Christmas #1

We spent our “first” Christmas with Nana, Poppa, and Tia. Presents and Tia – what more could B ask for?

All the presents under the tree, ready for Christmas morning.
christmas-eve-tree.jpg

The next morning, while children all around the world were waking up their parents at un-Godly hours of the day, our child slept until after 9AM. :) I wonder if I can count on that in the years to come?

Seeing what Santa left her in her stocking (made special for her by Mimi and Tatie Kat).
christmas-stocking.jpg

christmas-nemo-water-tube-from-santa.jpg

Two days before Christmas Eve, B announced to her buddy’s Mom, that Santa was bringing her a pink dinosaur…Santa sure would like a little more notice next time!
christmas-pink-dinosaur.jpg

After Poppa made us a breakfast of yummy french toast and grits, we passed out all the presents. Here, B and Tia are scouring the gifts under the tree for B’s symbol.
christmas-checking-out-presents.jpg

christmas-handing-out-presents.jpg

christmas-presents.jpg

Ready to open presents!
christmas-advent-calendar-complete.jpg

Just like at her birthday, B insisted on playing with each gift before opening a new one. It was absolutely precious! Note the ever present sucker or candy cane in some of the pictures. She would have eaten those all day if we had let her!

christmas-nemo-book.jpg

christmas-book-with-tia.jpg

christmas-book.jpg

Nana made B this beautiful hairbow “dress” – the skirt has ribbons to hang the bows from, and later, when B gets older she can actually wear it if she wants!
christmas-bow-dress.jpg

christmas-puzzle.jpg

christmas-blablas.jpg

christmas-computer.jpg

Making “trains” with her letters
christmas-letter-train.jpg

After the nap that never happened, she put on her Christmas dress and her big girl panties and opened one last gift.
christmas-sw-table-happy.jpg

Who needs sand? Or water?
christmas-sw-table-cars.jpg

I wonder what she is up to…
christmas-sw-table-devilish.jpg

She had a wonderful day, and we all loved every minute of Christmas through her eyes. Merry Christmas everyone!

Comments Off on Christmas #1 | Category: Brianna

Pre-Christmas 2010

precmas-pose3.jpg

Things sure have been busy around here since Thanksgiving! In addition to helping bake cookies, Brianna has been helping us with other holiday activities. Last weekend, we went to the local farm and picked out a tree. On the way there, we stopped at the farmer’s market across the street for some holiday treats. I think Brianna was more interested in her tree-topped cupcake than in picking out a tree.

precmas-tree-shopping.jpg

After hurrying home (it was very cold outside!), she gobbled up her “snake” hotdog before finishing off the cupcake icing (who needs the actual cupcake??).

precmas-hotdog-lunch.jpg

After her nap she did a GREAT job helping us decorate the tree.
precmas-decorating-tree.jpg

Later in the week, we finally took her to get her first haircut. We told her she had to go see Ms. Kelly and sit in the big chair, but that she could choose to NOT get her hair cut if she wanted. While she gave Ms. Kelly a look pretty much the whole time, she sat perfectly still high up in the chair while Ms. Kelly cut 1-2 inches off the bottom to even things out and give her hair a more finished look. She didn’t say a word, but she still cooperated!

Here she is getting her hair cut,
precmas-haircut.jpg

and here she is picking a candy cane off the tree after her hair cut.
precmas-post-haircut.jpg

Compare the length and “finished look” to the tree decorating photo above – that is pretty much the only way you will be able to tell the difference.

She also received a couple of “pre-Christmas” presents that she has been allowed to open (much to her delight!), including the headband featured above. Opening Christmas jammies:
precmas-open-jammies.jpg

Opening Frosty coloring book (she LOVES Frosty these days), so this was an excellent call.
precmas-open.jpg

precmas-color.jpg

These last two are just a couple of pictures of her in front of her Christmas Advent tree
precmas-headband-pose1.jpg

precmas-pose2.jpg

She has really enjoyed putting a new ornament up each day. It is right at the foot of the stairs, so she often does it first then after she comes downstairs each morning (along with looking for her elf, “football player”).

Comments Off on Pre-Christmas 2010 | Category: Brianna

Christmas Cookies

This past weekend, we made all kinds of cookies. Brianna was a big help with the sugar cookies. Before we started, we put her in her new apron. For the rest of the day, she pretty much had to wear it whenever she was in the kitchen…

cookies-apron.jpg

She helped sift all the dry ingredients – she particularly loved banging the side of the sifter, presumably to shake flour from the sides of the sifter…but she banged so hard it sometimes shook the flour right out of the sifter!

cookies-sifting.jpg

I don’t have any more pictures from my camera of when she helped roll out the dough, cut the cookies, and decorate the cookies – they are all on Jason’s camera in some weird format that I have trouble working with. I did capture it on my flip, though. As soon as I get a chance, I’ll put that movie together and send it out.

