Fun Announcement

We decided to make a big announcement at our annual Harvest Festival at church. If you don’t already know what the announcement is, you’ll just have to scroll through the pictures to find out!

First, some cute ones of Brielle trying on the hard hat I a wore as part of my costume:

I mean how cute are those!?!

Now onto her costume. As you will see, a combination of past her bedtime, and a new itchy, weird outfit made for one unhappy little girl. As the good parents we are, we did not make her wear the itchy part at the Harvest Party. (But we did document the meltdown for you all the enjoy and so we could show her when she’s older just how cute the complete outfit really was!):

This one is currently my desktop background.

Dad wanted a picture with he little girl too. Ah, cute.

Well, if you missed it, and I don’t know how you would have, but if you did, we are pregnant!… Again! Bri will be a big sis around May 30th next year. We’ll start with the 13 week picture and go from there. Don’t even think you’re getting a weekly update like last time people! It’s Christmas time, I’ve got stuff going on this year oh and, I have a Toddler, OH AND I’m pregnant!!! Consider yourselves lucky if you hear from me again before I give birth to the next little bundle of joy. Alright, disclaimer over, here’s the 13 week pic from my 1st pregnancy (just for fun comparison since I hear you pop quicker with the second)

And now:

Wow, not only do you pop quicker, you are more tan during the first pregnancy. Weird, no one told me about that. Oh, and for fun, I’m going to wear this green shirt for the weekly pics (which you may or may not see) and once we find out the gender of this little one, I’ll change shirt colors at that time. (In case I need to spell it out: pink for girl, blue for boy.)

Alright, I’ll leave off with a cute little “Who did Brielle get that from?” picture.

First just a cute sleeping pic Steve got of her.

Ah, bum up in the air, priceless. But here’s the where did she get that from picture: Notice her legs our outside of the crib!

Answer: Her Uncle Mike

4 more flights…

Bri and I flew out to meet my mom and aunt in Arizona for my Great Aunt’s 100th Birthday! My aunt and I decided to be sneaky and not tell my mom that Bri and I would be there. It took mom a bit to realize who we were when she saw Bri and I in the airport, but once she realized, she was completely surprised. Thanks to my aunt who feigned a stomach problem all the way from their Las Vegas layover to keep mom at the airport a half hour after they landed in AZ to wait for Bri and mine’s flight to arrive. Well, enough of that, here’s the generational photo:

Left to right: My mom Nancy, Great Aunt Irene, Me and Brielle. Doesn’t she look great for 100!

Although she wasn’t really sure who Brielle and I were, she loved having a baby around. Actually all of the guests at the house loved having Brielle around. I was glad she was able to bring so much joy. What a wonderful bi-product of children.

October 21, 2012. What’s the big deal about this date you ask? It’s the day Brielle officially decided to walk. Here’s the video Steve took of one of her earlier attempts. Please special attention at the end when the picture gets a little out of focus. One of her facial reactions to falling is priceless. Good job catching it Steve!

 

 

I took my first overnight away from Brielle trip in October. Actually, 2 nights, and as far as all accounts go, everyone survived and possibly even thrived because of it. I went on a very fun and not really relaxing trip to Seabrook with other mom’s from my church. Not relaxing because although I had intended to, sleep did not end up being my main event while I was there. Darn good conversations with women!

While I was gone, Steve hung a new light fixture in the living room, rewired a lamp, changed out a knob on one of our closet doors, cooked for dad and kept a toddler alive. Oh, and I came home to a clean house! If he wanted to deter me from leaving him for weekend retreats, he did not do a very good job. But then again, he did have an excellent assistant to help with all his tasks:

She opens the light bulb boxes while Tigger reads the instruction on where they go.

Gets whichever tool Daddy asks for.

Not sure I’m excited she’s getting this tool for daddy.

More box opening.

Phone answerer. Oh wait, that’s a light bulb too. Hey, she’s 1. Give her a break.

And sous chef. Picking out the best garlic for dinner.

What a great team they make. Thanks for the weekend guys, it was perfect.

12 months and such

I could post everyone of the pictures we took for Brielle’s 12 months, but to save you all time, I’ve tried to pick out a few of my favorites. It wasn’t easy since she is one of the cutest kids you will ever see, but I did it. Here goes.

She didn’t want to wear her flower. Even though she willingly (or unknowingly wore it her first week)

Oops, falling over

What, I’m 12 months old now?

Look at me! I’m 12 months!

