Weekly fun

Bye bye Oscar. This is our little kitten that I told you about a few posts back that had been hanging out at our house. She stayed for 3 weeks and on Monday we finally found a home for her. Yes, I say her. She is a girl, but the kids insisted that we name her Oscar. We started getting attached to her, so she had to go this week. It was fun while it lasted!


















Brenna had a close call this week and almost had to get stitches on her head after running in the house and crashing into her brother. The next day I needed to put medicine on her "boo boo" so I thought up this idea to put curlers in her hair. I had the old foam rollers that my mom use to put in my hair. Brenna loved them. She wore them the whole day! No, we didn't go anywhere that day, but she had fun running around the house in them.



















Here is the after shot of later that evening when we took them out.

























This is a little hobby of mine. It all started with my kids and now has branched out to friends of friends and they are now ordering them for family and friends. They are lots of fun. Here is just a sample of a couple I did this week. This set was for a boys room. Blue with green, yellow and red polka dots with red ribbon.



















This one is obviously for a girl and is green with pink polka dots and pink ribbon.


















We have family in town for this long weekend and my Grandparents are stopping by Monday for a visit. Have a wonderful, long, restful weekend!

Monday Memories

I have a couple friends you have "Flashback Fridays" and "Friday favorites." So I thought I would give you "Monday Memories." Mondays can get pretty crazy around the Kudlas house, so hang in there with me as I might miss a couple Mondays. As for today..I will bring you this adorable picture...

Has it been another week?

Another week has gone by and we finally have all the Internet problems worked out. So I am back to give you a week update...

Last weekend my brother and his girl friend Nicole came up for a couple days. We went hiking at Amicolola Falls. We had a great time and enjoyed the perfect weather. Both Aidan and Brenna hiked up the 500 plus stairs. We did give them piggyback rides down though. Here is a picture of the beautiful falls. We are so blessed to have this only 20 minutes from our house.

Carsyn Joy turned 4 months on Monday. She always seems to have these goofy looks on her face when we take her picture and than she is all smiles. She had a blast riding in the backpack. She had her 4 month check up on Monday and weighs 13 lbs and is 25 inches. I am attempting to make baby food with this baby. I don't know why I didn't try it with the others. Although a bit time consuming, it is pretty easy. I bought a book and already had a food processor so the whole thing came together pretty easy. Carsyn loves her bananas and is now eating squash. She prefers bananas. Tonight we will try applesauce, than comes sweet potatoes.

Here is a picture of Drew and Nicole. It is so great to have my brother only a few hours away so we can have these weekend visits.

Brad and I also celebrated our 7 year Anniversary. (Sorry no wedding pictures on the computer..lets just say..I was a bit more skinny and Brad had lots of hair. HA!) Brad surprised me with a new 35 mm digital camera that I have been wanted for years! I love my original 35 mm, but it takes film and it just gets to be to expensive. This little digital camera I had been using was my brother-in-laws and is way to slow. Anyways, I have been busy trying to figure everything out. I can't wait to start taking pictures with it!

Aidan made it through another week at school. He is doing great and is starting to adjust to the early mornings. Brenna was able to meet her teacher this week as well. Her name is Ms Lindsey and Bren is so exciting to start school 2 days a week starting after Labor Day. She already has her backpack packed and ready to go!

We are just enjoying another relatively cool weekend here in August. The cool breezes from tropical storm Faye has kept the temps down a bit. Kids are out riding their bikes. I am off to take a walk. Have a wonderful weekend!

Happy shopping

First, we have successfully made it through the first week of school. I am extremely exhausted though. (It stinks having the Olympics going on the first week of school...and I have stayed up for every bit of it.) Aidan did a great job at school. We are quite proud of him!



