Parent/Teacher Conference

Today I had the honor of attending a parent/teacher conference that Brenna got to lead!  She was so excited to show me around her classroom and talked about it for days leading up to it.  It was an early release day, so when I picked her up from daycare, she was practically running out the door to get back to school and get this conference started!  She excitedly led me from the office through the hallways to her classroom.  She made sure to slow down as we walked past the library to show me where the book fair was being held (I had promised we'd stop by after the conference).  When we arrived in the classroom, Mrs. Tapia was with only one other student so we got a little bit of chatting in with her.  Brenna took me to her seat/workspace and we began reading the list of things to do.  She showed me how to identify the date and day on the Promethian board (probably the thing she was most excited about); showed me her favorite centers since she couldn't decide which one she liked more; took me to the reading spot and read one of the books to me; did a complete math worksheet while at her desk; showed me two important things that good writers do (use a finger space between words and use periods) by showing me some of the things she's written in her journal; and went over her citizenship review where she rated herself on things such as walking in the hallway, doing her own work, getting all of her work done.  It was so much fun to see her so excited about school and so proud of all the things that she does each day.  She is such a great source of joy and pride and I love moments like this where she can show off.  Not only that, but how much fun it is to be in a Kindergarten classroom!?

This drawing was too adorable not to take a picture, it just had to be documented :) 

Valentine's Day

We started the day with a quick batch of our annual pink pancakes!  Even though it was a school/work day, I managed to squeeze in 4 pancakes before leaving so Brenna could take them to daycare with her - I was struggling with how I would fit it in and kicking myself for not preparing them the night before but I managed to get it in at the last minute and keeping up the tradition makes me happy.  Brenna was very excited about her party to be held at school, had decorated a foam mailbox to collect cards and had written all her own valentines to her classmates. Side note: I was surprised to find that not all Brenna's classmates wrote their own...I mean, they are in Kindergarten, learning to write, but didn't write their own names on the cards?  Maybe that's a little harsh coming from a mom who typically doesn't have all the time in the world to do as many homemade crafts, homemade treats, etc. but i was treating this as an opportunity to have Brenna practice her writing.  Anyway....

She also got to wear the new festive socks she'd recieved from Grandma and Papaw the day before!  That night, we celebrated as a family with a trip to Subway (Brenna's favorite restaurant of the moment) and enjoyed spending time with the ones we love!  Although we are excellent at expressing our love every day of the year, we still enjoyed celebrating this day of L-O-V-E!  Travis brought us both some roses to share, some gummy bears for Brenna and a lovely card.  I'm so lucky to have such a fabulous valentine! 

Mia Lynne

I have a new niece!  Mia Lynne was born on Februrary 7th in Hawaii and she is PRECIOUS!!!  Of course who doesn't say that about their family, but I really mean, she is precious!  It breaks my heart that she is so far away and that it will be quite a long time before I get to see her (stupid plane tickets are so expensive).  When Rylan was born, I was able to visit and see him at least once every month for the first year of his life.  I'll be lucky if I even get to see Mia in her first year, outside of pictures and Skype of course.  BUT, I'm still so very thankful that she has joined our family, and that she is happy and healthy and that her mommy is too!  At this point, I just love to drool over her pictures (which I try to force Jamie to send me every single day).  At one point, Jamie labeled one pic with "she doesn't do much :)" to which I replied, well then send me a picture of her crying or something!  Brenna is also very excited and has been drawing pictures for baby Mia since long before she came into this world.  She asks me every day if I have a new pic of her and appropriately responds with a loving "awwwwwww."  We couldn't be happier to have a new little addition and can't wait to meet her! Welcome little one....

Special Helper

I got the following email from Brenna's teacher today:

"I just wanted to let you know that Brenna is an amazing friend to David in our class. I am so impressed with her. I think she will grow up to be a teacher or even a special needs helper. She is really gifted at helping others. She works on a level with him that is perfect, and she pays attention to how his “aide” works with him. Then she uses those things to work with him too. For example, she and I could not figure out something he was saying. So she said, “Use your BIG voice David”. Then we figured it out. She is wonderful! I try to break her away from helping him so often, but she truly loves it. She goes to him on her own.


