Scary stuff

It's that time of year again. Time to get the chil'rens dressed up and go huntin' for candy. It almost feels like stealing when we take candy from people. Seeing as how we only let the boys eat maybe 5 pieces out of 200 or so, and we eat the rest..well I guess it IS stealing. Either way, it's a silly day and I am all for it. We need more retarded holidays in this Country.

This year was by far the best yet. As it fell on a Monday, that meant we had the whole weekend to pack in Pumpkinfest '05. We went to a cool party at Steve and Erika's. Brady lost his mind when he saw his cousin Adam dressed up like a skeleton. It WAS pretty scary so he loses no cool points for breaking down. Jake was as cool as the other side of the pillow. He know's I'm the scariest bear in the woods so some costume aint gonna get him excited.

Tonight, the boys strolled the 'hood with us and robbed our neighboors blind. We left with empty bags and came home with at least 5lbs of sugar, food coloring, soy lecithin, TBHQ and other interesting and delicious chemicals. Our little firefighters stole the show and a few hearts as well. Chicks dig the uniform...

Now, about the pictures. Those are from tonight about 20 minutes after we walked in the door. That is what you get when you give our boys ONE mini Nestle Crunch bar or any chocolate bar for that matter. They start flying. Something in chocolate makes their bodies reject gravity and they begin to hover. They eventually build up to full blown flight. Haunted houses? Who needs 'em? Nothing is scarier than a 2 or 3 year old jumping off a couch, with every intention of landing on your head or, a more..*ahem*..sensitive area.

Oh man...

The boys are getting rough. Not crazy rough yet, but rough enough. Jake has decided the best defense for Brady's offense is to lay down and let Brady try his best. Surprisingly this tactic is highly effective. "Little Brudda" gets worn out a lot faster then "Big Brudda" that way. When they grow bored with knocking each other around the house, they come after us.

Now this is what I always wanted little brothers for. Wrestling matches in the living room, where someone ends up laughing till they pee, cry, or both. I love rough-housing for a totally different reason now though. Sometimes, when Jake has completed his Tour de Force, he'll grab on to me, look at me all out of breath, panting, and say,"Daddy...I...Love...You".

Further proof that Heaven exists right here on Earth.

Happy Birthday Brady!

You little goofball...you're 2 years old! Huh? What? How? I can't believe it either buddy. You are growing so fast and having so much fun in the process. Not a day goes by that I don't end up rolling on the floor, laughing at something you've done or said. Your sense of humor, and comedic timing are so many levels above my own that I probably miss half of your jokes. Keep it up pal. Never stop making people laugh...and especially keep making yourself laugh.

Your party was awesome. Lots of your cousins, aunts, uncles...and of course, all four of your grandparents. When everybody got here, we had to wake you up for your own party. You and Jake took an extra long nap, you must've known you would need it. In fact, Jake kept right on sleeping until about 30 minutes after everyone was here. That's my boys...

After we got you dudes up, everyone played outside while I cooked the burgers. You played on the slide and in the grass and showed your cousin, Rachel, your secret hiding place behind the bushes. Then, everybody came inside and ate their burgers.

Next came the booty! No, not that kind. Toys. Presents. The good stuff. You got some super cool stuff this year. You had fun opening up your presents and you let some of your cousins help you out too. What a champ!

Finally...Cake Time. Oh yeah, your favorite part. Mommy and I stayed up late making you a Nemo cake. It was all worth it seeing the smile on your face. We all sang Happy Birthday and then you blew out the candle. Then..it was on! You chowed down on your cake and an ice cream cone. Phew...that was a lot of food for one little dude. Nice job you little animal.

I love you Brady...thank you for being my Son, and lighting up my world with your spirit.

Translation please...

The boys never cease to amuse me. Brady is getting very fluent in the English language. Sometimes though, he gets ahead of himself. He'll rattle off a series of words that to him, make sense. To us it sounds like either he is cussing us out in Chinese, or his tongue has fallen asleep. Jake though, he understands everything. So now all we have to do is ask Jake what, "Anna goside pain degwass n onaseyide" means. Jake will say,"Brady says he wants to go outside, play in the grass and on the slide." Whoa.

Now, it could be Jake puts him up to asking for things and therefore knows EXACTLY what Brady is saying...who knows? It's funny as heck either way.

