A Glorious Weekend!

Magical things can happen when grandparents come to visit.
When my parents came a few weeks ago I was awoken to the sound of a glass falling to our tile floor ( thankfully not breaking) one morning. I looked at the clock and it was unusually early for the kids to be awake. So Greg and I went downstairs, only to find that Brinley was up and dressed, trying to unload the dishwasher all by herself. When I asked her "what are you doing up so early?" she responded "I wanted to surprise you with all of my chores being done before you woke up." I went up stairs and sure enough her bed was made and the room was clean.
The next morning I woke up to Julianne crying and whining. When I went to check on her she was being dragged out of her bed still sound asleep towards the hall because Brinley wanted to make both her bed and Julianne's bed before any of us woke up. I guess Julianne still sleeping was cramping her plans.
What triggered this sudden burst of obedience? Grandma and Grandpa were downstairs and she wanted to impress them.

Last week Greg's parents came to town, again more magic!
I have been trying with all my heart to get Julianne interested in potty training. It's one of the major "to do's" on my list before the baby comes. Well, back in January I decided to give it a go cold turkey and took away all diapers and only had her wear big girls. I told myself I was just going to "see how it went" for three days. To make a long story short in the middle of the third day, after not ONE successful potty in the toilet, laundry piled high, and my carpet being covered in carpet cleaner. I brought back out the diapers, convinced Julianne  would be the first person ever, never to become potty trained. She just wanted NOTHING to do with it.

Well, the first morning Grandma Carole was here I was getting ready in the bathroom and Julianne came in with her diaper in hand, from the night before, and said "I'm NEVER wearing these again!!" and threw the diaper in the garbage. I thought oh yeah we will just see about that.
Grandma put big girl panties on her and she didn't have one accident the whole day!
(As far as an update goes, she's had a few accidents since then and we are still working on her going #2, but for the most part is still doing wonderful and waking up dry every morning!)

Brinley, for the past month, was asking to have her training wheels taken off her bike. Well, after only a day of Papa being her teacher, she was riding a two wheeler with ease! Now she rides her bike everywhere! She loves it and it was so fun to see her do it all by herself for the first time! I was amazed!

                                     

These crazy girls!

Our fun Louisiana Trip!

The last week of March Greg had his final "Spring Break" of his life. Being in school for so long has had its advantages and all the nice breaks over holidays are definitely at the top of the list and will be missed!

This year we decided to take a nice 9 hour drive to visit my brother and his family in their new place of Louisiana. We had so much fun! 

Two days before we left it snowed in St Louis about 8 inches, so I was more than thrilled to leave our snow behind and go down south where it was in the 70's. Greg and the girls did get to have one more fun day in the snow however.

The drive down went a ton better than I had expected. We left nice and early in the morning and pulled in around 4:30 that afternoon. The girls did great overall and kept themselves pretty entertained. As with everything the last hour is ALWAYS the longest but it was all worth it to see how happy Brinley and Julianne were to see their cousins!

We had so much fun at this park near their house. 

One day we drove into a city called Monroe. It's about 30 min away from Jared and Kristin's house. We went to this good restaurant called the "Pickle Barrel" and they gave you pickles to eat while you waited for your food. Brinley was all sorts of happy about that!

Then for all you "Duck Dynasty" watchers out there, we went to the warehouse where they film the show. I've never really seen the show before but I know it must be popular because their were a lot of people there that had traveled a long way just to see it! And believe me there was not much to see. Just a building.

 After visiting this place my brother showed Greg a few episodes and now Greg even loves it. (Too bad we don't have cable.) So I guess its worth the drive!

More fun at the park!

 The next day we went to another town about an hour away called Shreveport. We ate at this really good Mexican restaurant called something I can't remember right now. I'll fill it in later. But it was really good! Then we headed over to these outlet shops near the river. It was great!

 Brinley being Brinley

All of us on the Trolley.

Cute kids!

 Later that night we did an early Easter Egg hunt, since we weren't going to be there on real Easter. The kids loved it!

 Then for our final night we got to experience some authentic southern Craw fish! Julianne and I were not huge fans, Greg liked it, but Brinley LOVED it. She is our sea food lover! She talked about it for days afterwards.

Thanks Jared Krisitn Christain and baby Benson! We had the best time ever! We love you. 

Grandma Juile and Grandpa Frank come to visit

A few weeks ago my Mom and Dad came to visit! We had so much fun. As usual I only took like one picture on my camera while they were here because I always just rely on my Dad taking all the pictures. So, when I get the CD with his pictures I'll be able to post them.

Here we are at St Louis' famous BBQ place, Pappy's. It became one of my Dad's new favorites. We all enjoyed it so much!

This was just the beginning of our restaurants we went too. We tried this awesome new pizza place called, Dewey's, then Fitz', a Chinese place and of course another St Louis' icon Ted Drew's frozen custard. They were all wonderful!

