He has had a love/hate relationship with food. At 4 months he didn't like the rice cereal at first and then he loved it. At couple of weeks later he decided he hated it again. Then when it came time for fruits and vegetables he hated those too. He would purse his lips and not let me feed him. What kid doesn't like baby food? crazy ones. I found that if i fed him when we all ate at dinner he would eat his food... he was always reaching for ours. Now he loves baby food, I just hope it stays that way.

John is fat and happy in his high chair. He's doesn't look like he needs any food right now, but he still loves it for the time being. He's a little boy who loves to be messy.

Camping Fun!

2009-10-01T09:11:00.000-07:00

This summer has been busy. Even though we had a new baby, we still managed to go camping quite a bit. It has been lots of fun. The girls absolutely love it. And I love our big tent. I can lock them in with me to take a nap or if it starts raining and we don't feel closterphobic. One of our favorite places to go is Potato Lake. I love the grass there, and the lack of sooty dirt like other campgrounds have. I love all of the sights and smells that you find camping. The days seem longer and it is as if for a short moment time has slowed down, maybe so we can enjoy the outdoors a bit longer. The kids love to roast mashmellows or just run around and dig in the dirt. My favorite is the stars at night.

What is camping without seeing the wildlife. It's so exciting to see animals in the wild and actually get them on film. They are beautiful animals.

What a beautiful view, too bad the fish weren't biting.

One day John will really be able to take John fishing. Can't wait for him to grow and get bigger. He was even wearing his "gone fishing" shirt.

Hannah wasn't too excited about the makeshift rope swing. In fact she wanted nothing to do with it.

Ashley loved the swing her uncles made. She thourougly enjoyed herself.

Trapped in a tent with a boat. How Fun!

Ashley loves to color, doesn't matter where, in a tent, in a boat its all the same.

Why do we go to the doctor?

2009-09-30T20:07:00.000-07:00

I have been pondering this as by kids have been sick with the croupy hacking cough. Normally they get the colds but the hacking cough is a first. They have been sick. I know it. But why is it that the instant you take them to the doctor they are immediately all better. But only for the visit right. They bounce off the walls and are as happy as can be. Their fevers magically disappear. I know my doctor must think, "well gee they seem fine to me, take em home" And then once you get home, the cough starts again and the fussing too. You feel like a bad parent cause you hadn't taken them cause you think oh.. they'll be better in a day and then afterwards you feel like oh ... I could have waited... its just a cold right. Maybe someone can explain this to me, I am at a loss... its as if they are secretly conspiraring againgst me.

The funny things kids say

2009-06-20T09:32:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've posted, I figured I'd give everyone an update. Our lives got busier after John Jr was born. He eats nonstop all day. He catnaps for 20-30 minutes and then he is back to eating. He is getting more active now and smiles alot. He's even started to coo, I absolutely love it. The girls call him baby John.

Hannah and Ashley have some new phrases that are just too funny, I had to share. Hannah loves sweets and snacks. Her new word is delicious- a big word if you ask me. Only she says "its licious". The other thing she does is quite funny. When she gets in trouble or we tell her "no" she breaks down and starts crying/screaming. What parent can tell what their child who is learning to talk what they are trying to say- well it has finally become clear to me- she says as she is screaming "I sorry" or "I love you". It's funny after I discovered what she was trying to say.

Ashley has really started to talk alot now- she was slow at first cause she is the first. The other day while I was sorting laundry in the bathroom- she came up to me and says. "I want a dollar" my reply "okay well I don't have a dollar, go play" she comes back and says "I want a hundred dollar" I cracked up laughing. I have no idea where it came from. About a week later, when we we're at cabelas, she just says out of the blue "I want a hundred dollar" So I guess I shes starting the begging mom for money early- I thought I had unitl shes a teenager- but I guess not. Maybe I can get away with play-money for now.

Hawk in the Desert!

2009-04-22T21:03:00.000-07:00

While on a drive in the desert to check out a watering hole, we saw this hawk. I couldn't beleive we got as close as we did. I think it was a red tailed hawk. It flew so graceful and effortlessly in the air. It was really cool to capture on film.

