More Adventures of Bradford

Beware of leaving the refrigerator door open, you never know who may sneak in!  Make that any door for that matter.  The other day we heard him crying and he had walked into the pantry without us knowing and Andrew had shut the door, it was actually really funny!  Not long after that we found him doing this.  The boy knows what he wants that is for sure!

Hey just hanging out!

Sunday we had friends over and Brady got to meet Bella the golden doodle puppy I mentioned in an earlier post.  He was very gentle with her and they followed each other around!  It was very sweet to watch.

A new friend.

Random pictures from Mommy's phone!

Sorry for the not so great quality, but his adoring fans are asking for more pictures!  Here ya go:)

Brady's Christmas List

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Everywhere we go! Not really but people are asking, so here you go!  These are some things we would like for him to have.  We got him a kitchen set for Christmas that came with pots, pans, plates, silverware and cups, so one great gift idea would be pretend play food.  We went to a friend's house and little man played non stop with their basketball goal! Also the toddler chunky puzzles, or something like this!  He needs another pillowcase, something fun and childlike.  We would like to get him another lamb lovie or something similar to this!  His other one is showing the wear from all the love.  Money towards a swing set would also be wonderful.  We think we might get him the Step 2 Play Up Gym Swing Set.  A few toddler plates would be great as well made of plastic or melamine.  Clothes 12-18 months.  He got the Little People Talking Zoo for his birthday that came with a polar bear, gorilla and lion.  There are more and we got him the whale, leopard, and zebra for Christmas. There are many other  Little People zoo talker animals that would be great gifts!  A snow pants or a ski bib and snow boots, and I have seen these inflatable baby sleds!  Hope this helps with some ideas!

 

Fall Festival

I posted a few weekends ago that we were in for Virginia for a pseudo Fall Festival.  The boys got to shoot their guns and we enjoyed the brisk weather a bit but mostly just hanging out catching up!  Here are a few photos I got from the weekend!

In all his bundled up glory

Aunt Amy and Brady being silly!

Slingshots

Daddy with the sling shot

Andrew, Gary being goofy, and Keith with their guns

The piano man

Such talent!

Wrapping up the warmth!

These pics were taken at the end of September and somehow got skipped.  Here they are better late than never!

N.C. State, Go State!

We're the Red and White from State

And we know we are the best.

A hand behind our back,

We can take on all the rest.

Come over the hill, Carolina.

Devils and Deacs stand in line.

The Red and White from N.C. State.

Go State!!

People get Ready, more pics of Brady coming!

Thank you so much to Ellen for getting my camera back to me and for Heather taking these ADORABLE pics of little man that are to follow.  If there are particular ones you love let me know...Christmas is coming!:)

What has been on my mind?

I know you all have been staying up late worrying and not able to sleep wondering the answer to this question!  Well, worry no more the answer is goldendoodles, my new dream house and community farming!  Amazing right?  Let's start with Goldendoodles (golden retriever and standard poodle mix).  They are the most adorable teddy bear of pups I have ever seen!  Our friends Erin and JP are getting their new dogter Bella on Friday and she is coming to visit us at our house on Sunday! I cannot wait to meet this sweet ball of fluff.  I do love Brolly, but he sheds and Bella will not!  Brolly reminded me the other day that we have promised him a furry brother or sister in the future so while he may get more human ones first, when the time does come it will hopefully be a goldendoodle like Bella. So for now a furry friend versus sibling will have to do!

Sweet Bella sleeping

Bella with her new mommy Erin!

Second on my list is my new dream house! As most of you know I want to have a few horses and a plot of land to one day call my own for my kids to run around in the woods with the dogs, go 4-wheeling and for Andrew to shoot his guns! Well Saturday my friend Heather and I were vendors for an event that sponsors early detection for Breast Cancer called Blasting for Boobs that was skeet shooting event to help raise money for education on this subject!  It was COLD and very fun.  The family that runs the skeet shooting business had a ton of beautiful land and I told her about this house I have always wondered about.  What is crazy I had never seen the house and only a wooden fence along the road with the driveway.  I mentioned it had been for sale and she said lets go check it out!  Well lets just say it really built my dream!  It is 8.25 acres with a 2 horse stall barn and was built in 1990.  The interior would have to change a bit as in the gold chandeliers and white carpeting Andrew and I have a more rustic homey taste.  I also wouldn't have much use for a wet bar or billiard room, but it has a lot of potential!  I love the fact that the house was built to fit the land and that it is not brand new and has great landscaping and big trees.  I am going to call my Realtor to take us to look at it! It doesn't hurt to dream... 