About a month before my parents came I started making a "Dad to do list" of all the things we needed done around the house. My Dad is super handy and likes to keep busy, so it's the perfect combo. He changed the battery in our van and also the front breaks. He fixed a rocking chair that has been broken for nearly two years and fixed up both of the girls' bikes. It was awesome to cross all those things off my list! Thanks so much Dad!

The rest of the time they were here was just spent hanging out. The girls just love them to come visit and couldn't get enough. Brinley started getting sad on their second day here just thinking about them leaving three days later. Julianne kept coming up to me saying "I just love Grandpa and Grandma to come visit." We played outside in our yard and also at the park and just enjoyed being together! IT was so much fun! It's crazy to think that the next time I see them we will have a baby!

Brinley turns 5!

How did she get so big! The other day Brinley turned the big 5! She has been talking about her birthday for months and months and was SO excited when it finally came. It was another busy busy day for the Mom, but we all had such a great time!

I decided to throw her a surprise birthday party after school. I had all our friends in the neighborhood come into our kitchen while I was picking her up. Then when we got home she just walked into the house like normal and everyone yelled out SURPRISE! She was blown away, and so was Julianne. They both got super shy and it took them a minute to adjust to about 30 people in our small kitchen. I even got a surprise when I came home and Greg was there with the video camera! He was able to leave school a little early to be with us and Brinley was so glad!!!

Birthday pancake breakfast!

 How her party looked before I left.

Dad lighting her candles.

 Getting shy while everyone was singing to her.

 Blew them all out!

 We lucked out and had great weather and were able to eat and play outside the whole time! BIG blessing for me!

 After the party we let Brinley choose where to go eat. Of course she chose McDonald's, don't all kids? She mainly just wanted to go to one with a play area. Her and Julianne had so much fun! Greg and I enjoyed it too, because we ordered Mexican take out and brought it there to eat. It made everyone happy!

 Then we came home for more cupcakes and of course presents!

 She got clothes, barbie walkie talkie's , a princess art set, a watch, and a basketball hoop. I thought Greg was crazy for getting it for her but she has LOVED playing with it.

How we went from this to

                                                                 this is beyond me! 

We LOVE our birthday girl! Happy birthday Brinley Boo!

Some fun things about Brinley.

She LOVES to play outside with friends! She has so many wonderful people to play with right now, I love it!
She loves to dig in the dirt for worms and other bugs! Yes you read that right! She loves bugs!
She LOVES all animals and wants to have every one she see's as her pet! I keep telling her that we can't have pets until we have a house, so when we finally do one day, I'm going to have to come up with something else to say ;)!
She is SO smart! Sometimes that's a good thing and sometimes it's the dealth of me! I took her in for her kindergarten evaluation and the teacher giving her the test told me on average the kids coming in get around a 60, but Brinley scored a 92! She LOVES school and is learning how to read and doing great at it!
When she grows up she says she wants to be a Zoo keeper and a Dentist.
She is BEYOND excited for her baby brother McKay to get here! Every morning she asks me how McKay is doing and if he kicked all night. She talks about him as if she already knows him and that she is going to be the one to mainly take care of him. Including the night feedings, we'll have to see about that, if only she really could!
She is silly and crazy and amazes me everyday with her bravery. She truly was meant to be my first born! We love having Brinley in our home and are so thankful for her! We love you!

Valentines Day

I love Valentines Day! I've started loving it more since we've had kids. This year was fun because the girls really got into it and loved giving Valentines to all their friends.

The day was so busy that I really didn't take many pictures but we sure had fun! In the morning the girls and I went to story time at the Library, afterwards I took them on a special date to Diary Queen for lunch. They thought it was so fun! Then we dropped Brinley off at school and Julianne and I came home and made sugar cookies.

After picking Brinley up we went around the neighborhood and delivered all their Valentines to their friends. Julianne was so cute and was in complete awe every time someone gave her a card! She kept coming up to me and saying "Mom this is amazing!"

Then Daddy came home and surprised us all with balloons and roses! We sure love him!
And I made our traditional salmon with peach salsa and homemade (by my bread maker) rosemary bread! Yum Yum!

Then we let the girls stay up late and watch a movie with us! It was such a fun day! Happy Valentines Day!

Fun in the snow!

The past two winters we have lived in St. Louis have been pretty mild. Not that I'm complaining! Last year we never got enough snow to even go sledding. Well, a few weeks ago it finally snowed enough that the kids could put on their snow gear and go sledding!

Julianne of course didn't want to go so she played on the playground most of time. Except for at the very end when I grabbed her and we both went down together. She loved it (I knew she would) and wanted to go again and again.

 Peter and Brinley

 Anna and Brinley

 Sam, Peter and Julianne

 We had so much fun!

Then a few weeks later it snowed again! This time Dad was able to come with us! I could really get used to this two snow falls a year!