Until then, I thought you might enjoy these pictures as well as the one below where Brianna was warding off the cold with her new hat and scarf…

scarf.jpg

Comments Off on Christmas Cookies | Category: Brianna

Thanksgiving

Well, since Brianna is still asleep, and the snow has wiped out our satellite signal (thus no Auburn/South Carolina game), I figured I would do a post. For Thanksgiving this year, Brianna’s Great Grandma and Tatie Kat came to visit, and Brianna’s buddy Hawke and his parents came over for dinner. Alas, the kids did not stop moving long enough for me to get one single picture, but I have some others to share.

Before everyone arrived, we FINALLY organized the loft upstairs. I think it turned out pretty good, and so far, Brianna is doing a great job putting things away after she plays with them.

tgiving-loft-bcase.jpg

tgiving-loft-tchest.jpg

The day after Thanksgiving, we tried full on potty training with Brianna.

tgiving-potty-front.jpg

tgiving-potty-back.jpg

First she modeled her snazzy Cars “panties” – she was very excited. I say was because after messing up her panties twice, she basically decided she was not interested anymore. We are not pushing. She still goes potty pretty much every time we change her diaper, and sometimes she even tells us she needs to go potty. We will try another full on attempt again over the holidays when we are home with her for multiple days in a row.

Brianna has had a wonderful time playing with Great Grandma – they talk, and talk, and talk (and talk…), and they play stickers and read books and do all kinds of fun things.

tgiving-ggma.jpg

tgiving-grinch.jpg

tgiving-stickers.jpg

We are having a very nice time – these precious opportunities are so rare.

Now, if the satellite would just start working again…

Comments Off on Thanksgiving | Category: Brianna

Putt-Putt

Uncle Matt & Aunt Carrie came to visit this past weekend. Since it was sooooooo beautiful outside, we decided to find an outdoor activity everyone could enjoy. Putt-putt anyone? Brianna LOVED it…for about the first five holes. After that, she was “all done with this game.” We still managed to do all 18 holes, even if a bit unconventionally.

Walking between holes
golf-between-holes.jpg

Oops! Where did that ball go?
golf-between-legs.jpg

Those hazards are rough!
golf-hazard.jpg

Best Tiger impression:
golf-tiger-impression.jpg

Taking a break.
golf-rest.jpg

I bet Mommy’s club will work better than that silly orange thing…
golf-mommys-club.jpg

Post-golf lunch “at the clubhouse”
golf-refreshment.jpg

That night, Brianna had big fun playing with Aunt Carrie while watching football. The game started so well for the Gators (TD!),
aunt-carrie-td.jpg

but alas, that was pretty much the last good thing that happened that night. So, Brianna just focused on having big fun playing with Aunt Carrie and her Pooh’s Playhouse characters.
aunt-carrie.jpg

Comments Off on Putt-Putt | Category: Brianna

October Wrap-up

Yeah, yeah – so I am a little behind…This is just a catch-all blog post to share some of our fun activities from October. First, Brianna discovered the joys of suckers. She LOVES suckers – pretty much any sucker (or lolly-pop) will do. I am not a huge fan of how they get in her hair, but it is funny to see her whole mouth turn colors!

october-blue-tongue.jpg

october-blue-teeth.jpg

We also had a great time at the fair. Brianna was big enough this year to go on several rides. Of course, we started the ride-fest with the merry-go-round.
october-fair-first-merry-go-round-ride.jpg

Then it was off to what Brianna called the “giant playground”
october-fair-giant-slide.jpg

Climbing the ladder
october-fair-climbing-rope-ladder.jpg

Sliding down the slide
october-fair-coming-down-slide.jpg

After two trips through the giant playground, she settled for Jalopy Junction after discovering she is not quite big enough yet for the spinning strawberries.
october-fair-jalopy-junction.jpg

october-fair-jalopy-junction-in-action.jpg

The crazy caterpillar was next – she loved this one, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that she will grow to love other roundy-round rides as well!
october-fair-caterpillar.jpg

We ended the night with another spin on the merry-go-round.
october-fair-merry-go-round-waiting-to-start.jpg

october-fair-merry-go-round-in-action.jpg

Brianna also went to a local farm for a friend’s birthday party. This was the third birthday party she had been to in October, and she really enjoyed them all. At this one, she even got to pick out a pumpkin (her buddy Jayson is helping her out).
october-eva-joy-picking-pumpkins.jpg

She also got to go on a train ride
october-eva-joy-train.jpg

and a hay ride
october-eva-joy-hay.jpg

But her favorite part seemed to be playing with the school bus!
october-eva-joy-school-bus.jpg

Grandma and Grandpa also came to visit, so Brianna showed off her mad playground skills, like balancing on this strange swingy thing
october-balancing-at-playground.jpg

and swinging on the big kid swing!
october-swing-on-big-girl-swing.jpg

Grandpa also helped her practice tying shoes with her new shoe lace toys from Great Grandma
october-tying-shoes-with-grandpa.jpg

And Grandpa painted her toddler bed to get ready for the big switch. Now we just need to find a mattress, and move the bed,…
october-with-g-and-g-and-bed.jpg

Comments Off on October Wrap-up | Category: Brianna

Trick-or-Treat?

halloween-before-trick-or-treat.jpg

Brianna had a wonderful Halloween weekend. The festivities started with a fun-filled Halloween day at school, which concluded with Halloween stories and a parade at the end of the day. Grandma and Grandpa were able to come and share in all the fun at school, which Brianna thought was great!

