Keeping Up With The Bandermann's

Camden's Birthday Party

2012-02-27T19:02:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday we celebrated Camden's 3rd birthday! Kelly and Jared did such a great job planning a sweet party for their big 3 year old! WOW! I can't believe he is 3 already! (For those of you who don't know...I was actually in the room at the hospital when he was born!) We had such a good time visiting and celebrating with family and friends! Happy Birthday Camden!

Camden has a super cool ball pit that Brynn LOVED playing in!

SO MUCH FUN!

Balloons are always a big hit with her.

BIRTHDAY BOY!

Blowing out his candles...

Yummy cupcakes!

Happy Birthday Camden! Thanks for such a fun party!

What the Future Looks Like...

2012-02-24T04:42:00.000-08:00

Here is a glimpse into what Brynn will look like in five years...in this hat can't you just see her playing t-ball or going hunting with Daddy? Hopefully by then she'll have some hair coming out the back of her hat!

Hi guys!

I know this shirt looks weird...she had this collared shirt under a little dress
and I guess we never flipped the collar down after we took the dress off.
We don't normally parade around the house like Queen Elizabeth...HA!

LOVE LOVE LOVE!
I think she looks so grown up!

Mohawk and First Toothbrush

2012-02-22T07:00:00.001-08:00

Brynn LOVES taking a bath! She frequently crawls into the bathroom and stands up next to the bath and looks in the tub! We have to undress her BEFORE we start running the water because if she is in the bathroom and watches me start the water she does NOT want to leave...HA!

Her hair is getting so long! We could hardly get the mohawk to stand up!

What are you guys doing to me?

Brynn still only has her two bottom teeth. We have been talking about when we are supposed to start "brushing" her teeth. I really have no idea...is it gross that we haven't really brushed them for a month? As I'm writing that I'm realizing how gross that sounds, so yeah, we are probably not winning the dental health parent of the year award. HA! When we went to Wal-Mart the only kiddie toothbrush we could find was Thomas the Train...so Brynn is now the proud owner of Thomas the Train "training" toothpaste and a super cool train toothbrush!

We "brushed" her little teeth first, and then let her do it by herself. She is hilarious! She
got the biggest smile on her face and knew right where to put the toothbrush!

Pardon her "Bozo the Clown" hair...I think she must have had pigtails in and we took
the little rubber bands out.

Brushing teeth is SO MUCH FUN!

A Visit to Grandma and Grandpa's

2012-02-20T12:01:00.000-08:00

On Saturday we headed to Oran to go to my grandparents house. They had everyone over since Lindsey and Curt were in town, and to celebrate Camden's third birthday! Grandma made roast and it was sooooo good! We are so blessed to have such wonderful grandparents!

Playing piano with Pawpaw

She was loving banging around on the keys.

Yum yum! My grandma is such a good cook!
Brynn ate green beans, carrots, mashed potatoes, rolls, etc.

I love having meals around this table!

BIRTHDAY BOY!
Camden was getting ready to blow out the candles on his cupcake!

He had just gone to the bathroom...how cute are his little underwear! HA!

Playing with Granny in the TV room...Kelly and I were cracking up at Camden's little legs!

Mizzou had a game on Saturday so we got Brynn all dressed up. GO TIGERS!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for a fun Saturday!

Princess Birthday Party

2012-02-18T04:29:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we went to Evy Kate's birthday party to help her celebrate turning 3! It was Disney "princess" themed and it was adorable! Obviously Brynn doesn't really understand the whole "princess" thing yet, but she still wore a little tutu skirt like all the "big girls!" We had so much fun!

Playing in the playroom with all the big kids

Ashley had all the food coordinate with the theme (Snow White's apples, etc.) It was so creative and so yummy!

Isn't this cake AMAZING? The girl who made Brynn's baby shower cake made this!

She doesn't really get the concept of playing WITH other kids yet...haha!

The kids got to make a special craft at the party. The girls decorated princess crowns...they were so cute! The boys decorated special foam shields, and I thought I had a picture of Kelly and Camden but I can't find it! Camden (and the other boys) looked adorable with their manly little shields!

Our little princess!

She looked ADORABLE...when I could get her to keep the crown on!

Group picture!

There's the birthday girl...by her beautiful cake! I know before I blink it's going to be Brynn having her third birthday party! Heck...I am in total shock that her first birthday is coming up!

At the party I could barely keep her crown on long enough to take a picture, but when we got home and showed Ryan she left it on for a LONG time...all through eating and while she was playing. I could just eat this little face up!

These were so cute I had to take a picture. The boys took home special foam swords and the girls got these princess tutu bags as party favors. We also got these awesome cookies...Brynn told me I could eat hers, which I did while she was napping after the party! HA!

Happy Birthday Evy Kate!

SEMO Basketball

2012-02-15T19:44:00.000-08:00

Tonight we went to cheer on the SEMO Redhawks! The basketball ball team is doing really well this year and they were playing nationally ranked Murray State...the game was sold out, which made for an awesome atmosphere! One of our friends gets us free tickets, so we decided to take Brynn and go cheer them on! We've taken Brynn to several games and she loves it (which is a good thing, with two sports-loving parents!) She loves to look around at everything and then starts clapping...it's too funny!

Brynn, my mom, and me!

Grandma loves to watch the band and cheerleaders with Brynn.

Wearing our SEMO red! We had so much fun!

Even though we LOVE the town where we live, Ryan and I always talk about how we wish we could "transport" to Columbia on gamedays and have season tickets to football and basketball games. When we watch Mizzou games on TV I'm always so jealous! HA! We miss being able to experience our big-time college sports in person!

Tonight's SEMO game was sold out and the atmosphere was so much fun! Of course nothing will top being in Mizzou Arena and watching our Tigers, but it was fun taking Brynn and it reminded me of how much fun I had when I was little, going to SEMO games with my dad. I see lots more SEMO games in our future...even if we have to wear red instead of gold!

Valentine Goodies

2012-02-13T19:06:00.000-08:00

Today they had a little party at Nonna's to celebrate Valentine's Day. All the kids were supposed to bring a little something to put in everyone's bags. I found an idea off Pinterest and we made "Valentine S'Mores." We put some graham crackers, chocolate hearts, and heart-shaped marshmallows in a little Valentine bag. It was really cute, and I could just kick myself for not taking a picture of it! Even though Brynn couldn't really help me make them, it was so fun taking her to the store to buy the stuff and she had fun playing while I put them together. HA! I just had a little "mommy" moment where I was like "oh my gosh, I'm making the first "treats" for my child's party! =) When we got home we had fun looking through Brynn's bag of Valentine's from all her friends.

Some of her Valentine goodies spread out...she can look through her book from Nonna and maybe she will give Mama the candy! HA! (Actually, she ate like 2 of those little break and bake cookies at the party! AHHH! Sweet tooth at 10 months??)

OOooo...a pencil Valentine from Calla!

Checking it out...

When Daddy got home she wanted to show him all her treats.

Is there anything else in the bag??

Thanks Nonna and friends for a fun first Valentine's Day!

Chunky Legs

2012-02-09T19:05:00.000-08:00

Here are just a few random pictures Ryan took the other night...

Concentrating so hard...

She is getting SO GOOD walking behind her walker!

So proud of herself!

Oh this girl's hair...we have to put it in a ponytail or pigtails ALL the time because
it is getting so long and just hangs in her face!

AND THESE LEGS...I COULD JUST EAT THEM UP!

ADORABLE!

Hugs for mama

She loves to pull on my neck...weird! HAHA!

It's a bird, it's a plane...IT'S BRYNN!

Promoting and Growing UP!

2012-02-07T19:21:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday was Brynn's last Sunday in the BABY ROOM! WHAT??? I can't believe my little baby is promoting to the next room! She has had the most amazing group of ladies watch over her and we have been so blessed by them! They have been taking care of her in the nursery since she was about 6 weeks old! The fact that they give up going to a Life Group class to care for these little ones is so selfless and such a blessing. (Quick story to share how amazing they are - when we told Sherry that it was Brynn's last Sunday Sherry started crying! It was the SWEETEST thing ever...and of course it made me start crying! I hope she doesn't care that I'm sharing that! But you parents know how much it means when other people love your kids, and I'm so thankful they love her so much!) I know she will have great teachers when she promotes, but I am going to miss her teachers SO MUCH!

Mrs. Sue, Mrs. Velda, Mrs. Sherry, and Mrs. Jessica
They are seriously the BEST nursery workers EVER! We LOVE them so much!

Speaking of Brynn growing up, she has been doing a lot of "major things" lately that I don't want to forget. She has been STANDING all by herself (just for like 5 seconds at a time...sometimes more sometimes less...ahhhh!!!!!!!!!) She is also imitating things she has seen us do. If she is holding her comb she will put it on her head and try to "brush" her hair. She also knows where the drawer is that has her shoes, and she likes to open it up, grab out a shoe, and she will put it by her feet (she can't put it on her foot obviously but she knows where her shoe is supposed to go). I just think that's crazy...she is really learning things!

This picture doesn't really have much to do with this post, but I was taking pictures and thought she looked so cute!

Oh my gosh...isn't she just getting to be such a big girl!

Pardon her "spaced out" face! She was "brushing" her hair!

After so much playing and "learning" Daddy came home from work! She loves her Daddy time!

Just for the record I think her face looks a LOT like my baby pictures.

Kisses for daddy!

Cracking up!

As I'm blogging this, Ryan and I are watching a Modern Family episode we had on the DVR and the dad is taking his daughter on a college visit. I know before we know it we are going to be taking Brynn on a college visit....ahhhHHH!!!!!!! She's growing up so fast!

Saturday Morning Pancakes

2012-02-04T12:55:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning we got up and decided to have some chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast! We didn't have anywhere to be, and it was so nice to just have a slow, lazy morning and take our time eating and playing around.

Brynn must think we need a skillet...she loves to pull them out of this drawer!

Playing around in the kitchen while we make pancakes and get her breakfast ready.

Helping make daddy's coffee...

She is getting really good at drinking from her sippy cup!

Sorry for Ryan's lack of clothing...he just doesn't really like to wear a shirt around the house! He told me not to take a picture of him, but I had to get a shot of those amazing pancakes he's flipping! (And clearly he didn't mind too much because he smiled for the picture! HA!)

