Brynnley got ran over by our Christmas tree!!

She was doing so good with it too!

I have been amazed that my busy bee hasn't really gotten in to the Christmas tree much this year. She did however get drawn in from time to time to the candy canes(esp. the ones the kids put at the bottom of the tree). As soon as all the candy canes were out of her reach, she had no more interest in the tree. Well, I must have missed one....

Yes....the one time she has some alone time with the tree it came crashing down. I was upstairs bringing the laundry up when I heard "the noise" you know that noise that you know could have caused some damage. This little girl is so smart and figures out a way to get what she needs and I am pretty sure she was trying to get a candy cane that was out of her reach. I wish I could have seen what she was doing but I was more concerned at the time to sweep her up and away from some some broken glass. I was amazed that only ONE ornament crashed to it's death!

We all survived and Brynn walked away without a scratch! She loves to create memories so I am sure she wanted us to remember 2011 Christmas with a bang! I think I am just about ready to pack it away now too. All the ornaments that fell off.....they are staying off! My rule is to only set up a Christmas tree once. It helps that we are heading to see family for Christmas. I text Eric to tell him about the fun I was having and after saying, "Oh gosh.....so sorry.....did you get any pictures?" Say what???? I mean I take a lot of pictures but at that moment I was thinking safety over capturing the moment for all the witness. Thomas can tell you all about it. Brynnley has more than moved on. It would be interesting if she tried that one again. That candy cane doesn't look so good anymore does it Brynn:)

Oh man is she ever the cutest though!! Every time I call her name she says, "huh." She is also taking after her sister by getting a plastic sandwich bag for everything and will get one and give it to me when she wants a snack. I have no more space to put them up high in the kitchen so they have to stay put. They are high enough that she can't look into the drawer and she just reaches her arm up high to get them. I figured if I turned them upside down she would reach up and not be able to feel them as she could before and would give up. Yeah right. You think I can out smart a 20 month old?? Nope. She opened the drawer, stretched her arm farther into the drawer than before, turned the box over, and grabbed herself a bag. Take that momma! I am sure is what she as thinking!

So I am back typing after a few hours of having to do errands, have the lock smith come, take kids to and from school, and throw in a few loads of laundry. Wouldn't you know as I am typing, little missy got into my mascara(or chaptick in her world) again! Every time she comes down thinking she struck gold and mom quickly ruins the moment. I just did what every good mom would do and cleaned her lash lips up and put her in her bed to play so I could make dinner. It seems they get busier when you have tons of stuff to do(like prepare for a trip). It's funny because she doesn't get into the decor in the house she just has her go to things she loves to get into and if we give her the chance(like me forgetting to shut my bedroom door) she will take it and will either get my lip gloss or mascara. Thats it.

After a 20 min. break, I grabbed her from her bed(she was gabbing away and playing) and told her not to get into my stuff and I said, "do you understand Brynny," and she said with a smile, "yeah, stand." And now I want to squeeze her with love and eat her up! It's amazing how quickly the frustration turns into love!!

Well it seems like its a Brynnley kind of a day so I will finish off with some journal entrees I want to remember and I know that she will have fun reading someday as well.

Brynnley tooted today and looked at me with big eyes and said,"uh-oh."

I also love lately how she bows her head to pray at the dinner table and covers her eyes with her hands and then smiles really big and yells, "Amen" at the end. She is so cute at family prayer too and often buries her head on the bed with her arms folded. The other night she started that way and lasted the entire prayer. Miracle! She is a joy and Eric and I struggle to ever get mad at her. Those eyes get you every time....especially with her Dad!

This picture is one of my favorite pictures of Brynnley. She isn't moving which is weird. Rarely can I capture a picture of her being still! We love and kiss on this little face so much. And when I say we I mean the 4 of us. She dishes it right back and we love it! This picture would be even better if she had her scrunched nose cheese face but I can picture her doing it just the same. She is a beautiful girl from the inside out! We love you Brynny!

Brynnley also has picked up on a Thomas phrase. Whenever I have to ask him twice to do something, I will tell him I am not going to ask him again and he always says, "alright." so tonight I was putting Brynn to bed and told her she needed to brush her teeth and she said, "alright." Some days I wish I could freeze time. Some moments I wish I could fast forward. I am so grateful for this journey called life and these little people I get to share it with. They teach me so much and make everyday a new experience. Whats even better is that I get to keep them and my sweetie forever!

My little helpers......

The other night Avery and Thomas asked if they could do the dishes. I figured I may have to re due them but was very open to let them try. I must say they more than impressed their mom in how well they cleaned them and placed them in the dishwasher. I loved watching their team work. There was no fighting over who got to wash them, they just worked together until the job was done. They are growing up so fast. I love my children so much. I love that they are mine forever!! I love how sweet and sensitive Avery is. I love how much Thomas makes me laugh. I love Brynnley's determination and love for life. I also love her little angelic face and kiss it too many times a day. She is one smart little 20 month old!! This morning we put her in bed with us at 7 and she didn't want to snuggle so she got out of our bed and minutes later I heard, "come on"..."come on." She had gotten her brother and sister up to go eat breakfast with her. She motivated us all to get going!

There was also a great TEAM effort on the Gardner ginger bread house of 2011. We had a blast and the kids decorated most of it. Eric gets credit for the roof. What can't this man do??? The kids had a blast. Brynnley loved trying to eat the candy.