I just wanted to let you know what a great helper you have (you probably already know it)."

It made my eyes a bit wet and my heart melt.  It is always wonderful to hear what Brenna is like when she's away from me, because I know that different traits come out than what I always see.  I am very proud of her and although admittedly biased, I believe that I have a very special little girl!  I look forward to seeing what kind of woman she becomes (but not too soon).

Taquito Munchkina

Bren, B, Nugget, Peanut, Honey....nicknames that Brenna has had over time. Some are obvious, but her most recent one is goofy.  And she loves it. 

Brenna likes to eat.  But only the foods she chooses (not marshmallows, fish or mustard).  And she LOVES taquitos...you know, the little rolled tacos.  One night she ate so many that she was nicknamed Taquito by our friend Tim.  It made everyone laugh and she has, on occasion, been referred to as Taquito again.  While tucking her in the other night, I referred to her as Munchkin.  I usually do a slew of goofy things while getting her ready for bed, or to get her excited for bed, or to motivate her to go through the routine.  This particular night, I called her a bunch of nicknames.  By the time the covers were coming up over her chest, I was calling her Taquito Munchkina.  It just came out.  Now she loves it and wants me to squeeze the covers around her tight (like a taquito) and call her Taquito Munchkina.  It makes her smile or laugh, which in turn makes me smile or laugh.  Not to mention how it makes my heart melt.  I sure do love that little rolled taco with the beautiful blue eyes :)

Christmas highlights

So here we are, the end of January, giving Christmas highlights.  But, I figured it's better to document than skip it.  That "skipping" is what got me so far behind in the first place!  So here are the highlights:

Travis got to have a chunk of time off to come up the mountain with us!!  It was WONDERFUL to have him join us.  It was our first Christmas "together" and was fabulous :)  Although we weren't supposed to exchange gifts (given all the moving and other stuff going on) he surprised me with a laptop! I love that man!  Can't wait to skype with my family when they catch up ;)

Brenna was at the PRIME age for enjoying Santa.  She was excited to leave out cookies, milk and a few m&ms for him and even spread some reindeer food (oats) out in the yard to make sure they knew how to find us.  She was SO excited when it was bedtime that she told me, "Mom, I'm just so excited, I can't go to sleep."  I explained that she'd have to be sleeping or Santa wouldn't stop.  She explained that she could pretend to be asleep...little stinker.  Of course it didn't take long for her to fall asleep, but I loved how excited she was.  It brought back so many memories of when Jamie and I would wake up so early in the morning eventually running by the living room (without sneaking a peek...well maybe a little peek) to wake up mom & dad. 

Brenna recieved many of the things she asked for - a Magic Snow Moxie Girl, a makeup studio (a post all about makeup will arrive on this blog soon), and a barbie vacation house. 

We had a wonderful, relaxing time in Show Low.  We rarely left the house (hence all the relaxing) with the exception of a drive up to Pinetop, a walk around the neighborhood, and an after-Christmas Kmart shopping trip.  We ate delicious stuff...and lots of it.  We are now closely watching what we eat :)

We missed Jamie, Josh & Rylan SORELY.  It was an odd feeling knowing that they weren't coming.  Not even the next day or the following weekend.  All we got was some phone conversing.  It just wasn't the same without them.  Not to mention all the planning ahead we had to get used to to make sure that packages were shipped in plenty of time.  Guess we'll be more prepared next year!

We are looking forward to all the exciting things that 2011 will bring for us!  And can't believe that one month is already gone...

Is anyone still out there?

When I started this blog (way before Facebook invaded my computer) I LOVED it and was committed to using it as a true history log of my life with a child - it helped me remember all the funny things she did or said without much effort.  Well, many things changed in my life over the last few years and some of it just didn't seem like the kind of stuff people wanted to know.  I could've stayed more current if I focused just on Brenna, but I now realize I just wasn't in a great place to wanna blog about life so I slacked.  I miss having the blog as a journal of sort - even if just to keep track of stuff my kiddo does :) 

I'm going to try to get back into this - and hopefully those of you who still check this once in awhile will keep coming back.  I have a lot more info on Facebook these days so some of you will already be able to fill in the many blanks on this blog. 