She hasn't ever used a plate before, and we ended up taking it away because she tried to pick it up and flip it over and play with it! Ryan made her a little baby-sized pancake (without chocolate chips) that she ate!

YUMMY!

We hadn't had pancakes in FOREVER!

Who's the best helper cleaning up the dishes? Brynn!
HA! She LOVES the dishwasher!

Hanging Out with Grandma Sally

2012-02-01T18:42:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago we went to visit my Grandma Sally. She hadn't seen Brynn since Christmas, and Brynn hadn't been to her house since she was super little, so it was fun to take a little trip to Perryvile to visit her.

Great-Grandma and Brynn

My dad went into my grandma's basement and dug out this old highchair. It was the one
HE USED when he was a baby!

She has several old baby dolls and stuffed animals...Brynn was in heaven!

She LOVES Curt so much...I think she's going through some type of "boy" phase! HA! When Lindsey and Curt were in town this past week she wanted Curt more than Linz...it was hilarious!

Heel stretch...we are already practicing for her Mizzou cheerleading tryout...HA!

Thanks Grandma Sally for a great visit! We love you!

10 months

2012-01-30T19:08:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know I sound like a broken record every month, but I just can't believe she's another month older! TEN months...that's just crazy! I still feel like a kid myself, so how is it that we have a child who is getting ready to celebrate her first birthday and will probably be walking in the next couple of months! I've been having these moments lately (especially when I'm at my desk at school looking at her pictures) where I just think "I can't believe she's our daughter!"

She weighs about 20 1/2 pounds, but not really sure about her length.
She is in size 3 diapers.
She wears mostly 12 month clothes, but I have bought a couple of pairs of 18 month leggings because if I buy any smaller they just ride up to her knees! (And this little thing has a macho belly...so the bigger sizes fit fine around the waistline too! HA!)
Typical daily schedule is to get up around 7, take a morning nap around 9:30 (we only let her sleep about 45 minutes tops), lunch around 11:45ish, afternoon nap from about 1-3:15, supper around 5, and nurse at 8 and then bedtime. Breakfast is milk, oatmeal, and fruit. Lunch is milk and veggies. She usually has a little snack at Nonna's after she gets up from her nap. Supper is milk, and then meat, veggies, and fruits. Usually when we eat supper (which is around 6:15) she eats some of our table food and feeds herself puffs. This little thing can PUT IT AWAY! She likes everything...spaghetti, green beans, bread, etc..
She still drinks breast-milk only. I pump before we get her up in the mornings, and I pump over lunch at school, and then she nurses before supper and before bed. I still can't believe my body is still doing this! If it's the weekend I don't have to pump, so I don't dip into my supply, but during the week I'm getting into my supply almost everyday. We usually give her 5 oz. bottles for breakfast and lunch, and I'm not pumping that much anymore (usually around 4 each time).
She is quite the little jabberbox...she babbles away but says "dadadadada" way more than "mamamama" right now (tear, tear). She also says "nananana" (which Nonna says is probably because she hears "Nonna" all day long).
Some of her new "things" include raising her hands when we ask her "how big is Brynn?", semi-pointing at things, and blowing a whistle (she loves to do this and it's hilarious!) She is getting pretty good at waving to people. She likes to patty-cake and does the clapping, rolling it up, and then raises her arms up for the last part.
She can WALK WITH HER WALKER! It used to go too fast for her, but now she can pretty much do it all over the house.
She is the fastest little crawler...she is quick! Lindsey says we need to enter her in the Super Kids race because they have a crawler division and she says Brynn would cream everyone! HA!
She is into EVERYTHING...I turned around for a second tonight and she had unrolled the roll of toilet paper all over the bathroom floor!
She has a "lovey"...her little soft baby. We put it in her crib at night and a lot of times we will find her arms wrapped around it when we get her up. She also takes her paci more now...we usually only give it to her in the car, but she doesn't always enjoy car rides and it is amazing how quiet she is with it! HA!
She's become quite a fan of her daddy...she loves to follow him around the house and even cried once when he left!
The last 3 Sundays at church she has cried when we've dropped her off, although they said it only took about a minute before she stopped crying.
This was the first month she got really sick...her first ear infection. It took 2 rounds of antibiotics and a couple of weeks to finally get over.

What an incredible 10 months it has been! We've been to see 2 friends newborns lately and it just boggles my mind how tiny they are and how much they grow in just a few short months. Babies are truly miracles from the Lord!

Book Exchange

2012-01-29T18:54:00.000-08:00

Quick ear infection update...Brynn started the stronger antibiotic last Monday and slept well Monday and Tuesday night, but was up Wednesday night. We didn't know if the ear infection was still there or if she was just in a weird sleep pattern because of it, so we had them check her ears on Friday and he said it looked much better. She slept well this weekend so we are praying that it is finally gone and everyone's nighttime sleep can go back to normal!

A few weeks ago a friend at school gave me a letter about participating in a "book exchange." It is kind of like an old school chain letter. All I had to do was buy and send one book (and mail letters to 6 friends) and Brynn is supposed to get 36 books! Isn't that fun? (Don't make me explain how that works, but it does...if everyone participates). Brynn got her first book in the mail last week and we were so excited when we found it in the mailbox!

YAHOO! My first book! We didn't even take off our coats before we were tearing into the package!

Let's open it!

She got slightly distracted in the kitchen...

An animal board book!

It is such a perfect book for Brynn! It has lots of pictures of animals and pages that talk about their colors, their stripes or spots, etc.

Oooo...Brynn makes this noise a lot "ooo, ooo, ooo."

We hope we get several more books in the mail!

Nosy Girl...

2012-01-24T19:11:00.000-08:00

Oh this little child...she loves to get into EVERYTHING! This weekend we put cabinet locks out in the family room because she likes to open the cabinets and pull everything out! HA! Nonna said she is one of the nosiest little ones ever! =) Here is a 30 minute sneak peek into what Brynn likes to do on a random Tuesday night.

I think I'll go into the guest bathroom and open all the drawers and pull everything out. (This is one of her favorite activities by far!)

Gee...what's in here? Oh I found some mouthwash. Cool!

Then I'll sit down and shake the mouthwash container with a big smile all over my face!

Okay, the mouthwash got old so I'll go stand up by the tub (seriously she LOVES to stand here and play with the fabric and vinyl shower curtain and shake them).

Ooo...what happens when I push the door shut? (Another favorite activity right now is shutting doors and opening them and watching what happens when she does that).

YAY! It's finally bathtime! (She LOVES sticking the letters and numbers to the tub wall and pushing them around.)

Yumm....letter X is so tasty! (She LOVES to put them in her mouth and chew on them! Then again, right now there isn't anything she doesn't love to put in her mouth and chew on!)

So there's just a little 30 minute peek into the fabulous life of Brynn Bandermann!

Go Away Ear Infection!

2012-01-23T19:05:00.000-08:00

Well..it's finally happened. I figured the dreaded ear infection would eventually hit, and it has. Actually, it happened last week (and I meant to blog about it but never got around to it). A couple of weeks ago Brynn started waking up in the middle of the night. Every other night she would wake up and NOT want to lay back down. I realize now that it was probably pressure and pain in her ears. Well finally last Tuesday I was talking to some girls I teach with about it, and wondered if it was a weird sleep issue she was going through when they suggested maybe it was her ears. I hadn't seen her touch them or act fussy really, but figured that could be it. The more I thought about it I really felt like we should take her in. Ryan was off work that day so I made an appoinment, which he thought was crazy. But an hour later I got a text from him that said "mama was right, double ear infection." POOR THING! We got antibiotics and thought we were good to go. She seemed more like herself and slept fine from Tuesday until this Sunday. Then Sunday she was really fussy, and I saw her messing with her ears, and she woke up again in the night really fussy and wouldn't lay down. So...we took her in again today and it's BACK...or rather never fully went away? We are on new antibiotics so hopefully this will take care of it for good. Ahhhh....I think that's one of the hardest things of being a parent, especially at this age. You just have no idea what is wrong...I'm wondering "is she teething? Does she need tylenol?" I think God is probably getting tired of hearing the same prayer from me ALL DAY..."God give me wisdom to know what to do." It is also really makes me thankful I live in this century...you guys are going to crack up but since she's had her ear infection it really makes me think "wow, what did the pioneers do?" They had to wait on Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman to come around once every few months...yikes! Thank you Lord for doctors and medicine!

What post would be complete without a picture? I think I've posted this one before, but can you guess why I am posting it again? OUR MIZZOU TIGERS ARE NUMBER 2 IN THE NATION! Woohooooo! Go Tigers!

Upward Basketball

2012-01-21T12:37:00.001-08:00

Today we went by the SEMO Rec Center to watch a couple of our family friends' kids play basketball and cheer! This is the first year Ryan hasn't coached a team, and it was fun just showing up and watching all the kids! Brynn was crawling all over the place, and I had to pull her off the court several times because she was trying to get in on the action!! Ha!

Watching Mason play basketball...

We had to grab her off the court! Haha!!

Marlee did such a great job cheering! She loves to play with Brynn!

Brynn was eating it up! I told Heather its probably going to feel like no time at all before Brynn is cheering just like Marlee! (or playing basketball...who knows?) Ryan was holding her up to the rim so she could dunk her baby doll! Haha!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Catching up with iPhone pics...

2012-01-18T18:22:00.001-08:00

My cousin just taught me how to use this blog app to post my iPhone pictures! I am so excited!!! Here are just a few random things that have been going on.

My parents help lead the college ministry at church and they had some international students over for lunch on Sunday. Brynn made lots of new friends!

She's also been dealing with the monster of all colds...I took this when she got up the other morning. She had green goo all the way from her nose to her mouth...gross!!

Hanging with Lindsey and curt before they had to go back to school. They were being a bit cheesy when I snapped this pic...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Fun at the Library

2012-01-18T18:12:00.001-08:00

Last week we had a random snow day...by the end of the day the roads were fine so my sister (who was still in town from Christmas break) and I took Brynn to the library to play. They have the coolest little play area!

Playing at the magnet table with Aunt Lindsey

They have so much cool stuff on the walls...stuff with different textures, stuff to spin, etc.

She loved crawling through the tunnel into this little area!

So much fun!!

I LOVE this pic!!!

We have already been back with some friends because we had the BEST time at the library!!

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Brynn's New Cousin is going to be a...

2012-01-14T11:27:00.000-08:00

That's right...those pink balloons means we are going to have another NIECE!
Brynn's going to have another GIRL cousin!