1st Baby Portraits

2009-04-22T21:02:00.002-07:00

Grandma Bradshaw took John's 1st portraits. They turned out great! Thanks

I had forgotten how small newborns are. His head fits in the palm of my hand.

Sleepy and content in a pile of soft fur.

This is one of my favorite portraits. I just love the look on his face, the postioning and how the fur really softens the photo.

Our Baby Story!

2009-04-22T21:02:00.001-07:00

This is the story of the arrival of our 3rd child. There is the saying that boys can be more difficult and that proved to be true with our first boy! My pregnancy was the easiest of all 3. I had the preterm labor, which is normal for my pregnancies and very manageable. We had planned a fishing trip the day before his arrival. I think he didn't want dad to go fishing without him. I went in for a routine checkup that morning and ended up staying. And yes I had the car, car seats and had not packed my bags yet! I had not even begun false labor contractions, so I thought I had time.
Anyhow, our baby had a deceleration in his heart rate in the doctors office, and I was sent in to the hospital for further monitoring. At the hosptial he had a big deceleration and lots of smaller ones. His heart rate went from 120 to 60 in less than a minute and did not return very quickly. It was almost like on the medical shows- where doctors and nurses run as the monitors show there is a problem. Well, I wasn't going home that day. They induced me at 38 weeks and it was a long day. I didn't get a bed or pitocin until 7 pm that night. 8 hours in a triage bed is pure torture. I found that if you tell them you're ready for you're epidural you can get a room reallly quickly! Labor progressed slowly, mainly cause the baby was posterior.
At 4 am I was still at 5 cm. My doctor came in and put me on more internal monitors to get more accurate measurements. Alll in all the baby was not tolerating labor and at 5 am his heart rate dropped to 60 again. It was time for the baby to come out. The past few weeks before our baby came I had the feeling that I was going to have a c-section. Even the day I walked into the hospital I had the feeling of "I'm going to have a c-section" At the time I thought it was my nerves but now I know the lord was preparing me. I was nervous about the surgery but not scarred and I am grateful for the still small voice of the spirit. It seemed so surreal as I was being wheeled into the OR. It was really happening to me. Everything went well- Alot of prep work and nurses counting tools in the background. Our little boy turned out to be fine with a perfect apgar score. The doctors couldn't find any cord prolapse and didn't know why he had problems. We were grateful that our baby was okay. He came out crying and routing around. He didn't want to wait for me to come around. They gave me alot of drugs that made me nauseous and dizzy afterwards. He loves to eat and he knew exactly how to breastfeed. The recovery has been a lot harder than my other babies. I am grateful John was able to take some time off work and has been so helpful. Now that I am finally starting to get back to my routine, I just wanted to share our baby story.

We named him John Afton Bradshaw jr. He was born on 4/9/09 at 6:05 am. He weighed 7 lbs 5.5 oz and was 20 inches long. He is just so precious and just loves to be held. The girls are very sweet with him and Ashley calls him baby John.

Hannah's Birthday!

2009-04-22T21:01:00.000-07:00

Hannah's Birthday Presents and Cake!

Hannah is always stealing my chapstick, so I thought it would be perfect to get Hannah her own.

Who thought a liitle girl would get excited about clothes. I think she just liked to open up her gifts reguardless of what it was.

Bubble fun for Hannah!

Time to go Fishing!

I think I have started a new tradition in our family, not on purpose either. I thought it would be fun to make ashley a fun cake for her 2nd birthday and it has continued on. Hannah loves mickey and minnie mouse. She recognized the cake as minnie mouse, so I achieved my goal. One day I'd like to learn how to make a fondant cake. It was alot of fun and a whole lot of cake.

" ooohhh cake"

"yummy" hannah's favorite phrase.

I was suprised that Hannah knew exactly what to do when we lit the candles.

Who says just the first birthday is messy. The 2nd can be messy too!

Spring flowers!