At this very moment..I just heard them both yell to each other,"I LOVE YOU", from their beds. That's flippin awesome. Telling your best friend you love them right before you go to sleep. Awesome. Think I'll try that too.

The Zoo

The weather still sucks. However, we purchased a membership to the zoo. I'll be dadgum if we aren't getting our full use out of it this year. I like our zoo. The animals are pretty cool. You can kinda get close to them, without feeling "TOO" close to them. It's pretty spread out, so you get some good exercise. Parking is relatively easy. They have a really cool treehouse and a splash zone for the kids. It's nice and shady in most parts so you can almost feel comfortable in 100 degree heat.

Above all that though, we go for the food. Mexican food. Cheap Mexican food. Not real authentic stuff, but you just can't beat the atmosphere. The boys love to eat the "chips" from our taco salads. They get a black bean, tomato, and chicken breast fry-bread thing, which if they don't eat the fry-bread is darn healthy. Never had fry-bread? I feel bad for your taste buds, but your heart is better for it. It's basically lard and flour...fried in lard. Congestive heart failure anyone? We never let the dudes eat more than a few pinches of the stuff, but it gets eaten. Just not by them and not by Cindy.

Little Monkey

That's Brady. He's our resident shoe tester. If we happen to leave our shoes where they shouldn't be, this is what happens. He'll stomp all over the house saying, "I did it!" "I'm wearing Daddy's shoes!" This time he just happened to do it with no pants on. Actually, he's started doing a lot of stuff with no pants on. They boy likes to be free in the wind. What can I say, he takes after me.

Tonight we had spaghetti for supper. Jake calls it basketti. Brady calls it sketti. Cindy and I call it,"Oh, $#%@!" Somehow, we always forget just how disgusting little boys can make a nice meal. They'll start by slurping it up as loud as they can. Next come the bites that are twice the size of their mouth, thereby depositing half of a spoonfull on their lap. Then the flinging. My God, the flinging. Enough already. Finally they'll finish up with a little reverse slurping. Yes, that is just what you pictured. Not spitting, slowly releasing a noodle from their mouth while Cindy and I look at each other in disbelief. "How did we get so lucky?"

Far too long...

I apologize to all the faithful checkers-in at JB Central. I've been a tad busy this past week or so. I promise to be more faithful now that things are getting back to normal. An explanation follows;

Long story short, GW has deployed. I had the opportunity to spend a few days and nights with him at Ft. Campbell and I feel blessed to have done so. We both said what needed to be said and then some. I also got to meet his friends and fellow soldiers that are deployed with him. They all shared stories, thoughts and feelings with me that I will never forget. My friend is in good hands, as are his men. That is all I went up there needing to find out, and I did. Please say a prayer for these men before you rest your head at night.

Now, the boys..they are just...perfect. Jake has become the incredible thinking man lately. His memory and intellect are constantly making me feel like by the time he is 6 he will be smarter than I am. Maybe. Ok, fine..he passed me up six months ago. Can we move on? For example; used to be I could tell him something and he'd forget it within an hour or so. Like,"You can watch a movie after your bath." Tonight, LSU was playing a big game so I promised him after it was over we could watch a movie. That was about 4PM. So, we had supper, he played with Brady forever, blah, blah..then took his bath. The game went on until 8:30 or so. Forgetting my promise, I tell the boys it's time for bed. Jake just about came un-glued. "NO! You told me we could watch a movie when the football game was over!" Phew...a promise is a promise so we compromised and watched a little Wiggles action before bed.

Brady is quickly becoming a candidate for his own extreme-stunt reality show. Pain for him, is just not a factor in daily life. It seems to make his life more exciting and fun. Great. Super. If he makes it to 3 without braking something on his body or someone else's, I will be shocked. He's a happy little cannonball, but still...take it down a notch dude.

Happy Birthday Buddy!

3 years old today. Wow! You're getting too old, too quickly. We had such a great time today. What a cool party. What a cool kid. The whole house was Shrek green. You even had a Shrek cake. Mommy and I stayed up real late to make it for you, but it was no trouble at all. Anything to make you smile. You got to play with a bunch of your cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. Everyone had a great time. We had hamburgers for supper and then lots and lots of Shrek cake and ice-cream for dessert. You got so many presents, I have no idea where we are going to put them all. Nice haul pal. It pays to be a cool dude.

I'm so proud of you Son. I love you more than clouds love the sky. Happy Birthday.

Look what we can do...

