Super Sibling Saturday!

Good morning Uncle Charlie!

Peeking around the tree Charlie R. was leaning against

Aunt Quinn and Uncle Charlie in Dana Point

Daddy and Brynnlee going to see the balloons

the view from the park at Dana Point where we enjoyed a picnic

I will upload some more pictures in a few minutes that are coming from Quinn's camera - but here are couple from our day in Dana Point yesterday with Charlie R. and Meghan. Their new place is wonderful - walking distance to so many things and everything inside brand new! They were kind enough to give us a tour of the hot spots in Dana Point and helped us pick a good place to get sandwiches for lunch. We had a picnic at a park overlooking the beach that had some shade and room for Brynnlee to walk around and explore. She came back time after time for more bites of our sandwiches and crackers. : ) Balloons at a birthday party caught her eye and Eric helped her get a closer look. She was also intrigued by the bark on a tree and then with the man leaning against it - Charlie R.! I love the way she pears around things curiously with her head cocked to one side - too cute.
After our picnic we took a little walk to get a better view of the beach and then drove over to the Oceanography Institute. Brynnlee enjoyed taking a look at the fish and other sea creatures that were right at her level. What a neat experience! Always something new!
Eric and I headed back home after the Institute visit with Brynnlee who was completely spent. Charlie and Quinn stayed in Dana Point and enjoyed, what sounds like, a really nice dinner with live music and beautiful view.
Today we are taking it easy and probably spending some time at the pool and around the neighborhood. Brynnlee is happy to be with her toys today - and even happier when Charlie and Quinn woke up and she realized it was time for another day of FUN!
Hope everyone enjoys their Labor Day weekend. We will be sad to see Charlie and Quinn go tomorrow ---- but know it is just two more weeks until Nana and Grandpa get here! Hooray!
Love to all,
Jennie
xoxo

First Day

Aunt Quinn and B with the card that says "I LOVE YOU" when you open it!

Uncle Charlie putting together B's early b-day gift

So happy with the new stroller for her babies

Look at her go! : )

As Brynnlee enjoyed her breakfast of waffles and blueberries yesterday she had a big surprise! Down the hall came Uncle Charlie and Aunt Quinn! A lot of laughter ensued and she seemed to want to be freed of the constraints of her high chair until Uncle Charlie attempted to pick her up. She was ever-so thrilled to see them both, but nervous about the prospects of being held by new/old people. : ) She quickly adapted to the house guests as they talked silly and laughed with her about everything. They brought a card that attempts to teach her to say "I LOVE YOU" which went over very big. At first the card made her nervous, but then she LOVED it... especially chewing on the edges.
We drove out to Toys'R'Us so Charlie and and Quinn could pick out something for Brynnlee's birthday. It was a fun trip and we realized that Brynnlee will never meet a baby doll she doesn't like. Charlie carried her in the Ergo Baby carrier which was quite a sight..... chunky Brynnlee hanging off the front of skinny Uncle Charlie.
Then we went by Costco to pick up the necessary items - shrimp and salmon - and Charlie was introduced to what happens when Brynnlee is teething. : ) I heard a screech from behind me as we were walking through the parking lot and Charlie shouted "SHE BIT ME!" Quinn and I laughed pretty hard and I told him to imagine.... it could be worse... she only bit his shoulder. : ) We headed home and Charlie and Quinn put together the stroller which pleased Brynnlee to NO END. (see pictures above) She was so happy to push a baby around - laughing happily until she runs into walls and cabinets. : )
Today we will head up to Charlie Rinehart's place in Dana Point and take a look around that beautiful area. Will report more soon.
Love you all lots,
Jennie xoxo

TOO big!

first getting in

TOO big! : )

On Thursday, while we were cleaning up Brynnlee's room, she decided to try out her baby cradle. It was quite entertaining... I laughed a lot while Brynnlee expressed her frustration for being a bit too bit. It was a nice break in the cleaning for Uncle Charlie and Aunt Quinn's arrival! Hope everyone is having a great Labor Day weekend.
xoxo, Jennie

Brynnlee's couch World Tour BEGINS! Labor Day weekend - New Year's

Well, Brynnlee's World Tour from home begins this weekend! Boy are we excited for a busy Fall, full of visitors and FUN! : )
Here is our busy schedule and know - we always have room and time for more if you get the urge to visit!

Labor Day weekend -- Uncle Charlie and Aunt Quinn
Mid Sept -- Nana and Grandpa (my Mom and Dad)
End of Sept - Early Oct -- Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Zelent (Eric's grandparents)
Early Nov -- Aunt Emilie and Uncle Tom (my great Aunt and Uncle)
Thanksgiving -- Papa and Grandma Shirley (Eric's folks)
Christmas -- Nana and Grandpa, back for more fun!

Best Birthday Party EVER! : ) aka the best day of Brynnlee's life.... YET!