2009-03-30T19:18:00.000-07:00

This was our planting project that the girls loved. I have always put off planting flowers or plants cause we're in an apartment and I seem to always kill our plants. I had found some watering cans as toys at Michael's and that was the begining. I thought it would be fun to have them water some plants. Last week while shopping at target for baby stuff, the girls were very fussy and cutting up. My remedy was to take them to the garden section- it was a miracle- they loved it and helped me pick out some flowers to put in the pots. No more fussing- Yeah! Who would have thought that little girls like flowers too!

This is our pots of flowers- they don't look too pretty yet but I can't wait until all of the buds bloom.

These are the yellow daisies that Ashley picked out.

The girls loved watering the plants once they were potted. It was hard to get a picture before all of the water was gone. They just too excited and I had to eventually stop them cause the plants were getting too much water! We all had a lot of fun- I wished I would have done this with them sooner. Hopefully it will be a fun project for the girls to help with and will last all summer long.

This is one of those pictures that looks like I used a soft filter. It was one of my favorite shots, at first I didn't think that it turned out on the view finder. Come to find out, you can achieve this effect if you're lens is a little dirty or smudged. I think it looked pretty cool, now if only I could get my kids to look at the camera- maybe someday.

Family Portraits

2009-02-28T19:19:00.000-08:00

Here are some of our family portriats that Grandpa took for us. I saw that my sister in law put her on her blog, and thought that was a great idea. Our children were not cooperative at all for the photo shoot. Ashley had her arm over her face the entire time- mostly cause she was shy of grandpa. We had to tickle her to get her to smile. It was really hilarious.

Hannah was no better, for her photoshoot. She wouldn't smile at all. Needless to say it was impossible to get a picture of both of them together. They were not interested in having their picture taken.

This is one of my favorite ones, even though she is not looking at the camera.

Here is the end result of grandpa making the goofiest faces to get a good picture of us as a family. It cracked us up but it seemed to work for some reason. It was hard to keep a straight face.

Here's some of our bloopers- Hannah is poking her eyes out probably wondering when it will ever end and Ashley won't look at the camera.

This is our attempt to get Ashley to smile and look at the camera for just one shot.

Here's my favorite pictures of John and I.Grandpa did an excellent job- Thankyou! We haven't had professional pictures taken since Hannah was born.

Hannah riding the Quad

2009-02-28T18:51:00.000-08:00

John and his brother Joe bought a remote control quad to play around with out in the desert. Our girls love to play with it. It has a little dirt bike rider that sits on the quad. Whenever I get it down for the girls, Hannah has decided that she is going to ride it. It's really cute! She even tries to steer the handlebars. I hate to tell her she's just a bit big for it.

This is my attempt to get Hannah to smile and say "cheese" which is a vast improvement.

Now she is just posing for the camera.

My hardcore husband

2009-02-28T18:50:00.001-08:00

John has always wanted to get a bow. Well we built one up for him recently. This is evidence of my husbands desire to practice with his bow. He is no quitter. He went to Ben avery with Dustin to practice with his bow. This was just after he got the Bow. His bad arm- the one he broke in his accident- was getting tired but he still wanted to shoot and this is the proof that he wouldn't quit. The bruise started out as a huge blood blister and was very raised. Now it is black and blue and looks a bit like a horsehoe, I don't think the picture does it justice. This was taken as it was healing. The funny part was that after it happened he put on Dustin's Jacket and continued to shoot his bow. After a couple more times of hitting his arm, he decided to call it quits for the day.

Pay It Forward

2009-02-28T18:48:00.001-08:00

Here is a fun thing that I saw on a friend's blog. If you would like to do it with me, please leave a comment!
Here's how it works-the first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the year, a handmade gift from me.What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well-before you leave your comment here, write up a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going. (Or you can cut and paste from this one like I did)
Then come back, let me know you're going to play, and sit back and wait to receive your fun gift!! Remember that only the first 3 comments will receive a gift from me, so hurry, hurry, hurry!

My Impatient Husband

2009-02-28T18:46:00.000-08:00

John is impatient at times, there is no doubt about that...j/k He was adjusting the strings on his guitar when one of them broke. Well he got impatient, so he decided to just cut them off. This is an update of his skateboard story for those who grew up with John.

Random Pictures

2009-02-28T18:36:00.000-08:00

I had some random pictures from my camera I thought I would post.

