A Visit From Uncle Chad

After our busy week it was fun to have a surprise visit from our Uncle Chad. He was on a road trip and was nice enough to call us while he was in town. We enjoyed visiting with him and convinced him to spend the night before heading to Gilmer, TX today. Thanks for visiting, and we will see you again for Thanksgiving!

Uncle Chad & Daniel. Bradley wasn't quite fast enough.
He made it in time for the Wild Boys shot.
It's the 'Bald Boys!'

Okay, so really Daniel is the only one without hair,

but he is still working on it!

This is his ride. It may have Utah plates, but it has Texas written all over it.

More Photography Practice Duing a Busy Week

We had a pretty busy week! This is what our schedule looked like: Monday morning- grocery shopping & playgroup, Monday afternoon- Enrichment Board meeting, Tuesday evening- Elders Quorum Pres. Meeting at our house, Wednesday- Xander came to play, Thursday- playgroup at the park, Thursday evening- Enrichment. During the week Bradley found the camera AGAIN! and took some more pictures. Some of them actually turned out pretty good for a 2 year old. These first pictures are ones Bradley took and the rest are some of our highlights from the week!

Daniel loves whatever Bradley is doing!

I love the finger shadow in this one.
We call this one 'The Feet!'
This is Bradley's beloved cow!
This one I like to call 'To Bubble or SNOT to Bubble?!' Daniel has had a cold and I was just getting done feeding him dinner when he sneezed. The next thing I knew there was a HUGE snot bubble. I grabbed a tissue, but thought I had better document it so our Dad could see. I just love Daniels big smile!
Xander showing Daniel all the ins and outs of the excer-saucer.
Bradley has recently started doing everything Daniel does. I think the sibling rivalry is about to begin!
Sometime during the week Bradley also got a hair cut. I just kept staring at the calendar trying to remember when I fit it in. I honestly can't remember, but I guess it doesn't matter as long as it got done!

Peaceful Moments

It seems that everything is more peaceful when the kids are asleep. I want to share some of those peaceful moments from the last couple months.

I am really the only one trying to sleep in this picture.
Ya get pretty tired when you get up at 6 am.
These are the only 2 times he has fallen asleep on the front room floor
for nap time.

Daddy & Daniel catching a power nap before dinner.

This is one of my favorites!

Daniel is such a good sleeper. He sleeps almost anywhere!
This is what happens when Bradley decides not to take his

afternoon nap. By 5:30 he can't even finish his chocolate pudding.

This is why they make a 5 pt. harness. To keep kids from falling out when they are sleeping!

I hope you have enjoyed our peaceful moments as much as we have!

An Outing to the "Outdoor World"

Today was went on an outing to the Bass Pro Shop near our house. Since our dad is speaking in church tomorrow, we thought it would be good to give him a few minutes of quiet to prepare his talk. It turned out to be a perfect day for the outing. We left home about 9 am so there wasn't much traffic and there weren't many people at Bass Pro. The weather was overcast with a breeze which made it perfect to explore the new landscaping! Uncle Quincy, you are going to want to come visit us!!
(I think you can make the pictures bigger if you click on them!)

Where your outdoor adventure begins!
Safety first. "Buckle Up! Its the law!"
Bradley checking to see if he is backing if in straight!
As you can see Bradley was only interested in the "Toys"! I couldn't get him to pose with any of the animals, but I had plenty opportunities to get him with the boats, four wheelers, etc...
He looks pretty good on this red one.

The Race is on!

Daniel won do to the fact that Bradley couldn't reach the peddles.

Daniel with the "forsies" aka "horsies"!
That is what Bradley kept running around calling all the deer, elk & moose!

Check out the lion on the far left. It is getting ready to pounce on Daniel.
I loved Daniel's little face in this one! He has started sticking out his tongue

when he smiles. It is soo cute!

This is the fancy new landscape at Bass Pro Shop!
Bradley kept picking up the rocks on the side of the water and throwing them in.
He would say, "Look at the big ole rock!"
We are going to have to try out this restaurant sometime.

Bradley wasn't sure about sitting on this rock after I had been telling

him not to touch the rocks.

