The Hobbit

The Hobbit from Brad Herring on Vimeo.

This is a short film about a hobbit who lives in a cloud chamber and is visited by an unknown stranger. I have left it up to the viewers to decide how it ends. If you have thoughts, please share them.

This video was made for the 1/24/09 Weekend Project contest by Vimeo.

Hope you enjoy...

The Letterbox

The Letterbox from Brad Herring on Vimeo.

This past weekend we headed out to Harris Lake County Park for a hike. Dad brought along the camera to shoot video of our day together. The video above is our gift to Mom for her Birthday.

While standing behind the gnarled tree we happened upon a letterbox. We did not have any stamps to trade or a pen to sign so we left it in place and will return to it soon.

"Letterboxing is an intriguing pastime combining navigational skills and rubber stamp artistry in a charming "treasure hunt" style outdoor quest." For more info visit letterboxing.org

Happy Birthday Mom (1/24)! We love you!!

By Request...

We had a few requests from the grandparents for some more snowy pics, so here you go. After thawing out and taking a long 3 hour nap we headed back out for some more snow play. This time Mom and Dad bundled me up in this sleeping bag like suit. This suit is a hand me down from my cousin JoJo and the tag says "fits 0-3 months". That didn't seem to stop Mom and Dad from stuffing me in to it. It was designed for your feet and hands to be inside but since I was a little too big mine stuck out. This meant that my time outside would be limited due to freezing fingers and toes. If you don't believe me just look at the second to last picture...I'm frozen!

Sledding down the hill into the woods in my neighbors yard. I shouted in glee the entire time as we flew down the hill...until Dad drove us into a tree!

Out in front of the house

Eating snow...I couldn't get enough of the frozen treat!

The ruler says it all!

Frozen solid and ready to go home!

This picture was taken the next morning while outside playing with the huge icicles hanging from the house.

Finally!

We awoke this morning to a beautiful winter wonderland. Dad and Mom took me to the window and I was awestruck. It was as if I woke up in a new world. I ran to the front door and just looked outside in pure amazement. I have never seen anything like it. We haven't measured but from the look of the cars it must be around 6 inches and it's still coming down. It is supposed to be around 18 degrees tonight so we'll have some nice sheets of ice to propel us down the hill! We can't wait! Enjoy some pics from the morning.

Sledding down the hill on Mom's childhood sled.

Once my fingers and arms regain their natural color and our clothes are dry we'll head back out.

Building a fort to hide from Dad's snowballs with my friend and neighbor Ella.

Our fort.

Cupcake Saturday

Today was Dad's 34th birthday! Unfortunately, he was away at the Science Blogging Conference (more on Dad's conference in a future post) in RTP all day so we didn't get to enjoy it with him. Mom and I made cupcakes for Dad to have when he came home. Mom had all she could do to keep me from eating the cupcakes. I don't get sweets very often. In fact, I have only had chocolate twice and both times I knew there was something special about it. I tried nonstop to climb up onto the chair to reach the cupcakes but just couldn't manage to make it. I tirelessly signed "more" and "eat" until Mom realized she just needed to get them out of my sight. Finally, after waiting all day to eat those cupcakes, Dad came home and he shared a cupcake with me! Oh my, I couldn't get enough!

There has been a long standing myth that if you give a kid sugar they will bounce off the wall uncontrollably until the sugar high wears off. This couldn't be farther from the truth...at least for me. After eating my cupcake with Dad we went to bed and I was out like a light.

Here is a link to an article that we read recently on debunking popular myths...

"Scientists have even studied how parents react to the sugar myth. When parents think their children have been given a drink containing sugar (even if it is really sugar-free), they rate their children’s behaviour as more hyperactive. The differences in the children’s behaviour were all in the parents’ minds."

Even more myths for those interested.



This is the card that Mom and I made for Dad. Mom punched out the hearts and I stamped the leaves and scribbled with crayons. Happy Birthday Dad!

ps...The hat was Dad's birthday gift from Mom and I.

Dressing up for a new Nanny

Over the past few days I have developed this new desire to take all of the clothes out of my drawers and try to put them on. As you can tell from the above picture I haven't been too successful. The purple shirt around my neck is actually the shirt that my baby wears. Once I realized that I couldn't get my arms through the holes I gave up and tried to put on my pajamas. Once again, I wasn't very successful. As hard as I tried I could never really get my head inside the leg where my foot normally goes. But once I had it secure I ran around the house giggling in glee.


With Dad's help I was able to put on my jacket correctly. But I can't get enough of the zipper. It just goes up and down and never stops. Sometimes it will get stuck and I'll get frustrated but overall I'm pretty amused by the fact that I can unzip whatever Dad and Mom zip up. Once secure in my jacket I headed for the kitchen where I found a suitable pair of plastic shoes. My new shoes must have kept me busy for what seemed like hours. I danced, ran, and took on and off my plastic shoes over and over and over! Oh, and the hat...yeah, I put that on too. If Dad has his hat on I have to have mine on.

