Tiny Dancer

Brenna completed another session of her dance class in a neighborhood nearby.  Mykee does an awesome job with these girls and they all love her!  It is so fun to watch Brenna get so excited to perform.  This year the theme was "wild" so I found a fun leopard print and paired it with a big pink dance skirt.  She got to perform with her friends Norah and Jacy (although Jacy was on the other side of the line, so I didn't get many pics of her) and they all did a great job.  I'm so glad to have come across these classes for her, they have been perfect for our schedule and our pocketbook.  Thanks Jody for telling us about it!  It's also given me some good times with my Jody, without it we will have to try much harder to squeeze in some hang out time!

All-Star

Each month at Brenna's elementary school, every teacher nominates a student (well 2 students) who have excelled academically or exemplefied the character theme for that month.  Brenna was the character nominee from her class for the month of March!  She displayed the character trait of being confident in herself!  I am so proud of her!  I can only hope that she continues to be confident as she grows into a young woman because we all know how difficult that can be.  I'll do my best to always help build that confidence in her.  She was very proud to get to shake her principal's hand and get a certificate and proudly posed for pictures with her school spirit shirt on.  What a precious little girl - she brings so much happiness and joy to my life, I wouldn't have it any other way!

Renaissance Festival

For something fun to do on a beautiful weekend, we traveled out to the Renaissance Festival.  There are so many things to see and do there, but when we arrived just in time to catch a juggling show, we ran in and found a seat.  About a 1/3 of the way through the show, the very talented jugglers scanned the audience for "helpers" and walked right out to us to grab Travis.  He was called up with another guy and they started out juggling pillows around them.  Kinda weird...but THEN....they pulled out the knives...yes, knives.  They ended up calling another girl up too and they proceeded to juggle KNIVES around my honey's face.  Before they started, Brenna was a little concerned...uh..mommy...what are they doing???  I took pictures and video, but you can hear me a few times on the video going eeehhh, ooh, hehe (nervous laughter) to match the expression on Travis' face I'm sure.  Everyone came out safe, but what a crazy way to kick off our visit.

We walked around all the booths, saw LOTS of people dressed up in costumes, ate some delicious food, got Brenna's face painted and enjoyed a couple of other shows.  At the end of the day was the Joust to the Death show, so we wanted to make sure we got a seat and we are so glad we did.  It was really cool!  We were sitting in the section that would be cheering for the "bad guy" which had Brenna very conflicted.  In our prep for the actual joust, we had a cheerleader of sorts telling us who to cheer for, what to say, etc.  And to get the crowd pumped, they had us yelling insults at the other parts of the crowd who would be cheering for the "good guy."  Brenna wasn't crazy about cheering for the bad guy, she prefered to cheer for the good guy, but understood that it was all pretend anyway, so she could play along.  At one point, we were instructed to yell, "Hey you! You suck!" and Brenna specifically said to me, "I'm not gonna say that.  I want Santa to still bring me presents."  It made me giggle, but also proud that she wasn't giving in to the pressure to go against what she knows is right.  Such an angel :)  At the end (you know...the death part) she was nervous so I reminded her that it was pretend and then she really got into the cheering.  It was a very exciting show!  We're so glad we went! 

Afterward, we got to chat a little with the guy we were rooting for, you know, the bad one.  He was really friendly and told us all kinds of things about the show!  His armor suit weighs close to 75 pounds and they all travel around the country for various festivals.  This is their full time job!  Pretty amazing!  

Conversations

Had you been a fly at the wall at our house (or in the car) recently, here are just a few of the comments you would have overheard:

B: "The best part of my day today was when I blew my nose and ALL the boogers came out.  That would be cool if ALL the boogers were gone cuz then I'd never have boogers again."


B: "Mom, I just realized, if you don't like birds, that means you don't like the bald eagle. That's not nice."


M: "Brenna, please shut the fridge."
B: "Wha? How did you know...oh yeah, I forgot that you have eyes in the back of your head."


B: "Mom, here are all the teams that I wanna see: the Wildcats, the Cardinals and the Suns.  And you know what I mean that I wanna GO to a game, not just on tv.  So then people can see me on tv.  That's why I wanna go - for a chance to be on tv!"

Four eyes

It is very likely that one day, Brenna will need glasses.  Both sides of the family have them - everyone in the immediate family, so it is probably inevitable...unfortunately.  For now, her vision is great (last time it was checked). But, while perusing the dollar store yesterday, B found a pair of reading glasses that she just HAD to have.  She specifically said to me "I need them for nighttime, like you."  They are small like a child's glasses and have a pretty pattern on them, so I can see why they'd be appealing to her.  So, for the super cheap price of $1, I gave in and bought them for her (after all they came with a case too).  I popped out the lenses and whattaya know, a new toy!  She wore them in the car for a bit, but then took them off so she could surprise Travis when we met him for dinner.  While at dinner, she adopted all the mannerisms of a long-time-glasses-wearer (well reading glasses anyway), pulling them off to make a point, to hear better, to talk to someone. It was hilarious.  I have no idea where she got those mannerisms, I wear my glasses pretty infrequently and once they are on, they are on (or I won't be able to see my hand in front of my face LOL).  But it was adorable!  I think it's fun that she likes them and can only hope that it'll be many years before she actually needs them and that she'll still like the idea when the time comes. 

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!