Gardening gloves!

A few weeks ago my Momma got a call from one of our neighbors. She is a grafic designer, and was putting together a catalogue for a client... she was working with a deadline, and the little boy she had booked for the pictures had H1N1. She asked if I would mind having my picture taken with some cool gardening gloves. I was very dubious, but it ended up being kind of fun.
Now my Momma got the two catalogues in the mail, along with some cool cool gardening gloves that are JUST MY SIZE! (and some nice ones for my Momma, too)... so here are the pages:
Once in the index...
...and again next to the gloves I wore.

I really like my new gloves! Obviously I still love playing in the mud with my bare hands... but I sure had fun playing in the POKY parts of the yard, without getting poked! (our bigleaf maple sheds lots of tiny poky spikes...) I also caught/dug a prime batch of night crawlers... I even helped my Momma bag some of the leaves she raked.

I'm so glad that it is warm outside, and look forward to spending LOTS of time in our yard this year!

How do you like my cool cool gloves?

Gonna be a big brudder!

My Momma has a baby in her tummy!

A few days ago, my Momma and Dad told me they have a surprise to tell me. A bit later we all piled into the big bed, and my Momma and Dad asked me what I think about becoming a big brother. I fairly resolutely said that I think I'd like to wait until I was 10 years old.

After a brief chuckle, my Momma told me that she has a baby in her tummy right now!
I thought about it for a little bit, and for a bit more, then promptly learned how to zip my sweat shirt up all by myself for the first time. Then I asked my Momma why her tummy was still small (I had seen my friend Ezra's Mommy's tummy get big). She explained that the baby was still very small, but her belly would get bigger.
I thought about it for a little while. Then I said: "I'm REALLY going to miss you guys!" ...and Dad asked what I mean. I explained that I was going to miss them when I had to leave because of the new baby. This made my Momma cry a little bit, and Momma and Dad quickly explained that they would NEVER give me away for any reason, and that they will ALWAYS love me. Then they explained that they have enough love for TWO kids (or maybe more some day). I thought about this for a while. Then I said: "If the baby wants, I'll share my toy train with it."

And that was that. I happily gave my Momma's belly a friendly little pat, and then announced that I wanted to play a game together. Several times that day I whispered a little prayer thanking God for the baby - without being prompted.

I am starting to get used to the idea of becoming a big brother. I still have lots of questions, but overall, I'm pretty excited. The due date is Sept. 1, 2010.


So here is the first picture of Bradley baby v2.0 - I think it looks like a gummy bear, because the arms and legs are still so stubby!


Here is the view from the side, at 9 weeks.

Yesterday I was snuggling with my Momma, and her tummy started gurgling and growling. I commented: "Momma, the baby sure is noisy in there!"

Snow and H1N1 shots

This morning my Momma and I went to the clinic, and they finally finally had enough H1N1 vaccine to give us a shot. I was not super happy about the idea, and I told the nurse: "You know, it's ok if you give my shot to another person." and then when I was sitting on my Momma's lap with my sleeve rolled up I calmly but firmly told the nurse: "I really don't want to have this shot." Then she poked me, and I didn't even jump, squeak, or cry! My eyes got wide for a moment, and then I said: "Oh good. It will heal now." My Momma gave me a frozen-juice popsicle at home for being so brave.

Here I am right after we got home. My friend Holden got to be in the newspaper for being so brave when he got his shot, so I asked my Momma to take a picture of me so people can see that I was brave too. (My Momma was surprised, because normally these days she has to beg to be allowed to take a picture of me)

Holden and Momma and I made these juice popsicles together a while ago. They tast yummy!

