Here are a few random pictures from the past week or so.
Brandon has grown more & more interested in drawing & coloring. He's over at his little table "working" quite often. He'll even take picture orders...Let me know if you'd like to place one. I'll ask him to draw for you & send it to you if he consents.One day while Nick was in Chicago running the infamously cancelled marathon, Jennifer & I took the kids for a walk around the neighborhood. It was pretty warm, so Brandon was pleased to find someone running their sprinkler. He ran back & forth a half dozen times at least before we could drag him away.
Brandon was very proud of his "spoon bridge" & asked me to take a picture of it. Can you tell he'd just eaten some bread with peanut butter? He was pretty proud of that too...

Here are some shots from playing in the back yard. Brandon picked this pretty little clover flower for me in the back yard. Isn't that sweet? He loves to swing. Better yet, he can do it without help now! Funny that Brandon is a blur of motion, but the ball is stationary...Actually he usually does a really good job of hitting it - even when it's moving. The ball is tied to a string and hung from a tree branch. That way he can practice hitting a moving ball without us having to do the pitching. We got this idea from Jason - Brandon's friend Kaleb's Dad. Very smart!

Nick & I went to the Flying Saucer this afternoon for some grown up time. That was a nice change! I had the darker beer which was Breckenridge Vanilla Porter. It was really good - rich like chocolate. I don't know what Nick's was...
We also got the spinach artichoke dip. It was yummy!
Nick really wanted a second beer, but our meter was about to run out and we still had to get the kids from daycare. Plus, he had to get home to pack for his trip. He's running the Chicago marathon on Sunday. He leaves tomorrow morning.
We really cleaned up. No more beer ... no more dip. But it was all really good!

Sunday afternoon we went to Pinnacle Mountain for some fresh air. Here are some shots from our adventure. I wanted Brandon to stand next to the trail sign so I could take a picture, but the rocks were big & very uneven so he was having a really hard time getting into position. I thought this pose was cute... I could have helped him, but he's a fiercely independent soul & didn't want me anywhere nearby that could be interpreted as helping him. Nick & Brandon went up the stairs to see the truly spectacular views while I stayed below with Laedyn in her stroller. They never did tell me how the view was, but having been there before I know it had to have been pretty nice.
Further along the trail, Nick took his turn with Laedyn while I continued down the path with Brandon. It was a dirt path thru the woods and had started to get too bumpy for the stroller.
When we headed back down to the parking lot, Brandon wanted to check out the paddle boats in the quarry pond. When did they start doing that??? I think it's a shame. That water used to be so clear and still. Now it's kind of murky with a bunch of mossy junk growing all over the bottom. Plus there's all kinds of bubbly scum floating on it from all the paddle boats.
In the visitor center Brandon & Nick took a really close look at a tarantula. Do you see how far away I was????
As we were driving out, Nick decided to check out a new pavilion they've built down at a boat launch. The river there is peaceful & lovely & they had a very nice fishing pier. Brandon met a couple of older boys who shared their new fishing rod with him. It was a kids safety rod with foolproof casting technology. All the kids had to do was push a button to cast the line. All it had on it was a floaty thing, so they were using it to knock down all the spider webs on the pier. Brandon was NOT happy when I made him leave...

Daddy's Little Girl - she's always so happy to see Nick when he comes home.

It's only fair to have a round of Laedyn pictures after the last batch of Brandon! So here's our girl showing some of her newly developing personality...

Here's one I missed last time - Brandon being kind of silly while we were at Leo's.

The many faces of Brandon - he was a HAND FULL today. We went to Leo's for lunch & then to Pinnacle Mountain to get some fresh air. It was a beautiful day. It may have been too much for Brandon though after a week stuck at

home. He was all over the place from happy & excited to screaming & crying in misery. What a LONG day. He's in bed now - thank goodness....

