Felt like Portland

This past week I have been living the life of an Oregonian. Yes, it rained and rained almost non stop for 2 days. It melted a lot of the snow, but the rain turned to slick conditions in the morning. And we had a good dose of thick fog that blanketed the streets.
I just signed the boys all up for soccer. I have not been the type of mom who forces my kids to play sports or do extra curricular activites against their will, that's why I was thrilled that they asked me if they could sign up for soccer. Skyler has been competitive and has played in a lot of sports inthe past, but the twins have sat back and been content to watch. I am glad that they all want to play. Games will start in March.
I can see my boys eyes again! Have you ever been so frustrated with your kids hair that you just want to shave it off? That's exactly what happened Saturday as Mark pulled out the razor and basically buzz-cut Kevin and Caleb's hair. I should of taken a before and after shot. For any of you who know how much hair Andrew has, you'll know what I am talking about when I say Mop!

Maddox for lunch

Yesterday started as a typical Saturday. You know, cleaning, ironing, patching the wall in our basement where we had a leak fixed last month. Then around 2:00 in the afternoon, Mark and I had the rare oppertunity to attend a luncheon at the famous Maddox retaurant Lodge. This was an invitation given through my work at Honeyville grains. This was their (after) Christmas luncheon. It was a very nice setting and delicious meal. We had a great time and felt I had been blessed to be working with such great people. Not to mention the tons of stuff I am learning about food storage. The boys are no longer surprised when they see me filling empty 2 liters with water or coming in the house with a 50# bag of sugar or rice. Of course, what kid would complain about their mother bringing home that much sugar! Did I mention I get a discount?
Skyler has taken 5 years of piano now and the twins have each taken about 2 years. As of Thursday morning, Kevin and Caleb have begun a new year of piano. That's right, Thursday Morning! 7am! The piano teacher is about 3 blocks away. I will drive them until the weather gets warmer, then they can take their bikes!

Welcome to the Bradley family blog!

Because of the example of my wonderful sister and sister-in-laws, I have finally decided to start a blog. My hope is that this line of communication is a worthy effort to reconnect with family and friends! Please feel free to comment on here whenever you feel like.
As I am sure you can all relate, we are all thawing out from a cold week. For New Year's Eve dinner we made our traditional "pizza snakes". (This is done by making my favorite bread dough then we each fill our portion of dough with pizza toppings and fold the dough over to seal in the ingredients, then bake. The boys love to shape these into snakes.) Then after dinner, we went to a neighbors house and played games until midnight.
As you can see, the boys have had a blast trying out their new snowboard on a snow ramp made from our back porch. I wish I had taken a picture of Mark spending hours building this ramp. I would love to use it as proof that shoveling snow is not the worst thing in the world, as he say. They have also constructed a snowfort or igloo type shelter. It amazes me how long the boys can stay outside and not get bitter cold. The streets are now clear but we still have at least a foot of snow on the lawn. I know we have been lucky because some of you reading this have been stuck in your homes for days because of this winter storm. My heart goes out to you and I am sending you a computer-generated cup of hot cocoa! Enjoy!