The weather was pretty darn mild this morning. A few more days of this and it's a trend. A few weeks of it and..no..can it be? Fall? Already? I don't think I'm that lucky.

Me and the boys took advantage of the situation and got outside for some fresh air. As soon as I told the dudes we were going outside, it was all I could do to unlock the door, before they ran through it. I turned the misters on and just sat back and took it in. Watching them play is one of the great pleasures in my life. They go at it like it's their first and last time to play together. One of them will discover something new to do, and the other one wants to learn how right away. They must spend 90% of their day smiling or laughing. Makes me tired just thinking about it.

After our romp in the great outdoors, we came in for lunch. They scarfed down their tuna sandwiches, pickles, and chips and salsa. Yep, chips and salsa. My boys like what I like...go figure. Now if I can just convince them that ESPN is more entertaining than the Disney Channel...all we be right with my world.

Wits end

So, tonight at supper we had a grand ole time. The battle for control of the supper table is still raging. They will eat...in between fits of hysterical laughter at one another's jokes. It's getting down-right ridiculous. It got bad tonight. After the umpteenth time telling Jake to stop joking around and eat his green beans and chicken, I was at my wits end. My brain must've been tired of it too, because at one point all I could say was,"Eat'em green." I guess I was trying to say,"Eat those green beans." The boys laughed at that order for about five minutes. Someone tell me this is a common thing and that unruly children cannot cause mild strokes.

Otherwise, the Dudes had a good day. Jake got busted for swiping a finger-full of pumpkin pie in the fridge. When we questioned him on it he laughed and said,"Yep, I did it." His honesty earned him a sizable slice of the good stuff. After he finished his green beans of course.

I also gave the boys haircuts tonight. Whoever invented electric clippers, or more importantly the plastic attachments...you rock. Without those things, I think we'd have to pay someone to do it. I can barely cut a straight line on construction paper with scissors. These thick fingers just weren't meant to do that delicate work. With the clippers though I can make their hair look at least Wal-Mart quality. Sometimes, even Super-Cuts cool. Just one of my many talents. Yeah, right.

The hunter and his prey...

We took a trip to Toys R Us today. The boy's birthdays are coming up so we had to find out what they really NEED. If you have ever been to our house, you know they don't need anything. Our little house is just a large toybox. There is not a room in here where you can take three steps without bumping into something that squeaks, beeps, plays music, or is just plain squishy. What the heck though right, one or two more can't hurt. Much.

Brady found this huge Nemo. He looks like he's on his way to do something violent to him. Look closely and you can see Nemo's not too excited about Brady's disposition. The picture is deceiving though. Nemo is Brady's favorite aquatic creature at the moment. I don't think he would do anything to hurt him...intentionally.

Sometimes bad things happen...

Boys, something happened this week that will never be forgotten in this Country. In Louisiana, where Daddy is from, there was a big storm. There have been big storms there before, but not like this one. This was the biggest to ever hit Louisiana. The storm was so big it even hit Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida too.

When I lived in Louisiana I saw it rain a lot. Sometimes for a lot of days on end. One year, the water got so high that I couldn't go to school. I thought it was pretty neat. We lived on a lake and we had a boat dock in the back of our house. The water was so high that the boats were touching the ceiling of the dock. When you're little, water is just fun. Lots of water is lots of fun. Sometimes though a lot of water is a bad thing. A very bad thing.

That's what happened this week. A huge storm called a hurricane, came ashore early in the morning last weekend. Lots of people packed up what they could and left their homes to go to safer places. Some people didn't. The people that stayed, did so for different reasons. Some were too sick or too old to leave. Some people didn't have cars. Still others, just thought the storm wasn't going to be that bad, and didn't want to leave their houses.

When the storm hit the coast, it did very bad things. Lots of people lost everything they had. A lot of the people who stayed, didn't make it. In one big city, New Orleans, the whole city was flooded. The water was so high, people had to be rescued with boats and helicopters. Some towns just got washed away all together. The water messed up everything. People had no food to eat, or clean water to drink. There was no electricity for TV or telephones, so lots of people didn't know what to do or where to go for help.

A lot of good people came to help, but it was hard to help everybody. Sometimes, when bad things happen to people, it makes them think and do bad things too. That made it harder to help the other people. But, still more good people came to help everyone. They gave the sick people medicine. They gave the hungry people food. They gave the thirsty people water. They put people on buses, helicopters, airplanes, and boats to get them to safety. There were soldiers, policemen, firefighters, doctors, nurses, and regular people who all came to help their friends. They all did the best they could.