After going to Holden's house for a visit, and having lunch with Erin and Holden, we went back home. I was unusually tired from getting a shot, and asked my Momma if I could go to bed now. I slept for nearly 4 hours, and when I woke up, IT HAD SNOWED! My Momma and I bundled up, and went into the yard with Lincoln. This was Lincoln's first time in the snow: he bounded out, then noticed the weird cold white stuff touching his paws and did a funny little dance trying to get all 4 feet off the ground at once. Then he noticed that it was ok, and got really excited. He shoved his nose into the snow, and started plowing all over the yard. Lincoln invented the game 'fetch a snowball and eat it' and my Momma and I had a snowball fight. My Momma has HORRIBLE aim. She was about 3ft away from me, and still missed about as often as not.
There was just enough snow to make a snowman - although we had to put him up on this boulder to prevent Lincoln from eating him.

We played in the snow until Dad came home from work and joined us.

I LOVE SNOW!!! (so much so that when I looked outside on Christmas morning and didn't see any, I said: "Hey! Where's my snow?!" in a very accusatory tone).

Merry Christmas!

I hope you guys had as wonderful a Christmas as we did.
On the 24th we celebrated Jesus' birthday together, with a little at-home devotional, candles, and a YUMMY steak dinner. I got to open one gift (a game!) that we played together before it was bed-time. On the 25th my Momma and I made cranberry-orange muffins, eggs, sausage, and grapefruit for breakfast. Then we emptied our stockings, and then my Momma and Dad (who are big meanies) insisted on doing the dishes, taking a shower, and cleaning up a little before opening presents. Then it was FINALLY time:

First my Momma made me pose for a few pictures...


I'm a T-rex, just like the cool one my Aunt Kirsti made me on my stocking last year!



My Momma made Dad a stocking with snowflakes and a penguin... the one with the doll and teddy was made by my Great Grandma Connie when my Momma was a little girl!

Opening some gifts...


...and here is the highlight of my day: my Momma and Dad built me a HUGE castle (the sides are 5 1/2 ft long, and 4 1/2 ft tall!) for my play corner!!! It is SO cool! Now this knight has a home!

WHO GOES THERE?!

Dad and I built my Momma a drafting/art table for her to paint and draw on. It is really cool, with back-lighting and a lamp, and an adjustable table top. Dad and I spent lots of time making it just right, and we painted it red to match the rest of the room.

Momma and I built Dad a work bench for his man-room. It is tall enough that he doesn't have to bend over when working, and we spent lots of time sanding it to be silky smoothe.

It fits just right into Dad's man-room, and it can double as a tiger cage!

T-Rex

Just before nap time Dad was going to read me a story from this cool book my Grandma Nana gave me a while back. While Dad was getting comfy, I was examining the cover (see above). My comment: "T-Rex could EAT all of these."
Yep, I'm 100% boy.

Life is good!

Life is good, and life is BUSY! Just to hold grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts and uncles and friends over... here a few pictures:


ME


Our house freshly decked in icicle lights.


The randomly December-blooming Japanese-something-plant outside our front door.


Our new (used) dining set. We have friends over a lot, and the little table we had often couldn't fit everyone,so we decided to start looking around for a bigger one. We got a great deal, and are very happy with this one!

Too busy...

This morning I came into my Momma's and Dad's room to wake them up at 7am. After all, it was Saturday, which meant lots of time to play, and I wouldn't want anybody else to miss out by sleeping too long! I crawled into bed to jump on Dad (that is fairly effective at waking him), and my Momma reached over to try one of her tricky "cuddle the boy back to sleep" maneuvers. My response: "Momma- *exhasperated sigh* - I REALLY don't have time for this now."

In further news, we now have a pet Russian tortoise that I named Timmy. Timmy lives in a big tank, and likes to eat leaves and re-arrange his furniture/logs/rocks. We rescued/adopted Timmy from someone who was getting rid of him, and we think he will be a fun pet. :o)

This Friday my Momma had a Timmytortoise, and a Marktortoise and a Holdentortoise. Timmy is a bit too fat (bulges coming out of his shell) because the old owners didn't know how to feed him properly, so Timmy has to exercise every day. We are happy to "help"...

Timmy LOVES his basking spot - the old owners had let their basking bulb burn out a few months ago, and so he's been kind of chilly!



