This past week Brianna participated in a linguistics study regarding comprehension of passives in 3-5 year old kids. This study will help Halley (a co-worker’s fiancee) get her masters degree in linguistics. Brianna’s part involved listening to a series of short stories with pictures (not surprisingly, the stories had lots of passives in them). After each story, Halley would ask Rex the puppet to tell something he remembers from the story. After Rex answered, it was Brianna’s job to say whether Rex was correct or not by giving him the small blue sucker if he was wrong and the big red sucker if he was right. Her comprehension of passives is measured based on whether or not she correctly assessed the accuracy of Rex’s sentence.
B checking out Rex (Mommy - he has big teeth!):
ROAR!!!
Ooops! Rex - you got that one wrong…
Brianna did GREAT! As you might expect with a study involving 3-5 year olds, the older kids tend to do better than the younger kids. Brianna, however, got most of them correct, which is pretty remarkable for a 3 year old (so I am told). Yeah, well, we all know she is pretty remarkable! 
There was so much going on Easter weekend, that we did not get to make the suckers Uncle Matt and Aunt Carrie gave Brianna. BUT, that just meant we had them available on a rainy afternoon! The sucker part was pre-made, so Brianna just had to decorate them - I think she did great!
Her suckers (one for each of us per her instructions):
The proud artist:
B and I took advantage of some cool, cloudy weather (with rain a possibility any minute) to have the entire strawberry patch to ourselves and pick tons of strawberries, literally without having to move much.
YUM!
Most people say Brianna looks like me. Even strangers on the street will comment on it. You be the judge.
Here is a picture of me when I am roughly two and a half (give or take a few months) wearing my strawberry dress.
And here is a picture we took of Brianna today wearing the same strawberry dress.
The last of our visitors left when Mimi flew away in “the BIG airplane” (as B put it) this past week. We had a wonderful visit with everyone! Here are a couple more pictures from the last days of Mimi’s visit. First, it was a little crazy around Easter, so we made our Easter cookies a week after the fact. Still fun, still yummy, and oh so much more relaxing!
B also has been having a lot of fun with our new iPad - currently, Miss Spider’s bedtime story is her favorite, but she also likes playing the game Jason got her.
When we set off for the airport, B was not in a particularly agreeable mood. She did not want to take Mimi to the airport - in her mind if we didn’t take her, Mimi would not leave. In the end, however, she cooperated and even had a little fun.
So much Easter fun - what is a girl to do? Why, hang out with friends, and grab as many eggs as she can of course! We started our Easter weekend fun on Maundy Thursday with an Easter Egg hunt at her school.
The Loot - round 1
On Good Friday, we gave her one of her Easter baskets - an Esther Price basket from Great Grandma! It had a stuffed bunny, froggy sunglasses, and lots of yummy chocolate (of course). Yummy!
On Holy Saturday, we went to an Easter Egg hunt in our neighborhood with her buddy Hawke.
Before the kids descended…
On the go!
Showing Hawke her loot.
That afternoon, she decorated Easter eggs (and we discovered she LOVES the white part of hard boiled eggs).
She declared these two were her favorite…
On Easter Sunday, Brianna opened the rest of her Easter baskets
and made chocolates with Mimi
After nap, it was time to go to Hawke’s house for Easter dinner (the two of them were SOOOOO excited!).
We planned an Easter egg hunt, and that was fun,
but not nearly as fun (apparently) as jumping on the trampoline.
It was a fantastic weekend!
Mimi’s gift to Brianna was a trip to the local natural sciences museum - another bit hit! (I must say, I am loving how well the memory gifts are working out - she is having a great time!)
Because we got tickets to ride the train near the beginning of our visit, we first headed outside to check out the drums (on our way to the train station). While the older kids were quite rambunctious for B, I was impressed with how she held her ground and waited for her turn to play the drums.
More cowbell…
The train went through a tunnel twice, and she didn’t like the idea of that tunnel much, so we told her to close her eyes…
After the train ride, she decided the giant sand box needed to be checked out.
That was a brief stop, however, because what she really wanted to see were the BUGS!! The creepier, the better (ick!).
She was just fascinated by these lady bugs.
We also saw cave roaches (at least 3″ long!), ants, caterpillars, beetles, other spiders, and these beautiful (but deadly) frogs.
It took a little convincing to pull her away from the creepy crawlies to go see the butterflies (I am so not kidding)!
Postman butterfly
Owl butterflies
While I believe we spent most of our morning admiring some type of bug (beautiful or otherwise), we did spend some time in the other parts of the museum, e.g., the space section
The math section (this is her “wine”)
There was just so much to do - we could have easily spent all day there (and probably will when she gets older)!
Next up on the visitor list was Nana and Poppa.
For her birthday, Nana and Poppa took B to a local kids museum. WOW! It is wonderful. Brianna had such a fabulous time! Here are a few pictures from her first trip. She can’t wait to go back.
Probably her favorite part was this bus.
Another section had a baby hospital with ambulance, a grocery store, a veterinary hospital, a landscaping area, a cafe, a theater, a sports car, a fishing boat, a train section,…
Another section had a pseudo hockey rink, a soccer field, a cooking area, a gigantic Lego area, a carpentry area, an art area, and so much more.
Tia gave Brianna her first pedicure today. We first went to the store so she could pick out the color. she chose two colors: a shocking pink and a bright blue. Then, after I trimmed and filed her nails, Tia applied the color - one pink foot and one blue foot, per her request!
I have to be still…and not touch…sooooo hard…
Almost final product
Such a silly girl!
Our little girl is three now and growing so fast! Literally. During the past month or so she has eaten ridiculous quantities of food. There are times she eats more than me! Over the course of a month, I think she has grown at least an inch (as evidenced by her suddenly high-water pants).
Her birthday was chock full of fun and surprises. We started the day by bringing her downstairs to see all her festive balloons. She liked the plain orange and pink ones (her two favorite colors), but he Pooh and Lightning ones were really exciting!
After a quick breakfast, we headed to her swim lessons (I’ll post some swim pictures another time), followed by a trip to the ever fabulous, ever exciting Monkey Joe’s (gift from Grandma & Grandpa)!
As if that was not enough activity for one morning, we headed over to Chik-fil-A (her choice) for some yummy lunch and some time at the playground.
You would think after all THAT she would have taken a marathon nap, right? Well, you would be wrong. She was just too excited because after nap it was time for presents!
The little artist.
Hockey!
Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head
Look at all my Cars!
Tag Jr. with Grandma
She was significantly faster this year with her presents, but she is still quite deliberate - I think it is adorable that she wants to play with them all the minute she gets them. I just wish that didn’t mean hours of opening presents!
After presents it was time for dinner and a big surprise - her buddy Hawke came over for dinner! He also stayed and helped decorate the cupcakes (she picked face cupcakes this year, where the faces were made out of candy).
Hawke & B decorating cupcakes.
Tada!
The final product
Happy Birthday to you….
Make a wish!
Hawke & B were very sad when it all had to end, but it was an excellent day!