Eventually all the people will get out of danger and things will start to get better. I don't know right now how long it will take for things to get all better though. There is a lot of work to do. Hopefully, you boys will never see things like this happen in your lifetimes.

Boys, if you ever hear thunder and see lightning, go inside. If it starts to rain while you are driving, slow down and be extra careful. If there is a big storm coming and somebody warns you to get away from it, leave everything where it is, and just get to a safe place. Along the way, if you see someone in danger, stop to help them if you can.

Remember what I said about testing your Mommy? The same goes for testing Mother Nature. You can't beat either one of them. You can always make more money to replace everything you will ever own, you cannot replace your life, or the lives of the people you love.

I love you boys.

The Godfather...

This weekend was the busiest we've had in a long time. It was also the best we've had in,...forever. I was fighting back eyeball sweat for three straight days.

On Sunday morning, Jake and I went to the airport and picked up his Uncle G. Then we raced on over to the church to get Jake and Brady some religion. We got to meet Cat Stevens..err, Deacon Harry, who performed the ceremony. What genuinely nice guy he was. Anyway, J&B's cousin, Makayla, was baptized first. She did a great job. Not one tear. Next came Brady. Not one tear,...yeah right. He doesn't do well with 70-year-old men pouring water on his noggin(Jarrod, it's not your fault, I'm just glad you didn't drop him). Finally, it was Jake's turn. Up into Uncle G's arms he went. He did a great job. He's an attention hound, so I think he rather enjoyed it. After the pictures and such, we ate, ate, and ate some more. Then Brady ate a handful of icing. Time to go home.

Sunday night brought one of the weirdest culinary experiences of my life. We took The Godfather out to dinner at our favorite Mexican-food joint. The food was fine, Jake and Brady ate their weight in chips and salsa. The usual. The service was bad though. Weird too. All night long our waitress kept disappearing for long periods of time. That was both good and bad. Bad, because we had no water and silverware. Good, because we didn't have to look at her. I had a sneaking suspicion, which was confirmed by G. Turns out, our "waitress", had an Adam's apple. Now, I'm no homophobe, but there is just something unappetizing about all that. Call me crazy. It gets weirder though. While we were walking out the door, I asked the male greeter if, in fact, we had been served by a he-she. Oh yes, he said,"There's three of them that work here." Perfect. Welcome to Arizona!

The rest of our time was spent doing some other stuff, no less important, but I will get into all that at a later time. To summarize, G showed us all how to conquer your fear. Jake and Brady got to introduce him to the Wiggles, and the insanity that ensues. G also got to purchase some piece of mind. My heart is full, leave it at that.

Despite the freak show, our weekend was awesome. I am so thankful the boys got to finally meet their "Uncle" G. Someday, they'll look back at the pictures of this weekend's happenings and smile. God willing, G will be there to tell them about it, oddities and all.

Yard work..

This evening the boys and I went out to do some yard work while Mommy got a break and got a little shoe shopping done. While I was whacking weeds, a dragonfly paid the boys a visit. I know they have seen one before, but never REALLY seen one. Hope that makes sense. Anyhoo, they had the best time chasing it around the yard. I've never seen a dragonfly hang around people for so long. It just kept going in circles, dancing in the air around the boys. I put down the weed-whacker, joined the chase, and enjoyed they heck out of my evening.

Your Mommy

Now I will attempt to embarrass and educate my boys all at once. Hopefully they will read this when they are young enough to find it too mushy and old enough to learn something from it.

Ok, let me tell you boys about your Mom and what she means to me.

A long, long, long time ago(I know...I know Cindy, I am older than you) your Mommy was born. She was the only girl your Grandma-Ma and Poppy ever had. Now, I know what you're saying, "What about Uncle Jarrod?" Trust me, he's a man. Anyway, she was a beautiful little girl. You can see how beautiful she was in pictures but that doesn't do it justice. Just look in the mirror, you'll see her beautiful brown eyes staring right back at you.

Mommy liked to dance and even took lessons so she could get really good at it. She was a great dancer. We'll watch those movies one day, if I ever get them transferred to DVD. As she grew up, she got better and better at it, and danced in front of lots of people. She made your Grandparents very proud of her.