We went to a birthday party for Maya (4 yrs old), our next door neighbor, this afternoon. I am currently dubbing it the best birthday party ever, or in the world of an 11 month old - the best day of her life!!!! : ) I am being silly, but honestly think she had more fun in the two hours she was there than maybe ever in her whole life! : ) What sealed the deal? Lots of kids and a bounce house. She has seen them before and appeared intrigued by kids going in, a lot of screaming, and kids coming out in breathless flusters, but never has she experienced THE BOUNCE HOUSE herself! It was quite a sight! During the party she really enjoyed the company of the lady of the day, Miss Maya aka BIRTHDAY GIRL, her little brother Maddox and all the other wonderful people under three feet tall! She snacked on macaroni salad and a bit of a hot dog bun, sipped water from her pink sippy cup and watched the excitement like it was the Moscow Circus happening before her very eyes! She played a video game drum set, checked out all the pictures in the pool house to point out the one dog she could find (barking and smiling while she pointed!) and even got a chance to hit the pinata. It was a great afternoon. We thank Linda and Raymond (Maya's mommy and daddy and some of the best neighbors EVER!) and Maya for sharing her special day with our family. Here are a some pictures for your viewing pleasure.
Hope everyone had a great weekend!
xoxo, Jennie



I know that tune!

woof, woof! Can you see the little dog in the picture?

Maya a.k.a BIRTHDAY GIRL

Linda and Brynnlee

Linda assisting Brynnlee with the pinata


Brynnlee and Ben in the bounce house
(Ben is 1.5 y.o. and was the only kid in there with her - don't worry!)

bouncing QUEEN!

dresses are a drag!

so fun!

"Um, is anyone going to get me out of here?"

Pictures from BBQ at Lake O'Neill for Rhys's TBS send-off!

playing in the dirt with some friends

Tyler and Brynnlee playing cars

"COME BACK Tyler!"

"I'm pointing at you - that means COME BACK!"

B thought I was too busy snapping pictures

to notice she was eating sticks.... sneaky

little thing!

BUSTED! laughing and thinking she'll suck her

thumb instead..... : )

Slow week!

Sorry I have not posted in a while.... we are here, but things have not been too lively. Brynnlee has been a bit out of sorts this week so we have been taking it easy. On Monday we did attend a picnic with the wives from HMLA/T-303 and Brynnlee enjoyed the other toddlers in her midst. After Monday we have been mostly homebound - initially planned b/c we are trying so hard to conserve gas. The plans to stay around the neighborhood were reinforced by Brynnlee's out-of-sortedness --- I can make up my own words, it is MY Blog! : ) Not sure if it is teeth, tummy, runny nose or a combo of all three, but things have been slower this week. She still is into everything, i.e. pulling the answering machine down on top of her yesterday, but not her usual cheerful self. She has been really clingy and not as into other children. Yesterday I asked Linda, next door, to bring her pre-schoolers over for a little sprinkler time to see if Brynnlee would perk-up. It was straight out of a commercial for depression meds.... the sprinkler started pouring into Brynnlee's face and she just stood there with this look on her face like "now WHY would ANYONE do this for fun???" We made a little nest on the floor in the living room this morning and camped out for a few hours and now she seems to feel a bit brighter. The last picture I am including is her eating lunch right now - corn, spinach and turkey. YUM! : ) She is happy and banging on the tray while she eats. All good signs. Maybe she is learning at much better age than I did that you can't ALWAYS be the happy one! : )
Love you all and sorry for the hiatus... busy weekend ahead, so should have some pictures to put up soon!
xoxo, Jennie
ps
not to mention NO ONE has been sleeping this week..... well, Daddy and Abe....

Pictures of our slow days

resting with Daddy before bed

getting a big girl pillow

taking it into the living room for our 'nest'

feeling better at lunch today!

Let ME try Mama!

Here is Brynnlee trying to feed herself. It was painful to watch but she was quite pleased with herself - even if she was eating off the wrong end of the spoon. Bless her little soul...... she makes Mommy and Daddy laugh! AND that in turn makes HER laugh! : )

Hope everyone is doing well.

xoxo, Jennie

Here comes trouble....

Here you can find Brynnlee making her way across the kitchen. I could tell you that the blanket was throwing off her balance, but who are we kidding? : ) Someone refered to her in public today as "a little drunk looking". Sweet thing. She is just a bit unsteady.... but getting faster each day against all of her mommy's pleading to SLOW DOWN. She is looking to the lower right in this short clip and as you can imagine.... it is b/c Abe was next to me and she was headed right for him! Poor dog... before long he will not have a moment of peace! Love to you all.

xoxo, Jennie

An Average Day....

