the swings

The other day Jamie and I took Brenna to the park. We were the only ones there, so we all swang on swings together. I think every adult should swing on a swing as often as possible. It kind of makes you feel like this again.






Some more from the park...

Jamie just found my cell phone

It had been missing for 2 days, sending me into a panic. He has his new Iphone, and has been shaking his head at me because I can't keep track of my 2-year-old cheap Samsung that doesn't even take pictures.

The saddest thing is, I have not missed a call.

Oh, and I have been blaming Brenna the entire time (she enjoys putting things in the trash can), but it was actually in the diaper bag, where I put it myself 2 days ago. Sigh.

Jack and Sam

Last week, my friend Taryn came over with her two little boys, Jack and Sam.

Taryn gave me the confidence to start taking pictures of other children when she asked me a few months ago to do their 3-year-old and 1-year-old pictures after seeing Brenna's. Taryn and her husband Tyler (a pilot) live in North Dakota now, so we planned to do it when she visited her family in July. Here are some of the photos we took!

Almost 1-year-old Sam:

3-year-old Jack:






Brothers (getting them to stay together was HARD):


They were both so cute. Jamie and I are still laughing at how funny Sam is when he eats. He moans/grunts the entire time!

Brenna had fun with the boys, too. She is 14 months today, and Sam will be 12 months in about a week. I think we can officially call her a giant:

Brenna has been dancing

I took some more dancing videos this week!

These are from today. Brenna is in love with Carrie Underwood after spending her days with Aunt Kelly:

BRENNA DANCING TO CARRIE UNDERWOOD

BRENNA DANCING TO CARRIE UNDERWOOD WITH ELMO AND MINNIE MOUSE

And she also really likes FLASHDANCE, Kelly told us.

These are from July 15th:

BRENNA DANCING IN HER CRIB (very short, but my voice screeches loudly when playing with her, so turn your volume down).

And, finally, BRENNA DANCING IN HER PAJAMAS BEFORE BED.

She's a dancing fool. And our house is a mess we can see from these clips!

Our Third Anniversary

Three years ago today, I married my best friend.

Jamie and I might tease each other mercilessly (as he did to me when I somehow messed up the word, "cat,"when reading Brenna a book tonight), we might bicker over stupid things more often that most perfect couples, but at the end of the day, we are best friends.

Three years later, we still laugh - a lot. We are stronger than ever as parents together. We love each other very much, and we love our little girl more than anything in this world. Having her with us as our joint number one priority makes our bond even stronger.

Jamie is a great husband and father. He works extremely hard, and so many extra hours, to keep Brenna and I comfortable. He is much nicer person than me, and he is far more generous than I am. He tells me I am beautiful every day. I am so lucky. I hope the next 50 years are as great as the last three.

They say that three years is the Leather Anniversary, but we thought they said Refrigerator Anniversary because that's what we got ;) Vanna will show you...


Happy Anniversary, Jamie. I love you so much!

New fear of dogs?

Brenna has always loved dogs. Ever since she was an infant, she would kick wildly and squeal when she would see a doggie outside. When we were shopping, I'd take her to the mall pet store just to see her laugh. Even as recently as the 4th of July parade, Brenna followed a little black dog around rather than playing with the other kids.

I used to give Jamie a hard time about sending sweet Lilly (our loving, partially psycho dog) to his parent's house permanently. I said Brenna was like me, she was a dog lover, and he was depriving her of that love.

However, this weekend I let Bella, the neighbors' rottweiler, out in our backyard while they were away. Bella is completely harmless. Having her in our house, however, on Brenna's turf, could have changed her view of dogs, I'm afraid. Brenna now sees Cody (Erin and Rob's dog, who she is very used to) and jumps/runs away.

This is Bella.

And this is what Bella's presence in our house did to Brenna.


Which is so weird because we had Riley's third birthday party on Saturday...


...and Riley's family has an identical rottweiler, Bailey. Brenna loved him. I think it really was having the dog in her house that has caused this new phobia. She doesn't even want to read the Sandra Boynton book, Doggies; she actually threw it back at me.

just because she's getting so big...

The following pictures were taken after Jen's (my cousin Michael's wife) baby shower on Sunday. There were about 10 babies under the age of 3 there, and the wildest one of all was Brenna, of course.

At one point, she jumped up while Jen was opening her gifts, ran out of the room shaking people's hands on her way out. In the hallway, she stole another toddler's sippy cup out of a diaper bag... all in 5 seconds before I could get to her. Not long after she threw a huge fit about sharing her Abby Cadabby doll or "Bath Baby" with her cousin Isabella. She wanted one in each arm and Isabella's snack pack of golfish all at the same time.

My mom thinks Brenna is hysterical. I guess she kind of is.