Family Fun Day!

Daddy has been working. A LOT.  Overtime on top of overtime, which means we don't get to spend as much quality time with him as we would like to.  He even sent us to San Diego for our trip with the family a couple of weeks ago and stayed to work so we can always have what we need.  He is the BEST.  Well, last Friday Daddy surprised us and took the day off!!  We packed in as much fun family time as possible and enjoyed every minute!

Uncle Steve and family are in D.C. right now and are letting us use their pool.  Perfect on this hot day!

Even Champ got in on the fun.  This was his first time with a pool.  He wasn't big on swimming, but he enjoyed getting his paws wet and watching the boys play!

Summer ≠ Time Off

The boys and I look forward to summer more than anything.  No homework, no schedules, no bedtimes......you get the idea.  But for my boys, this doesn't mean they are taking time off.  Jake and Brady are two of the hardest working boys I know.  Their love is football.  They have fun and they like competing.  They know this means they need to work...hard.  So in between video games, swimming, staying up late, and hanging with friends, our summer looks a lot like this:

I love their motivation and work ethic.  They already know if you want something bad enough, you need to be willing to work for it.  Keep working hard, boys.  The sky is the limit!!

Fabulous Fourth

This year we spent our Fourth of July evening with our good friends, the Cappellinis.  They had us over for a delicious dinner and to watch the fireworks in their community.  Afterwards, the boys (big and small) had a little fun lighting some fireworks of our own in the driveway.  It was a wonderful night with wonderful friends!

Daddy

Yesterday was Father's Day.  I like having a day set aside to honor my husband and the wonderful daddy that he is to our boys, but I truly do appreciate him each and every day.  He is such a hard working, selfless, and loving dad to our sweet boys.  I am incredibly thankful for all he does for our family.  He is our protector, our provider, and our rock.  Happy Father's Day, Mauri.  We love you to the moon and back!

What a CHAMP!

Once again, life has taken over and we haven't had a blog post in almost a year!  But it's a very blessed life, and we are enjoying every minute of it.  There's no way to catch up all in one post, so I won't even try.  Instead, I'd like to introduce the newest member of our family.....Champ!

Last November we started looking into getting a dog for the boys, but we knew it wouldn't be easy to find just the right one.  He had to be compatible with Brady's allergies, and we knew we wanted to rescue one from a pound or shelter.  Just before Thanksgiving, Daddy called as he was leaving work and told me to meet him at Petsmart with J & B because there were some available puppies from the pound.  We had looked at quite a few dogs by this point, but a few minutes with this sweet little guy and the boys were hooked.

   

                           

We signed a few papers, grabbed a few puppy items and we were on our way!  The boys were in love from the start and named him "Champ" immediately.

                          

After the first few days with the little guy, we noticed he wasn't his typical puppy self and wasn't eating much.  We kept our eye on him and eventually took him to the vet who confirmed that the poor guy had the dreaded parvo.  We took him home, along with some meds and IVs, and spent the next week staying home from work, waking up every hour, washing towels and blankets, and tending to our very sick puppy.  It didn't look very good for a while there.

 

                      

But like a CHAMP.....he pulled through!  We've really enjoyed the last 7 months with him, despite all the chewing and digging!  He is a wonderful addition to our family!

Wordless Wednesday

4th of July

Happy 236th birthday America!  Hard to believe that we were celebrating the 4th of July in Phoenix, with temperatures only in the 80s!  Daddy went to work early, so the boys and I took advantage of the beautiful weather and took a 2-mile morning run.  It sprinkled on us the whole time and the sun stayed behind the clouds.  Perfect.  We came home and had a special red, white, and blue breakfast, and just spent the day doing stuff around the house and hanging out waiting for Daddy to get home.

Our patriotic pancakes!

When Daddy got home, we had a little afternoon movie time and watched "Field of Dreams" together.  It is one of Daddy's favorite movies and he introduced it to the boys for the first time the previous night.  Needless to say, they couldn't wait to watch it again.  It quickly became one of their favorites too.  After the movie, we ate a quick dinner and headed off to watch our friend Steve and the Centennials play some ball.  We even saw a few firework displays at the stadium. 

My 3 favorite people

After the game, Steve's sweet wife, Brooke, and her girls gave the boys a few sparklers.  We went home and had a little fun with those in the backyard.  Thank you Brooke, Gracie, Lily, and Mia!

   

 

AZ Science Center

Last Saturday Daddy asked the boys how they wanted to spend the day, and they chose to go to the AZ Science Center.  We decided to get the family pass for the year so we could take advantage of it more often.  We had such a great time checking out all of the exhibits and even took in a showing of "Black Holes" inside the planetarium.  