Hometown 4th of July

We celebrated Independence Day 2010 in Show Low this year and I just LOVE celebrating that holiday at home!  I also brought along a very important guest this year (my boyfriend Travis) and got to show him around the lovely little town that I grew up in.  We enjoyed all the traditional activities including the parade, a BBQ with friends and fireworks.  The weather was so gorgeous it was difficult to come back to the oven that we live in.  We could just spend hours and hours outside without breaking a sweat at all and we even got chilly in the evening!

Long time, no blog

So many exciting things have been happening in my life lately - many blogworthy things - but they are also things that are taking up the time I used to use for blogging.  Thus, the long absence (over 5 months)!!  But I'm back and will try to be back more regularly. 

In the last 5 months:

• We had our annual "pink" dinner for Valentine's day

• We visited the zoo, had a yard sale

• Brenna joined a soccer team!

•  Brenna went to a cheer/dance/tumbling birthday party (which seemed to be more her forte than soccer)

• We celebrated Easter in Show Low with Jamie & Rylan

• Brenna got her ears peirced!

• We celebrated Mother's Day in Tucson with Grandma, Papaw, Jamie & Rylan

• Brenna graduated from Preschool!

• We went to a Diamondbacks game

• We spent one more weekend with Jamie & Rylan before they moved

Big big-girl bed

Last week, I got a new bed and gave my bed to Brenna.  She'd been using the crib as a toddler bed for awhile and was quickly outgrowing it.  So, we used some money she got for Christmas and went shopping for a cute bedding set and transformed her room into a beautiful little girls room.  She got a pretty pink comforter with white polka dots, some cute patterned, multicolored sheets and cool repositionable stickers for her wall.  She LOVES it.  The first night, she stayed the whole night in her bed (which tends to be fairly rare) and even looks forward to making it in the morning. 

Show & Tell

Every Friday at Brenna's daycare (when she's with me) is Show & Tell. She is always very excited for this day and asks regularly if it's Friday yet. Little does she know we all live for Fridays. So, throughout the weeks, she's taken many different things. Usually when I pick her up, she'll show me what the other kids brought since it is all left sitting on top of their cubby shelves until they are picked up for the day by their parents. Last week, Brenna went to get her belongings - coat, lunch box, etc. and stopped to show me what some of the other kids brought. Among the stuff was a rubber lizard ("mom, feel it, it's squishy"), a small plastic bug of some sort, and some other things I can't remember right now. Lying among these random toys and things was what my daughter chose to take to show her friends.

Not the shoes, just the sparkling, sequined purse. Yes, I have the girliest four year old on the planet. Prior to leaving for the morning, I had to remove the following from the purse so that she didn't over-show at Show & Tell: $2, coupons, a Hello Kitty watch, carmex, a bracelet and a barette. A ring and chapstick was left in the purse (she wore the ring most of the day and needed the chapstick because of her chapped lips). And she would've worn the shoes if I let her.

Merry Christmas and Happy 2010

We had a wonderful holiday season this year! Jam-packed full of traveling and visiting family, but so much fun. We are so lucky to have so many wonderful people to visit :)

Christmas was celebrated at Aunt Jamie and Uncle Josh's house this year. We enjoyed lots of puzzle and game time, Christmas music and FOOD. Unfortunately, I gave in WAY too much to the food part, but it sure was fun. Brenna recieved lots of great stuff from Santa including the two things she specifically asked for: a pretend blow dryer and a Cinderella Barbie (a miniature one). She also got a makeup case with new makeup (read lipgloss and nail polish), jewelry, games, books, Barbies, clothes, new jammies, a princess book w/music player, and a kiddo mp3 player. She must've been a really good girl! Although Rylan was sick and kinda grumpy for a lot of the trip, she had a blast spending time and playing with him. They cracked us up whenever they cracked up - nothing more contagious than laughter. Especially when it's the laughter of children! It was really nice to have a wonderful, relaxing LONG weekend to celebrate Christmas. Too bad about those peanut butter M&Ms though....they just weren't meant to see more than one day after the bag opened. Or really more than a few hours. Anyway.....