Gig Harbor put on a Harvest Festival that we, Brett, Kate and Trevi decided to check out.

They had a scarecrow contest at the Harvest Festival, and we decided to get a couple of photo ops with the dressed up scarecrows.

Bri ain’t afraid of no ghosts.

Bri and Trevi showing off their standing skills.

Lost in a hay maze. Where do I come up with these original poses?

(Jamie and I in the New York Union Station in ‘04)

They had a petting zoo, well actually, cages with animals that you could reach through and possibly pet an animal, but pretty close to a petting zoo.

Here’s Trevi out of focus trying to pet a goat. Still thought it was a cute picture of her.

Here’s Bri and Trevi reaching for a donkey.

The dad’s took the girls to check out the bubble machine while the girls waited in line for balloon animals, or in our case a hat.

Bir joyfully trying on her first balloon hat.

San favorite balloon hat, Bri checking out the instrument panel on the fire engine on display. Do we have a future engineer on our hands or what?

Bri’s first pony ride. Although I didn’t enjoy walking over the poo the ponies kept dropping after lunch, Bri enjoyed her much cleaner position in the saddle.

Look at that technique. What a natural.

Let’s call it a day with that. Hopefully you’ll hear more from me soon. Or by the end of the month… or year…

1st Birthday Fun!

Before I get to Brielle’s 1st Birthday, let me show you some other things we’ve done this month.

1st time driving a boat 

       

“How do I speed this thing up?”

After a long morning of boat driving, she took a nap in the bow.

Studying the intricacies involved in vacuuming.

Ah, fresh picked blackberries.

At the fair, she really liked the chicks.

Not the sheep so much…    

  

How precious, first tattoo.

And now, onto the Party!

Before the party, we chose to have Brielle dedicated. A dedication is not to be confused with a baptism. You are not saved through baptism, baptism is a public statement of faith, something that Brielle cannot do on her own yet, and something we cannot choose for her. A dedication is a way for us (her parents), to say we are going to raise our daughter in the way of the our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We hope through our teachings, our churches teachings and our families teachings that she will one day accept Jesus as her own personal savior and begin a relationship with him. At that time, she may choose to be baptized.

Here’s the happy family pre dedication. Unfortunately, not the best pic of Steve, but hey, I’m doing the blog and I look great, so the pic made the cut.

The gentleman on the far right is Pastor Gary who performed the dedication. He spoke on Deuteronomy 6 which teaches us to “impress” God’s commandments on our children.   
                  

Ah, a better picture of Steve. Notice how intently Bri is listening to Pastor Gary.

Pastor Gary then prayed for us while everyone in attendance laid hands on us.

 

On to the party. Here’s Papa letting Bri attempt to pull down her party decorations before the party! Ah Papa.

I had a quiz on “How well you know Bri” during the party. One of the questions asked what Bri does when she gets excited. This picture demonstrates the answer. She climbs. =D

Brielle decided to add some excitement all her own. We didn’t catch the actual moment, but you can tell by Auntie Bo and Auntie Esther’s face that it was pretty exciting. What you ask… Bri just took her first step!

On to the cake. Notice I’m nowhere near her with a lit candle on her cupcake. Steve and I attended a 1st birthday party years ago where they put the lit candle in the cupcake next to the child so he could try to blow the candle out. Well, he had other plans. He reached out and grabbed the flame before anyone could react. He was fine, mainly scared, but lesson learned… Bri was getting nowhere near the flame!

Originally she was not too sure about the feel of the frosting on the cupcake.

I helped her out by putting a little on my finger and giving her a taste. She quickly got the hang of it after that.

Yay, all done!

Downstairs we set up a photo opportunity with Jr. Cowboy Fingers, Bri’s big bear. I let people come up with their own interpretations on what ages they wanted to put on the paddle. For example, this one of Steve, Dad and I is the age we appear.

Here’s Aunti Bo with Trevi (and Uncle Dick holding her from behind the chair).

Here’s Brett with Trevi, using his own interpretation of the photo area.

Here’s Bri with Nana. She seems to think Brett’s eating the paddle idea was a good one.

Bri has some great helpers to open her gifts. Cousin Elisa is on the left, and Cousin Sofia is on the right.

Bri even helped open some of her gifts.

And this picture is payback from Steve for the bad picture I used of him earlier. Look at my crazy eyes!

And finally, she got to play with some of her toys. She just loves this swing. And she loves her papa.

Happy 1st Birthday Baby Girl!