Hannah wants to be daddy's little helper. Don't worry, it's an unloaded bb gun. Too cute to pass up!

Hannah likes to kiss people, toys and even animals- especially dogs and puppies that she likes. Today it was the toy gun.

Hannah loves to take a bath, even more so than Ashley. She couldn't wait to get underdressed this time. She's very sneeky. Sometimes she climbs back in before and other times if I'm not careful she climb back in after she's fully dressed and ready for the day!

This is Ashley's first bike outing. She got a new bike for Christmas but has yet to grasp the concept. she just wanted to be pushed on the bike instead of pedaling it herself---fun for her, tiring for us.

John's new Pride and Joy

2009-01-27T21:08:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures of John's new pride and joy. About a year ago John was drawn for a hunting tag and he bought a Savage 7mm mag. The barrel and stock were so cheap that it was not accurate at all. We ending up buying a different gun for his hunt and last summer we decided to get a new barrel for the gun... well that is send it away for a new barrel, which takes 16 weeks. We finally got it back. He had the barrel fluted and bought a new stock to outfit the new barrel, the old one was too small. Hopefully John's new gun is more accurate. It's like christmas at our house for John!

John was trying out different scopes to put on his new rifle and we had an air rifle scope laying around, this one was so small, I thought it was funny, cause the barrel dwarfs the scope... just had to take a picture.

"Primary and Crabbie Patties"

2009-01-27T16:35:00.000-08:00

Ashley really cracks me up sometimes, I have two stories I would like to share. The first is primary. It has been my goal this year to get my kids to sit still in church. So far, no luck. Sunday was horrible, Ashley was quiet but just would not sit still. Luckily it was our off week from nursery (we go every other week). After sunday school I decided to check on them to see how they were doing. Hannah was running around like a maniac, she's has ball of energy from who knows where and Ashley was in primary on the floor. She is shy, so I just thought she was being so....not the case. Since we switched to afternoon, no more naps. She was asleep on the floor in primary,literally conked out. I wish I had a camera, but then again it wouldn't have been appropiate. It was hillarious. I picked her up and took her to relief scoiety with me fully expecting her to wake up, however she slept the entire time.

The second story really cracks me up. We were comming home from walmart yesterday and we were stopped at the stoplight. Next to us was Wendy's and they had ads on their windows for hamburgers. Ashley says, " I want to eat" "I want to eat". This comming from a girl that hasn't talked much, but has really started to take off. Then she says "I wanna eat .... patties" At first it sounded like cream patties, I couldn't figure out what she was saying, so I asked John. He said " crabbie patties" I just started laughing and she kept asking for "crabbie patties". For those who don't know crabbie patties comes from spongebob squarepants. To Ashley hamburgers = crabbie patties. So that's what's for dinner tonight- crabbie patties.

Back to Blogging and Potty Training

2009-01-26T18:16:00.000-08:00

I know its been awhile since I've posted. My kids and family have kept me busy, but I'm back to blogging. In case your wondering, I've been attempting to potty train Ashley since who knows how long, agressivly probably the begining of December. It was a struggle just to get her to go potty on the toilet. She was ready but was messing with me. It was hit and miss, usually she would go for 2 or 3 days and then just decide that she wasn't going to go potty on the toilet anymore. I tried treats, getting angry with her, telling her "don't you want to be a big girl...." None of it seemed to work, finally I decided to make a potty chart with stickers to track how many times a day she went. Who knew that was the key. I let her put the stickers on her chart, its not the neatest chart, but it works. Now she will go when I take her and she loves putting stickers on her chart. Hooray, one step towards being potty trained with many more to go...pooping on the toilet is the next step.

Ashley's Birthday Party!

2008-12-02T13:29:00.000-08:00

These are the pictures from Ashley's Birthday Party! It was fun to see Ashley open her presents. She was so envolved with each one that we couldn't get her to look at the camera for even a second. Hannah was excited too! She was the helper! Birthday's are fun!

Crayons Yeah! Just what we needed!

We bought her Wall-e the movie. Everytime we went to the grocery store, she would point out that it was Wall-e.

This was Ashley's favorite toy.