We also had a great New Years weekend visiting cold Show Low. The snow that was already on the ground made it nice and pretty and the roads nice and safe. We celebrated with a quiet ny eve and watched a bunch of great movies with more great food. Uh oh, do we see a pattern here? Good thing I can chase that wagon down and climb back on after the holidays! We got to visit with more friends and had a great weekend. And although I took my camera with me and even loaded new batteries into it, I took no pictures. Zero. Zilch. None. Ugh. Regardless, we had a great time and loved spending lots of quality time with the family!

Polar Express

To make the most of my time with B this month I took a couple of days off of work and drove to Williams to ride the Polar Express! It was FREEZING. Granted, it was similar to the weather that I'm used to from Show Low but when you are used to living in the Valley of the Sun - it was freezing. Either way, a good excuse to bundle up with some cute winter clothes and look at the snow and see your breath and slip around on the sidewalks! We got into town, grabbed our will call tickets and got checked into our room while we waited for departure time. We got to the train depot, had time for a pic with Santa and boarded the train! The kids, and some parents, were all dressed in their jammies. Not long after we started down the track, cookies and hot chocolate were passed around - YUM! The story of the Polar Express was read over the loudspeaker and the "chefs" walked up and down the aisle showing the pictures from the book. After traveling through a magic tunnel at the speed of light, we made it to the North Pole in record time! We could see out our windows, all the lights of the North Pole, including some elves' houses, Santa's house, the reindeer stables and Santa's sleigh! Santa and an elf were there waving to us. When we went back by, Santa was missing, but we were quickly informed that that was because he'd boarded the train! Soon enough, Santa was in our train car passing out bells to all the children. On the ride back, we all sang Christmas songs and jingled the bells. Brenna had a great time and it was a lot of fun to see everyone get into the Christmas spirit!

Thanksgiving

Since I'm behind - here's a quick update on our Thanksgiving holiday: B was with her daddy for the actual holiday, but I got to spend some time with other family. I made a quick trip to Globe to see Grandad and Aunt Sandy (with my mom & dad). It was nice to visit and laugh. I drove back to get another turkey meal in with Aunt Debbie and her family - I was stuffed to my eyebrows by the end of the night. The following weekend, I got B back so we took a day trip to the Silliman's house for yet ANOTHER turkey meal. YUM. We had a great meal and lots of fun times watching the kids play and chase each other around. We also watched some football - specifically some Wildcats kicking some SunDevil bootay! Woohoo!

Disneyland

We had a fantastic trip to Disneyland and apparently I'm still recovering since it took me so long to blog about it - sorry! Either way, we wanted to share the fun that we had, so here goes! Day 1, we left in the morning for the long drive ahead of us. Fortunately, we had a DVD player to keep B entertained. We all thought she'd sleep - well she didn't. Mommy might've napped a little - or it might have looked like she was napping - really I was just checking my eyelids for leaks. Anyway...we arrived at our hotel and got checked in. Then we ran over to Disneyland so we could be sure to get at least one ride on It's a Small World (we got word that it would be closed the day after we arrived, so we had to hurry!). We also got some rides in near there - all through Fantasyland. We had a great time! Went back to our room to settle in and could watch the fireworks show from our room - so cool! The next morning, we hit the park early and got to go on even more rides. Among them, was Splash Mountain. You could say that B really liked this ride. In fact, you could say that it was her favorite - she loves the "screaming rides" and especially if you get wet (or anyone with her gets wet). We had a blast on that one and rode it a few times. We also did all the old standards - Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Matterhorn, Teacups, Autopia & the Jungle Cruise. It was fun to see lots of the rides updated (i.e. the Submarine had a Nemo theme, Pirates had a few Johnny Depp look-a-likes. Because it was Halloween time - the whole park was decked out in Halloweentime decor. We got to see lots of characters, get lots of autographs and take lots of pics. The longest line was for Tinkerbell - who knew? B got her princess mouse ears, her face painted and we watched the parade. We went back for the fireworks show that night and it was really cool! Day 3 we started out with early access to Disneyland, rode Space Mountain and a few others before the crowds were big. We even got to meet some of the characters all dressed up in their Halloween costumes! Then we headed over for a day at California Adventure. Although it was chillier, we got on another water ride that day - got soaked - then road a few other rides before meeting all the princesses for lunch! Brenna met Ariel, Cinderella, Snow White, Belle and Aurora! We stayed at CA Adventure for awhile after that (allowing me to ride the craziest coaster they offer - alone since B was too little and Grandma & Papaw were well...um...wanting to keep B company). Then we watched a Pixar parade which was full of all the characters from the Pixar movies. Day 4 we went back to Disneyland for some repeats and some things we hadn't seen yet. We visited Toontown, met Mickey Mouse (again), rode the Monorail, took the train, and snuck in as many more rides as we could handle. We had such a great time - some really good quality time with Grandma & Papaw and made some great memories. B is looking forward to going back someday! She asked if we could go back when she's 10. I said yes - I figure that gives me time to save up :) Thanks to Grandma & Papaw for taking us on a great vacation and planning such a great time! We love you!