So where does the Nanny come into all of this? Well, on January 22nd our Nanny Andrea is leaving us. She is pregnant and due in early February. We will miss her and Abi (her 3y/o daughter) but we are happy for her and her new addition to the family.

So where does this leave us? Nannyless! We are interviewing now but if anyone knows of a nanny who would like to take care of me please let us know. Just ask Andrea, I'm worth it!!

We interviewed at a nearby school called The Walking Stick Ranch this week but I can not attend until I am at least 2 years old and potty trained. We will keep working on that potty thing but in the meantime we'll be on the look out for a Nanny.

Mine...Mine...Mine!

Mine! No, Mine! Mine! Mine! (each mine gets louder than the previous one)

Everything in this world has now become mine. If you have it, I want it. If you don't give it to me, I'll yell mine until I get it. If I have it and you want it, forget about it. It's mine! I want it all!

I'm not too sure where I picked it up but it is the only word in my vocabulary right now. I basically walk around the house saying mine every second of the day. Mom and I went to a La Leche League meeting last night and all I said all night was mine. Every toy in the room was mine and I let all the kids know how I felt about them playing with my toys.

Don't even try to take it away from me either! Your mine if you do!

Holiday Travels

We are back home and are all finally healthy! What a past few weeks it has been. We left on the 18th for Tennessee to spend some time with Paw-Paw and G3 (or GiGi since I have a hard time saying 3). When we arrived in TN we got to briefly see my aunt Julie and aunt Lindsey before they headed home complaining of feeling a little sick. Aunt Julie called the next morning and said she had Strep Throat. Shortly after, Aunt Lindsey called and said she had double pink eye. We could only wonder what we would be in for over the next few days!

Since Aunt Julie was sick, JoJo got to hang out with us for the next few days. We had a great time riding all of our "bikes"! I brought my bike from home but as you can see I didn't stand a chance against JoJo's power bike.

Yep, you guessed it! Double pink eye. I tried to look as pitiful as I could in order to get more sympathy. And pitiful I was! I wasn't a happy camper with double pink eye and a new molar popping through. And how no one else (including JoJo) ever came down with pink eye is amazing!

We had planned on heading down to Chattanooga to see Grandma for Christmas but since Grandpa Richard just had cataract surgery we were advised to stay put so as not to pass on pink eye to him.

So instead we hunkered down in the 6 degree weather and curled up on the couch while we listened to Paw-Paw read "The Night Before Christmas".

JoJo got a really cool John Deer Tractor from Santa. Instead of having lots of fun riding up and down the halls we just fought over who got to sit in the drivers seat. All I did was look at JoJo with my pitiful little crusty eyes and I pretty much won every time. The storm the night before brought down 2 trees in the front yard so we put that tractor to use all day picking up sticks and limbs and carrying them to the fire pit.

Aunt Lindsey and Uncle Tony got me a Sling for my babies so I can carry them around just like Mom carries me.

Making sweet music with JoJo's recorder.

With all of the bike riding we were doing Paw-Paw and GiGi got me a really nice bike helmet.

My Pink eye finally cleared up and we headed to Chattanooga to see Grandma and Grandpa. Unfortunately, we didn't get to stay too long since we had to get back home. Grandpa was recovering nicely but still didn't want to get too close to me and I don't blame him. But that didn't stop Grandma!

Dad and Mom got to have a night out with their friends while Grandma and I stayed home and played. I got so tired that I fell asleep while sitting up on Grandma's bed reading my book. Grandma was afraid to move me so she just gently pushed me over. I fell straight back and never moved a muscle until Dad and Mom arrived home late that evening.

The next day we celebrated Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa. I got this really cool wooden stroller and high chair for my babies. I'm still trying to figure out if my babies made out better on Christmas than I did?

We made it home safely and Dad planned on using the last week of December to get some things done around the house. On the list was finishing the kitchen cabinet and building a bookshelf for all of our cookbooks. We are still not sure how it happened, but on Tuesday Dad got really sick. By Wednesday (New Years Eve) Dad looked dead. On New Years Day Dad came back into the bedroom around 6am and told Mom to take him to the hospital before he actually died. The doctors didn't know what it was but told him he won the award for the sickest patient on the floor. After a few tests and pricks (and my yelling at the doctor to leave Dad alone) we finally made it home so Dad could recover. We think the bacterial infection must have come from something he stirred up in the musty and moldy shed where he was working on the bookshelf.

The finished bookshelf.

Just before we left for TN, Grandma Mary (or as I am now calling her MiMa) came down to visit and to celebrate an early Christmas. We had a great week as she took over some for the Nanny and even allowed Dad and Mom the chance to get out of the house without me. Grandma brought down some great hand-me-downs from Mom's childhood. The Playskool desk above has become my favorite place to play. It has a chalkboard top and a magnetic board on the inside. Since I am eating all of the chalk and crayons now, Mom has taken away my coloring privileges. As long as I don't swallow any magnets I should be fine.

Here are a few of Mom's old puzzles. I'm slowly figuring out how to put them together but I mostly get frustrated when they don't fit. In my mind the pieces should be one size fits all!

Happy New Year!