Sarah did the COOLEST thing for their new baby's "gender reveal." They had their routine "gender reveal" ultrasound, but asked for the ultrasound girl (who happens to go to church with us) to NOT tell them the gender. They had her call a party store and the party store blew up the right color of balloons and put them in a big box. They taped the lid down and Sarah's mom picked up the box and took it to Pam and Rick's, where lots of family and friends were waiting to see what COLOR balloons were going to fly out of the box...blue or pink! What a cool idea! Jason, Sarah, and Ansley were surprised along with everyone else!

Ansley was waiting to help pull the lid off the box.

Getting ready to pull it off...

PINK BALLOONS!

YAY! Everyone was so excited to see the balloons fly out!

We were supposed to wear pink or blue depending on what we thought the baby would be...looks like I was RIGHT!
(I actually had no idea what I thought the baby would be, but I didn't have a blue shirt so I wore a pink one...hahaha!)

Brynn is so excited for her new cousin who is due to arrive at the beginning of June! They will only be a little over a year apart and I can't wait for them to be the best of friends! I can already picture all of our shopping trips now!

Congrats Jason and Sarah and Ansley! We can't wait to meet new Little Miss Bandermann this summer!

Dinnertime Fun

2012-01-12T07:55:00.000-08:00

Brynn is LOVING all the table food she has been having lately! It's so crazy to see our tiny little baby now grown up into a big girl who can feed herself! After her 9 month checkup her pediatrician said she can eat pretty much anything (except peanut butter, etc.). The other night we were having steak and sweet potatoes so she got to eat some little bites of sweet potato, which she really liked!

Lots of fun at supper!

HAPPY GIRL!

She is really into playing little "games." When something makes her laugh or she thinks she is being funny she will do it over and over again.

Cheesy smile!

She even likes to help load the dishwasher! HAHA! Actually, she just likes to get into everything that has already been put in the dishwasher!

Hope your dinnertime is just as fun (and messy) as ours is!

Go Tigers!

2012-01-09T19:46:00.001-08:00

On Saturday we cheered on the Mizzou Tigers and Brynn wore her little Mizzou dress! We are loving watching our number 4 ranked basketball team! Unfortunately Brynn's clothes didn't help our team and we lost our first game of the season...oh well...

Go Tigers!

Playing with Aunt Lindsey

Anybody want to play ball with me?

Here's to a great rest of the basketball season! Go Tigers!

9 month Check-Up / Cold / Crazy Breakfast

2012-01-04T18:57:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Brynn's 9 month check-up at the doctor. Here are her "stats."

Weight - 19 pounds, 9 oz. - 70% percentile
Height - 29 inches long - 90% percentile
Head Circumference - 50% percentile

She was a little HAM...Dr. Hoffman would ask if she was clapping yet and she would do it, then he asked if she was waving and she started doing it. (We are always trying to get her to do it on command, but for some reason she wanted to show off at the doctor). She had to get one shot, and she DIDN'T EVEN CRY! WHAT??? She definitely didn't get that from me...I wanted to cry just looking at the needle!

In case it seems like things are perfect here on the homefront, poor Brynn has a TERRIBLE cold that is making her a little crankster in the mornings...this morning I called my mom crying on the way to school and said "I just want my Brynn back! When will she be back to normal?" HA! She just wakes up so gunked up, and I think it is just putting her in a bad mood until we can get some medicine in her. Thankfully around mid-morning she is back to her normal self.

Tonight we went to Red Lobster because my grandparents came in town and she was so cute. She was cracking up at my grandpa...and then when he was holding her she kept trying to play with his wrinkly skin. She would grab onto his hands and pull his skin...that might not even make sense but if you picture 80 year old skin, it was hilarious!

Right before school started back up I took some pictures of her over breakfast...we had been having the best time having breakfast together. I would feed her fruit and oatmeal, while drinking my coffee and eating my breakfast, and feeding her little bites of banana. Two mornings were a little different...little Missy wanted to spit out her oatmeal and rub it all over her face and hair! AHHH!

Someone has been getting very messy over breakfast...

Little Missy must know mama isn't too happy about her breakfast antics...look at her hair...the other day she looked like George Washington because she was pulling both sides of her hair with oatmeal covered fingers, and in this picture her left side was covered with it!

Oh the joys of motherhood!

Good-bye 2011!

2012-01-02T08:00:00.000-08:00

GOOD-BYE 2011 and HELLO 2012! 2011 was the most life-changing year EVER as we became parents. We are so excited to see what 2012 has in store!

On New Year's Eve we had such a fun night hanging out with some of our closest friends and their kids! We headed over to Mark and Heather's to hang out with them and their 3 kiddos and Jason, Sarah, and Ansley. We had so much delicious food, lots of good talks, and plenty of laughter.

Playing with the big girls...

I said "Ansley...what's on your lips?" HA! Evidently she got into Marlee's lip gloss...she was so proud of her beautiful lips!

Marlee had lots of fun toys to play with...and she was so excited to get to play with Brynn. (She is in my kindergarten class and likes to tell them about getting to "babysit" Brynn).

Happy New Year headband.

The kiddos playing around

Poor Stella - She just sat there while Brynn grabbed her face and ears...what a good dog!

The girls hanging out and celebrating the new year!
Me, Brynn, Sarah, Heather, Marlee, and Brynn

Marlee and Brynn.

The boys...Ryan, Mark, Mason, Jason, and Maksim

We decided to stay until around 8:30 (party animals, I know...but with kids things change! HA!) Brynn started getting fussy, and it was past her bedtime, so we figured we'd call it a night. We got home and got Brynn to bed, and then decided to watch all the New Year's festivities on TV...but we both fell asleep on and off until midnight. I was trying really hard to stay up, but I guess I've turned into an old foagie! HA!

9 months

2011-12-29T12:12:00.000-08:00

On December 22 Brynn turned 9 months old! I can't believe that is 3/4 of the way to ONE YEAR!

9 months old!

Special notes about this month include...

She weighs about 19 1/2 pounds (although we will find out for sure when she has her 9 month appointment at the beginning of January).
She wears mostly 9-12 month clothes.
Size 3 diaper
Daily schedule goes something like this...wake up around 6:45 or 6:50 (at least half the time she is awake in her crib playing and we don't have to wake her up)...5 oz. bottle or nurse at 7:30ish followed by some oatmeal and 1/2 container of fruit. Morning nap from about 9:15-10:15 (almost always has to be woken up...we don't give her much longer than an hour so she will take a good afternoon nap). Around 11:45 or 12 she will take a 5 oz. bottle or nurse, followed by half container of veggies. Afternoon nap from about 1-3ish. For "supper" she nurses around 5 and then has half a container of fruits, 1/2 container of veggies, and then either a little oatmeal or some baby food "meat." Nurses around 7:45 or 8 and bedtime.
She loves to feed herself in her highchair or out at a restaurant, and loves puffs, yogart melts, and little pieces of banana.
She is still exclusively breast-fed! WOW! Never in a million years did I think I would make it this long! The sitter gives her bottles of milk that I pump before school and I also pump during lunch (my social life over lunch is non-existent..haha!)
This month she started pulling up and crawling (real crawling, not army crawling) like crazy!
She babbles a lot...and says mamamama, bababababa, and dadadada (I realize she probably doesn't know that mama means me, but it is still awesome to hear her say it.)
She also tries to mimick us when we say "uh-oh" (like if she tips something over or drops something from her high chair). She likes to blow air...she will watch me blow and she will do it...it is so funny! She is pretty verbal...nothing makes sense but she loves to make lots of noises!
When she likes something or wants something she will look at it and reach her hand out and make this noise like "oooo oooo oooo." She makes her mouth into this little circle while she says "ooo" (Lauren it looks like cat mouth! HA)
She puts everything in her mouth...I'm hoping eventually she will realize that books are for reading and looking at pictures, not eating!
Favorite toys include her soft babies and her little people Nativity Set this month.
She loves PEOPLE...especially all the kids at Nonna's and Ansley and friends from church. The only problem is they want to play with her, and she thinks that "playing" with them means pulling their hair and hitting them on the head! HA! We are trying to show her how to be "gentle" but I don't think she is getting is yet. =)
She hasn't seemed to show any separation anxiety lately...with Thanksgiving and Christmas stuff there were tons of new people that wanted to hold and play with her. She never seemed to mind at all...I was kind of surprised.
She is just such an easy baby...is so content to play with people or by herself, goes down for naps and bedtime SO WELL, great sleeper, etc. We know we have it GOOD! (Several people have told us we better watch out because the next one will probably be the opposite! HA! And no...we aren't even thinking about the next one yet.)

As she has gotten older it's been interesting to hear who people think she looks like. When she was first born she looked identical to Ryan's baby pictures. It seems like lately more people can see SOME of me in her, and sometimes I will think "wow, that reminds me a lot of my baby pictures." But I think that more people still say she looks like Ryan.

Christmas with My Parents

2011-12-28T19:09:00.000-08:00

The day after Christmas we headed over to my parents house to open presents with my mom, dad, and Lindsey. Growing up we always opened at our house on Christmas morning and then went to my grandparents. When Ryan and I got married we still went over to my parents house in the morning, and then went to his side of the family, and then on to my grandmas. Now that we have Brynn we want to do presents at our house on Christmas morning, and it is just too much to try to hit 3 other places, plus this year we had church. So...this was the first year EVER that we opened presents on a day other than Christmas...but it was still just as wonderful. My mom made a BIG breakfast with biscuits and gravy and then we passed out gifts and opened them one by one.

Brynn playing with Aunt Lindsey before the festitivies began.

When we were born my mom cross-stitched us beautiful stockings. She made one for Ryan when we got married, and this past year she has been working away on Brynn's. Now she is going to have to start on one for Curt...wow...that's a lot of cross-stitching!

Lots of fun stuff in the stocking...puffs, yogart melts, a new sippy cup...what more could a girl want?

Lindsey passing out the gifts.

We tried to keep Brynn occupied in the jumper so she wouldn't go crazy crawling all over the presents...and it was working great until the very first present. She "opened" (helped rip some paper) a little puzzle and when I tried to put it down in her pile (in the hopes that she might forget about it for an hour so we could keep opening) she started crying because she wanted to play with it! HAHA! Needless to say, she got to spend the rest of the "present opening session" up in everyone's business playing with all their stuff!