Halloween

My little rock star LOVED dressing up like Hannah Montana for Halloween. She was so excited to dress up in shiny, sparkly clothes. She lives for lipgloss. EEK. So with her costume, I let her wear actual lipstick. Bright pink, 80's style lipstick. Actually the same lipstick I wore to the 80s party this summer. She loved it. She also got blue eyeshadow (do you see a trend?) and glitter on her face. Her hair was straightened to look like Hannah's and I put pink stripes in it since she was a rock star after all. She ate it up - loved every minute of getting dolled up in makeup and fancy hair. She posed like the STUPER STAR (her words, not mine) that she is! We enjoyed trick or treating in the neighborhood and then hanging out with the CGC gang. Halloween was also our last night in that neighborhood before moving a couple of miles away, so it was a nice way to end our many happy years there!

We'd gotten home from Disneyland just a couple of days earlier, but the Halloween post is about all I have the energy for right now - so I promise to post something Disneyland related soon! We had a BLAST, so there is definitely a lot to tell!!

I'm kind of a blog slacker

Sorry to those of you who still follow this. Unfortunately, I get sidetracked by talking to the cyberworld via Facebook instead of Blogspot. However, I do have some cute pictures to share, an update on my 5K experience and some funny things about Brenna that make me laugh.

We visited a pumpkin patch/farm earlier in the month and had a great time enjoying the beautiful fall weather. Unfortunately, this weekend summer came back for a visit - can't wait to have fall again. Here is B posing with some huge pumpkins! She decorated a small pumpkin with foam stickers, got her face painted, took a hay ride and visited with some farm animals. A fun way to kick off the season!

The following weekend, I ran my very first 5K (the Phoenix Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure). When I say ran I really mean ran - yes, me...running!! I admit that I took a couple of short breaks during the run and fast-walked, but picked back up the running and really, truly ran at least 85% of the time. I don't claim to be fast - it wasn't a race for me, just something I wanted to do. Although I wouldn't say it is my favorite thing in the world, I have come to truly appreciate running and actually look forward to it now. I don't run a whole 5K every day or anything, but running makes me feel good so I think I'll keep doing it! My friend Jennifer and her hubby Jack ran this one with me and we are planning to do another one in just a few weeks (and hopefully some more throughout the winter). We may even be gearing up to eventually do 10Ks, 1/2 marathons or marathons. Someday.....but for now 5Ks are all I see :)

Finally, some fun quotes from Brenna:

"Mom, can we do the stuff where you make funny faces or tickle me and make me laugh?"

"My bones are all cracked" (this after having to be carried in an awkward position out of a store for throwing a fit)

"Um..I really need to go shopping so I can have cute clothes for Disneyland. Cuz I wanna wear LIGHT pink pants with my horsey shirt, not regular pink, LIGHT pink. So I can look cute for Disneyland"

Next post is sure to be about Disneyland! My fabuloso parents are taking us soon!! We are SUPER DUPER excited!