Second, I need to give a shout out to the Dawsonville Walmart. I just love being able to walk into a store and have it so clean you could walk barefoot. I really wouldn't do that, but it is great to have it that clean. I love that they have a family bathroom that is convenient to mom's (or dads) with multiple children. I can't say it enough when they go above and beyond to accommodate mom's shopping with way to many children! ;) I love that they have kept their prices low with all the pricing craziness in this world right now. And to think milk was a $1.50 when Aidan was born. If you know me, I am all about our grocery budget and meal planning and how much I loved our Kroger..but lately not so much. They offered this great deal for a few months this summer that if you purchase a gift card of a certain amount, they give you free groceries. Great idea..we jumped at that! What they failed to tell you is, because they were giving this free money away, they had to jack their prices up..for example..milk went up to $4.50. That is insane! I am going to drive 1/4 mile down the road to Walmart and buy milk for $3.50. They have my business! Anybody else with me on this? I love that when I am done with my shopping I have never had to wait in line. Now, I do shop at off hours..10 in the morning or 10 at night, but still having not to wait with 3 children is great! (well, 2 children this week) There were 2 friendly ladies standing outside the isle to greet me as I walk into the checkout. The last thing I love is their "save the planet" bags they have. We have 5 for each car. If you haven't tried this out and are interesting in recycling a bit, you have got to try this. They fit twice as much as a plastic or paper bag. Most all grocery store chains have them and they are great. So if you live in this area, check out the Dawsonville Walmart. You will love it just as much as our family does!



On another note...if any of you that live in the area are cat people and would love a kitten, let me know. We have a stray butterscotch kitten at our house and we just can't take care of another living thing. 3 children, a dog and husband are plenty for me. She is very sweet and loves the kids. Please let me know!



Have a great weekend!

The big day!

Aidan had his first day of "big boy" school today. He is enrolled in the typical peers pre-K program at Coal Mountain Elementary. We were so excited that we were able to get him into this class. The school is right next to Brad's, so he is able to take Aidan everyday. (We live about 25 minutes from the school) He and 2 other "typical" 4 year olds are in a class with special needs students. They not only have their own ciriculum, but help these other children thoughout the day. A great way of introducing empathy at a young age. A bonus is that it is a state funded program, so we do not have to pay for it. Aidan does go a full kindergarden schedule. He goes M-F for the whole day. We have been a bit nervous about that, but know he is getting a wonderful education!

He had a great day and fell asleep on the car ride home! When he woke up when we got home, he was excited to tell me all about his day! We are so proud of him! His sisters and mommy missed him today though!

Weekend Adventures

1st adventure:
Brad took Aidan on a camping adventure in our backyard. This is just one reason why we love having so much land with woods covering the majority of it. We watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics and had smores over a camp fire. Then Brad and Aidan set out into our woods and spent the night in the tent. They had a great time and had some good father-son bonding before the big week of school starts this week.

2nd adventure:
We had the kids pictures taken. If you have children, you will know that this is always an adventure, especially now having 3, because someone is always upset, or mad at one of the others, sleepy, hungry, or has to go to the bathroom. My mom came to help tag team while each one was getting their individuals done before the group shot. They did however behave wonderfully! I was so proud of them and that they followed the photographers direction! We had so many pictures to choose from. I was so excited to see how they all turned out. Here are just a few:

Hope you all had an adventurous weekend!

Rice Cereal

So the food adventure started today for Ms Carsyn Joy. She is going to be 16 weeks on Friday and I thought she was more than ready to start cereal. I had told Aidan and Brenna that we were going to try to feed her cereal around dinner time and that we needed to get the highchair out of the attic. They were so excited, especially Aidan. Brenna just kept saying, "That is my chair, Mommy." (How does she know that was her chair? She hasn't sat in that in 2 years.) Anyways, the time came and I was all prepared for a fight on my hands. When I gave Aidan cereal at 15 1/2 weeks, he kept spitting it out with his tongue, but enjoyed making a mess. Brenna on the other hand at 15 1/2 weeks screamed her head off at the taste of it and spit it in our face. So Carsyn now at 15 1/2 weeks loved everybit of it. By the looks of this picture, she looks tired and not happy. She was tired and kind of in a daze. (She always is around 7pm) After her first bite, she looked at me and open her mouth again. No screaming, no spitting out food. I was pleasantly surprised!! Aidan was even able to feed her a bite.