Participating in story-time:
halloween-at-school.jpg

Holding hands with Lilly during the parade:
halloween-parade.jpg

After her nap on the 31st, she started her “real” Halloween festivities with a Frankenstein/Vampire cupcake from Grandma and Grandpa.
halloween-cupcake.jpg

Green and black frosting + toddler = no clothes!
halloween-with-cupcake.jpg

After dinner, she got all decked out in her costume and headed out to trick-or-treat.
halloween-with-pumpkin.jpg

We were not really sure how she would do, and I really did not think she would say anything to anyone, but she is full of surprises! She said trick-or-treat and thank you at EVERY house, and she said Happy Halloween at about half of the houses. I would say we went to about 20 – 25 houses, so I was impressed.

At one of the first houses we went to:
halloween-caldwell.jpg

She had her eye on this blow-up lawn decoration for the whole week leading up to Halloween – it fascinated her.
halloween-blow-up-cat.jpg

She was really excited about the pumpkin when we finally arrived back home and she could see it all lit up.
halloween-pumpkin.jpg

Checking out all her loot:
halloween-with-loot.jpg

Comments Off on Trick-or-Treat? | Category: Brianna

Happy Halloween!

Brianna had three costumes to choose from this year. She was such a good sport to try them all on and let me take pictures before she chose one. First she tried on her Dorothy costume, complete with ruby slippers:
halloween-dorothy.jpg

I am pretty sure I never saw this look on Dorothy’s face…
halloween-dorothy-with-rotten-look.jpg

Next she tried on the clown costume:
halloween-clown-with-grin-no-glasses.jpg

On cue, she did a pouty face to make a “sad clown”.
halloween-clown-with-sad-face.jpg

She later added the glasses, which made it perfect!
halloween-clown-with-glasses.jpg

Last, she tried on Tinkerbell, complete fancy shoes:
halloween-tinkerbell-with-tiara.jpg

Her absolute favorite thing of them all, is those ruby slippers. She wanted to wear them with everything! After much deliberation, she settled on the clown costume with the ruby slippers and the sunglasses. Stay tuned for the pictures from Halloween!

Comments Off on Happy Halloween! | Category: Brianna

Pumpkins, Pumpkins Everywhere

farmer-pumpkin-point.jpg

Lately, Brianna is fascinated by all things pumpkin. She loves all the jack-o-lanterns popping up on the neighbors’ front porches, all the pumpkin patches we regularly drive by, and all the inflated pumpkins she sees out and about, especially the giant pumpkin at the farm down the street. Tonight, in fact, was the first night she wanted to go back to watching Cars this entire month – she had been requesting “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” So, when I heard the farmer’s market was going to be having a pumpkin decorating contest, it was a no brainer to take her. In all honesty, she had little to no interest in the decorated pumpkins, but she LOVED all the rest!

Posing with her buddy – Count Pumpkula
farmer-pumpkin-pose-with-balloon-pumpkin.jpg

She was so excited to be able to get close enough to touch one of the other inflated pumpkins.
farmer-pumpkin-touch-balloon.jpg

These are big pumpkins, Mommy!
pumpkins-giant.jpg

I think she had a good time…
farmer-pumpkin-big-grin.jpg

Comments Off on Pumpkins, Pumpkins Everywhere | Category: Brianna

Miscellaneous

I have a few recent photos that don’t really fit into any particular event or activity, so I am just going to lump them all in a miscellaneous post.

The other night, she decided to “prepare” applesauce for both Jason and I. As you can see, this activity “required” my yellow dish washing gloves. Oh, and while her eyes may look blue in this picture, she assures me they are brown when she is being the mommy!
misc-tights-applesauce.jpg

I didn’t move quickly enough to capture on video the story she was telling while playing with this card. Take my word for it – it was pretty cute!
misc-halloween-card-tights.jpg

One morning we spent quite a bit of time just playing in the bathroom…playing with Mommy’s shoes…
misc-mommys-shoes.jpg

…and mimicking the kitties. Poor Pooh Bear couldn’t get in there for anything!
misc-bending-over-tub.jpg

misc-licking-water.jpg

A lot of time recently has also been spent playing with some loaners from Ms. Jean, including a Tinkerbell costume (she LOVES playing with the shoes)
misc-tinkerbell.jpg

and musical jewelry boxes full of toy bracelets and necklaces.
misc-bracelets.jpg

Comments Off on Miscellaneous | Category: Brianna