Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Lake Weekend

We went to the Lake last weekend.  Grant and I were meeting our college friends for an adult weekend, so that meant Brielle got to spend the weekend with Grandma and Papa.  She had so much fun!
I was a little worried about the weekend at first.
We drove about 10 minutes (not even to highway 50) and we heard...
Are we to Grandma and Papa's house yet?
Despite repeating this question over and over, we made it!
Brielle was able to stay up way late and make pies with Grandma.  Then she went to a pottery painting place with Grandma and Great Grandma.  We are still waiting to see the special suprise for our room.  On Sunday we met Brielle, Grandma, and Papa at their church.  It was the day of the big church picnic.  It's huge!  I've never been, so I didn't know what to expect.  Brielle had so much fun getting her face painted, kind-of playing in the bounce house, eating a great lunch that Papa helped cook, getting tattoos, shopping, and much more!

Putting Grandma's hair in a pony tail.

Face painting time! 



Check out Brielle's new cute hat!   

Monday, August 22, 2011

Open House

Brielle's school had open house tonight.  We had a wonderful time!  Brielle has a best friend named Sophie.  They are hysterical together.  Talk about two peas in a pod.  They do everything together according to Ms. Carrie.  We are super glad Brielle has made great friends at school! 
Ms. Carrie told us all about Brielle's new interest in letters and sounds.  This is so exciting!  I have been hoping this day would come.  Brielle has been practicing writing letters at school too.  We LOVE school! 


Sophie and Brielle



Sunday, August 21, 2011

Conversations of the Day

Conversation 1
Me:  Ok.  We are going to get dressed, go to church, eat lunch, take a rest, and go to the zoo today!
Brielle:  Well...actually we are going to get dressed, go to Paradise Park, then come home and eat lunch.
Really?  Is that so?  I was not informed of these well defined plans.

Conversation 2
We were playing after the pool and I noticed this scrape that keeps appearing on the inside of her leg.  I finally put two and two together and figured out it was from her life jacket.
Me:  The scrape is from your life jacket!  It all makes sense now!
Brielle:  Yes.  That's what I have been thinking to myself.

Conversation 3
I hope to keep recording Brielle's aspirations for the future.  Up to this point, she told us she wants to be an elephant.  However, she now aspires to be a dancer/singer girl like at Main Street Opry.  She already started practicing some of her moves.  I think we are headed in the right direction!  :) 

Update:
My mom wanted to make sure everyone knew that she and my dad did not teach Brielle 'bam'.  However, she continues to use it.  We couldn't find a show, so she looked at me and said "well bam".  I had to stop myself from nodding in agreement.  :)

Hair Cut

Brielle finally decided to be ok with getting her hair cut!  Last time, she froze and didn't want it cut.  As soon as she started talking about it, we did it!  Brushing and maintaining five or six less inches is amazing!


Party Animals

We had many events on the calendar for Saturday, so Grant went to the Royals/Red Sox game and Brielle and I went partying!  Our first party was Coy's 4th birthday.  Brielle had a blast with her 'old' friends Coy (AKA - Coy Boy) and Drew (AKA - Drewbie).  The kids were running wild throughout the house and would not stop for pictures.  Burgers, cake, and ice cream were delicious!  Brielle was running through the house with a giant green sword.  She had a look in her eye like this is the best day ever!  According to Coy and Brielle, they were playing 'Get Away from Baby Mac'.  Baby Mac was pretty threatening with his binky and blankie!  Favorite quote from Brielle came after we ate burgers:

Ms. Jeanna - Ok.  Next we are going to open presents.
Brielle - You mean eat cake?  She was dead serious too.  :)


Birthday Boy Coy


Best picture I could get of anyone looking!  
Brielle and Drew 


It was hard to leave the utopia of a 4 year old birthday party, but I managed to get Brielle out the door since we were going to another party.  I don't think just going home would have cut it!  Brielle and I had a fantastic time at my new school's back to school party.  It was awesome to see everyone out of the "office".  Theresa's daughter, Nicole, was the main reason the party turned out to be such a great time.  Jan has an amazing backyard and pool.  I brought Brielle's swim gear, but not mine.  Theresa volunteered Nicole to swim with Brielle.  Brielle had the BEST time of her life!  Nicole was probably way more fun than me and was willing to swim a lot longer.  They swam together from 7:30-9:00.  Needless to say, she fell asleep on the way home.  I definitely owe Nicole a Snickers and Reeses (her favorite snack).  I wish I had pictures to post, but I was too busy talking.  All in all a very fun evening with my little party animal!   