Yep...there she is right in the middle of everyone!

She LOVES the crinkly loud plastic that things are wrapped in.

Little Miss Thang!

HAHAHA! My parents were so excited about this present (which is ironic because they never wear bike helmets and never made us wear them when we were little). They got Ryan one of those bike carrier things so that he can ride his bike and Brynn can ride behind him. They know how crazy he is about bike safety so they decided to go ahead and get Brynn a bike helmet! (It is so cute...it has little pink bunnies on it!) Evidently it is quite tricky to find an infant bike helmet, but they finally managed to find one that will actually adjust and she can wear it for a long time. I think bike helmets are nerdy, but she might be able to pull it off...haha!

She wasn't really a fan of having it strapped on.

I can't wait to see Ryan and Brynn out for a bike ride!

Thanks Mom and Dad for a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas Day

2011-12-28T12:08:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! We had a WONDERFUL day, celebrating at church and then with our families!

Christmas morning when we went in to get Brynn up she was pulling up on her crib for the first time! Guess somebody was excited!

Making Christmas morning coffee on our new Kuerig coffee maker! (For the record...I had taken a shower and put some make--up on, but hadn't fixed my hair yet! HA!)

Ryan starting our family tradition of reading the Christmas story before presents.

Stocking time! This is terrible, but we never bought Brynn a stocking this year! We have a Mizzou one downstairs so we just used it...hopefully before next year we will get stockings for all of us.

What's in my stocking? (Bibs, yogart melts, a book, and two new pairs of leggings!)

Love those yogart melts!

YAY! Now my legs might actually fit in my leggings (hers were starting to look like those capri workout pants they were getting so short!)

We only got Brynn her stocking and one present (we knew she would get plenty from grandparents and family). She started pulling the paper and then decided she was more interested in pulling up and playing with her nativity set! HA!

Now she's interested again...and yes (especially to my PAC friends) this is a CABBAGE PATCH DOLL! (I have a couple of friends who are slightly obsessed with them!)

Looking at the baby.

SO SWEET!

Kisses (aka open mouth slobber) for the baby.

I don't know if you can tell in the picture, but the name of this Cabbage Patch Doll is "Bren Elisa". We got it because every single Cabbage Patch doll has a different name and THIS ONE HAPPENED TO BE IN CAPE GIRARDEAU...and Brynn's name is Brynn Elise! Nonna called us earlier in November and told us "you better get to Toys R Us right now because they have a Cabbage Patch that has Brynn's almost exact name and there isn't another one like that anywhere in the world!" HA!

Brynn and Daddy with their gifts...Brynn got daddy some toenail clippers (haha) and some new work socks (long story short...my wonderful husband does not do a good job of cutting his toenails...gross I know...but then he gets terrible holes in his dress socks. I decided he can either cut his toenails or never get new socks again! HAHA!) We also got him a gift certificiate to his favorite bike/triathlon store.

I got a gift card to get our blog made into a blog book (so excited!) and an Erin Condren planner...which I am slightly obsessed with!

We opened our family presents before church, and then went to our church's 9:00 service because they had the nursery available and Brynn could nap. Our service was really good...then it was time to head to Ryan's aunt's house to celebrate with his side of the family.

Family picture after church.

Playing around before lunch...she was having a big ole' time!

Miss Cheesy! Can you see her two little front teeth?

She loved Aunt Kim's puppy!

After lunch we read the Christmas story and then opened presents and played "Dirty Santa" with gift cards. (Brynn didn't get to get in on the present opening action...she was taking a nap in her pack n play downstairs in the bathroom! HAHA! Thank you God for such a great napper!)

Then around 3 we left Ryan's family and drove to Oran to spend time with my mom's side of the family. We got there just in time for presents.

Brynn and Ryan opening up their gifts.

It truly is more fun to give than to receive...we were SO EXCITED for my grandparents gift. The grandkids put together a photo book for them. Everyone (their three daughters, son-in-laws, and all their grandkids/grandkids spouses/future spouses) wrote them a letter about special memories and the way my grandparents have impacted them, and we put pictures in it, etc. It was AWESOME! Merry Christmas Grandma and Grandpa...we love you so much!

Grandkids hanging out...Erika, Morgan, Ryan, Tab, etc.

Ty, Tori, Brynn, Ryan, and Erika

We all headed home around 8...I seriously think Brynn fell asleep in the 30 seconds it took to pull out of my grandparents driveway! HA! We had such a wonderful day celebrating what Christmas is truly about, and also stuffing our faces with delicious food and enjoying time with family! Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve Party

2011-12-28T11:30:00.000-08:00

Another family tradition is to go to the Christmas Eve Service at our church and then go to my mom's house for a Christmas Eve Party with all of my mom's side of the family. Our church didn't have childcare for the service so Brynn just went with us. At one point our pastor read the Christmas Story and invited all the kids to come up. Ryan took Brynn up there and it was really funny! She did really good through the whole service...yay! I didn't take my camera in, so I don't have any pictures of her all dressed up at church. Then we headed to my mom's. It is so fun because my WHOLE family is always there...our family that lives in Springfield and the ones that live in Texas. We have almost the same menu every year, and I LOVE IT! We have hot chicken salad, little smokies, rotel dip, veggie tray, and lots of desserts that people make. We always have other stuff too, but those are the things we have EVERY year.

My grandma with Brynn.

Filling up our trays with lots of delicious food...look at Ty in the background!

Erika and Tab's kiddos...Ebby Lee and Nixon at the kiddie table.

The other "kid" table...all of us cousins.

Tab with all the little ones...next year Jared and Kelly's will be in the mix!

Thanks Mom for always hosting wonderful Christmas Eve parties. This is something I look forward to each holiday season. (And it's no secret to my mom that my major wish is that Ryan and I might get to host the Christmas Eve party SOMEDAY when we build our new house! HA!)

Christmas Eve at Pamaw and Papaw's

2011-12-27T08:15:00.000-08:00

It has been a tradition to spend Christmas Eve mid-morning/afternoon at Ryan's parents. We open presents and always eat a delicious lunch of shrimp and steak. This year was so much fun...especially with Brynn getting in on all the action.

Ryan's family always starts out by reading the Christmas story. Usually we read it straight from the Bible but with Brynn and Ansley being so little, they decided to read a children's book version. It started out so well...

HAHA! Poor Papaw...he was trying to read the story but Brynn decided it would be more fun to pull his hair and blow raspberries at him than listen to the story. I hope she doesn't do this to her teacher in kindergarten! Papaw kept reading, but Brynn made it quite difficult for him to finish! HA!

Then it was time for presents...she wanted to crawl all over the boxes!

Daddy...can I open this for you?

She opened several cool books, a lion "rider" toy, a carseat, etc. Thank you Pamaw, Papaw, Uncle Kyle, Uncle Jason, Aunt Sarah, and Ansley for all my cool presents!

She was so interested to see what it was!

Brynn wanted to be ALL OVER the place...thankfully it was time for her to eat a little lunch while we were still opening presents, so we popped her in the highchair and gave her some green beans and puffs while everyone kept opening. She is getting SO MOBILE...so it was a little tricky trying to keep her away from everyone's stuff (and to get her to quit putting all the tissue paper in her mouth! HA!)

We had a wonderful day celebrating at Pam and Rick's house! Brynn took a monster nap downstairs, so we enjoyed eating our delicious Christmas Eve lunch and playing around with our new iPad! WHOA! We were literally CRYING we were laughing so hard from taking silly pictures of each other with the photo booth app! We woke Brynn up around 3:30 and headed home to unload and get ready for the Christmas Eve service at our church.

Christmas Caroling

2011-12-24T12:02:00.000-08:00

Something I've wanted to do for a long time is go Christmas caroling. My sister-in-law Sarah and some of our friends who are in the choir decided to get it together. Uh oh...ALL choir people? HAHA! For those of you who know me, you know I'm not the best singer...I seriously sing the same octave as Ryan! Oh well...I decided that caroling is all about bringing Christmas cheer to those who need it, and who cares if I'm terribly off key, right? We had a wonderful time, and it was so neat to see the faces of some of the elderly people from our church who we went to sing to.

Several friends from our Life Group class went...there were a LOT of us!

We went to a nursing home first, and this couple is from our church. She started crying when we started singing...it was such a special experience.

After several stops, we ended up at Ryan's grandma's house. It was her 80th birthday, so she got quite the surprise when 30 carolers showed up at her door!

Brynn was all cozy since we sang outside at several houses, but we sang inside at Gigi's house.
Ryan and Brynn were singing away!

Cookie Decorating Party - Girls Only!

2011-12-24T08:13:00.000-08:00

Friday morning we headed to Zalma to my Aunt Tina's house. My cousin Erika and her family had already gotten in from Dallas, so all the girls in the family (minus a few who were out of town) got together to make/decorate cookies and visit together. We had SO MUCH FUN!

Erika, Mom, Aunt Tina, and Grandma

Busy busy in the kitchen

Here are some of us sitting around the table decorating...I think they would all agree that Tarah and I won the decorating contest! HAHA! Brynn had fun watching us from her highchair and Ebby Lee kept sneaking lots of cookies! HA!

There are four great-grandchildren in our family, but since Camden and Nixon weren't invited to the cookie party (girls only...all the boys went and hung out at my Grandpa's) we tried to snap some pictures of Brynn and Ebby Lee together. It was HILARIOUS! Brynn kept trying to hug all over Ebby Lee, pat her head, blow on her, etc. Ebby Lee was LOVING it...she kept cracking up!

Take 1

Ebby Lee was such a good sport...she kept letting Brynn crawl all over her!

Kisses for Ebby Lee!

I love both of their faces in this one!

Aunt Kelly hanging out and watching the girls play. I can't wait to find out if Jared and Kelly are having a boy or girl!

Brynn took her afternoon nap at their house, and then a few minutes after she got up all the boys came back from Grandpa's. See that blue balloon thing? She seriously played with that ALL DAY! She would bounce up and down and smile SO BIG!

We had such a fun time hanging out with family and making precious memories!

Christmas Party Wednesday

2011-12-22T08:41:00.000-08:00

Wednesday was my last day teaching before Christmas Break. We had our kindergarten class party at the end of the day, and then I high-tailed it to Nonna's for her Christmas Party! It was SO MUCH FUN...there was tons of food, people, gifts, and FUN!

