September Photos

Here's the link to the September photos:

http://photos.walmart.com/share/p=896301222827200325/l=16851932/g=3342801/cobrandOid=1011/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

It's been a super busy month here (as you can tell from all the posts!). I went back to work and Braenna started daycare. Daycare is going great for Braenna, work is taking some adjustment time for me. It's not any easier the second time around. Both girls are growing so fast! Braenna is just a little bundle of smiles, coos and baby noises these days. Mikaiya finally decided to get on board with this whole potty training thing and is now in undies full time (except at night). Yay Mikaiya! That's all from here for now!

Cultures Parade

The kids had a cute little parade at school on Friday. It was the "Celebrating Cultures Parade". All month long each class has been assigned a country and they have been learning about that country. Mikaiya's class was Italy and Braenna's was Japan. For the parade, each class dressed up like something from their country...chefs for Mikaiya's class and karate kids for Braenna's. Afterwards we got to sample foods from each country that the kids and their teachers made.




Braenna had a great time at her first parade...she slept the entire time and didn't even flinch! She sure did make a cute little karate baby though:

Here's Mikaiya in her little chef's outfit...

Plano Balloon Festival

Saturday was our second annual trip to the Plano Balloon Festival. We had a great time! We got there late afternoon and Mikaiya did a few activities in the FREE kid's tent and then got to jump in a bounce house...her new favorite thing!

We then went and sat out on our blanket to watch the balloons launch. This is a picture of a bunch of them up in the sky. Mikaiya was so funny, she kept saying "they're way up high and I can't reach them!".

Here's a nice family shot with the balloons in the background:

After all of the balloons get back, they set them all back up at dusk and do a balloon glow. There were some cool new ones here this year, like the Panda, Mikaiya's favorite:

And here's a picture of them all glowing, it's so neat to see!

I don't think the pics do it justice, so here's a video we took of the glow also:

A great time was had by all! Braenna LOVED the balloon glow and the fireworks at the end. Mikaiya loved everything up until the fireworks at the end. She's still talking today about how she doesn't like fireworks! That's okay though, that won't stop us from heading out again next year!

Braenna's Baptism Weekend

What a busy weekend here! Braenna had her baptism on Saturday and it was quite the event. Aunt Teresa, Aunt Cece and Emily came in Wednesday night and left Sunday morning; Grammy came in Thursday morning and left Sunday morning; Nana and Pop, Uncle Johnny, Aunt Jen, and Max all came in Friday night and left Monday afternoon. We had quite the turnout! The baptism went well and Braenna was just adorable in her beautiful baptism gown that Grammy made for her:We all think Grammy needs to start a side business!! We went to the Dallas World Aquarium on Friday, had the baptism on Saturday with a little gathering at the house afterwards (during the hurricane...which turned out to just be some wind and lots of rain here), and then went to the zoo on Sunday. It was such a busy weekend. Everyone is exhausted, but I think a good time was had by all. Thank you to everyone who attended her special day and to all that took the time to travel all the way down here. It was great to see everyone and we had a really nice time! Here is the link to the pics from the weekend, I apologize for the large quantity, but I wanted to get them out and didn't have time to sort them: http://photos.walmart.com/share/p=746151221528100839/l=16800976/g=3342801/cobrandOid=1011/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

3 Months Old!

Braenna is 3 months old today! It is hard to believe, time is really flying! There was not a whole lot new this month that I haven't already written about, with the exception of starting daycare. Braenna of course did wonderful (mommy did okay too!). Braenna is really growing these days and becoming more and more alert and interactive. She still loves to be talked to and played with. She's even growing to somewhat tolerate tummy time! She is up to about 12.5 pounds now and I'm finding new baby rolls to clean on a daily basis! She is really filling out. Here are some pics from recently:

Braenna's First Day of Daycare

Three months old today!!



Her cute baby smile!

August

Sorry for not posting in awhile! Things have not been very eventful here, so I have not had a lot to write about. I guess it's time to wrap up the month and post monthly pics though, so here goes...

August was a pretty slow month for us here as far as activities go, but the month really still just flew by! Mikaiya had a pretty good month. We have been working hard on potty training and she is really making a lot of progress. She wears underwear now all weekend and has been doing well. We still have a few accidents here and there, but that is to be expected. She also moved to her new classroom at school, which has been good too. She was in Early Preschool I and is now in Early Preschool II. Based on the names, I wasn't expecting a lot of differences, but I was very wrong! Mikaiya's new teacher is responsible for preparing all of the kids to start preschool. She is very regimented and strict and runs a very tight classroom, which is perfect for a bunch of 2 1/2 year olds! She is working on potty training the whole class since they cannot move up until they are officially done. Mikaiya is still wearing pull ups most days in school, but she keeps them dry usually. She has been resistent to undies at school because she had an accident one day and was very upset by it. We (us and her teacher) have decided it's best not to push her and we will let her decide when she's ready. We have been getting a lot of homework ourselves in this class too...flashcards, chore sheets to make Mikaiya fill out, etc...

Braenna is growing like a weed! She is up to 11.5-12 pounds now and seems really long too! She's had a month filled with smiles, coos and all kinds of curiosity. She loves to look around and hates to lay still! She's been sleeping through the night for a little over a week now which has been really great for us! Go Braenna! Hopefully it keeps up since I go back to work tomorrow and she officially starts daycare. I was really worried about how she was going to do at daycare being that she pretty much sees just me and Jeff...oh yeah, and Jodi...her favorite person to sleep on! But we had a very busy weekend this weekend and she was great with all of the strangers at three different loud get togethers we were at. She let anyone hold her and was very content, so I'm feeling a little better about it all now. She's been quite the trooper this weekend and has shown that she's just a laid back, easy baby! We are so lucky!!

I think that's about it for the month here. Sorry this post is so long, but I haven't written in awhile. I am really nervous about going back to work tomorrw, worrying about leaving my little one (even though I know she's in good hands), and worrying about getting back into the swing of things after being out for 4 months. Should be an interesting week!

Here is the link to our pics for this month: http://photos.walmart.com/share/p=22511220291521214/l=12749016/g=3342801/cobrandOid=1011/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB Sorry again about their being so many, but I tried to keep it to as few as I could!