Christmas 2014

Jude #2

My wonderful son Jude turned 2 years old on December 18! I am so proud to be this boy's father. Over the last 2 years I watched him fight, struggle to grow and learn. From the second he was born he seemed like he was constrained by his age was just bursting with thoughts, ideas and things to say. He is a lover of life. I love to watch him explore and discover the world around him. He really does it all with a smile. Like any boy he likes to roughhouse but he also lets his tender side show thru and love to kiss and snuggle. Just like Bethany takes after me, Jude closely resembles his mama. They are independent, strong, smart, selfless people. What a pleasure it is to be loved by Jude, those of you who are knows what I'm taking about. My blessing for Jude in the upcoming season of growing and discovering in his like is that he continues to be fearless and his heart be just as tender as his love for his family. May the God of Doug and Carole, Brian and Estelle, Brad and Cindy and other family members who make up the long history of faith that we are passing on to Jude richly bless is health and life this next year and throughout his entire life. Your Dada loves and adores you Jude Bradley. 

Tday and notes

PAt the moment I am held up in Bethany and Jude's room as Empire flooring is putting in new flooring in our house. Why? It's a long story but the short version is that a hose popped off of our dishwasher and water leaked under the flooring and warped the floor. Not good. That's to our good neighbor State Farm and credit from Wells Fargo we are getting brand-new floorings! Yep, kind of exciting. As I watch Bethany watch iPhone movies (big surprise) and jude chase Hundley around the room trying to feed him French fries I have a minute to stop moving for one second and write. I usually get a few minutes a day on my IPad (witch I do my blog writing on) to look around and a little longer in my iPhone but when I use them I usually use them to wind down or let my brain mindlessly play Madden football or check Twitter and my bank accounts. Not to mention my schedule which is always packed. So I'll back up to November and talk about my favorite day of the year...Thanksgiving. This year, with Cindys new job, she is given off the entire Tday week so she and the kids took advantage of it and headed up to Brenham to get some time away from home and enjoy life down on the Hall farm. They headed up Monday and I stayed home and worked and deep cleaned the house. The 3 days leading up to Tday Is always busy at Whole Foods and stressful but a little fun at the same time. I was blessed to get Tday and that Friday after off so after my shift on Wednesday around 11:30pm I gassed up the stinky car (Bethany nicked named it that) and drove the 200 miles to Mimi and Pappys house. It's such a nice, easy drive and a relaxing way to start Thanksgiving day. I got in around 4am and quickly went to bed and woke up around 8-9 to open presents! we started a tradition a couple of years ago that we would combine Christmas and Tday together on Tday to form a super Holiday that scholars had dubbed "Thanksmas". It's pretty much a perfect day of fun,fun and gifts. For presents this year here are some highlights. Bethany got a iPad, Jude got some outside toys, Cindy

 Got some essential oil stuff and we got a new 60 inch Tv for the family. It's incredible.  After the gift giving was complete we started getting ready for the main event, the Turkey. I was blessed to get to cook with my mom just and help out with the bird and stuffing.  It's some of my happiest times cooking with Mom and being in the kitchen where so much love, passion and good things are being created. We all cooked, watched tv and visited while the bird was roasting to a  golden brown perfection and we all sat down to give thanks and eat around 2pm. After a wonderful meal (I'm convinced Thanksgiving is on main reason that's wanted to be a Chef) we watched some football and made plans for shopping and movies. This year I stayed away from Black Friday shopping and went to the movies with Caleb and Dad while my mom lead an expedition to get some deals. We saw the movie "interstellar" it was really thought provoking and interesting. We got back and heated us up a plate of leftovers and relaxed. All the kids had an amazing day as well. They didn't stop all day and enjoyed there toys inside and out. They ran themselves into the ground but they had a blast. We came back home Friday after lunch and Cindy and the kids settled into the weekend before we started back our daily routine on Monday. 

Speaking of routines, I had talked about this in a past post about our new daily routine that involved Cindy and I working and the kids going to school a couple hours 3 times a day. We knew that this would be a challenge but for the last 6 months it has worked out ok. The only drain on all of us and our wallets (besides the daily grind) is the expense of the daycare and the fact that the kids have to attend. The monthly amount takes up most of my paycheck. We are now in a retooling time to see if there are other options for us. We new this was a fluid plan and would change. So as we enter the later part of the year we look back and see what a awesome, blessed year it has been and I am looking forward to seeing my family grow as we attempt to be servants of God as Cindy and I but our kids top priority in our lives.  

I'll write soon and talk about Jude's upcoming Bday, Bethany's adventures and Cindy's first year of schoolas well as Xmas and new year. Stay tuned.  

love, Brad