Nonna's kiddos, some grandkids, and some former "Nonna's kids."

Who's getting ready to come in???

SANTA!

Santa had a present in his bag for each of the kids...Brynn got to go up first. The bigger kids went up, sat on his lap, and told him what they wanted for Christmas. It was HILARIOUS! Some were scared and some were so excited!

Brynn did really good!

They aren't supposed to start opening until everyone gets their present from Santa, but somebody wanted to get started a little early!

YAY! Finally time to open!

It was a big soft baby! Thank you Santa Nonna!

Everyone with their gifts from Santa...Brynn and Paisley both got to sit on his lap!

This was the best picture we could get...there was so much going on she didn't want to sit and smile! She was a lot more animated with him this time, although we didn't get a picture of that.

New baby!

Time for the gift exchange....all the kids drew names and Paisley got Brynn's name.

YAY! A "catch-me-kitty!" (We went home later that night and got it out...and she has crawled ALL OVER the place chasing this cat...it's hilarious!) Thank you Paisley!

Another present from Nonna!

She tried to crawl over the whole box! HAHA! It is a special stroller/walker that matches her baby from Santa!

Brynn and Nonna got mommy a present too! It's a candle (with one of those battery flames...not real fire). She was mesmorized!

Brynn got Nonna a book and gift certificate. The book is called "Nonna Tell Me a Story" and when Nonna opened it she got tears in her eyes! That made me about start crying! We love you Nonna!

The party was a blast and it was fun celebrating with the kiddos and their parents!

All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth!

2011-12-22T08:03:00.000-08:00

Guess who just got their two front teeth? YEP! About a week and a half ago the bottom right tooth made its first appearance, and a couple of days later the left one popped out. They aren't "full grown" yet, but they are both through her gums and are growing every day! They are ADORABLE...I love to feed her because I can see them close up! I hope teething goes like this for all her teeth...with the exception of giving her a few doses of tylenol, it hasn't seemed to bother her much at all! Thank you God!

Okay...this picture is blurry but I was trying to get a picture of the two cute little teeth...can you see them a little bit?

New Christmas PJ's!

Reading before bed...I can't believe she is actually looking at the book. Usually she just wants to eat them. HA!

She had PJ day at Nonna's the next day, so we just let her sleep in her jammies. When we got her up the next morning I was like "what is that weird smell?" Well....I guess I didn't get her diaper on very good, because the pee came up through the top and she had pee all over her pajamas for PAJAMA DAY! Luckily, Ryan was off that day so he washed them and took them over to Nonna's when he dropped Brynn off. She got to wear the cute Christmas PJ's the rest of the day...how cute!

Weekend Traditions

2011-12-18T14:34:00.000-08:00

This weekend we toured our city's lights display and delivered Christmas food baskets. These are two traditions I want to do with our family each Christmas!

Started off the evening with Chick-Fil-A and then headed to Starbucks to
get Peppermint Mochas before we drove through the lights.

We let Brynn sit in the front with me (this is inside a park and we were going 3 mph so it was really safe!)

She LOVED it!

This is how she spent the majority of the drive...hands banging on the windows looking out!

She was mesmorized by all the lights and displays.

Saturday morning we got up and headed to church to help deliver Christmas food baskets to needy families in our city. This is something our church does every year. In the middle of the Christmas season where I get stressed about making sure our Christmas card is cute or that I have the right presents for everyone, we deliver these baskets and see that there are people who don't even have food to eat that night. Not only does it remind me to be thankful for simple things like food, but reminds me that we always need to be reaching out to those in need, which I know I don't do nearly enough.

Getting our list of what baskets to deliver...my sister was in town after her finals were over so she got to go with us.

Getting our bags to fill with food...

Look at that great helper...Linz and I were in a funny mood...we would have Brynn touch a can of green beans or corn and we would pick it up to put in the bag...then the stuff that she could actually hold we would put in her hands and get her to drop it in our grocery bag! Here she is helping with the mashed potatoes!

Last thing...information from our church and a small Bible.

All ready to go deliver!

These are traditions I hope we can continue with our family for years to come.

2011-12-15T19:17:00.000-08:00

Recently my friend Ashley planned an awesome Christmas Party for several mamas and kiddos. She ended up getting super sick the night before the party, so Kristal hosted instead. (But Ashley you did AMAZING at getting everything together!) We had so much fun visiting with our friends and getting our kids together to play! I am LOVING stuff like this!

Happy Birthday Jesus cake with the nativity set on it...so cute!

One of the things we did was decorate Gingerbread Houses...obviously Brynn wasn't a master decorator, but she had a lot of fun watching the bigger kids!

Wyatt and Frankie were doing great!

Maksim was doing great all by himself so Heather got in a little Brynn time.

Brynn's gingerbread house is on the left...haha! I was holding Brynn in one hand and trying to "decorate" with the other hand...I don't think we did too bad!

After some playing and eating everyone took on project number two...handprint pictures. This was SO FUN!

I do projects like this with my kindergarteners all the time, but painting an 8 month old's hands and getting her to put them on the canvas was quite another story. First, Kristal had to help me. Look at Isaac.."what are they doing?"

HAHA! After we got a "good" handprint on the canvas, Isaac decided to try his hand at painting! It washed right off and we were ready to try again!

TA-DA! Oh my gosh, this just makes my heart melt! I am putting ribbon around the top and sides and using this to hang our Christmas cards on. I just think it is the most precious thing ever!

Mom...why do we have to paint my hands so many times?
She LOVED having the paint on her hands...she kept opening and closing them and looking at the green paint. She also put the paint in her hair, eyebrows, and near her mouth! AHH! It was fine though...and SO WORTH IT!

Heather, Kristal, and Sarah putting the finishing touches on their kids projects...

Playing away...

We lit the candles and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus!

What a fun day with friends! These are such special memories. Even though Brynn is too little to understand what Christmas is all about, and won't remember "playing" with all her little friends, we had such a good time celebrating! Thanks Ashley and Kristal for such a fun day!

Family Friend Christmas

2011-12-14T19:12:00.001-08:00

This past Sunday we had our annual "Family Friend Christmas." God truly blessed our family with a set of wonderful family friends growing up. We have been sharing special memories with these families for years...vacations, holidays, etc. Every Christmas Mrs. Lisa hosts the get-together (she is an incredible hostess!) and every year has a theme. Since there are several little ones this year the theme was "Happy Birthday Jesus."

There's the "hostess with the mostess" herself!

Before we eat we always have a special reading/poem to go along with the party theme. Some years the poem or reading makes everyone laugh, some years we cry. This year we read special verses from the Bible that had names of Jesus.

Emily with Brynn...I told her she better get ready for the frilly tutus because they are having a girl in March!

"Adults" sit in the dining room, and "kids" (that's us) sit in the family room. Here we are eating the DELICIOUS meal!

Me, Ryan, and Brynn, David and Holly (expecting their first child in January), Erin and Pete, Erin (Trey got there right after I took the picture...he was on nap duty with Frankie), Billy, and Mark (and Em and Wyatt).

Emily and Mark's little boy Wyatt...he is ADORABLE!

Frankie (also adorable) and Brynn
I guess Frankie and Wyatt are going to have to fight over little Brynn...haha! Although from the looks of this picture Frankie doesn't want much to do with her right now! HA!

Erin and Frankie, me and Brynn, and Emily and Wyatt.
What a difference a year makes...last year I was pregnant and both of these girls had 6 month olds...this year I have an almost 9 month old, they have 18 month olds, and they are BOTH PREGGERS! I can't wait to see what next year's picture looks like!

After we all ate we had such a good time visiting and hanging out! Em lives in Saint Louis so it's so nice when she's home to visit. We took the annual "huge family picture" (I didn't get one on my camera). Then we all went to our church's Christmas choir concert, which was AWESOME! What a fun night!

SANTA!

2011-12-10T08:56:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning my parents neighbor and family friend was going to deliver some presents as Santa...so he offered to stop by my parents house for Brynn to come by and see him. It was hilarious! She didn't cry, but I bet she spent 10 minutes just looking at him with this look on her face like "who is this guy?"

All dressed up in our beautiful Christmas dress!

So excited to meet Santa! HA!

It took some time for her to get used to him! He's trying to bribe her with his shiny bell!

"Are you ready to sit on Santa's lap?"

This picture says it all...she probably sat there staring at him for 10 minutes! HA! We have so many pictures of her doing this!

Look at his jolly smile! HO HO HO!

Still not sure about this guy...

"He can't be too bad...he is letting me play with his bell."

Is that almost a smile???

"Hi guys...Santa's not so bad after all!"

Wow...I think I'm trying to overcompensate for the fact that it's 8:00 in the morning by smiling a little too big!

So sweet!

Even Daddy loves Santa!

"I'm clapping because I made it through my first meeting with Santa!

It was too cute! Thanks Santa for coming to visit!

Reindeer and Great-Grandparents

2011-12-10T08:10:00.000-08:00

Just a couple of pictures...Brynn was sporting a side ponytail this week!

Our little reindeer rocking the side ponytail!

So sweet!

Friday night we had Ryan's work party. My grandparents came to watch Brynn for awhile. She loves her Granny and Pawpaw!

I swear my grandpa has the magic touch...she is so active all the time but when Pawpaw
is around she is so content to just sit in his arms!

I couldn't get any picture of my grandma with Brynn because somebody was hogging her just a little bit! HAHA!

Thanks for hanging out with me Granny and Pawpaw! I love you!

Gingerbread Princess

2011-12-07T18:47:00.000-08:00

Gingerbread stories are my FAVORITE! Every December I do a "Gingerbread" unit with my kindergarteners. We read every version of the "Gingerbread Man" that we can find...and there are some really good ones out there! (Gingerbread Girl and Gingerbread Cowboy are really good!) We compare all the stories, take a gingerbread hunt around the school, and do lots of gingerbread crafty projects! I was so excited that Brynn has a little Gingerbread outfit...I can't wait until I can read all the Gingerbread stories with her! I snapped a couple of pictures of our little "Gingerbread Princess" before school this morning.

Someone was excited to wear her Gingerbread outfit this morning!

Clearly I didn't care what Ryan looked like in the picture...ha! How cute are these little tights/leggings! I think at this point Ryan was saying "Whitney...put the camera down...we have to go! I'm going to be late for work!"

And here is the Gingerbread Princess all bundled up!