We have had a few gatherings for Eric's work this week. One of which we were invited to Dr. Hasan's home(one of the Dr.'s Eric will be working with next)to have dinner. We were able to bring the kids as there would be many other kids there and a daycare lady to watch them all so we could enjoy a nice dinner. The kids had a blast and so did we. We got introduced to the best ice cream called Jeni's ice cream. We had heard about it but hadn't tried it yet as it is in Columbus OH. We found out night that here in Ohio they carry it at Whole Foods. If you know my hubby and I, then you know the first thing on our agenda that weekend would be to go and grab more of that delish ice cream. We got different flavors than we hadn't tasted that night and grabbed some Madisono's ice cream too(Dr. Hasan's and his wife love this kind as well). Check out our flavors!!! We had them all out and went from one to the other....double dipping and all! The kids thought all the flavors were really good too. We gave each of them a taste of the Queen City Cayenne(which has some heat at the end of a delicious chocolate flavor) and to our dismay they all loved it. They just asked for a glass of water after the heat kicked in a bit. It's not hot it just tingles the back of your throat just right. Mmmmmmm! The creamiest ice cream we have had yet!

Never judge an ice cream flavor by it's name....the sweet potato roasted marshmallow was pretty good too. I couldn't pick out my favorite!!

A few forget me nots from last week.......

I came into Thomas's room(after Dad had already said prayers and read scriptures with him) and he was in the dark patiently waiting at the end of his bed looking like the picture below......waiting for a story and song from Mom(our nightly ritual together)spider man gloves and all. I should have started recording all the songs I make up each night(only for a good laugh). I make up some pretty lame songs, but he LOVES them and that's all that matters. He typically gives me the theme each night on what the song will be about. Last night it was about a green blanket and the night before about a blue dinosaur. Lately every time we leave the room after the ritual he has to say,"don't let the bed bugs bite." He must tell both Eric and I and then he is out. Last night he said,"don't let the bed bug bite your brain." Ooooh that wouldn't be good!

Brynnley got into my makeup and thought my mascara was lip gloss. And she is the one unhappy about it???? wusup with that??

Me and my sweet girl had fun taking pictures together. She is trying to learn how to take pictures and loves it!!

Momma's back.....

I have been sick the last few days and many things got put on the back burner. I am feeling great now and getting life back in order. Thanks to an amazingly wonderful hubby and some great kids the house managed to survive:) I am one lucky momma! Thanks sweetie for everything!!! I love you so much!

One of Brynnley's food explosions. I am slowly learning to give her smaller portions or else she will clear her plate by getting ride of it in all places but her mouth. The picture doesn't do it justice!

Thomas came down as a super hero. He came to save me when I was not feeling good. Love that boy!! I love that he often gives me the desire to whip out my camera!!

I think he has watched Avery pose too much(hence the toe out hand on hip action)! Oh I love my family! We are so looking forward to the holidays and being with family. I love his time of year. It is actually starting to get colder her is Cincy town so I am ready to bake!! I think the kids and I will bake some cookies today and make a surprise for dad. Sounds great to me:)

FAB-U-LOUS Day!!!

The day started out by slowly rolling out of bed(the week caught up with me)and got Avery on the bus. I vacuumed the life cereal massacre that my daughter created. I think she wants to feed the floor more than herself. She is getting the rest of her teeth and doesn't have a big appetite(unless it's clementines.....she is always up for those!). When she saw that I had her breakfast she ran to the table screaming, "Yay!"...and then just picked at it. Oh well....the vacuum was well fed and just can't get enough vacuuming in a day. I then got ready for what made the day so fabulous and headed out the door. Some of my friends and I started a monthly luncheon at one of our houses and this round we ordered Chinese take out. We all curbed our cravings, got to laugh, chat, and eat while 10 kids played the day away.

One of my friends Amy I and got a pretty good laugh talking about our 5 year old kids. We had them over for dinner last weekend(we each have three kids around the same age.) When they got home that evening she told me that her 5 year old boy told her that he had a big secret and she said he was jumping all around with joy. She finally got it out of him that he had a girlfriend named Avery. He told her that he knew she was his girlfriend when he saw her face. Ha!!!! We got a good laugh at that. I asked Avery later if anyone had talked to her about what a boyfriend was etc. and she said, "No mom. I know you don't want to me have one of those." Oh, okay. Sounds good to me. I am sure she hears her little class mates talk about that but I am glad she listens to something I guess I said. I had to laugh about the fact that he may have said something to her about being his girlfriend and she was probably like, "sure yeah you are a boy and my friend." She still doesn't grasp the whole "boyfriend" lingo. I must say it's kinda weird that we are discussing this kind of stuff. Right now it's all funny and innocent. I don't want the real deal to come anytime soon. It's great to have these little things come up so that we can start chatting about them and she have her know she can trust her parents with all these delicate and maybe somewhat embarrassing matters. I hope she always comes to us with all the topics that kids talk about so early these days. I know our reaction is pretty important too! As for now she just loves to play and have fun with all her friends. I love my loving sweet little girl. Today she told me she helped a friend that fell in the playground. She said she was crying so she helped her up and took her to get help. Avery is a peacemaker and I have felt that from day 1. It's so fun watching her grow up!

To top the day off, I saw the most beautiful sunset that I have seen in awhile. It was penetrating. All I could think about was how beautiful it made me feel and how grateful I am for my vision so I can see Gods amazing creations. I am sure it is Heavenly Fathers way of giving us a little glimpse into heaven. I need to stop and enjoy these creations a little bit more each day.