Playing in PA!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Brian, Bradley and I flew to Pennsylvania to be with my Sister's family for thanksgiving! They happen to have a new, adorable, baby named Bladen. Who, by the way, is an amazingly sweet and quiet baby. How did the loudest member of my family breed the quietest baby I've ever met? When I, not the loudest member of the family, made a loud, inconsolable infant. Thank goodness Bradley is a year old and out of his crying all the time phase. We are lucky to be in the toddling all over and chewing on things phase.

Anyways, Deric was pretty worried about the company drinking all his sparkling cider, so he bought each person their own bottle. Very sweet.

Brian cooked mostly everything and he did a great job. We had turkey, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, gravy, jello, stuffing, cream corn, deviled eggs (which heidi's facebook post discussion could not confirm if this is a normal thanksgiving tradition) and pumpkin cake and banana cream pie.

This is the only picture where we could get them both looking-ish at the camera and not bawling or crawling. They are pretty cute though.

Bradley looooves their dogs. In this pic he is "talking" or yelling at Scout. When he isn't telling them all about the world, he is pulling their tails, climbing on them, or trying to poke their noses.

Heidi and Deric took us to a famous old mansion in Meadville where they decorated each room for christmas! It was very beautiful and cool to see an old house. Every room had a different tree and a hidden white-tailed deer!

Merry Christmas Ence Family!

Who is that adorable nephew? oh yea, That's my boy Bladen! What a little smirk!

The Puppy and the Ball are SO Funny

I love that these two get along.
I catch Portland all the time walking up to Brad and giving him kisses when I didn't even tell her to do it! She gets very worried when I use the mom voice or correct Brad or tell him no. Portland will start circling and herding, and kissing Brad so he knows he needs to stop what he is doing or they are both going to get in trouble! She is like a big sister looking out for her bro. Uuuunless there is a frisbee or tennis ball nearby. Then she is all business.

Brad equally loves Portland, and seeks her out when he wants to make some trouble. But the very first time I brought the big ball out they fought over it! Brad hung onto it with his body (as I steadied him) and Portland batted at it with her paws despite my insisting it was Bradley's turn first since it was HIS birthday present. Portland isn't the best at sharing new toys. But clearly they worked out their differences and are having a ball in this video. (Pun totally intended.)

The art of balencing a spider

I got my battery charger back so now the photos and movies can continue! Hurray!
The noise in the background is Brian cutting wood in the basement.

Welcome Bladen Paul Ence!!!
Congrats Heidi & Deric. I'm so excited to be an aunt!!!!!!!!!!

Pumpkin Time!

We had so much fun at the Bert's Farm Pumpkin Patch! We got three cool pumpkins and some delicous pumpkin pie.
Then our GPS - whom we call Jane - took us on an off-roading adventure that ended in a towtruck. ... At least the first half of the day was really fun!

Mom & Brad!

Pumpkin Time!

Blocked

it is a few stairs up but at least we have a gate!!

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Sick bug

I thought that we would sneak through this first year without any colds or illness. well we almost made it.
I felt sooo bad for the little guy when the peaditrition said yup he has a sore throat.
now it has been a few days and i think he is feeling much better, but he still wants the same level of attention and caudling as before. i feel like the recovery from recovering is going to be long and hard. what happened to my headstrong independant little boy!

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Busy and no camera

We've been up and down and all over the country this last month. Sadly few if any cameras that I owned were able to join us on our adventures.

But I haven't posted in a while so I figured i would share the last few pics I took of Bradley's adventures. Yes he has learned to crawl... and climb!

Hmm, what should I do next....


Caught you! Little sneaky boy! He races for the stairs if the pillows aren't blocking the way. I always know as soon as it gets quiet... he's either headed for or crawling up the stairs!

He loves sitting on the edge of the fireplace hearth. He will stand up then sit down, then crawl down, then crawl up and turn around and do it all again. He has the silliest facial expressions while he does it too.

I strongly dislike teething too little bug. Growing teeth is hard to do!

Well that's my official 10 month update. He is pretty cute, pretty fun, and absolutely worth the labor of the first 6 months.

The Drawer Pull Experiments

Day 1: Failure
My recent explorations into the kitchen have been met with many new discoveries. Namely the dishwasher, the fridge, and the drawers.
Oh the world of the drawers alludes me.
Upon first discovery I was thrilled to find a cavern filled with boxes and bags, but suddenly the cavern disappeared. I must investigate further.

Day 2: Painful Failure
I was able to find my way back to the mysterious bottom drawer today. I slowly pulled it open and peered inside. But suddenly the force of my weight slammed the thing shut again! And with it went my fingers... ouch.