Weekend getaway

We hadn't visited Show Low for sooooo long - well a few months at least and we just had to get up there and escape the heat! It was a beautiful long weekend to visit - wish there would've been a bit more rain, but thankfully, we got all the fun of the rainy weather (loud thunder, cloud cover, etc.) but without the actual rain. We enjoyed a fantastic visit with Grandma and Papaw! We fed the ducks at Woodland Lake Park. We. HA! When I say "we" I mean everyone but me - ducks count as birds you know. Brenna tried hard to throw that bread out far enough for them - she just not the best bread thrower around :)

We also got to have fun just playing in the yard and I got to play with my camera! There are sooo many beautiful things in the yard at my parent's house - I got lots of practice with different shutter speeds, etc. It was fun to get a chance to goof around with settings and see what I ended up with. Now I just need to do it more often!

Brenna helped water the yard one afternoon followed by an early campfire. Well, a fire in the firepit - not actually camping. But perhaps the closest to camping that Brenna will get from me. She wasn't crazy about it anyway - talking about how the "air" would change and blow the smoke toward her. The whole idea was to make s'mores - who doesn't love s'mores? Well apparently, Brenna doesn't love s'mores. She knew right away that she didn't want marshmallows. Whatever I thought - when she sees how cool they are when the fire melts them into the chocolate, she'll love 'em. Nope - I was wrong. She only wanted chocolate and cracker. About 2 tiny bites of chocolate and cracker. I made her try the actual s'more. This is the face she made. I know - crazy!!! But I enjoyed TWO s'mores to make up for it. She is such a ham - she cracked us up the entire weekend. We all got our fill of being the "buyer" while playing store and listening to that little chatterbox talk our ears off. She doesn't slow down or take a breath sometimes - and the stories that she comes up with! We love her so much!!

It was such a great weekend - nice and relaxing. I even managed to stay on my health kick, getting my running/walking in at least 2 of the days! Even in the high altitude - but it will be worth it when I finish a 5K!!! Stay tuned for that story.

Stuff about Brenna I wanna remember

• She LOVES Hannah Montana - not like I will forget that! She asks when she can go to her house. She wants to hug her. She's upset that I don't have her phone number. LOVES her. Even said that she wishes HM was a boy so she could marry her when she grows up. She likes her because she sings so pretty and has cool clothes!!
• She is impatient - doesn't like being stopped in traffic/construction, etc. She wants what she wants and she wants it now.
• She has a crazy good memory - remembering things that were said weeks before in a five second portion of a conversation.
• She sings all the time (much like her mommy and Aunt Jamie). If she doesn't know the words to a song, she begins humming and over time, learns the words (much like her mommy and Aunt Jamie).
• She is starting to get freckles - one appeared near her belly button (also a family tradition - oddly enough) a number of months ago, but now I'm seeing them on her nose/cheeks and arms.
• She has sensitive feelings - has told me (after she's been disciplined/scolded) that I hurt her feelings "right here" while holding her hand to her heart - awww....
• She asks some of the most amazing questions - that I don't always have an answer for: "How did God make us?" being one of the most recent. After I attempted to answer that - she said "I wanna hug God"
• She is a girly girl - loves wearing lip gloss, nail polish, carrying a purse, wearing jewelry and putting on my blue eyeshadow (at home only - haha).
• She tells me she loves me out of the blue FREQUENTLY. I try to soak that one in as much as I can.

Happy 4th Birthday!

How can it be that my baby girl is FOUR years old?? I can't believe how fast time flies when you have a kid - everyone says that but it is soo true! We celebrated Brenna's birthday with a small (local) family lunch. Appy Debbie and Chelsea joined us for lunch at Red Robin where Brenna got to eat Macaroni 'n' Cheese and apples (which she dipped in ketchup - weird, I know). The staff came and sang to her and brought her a sundae - she wasn't too crazy about that, and didn't even take a bite of the sundae (I know, WHAT??). But she got four balloons, and couldn't have been happier about that. Then, we went to the mall where Appy Debbie let Brenna go on a shopping spree at Claire's jewelry store. You know that saying "like a kid in a candy store"? I'm changing it to "like a princess in a jewelry store." She went nuts - got a necklace/bracelet set, some stick-on earrings, a headband, a sparkly purse and some hair clips. She loved it. Then we came home and did her annual interview - some answers surprised me, but they are precious.