When you are a parent....

You learn to live your life for another person (or in my case, people). You learn your life is no longer your own....and usually most things that you want must come after your children's needs are met. And recently, as I've learned, sometimes your child does something SO incredibly dumb that your first 2 reactions are: 1. LAUGH hysterically. 2. Grab the camera! So, the story is....Brooklyn decided to be funny at bedtime, and when Derek announced that it was time to go upstairs for bed, she bolts up the stairs. Her mission was to hide from him, thinking if he couldn't find her, then she would be spared from actually having to go to bed. So I'm downstairs and I hear her fly up the stairs, then i hear her SCREAM and start sobbing. I heard Derek going, "what's wrong, what happened?!" and she wouldn't answer him. She just jumped in her bed and covered herself up, still totally bawling. Then I hear Derek start laughing...which makes Brooklyn totally angry. Derek finally gets out of her what happened, and they both come down to tell me. So I take one look at her and bust up laughing. I felt bad, but seriously...she looked so silly. THEN the story comes out....she had burst up the stairs to do the hiding, and she tried to dive under her desk (ya know, the perfect place to hide....) in the process she clonks her head on the edge of her desk and gets a giant goose egg. I had to take her picture because it was soooo funny. Of course, she didn't want her picture taken, so I told her it was to show the doctor in case she was seriously injured. Seriously....sometimes children are more entertainment than anything else. Enjoy the pictures of my child, her injury, and look forward to the future with me when we use these pictures to show her boyfriends and tell them the story.... :)

The cutest baby ever!

Bradyn is now almost 10 months. I can hardly believe it, and have been wondering where the time has gone! Bradyn is crawling around like crazy, and is starting to pull herself up onto things. If she didn't really get the hang of standing and walking for several more months, it would be just fine with me! She babbles da-da-da-da and I keep hoping to hear a ma-ma-ma in there, we are definitely working on that! She is so sweet, and some of her fussiness seems to be subsiding. The doctor thinks this may be due to the fact that she's eating more solids, or the crawling motion may be helping her tummy. At her 9 month appointment she is still really tiny, and hasn't grown much in the past 2 months. She was 15 lbs 15 oz. We have to get her weighed again in a week to see if she has gained anything. I hope she enjoys the ages where they doctor actually wants her to gain weight! :) Bradyn is still with me during the day, and she gets so excited when the older ones come home from school. We are also working on getting her more comfortable with a sippy so that she can join Brieyn at Miss Amy's at the beginning of May. As I write this she is sleeping upstairs in her crib for the very first time (she's been in our room in a port-a-crib) and we are crossing our fingers she starts sleeping through the night any day!!

Dance......again!

Bella's dance class got to perform at a WSU men's basketball game at the end of February. They are the CUTEST group of little dancers we have ever seen! We love performing at the men's games because the crowd is SO loud cheering for them. I have to give myself some hair props, because her hair looked AWESOME! I'm a little ashamed of myself, however, because while she was standing in front of the bathroom mirror while I was doing her hair she said, "Mommy, this is just like Toddlers and Tiaras!" (that is a show on TLC about pageant kids and gulp...stage moms. She really is a great dancer, and we are going to miss her beloved instructor, Miss Carolyn.

If there was any game to attend this year, this was THE ONE! Not only was it senior night, it was a nail biter down to the end, and Taylor Rochestie nailed a 3 with 2.3 seconds left to win the game. The place went nuts, and fans rushed the court. We will miss our seniors!!

There's No Place Like Home

Brieyn. I always seem to comment on how funny she is, but seriously she makes me laugh constantly. Before I had children, if you would have ever told me I'd end up with a girly-girl I would've laughed....but somehow I ended up with several of them. :) So Brieyn, for whatever reason, will only wear dresses. Trying to get that child into a pair of jeans is torture, so we often just let her choose her clothing. So when you see "that child" in the store, it's most likely her, and I refuse to pick my battles over her clothing choices. I don't remember exactly what we needed but one of the older girls needed shoes for something. While we were getting the other child shoes, Brieyn came across these pink glittery-sparkly-bejeweled shoes and immediately grabbed them and proclaimed them hers. Fine...whatever. Little did we know she'd wear them constantly, day in and day out. But, she loved them and that was all that mattered to her. She even liked to pair them with her favorite Dora socks, which made them look extra awesome (so she thought!). Here is a shoe picture, and some random shots of her being......well....her.

Shootin' hoops

Brooklyn just wrapped up a very fun basketball season! She was on a 2nd-3rd grade team, and her team did quite well. A few times, Brooklyn had over 10 points! She got the hang of it quickly, and was really good about dribbling around the defense and going to the hoop to shoot. After the first game, we did have to have the "you need to watch for your teammates to be open to pass to them" and explain to her what a "ball hog" was. :) They don't call alot at this age, so it was hilarious watching the girls double (and triple) dribble, then watch the cluster of kids at the bottom of the basket with their arms stretched high waiting for the ball to drop down to them. According to Derek, this is how girls' basketball always is, but *I* disagree. Derek even got in on the coaching action when our coach couldn't be there. It was really fun to watch him coach the girls, he did a GREAT job! Her team even played at halftime of a WSU women's game, which was quite a treat for Brooklyn. We are already looking forward to the next time basketball is offered and there have even been whisperings of an AAU team around our home.....

Bella turns 6!!

Ok, so I've been terrible about keeping up with this blogging stuff, but I can assure you that we did celebrate Bella's birthday. :) Bella turned 6 on Valentine's Day. We celebrated with a cake on her real birthday (we celebrate Vday on the 13th so she has her own day), then some of her cute friends came over to play and eat cake! I am a bit sad to see her turn 6, because it seems like just yesterday she was a tiny baby! Bella has grown quite a lot this year, and is in Kindergarten. She loves to play soccer and dance. (she can't wait until she's old enough for basketball and volleyball like Brooklyn!).