Your Mother was also a smart little girl. She did well in all her subjects at school, especially socializing. She met a little girl named Amanda, and they wanted to grow up and be teachers, and that's just what they did. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

When your Mommy was 13 or so something happened that would change her life forever. She met me! Oh, what a day that must have been for her. To meet someone as handsome and debonaire as me. Gosh, was she lucky. Yeah, right. No, it was me who was lucky. My friend Scott introduced me to her, and I am forever grateful that he did. Scott, wherever you are...well, you know.

Your Mom and I didn't actually start dating until a few years later. We had the chance to become really good friends first. The day I asked your Mom to be my girlfriend was a day I will remember all of my life. Stop laughing..you'll know what I mean one day.

We dated all through high school. She was a high-achieving student and cheerleader. I was mediocre at best in my academic career. Except I excelled in English and History...go figure. Your mom was such a cool girl, I pray you bring home someone like her. I pray for the girl if you don't. Your Mommy is very protective of you.

We graduated together way back in 1995. After graduation she went on to college and I went on to well, whatever. We'll discuss that later. She did really well in college and even made it on some "Dean" guy's list every semester. Whoever he was, he thought himself important enough to make a list of good students.

Then, on Christmas Eve, 1997, I asked your Mom to marry me. Suprisingly, she said,"Yes". We got married a little over 2 years later when I was 22 and she was 21. She was so beautiful walking down that aisle. I got a little wobbly, but you know me, I'm Joe Cool. I kept it together for the most part. We said,"I do" and our life together officially began. By the way, the reception was the best party I've ever been to. Even your birthday parties..sorry guys.

Years passed, we worked..blah, blah, blah...then you guys came along. Not at the same time, but almost. Really. I was never a true believer in a higher power until you guys were born. I got to see two miracles happen in front of my eyes. That was proof enough for me. I'm on board God, whoever you are.

Your Mom changed when you guys came into our lives. Calm down, change can be good. Remember that. She became a Mother, the greatest thing you can do in life. Unfortunately guys, we have to settle for second greatest, but being a Daddy is pretty darn cool too.

Now, you guys can read all about your exploits on these other pages. On to the juicy stuff. I'm going to share with you, learn from it.

I love your Mom. I love her right down to her abnormally long toes. Love is a weird thing guys. It can make you do things. Odd things. Scary things. Beautiful things. It can make you feel the highest highs and the lowest lows. Sometimes you'll feel like you are literally floating, other times like you're drowning. I have felt it all with your Mom. She has taken my hand and guided me through some real rough patches in my life. There have been times when I didn't treat your Mom as nicely as I should have. Times when I tried to turn away from her love. You know though, her love wouldn't let that happen. Her love brought me back and it keeps me here. It will always keep me here. Your Mother has the willpower to move mountains. Her faith is stronger than any force of nature. Don't test it boys, you will lose.

So, that's your Mom in a nutshell. There is so much more to tell you, but some things are better found out on their own. Know this though boys; nothing you ever do, and nothing anyone does to you, will ever stop her love for you. It will be there through the darkest storms and it will guide you to the top of every mountain. Trust in it. I know, because that's how she loves me.

Quality time

So, there he sits. Improvised footstool, the latest ish of Better Homes & Gardens, and the quiet confidence that comes with being able to use the John for it's intended purpose. He's made us hugely proud this last two weeks. Hasn't had one fecal surprise for us this whole time. Now, if he can just master the art of holding his water through the night, we'll be in Underoo territory. One down, one to go.

P.S. Yes, this image has been altered to give him SOME dignity as he grows older.

Pushing buttons

Older siblings always know how to drive their younger associates insane with just a touch. A look. A gesture. Jake has already mastered the art of infuriating Brady. His big move now is asking Brady if he wants whatever Jake has. If Brady says,"Huh", which means yes, Jake will say,"No" and run away. That's always a fun few minutes of action.

Brady is learning to flip the game around though. He'll steal something right out of Jake's hands just to get his goat. He's been known to scream for no reason when Jake gets close to him, thereby activating the, "What in the heck did you do to your brother" alarm. I know he takes silent pleasure in that.

The playing field is leveling out as Brady catches up to Jake in size. I've tried to warn Jake about that, but he'll learn the hard way I guess. Jake still has him by about 9lbs or so, but what Brady lacks in size, he makes up for in tenacity. They are big into jumping off the couch now. I know it's just a matter of time before flying body slams become part of their aerial arsenal.

