Bree Talk

I've been able to be home more than usual these past few days and I've realized that Bree can talk. So since I think this is a sign of her exceptional giftedness I thought I'd share the dictionary of Bree.

Uhhhh. This is how she says Uh-oh. For some reason the oh never quite makes it and it's a very throaty uh. But she thinks it's great to throw things and say uhhhhh.

Da. Which of course means Dad. When I drive she likes to yell out Da!! and then I have to call back Bree!! It will go back and forth like that for a long time which is probably annoying to anyone else but I think it's cute.

Na. Which is No. She can actually say no sometimes but it usually comes out na. But she does shake her head when she says it and will sometimes shake her finger at you too.

Da. I know this is the same one as Dad but when she nods her head she's saying ya. And the sound is a little different. Some will say I'm stretching this one but it's real. She actually said yes this morning but I think it was an accident.

Boo or sometimes Ba. This is boo of course. She thinks this word is very funny and will laugh after saying it. She often times will hold a blanket in front of her face and do the peek-a-boo game at the same time.

There's not really a word for mom yet, which I tell Loralee means that Bree loves me more. I think she knows Emma has a name and will call for her but she hasn't settled into what to call her yet. There has been Eeeda, just Ma, or a whole slew of vowels that end in Da. She'll get it eventually.

But for 11 months I think that is pretty good. She has also been working on her growling which is useful for any wrestling she needs to do with Emma or me. She's definitely got some spunk and since she's almost as big as Emma is now I'm worried that she'll be picking on Emma soon. Hopefully they'll always love to play with each other as much as they do now. I'll have Loralee post some pictures of the two of them wrestling, it's funny to watch.

our little punkin'

I felt so bad that we didn't have any pictures of Bree in her costume for her very first Halloween, so I put it on her-she is so stinkin cute! Before, she totally fought me on the hat part, but I got her distracted, so she kept the whole costume on (well, minus the little booties) for a long time!

nothin' new

The stomach flu plagued us TWICE-NO FAIR (just Dave and Bree got it twice-I ended up with it on Monday night)! All last week we just stayed around the house and relaxed (ie: watched movies all day). Emma was going CRAZY. She doesn't normally have school on Mondays, and Tuesday was a teacher day. So since she had the flu the Friday before, it had been almost a week before she was back in school, and boy, did she need that! Dave realized she needed some sort of stimulation, so a couple nights when he got home he took her out-bookstore and sporting goods store and Target. At least we're teaching her young how to shop! JUST KIDDING. Dave never buys anything, Mom's the one with the issues here. Being sick has been great for our budget b/c I was just too tired to think of all the things I needed to buy from Target.

I think winter is on its way in. We've had some really windy days-enough wind to strip the trees bare. And I think we're all dreading what winter means...gloomy dark days, cold windy weather, and lake effect snow. Usually Lake Erie is almost frozen over by end of Nov/beginning of December. When it's frozen, that means we don't get the crazy lake effect snow. But it hasn't been freezing, so we're going to get some nutso storms this winter. My friend Chrissy said that's what happened their first year here and they had the worst winter ever. Good thing I'll be going to California for a month! Here's a cute picture of the girls looking out the window at the wind.

So Bree HATES anything that will keep her warm. Socks, shoes, jackets, hats, etc. I have tried multiple pairs of socks (tall ones, short ones) and different shoes (boots with velcro or zippers, shoes with velcro and laces), hats (beanies, snow hats with under chin straps)-she can get them ALL off! We're not gonna be able to go ANYWHERE this winter if this child doesn't learn to like those things. I even put tights on her one day and she was sitting in her car seat while I was driving, screaming as she was pulling on the toes to get them off. She pulled so hard that the crotch of the tights came down and her leg came up and then she pushed it back down through the OTHER leg of the tights-that made her REALLY mad! I finally got a hat on her last week and had her wear it around the house. Once I get her attention away from the fact that she's wearing a hat, she kind of forgets. And she looked SO CUTE! I have to say, with a hat on, she looks a lot like Emma. So here's a picture of Bree in a hat and Emma in a bonnet-their faces look so similar!

Happy Halloween

We've been SOOO lucky this week to have the Stomach Flu visit us! He's made himself feel quite at home, and has invited visitors at midnight, 12:30, 1, 1:30, 2, 2:30, 3:30 and 4:30 in the morning, then some more visitors a couple days later at 10:30pm and 7am. I think he might be afraid of me b/c I haven't seen him, but apparently Dave seems friendly enough to have seen him a LOT. We're lucky to have so many people come to call, what with Cold and Ear Infection coming last week. Bree's friend Antibiotic comes and goes b/c he doesn't like Stomach Flu, so once Stomach Flu leaves she'll have Antibiotic over for another week or so. Washer and Dryer are feeling pretty good about themselves b/c they've provided quite the service for me this week.
I apologize to any friends if Stomach Flu comes to your house. You can curse my name for exposing your children--I deserve it.
But at least Emma got to go trick-or-treating! Here's JoJo...and her sidekicks Cinderella and Ratatouille!

And here she is checking out the loot with Dad (who was keeping Stomach Flu company).

Family Pictures!