The boys and I decided to take Poppy and Grandma back with us today.  We had a wonderful morning at the Science Center and Poppy and Grandma even treated us to lunch and ice cream at Culver's afterwards.  We are so glad we get to spend so much time with them.  What a great day!

And now....Brady LeBlanc and the AZ Centennials!!

Our good friend, Steve Stanley, has had an amazing opportunity recently.  After years of not being "in the game," he tried out for an independent baseball league here and made a local team, the Arizona Centennials!  You can read more about the league here.  It is an inexpensive and fun way to spend an evening with your family.  Steve played AAA ball for the A's a while back and took a break to raise his beautiful family.  We are thrilled he is back in the game of baseball and couldn't be more proud!!

Luckily, we have been able to go to quite a few of the Centennials' games this summer.  They play at the spring training facilities around the valley.  The boys are loving baseball lately and they pretty much have the run of the place while they are there, grabbing foul balls, eating snacks, and getting autographs after the game.

Last night the boys got extra lucky.  They were asked to come up in the press box for the 3rd inning and Brady got to announce the batters as they came up to the plate.  He was a little nervous at first, but he rocked it!

A Lot of Catching Up to Do!

Almost a year has passed since we have updated this blog.  I can think of a million reasons excuses for it getting pushed aside, but I think the main one is Facebook.  One of the great things about "Jake and Brady Central", is the ability to keep friends and family up-to-date on what is going on with our boys.  With Facebook, we are easily able to do that as well. But that isn't why J & B's Daddy started this blog.  He did it for THEM.  He wanted Jake and Brady to have stories, pictures, and memories from their childhood to last them a lifetime.  So although a lot of time has passed and I will never be able to truly catch up on everything they've been up to in the last year or so, I'm going to make my best effort to keep it going.....for THEM.  


Now for some recent pictures......


We had these pictures taken by L. Soucy Photography back in May, as a gift for Grandma and Poppy.  I just love the way all of the cousins get along.  J and B are blessed to call them friends too!

Been a while.

I don't even know how long it's been since I have written on here. A year? More? I don't know.

So much has changed since the last time to be certain. We've ridden a roller coaster this past couple years. I feel like a dolt for starting this for the boys and not keeping up with it. They need to know how we made it through these times when their memories fail to connect the dots.

This next part is written directly to my sons, since that is whom I intend to read this in perpetuity.

My sons,

This is part of my life I will call "Learning to Endure". We have come up against challenge after challenge recently. Some days it feels like we are taking the same test over and over again. Some days the test gets harder, some days it stays the same. Always though, it is a test. One that I don't know if I am passing or failing just yet.

I am afraid that I may not find out how I did until you are grown men, taking the tests of life yourselves. This is greatly disturbing to me. I want more than anything to prepare you for the rigors of life, but some days I feel like I have failed. Up and down, back and forth failed. If I fail you two, what is worth of my life? To me...not much.

So I keep trying. Keep taking those tests.

If I can teach you nothing else in this life, I hope you learn from me to never give up. No matter what someone does or says, or how bleak the future looks, keep moving forward. Even if you feel you have succeeded, keep going. Dreams come and go in the blink of an eye. Your goal today, may be meaningless to you tomorrow. Don't quit. You two are capable of more than think you are. Always. You always have more in you. Don't quit.

In my life I have not always done what I am asking you to do. Learn from my mistakes. I'm not asking you to be better than me , just to let the best parts of you come out and never put them back.

When I look at you two, I see the promises I made to myself when I was a kid. I was going to be this...going to be that. Some things I set out to do, I accomplished. Many I did not. I am still trying for the rest. In your short time on Earth, I have seen in you a drive that I never had. You want to be who you want to be and no one can tell you differently. How awesome! Please hold on to that. Let it take you there and beyond. The world is not big enough to contain you. Reach higher. Be legendary.

Alright...that's enough of me preaching at you for one night.

I love you with all my heart and every piece of me. You are worth any struggle, any price, and any pain. Your life brings me a joy I never imagined possible. I cannot thank you enough for coming to me, and letting me share the journey.

-Daddy

Sugar High

With temperatures reaching 118˚, it is just too hot to spend time outside. After spending much of our lazy Saturday hanging around the house yesterday, Daddy had the awesome idea of heading to Dave & Buster's to play! The boys spent forever playing games and getting tickets and then we took a break to grab some Fatburger...yum! We headed back to D & B's for some family bowling. Jake won the first game and Brady won the 2nd. Looks like Mommy and Daddy need to brush up on their bowling skills! After bowling, we headed back up to the arcade to finish playing games and cash in our tickets. J & B put their tickets together and decided to get 25 GIANT PIXY STIX!! They plan to bring them to San Diego at the end of the month to share with their cousins. That is sure to be a hit! Thanks for such a fun afternoon and evening, Daddy. We love you!!