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Worlds of Fun

Accenture (Grant's work) had a family fun day.  And it was just that! 
I think the pictures say it all!

Not so sure about this whole carousel thing...

The horse was loving it though!

Ice cream makes everything better!

Train ride was mighty slow, but so much fun!

First roller coaster...LOVED it!  Favorite ride of the day!


Pictures with the Peanut characters.


She rode this by herself!  Way to go Little Miss!

Last ride of the day!  That was fun!

Friday, August 12, 2011

Vacation Present

We always buy Brielle a vacation present.  Doesn't everyone?  I think all parents do this for their kids.  I usually want to spend too much money or buy items that break instantly.  This vacation we were going to do it right.  We were going to bring her back a little piece of St. Lucia.  We Grant Uncle Scott spent 30 minutes haggling over a giant conch shell for Brielle.  The guy settled for $15 and 2 beers.  Not bad.  It was perfect!


I had this vision in my head.....


On Monday, Brielle's class will start studying oceans of the world at school.  This was my vision of her during share time.

Then we carefully packed our giant vacation present in t-shirts and stuffed it in Grant's carry-on.  We were ready to get home and see our baby girl.  We were going to be the best parents ever.  Little did we know there would be a mean lady in St. Lucia's airport security.  She unraveled our t-shirt bundle, pointed to a sign on the wall, and haphazardly tossed it in a basket with plastic water bottles and toothpaste.  REALLY?  Really? 

So Brielle's vacation present was a very small basket of very small shells that I bought at the airport gift shop.  On the upside, I also bought her plantain chips to eat (she loved them) and a bag to share with her class next week. 

Someday she will read this post and know what we really picked out for her vacation present.  Until that day, the small shells will do.  She holds the tiny shells to her ear, so she can listen to the ocean.  The simple things matter most.  I must have forgotten that over vacation.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

St. Lucia

St. Lucia was probably the prettiest place I have ever been.  Grant and I had a super duper time with his sister Jill, her husband Scott, his brother Jay, and his wife Tiffany.  It was a great feeling to actually relax and enjoy time with family too. The highlight of the trip was going on a rain forest excursion tour.  We took a boat to snorkel, see the twin pitons, bath in a sulfur spring, take a real mud bath, eat at an authentic St. Lucian restaurant, and see a beautiful waterfall.  Hopefully, Jill and Scott's pictures are worthy of posting at a later date! 
Thank you so much to my mom and dad for keeping Brielle.  She got to go to see Great Grandma, Simon, Silas, Aunt Liz, Uncle Bart, Catherine, Lydia, Great Grandma and Grandpa Fishburn, swim at the city pool, attend a bank luncheon, and much more!  She loved her time with Grandma and Papa!

Classic vacation pose


View from our room 


On our way to the resort 


Aunt Jill and Uncle Scott 




Uncle Jay and Aunt Tiffany 


St. Lucia is a volcanic island, so views like this were simply amazing.


Conversation of the Day

Brielle spent the last 5 days with my parents.  Today, she started using the word 'Bam'.
Brielle built a Lego house.  It fell over and broke.
Bam!
Grant and Brielle spilled a cup of water while doing an experiment.
Bam!
She dropped her shell.
Bam!
I'm starting to wonder if Papa or Great Grandpa taught her some cuss words new words this week!  hehe!  haha! 

Conversation of the Day

Brielle and I were reading books tonight.  We were reading Ten Little Ladybugs, so she started counting with her fingers.
1, 2, 3.  You see this finger?
Don't worry she was pointing to her pinkie!  
Yes.
It's called a pinkie promise.  
Really?  You want to pinkie promise?
No.  That is just what it is called.  
Ah.  I see.  :)  Who taught you about pinkie promises?
Sophie.
I love that my 3 1/2 year old learned about a pinkie promise (even if it is not quite accurate).  I love that she is growing-up!  I think it is the coolest and most indescribable experience ever!