She loves the Little Einsteins,

especially rocket. Hannah was

just waiting for her chance to

take the toy from Ashley.

Ashley loved her my little ponies

toy and coloring pad. After she

was done opening her presents

she just wanted to color.

This is my attempt at a rocket birthday cake! It was fun, but the one
online looked better!

When Ashley saw the cake, she said "It's Rocket, It's Rocket"!

''It's a birrrthday day Cake!"

It was so cute and it was good enough for her. Hannah would stick her fingers in the cake and then say "ummmm"!!!

We let Ashley choose which candles to put on her cake.

Hannah really wanted to eat some cake and the lolly pop on top. It was a crackup!

Ashley loved her cake!

Ummm.....Good.....Ice Cream!!!

Halloween Fun!

2008-11-18T07:57:00.000-08:00

Halloween this year was great! Even though John is a new employee at his work he was able to get off for the major holidays! Yeah! I was quite ambitious this year and decided to make a mouse costume for Hannah and a princess costume for Ashley! Next year I need to start sewing earlier. It was a lot of fun, and it took a long time to make them but it was well worth it. I even learned how to do a zipper with some help! Ashley loved her costume and Hannah hated her at first and then really loved to wear the mouse ears, what a relief. I was worried that with all of that effort it would go to waste. Thanks to Grandpa Bradshaw we got some awesome studio pictures of the girls.

This is a perfect picture, cause for one Hannah never stays in one place longer than 20 seconds.

Hannah is checking for candy even before we have gone trick or treating!
I love those mouse ears!

All smiles for the camera!

Hannah posing for the camera, How sweet!

but not for long......

She's had enough of the mouse ears.

"Hooray! I did it"

Ummmmm...... Candy!

"I can just eat through the wrapper right!"

Ashley loves her lolly pop!

Grandpa and Ashley! How Sweet!

Pumpkin Carving

2008-11-18T07:41:00.000-08:00

Pumpkin carving nite! Ashley and Hannah were very excited to help John make a pig pumkin. We didn't want to do anything that would scare them. Ashley actually recognied it as a pig!

Hannah wanted to help too!

Our beautiful pig pumkin!

Ashley and Hannah loved to come up to the pumkin everyday and tell us all about it.

I learned something very important about pumkins, or maybe we just bought a bad one. We carved the pumkin on Wednesday Night. I decided it would make a great table decoration, bad idea. Pumkins need to be outside or they will rot. If your toddler can poke their fingers through the pumkin 3 days later, it is a very bad sign. It was still fun carving the pumpkin and having it around for a few days!

Ward Halloween Party

2008-11-18T07:37:00.000-08:00

Here's a few pictures from the halloween party. The girls loved the candy. It was like christmas to them.

Ummmm...... Good

Their favorite part was the trunk or treat! Ashley

didn't say trick or treat! instead it was and a treat!

It's good practice for the big nite.

Flowers from a wonderful husband

2008-11-18T07:31:00.001-08:00

There is a funny story behind these flowers. We have a rule not to open the door to stranger at night and so I didn't. The flower delivery man just kept knocking. I didn't know who it was so I didn't open the door. He had to call me John and then call me on my home phone to deliver them. It was quite funny. A very nice suprise.

Ashley Loved to smell the flowers!

What a cutie pie!

Oak Creek Trout Fishing

2008-11-18T07:18:00.000-08:00

Since John loves to flyfish, we decided to take a trip up to Oak Creek Canyon above Sedona on one of his days off. The weather was a nice break from the heat and it was beautiful up there. Since it was a Monday and everyone was at work, it was just us, so peacful and quiet. The trout fishing was wonderful. John was catching a fish almost every other cast.

The first catch of the day with many more to come....

"I can see you!"

Ashley and daddy's bincoulars. She is such a daddy's girl.

Look how clear and calm the water is. A very good place to fish.

Although John says the water was freezing cold.

What a perfect picture!

I loved the scenery and just being out in nature

and away from all of the people.

You would think that it wouldn't excite him to catch a fish after

catching about 20, but he never got bored of it.

John's little prize!
We didn't keep any just cath and release.