Do they sell little brother insurance? If so, Jake needs to get full coverage.

Entertainment

Here you see an example of two young boys enjoying a movie whilst snacking on raisins. Notice their contented facial expressions. Their body posture indicates a relaxed physical state. From a superficial stand-point all appears to be well at ease. However, I assure you..all is NOT well.

Lurking somewhere in the dark recesses of the smaller child's mind, is a Beast. An uncontrollable, whirling dervish who dispenses mayhem and destruction like so much candy in an Easter parade. This Beast is the antithesis of pleasant. It writhes and seethes, waiting for it's chance to unleash it's unholy fury.

In the mind of the larger child lives an even more dastardly abhorration. A fiendish instigator, with cunning and guile to rival any 007 operative (especially that Timothy Dalton fellow, what an impostor). He ply's his trade in the smaller child's mind. His crimes travel on a whisper, a dare, a chance suggestion. Yes, it is he, who is able to unleash the Beast upon all who dwell here. The shame and horror of it all.

No not really. Tonight, they were pretty mellow fellows. Monsters, Inc. was very well received for the 3000th time. I am lucky to have them and I know it. Having two little dudes to pal around with is darn nice. I know this much; I was put on Earth to be their Daddy. Nice work if you can get it.

Pardon the interruption...

OK, I know some of you that read this blog are Anti-..Bush, The War, Republicans, Guns, V-8 engines, Fried Foods...Etc. My views are entirely different, but this is not the place to discuss those differences.

What I want to tell you about is a cause that is very close to my heart. I previously wrote about a friend I have who is a soldier. His time at home is getting very short. Soon, he'll go back to the land of swirling sands and hidden danger. I know his Momma will read this so I won't scare her with any more descriptions.

What I need from everyone here is just consideration and maybe, if you feel like it, a little cash. Why money? Why not? It's what Democrats like to do any way right? Throw money at something and it will just magically get better. Sorry, that was a shameless knock. No, what the money is really for is body armor. Our soldiers are getting better armor issued to them, but basically it just covers their chest and back. Their enemy is getting wise to this and exploits the weakness. Basically what we need to raise is around $2100 per soldier to outfit them with top-notch armor. It's not a guarantee against injury, but it's the best we can do.

I know this is a lot of money, but not if everyone chips in a little. Rent a movie instead of going to a theater. Don't Super-size that #1 at McDonald's. Skip a car payment. No, on second thought that's a little crazy. Skip two car payments. Then you can have fun hiding your car from the repo-man, AND help a soldier. Awesome!

If you feel the urge to splurge, just let me know, and I'll tell you how to donate. Either way, this concludes my monthly, off-topic post. The boys are doing just fine. We went to the Zoo today. It was hot, but they had a blast. Enjoy your weekend.


UPDATE:

OK, now I am literally on my hairy knees here. I just got word that another friend of mine has deployed to Iraq. His job isn't AS dangerous, but in all reality there is no safe job in the sandbox. So, if you have some loot burning a hole in your pocket, by all means, drop me line. Remember, just because you finance a soldier's body armor doesn't mean you can't still have ill will towards his Commander-in-Chief. I can't condone those feelings but, you have the freedom to think and speak those things as an American. Just remember who provides those freedoms for you.

I leave you with this...

“Good people sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.”

-George Orwell

He's not sick, he's my brother

Brady did something tonight that Brady does very well. I will explain, but if you just ate something, wait an hour.

You see, Brady has what's known as mild to very severe excitablity. Not ADD, ADHD, or whathaveyou. Just really outlandish excitability. He can swing from laughing his head off to screaming until he pukes. Which is just what he did tonight. In the bath. All over his brother.

Jake was having a rough night, battling some allergies, and he was kinda cranky getting in the bath. Brady took this as his cue to join in and up the ante. So, there they were, screaming, crying, and giving Cindy all sorts of joy. Then Brady took it to levels previously unknown. Blood-curdling is an understatement. Then, he ralphed. There are not many things sadder than a 2 year old getting sick on himself and then on his older brother.

This last part is especially for you Jake. There will come a time when you learn to read, and you will read about this night. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT try and get revenge on your brother. He did not mean to do it. You DO NOT need payback. I love you both very much. No, I DO NOT love one of you more than the other. Stop that!