Pictures with Santa

Friday night, we had a class party and guess who made an appearance??


I really think Piper thought this was Grandpa, but something was different. She just looked at him for the longest time. Never afraid, but very intent.

Holiday pictures

We had our pictures taken on Saturday for the holidays. I just had to show off these sweet little dresses. Overall, the session went fairly well. Brenna hasn't been feeling great, so we were pleased with the outcome.

Brenna hadn't quite warmed up yet...


Brenna warmed up and was pleased to take her picture with Piper.


Piper wore out!!!

Another lookalike....

Brenna was wondering around Aunt Mary's house and found a picture of Aunt Mary's oldest daughter, Donna, and thought it was Piper. I find the resemblance remarkable as well. This picture isn't a great side by side comparison, but the essence is there. I find it odd that both my children look so much like Josh's side of the family, and opposite sides of that family as well. Aren't genetics fun!!



Over Thanksgiving, we went to Texas to be with Marsha's sisters and their families. We had a wonderful time and the girls adored them all.

Brenna was wondering around Aunt Mary's house and found a picture of Aunt Mary's oldest daughter, Donna, and thought it was Piper. I find the resemblance remarkable as well. This picture isn't a great side by side comparison, but the essence is there. I find it odd that both my children look so much like Josh's side of the family, and opposite sides of that family as well. Aren't genetics fun!!

Last night in church...

OK, I don't a photograph for this one, so you will just have create a picture in your mind.

I don't have to take Brenna out from church very often, but last night we had a little power struggle. She really copped an attitude with me about sitting down on the pew. I picked her up on my lap and whispered to her, "If you don't change your attitude right now, I am going to take you out and spank your little bottom. Got it?"
I put her back down where she was, then asked her to sit in the pew. She told me no. So, I took her hand and started to climb over Josh and Brenna says in a full voice, "Don't spank me real hard, Mom." I was trying really hard not to laugh, but the whole way out she was whispering some version of "just spank me real quiet, Mom, not loud or hard."

I guess I should finish up by telling you that she did get spanked "loud", but when we went back in and sat down she had no more trouble obeying.

Seeing Double???

Josh's Aunt Judy sent this to us not long ago. The black and white is Judy when she was three(ish), the other is our Brenna (with Piper).

Happy Halloween!!!

Below is the only Halloween picture for 2006. It taken at Sonshine School Tuesday morning. (What kind of scrapbooking mom am I?)


For those who haven't heard, I made Brenna a beautiful "Belle" dress (from Beauty and the Beast) at her request. The plan was to make Piper be the teapot. When it came time to hem the skirt, I asked Brenna to try it on and she refused. And she continued to refuse. I never made the teapot costume.

The evening of Halloween, the girls and I went to the Storybook Forest. It is a trick or treating trail set up at Lake Arcadia. We were able to walk through the forest and read fairytales like The Three Little Pigs, Little Miss Muffet, Sleeping Beauty and The Itsy-Bitsy Spider (which was actually quite large). There was candy at each stop and then at the end of the trail they had several games set up with prizes. Brenna didn't want to play any games, so we just rode the hayride back to the beginning, where they had a bonfire and we could roast hotdogs and make smores while a woman read more fairy tales. It was a wonderful event that I plan to make a Bailey tradition for as long as the girls will do it.

After that, we went home and handed out candy. Of course, the first person at our door was some punk kid with a Scream Mask on. From then on Brenna was afraid to go to the door...or even be in the living room really. Thankfully no nightmares resulted.

Even though nothing went as planned, it was good day. And sweet Piper, was just happy to be anywhere. She wore Brenna's ladybug costume from her first Halloween and seemed to enjoy watching all the activity of the evening.

Next year will be even better!!!

School Pictures!

Piper, age 9 months



Brenna, age 3

Brenna got a camera

Why is it we all have such goofy looks on our faces when Brenna gets the camera??