This is the front

To the left is the 3 car detached garage

This is the barn area built into the back of the garages! Genius!

Beautiful Kitchen

The Great Room

The driveway coming in with pasture.  Insert Brolly laying in grass!

More pasture area

The back of the house with brick patio and small screened in porch

The backyard

Last on the list is community farming.  Yesterday we attended a festival at Peacehaven Farm right outside of Burlington. It was an event to celebrate the community with music, food, a petting zoo and hayride!  We had a great time on the hayride seeing some of the 80 acres and farm's animals.  Along with animals there is a HUGE garden and they grow all sorts of seasonal fruits and vegetables organically that people from the community can buy.  What a neat idea.  They just received a grant for $340,000 to build a few on site houses for adults with disabilities to live to work and the farm and take care of the animals.  This is so different than the idea of a group home because these adults will be receiving the opportunity to do work independently and make a living for themselves.  In the future they will also have intern housing as well.  This is very much like a project I did for my therapeutic recreation class in college.  We were to design something for people with disabilities to create an inclusion environment for all within a community!  It pulled at my urban farming/love of people with disabilities heart! Anyway lots of fun and food for thought!

Blueberry Goodness and Boy's 1st chore!

Today I gave the boy breakfast and went to finish getting ready!  A few minutes later I found this!

Blueberry Goodness

This evening Andrew and I were both occupied when we heard the food in the dog bowel rustling around and we knew it wasn't Brolly!  Hmm....who could it be?  I came out to get ready to correct Brady when Andrew said, "wait, watch this".  To my disbelief Bradford went in the laundry room got dog food and proceeded to then take it to Brolly and feed it to him!!!!  I thought I have a genius child! j/k haha Really though to put that together was amazing to me!  He has been saying woo woo for dog and when he hears them bark and has been a little over obsessed with the word, and then this!  This was not the original obviously as we were trying to recreate it!

Happy Halloween

We had a wonderful Halloween starting with festivities this past weekend!  Amy and I drove up to Virginia with Brady Friday afternoon and ate dinner with Sandra and Gary.  Andrew came up later with Keith and we enjoyed a night in of just catching up!  Saturday we played with Little Man and then the boys headed out to play with sling shots and shoot their guns.  I partook a little bit and Bradford enjoyed walking around outside on the first truly brisk day so far this season!  He got to try out his new toboggan and mittens too.  Saturday afternoon we all just hung out then had dinner with the rest of the Virginia clan we proceeded to find out that my cousin and his wife are expecting their first baby next fall!  I am so excited for another little one to be joining the family and they now live in Greensboro so we will hopefully be seeing a lot more of this little person in the future!

Sunday we were back at home and went the early service then the boys took naps and I headed to the barn for a lesson with one of my girls.  It was a nice relaxing afternoon and the most perfect weather outside!  I was just thankful for being able to enjoy doing something I love so much!  Sunday night Frank and Heather came over for dinner and we carved pumpkins!  Heather did a traditional Jack-o-lantern face and I went for a scarecrow face.

New friends Crow and Jack!

Monday afternoon Brady and I went to the park in Greensboro for a costume party play date and picnic at the park with friends from MOPS.  We stopped by Heather's first to TRY to get a few pics of him in his costume!  His costume is of Raggedy Andy.  He would not keep the hat on so these three were the best! I have leopard ears and a tail to add to the festiveness.:)

Mom please don't put that on my me!

Not really in the mood to sit still.

Best of the bunch

Last night we went trick-or-treating with some neighbors we just met that have two small boys.  It was really fun being his first time and all!  We did not get candy at every house because us parents will be eating most of it! He loved walking down the road by himself, Mr. Independent!  We did it for about an hour and then headed back when he got cold and handed candy out at our house!  We had a fun time making memories as a family!