Brynn wants me to tell everyone to read a Gingerbread story sometime this Christmas season!

Christmas Jammies and a Recordable Storybook

2011-12-06T18:53:00.000-08:00

Last night we busted out some Christmas pajamas! I just thought they were the cutest things, and they were size 6-12 months, but when I put them on her they were so tight! HA! Her little belly was hanging out most of the night and I could barely get her arms through the sleeves. She looked like she had some bulging biceps! We ended up not sleeping in the jammies because they were too small, but they still made for an adorable night of playing!

Pardon the purple bow...it was on from her outfit earlier in the day.

She is obsessed with this book! It's a Christmas recordable storybook that Pamaw and Papaw got last year when I was pregnant. Every time I turn the page and the new words "start" she will look at me with this funny little amazed expression and then get a big smile on her face. Everytime we get it out she does this! It's too cute!

We are trying to show off the pajamas...I know I have an interesting outfit on...I had on my shirt from school with my sweat pants. As soon as I get home from school they are the first things I put on!

Reading/listening to the book with Daddy! (Can you see those bulging biceps...aka adorable fat rolls?)

Add caption

"Where is that voice coming from?"

Who would have thought that a recordable storybook could be so much fun? Ours has gotten quite a bit of spit up in/on it, but hopefully it will still work for quite a long time!

Away in a Manger

2011-12-05T19:14:00.000-08:00

The other night Pamaw and Papaw came over to give Brynn and Ansley an early Christmas present. It was the "Little People" nativity set!

Brynn LOVES the paper and the noise it makes when it rips...but judging by the size of the piece she is ripping it looks like gifts might take an extra long time this year! HA!

I know she doesn't really understand "presents" but she sure looked so excited the whole time she was opening it!

Wow! Look how big that piece is!

Ansley was SO EXCITED! She kept saying "Baby Jesus...Baby Jesus!" It was so funny! Then she was trying to name all the people...Mary, Joseph, and the "goat" that Mary rode...Sarah had to remind her that actually it was a donkey!

We've been playing with it a lot since she opened it! And by "play" I mean Brynn loves to chew on the donkey and bang the wise men together to make noise! HA! Oh well...she is hearing about the Christmas story and baby Jesus, even if she is trying to eat the characters.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Parade and Pulling Up

2011-11-30T19:34:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday was our city's Parade of Lights. Right after the sun went down all the floats with their Christmas lights paraded down Broadway. We had so much fun watching all the pretty lights!

Brynn was all snuggled up!

Look at that poor little face...the first things that came by were all these police and firetrucks and motorcycles with their horns blaring...I guess she didn't really like the loud noises. I got her out of the stroller and held her for the rest of the parade and she seemed to like that much better! Mommy can make all the loud noises seem less scary! HA!

Pamaw and Papaw were at the parade with us, and Lindsey and Curt came right before they drove back to school.

She loved seeing all the colorful lights!

My parents joined in, and so did Jason, Sarah, and Ansley. What a FUN PARADE! It always gets me in the Christmas spirit!

Look who has started pulling up on EVERYTHING! Can you believe this little thing??

She loves to pull open drawers and gets her hands on everything! HA!

A Different Kind of Thanksgiving Football...and more Thanksgiving Fun!

2011-11-27T19:47:00.000-08:00

On Friday, Brynn and I had a wonderful low-key morning of playing at home. After the craziness of Thanksgiving it was nice to just have some downtime together. Then around 1 I dropped her off at Pamaw's and rode to St. Louis with my mom and dad, and Lindsey and Curt. (Ryan had to work, but was coming to St. Louis to meet us after he got off.) We shopped for about 3 hours (super fun for us girls, for Dad and Curt not so much) and then headed to the Dome to watch my cousin Scott's team play for the state championship. He is the head coach at CBC High School in St. Louis. They were undefeated and we were so excited to support Scott and cheer on the Cadets!

We had never been to one of the high school state championship games and the atmosphere was so cool! Watching them warm up felt like we were watching a college team!

GO CBC!

Here is Scott pacing the sidelines...he is such a good coach and we are so proud of him!

Ready for kickoff...

It was a GREAT game! It was a nail biter the whole way, and CBC ended up losing by 3. We were so proud of them anyway! And just for the record, we didn't get home until 1:30...I don't think I have stayed up that late since college!

The next day, Saturday, was the Pingel (my dad's side of the family) Thanksgiving get-together.

4 generations...Grandma Sally, my Dad (not in that order...ha!), me and Brynn

Brynn checking out her Great-Grandma.

Brynn's favorite game right now is to sit on Grandpa's head and give him kisses (aka slobber on his bald head) or play his head like it's a drum! HAHA!

After everyone left from the Thanskgiving celebration my parents decided to use Ryan and Curt for manual labor and put up their Christmas tree. Brynn found a shiny ornament and that was her entertainment for the next hour.

Hopefully this isn't how she gives kisses for the rest of her life...ha! Well...she can for her mommy and daddy but I don't think Ryan will want her doing this to any boys...EVER!

Linz and Curt got a hold of the camera and this is the result...plus a few more ridiculous pictures I deleted. Oh the joys of hanging out with those two...we all never stop laughing. We love them so much!!!!!!!!

Brynn loves looking at the lights on Christmas trees...I don't know what Ryan is doing in this picture.

This child is into everything...if I had a dollar for every time my dad said "she is so active" I'd be rich! (I just hope we don't hear that in a parent-teacher conference in 5 years!)

We have had such a fun Thanksgiving holiday! We are so thankful for all of God's blessings.

Let the Thanksgiving Celebrations Begin...

2011-11-26T20:26:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving morning we started our celebrations by turning on the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade! I LOVE watching it every year!

Brynn was too busy playing to watch much of the parade.

I love watching all the musical numbers and then switching the channels back and forth to the channels that just broadcast the actual parade and floats.

Lindsey and Curt came over that morning to watch the parade.

Every year for Christmas my mom makes "monkey bread" (I have no idea why she calls it that...). Several years ago I found a recipe for a "chocolate" version. You put a hershey kiss in each piece of biscuit. I started making it on Thanksgiving morning while we watch the parade, and that has become our new tradition.

Coffee with pumpkin spice creamer, chocolate monkey bread, and the Macy's parade...HAPPY THANKSGIVING! (Notice the fine dining table...aka ping pong table...we were watching the parade downstairs.)

Brynn was having fun playing and looking at our Mizzou Christmas tree. (Yes, we put our trees up before Thanksgiving, and I love it! I know some people don't like that, but I think it just makes me feel even more in the holiday spirit!)

After her morning nap we loaded up and headed to Aunt Soni's for Thanksgiving lunch with the Bandermann's.

Hanging out with Pamaw

Loving on Uncle Kyle

We had fun visiting and playing with Aunt Sarah and Ansley! We took Brynn's pack n play, and while she napped (in cousin Mollie's bathroom no less...yes that was the quietest place...thank goodness Brynn is a good napper! HA!) Sarah and I had fun looking at all the Black Friday ads!

Then it was time to head back to Cape to my great aunt and uncle's house for Thanksgiving with my mom's side of the family. Several relatives hadn't seen Brynn yet and were so excited to meet her!

BIG FAMILY PICTURE...We were at my grandma's brother's house...he was there with his family, along with my grandma and all of our family, and several other of their siblings and family members.

One of my absolute FAVORITE holiday traditions on Thanksgiving is when we all sit around the piano and sing Christmas songs. We always end with "The 12 Days of Christmas" and each person (or 2 or 3 people together) has a part to sing. This year I requested "8 maids a milking"...get it? Kind of the theme of my life right now! HA! The funniest part is that I was paired up with my dad, and if you know me and my dad you know that neither one of us can sing a lick! HAHA! Oh well....even though I'm not a very good singer I love this tradition and you better believe we belted our part out! I think we were in the complete wrong key but it was still a blast. Ryan is now used to our family's crazy singing tradition, but it was really funny to watch Curt (my sister's fiance) joining in.

Brynn watched all the singing with Pawpaw! She was so funny...clapping and making her little noises during the songs!

Later that night after Brynn and Ryan were in bed, I headed out to shop. Actually, there wasn't anything I really needed or wanted to get, but some of my cousins were in town and Lindsey, Curt, and I went out to meet them at Walmart. My mom wanted Lindsey to try to get some mattress cover, so I figured I'd experience the craziness with them all. And WOW, it was CRAZY! I have never seen it that bad. People were fighting over towels, crockpots, and even kids pajamas! I thought we were going to get trampled just waiting to get a mattress cover (which I ended up buying too by the way...it's amazing how the adrenaline and crazy people make you feel like you also need to buy something and join in the craziness). Thankfully, we survived the chaos and made some fun and crazy memories along the way.

What a GREAT Thanksgiving Day!

8 months!

2011-11-22T18:53:00.000-08:00

November 22 marked Brynn's 8 month birthday! Last Thanksgiving and Christmas when I was pregnant I remember thinking "wow...this time next year we are going to have an 8/9 month old during the holidays." I can't believe that time is already here!

Month 8 has been a BIG month! Here are some highlights...

Brynn weighs about 19 pounds.
She is wearing mostly 6-9 month clothes, although we've put her in a few things that say 12 month.
She is in size 3 diapers.
She started CLAPPING! She loves to do it all the time! HA!
She has become more vocal, and says "mamamamama!" I know she probably doesn't associate it with me yet, but to hear her say "mamama" is so exciting!
She army crawls all over the place and can put herself in a sitting position, to a crawling position, back to a sitting position. She likes to stand up, but can't pull herself up yet.
She likes to feed herself puffs.
She went to her first "concert". Travis Cottrell came to our church and performed with our choir and she LOVED it. When we were sitting, Ryan would hold her in a standing position and she just looked and clapped the whole time!
She has started sitting in her crib...sometimes she will sit before she falls asleep, but most of the time when she wakes up she sits and plays until we go get her.
She "tries" to drink from her sippy cup. She will hold it and get water out of it, but usually spits it out and soaks her clothes! HA!
She loves to play peek-a-boo and knock down my "block towers." She loves to play with her soft babies and with the brush and comb. She LOVES this musical table thing we have downstairs. She is so content to play with people or play independently.
She dropped her last catnap around Halloween.
Typical schedule...we go get her around 7 (toward the end of this month most days she has been sitting up awake when we go get her) and she takes a bottle around 7:30, then oatmeal and fruit. Morning nap for an hour to an hour and a half (starting at 9 or 9:15), bottle around 11:30 or 12, with veggies. Afternoon nap for about 2 hours starting at 1. Bottle around 4:30, then veggies and fruit. Then around 6ish when we eat she gets a bowl of oatmeal. I nurse around 7:45 or 8 and she is asleep by 8:30.
She is just so much fun! We love to take her on errands because she loves to sit in the shopping cart and look around. We were definitely blessed with a happy baby and we love her little personality so much!

