4th of July Weekend - Day 1

Every year my family all gets together for the 4th of July. It is also a celebration of my sister, Jeni (Jen, to everyone but me. She'll always be Jeni to me), and my brother in law, Gary. Their birthdays are on July 5th and 6th, respectively.

This year, instead of going to the beach like we always have, we decided to go to Universal Studios for the extended weekend. With 6 kids 5 years old and younger, the more activities there are to keep them entertained, the better.

Saturday, we decided to have everyone over to our house and walk down to the park down the street for a birthday picnic. My Grandpa (Brynnie's Great Grandpa) came too. There were playgrounds and covered pavilions and tables and it was a great time.

Please to enjoy...

The gang, starting out...

On our way...

Pete, Lukie, Mercer and Mel.

Gary getting the pleasure of the maiden voyage of the Jovi Caboose TRIPLE stroller.

(we give this stroller a thumbs down)

Pete and Luke with the rest behind them.

All the kids opening their bag lunches.

Bryn and Gary.

The gang and Jack, being such a good boy!

Mercer using Jack as bongos.

Bubbles!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pete got bubble duty.

Happy Birthday Jeni and Gary!!!

CAAAAAAAKKKKEEEEEE!!!!!

Merrick and Mercer

Grandmama, Brynnie and Maddox

"I can do it myself!"

We finally got our Radio Flyer! Bryn's still a wee bit too small for it. Sorry Dale.

Maddox spinning Avery in the playground wok. We really don't know what it's called.

Jack and Mercer

More bubbles

Bubble Refiller (a/k/a water fountain)

"So, Grandpa Tom, what's going on? Whatcha got in front of you? Need some help with that cake?"

This was hillarious. When we got back to the house, Jack retreated to the bathroom. You'd think it was because of the cool tile. It wasn't. We have about 10 square feet in our entire house that's carpeted. He was was a bit pooped from the picnic festivities. Little did he know this was only Day 1!

Just Another Wednesday

So, Tom came up to the office today, and thinking he'd love to see his granddaughter, I called Cindy to see if they wanted to join us for lunch.

Well, Tom decided not to go to lunch, but Cindy and Miss Brynnie still came. I can't get enough of this kid!

Grandmama sharing her straw with Brynnie.

Um, and Bryn is "glowing" in these pictures with my mom. I mean, look how white she looks next to her! At first glance, I thought I had overexposed the picture, but if that was the case, then my Mom would be glowing too.

Grandmama giving Bryn her first taste of lemon. Eh.

We were standing in front of the light, so the pictures didn't come out that great, but being that I'm always behind the camera, I'll take what I can get.

It was HOT so I had taken off my sweater; please excuse the straps showing.

Bryn is beyond fascinated with Ann. As you can see here, she's mad at me for interrupting her Aunt Ann time.

Lauren's Birthday

It was Lauren's birthday on Monday and we took the birthday girl and her boyfriend, Ben, to Longhorn (of course) for dinner. Well, on the way back, I had to get gas and since it's Florida and it's 1,000 degrees, we didn't turn the car all the way off (the engine was off, but the key was one click over so the a/c and radio stayed on). Anyway, after Dale finished getting the gas, I go to start the car back up and it was dead.

Maybe, MAYBE 5 minutes and our battery had died. Again, it's a testament to how hot it's been here.

No one at the gas station had jumper cables and although I'm prepared and keep cables in my car, we were in Dale's car and he's not as prepared as I am.

Long story longer, Lauren and Ben saved the day. Lauren got to come back out on her birthday night to get us cables and jump start our car.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAUREN!

Sweating it up at the gas station.

(this is also what Bryn looks like when she's exhausted)

Bryn hanging with the Birthday Girl (thanks, again, Lauren).

Ben and Dale trying to get the battery going.

Dale was not too happy with me and, as I was taking this picture, said "I'll kill you if you put this on the blog!" I love you, babe!

Miss Brynnie's a Movin and a Shakin!

Bryn's been "lunging" for quite some time now, but this past Friday she really took it up a notch and is full steam ahead at all times!

Our little girl is growing up so fast. We can't take our eyes off her for one second or she's halfway across the room, getting into EVERYTHING!

She's also started to pull up on stuff, namely her crib bars which always makes her look like a little baby felon in baby jail.

