September: Labor Day Wknd, quad trip, Brody update

Labor day weekend went pretty well! Aaron had a furlough day on Friday, but labored away at his parents house working on a patio for them which he finished off on Monday. Before you feel sorry for him working so hard on his days off, here is what the money he earned went towards:

That's right, we went in on a fishing boat with my parents. I don't have a car that will fit three kids, but our boat will!! Not something we expected to purchase at this time, but it was a good opportunity so we didn't want to pass on it.

Still feeling bad for Aaron working so hard? Don't, he is leaving me and the boys tonight through Sunday to go 4-wheeling with the guys in the Silver Lake area (about 2hrs south of here). Yes, it was just 4 short weeks ago that he abandoned us to go hang in the Pits at the NASCAR race. It's all good though, it's an annual thing the guys do and thankfully this year they are going only 2hrs away as opposed to the 10 or so hours they traveled last year.

Soooo, what are the boys and I going to do.... no idea. Last year when Aaron went on his quad trip, we ventured down to Birch Run Outlets and scored some great deals with the post-back to school sales. I would like to do that this year, but I'm getting all worked up over finances. Not only was Summer a little rough (financially speaking) with all the fun things we wanted to do, not to mention my car repairs, but Aaron also had 6 days of unpaid leave. Thankfully the governor spread them all out so that it wasn't a big hit at once... oh wait, she did that so we couldn't file unemployment! :P So, on top of that, we just bought a boat, I still need a new car, we will be paying for preschool (granted, it's not very expensive, but just one more thing) and I need to buy some new furniture to transform Jacob's room into Jacob AND Brody's room. Which doesn't really need to happen for several more months, baby Austin will spend the first few months in our room in a bassinet. But, of course I started looking at stuff and now I'm motivated to get it taken care of today. I guess I'll just have to get over that. Soooo, I may still go, I just won't enjoy spending the money as much as I should ;). Just a stressful time I guess, worrying about money, having a baby, sending one off to preschool. As much as most of it is exciting, it's also just a little emotional. Needless to say I haven't been sleeping great the past couple of days.

Ok, so what else? Labor Day weekend went well. Saturday we went out on Elk Lake with Mark & Lisa and the boys. It was a beautiful day, but the water was a bit chilly! Afterwards we grilled some dogs and even managed to play a little Euchre.

Here are the boys playing in the boat:
Brody napping on the boat:
Noah, Jacob and Brody watching their dads go "deep sea diving":

Joint Venture shrank!!!! The parents sold their boat after many, many crazy summers. Luckily, they got this small boat as part of the trade. It's a 21ft Sea Ray and as much as I'll miss Joint Venture, this yet-to-be-named little one is pretty.darn.nice! Somehow I think we managed to go halves on the wrong boat with the parents...


Anyone have any creative naming ideas? Somehow the ideas thrown out there so far (Little Joint, Smokin' Joint) seem like they might cause some unwanted attention from the sheriff.

A Little Brody Update:

I've shared a lot of Jacob stories and haven't mentioned much of what Brody is up to....

My sweet little Brody is doing great. He'll be 18 months old at the end of the month. He is SUCH the momma's boy, I am dreading his transition to the new baby. He is still my little pig pen, always getting dirty or wet. And he couldn't be more opposite from Jacob in that regard. It doesn't bother him one bit how dirty, wet or sticky he is... Jacob on the other hand must change his clothes every time he washes his hands and a drop of water reaches his shirt. I was out running errands yesterday and called Aaron to check on things and he informed me that Brody doesn't like to run through the sprinkler or get near the sprinkler, he stands right.under.it. and lets it drench him.

He is a talking fool! He can now say two word sentences like "Daddy? Where go?" Which amazes me because Jacob really didn't say much at all until 2. He started using utensils about two weeks ago and LOVES eating with them. I can no longer serve him finger foods, he gets ticked! If he can't eat it with a fork or spoon, he doesn't want it. And, he is quite the little dare devil, he loves standing on tall surfaces! Thankfully he is somewhat cautious on them...

Guess that is about all for now!