Brynn you are amazing and we love you so much! Happy 8 months!

Thanskgiving Break Starts Early

2011-11-22T07:00:00.000-08:00

Well...it's Tuesday morning and I should be at school teaching but I'm home with STREP! Yuck! I taught all day yesterday and made an appointment after school because my throat was so sore...and sure enough the strep test was positive. I had it in my mind I could make it through the day, but by the time I got to his office I felt so bad...I even started crying in front of my doctor. How embarrassing! Part of it was because my throat felt like it was on fire every time I swallowed, but the other part was because I was worried Brynn would get it, and because I was supposed to be "hands off" for a couple of days in regards to her.

I started antibiotics last night and I feel a lot better today, so I'm hoping with another dose tonight I'll feel way better tomorrow and be feeling good for Thanskgiving.

Here are just a couple of pictures of what Brynn's been up to the last week or so.

Doesn't she look so old? We had a wedding this past weekend...she was all ready to go!

Smiley girl!

Ready for church on Sunday. She LOVES buttons...this hat from Great-Aunt Soni is covered with them so she LOVES IT!

Her new FAVORITE toy...the comb I use to fix her hair! She has really started understanding that things are still there even when she can't see them ("object permanence" from my early childhood days...haha!) and she has been yelling for a couple of seconds after we take it away! Oh no....are we getting a sassy attitude? HA!

Latest development...getting herself in a sitting position in her crib! When we go in to get her in the mornings or after a nap she is usually always sitting up playing! There are times we put her down and she just sits up and plays before she falls asleep...Ryan and I will look at the video monitor and laugh and say "child...lay down!"

New Jacket

2011-11-16T18:58:00.000-08:00

We stopped at Target the other night to pick up some things...and ended up with a super cute little jacket! Brynn needed a winter coat that was casual, and since we are suckers for North Face jackets (it's not a North Face, but looks similar) we had to buy it. Ryan was such a pushover when he saw it..."she will be adorable in this...we have to get it!" HA! I can just see him in 16 years when she wants to pick out a prom dress...watch out. She has daddy wrapped around her little finger!

When we got home today I just thought she looked too cute so I snapped a couple of pictures.

Such a big girl in her jacket!

Do you guys like my jacket?

I don't really enjoy cold weather, but seeing this little cutie in her winter jacket just might make it worth it. =)

Brynn's Baby Dedication

2011-11-15T18:59:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday morning we had Brynn's baby dedication at church. The dedication part was toward the beginning of the service, but we sang a couple of songs before it and Pastor Mark shared some announcements. Brynn was cracking me up. She has recently learned how to clap and she sat there in Ryan's lap and clapped pretty much the entire time we were singing and waiting for the dedication part. Some of our friends in choir were cracking up!

We had our camera and video camera ready (we had given them to our parents to use...you could tell we were the first time parents of the group.) Ryan and I were laughing because his dad was already videoing before the dedication part even started! We were singing the VERY first song of the church service and there was Rick, videoing away. When Ryan asked him about it later he said that he had to get Brynn clapping to the songs! =)

Walking up on the stage...

There were 2 other babies in our 10:30 service...watching them walk up on stage.

We have a great preschool director, Christy Brey. She introduced us and talked for a couple of minutes. Also dedicated in our service were Scarlett (to our friends Emily and Drew...poor Drew got "Scarlett spit-up" all over his shoes during the ceremony!) and Liam (to our friends Kurt and Ashley).

Brynn was trying to clap the whole time. =)

Listening to Pastor Mark talk about what our baby dedication means.

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Brynn forgot to bow her head for the prayer. HA!

It was hard to believe that WE were the ones actually standing up their with OUR child! It was almost surreal. We love Brynn so much and thank God every day that He blessed us with her. We want to raise her in a Godly christian home and teach her to love Him. We pray that He would help us do the best job we can, and we are so blessed to have a wonderful church family to help us along the way!

Brynn's milestones, New York iPhone pics, and Transporting the MILK (aka super long story)

2011-11-11T19:24:00.000-08:00

A couple of milestones I want to write down and remember...

Today Brynn started CLAPPING! She has been bringing her hands together more, but this morning when we got her up she was in the best little mood. She was laying there on her changing table and all of a sudden she just started CLAPPING! I couldn't believe it! I started yelling for Ryan to come see her. Then when she was sitting on our bed she started doing it again...like clapping so hard it was making the clapping noises! Tonight we went to a wedding and I think she spent half the wedding clapping. HAHA! It's funny how such a little gesture can get us so excited. =)

Since Halloween Brynn has been down to just 2 naps a day...her morning nap (usually from about 9 to 10:30) and her afternoon nap (1-3:15ish). We noticed for about a week or two before that when we put Brynn down for a catnap around 5:30 she just didn't want to go to sleep. Sometimes she would fuss and sometimes she would just lay in there and play and make noise. I was a little worried about how she would do to stay awake from 3:30 to 7:30 or 8, but she has done really well!

Here are a few pictures from the trip that I had on my phone...get excited because the bottom one is the best!

Me, Kyle, and Sarah outside MACY's!

Kyle and I on the top of the stairs in Times Square...what a good view from up there!

The boys after the race.

And...get excited...I know you all have been DYING to know how I did "pumping" while I was away. I'm going to stop right here and warn you that this is the LONGEST I've ever written about anything and if you don't want to hear about me breast-pumping then stop now. HA! Seriously though, Uncle Bruce, I would stop now and skip to the bottom. =)

I pumped four times a day...the morning and before bed pumping sessions weren't too bad because I was able to pump in my hotel room (my poor brother and sister-in-law...I know they are sick of hearing my pump and also sick of having to "avert their eyes" because I was doing my business on the hotel bed. If you know me, you know I'm not very modest...so you could frequently hear me saying "uhhh guys...don't look over here...I'm whipping them out." HA!) I also had to pump around lunchtime and again around 5:00. We would always be in the city at those times, so I would just have to carry my pump with me (the kind I have is awesome...it all fits in this black bag that almost looks like a big purse) and find a bathroom to pump in. That part was not very fun. My pump has a battery pack so I was able to hide out in a stall, but trying to get all the parts hooked up, get my jacket and shirt off, keep things off the disgusting bathroom floors, and position my book (yes, I had to do SOMETHING while I'm sitting there) was a little tricky. Just picture all that, will you? And in case you are wondering, my pump also has a convenient ice pack so the milk would stay cold until we got back into the hotel room. So...since my milk can stay refrigerated for up to 7 days I just kept a collection in some plastic containers we brought for the trip. By the end of the trip I had about 120 oz. ready to take home. (Let me also explain why I wanted to bring the milk home. First, the main reason I pumped on the trip was so my milk suppy would stay up so that I could continue to nurse when I got back from the trip. Several people I know suggested I just pump and dump (aka do all the work to pump, and then just throw the milk away because it would be too hard to keep up with it and take it on the airplane, etc.) Well...that milk to me is liquid gold...not only do I not have to buy formula, but if you pictured me in those nasty bathrooms pumping away, then surely you understand WHY I did not want to throw all that hard work away! HA! Fast forward to the last day when we were ready to head home. HOW do you get 120 oz. of breast milk on an airplane? Well, the TSA has special guidelines for breast milk and you are ALLOWED to take more than 3 oz. (remember how you can't have more than 3 liquid oz. unless you check it?) of breastmilk on the plane. So...we packed the cooler with ice and put all the milk in the cooler and headed to the airport. When we went through the security line I told them about the cooler with the milk and they were like "okay, come over here and let us check it." The guy opens the cooler and does this whistling sound. Then he yells to his fellow worker "uhhh George, we have a LOT of MILK over here!" HAHA! So George comes over and they got out testing strips and that was that...or so I thought. Then because I had all this liquid they said they had to check me. I got the FULL security pat down. It seriously took the lady 5 minutes to explain all the directions including "maam when I get to your sensitive areas I'll use the back of my hand instead of the front. Would you rather do this in a private security room?" Uhhh...NO...just get it over with. So after all of this mess we became quite good friends with our security people and they even gave us special TSA tape to tape up the cooler!

Here's the cooler all ready to board the plane...

TA-DA...all my hard work in the refrigerator once we made it home!

New York Days 3 and 4

2011-11-10T19:07:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning (Day 3) we slept in and went into the city a little later. We were going to eat at the famous Carnegie's Deli (our friend Mike said it was the BEST place...he also calls is "CarNEGGies"...how's that for a southern accent!) but it was super crowded so we ate at the deli next door. Then we all went to see the Lion King! It was AWESOME!

It was SO GOOD!

Kyle, Rick, Pam, Jason, Sarah, me, and Ryan

After the show we went shopping at FAO Schwarz to buy toys for Brynn and Ansley. That store is SO MUCH FUN! We watched the workers play some Chrismas songs on the big piano. Then Jason, Ryan, and Aaron went back to the hotel (we were staying in Manhattan the night before the marathon) to eat supper and chill before the race, and Kyle, Sarah, Pam, Rick, and I did a little more shopping and then ate at a cute little restaurant near Times Square and our hotel...Sarah and I SPLIT a hamburger and mozerella sticks and each had to pay $20! New York is NOT cheap! AHHH!

Sunday was RACE DAY! The race didn't start until 9:30 and they started on Staten Island (which we weren't going to watch because it would be such a long subway ride) so we slept in and then got up and headed to Brooklyn to see them around mile 8. Jason ran with his cell phone and was able to call (while running) to tell us about where they were and when we would see them. With 47,000 runners in the race we had to know which side of the road they were going to be on or we would NEVER have seen them...it was SO CROWDED! We got to watch them in Brooklyn and then we took the subway to Harlem to watch them around mile 22. It was SO COOL to go to these different places and see all the runners. We also got to see some of the pro runners. They were running faster than I could sprint! The sad thing is I don't have one good picture of the boys running or just of the race in general. Sarah was taking video with her phone, I was trying to take video on our video camera, and Rick was in charge of pictures. Hopefully once I get some from Rick I can post them because it was just awesome to watch. I got goosebumps watching all the people running. My sister and I ran the Chicago marathon 2 years ago and it made me want to run another marathon so badly! (Then I tried to make myself remember how I couldn't walk for about a week after the race and that took care of that pretty quick!)

