Fencing Fun

It's that time of year when there's lots of outside work to be done on a farm, including fencing. Brandt thinks it's the best, even if he's just watching from the car, but this time he got to ride in the "tractor with bampa ban" AKA grandpa Van.
Bryce only looks like he's working hard...

This tractor has a little seat with a seat belt in it, so it works great for Brandt. He loves Van and he loves riding in the tractor, so he couldn't be happier!

I love this face! He always does this and says a really excited "oh" whenever he sees something he likes. I think when I caught this picture he was looking at either his dad or a baby calf. When the fencing was done, Van let him ride with him up to his house so he could go in and see "mamaw Ban" AKA Cindy. He loves going to their house and going up and down their stairs, playing on the keyboard, eating whatever goodies happen to be on the bar, and just being spoiled with their attention. Of course it didn't hurt that this time they gave him a Mr. Potato Head for his b-day, which he loves! The next morning when I took him to my mom's, he told me that bampa ban was going to come take him in the tractor again. I don't think he ever forgets things like that...

Happy Birthday Brandt Baby

Brandt turned 2 on Mon, May 4th. Poor little guy ended up being sick and throwing up for his birthday, but perked up enough by that night to at least be able to open presents.
As soon as he would open something he would take it over to show it off to "bampa and mamaw and T" before moving on to the next one.

He was so excited to get his Curious George movies, as were we, since that now means we can watch something other than the same few episodes we have saved on the DVR over and over and over and over...

And for the big finale...his very own guitar. Whenever he goes to the Hillier's he loves playing with Gabe's and really loves music, so we thought it's a good talent to encourage. That night he sobbed when I finally made him put it away so he could go to bed. He wanted to sleep with it. So, it ended up being a pretty good day, but can't wait to have the other part of his birthday when we do pizza and cake this weekend.

2 yr Well Child Check

Brandt loves Dr. Campbell and loves to have check ups. He's so good to sit and let him listen to his heart and look in his ears and everything. He does get bored in the little room and tries to escape, but as long as doc strategically places his chair in front of the door, Brandt's pretty much stuck. As usual, his weight is toward the top of the growth chart and his height is clear above it; imagine that!!! Overall, he's doing really well. How thankful I am for a happy, healthy little boy.

Birthday Sleepover

Brandt loves playing with his Well's cousins, and since it's been awhile since they've been over for a sleepover, we decided to have them come over the Friday before Brandt's birthday. He was so dang excited to see them!

Adrie was trying to give him horse rides, but notice that his feet hit the ground. Also, he's so heavy she doesn't usually make it very far with him, but they sure have fun trying.

Brandt made everyone watch Curious George while they were getting ready for bed.

He was excited to be able to sleep out in the living room with them and carried out some of his stuffed animals to spend the night with him.

This picture was at about 11:30 pm; notice that Brandt and Adrie were both still wide awake. Brandt decided he wanted to sleep in Adrie's sleeping bag, so she was nice and traded him and slept with his blankies instead. He actually spent most of the night on the floor above the other kids' heads. Then toward morning he crawled across the living room and kitchen to his room and then back out into the hallway and slept there for a little while (I don't think he was really awake when he moved). Then he came back in on the couch, where he insisted on watching "George" again til he fell asleep. Before morning came, he fell off the couch on his head and finished out the night sleeping on the floor above the kids, just where he started. What a funny kid!

Midnight; Kaylen's been sound asleep for over an hour, Brandt and Adrie are still wide awake.

About 12:20, Riley's been out since before Kaylen, and Brandt and Adrie finally, finally shut their tired little eyes.

I didn't really get pictures of Saturday, but they had a lot of fun playing, watching more "George" of course, and just hanging out. Riley and Adrie kept Brandt occupied long enough that Kaylen and I could make lunch and get Brandt's Curious George cake decorated.

We had to hide the cake from him until we took it over to the Thompson's that night cause he wanted to play with the stuff on top.

He was so tired from staying up way past his bed time and not getting a nap that he was a little bear all night. My first attempt at a picture got the above response.

Then he cheered up a little when he saw that we were going to light candles for him and started trying to blow them out before they were even lit.
He wasn't quite getting it well enough, so Riley was trying to help him.

He decided to give up on the candles and start sneaking the frosting instead. Finally we got them blown out and had some cake and ice cream and he opened presents. He was excited for his Tonka Loader from grandma and grandpa T. and for bubbles and animal cookies from Matt and Tiffany. The Well's family gave him a cute book and animal flashcards that are also puzzles matching baby animals to their moms. Of course, I neglected to get any pictures of the presents part...
Another picture for Kevin's benefit- ha-ha!! :) Adrie's dang cute in this one anyway. All in all it was a fun weekend and we can't wait to have them come over again soon.

Helping Bampa

Brandt loves animals and especially likes grandpa's puppies. While my mom and I were filling Easter eggs (ya, this one's a little behind, oh well) he decided that they needed some food.
So, the smart little monkey went into the garage, found a bucket and a can, put a little dog food in each, and took them to the dogs. Then he was picking up food one piece at a time and feeding it to Bandit.

He made at least a dozen trips back and forth, but it was ok, cause it gave us time to fill our eggs and it meant that "bampa" didn't have to feed them when he got home. What a good boy! :)

Rub-a-dub-dub, 3 cousins in a tub...

After the branding was taken care of, my sisters decided it was time to hit the hot tub. Of course the grandkids can't be left out and had to rinse off first, so when one got to get in the tub, they all had to. I wasn't in there, but my sister said Brandt was headed in diaper and all, so she hurried and at least stripped him down the rest of the way. They had so much fun and didn't want to get out until we told them that they got to go get in bampa's big tub.

Kelli, Brandt, Rylie, and Jana. Brandt wanted to be by or on Kelli most of the time, but Rylie got a little jealous about him hogging his mommy.

As usual, Curtis had Amanda Jean most of the time. She seemed to love it!

Notice how full the hot tub was by the time that many people piled into it; they had a lot of fun, though.

Brandt looks like he's trying to climb out here, but he actually wasn't ready to get out at all and threw a holy fit when I tried to get him.

The Circus That was Branding...

One of our favorite family activities is the yearly branding of the calves. This year it was more like a circus!! It started snowing just as they were getting everything set up, but my dad decided to go for it anyway. Everything went pretty smoothly at first other than the crew was getting completely drenched! Then towards the end, one little calf caused all kinds of chaos when it slipped out before being branded. Oh how I wish I would have had my camera to catch all the action! The ground was snow-covered and slippery and wasn't all too condusive to running or making sharp corners and several people biffed it good! It started with a very impressive slide/splits move by Jared as he tried to cut off the calf going one direction and was soon followed with Kelli going down as well. Before they caught the little booger, Van did a belly-flop and my dad tried dismounting the 4-wheeler through the front handle bars, but didn't clear them and landed on them instead. Kelli also steer-wrestled a calf because it came too far through the chute and needed to be pushed back in. Finally Bryce and Jared realized what was going on and tried to help her. By the time they finished, everyone was sopping wet and muddy from head to toe. Well, except for my mom, Jana, Amanda Jean, Brandt, and me since we stayed in the van and watched the madness from there. Has to be the most hilarious branding day we've had to date.