She's also eating a TON of "people food" (a/k/a baby food) and, much like her mom, macaroni and cheese seems to be a favorite.

She's also become quite the climber as well. Nothing can hold this baby back! We only have one gate up thus far, but that's only because the other one we got is too big.

As soon as I figure out how to effectively upload videos, I'll post them. Until then, here are some pictures from Fathers Day/Dale's Birthday celebration.



"Eating a bottle. Kicking my foot up on Dad. Ah, this is the life..."



And, here, she's obviously trying to tickle his chin with her foot.

Bryn's First Play Date (playdate?)!

Bryn had her very first play date today! It was a smashing success, in my humble opinion.

Bryn's play date companion was Braden. Braden is the son of Dale's friend from work, Jason and his wife, Heather, and he is a DOLL!

A couple of fun facts:

My original due date with Brynnie was December 17th and Braden was supposed to come into this world on December 24th. As it turned out, Braden was actually born a week before Bryn, as opposed to a week after.

At birth Bryn and Braden were almost identical in their sizes and at their recent 6 month checkups, they were the exact same length and Bryn weighed one ounce less than Braden (although he has gained 1 lb since then!).

Dale and I had a great time with Jason and Heather. It's been a while since we've had any play dates of our own with friends.








"Oooh, Braden, whatcha got there?"












"Score! I'll play over here with my new toy!"

Brynnie Bryn is 6 Months Old!!!

Wow, so our dear little daughter turned 6 months old on June 16th. We went to the doctor for her 6 month check-up.

She's still off the charts in height (28 1/4"), 90% in weight (18 lbs, 7 oz) and 75% in head circumference (don't remember that one). The doctor commented that she's a strong one and seems to be fairly easy going and confident (as she is quite friendly with everyone, even the needle-wielding nurse).

No matter what, she's the most amazing creature her Dad and I have ever seen. It's impossible to express how in love with are with this kid. More than the moon and the stars above, our love for her knows no bounds.

Can't Stick With a Theme (and Aimee's Birthday) Friday

For the life of me, I can't seem to manage even 2 consecutive weeks of theme posts (Mommy and Me Mondays, Flashback Fridays, etc.). I'm not even going to try any more. I'm already setting a shining example of sticktoitiveness for my daughter, aren't I? Eh, what are you going to do?

Aimee's birthday was actually Sunday, May 30th, but other events of that weekend kind of overshadowed it. We got to at least see her for a few minutes to drop off her gifts (and an impromptu fashion show even took place).

I swear I didn't plan this, but the ribbon I used on Aimee's present happened to match Bryn's outfit perfectly.

The Birthday Girl.

Bryn loved Aimee's scarf so much, Aimee decided we needed to see how it looked on her.

"Grandma, is it working on me?"

I'm fabulouuuuuuuuussssssssss!

She's Got Legs....

Never mind the outfit that looks a tad redneck, check out the length on those legs!

Long legs like her momma. 

"Frozen teethers make me so happy!"

And, here I'm wiping the Jack slobber from her face as he is redepositing it on her hands.

Jack's "cleaning" Bryn's hand (much to her delight) while Black is "cleaning" my knee (much not to my delight).

Another Day at the Office

I got the pleasure of bringing Miss Bryn to the office with me today. I must say, I was actually able to be productive today. Either I'm getting the swing of doing double duty, or maybe it was because Bryn was feeling better.

Bryn's such an easy, calm baby that she had apparently been fighting a virus for the past week and we didn't know. She started to get a rash a few days ago and I thought I may have accidentally washed her clothes in regular detergent, so we rewashed everything and that didn't do it. I called the doctor and took her in yesterday. Turns out the rash is actually the end of a virus. It's basically the virus working it's way out of her system. The doctor said she's most likely been sick for the past week or so. The darn kid's so good she won't even let us know she's sick.

Anyway, we got a special visit today too. Kathy stopped by and I snapped a pic of the two for their first meeting. Next month, Kathy's twin (a/k/a my BFF and the mother of Bryn's Long Distance BFF) will be here and I cannot wait!!!!!!! It's all Bryn can talk about too!

Our morning visit with Kathy.

Bryn helping Grandmama with researching Mergers.

"Yes, Grandmama, it's right here. Section 2, Sub paragraph 4. Sheesh, what would you guys do without me?"