We had a great trip and would highly recommend it.

wall-e

2008-11-18T07:13:00.001-08:00

We took the girls to go see Wall-e in the theatres this summer. Ashley loved it. It's the first movie she has sat more that 3/4 of the way through withour figitting. We saw this at target and they both loved it. It tips over alot, but they love to watch him dance!

Splash Pad Fun

2008-11-18T06:57:00.000-08:00

Both of the girls love to take a bath. We have to drag them out to get them dressed in the mornings. Hannah loves the water, Ashley is a little more timid. This is a splash pad we took them to in our neighborhood. It was a lot of fun and it wasn't crowded.

I Hope that Water is clean....

Ashley barely gets in the water just enough to get splashed!

Hannah is not afraid of the water one bit, in fact she embraces it!

Just look at how much fun she is having!

"Fun at the Phoenix Zoo"

2008-09-10T12:05:00.000-07:00

These are some pictures of when we took at trip to the Phoenix Zoo with Joe and Christi and their kids. It was right after a monsoon the night before. It was so hot and muggy, it felt like 115 degrees. Thank goodness for the splash pad at the zoo. We also took them to the gift shop so they could pick out a toy or animal. They all thought that was fun. Ashley tried to pick the biggest and most expensive stuffed animal. It was fun, but way too hot, maybe again in the fall. The kids loved the splash pad. The first trip to the splash pad the older kids had to be coaxed into the water. Hannah just ran all over the place and wore herself out. On the second trip to the splash pad, Hannah was asleep and all of the older kids got themslves soaking wet. It was a great trip.

This was John's favorite picture of Hannah. If you look real closely, you can see both of her feet are off of the ground. She ran all over the splash pad like a crazy nut from one fountain to the next! Needless to say, when it was time to go see all of the animals she did not want to leave.

"Our little climber"

2008-09-10T11:47:00.001-07:00

This is what happens when your child is being too quiet. Real quiet! Needless to say Hannah is our little climber. If you're wondering how she got up there.. well I have a little stool I made for Ashley when we potty train her and Hannah took it to the bathroom and used it to climb up there. It was still quiet a reach, I'm still baffled by it. kids do crazy silly things!

"Milk Chuggers, Laundry Baskets and Chalk"

2008-08-14T14:34:00.000-07:00

This is too funny not to share with everyone. I didn't know little girls could be milk chuggers. I guess Ashley didn't want to wait for a cup and Hannah must watch everything Ashley does.

I don't know what Ashley's fascination is with Laudry baskets, but his one is by far her favorite. Silly Kid!

The girls loved side walk chalk. Since we got rid of our outside rug, I thought it would be perfect to let the girls have a stab at sidewalk chalk. Hannah mostly wanted to eat it, but Ashley loved to color and line up the chalk in a line.

It's all about teamwork here!

Hannah is starting to get the idea.

Ashley was so involed in the chalk and her new pallete that I could not get her to look at the camera for anything.

Wonderful News

2008-08-14T14:27:00.000-07:00

We just wanated to let all of our friends and family know that we are expecting. It'll be number three for us. We are very excited. It's not official yet, but we're impatient. We're hoping and praying for a litlte boy to add to our family.

New Posts and Favorites

2008-08-05T16:53:00.000-07:00

Okay so I haven't been very diligent with posting on our blog. I just downloaded 600 pictures from our camera and decided to post what we've been up to lately. The pictures are from our adventures this summer. We've had a great summer. We went camping, fishing, swimming, and gone to the movies. Wall-e and Batman were our favorites. I'll try and be better with the postings. Hope you all enjoy!---the Bradshaws!

Okay so here's a lsit of Ashley and Hannah's Favorite things to :

Ashley:

1. Coloring on paper or walls, the medium makes no difference

2. Painting. This has been confined to paper only and she hasn't veered to other mediums like the walls yet.

3. Playing with her puzzles. She's not very good yet, like Jessica and Joshua but she'll get there.

4. Playing with Bubbles. Hannah and Ashley love it!

5. Playing follow the leader with Hannah and a jumrope.

Hannah:

1. Playing " Chase Me"

2. giving Mom and Dad hugs

3. Eating: she's our snacker and eater

4. Teasing Ashley. She loves to take a toy Ashley wants and run off with it. Most of the time Ashley can't catch her and gives up in a fit. Hannah also loves to get in bed with Ashley in the middle of the night. She loves her sister.