And finally, a few (goofy) pictures of me in the new hat my Momma chrochetted for me. It was going to be a simple round hat, but I specifically requested ear flaps and a pom pom... so I am very pleased that my Momma made it just like I wanted it to be.

Happy Palloween!

Happy P'alloween everyone!
As mentioned before, I got to be a blue puppy, and I had a lot of fun. First we went to our church's NEEWOLLAH celebration, where among other things I got a cool cool pirate sword. Then I got to go trick-or-treating with my Momma. A few people had decorated their houses a little too scary for my taste, but I braved the smoke (from a smoke machine), and very matter-of-factly told the howling coming from a corner that it was just for pretend. After announcing "Trick or treat!" to the person at the door, I always made sure to wish them a "Happy Palloween!"
Well, here are the pictures I am sure you are all waiting for.

Yesterday my Momma helped Holden and me carve the pumpkins Holden's grandma grew for us. We asked her to cut a BIG "H" and "M" into the back of our jack-o-lanterns, and she did!

Holden asked for a COOL BAD SCARY pumpkin, and I asked for a laughing one. Both of us were very pleased with the result.

Now all they need is a tea-light inside them! Can you believe how much yucky slimy stuff was inside these?

Ta-DAAAAAH!

Today my Momma woke me up from my nap so she could get me dressed for the NEEWOLLAH celebration at church. She even painted a blue nose on me. I was a bit grumpy at first, but then Dad came outside in his cool cool "contractor" disguise!

The world was instantly a much better (and safer!) place. Look at us two studs!

We don't have any pictures from trick-or-treating, or from the celebration at church, because things were just too busy, and it was dark outside anyway. But look at all the candy I got! I even got some princess-stickers and a princess pencil that I will give to my friend Tori...

Ooooh, goody good! My Momma said I could have ONE piece of candy, and it's just SO hard to decide!

Ok, seriously, Momma, I've had enough of you waving that camera at me. No more pictures.

Happy P'alloween, everyone!

...just for Grandma!

...as my Grandma pointed out, it has been TOO long since the last blog post!

Well, here you see the reason why... my Momma was busy finishing the kitchen and the entryway.


The kitchen is done, although the dining room still has one set of windows and the back door to the laundry room that are black. Those will have to wait until Spring, because my Momma will be busy making Christmas presents and illustrating the book that is due next Febuary.


Look at how nice it looks with the white trim! And my Momma had fun making the brushed-copper effect with orange paint and copper metallic paint. The front door and closet doors are still black.... they too will have to wait until next Spring.

So, enough excuses, here are some pictures of ME! I like climbing trees now, and both in our yard and in the park there are some leaning big-leaf maples that are just right for walking up the trunk. I usually still need help getting down... either that, or I take the REALLY FAST way down, involuntarily.

My Momma had to dress up for the youth group Halloween-alternative party... so she became a tiger!


Dad gets up early with me on Saturday mornings, and my Momma gets to sleep in. Here Dad is snoozing while I'm watching a show on the computer.


We finally have some new family pictures. Our friends Todd and Sheryll came to visit us, and they took a few pictures of us while we were at the park.

Dad really hates posing for pictures, but this one turned out rather nice, didn't it?

...and just for Grandma, here are a few close-ups of me.

...no Momma, I don't feel like smiling at the camera.

...my Momma got me to smile for this picture by telling me to say "Hi Grampa!"

And finally: the blue puppy costume! My Momma asked me what I wanted to be for Halloween, and after a moment of contemplation, I said: "A puppy! A blue one!" ...I was rather surprised when my Momma said, "Sure, that sounds like a good idea!" She went to Goodwill and bought a blue fleece men's sweatshirt. She cut the arms short, and took in the sides and the arms, and made the hood smaller. Then she used the extra fabric to make ears and a tail, and used some blue scrap cloth to add paw prints, spots, and a soft padded tummy. I love my costume SO much that I have been wearing it off and on ever since it was finished.

This is what it looks like from the back, and when I crawl on all 4s, the tail wags!