A lot of people ask me what an average day

consists of with Brynnlee. Anyone with a wee bit

knows, but for the record.... it is tons of fun and very tiring! We love every minute of every day, minus diaper changes (the old theory of it's me not you, doesn't apply here.... it's her, not me!), getting out of the bath (she is so sad it's over!), and having her face wiped off after a meal (which it always so desperately needs...food in places it shouldn't be, i.e. hair, nose, eyes, ears...). Here are a couple of pictures from a recent fun day. We had Brynnlee's friend Olivia over to play in the living room and Olivia brought her mommy Brit for me to chat with. The girls had a ton of fun

checking out toys and getting some insight from

the mommies on sharing. They even played a

little peek-a-boo through the windows of 283 1/2. : )

After the play date Brynnlee had a nap and we headed down to the pool in the early evening when the sun was not so bright. We waited to see Daddy drive by and then headed home for dinner!

Hope everyone is doing great. Things here get more and more exciting with each passing day as Brynnlee becomes better able to communicate her wants and needs (sometimes she is VERY needy!) and gets around faster and faster!

Love you all,

Jennie

xoxo

ps

Please excuse the odd spacing of pictures and text here.... I was trying to move the pictures around and was not nearly as successful as one (namely ME) would hope! : ) xoxo

Gardening with Brynnlee

I have had a lot of frustration with housing this summer over our yard.... a lot of little things adding up, but the long and short of it is they keep doing crazy things! They are trying to be helpful but just aren't very organized, etc. While we were in VA they 'weeded' our flower beds which apparently involved pulling up all of our plants that Nana spent so much time planting last Fall!!!!.... and then last week they began our morning with workers in the back yard, a mulcher parked next to my bedroom and a guy hanging from a cherry-picker thing cutting huge limbs off a dead tree along our fence that started bouncing off our roof. It was the last straw for me after a series of nearly comedic events and last week.... oh boy.... if you talked with me you know we were NOT sleeping last week b/c of a new tooth one of us was getting (not me and not Eric....) so I had finally gotten B down for a rest that morning and I had actually gotten in bed (which rarely happens during the day) and here starts the cutting, banging, mulching and BARKING. Abe was not keen on people in his yard! I must say, as a side note, I nearly cried laughing when Abe ran into the back yard and I witnessed two or three grown men jump the fence in a single bound to get away from him. They screamed like girls. It made up for the terrible racket a LITTLE BIT.
Anyway, my whole point is (I know, I know, GET TO THE POINT!!) housing and the yard people have been driving me crazy. However, this morning, I heard a little noise on the front step and when I looked out there I found a nice note and an entire flat of flowers for our yard. The people that housing pays to fix trees and do some yard maintenance had dropped them off to "apologize for the situation last week and replace the ones they pulled out". It was a refreshing surprise and are absolutely beautiful flowers. (I have a feeling they did not knock b/c my "please do not knock, baby Brynnlee is sleeping" sign was up this morning!) : )
After Brynnlee's afternoon nap we headed outside to work in the garden. She had her own little shovel to play with and was enamored with the hose - though not with the water part... just lifting it up a lot. She was pretty happy playing on her sheet with toys until I started really digging to plant the flowers.... it was all down-hill from there! I had to take off her dress that was caked in mud and for the next 30 minutes she kept sticking her hands in the mud and attempting to taste the mud - though most times I was too quick and was able to stop her. She sat pretty well from time to time if I made the chimes play. She would just stare up at them in wonder. The chimes on the front porch are a beautiful set that were a wedding gift from Aunt Judi and Uncle Bernard in New Mexico. When we stopped at their beautiful home on our way across country they gave them to us and we had just enough room in the car to slip them in and continue our journey. They now hang on our front porch and are a really beautiful set - like none I have ever seen! The sound they make is beautiful and melodic and apparently music to Brynnlee's ears!
I am happy to report that our only casualties of the day were the sheet she played on, her dress and a doll's outfit - but otherwise we successfully survived the experience. All three of our 'casualties' are already in the dryer and are stain free!
I hope you enjoy the pictures. I have other stuff to share but will have to hop online again another time. Super tired and ready for bed!
Have a wonderful week!
Love you all - Jennie xoxo

Gardening with Brynnlee

I've got the hose Mama!

WHO is dirty? Not ME!!!

Those flowers look good enough to eat

I see a bug....

watching kids walk by the house

playing with the chimes Aunt Judi gave Mommy and Daddy... with a muddy hand

Time for a bath! Heading inside....

Brynnlee making sure Maddox is behaving... boys are so funny!
Watching the birds
On the statue with Maya and Maddox
NOT SURE about the carousel
really NOT SURE.... maybe b/c it looked like she was riding ABE!

Here are some quick pictures from a recent trip to the Wild Animal Park with our neighbor Linda and her cute kids, Maya and Maddox. We have an annual pass and I like to take Brynnlee just to get out of the house. As I told some of you... she much prefers watching kids to the animals.... and there are lots of both at the Animal Park! : )

Busy here - but finally slept better last night after a week of ZERO sleep, so good day here! Maybe a trip to the pool is in our future....

xoxo, Jennie

a few pictures to share....

sporting a new headband

making a bed in the hamper

loving her koala

yes, Brynnlee, that IS dog hair

ready for her close up.....

xoxo