a trip to Target

One saturday a few weeks past, the girls and I loaded up after being at the shop all day. As we walked to the car, Brenna reminded me that she had not taken a nap. She then declared she didn't need one because she wasnt' tired. I told her that was fine and that we were going to Target to get Piper some formula and stuff to make cookies. She, of course, was thrilled by this. As we pulled in the Target parking lot (which is less than 2 miles from the shop) Piper was sound asleep and Brenna was doing the head bob thing. I started talking to her to wake her up as we parked. She perked up and started talking about what she wanted to look at in the store adn just which cart she wanted to use. I knew our time was limited, so I was moving quickly. We went to the grocery section first and got chocolate chips. As we rounded the isle for formula, I noticed Brenna was falling asleep sitting up in the cart. I tried singing and talking but nothing woke her up, only her head falling forward..and that was only for seconds. I picked up my pace even more and headed to check out. Of course, when we got there, there were only long lines, even in the express lane. Piper was still asleep. I picked Brenna up and let her sleep on my shoulder (kind of sitting on the handlebar of the cart) while we were waiting. Then it came time to put our stuff on the conveyor belt. I jostled Brenna around and asked her to help me. She got down and sat on the floor of the cart, and immediately went to sleep. Since my arms were free, I just unloaded, purchases and reloaded our stuff while she slept. I decided to leave her where she was until we got to the car. This seemed like a good plan. But not so much. As we were about halfway to our car, Brenna rolled right off the cart. I scooped her up as quickly as I could, and realized the girl never woke up. I was laughing so hard all by myself in the middle of the Target parking lot with absolutely no one share it with. I wish you could have been there!!!!

Just for future reference

It is probably best not to call our house from 7-8pm on Saturday evening if you want to talk to the girls. We now watch Lawrence Welk. I should say 2 of us (the little 2) are mesmerized by Lawrence Welk. Thanks, Pa!!!

Another Prayer...

This weekend Josh was on call, and he was called a lot. We went out Friday night with his co-worker to celebrate the completion of their annual inspection (it went VERY well). He ended up going back in around 9pm and got home about 5am. Then got called back in at noon, home around 2ish, back in at 3:30. I got a message from him around 5:30 saying he finally called of on the stuff he was waiting for (it is very typical to go up there and just wait for a while on the stuff he needs.) and it turns out the crossmatch was canceled around 2 and she "forgot to call". Argh. SO...he came home and ate dinner and then had to head back around 8pm.

After bathtime, playtime and quiettime, it was finally prayer time. Brenna decided she wanted to sleep in her star shirt because Daddy had worn his to work that night. She then asked me if she could wear her star shirt to church if Daddy wasn't home in the morning. I, of course, said we'll see.

Brenna deviated from her standard prayer and said...
"Dear God, Thank you for this day and our house and let Daddy get home safely."
What mother would cry over THAT!!!

Long over due!

A family walk to the park, with BOTH strollers.

So, my sweet mother pointed out that it has been far too long since I posted any updates here. I apologize for my tardiness and will jump right into the latest and greatest.

Brenna started Kindergarden last week and truly loves it. She is the most advanced in her class and is working on perfecting her cursive writing and 2nd grade reading skills. Piper is walking, talking in complete sentances and is nearly potty trained.

OK, so it hasn't been THAT long! haha

Brenna is back in Sonshine School at the church were I work. She loves being back in familiar ground, although she did great at the other school as well. She is always telling me who her best friend is, which changes daily but most often includes Jaylen, Nathan and Lily. Occasionally I get a teacher or one of my friends thrown in that role, but not very often. We play dollhouse everyday at our house and I think we all enjoy it. The dolls do everything we do in our normal routines, such as make dinner, go to the doctor and work, and take naps. Our dollhouse family consists of mom and dad, grandma and grandpa, and about 1/2 dozen kids. Seldom are all the dolls played with at the same time, and if they are, it is usually just to let them all watch Dora together on the TV.

Piper has 7 teeth and tries them out on anything and everything. I can't wear earrings or necklaces now because Piper will just eat them. And she only seems to want to eat nonedible things. We have tried nearly every kind of vegetable manufactured in the baby isle, and she doesn't like a one of them. If we are lucky, she will just clamp her mouth shut so we can't put it in. Sometimes she opens wide, gets a mouthfull and then blows a raspberry and sends the veggie of the day all over anything in a 3 foot radiace. And lately, she has just been leaving her mouth open with her tongue sticking out until the food eventually slides right out of her mouth. For the most part I have given up this task and have just moved on to table food. She is doing better with that. Peas are not a favorite, but corn, meatloaf, chicken and pears make their way down most of the time. The girl could eat her weight in Cheerios though.