5. climbing. she's going to be a great tree climber, she climbs on the table or any box in order to get into something that is not categorized as a toy.

The Girls Love to Swim

2008-08-05T16:40:00.001-07:00

Ashley and hannah love to go swimming! It's like a huge, extended bath for them. Hannah loves to splash and have fun.

Ashley is getting real good at swimming. She can hold her head up and close her mouth, so she doesn't swallow alot of water. She loves her floaties!

Hannah had too much fun, she had to take a break!

Camping at Christopher Creek

2008-08-05T16:04:00.001-07:00

Camping at Christopher Creek.

These are the pictures from our camping trip to Christpher Creek. It was a beautiful trip. However stay far from any campground where there are mexicans, I'm not racist, but we don't go camping to hear circus music at 11pm at night. Other than that it was a very nice trip. John probably caught 20 trout fish on the creek. He didn't think he was a good fisherman before, but we all knew he was, now he believes. It was a fun trip for everyone. The girls loved to go for wagon rides, play in the dirt alot, especially Hannah and watch Daddy catch the fish.

In case you can't tell by other posts, I love to take pictures of Nature.

While the girls took a much needed nap, I found a squirrel who seemed to be enjoying our snacks. He even tried to carry off a bag of bagels later that day.

Can you tell that John is just beat! He just wanted o show off his prize, the fish!

Camping at Potato Lake!

2008-08-05T15:51:00.000-07:00

Our camping trip to Potato Lake with the Bradshaw's. The girls and even John loved being solely outdoors for a few days. The weather was great and so was the company. We had a great time and Ashley loved to practice with her fishing pole. We didn't catch anything, but we had great memories. It was a beautiful place to be!

Ashley has discovered how to work her fishing pole and boy is she happy!

Hannah's just chillin.

John's Project

2008-08-05T15:46:00.000-07:00

John loves to make sparks fly and have fun doing it!

Here's some pictures of one of John's projects. He likes using his new rotarry tool kit he got for Christmas. They looked cool, so I thought I'd post a couple.

Sunday Pictures

2008-08-05T15:37:00.000-07:00

I tried taking some pictures before Church. You would think that they would sit still at 8 am, but no they were still wiggle worms, oh well they still look cute!

Tricycle Fun!!!

2008-08-05T15:27:00.000-07:00

Ashley Learning to Share!

On this day Hannah was on the tricycle, and Ashley wanted to be. She pushed off Hannah and ended up in time out. After timeout, Hannah was still on the tricycle and decided she would find a way on the tricyle. I thought it was ingenius, she found a way to do both, that is get on the tricycle and not get in trouble.

Random Images of our Children

2008-08-05T14:54:00.000-07:00

Q-tips

Our girls love our Q-tips, I have no idea why, it drives me nuts, but we have the proof here. Hannah especially likes to bend them in half.

My little bag Lady

Hannah is getting funnier and funnier as she gets older and her personality develops more. She's my liitle bag lady, she picks up all of the grocery bags after shopping. And somehow, she got the whole block of cheese from the refridgerator. I think she had a helper.

Ashley, Our wonderful Little Artist

2008-05-23T00:54:00.000-07:00

oh... no they caught me!

Ashley knows she's in trouble!!!!

Ashley loves to color, it is probably her favorite thing to do. She loves it so much, she doesn't care what the medium or the canvas is, even if it is our walls, doors, or our comforter ....

These are only a sample of her artwork. Today while fixing dinner, she decided she wanted to color. Just imagine bright pink marker on every door in our apartment, and even her dresser. She did this all while John was in the room, preoccupied of course :) !!! It was a great laugh.

Updating our Blog

2008-05-23T00:25:00.000-07:00

I am in the process of updating our blog. I know it's been a while, but I have to start all over.My lovely husband, John, had a bright idea, "let's update our blogspot". I guess that his version of updating our blog is to erase everything. We won't let him do that again.