White Trash Bachmans

So our new house is amazing.  We love it.  It's perfect.

But it doesn't have a backyard.  

We are okay with this.  But with the summer here, our kids love to play outside.  What do we do?

Play in the front yard.

Over the past few weeks, we have enjoyed many a morning with the sprinklers going, kids in bathing suits, and various outside toys littering our front yard. 

I'm sure our neighbors love us.

But it sure is fun.

And how cute is Bella in a bikini?  

posted by Shara

Binky the Zebra

For 3 years, Jackson has loved his binky.  At first it was something we gave him as a newborn to help him sleep.  (It didn't).  We talked about getting rid of it when he was 18 months, but with Bella soon to be born we were advised against it.  So he kept it.  Shortly thereafter, he became VERY attached to the binky.  With a 19 month old and a newborn, we weren't looking to make our sleep any worse than it already was.  So we let him keep it a little longer. 

Somehow, Jackson turned 3, Bella was now 18 months, and he was still holding on to that binky. (Only for sleeping). We decided it was time.  Time to say goodbye to the bink.

So we loaded the kids into the van and headed to the mall.  We went into Build-a-Bear and told Jackson he could choose any animal he wanted.  (Well.... any animal that would fit

 into his bedroom's jungle theme).  He chose the zebra (Mommy seconded that choice.)

We gave him his binky, he took one last hit, said bye-bye, and 

he put binky into his new zebra.  I was surprised at how sad I was.  It was like I was saying goodbye to Jackson being a baby.  He was now, officially, a little boy.  

He helped fill the zebra with fluff and put a little heart inside of it.  Then we made his birth certificate.  Official name: Binky the Zebra.  Jackson was instantly in love, hugging Binky and putting him in his "house".  

That night we told Jackson he no longer had binkies for his mouth, but he had Binky the Zebra to hold on to.  He put his little arms around Binky's neck, kissed us goodnight, and we never heard another peep out of him.  We had put it off for a year fearing the sleeping repercussions, and were amazed to see how well he did.  Kids are amazing.

He did ask us to "open it" over the next few days, but never threw any fits.  He now introduces his "new friend" to people that come over, and is quite proud of Binky.

And we are so proud of our little boy.

posted by Shara

We have moved!

Moving with small children is, well, not so fun.  Bella, the adventurous little girl that she is, was determined to climb every mountain of boxes we packed, causing several bumps and bruises to her little body.  But after several weeks of boxes, packing tape, and some shaken fists, we are moved in!  It was bittersweet saying goodbye to our old home, filled with so many memories of our little babies, their first steps, and sweet times as a family, but we are looking forward to making memories in the new place that God has us.  Our new home is beautiful, and we feel so blessed to get to live there.  We are also enjoying the extra bedroom, as it allows my brother, Jacob, to live with us.  The kids LOVE having Uncle Jakie & his big truck around! 

 In every step of our lives, we continue to be overwhelmed by God's faithfulness, and how He is so evident in every piece of it.

We hope you'll stop by and visit!

Our new address:

513 W. Vermont

Clovis, CA 93619

30, Flirty, & Thriving!

I love birthdays.  I love Disneyland.  I love Jennifer Garner.  I really love my husband.

He knows all these things and he also knows my past few birthdays have been, well, substandard. 4 days after the birth of your firstborn, there is little that is all about you.  Then a year later, laid up with morning sickness (thank you, Bella), cake did not appear so appetizing.

And last year.... I can't even really remember last year.  Hmmm.  My latter 20's went rather uncelebrated.

So on March 27th, I was turning 30.  The big 3-oh.  The night before my birthday we were having dinner with my family (macadamia-nut crusted fish & chips at Elephant Bar = delicious)

when he gave me a card.  Inside the card I learned we were headed home to pack our bags that night and leave for one of my all-time favorite places: Disneyland. 

So we left at 9:00pm (thank you, Stacey, for watching our munchkins!) and

arrived at our hotel at 1:30 am.  About 6 hours later we were exiting our hotel for the park.  I am an all-day-have-a-plan-don't-stop-fast-passing-go-go-take-it-all-in-no-napping-there-til-they-kick-you-out sort of Disneyland gal.  And that is exactly what my hubby gave me.  While the park was busy, we rarely waited for a ride more than 15-30 minutes. (Longest line=worst ride= Finding Nemo submarines= complete waste of time.) And they gave me a button to wear that said it was my birthday, so all day long I received happy birthday wishes.  Awesome.

We had an amazing day riding every ride, watching the parades, eating yummy foods, and shopping for our kids (and talking about how much fun it was going to be someday to bring them).  But the absolute highlight of the day was our reserved, front row seating to my favorite show, Fantasmic.  We had servers that brought us a tray of cheeses, crackers, & desserts along with hot chocolate.  SO yummy. 

 Even better were the jealous stares of everyone who had camped out for hours for much worse seats.  Hee hee.  It was fantastic!

I thought that was the end of my birthday fun, but I came home the next day to be surprised by some of my favorite friends with a girl's night out.  We ate lots of delicious foods at Dai Bai Dang, and then went to a little dessert place, Chiffonos.  When we got there, we had the entire back area reserved, where we ate my FAVORITE chocolate ganache cake (in heaven that is all I'm going to be eating) and watched one of the best movies ever, 13 Going on 30.  It was great.

So turning 30 was pretty amazing.  If this was any sign of the next 10 years.... it's gonna be good.

posted by Shara

Jackson is 3!

Three years ago on March 23, 2006 our sweet little boy, Jackson Orian Bachman, came into this world at 8:04 am.  He was the most beautiful thing we had ever seen, and he changed our lives forever.  Every day with him has been an absolute gift, and we adore him beyond words.

The past 3 years have been filled with laughter, tears, Wiggles, pancakes, fountains, ABCs, movies, swings, trips to the zoo, hugs, blankies & binkies.  We cannot believe how quickly the

time has gone. Our baby has become a little boy that we laugh and have conversations with.

So, to celebrate Jackson's birthday this year, we decided to do it his way.  A Cars theme at Chuck E Cheese with a few of his little buddies.  And he 

LOVED it!  (First birthday party without tears- hooray!)  We had such a great time as he blew out his candles, played

with his friends, and told everyone he was "free". 

Thank you to everyone who has loved our little boy over the past 3 years.  

Oh, and did we mention that Bella loved her cupcake?

posted by Mommy

My son loves garbage trucks

I am on a mission trip to New Orleans right now.  I am so far away from my family.  As always, everything reminds me of my amazing family.  On this occasion, I caught a garbage truck doing what it does best.  Dumping garbage.  So I picked up my handy dandy hand cam and made movie magic.  Though you may watch and enjoy.  This blog is entirely for Jackson.  Shara will be showing this to him about 325 times tomorrow and that will not be enough.

Happy Dumping

-Posted by Jeff

This one is going to come back to haunt them during prom time

When we moved into our new home, one of the things that all of the Bachmans were excited about was the Roman Soaking Tub (that is the official name). So every night our children request to go to the BIG bathtub. With mommy gone last night, I was the only set of hands and shoot the Roman Soaking Tub is higher off the ground, which is easier on my knee. I honored their request and captured the moment. I think you can see from the smiles that all of their worries have been soaked away. Thanks Roman Soaking Tub!