We were grocery shopping the other day, we being the girls and I, and an older lady (70ish) started tapping Brenna on the shoulder. This of course made me rather nervous. The woman asked Brenna if Piper was hers. Brenna just looked at the lady and hugged my leg. She kept asking if that was her baby. Finally Brenna said yes. Then the lady asked if she could have the baby. At this point, Brenna let go of my leg and got on the cart, closer to Piper and put on her big happy smile and said 'Nooo'. The lady said "Tell your mama to get you another baby, because I want this one." Brenna just looked at me and moved even closer to Piper. The lady repeated her statement. This time Brenna said "You can't have that baby, I want her, she's my sister and I LOVE her." The lady chuckled and told us to have a good day as she walked away. I was so proud of my sweet girl, I just had to hug her neck. I also know I need to write this story down in the scrap book. Brenna may need reminding that at one point in her life she had the option to get rid of Piper, but chose to pass it up and is forever stuck with her now. haha

I will try to do better in the future with this, but come on, my girls keep me BUSY!!

Interesting....

A friend sent me this link and I thought it was fun. For me, it said I looked most like Christina Ricci and then Angelina Jolie (Whatever!!!) and Josh looked like Matthew Perry. So I ran the girls and this is what I got.

I"m not sure what to think of this...

our world has changed

So last night I was talking to my parents on the phone just catching up over the weekend. I was actually fixing dinner (pancakes) with my trust 3 year old assistant. We could hear Piper splatting her hand on the kitchen tile. (you have to step up to get in our kitchen.) I told my parents that Piper can get 1/2 way into the kitchen but hasn't figured out how to get her knees up in it since she does the army crawl. I love hearing her slap the floor and talk because she is so excited about it. Not long after I told them, we hung up and I am not kidding when I say that I didn't even get the phone back on the reciever when Josh said "Piper is in the kitchen!!" Sure enough, she figured it out!! Soon she came crawlign around the corner past the fridge just as happy as could be. I, of course, took her right back to the living room...I mean I was frying sausage, it was a safely issue!! ; )

Last night before bedtime, we gave Brenna little quiet time in her room. She usually sits at her table and colors or does stickers and listens to music. Last night, while her little "Wee Sing" tape was playing, she started playing with a new Dora book she got for her birthday. This Dora book has it's own CD player. The idea is to play the music while we read the story. Brenna just plays the music. Only one or two songs do we even recognize and the entire thing has a Hispanic flair, because it is Dora the bi-lingual Explorer after all.

Last night she was playing the CDs and bouncing to the beat. When we went into pray, she told us she had one song she needed to listen to before she was finished. As she was switching out CDs, she turned to me and "I just love music". We just praised her and told her she was a good singer and that we were glad she loved music. But inside I was cracking up at my three year old talking like a much bigger person.

"Dear God..."

We say prayers as a family every night. Usually Josh goes first, then me, then Brenna. We allow Brenna to pick the order and there is seldom any diviation from that routine. We have had to work on her speaking slowly and clearly so we can understand her. We have also had many conversations about how our praying makes God happy because he likes to hear what we are thankful for. When Josh and I pray we change how we say things, but generally it is the same things; thank you for our family, the day, protect us, help us all obey, etc. Well, Brenna's is the same every time. "Dear God, thank you for Grammy and Granddaddy, Grandma and Grandpa, Mama, Piper, Daddy and Brenna. In Jesus Name, AMEEEEN."

One night not so long ago, she said "Dear God, Thank you for Grammy and Granddaddy, Grandma and Grandpa, Mom, Pipes, Dad and Me. In Jesus Name, Amen, hey I changed it up!" The changes were quite sutle, but she was proud and we were proud for her.

Drum Roll Please....

Piper is crawling!!! At 7 months and 1 week she army crawled across the living room floor last night. She was quite proud of herself, as we were. And like good second time parents, we got it all on film.

Picture Time

Brenna's 3 year pictures...

and a few with Piper...

Birthday Blow-out 2006

Well, yesterday we opened the last of the birthday presents. And Brenna made quite a haul!! And I must say the Dora creators made a little profit this week! She got Dora Candyland, shoes, treehouse, school, bathtoys, cd/book, stickers and bubbles. She also got adorable ladybug rainboots, raincoat, umbrella and hat. She wears these (not the coat yet) while playing with her veterinary kit...go ahead...get the visual. It is quite funny. She also got a stroller and car seat for her baby dollsand 2 new babies...which means we now have 4 with us at any given time. While we are riding in the car she likes playing with her computer alphabet game. It does entertain her, but let me tell you those things can get annoying after a while. haha.

It took us a week to open everything, not only because there was so much stuff, but also because she was so appreciative of what she got. She really enjoyed each thing along the way. It is wonderful to have such a greatful child.