Here is the ONE picture I took...we were in Brooklyn and these were some of the pro men.

SO PROUD OF YOU GUYS!

The boys ran as part of Team ING (the financial company that sponsors the marathon). ING hosted a "family reunion" event after the race for runners to meet back up with family members. It was at the Museum of Natural History, which is right by Central Park where the marathon finishes. It was AWESOME!

Aaron and Marissa, Ryan and me, and Sarah and Jason

GOOD JOB RYAN! How cute is my husband??

We had SO MUCH FUN watching the boys run the marathon! They ran through all five boroughs (Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and then Manhattan) of New York City and said it was such a cool way to see the city. GOOD JOB BOYS! We are so proud of you!

New York Day 2

2011-11-09T19:18:00.000-08:00

We had decided that on Friday morning we would get up and head into the city early so we could watch a taping of one of the morning shows. The night before (when we were in Rockefeller Center) I went into the NBC store and asked one of the workers about watching the taping of "The Today Show" (it's my fave!). He told me that Friday morning was probably going to be CRAZY because Justin Bieber was going to be there! AHHH! I don't mind me some Justin Bieber but I didn't really want to fight a million crazy tweens to watch the taping. So...we got up and decided to go watch the Early Show on CBS. We got there bright and early and found out that they don't tape any outside segments. Grrr...

However, since we were close to the Today Show we decided to just give it a shot. Justin Bieber had already finished his interviews so it wasn't that crowded. We got there just in time to watch them come outside for their 9 am outside segment! It was so cool to watch!

Pardon my CRAZY hair! Sarah and I were ready to watch!

The boys! Jason (Ryan's oldest brother), family friend Aaron Shoaf, Ryan, and Ryan's younger brother Kyle.

We watched Al Roker and Ann Curry tape their outside segment, but we didn't get close enough to take pictures with them or get on camera.

Then as we were standing there this girl randomly comes up and asks us if we like Kathi Lee and Hota (I'm probably spelling their names completely wrong). They tape the 10:00 hour of the Today Show and Friday happened to be a special "audience asking questions" segment. She asked if we had any questions for them, and Jason was going to ask if they had ever considered running a marathon, since the NYC marathon was that Sunday. They told us where to go to get ready for the taping so we all headed up.

The "live audience" was across the street in another room, and they sent over Sarah Haynes (who works on their show) to ask the questions. We ended up being RIGHT in the front, and Sarah Haynes said they needed some people to be silly and dance around for a quick video shoot before the actual questions. In honor of the marathon she wanted us to do the "running man" dance! Jason, Sarah, and I were right up in the front dancing away! Several of my family and friends watched us on tv and said it was hilarious!

Sarah was SO nice and funny! Look at me...thinking I'm all big stuff next to her! HAHA!

Our celebrity encounter of the trip!

That afternoon Ryan took the camera...the boys went to the expo to pick up their race packets. I guess Ryan took this picture to show people picking up their race stuff.

Me, Sarah, Pam, and Kyle got in some shopping time! We stopped by the American Girl store which is always so fun! It totally takes me back to early elementary school when I was OBSESSED with my Felicity doll! HA! Then we went to Canal Street to look for bargains...we didn't get any purses, although we did follow a lady down several side streets to a sketchy back room. We got lots of scarves and jewelry...and the highlight of my shopping trip was some off brand perfume! Let me explain...my FAVORITE scent in the whole world was Ralph Lauren "Cool" (Jaclyn this is the perfume I wore in college that you always commented on). Well...they stopped making this perfume a couple of years ago which totally bummed me out. But not to worry because they have immitation everything on Canal Street. I got some "Alpha Pink" (that's it's super cool off-brand name) and it smells JUST like that Ralph Lauren perfume! Sarah got some fake "juicy" perfume which smells SO GOOD! I think we had more fun laughing at our fake perfume and their names...by the end of the trip we were calling her's "goosy" and mine "alpha dog!"

That night we went back early and went to the Shoaf's house for supper. I obviously didn't take many pictures the rest of the day, but it was so fun visiting with Aaron and Marissa and their kiddos.

New York Day 1

2011-11-08T19:22:00.000-08:00

We just got back from a trip to New York City, where Ryan, his brother Jason, and their friend Aaron ran in the ING New York City Marathon! We had SUCH a great time, although I have to admit, I was SO READY to come home and see Brynn! We were there for four days, and spent the first three sight-seeing, and the last day watching the boys run the race. I promise I really did have different clothes on everyday, but since it was chilly I have on the same jacket in almost every picture!

The very first subway stop we came out of was near Columbus Circle. They must have been doing some type of marathon promo event because these people were wanting us to pretend like we had just finished the race...running across this "fake" finish line and everything! It was so funny! They even gave us special marathon glasses and medals!

Then we took a tour of Central Park...they were having a kids "marathon race" inside Central Park. It was so cute watching all these kids finish their race.

We got to see lots of the famous parts of Central Park.

Me and Ryan on the bridge in Central Park

This was my fourth trip to NYC, but I had never eaten at the Boat House restaurant in Central Park. It has been in a bunch of movies and everytime I would see it I would think "I want to eat there someday." So...we took the plunge and made reservations! It was the neatest place! Here I am showing off my shrimp with pumpkin risotto...seriously soooo good (I had to make Ryan take a picture of it!)

Here is what it looks like inside the restaurant...yes we looked like total tourists taking pictures inside, but oh well.

Outside the Boat House restaurant.

Then we headed to the September 11 Memorial. Even though it is hard to be there and think about what happened there, I am really glad we went. It really took me back to where I was when it happened.

Then we headed even further downtown to Battery Park...we didn't ride the ferry all the way to the Statue of Liberty, but you can see it in the background.

We walked up Wall Street and the financial district (and we actually saw the place where all those people who are protesting Wall Street are "living/camping out". WOW...what a trip...that was a bit crazy!) Then we headed to Rockefeller Center and watched people ice skating.

My sister in law Sarah took a couple of laps around the rink...she used to ice-skate and she was REALLY good!

The Christmas tree wasn't up yet, but I was pretending that the lights in these trees were my Christmas decorations! HAHA!

Then it was time to catch the train back to our hotel. We stayed in Westfield, New Jersey (about 45 minutes outside the city). We stayed there for 2 reasons...one being that it was at least $300 cheaper a night than if we stayed in Manhattan, and the second was that it was about 5 minutes from Aaron and Marissa Shoaf, who are close family friends. Aaron is an FBI agent and works in Manhattan (his parents and Ryan's parents have been friends FOREVER, and we haven't seen Aaron and Marissa and their kids since last Christmas). We had a lot of fun hanging out with them during the trip!

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-03T19:22:00.000-07:00

On Halloween Night we went to a couple of friends houses from church. (Our church used to host this big fall festival thing, but last year they decided to do "block parties." There are several families from church that live in neighborhoods with tons of young families...so we set up popcorn machines, cotton candy machines, big screens to show movies on, have lots of games and candy, and pass out info about our church). Last year we actually helped "work" but this year we just visited and showed off the little pumpkin!

Brynn with her cousin Ansley

Daddy and his little pumpkin.

ADORABLE!

Ansley was "Princess Snow White" (as she likes to say). She just saw a Disney Princess Live show and LOVES Princess Show White

Ansley, Uncle Jason, Brynn, and Ryan

The big screen was all set up to play Charlie Brown and Veggie Tales

TONS of trick or treaters from the neighborhood came by...it was crazy!

Then we stopped by our other friend's house, the Greene's. Their place was PACKED too!

Both Grandma's were working at the Greene's house so we had to stop by!

Our youth pastor's daughter was in my kindergarten class last year! She was so excited to see Brynn!

We had such a fun Halloween night! Hope yours was just as "spooktacular!" HAHA!

Nonna's Halloween Party

2011-11-01T19:13:00.000-07:00

On Monday (Halloween) I left school as quick as I could because Nonna was having her annual Halloween Party for the little ones! (Can I add in how BLESSED we are to have Nonna watch Brynn? She watched me when I was little and is just the most amazing sitter ever! She loves the kids to death and I am so thankful to have someone like her keep Brynn during the school day!)

This was my first party as a PARENT! When we all got there Nonna had all the kids in their costumes and had presents and delicious Halloween food sitting out! (As a Halloween present Nonna got Brynn a big container of formula, some fruity yogart bites, a rattle, and a cute little baby doll! Does Nonna spoil her kids or WHAT!)

Look at those Halloween pudding parfaits she made! Too bad Brynn couldn't really eat any of the food...Mommy had to eat it all for her! HA!

Brynn was THE CUTEST PUMPKIN EVER!

Happy Halloween everyone! (All the bigger kids were running around in their costumes and little Brynn was just sitting on the floor playing..ha!)

Maddie (as Jessie from Toy Story) loves to play with Brynn! She is the oldest one Nonna watches right now.

Here is Maddie's big sister, Abbey, playing with Brynn at the party. Abbey, her younger brother Peyton, and younger sister Maddie all went/go to Nonna's. I taught Abbey when she was in kindergarten (she's in second grade now), and now I have Peyton in class! They are the SWEETEST kids! Their mom brought over their costumes so they could dress up at Nonna's party. They LOVE to love on Brynnie! Brynn loved playing with Abbey's butterfly wand.

Here are me and Brynn, and Abby and her daughter Paisley. These are the two youngest at Nonna's...Brynn is 7 months and Paisley is almost 5 months. Paisley is one of Nonna's grandkids.

Nonna's kiddos...right now she watches 6 kids, and all of them are girls! The older ones in the back have "graduated" from Nonna's! Abbey is in second grade, Piper (Paisley's sister and one of Nonna's grandkids) is in preschool, Lance is in preschool, and Peyton is in my kindergarten class. But since they all have siblings at Nonna's they got to dress up too!

Picture drama...two of the girls were a little camera shy!

Nonna and her babies!

Mommy and her little pumpkin!

We love you Nonna! Thanks for being such a wonderful sitter and for having a GREAT Halloween party. (I've heard the Halloween party is nothing compared to the one Nonna throws for Christmas...watch out!)