Watching ESPN

We watch a lot of ESPN at our house.  I mean A LOT.  Brent loves sports just about as much as anything.  Other than me, Brinley, and Elsie of course.  Sometimes I even find myself surprised at the random sports knowledge that I have obtained by having ESPN on in the background.

Well all of his ESPN watching came in handy for Brent's school recently.  A few months ago Brent saw an ad on ESPN about a grant they were giving away to schools to obtain sports equipment.  Brent wrote up an essay on how his school is in great need of new weights and sports equipment.  Well, the essay was convincing enough that the school became a finalist to receive either a $20,000 grant or a $2500 grant. They submitted a video of the conditions the current weight room was in, and voila.  A few months later, and he just found out that the school won the only $20,000 grant and is now getting new weights equipment.

Brent is like that.  He sees opportunity in things that I see as futile. He always has confidence that the best can happen.  I didn't think anything would come out of it.  He proved me wrong. That's why I love him. I guess sometimes it is worth the little bit of time it takes to invest in something, even if you don't know if any good will come out of it.   

5 Months

Elsie is 5 months old.  5 months doesn't seem very old, until you realize that means she is almost 6 months old.  For some reason 6 months seems very old to me. And then so does 5 months.  I keep asking her to stay just how she is.  But she doesn't.  She just keeps growing and ignores my requests. 

This little girl is so much fun.  She is always keeping us happy.  She loves her older sister and will laugh at her over nothing.   I love her laugh.  I could probably record it and just listen to it all day I love it so much. 

She rolls around like crazy and is always ending up in places we didn't leave her. 

She is now a whopping 13 lb 3 oz. Not too big, not too small. I don't know how long she is.  I forgot to measure.  Now she is asleep and there is no way I am waking her up now.  

She loves toys that she can grab onto and put in her mouth.  She loves to suck on her fingers. 

She is still bald, although she does have a few hairs that have lingered since she was born.  Those few hairs are now about 5 inches long.  It might look a little funny but I can't get myself to cut them.  I am holding onto anything I can get. 

Elsie is great sleeper.  She will sleep until about 6 every day, eat, and then go back to sleep for a few more hours.  I'll take it. 

I can't get enough of this girl.  I get her to myself almost all day and still it's not enough.  I love you Elsie!

Not to compare kids or anything...

Sometimes I compare my kids to each other.  Probably shouldn't do this.  Okay, so usually it's just something like how they look and at what age they are doing what. Don't worry I love them both.

Sometimes  I can't even remember what Brinley looked like when she was Elsie's age.  I feel like Elsie must look just like Brinley did.  The other day we pulled out Brinley's photo book and compared.  They do look a lot alike and in some pictures they are VERY similar, but they definitely are different.  

Here is a comparison of the two at about 3 months of age:

Brinley.  Nice and Chunky

Elsie.  Not quite so chunky

Their smiles are very similar.  Big and wide open.

Brinley

Elsie

 And of course sleeping. Gotta love a sleeping baby.

Elsie

Brinley

Sisterview Blog

I just wanted to let all of my diligent blog readers - I think there may be 3 or 4 of you - that you should check out this blog www.sisterview.com that I now contribute to(a whole 1 post).

My sister in laws started this a few months ago and were kind enough to invite me to participate in it with them. They are all amazing women and always have something interesting to share.  I hope that I can live up to their expectations. 

There is currently a give away on it for some beautiful velvet pumpkins going on until tomorrow night.  Go on over and check it out!

Christa 

Brinley is two!

This little cutie had a birthday a few days ago.  I cannot believe she is two.  But she is.

She is growing up.  Literally.  She is 2 feet 10.5 inches tall.

Here is a little about Brinley at age two:

• She has just begun potty training and is doing marvelously.  Except for when she is not..
• Her favorite toys are stuffed animals.  Especially the giant Minny Mouse she got for her birthday
• She loves playing at the park and digging in the dirt.  She is a playground pro
• Her best friend is Charlie.  Maybe even her only friend.  They love to hold hands when in their strollers
• She is finally starting to talk and loves to tell us that she loves us 
• She knows her colors (although they get a bit mixed up at times), a few shapes, how to count to three (minus the number 1), nearly all her body parts,  and pretty much any animal sound and name
• We just realized she knows how to distinguish between movie, show, and tv. Isn't that great (sarcasm)
• She LOVES her baby sister and is always the first to hear when Elsie is crying
• Her favorite food is beans and current favorite color is blue
• She can recognize cougars, the letter Y, and a BYU logo.  She can also do the "ra-ra" part of the BYU fight song with us.  Her father has taught her well.
• She has the cutest laugh that is quite contagious

Here are some pictures from her 2nd birthday

We had a blast with a hot air balloon themed birthday party.  Brinley still has a good stash of balloons covering the floor in her bedroom

We love you Brin bear!

Halloween 2011

Oh Halloween how I love you. There is something about the pumpkins, the leaves, the smells, and the cool air that just gets me excited. It reminds me of all the good memories I have had in the fall in years past.  

This year did not  disappoint.  We had dinner with friends, went trick-or-treating with the kiddos, and watched a -not so scary-movie.  I have decided that the reason I have children is so I can go trick-or-treating.  Okay so that may not be the only reason, but it does give me a good excuse to get out on Halloween night.  Brinley absolutely loved trick-or-treating.  I have been working on getting her to say trick or treat for a while now and couldn't get her to say it.  However, as soon as we started and she heard one or two kids say it and magically get candy, she was all about saying it. What a fun holiday for kids.  

This year Brinley was a cow (thanks grandma!), Elsie was an owl, I was a cat, and Brent was a....you can fill in the blanks on that one.

Brinley with her first piece of candy.  Wrapper still on.

 A few minutes later she managed to get most of the wrapper off.  By the way never try to take a half eaten sticky sucker from a toddler.  It doesn't go over so well.

Brinley with Charlie.  They are best friends.

I hope you all had a wonderful day!  Now on to Thanksgiving...

2 Months and Counting!

Elsie is already 2 months old!  Oh this little girl.  How I love her.  

She is now 10 lb. 4 oz  and 23 inches long. 

Elsie has recently become a champion sleeper with stretches of 7 hours almost every night.  How any one ever survives the lack of sleep a newborn brings is beyond me.  Yet somehow I have done it.  Twice.  

She is full of smiles, and especially loves smiling at Brinley. Here are some of her first smiles:

She is growing up too fast.