We took Tyrus to play mini-golf a couple weeks ago. I know it's been awhile, but the pictures turned out nice and it seemed a shame not to share them. Better late than never??? We left Laedyn with a law school friend of mine, Lorielle. It was nice to be able to participate!. Can you believe how tall Tyrus is now? He's only 12 - I don't think the cashier believed us, but she didn't make us pay the adult price for him. Brandon's been asking to go back ever since.

Before Brandon's tonsil imposed incarceration, I took them to the zoo. One of the lions was very playful that day, chasing a huge ball all over the place and then floating on it in the pool. Brandon really enjoyed watching that. I don't think Laedyn could see much...

Brandon had his tonsils out last Friday and has been home with me all week. It's been exhausting to have both Laedyn & Brandon full time. Especially since Brandon doesn't feel his best & he has to be still and quiet. Not an easy feat. I'd have to say impossible. We've tried to get out a little so it isn't so hard on him, so here was our solution so we could go for a walk. This was also Laedyn's first stroller ride without being in her carseat. She seemed pretty content! Nick said his back hurt...

Last time Brandon earned 5 stars (one for each day with NO timeouts at daycare) he chose to get a bug cather box as his reward. The other day he was trying to catch ants in it after he demolished their anthill. The thing with the loop on it is supposed to have a net attached, He took the net off at some point & now it's MIA. He never did get an ant in the box, but he had fun trying!

Saturday we watched the Razorback game.The kids were dressed accordingly... It was actually a bit chilly, so Brandon had on pants and long sleeves & Laedyn wore a hoody. It was rather appropriate football weather!

I know it's been awhile since I posted anything, but we've been a little under the weather around here. Brandon started it all with a cough and snotty nose. Then, I got bit by a fire ant and my foot had a itchy raised red patch that looked like a GIANT (coffee mug diameter) mosquito bite. Then I got jalepeno oil in my eye, and it swelled up & got red, crusty and sore. It was that way for a week until I went to the docotor & he gave me some drops. While he was at it he prescribed me some antibiotics in case it was pink eye - but I'd also developed a sore throat by then. After that, I progressed into a nasty deep cough and runny nose. YUCK! Throughout all this, Brandon, Laedyn & I have been running low grade fevers on & off for the past 5 days. Brandon went to see an ENT doctor last Friday. He's scheduled to have his tonsils out this Friday. It's kind of scary from the parental perspective. I feel bad because I know what kind of pain is involved and it IS a surgery. He'll be put to sleep. It's just a little scary - what if something were to go wrong??? I really don't dare think too much about that, but it keeps creeping back into my mind.

If you're wondering about Nick in all this mess ... he's fine. No symptoms. But - he's been taking Cold MD - one of those immune booster vitamin pills. He doesn't like it - says it makes him feel crooked or lopsided, but he's not sick is he?!?!

So - that's the story behind the lack of posting. I HAVE been taking some pictures though. Here are a couple from last week.

Here's Laedyn smiling - these are tough to catch on the camera. She gets distracted by the camera & just gets serious, so it's a treat to have this one! Nick's all dressed up because he gave a talk down at The Peabody.
Brandon's best friend around here, Romeo just crawls right up & makes himself at home. Brandon usually likes it unless Romeo is butting in on Brandon's attempts to get attention from Mommy & Daddy...I'll post more tomorrow that I took over the weekend.

Ben & Brandon

We all went to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese this past weekend. Brandon's friend Ben turned 4! Brandon had a great time all around.

Brandon's friend Kaleb was there too along with his new baby brother, Kade.

Laedyn & Kade will be classmates. This works out well since we like to have playdates with Kaleb already. I hope Laedyn & Kade are great friends as well.

Brandon preferred the rides over the games. He'd get part way into a game and say he was done. He never got tired of the rides though.

It's been raining quite a bit the last few days. Before going to bed the other night I decided to take a couple of after dark rain pictures just because it was raining so incredibly hard. Unfortunately the heavy rain has shown that all the efforts to fix the leaky roof have not succeeded. I guess we'll have to call the roofer. How much does a new roof cost anyway???