Of course we did not go down without a huge mess on our hands. Carsyn's favorite pastime is to chew on her fists. So, between bits she would suck on her fists spreading cereal from one end of her body to the other. It was great entertainment! She is looking more like her brother everyday!

Good friends and family

We are back from our trip to Tennessee and Louisiana. When you are traveling with 3 kids it is always eventful! The kids did a great job traveling the 7 hours to Perdue's house just north of Memphis. They have a beautiful house with lots of land and a pool. We tryed to spend as much time outside letting the kids run around, but the temp pushing over 100 degrees everyday was hard. Here is the picture of the group of kids. Aidan (4 1/2), Jake (3 1/2), Brenna (2 1/2), Judd (1 1/2), and Carsyn and Anna Kate are both 3 1/2 months.


We all ventured down to downtown Memphis to go to the Hard Rock Cafe. Walking in with 10 people, 6 of which are children, some might think we were crazy. The kids did great though, and the hamburgers were delicious! Brad and I have been collecting Hard Rock glasses since we first got married. The running tally is now at 30. A little bit of a hobby to keep us busy in our free time! :)

One of the kids fun adventures while there, was to ride in their go-cart. Brad drove, and the kids rotated and took turns driving around. They had a blast!

Aidan giving his buddy Jake a big hug.

A picture of Stephanie and I before we left. We were also able to go to Jim's new church he is pastor at. If you click on Jim's blog on the side bar, you can check out his church. It is a beautiful place and he is doing great work there! Stephanie made some delicious food that filled us all up! Yummy! Thanks so much for a wonderful visit! We had so much fun. From staying up late and playing cards, watching the kids play Wii (or laughing at me playing Wii), to swimming in the pool. We miss you guys lots! Thanks for the great memories!

Our next stop was Brad's older brother Devin's place outside of Streveport, LA. He is now stationed there in the Airforce for the next 4 years. It was about a 6 hour drive from Memphis to Shreveport. They have a beautiful new home that is on a golf course, and in a wonderful subdivision. Here is a picture of the group of them. Aidan, Kaia (will be 4 in a month), Brenna, Zoe (just turned 1) and Carsyn. The kids always have such a great time playing with their cousins. Aunt Jada had got them lots of paper, and coloring stuff to play with and keep them entertained!

They have a pool as well, so we were able to spend time there trying to cool off. The temps were around 100 degrees plus everyday, so being outside didn't happen until later in the evening. Here is Zoe enjoying the water.

Carsyn enjoying sitting in Aunt Jada's lap in the pool. The water was so warm it felt like bath water. She loved every minute of it!

Kaia holding her new cousin. She was a big helper and loved to hold Carsyn and push her in the swing. Kaia has such a sweet, entergetic personality!

We were so blessed to be able to spend the whole week with them. Devin was able to take off work, so we got to go down to the Red River boardwalk mall and go shopping, take the kids to a movie and just hang out. We had a great time! Of course, my sister-in-law Jada made awesome food everynight and filled us all up! Thanks for a wonderful visit, we love you all! We hope to see you at Thanksgiving! It was then an 11 hour drive home. Besides some intense rain and storms, we made it home! We LOVED the van we rented (kind of a test to see if that is the next car we will purchase). After for so long saying I would never drive a van, I am now looking forward to purchasing one in the next couple years. It made our drive so much more comfortable!

Anyways, my film is being developed from my other camera. When I get the shots in, I will get them up as well.

Have a great week. It is back to school for Brad this week. Next Monday Aidan starts school at the "big boy school."