Day 3: Again with the fingers.
I must discover a way to obtain those bags without the painful experience of shutting my fingers in the drawer.

Day 4: Painful SUCCESS!
I have unlocked the mysteries of the bottom drawer. The secret is to extract the drawer fully before attempting to climb upon it.
At last those ziplock bags were mine! I extracted one bag and carefully examined it. A curious slippery, yet somehow sticky discovery. Suddenly, as if being pushed by some unexplainable force, the drawer began to close! Try as I might to keep it open, we both eventually succumbed to the force, and once again my fingers became lodged. Though less painful than the sudden slamming I experienced before, I was still unhappy.

Day 5: Success
Today I approached the bottom drawer with much excitement. I remembered my past experience and I would not be met with failure today! After fully extracting the drawer again, I mounted it with much ease. However that same pushing force began to close off my awaiting discoveries. Suddenly, a motherly hand appeared to turn a box sideways. Ah ha! The box arrested the drawer's closing movements and at last the drawer was mine to fully explore. I quickly began extracting bags from the sideways ziplock box and soon was surrounded in glorious plastic. Sadly the motherly force returned to end my plastic extracting fun, but we will meet again!
Next, I will explore the other end of the kitchen and with it... the Puppy Drawer!

Off -Friday Fun

It is time to baby-proof our house. Bradley can now crawl around and pull up with ease so I guess we had better start limiting his access to certain things. This weekend we started with the entertainment center - which used to be a coffee table. Luckily Ikea had just the sort of system and size we needed. Next we'll need to cover the fireplace and gate off the stairs. Otherwise we are pretty good. Though if even a hint of a cord is showing Bradley will find it.

While Dad put together the new entertainment unit Bradley and I played around.

Then Dad mowed the lawn and we played with the puppy!

Then we all sat back to watch the Braves game.
It was a pretty fun off Friday for the family.




On a side note... He is wearing half 12 month and half 9 months clothes right now. These baby clothes are driving me crazy! It is a good thing I checked out the 12 month-ers because some of them are smaller than the 9 month ones!
"Thanks for the monkey pjs grandma D. I finally fit them!"

8th Month Fun

I just offloaded my Rebel camera and had to share some of the cute Brad pics.
I must say that this has been the most fun month to date. I loved watching Brad test the limits of gravity in his attempts to pull up, crawl, and scoot!

Doesn't he look like Spiderman!

We watch the Braves with Daddy nearly every night. I think it must be boy bonding time because they both love it and I don't get it. It is baseball!!!

This is Dad's fave outfit. Overalls are so cute on kids.

Brad and his Seymore Snake!

Since Brian has been working hard at work and devoting lots of his time to his church calling, it seems like the time he gets to spend with his family is special. Everything seems like so much fun when Dad is with us, plus Dad wants to go do lots of fun things when we are together. So there have been lots of dinners out, lots of hikes, many braves games at home, and lots of fun side adventures like to the zoo and babies r us.
During the rest of the 20 hours a day I spend with Brad we have been playing with blocks, various noisy singing toys, a new set of duplos, crawling around with a spoon or camera, playing with the puppy, baby-proofing, scrapbooking, crafting, working on that crazy ward cookbook, making pillows, working on personal progress, and altering lots of pajamas (HE IS TOO TALL FOR 9 and some 12 MONTH JAMMIES!)

Fourth of July - Observed

Brian has been working pretty hard during the week. So when the weekend comes he is in the mood to play hard. Which also means he gets crazy whims and since I'm an indulgent person I'm up for them.
On saturday we devoted our free time to an Eagle Project. Sunday was the 4th and we visited some friends for dinner and fireworks. And so Monday was when we finally had time to play as a family. We loaded our fishing gear, packed the camp stove, stopped off to pick up some bratwurst (thank you Heidi for the inspiring idea), and hit the road.
An hour or more later we came to the cool fishing spot we had been searching for only to read rule number 3 - NO DOGS- on the giant list of rules posted in front of the lake. Then I noticed rule 2 - NO WADING. What kind of lake is that???

So we flipped around and drove another half hour to our favorite camping spot- Cloudland Canyon.
We grabbed a sweet spot under the trees, spread out the blanket, and cooked up some lunch.

There was much lounging.

And playing.
And crawling.
And then there was the hiking...

Don't worry. Nothing too bad this time. Down the canyon to see the tiny waterfalls. And then back up up up a couple hundred stairs. (I heard some kids behind us counting as they walked down and they were at 600 something partway down.)