Piper gets her leftovers. Mom gave Brenna an adorable ladybug stuffed animal. Brenna opened it, picked it up by the antenna and handed it to Piper saying "This one is for Piper". For those who don't know, she has a texture aversion. If you think it is wonderfully soft then it is something Miss B won't like. So far, Piper is not showing any signs of this, she just eats everything.

Piper has her 4 top teeth really trying to get out. I really expect to see them any day now. I know she will be greatful when they pop through.

The Dora Adventure began with the Map

They had to cross the bridge....

Go through the Singing Gate....

And climb up Star Mountain to get the candles for the cake!!

I think everyone had a wonderful time!!!

And if these pictures don't make a mama proud, I don't know what will...

Happy Birthday to Brenna

As many of you know, Brenna turns 3 today! She doesn't quite get it, but is very excited about the Dora Adventure that is taking place in our backyard tonight. I will post pictures and updates about that by the end of the week.

In the mean time, we had some film developed with some irristable pictures of my girls that I just had to share.

My parents gave Brenna a water park :) for her birthday. Our first day to try it out, she wasn't so crazy about it. Turns out the water was FREEZING cold!!! Since then she has decided she likes it. Piper hung out in the baby dome while Brenna splashed around. We all had a fun time.

The other picture of the two girls makes me want to cry. I just can't believe how grown up Brenna looks. Where is my baby??? Oh wait, she is right beside Miss B! Brenna reminds me daily she isn't my baby anymore, Piper is. Brenna claims to just be my big girl. Hard to argue with that.

Docker Stephens

Last week, we took the girls for the doctor appointments, Piper's 6 months and Brenna's 3 year. Brenna has been on a kick lately where she wants to go to the doctor for any bruise or ouchy...turns out she "hurt" her knee and "needed a shot" the night before our appointment. We took advantage of this charade and ran with it. Turns out Miss B was rather excited about seeing Docker Stephens. She took babydoll, because she has been sick lately (we've been taking babydolls temperature regularly). Dr. Stephens did a remarkable job of checking out all three of our patients. Everyone got a clean bill of health.

Piper is 50% for height and weight and Brenna is 50% for height and 75% for weight, which really surprises me since her pants are falling down most of the time. But regardless, they are both doing great!! And baby seems to have been healed in the doctors office as well.

At the end of the visit, Brenna declared she wanted 2 shots. (Piper was getting 3). We argued for a bit and then I said "Let's get one done and if you still want another one, we can talk about it then." She got her one shot and hardly reacted at all. Her little face grimaced, but then she immedately asked for a sticker. Then for another sticker. I think she wanted two shots to get two stickers. Dr. Stephens informed her that when she is 4 she will get 4 shots. Won't that be a fun day!!!

And Piper only cried until we got her paci in her mouth. What good girls I have!!

Fruit Pies and Rainbows

Brenna has been singing as long as she has been talking. And she does a surprisingly good job at carrying the proper tune. Now the words are a different story sometimes....
Her recent favorite song is "Blue Skies and Rainbows". I do love to hear her sing this song, for several reasons. 1)I remember learning the song in late grade school/early middle school and loved it. I am thrilled that she has learned it so early and seems to love it as well. 2)There is just something to be said and busting out at the top of your lungs praising God. 3) She has truly made it her own and she knows what she is happy for...you see...Brenna doesn't sing Blue Skies and Rainbows, she sings "Fruit Pies and Rainbows" and there really seems to be no hope of explaining the difference. And to top it off, she ends not with the traditional "Never more will I be all alone since HE promised me that we never shall part", she opts for the perhaps up and coming version "Never more shall I be all alone since he promised me that we'll always have tart". You see my girl loves dessert in any form!!!

Getting Started

After getting Piper's 6 month pictures taken last night, I decided we just needed to get a way to share them with everyone. I have no idea how often I will update this or if I will even remember the passcode to add to it, but I'm sure going to try. haha

So...Piper is six months old. She has two teeth and is currently working on a couple more. She drools all the time and chews on anything she can get her hands on. She is still a delight and has a smile that absolutely melts your heart.

Brenna will be three next month but unfortunately is already looking forward to four. I suppose that is the drawback of hanging out with older friends (Jaylen). She is very independant and knows what she likes. In her play world, anyone, and I do mean anyone, can be friends. Strings on floor suddenly become buddies with her Little People and things are often "Oh so tute!"

I"ll write more and add more pictures as we get things developed. I hope you enjoy this blog !!