Santa and The Merry-Go-Round

Mommy and the baby anxiously awaiting their turn on the M-g-R.


Family photo post ride on a very chilly night. Brantley had an awesome time.

Chambley Family Picture

(my Brtohter, his wife Amiee, ane thier two little boys CJ and Carter and my mom )

Turner family picture
( Ryan's mom and his Aunt Twanna and cousin Travis)

Our sweet baby boy was so excited about riding the horsey. Even though, he had never seen a merry-go-round, he was quite playful and happy even before we got moving.

Brantley and his cousin, Carter, brave the frozen tundra that was the line leading up to the famed Valley, AL Merry-go-round.

As some of you may remember from previous posts, we have a condition of Santaphobia in the family. Brantley did well with his first encounter of St. Nick, but this second episode ended in pure terror. Our boy was having nothing at all to do with this Santa. Perhaps this Santa had a foul odour or the elves were a bit unwelcoming, but either way, Brantley flipped out. Luckily, we did not have to pay for lap time.

Here is a brief moment when Brantley is mesmerized by a bell and not consumed with primal fear for the Kringled one. Next time, I think we will just photoshop in a pic of the two.

Christmas/ Nine Month Pictures

Merry Christmas Ya'll

Brantley's Baptism

Brantley's baptism was this past weekend. It was wonderful having our family and friends share in this special ceremony and time. Brantley, of course, was quite vocal and restless during the service, babbling while I and others were trying to read the blessings. We are so thankful for all those that shared in this experience.

Here is the terrific spread that my beautiful wife laid out for Brantley's baptism luncheon. As you will notice, it is a modest but elegant spread....except for the squeeze bottle of Helman's in the lower right corner. This once again confirms, that you can take us out the country, but you can't take the country outta us. (Oh, and the mayonnaise is intended for use on the chicken salad croissants, which are mostly made of mayonnaise themselves. I will say that it did make them much more tasty....as does most things when one adds mayo or jelly - though preferable not together).

Here comes Santa Claus

Daddy's favorite job of the year is unfurling a tied up Frasier Fir from Lowe's only to discover, it is rather puny and deficient of full pine-needle-action coverage.

Mommy opened her best Christmas present ever -- Baby Bear!!!

Daddy wants to take a nap and a bath while Baby wants to play and eat the pine needles.

This was Brantley's first ever Santa experience. He seemed a little confused about this dude at first, but did well. We were concerned, because we have a family member that has clinically diagnosed Santaphobia. This could potentially be a hereditary condition, so this was a big step. (Let's just say that as a child, if one of us wanted to see Santa, we had to stand in line ourselves...that's tough for a 3 year old).


Brantley did start cyring, however; but only because St. Nick yelled and Ho-Ho-Ho all up in his ear. You gotta warn a brotha' before you go doing that all point blank and such.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving at Ginger's family. Here is a photo of all the family boys. As you can see, Brantley is staking claim to a pumpkin that weighs more than him.

Mommy and baby. "Mommy, why are my ears retroilluminated in this picture?"

Brantley plays with a mirror-type toy. Carter is his cousin (though much bigger, Carter is actually 2 months younger).

Carter and fussy Brantley.

Trip to the lake

Ryan and I took a little trip to the lake before the Thanksgiving holidays. Here are a few pictures from our trip.

Baby wanted desperately to taste the leaves.
It is always amazing how Brantley can determine anything of value and radily put it in peril. Hence, the sunglasses about to go into the water.

Beautiful backdrop for my beautiful family.

We put Brantley in this basket thinking I could get some professional pictures.

no luck!

All done!

Brantley vs. A Teething Biscuit

Brantley had recently been putting his two teeth to much use by attempted to gnaw on these teething biscuits post-supper time. We have found that the biscuits keep him occupied for dozens of minutes, as they are fairly hard and takes away for two teeth and a load of slobber to dissolve. Above is exclusive video of Brantley attempting to slowly destroy the challenging biscuit. However, it appears at this point, that the biscuit may have outwitted our precious son.

Also, the clip involves his humerous response to a ringing cell phone.

Our First Halloween was so much fun! We had a very busy day. Ryan took off to spend the day with us. We all went to Covenant that morning for the Fall Feastival and then went to lunch with each other. We had friends over that night for some trick or treating and fun. Here are some of the pictuers from the night.

Our First Halloween

Brantley was a cute little scarecrow

Fall Festavial. Our scarecrow is very excited about balloons.

Brantley and Ms. Mary (from school)

Emily and William

Emily and William came down this week. We had the best time playing together. Brantley is a huge fan of William. He watched every move William made. We both were sad to see them go. We are counting down the days until we meet again. We love you guys and miss you already.

Brantley and WilliamWilliam was checking Brantley out

William was teaching Brantley about gears.

William was loving this plexi- glass.

Just a swingin'

Mommy, a little privacy please.

All clean for now.

Pumpkin Patch

We went to Old Baker's Farm this weekend to their Pumpkin Patch and cotton field. We had an incredible time and Brantley did great (thanks to a nice long nap in the car prior to reaching the farm).

"Look, DaDa, I am towering over this feeble orange gourd."

I think this pumpkin is "reurnt" y'all. You could have at least placed me with a healthy pumpkin.

Now, much better pumpkin selection. Y'all realize I could fit this in my mouth given enough time.

Now for more scenes from the Pumpkin Patch: