A T-Shirt is Worth a Thousand Words

The t-shirt says "I do all my own stunts." When I first saw this t-shirt at Target, my thought was, "How do they know my son so well?"

Brady has only worn the shirt twice so far, the second time being last weekend where he got turkey blood on it. If you're saying to yourself, "What? Turkey blood? How?", you haven't met my husband. I'm considering starting a second blog about being the wife of a hunter, but I digress. My husband got himself a turkey last weekend and thought it would be a good idea to show the turkey to Brady before he dressed it. Brady wasn't too interested in the turkey itself, but while walking around, he managed to trip on a rock and do a diving-half flip-roll thing landing right smack on top of the turkey. Gross, but very fitting considering his attire. I'm starting to understand why the shirt only came in black. Smart, very smart.

The Toddler's Creed

I saw this on a board I frequent and I think it perfectly describes Brady. The original list was longer, but I have edited to save some space and only include the ones most like him.

The Toddler's Creed

• If it is on, I must turn it off.
• If it is off, I must turn it on.
• If it is folded, I must unfold it.
• If it is a liquid, it must be shaken, then spilled.
• If it is a solid, it must be crumbled, chewed or smeared.
• If it is shelved, it must be unshelved.
• If it has leaves, they must be picked and eaten.
• If it is plugged, it must be unplugged.
• If it is not trash, it must be thrown away.
• If it is in the trash, it must be removed, inspected, and thrown on the floor.
• If it is closed, it must be opened.
• If it does not open, it must be yelled at.
• If it has drawers, they must be rifled.
• If it is full, it will be more interesting emptied.
• If it is empty, it will be more interesting filled.
• If it has a flat surface, it must be banged upon - preferably with a very hard object.
• If Mommy's hands are full, I must be carried.
• If Mommy is in a hurry and wants to carry me, I must walk alone.
• If it is paper, it must be torn.
• If it has buttons, they must be pressed.
• If the volume is low, it must go high.
• If it is toilet paper, it must be unrolled on the floor.
• If it is dry, it must be made wet with drool, milk, juice, pee, or toilet water.

Then and Now

Brady went to our family's annual fish fry the other day where he got his picture taken with one of his 3rd cousins (or 1st cousin twice removed, or whatever you want to call it).

So I went looking for a matching picture of their dads together when they were little and found this.

As a bonus I found matching father and son Christmas photos I didn't even know we had, taken on the same rocking horse when they were the same age.

You'll note which mother held onto her young son during the photo session. Hint - it wasn't me. In my defense, my hands were just out of view. Plus, a 5 month old can ride a rocking horse WAY better than a 4 month old.

Brady, IT Specialist

Brady has developed quite a love for computers and pretty much anything else with buttons. (I apologize in advance to the technically competent for my ensuing misuse of computer terms.)

It all started when he was about 6 months old when he loved to help mommy type. With the push of a few keys, he could make things pop up on my screen that I had never seen before. He also has developed an appreciation of antiques.















More recently he has moved onto phones, helping his Aunt Susan and Uncle Jim by discovering many different rings their cordless was capable of while we were visiting them in Atlanta. He has also branched out into various computer software applications (trying to put a CD into a 3.5" floppy drive).

















And hardware repair. After repeated attempts to print a document each time with the computer saying the printer was out of paper and me responding, out loud of course, "It HAS paper, what is your problem?," I found this jammed in the paper tray.

















It is a toy drumstick belonging to this cute snail drum/shape sorter toy.

















All that and he only charges $25/hour plus mileage.

Grandpas Stop Here

A boy, some softballs, a tape measure and a John Deere t-shirt. Does it get any better than that?








































P.S. We're still working on how read the right side of the tape.

1st Vacation

We've returned from our first big vacation with Brady. We had a great time visiting family and touring the southeast portion of the US. Some pictures for those of you I know have been waiting with baited breath.

Our first stop was Atlanta for a visit with Ryan's aunt, uncle and cousins. They took us out on a nearby lake for Brady's first boat ride, which included a life jacket that Brady wasn't incredibly fond of. But, we did manage to get a little smile before the ride was over.

Our trip included a visit to Fts. Sumter, Pulaski and Jackson where we learned terms like "the war of northern aggression" and how to say "Yankee" with a southern accent. Brady enjoyed the ferry ride to Ft. Sumter although I see extensive hunter safety training in his future.

We visited the beach at Tybee Island near Savannah where Brady wasn't too fond of going into the water with Daddy (that's a picture of him running away) and preferred sitting on the sand with Mommy.

We also went to Folly Beach near Charleston, where Brady wouldn't even go near the water but learned that banging sea shells together is fun.

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While we were in the Charleston & Savannah areas we saw a few light houses, took a few home/plantation tours, and visited the Citadel. Brady also contemplated careers in the Navy aboard the USS Yorktown (a WWII era aircraft carrier docked at Charleston) and as a nuclear engineer at Oakville, TN where the WWII atomic bombs along with a variety of other nuclear weapon technology was developed.

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Why yes, that is a nuclear bomb that Brady is sitting on. Don't all parents place their children on nuclear bombs and take pictures?

We finished the trip up with a refreshingly cool day in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park that included a hike to a waterfall that was fun to put our hands in.

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We then headed home with one tired baby.