Picking Flowers

Ethan helping me pick some of our daisies. He was a very good helper and held the glass vase very delicately!

Fruit Overdose

Ethan had eaten his share (and everyone else's) of fruit!

Help Yourself

Ethan ate so much fruit during both parties on Saturday! Here he is helping himself the the rest of Aunt Sunny's lovely watermelon fruit basket.

Watering Zero

Such a patient dog we have! I guess Ethan thought Zero was pretty hot too during the party and needed to cool down.

Pool Party

We had a pool party at Nonna's and Grandma Jeri's house for Jim's 31st birthday. It was a good time despite the water being a little cold!

Then and Now

The top picture was taken in June 2008 (I think it was Father's Day). Emily was 4, Addison 1, and Ethan 6 months. The bottom picture was taken this past weekend. Two years sure does fly! How the Bradford cousins have changed! They are all starting to look like little people now. It was a little more difficult getting the three of them to look in the same direction this time around though!

Hot Day!

We celebrated Addison (3) and Jim's (31) birthdays this past weekend. It started out as a pretty hot and muggy day, but cooled down towards the afternoon.
Here is a pic of Ethan at Addison's party drinking out of a water bottle (he loves to do that!). He even let me pour some of the water over his head :-)

Aunt Cecca 3

Here are some last pics of their trip to Meijer Gardens today. What a beautiful day it was here in Michigan! One of Ethan's favorite pieces "Big Horsie" is in the top photo.

Looks like he was having a great time ringing the bell at the Farm House with Jarrod!


Thanks Again Francesca and Jarrod for the pictures and giving your time and love to Ethan the past 2 years!

Aunt Cecca Con't

Here are a few more from the Gardens today. Ethan obviously having a great time!

Aunt Cecca

What does Ethan do with Aunt Cecca during the week??

Have an awesome time- that's what!

Cecca and Jarrod took Ethan to Meijer Gardens today to walk around. They have the Chihuly exhibit going on right now- (the artist does sculptures w/blown glass I think).

Here are some pictures Francesca sent me today of their outing. We love that Cecca is able to watch Ethan a few days a week and takes him on these excursions!

New Bike Trailer!

What a day we have had here at the Bradford house!
We purchased this bike trailer off Craigslist earlier this week. This morning we had plans to go and get Ethan a bike helmet so he and Jim could take it out for a ride.
So, this morning, I get a call from work and the staff tell me that a man has found my work bag in his garbage can. He looked inside the bag and saw my business cards, so he called. I went out to the garage and sure enough someone had rummaged through the truck and had also taken our two mountain bikes! We felt so violated!
I called the GRPD to file a report. A very nice officer came out to take our information and then even sent the forensic officer over to see if she could pull any prints.
My work called me back when the man had dropped off my work bag, he had left his name, address, and phone number with the staff. The address where my work bag was found was not too far from our house, so Jim decided to take a walk in that area just to see if he saw anything- like our bikes! I told Jim to take Zero for protection- he laughed a me- but ended up taking him!
As luck would have it, Jim spots his bike in a group of three guys. He calls me, I call the police back to let them know that we think we see one of our stolen bikes. In the meantime, Jim flags down a police man that was driving by and gives him the story. The police man agrees to hold the guy until the officer that helped us this morning arrived to the scene. The police talk to the guy who has Jim's bike and he says he got it this morning from a "buddy." Jim was standing nearby, the officer told Jim to go home so it wouldn't be obvious to the guy that this was Jim's bike. Shortly after Jim came home, the office pulls up with Jim's bike in his trunk! An almost perfect ending to a horrible start to the day (sadly, my bike is still missing).
Jim was quite pleased with himself for tracking down his bike- as he said "the prey has become the predator- they probably weren't expecting that!"

PS- Ethan loved his ride in the bike trailer- Jim said he kept yelling "Go Faster Daddy!"

Ethan's new room- Middle

Here are a couple pics of the room nearing completion. Our contractor was able to raise the height of the ceiling about six inches, which makes the room seem much bigger. We've placed our carpet order and should have it installed in a few weeks. Then all we have left is some painting and finding some light fixtures! It will be nice to have this room and closet all finished so I can start organizing my house before the baby comes :-)

Ethan's new room- Before

We've been working on renovating the small upstairs bedroom for Ethan b/c we need more room when Baby Girl joins us. Here are some pics of what the room looked like before the renovating began. Note the lovely panelling on the walls and how low the ceiling is- and the blue floor!