I loved this one. Bradley sat right down next to Daniel so he wouldn't fall, and
then they just sat there watching the waterfall.

I thought this picture captured Daniel and Bradley's relationship perfectly. Daniel watches everything Bradley does and laughs most of the time. They are getting to be such good friends. I love it!!

We felt bad that our dad missed all the cool new things at Bass Pro, so we are going to have to take him there very soon. Hopefully when we go again they will have the display of Santa's reindeer finished. When we saw them today they had just been taken out of crates and their antlers where in the sleigh. (FYI: They screw the antlers into the head when they put them on display!)

Where Cama Mom?!

A lot of experts, friends and family, have said that the best thing to do when your toddler/baby makes a mess is to take a picture so you can laugh later, and this way you have time to calm down before beating them! After hearing this advice I decided to try this method. (I am sure you have all seen the Bradley body art pictures.) This method of dealing with things has worked up to this point. Bradley is still a live and well, despite what some may think after the last posting about Wal-Mart!

Yesterday I was working on the computer and all of the sudden I hear Bradley say, "Where cama Mom? Where cama Mom?" I turn and this is what I find!

I think Bradley has caught onto my method of dealing with the messes he makes. What do you think? I asked Bradley if he just painted himself so he could get his picture taken. He just smiled. He didn't even ask to color this time! Usually he does and just makes a mess the first time I turn my head. I think I may need to come up this a different way to handle things. Any suggestions?

Bradley + Wal-Mart = Disaster!

So last week I was reading about an experience that one of my friends had when she took her little boy to the store and he made apple sauce in the produce section. I got a good laugh at it and said to my self, "Self, I sure am glad I have never had to deal with anything like that!" I spoke too soon.

The next day I took the boys to the store to get some baby food for Daniel. We made one stop before Wal-Mart and that one stop was ALL Bradley wanted. When I tried to get him out of the car at Wal-Mart he screamed "NO, NO" and fought me the whole time. He ended up hitting his head on the car which left dirt on the side of his face. I put him in the basket of the cart and got Daniel out of the car and into the seat of the cart. Bradley stood in the basket, held onto the side, and cried and screamed the whole way into the store and all the back to the baby section. (He had big tear streaks down his cheeks through the dirt on his face.) I felt like every eye was on us as we mad our through the store. Then he tried to get things off the shelves as I started down the isle, so I sat him down with his back to the back of the cart under Daniel. (He is screaming "NO! NO!" this whole time!!) I picked up two jars of stage two baby carrot food and put them in the cart next to Bradley. As I was turning back to get more this thought hits me like a ton of bricks, "Bradley is going to throw the jar!" Before I could turn back and stop him, he grabs a bottle and hurled it TEN feet in front of the shopping cart where it shattered on the floor leaving a splash radius of about 3 feet of bright orange baby food!!

I was so frustrated that I grabbed him by his arms, held him at eye level, and in a voice just short of yelling told him that "If he touched one more thing he was going to be really sorry!" (As I have him suspended above the cart I see through my peripheral vision, a worker poke her head around the corner, look at the shattered bottle of food, then at me, then quickly retreat around the corner again!) I put him back in the cart with his back to the front away from the baby food. He didn't move a muscle! He even stopped screaming and crying! I offered to pay for the demolished baby food, but they told me not to worry about it, so I grabbed a couple more bottles of food and high-tailed it out of there.

That night when Andy got home from school I told him what had happened. When I told him that Bradley quit crying and didn't touch anything else during our shopping trip after I told him not to touch anything else, Andy asked me if I beat our kids and wondered if they were scared of me? I turned to Bradley and asked, "Bradley, does Mom beat you? Are you scared of Mom?" to which he answered "Yes." I turned back to Andy and said, "I guess I do."

Should You Be Afraid of the Dentist??

I know a lot of people are afraid of the dentist, but is there a legitimate reason for this fear? After carefully concidering the following information I have concluded that YES there could be a legitimate reason for the fear! Watch the clip below and let me know what YOU think! Should you be afraid?

Be very afraid!)