Just the latest

Guess we should update...not that I don't just fall in love with Dave every time I read his post (honey, you're the BEST), but we just need to update. Where to start? Friday night was the ward Halloween party and it was pretty fun! We ended up getting Emma a JoJo's Circus costume b/c she's OBSESSED with JoJo, and it looks so dang cute on her! Of course, forgot the camera, but we'll get more pictures tomorrow night. She won "silliest" costume...for being a clown, of course! The prize for all the winners was to throw a small pie tin of whipped cream at the counselors in the bishopric. She was quite perplexed by that, so Dave took the opportunity to show her, and got JJ Campbell pretty good! She was given a "coupon" for being a winner, and now every time she sees it she asks, "what did dad do??" wanting an explanation for throwing whipped cream. Saturday night was Tia's annual Halloween party, and this year it was ADULTS ONLY! WAHOO! It was fun getting to actually pay attention to other adults! And, once again, forgot the camera. So I'm just waiting for the others to send me pictures. Dave and I were vampires (thanks Chrissy!), and joked the whole night that Dave was "Edward" (if you don't know who I'm talking about, you'd better get on the ball...TWILIGHT!). Other great costumes-Justice League, Darth vader and leia, pirates, red riding hood and wolf grandma, dorothy and scarecrow, mummies, fred and wilma, and one couple wore all blue with blue wigs, and had Jean and Gene on their shirts...a pair of blue jeans!! That couple is always so creative!

Sunday afternoon we took a drive to Brandywine Falls. As always, it is soooo wonderful to be able to get "out" and enjoy the peace and beauty that is usually interrupted by noisy cars and stores, etc. I feel so strongly that I want to live somewhere where I don't have to "drive" to get to a place like that. The girls had a blast just exploring-Emma with her eyes and Bree with her mouth. And we DID remember the camera :)

And tonight was FAMILY PICTURES!! We will finally have a family picture (okay, we took one this time last year at Julianne's wedding, but I was large and swollen and prego, so that doesn't count!). We will be getting the CD of pics tomorrow, so after Trick or Treating I'll be posting again...pics of JoJo and family pics.

midnight and too much caffeine

For some reason I decided to drink a lot of Dr. Pepper with my dinner and now I can't get to sleep. I've been sitting here for hours browsing through everyone's blogs and I've got to say it's been a little emotional. The caffeine is probably to blame a bit but I think I'm having a moment as well. Which is a big deal because I don't have very many moments.

As I've seen what's been going on with all of you I've been remembering the times in my and Loralee's lives when we were lucky enough to have found our friends. The things I remember are for the most part small and insignificant memories but all together they mean a lot. Whether it's Loralee coming home excited about a new friend she's made in whatever ward we were in, thinking of times spent around a campfire, going to Leatherbys and getting sick on their french fries, or just hanging out and enjoying some fluffy cookies (That one's for you Lisa, those were some good cookies). Knowing that we have people to enjoy life with means a lot.

I know that I never said it to any of you because I'm a guy and guys don't say these things. But thank you for being our friends. Thank you for being there for us when we needed help. Thank you for loving our girls (Kari, you get a special shout out because you helped bring Emma into the world and I'll always love you for it). Thank you for letting us laugh with you. Thank you for being there for my wife when she needs a girlfriend to complain about her husband to. Thank you for filling our life with memories that we can lean on for happiness when a day is filled with anything but. Thank you all for being who you are.

Well, I'm glad I got that out of my system. Let this be a warning to all guys out there. Apparently Dr. Pepper has been spiked with Estrogen. Drinking it in excess can cause outbursts of feelings and a strong desire for deep, emotional discussions. It should not be consumed in connection with any holiday or close to your wife's birthday as this may lead to excessive spending and future credit problems.

Birthday Shout Outs!

Here's a Happy Birthday to:
Angela
Big Al
Ramee
Alisha
Noah
Ryan
Who knew October had so many?? Spooky Happy Birthdays to you!

We're MANIACS!!

Last night was Cedar Point. We got there in the evening (open until midnight for Halloweekends), but it was so crowded there were 2 hour waits on most rides. So it was a good thing we chose to do Dragster first! This thing was CRAZY. Dave put me under covenant to ride any ride he wanted me to...of course he didn't REALLY have control over me, but I couldn't stand in line with everyone for 2 hours and not ride the ride. I was nervous the whole time. Here are the stats on the ride:


You launch forward reaching 120 mph in 4 seconds, then rise straight up, twisting 270 degrees while rising 420 feet into the air, then rotate 90 degrees and go straight back down.


And we got it all on film!!! Of course, you might not be able to see much, but you CAN see Dave's face and hear our screams. When we were seated and moving forward I said, "I can't believe I'm doing this." And Dave said, "I know,I didn't think you'd actually go through with it!" Lovely, but too late. The beginning of the video is us just sitting there...waiting...for FOREVER.


It was a great night-we had a ton of fun with our friends and it was nice getting a break from the kids! We'll definitely be doing this again next year when we can actually make it on all of the rides!

Tagged

I have been tagged by Mindy. Actually Loralee was tagged but she doesn't think she can come up with anything so she's making me do it.

The rules:

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.

B. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.

C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. I'm scared of bugs and spiders. I hate them. I don't know why God created them. They're horrible in every way and the thought of them makes me feel like a little girl. If we see a really bad one I make Loralee kill it because I'm afraid it will touch me and give me bug cooties.

Let's all remember in our prayers to pray for the total destruction of all spiders. I think it's a reasonable request.

2. I have hypersensitive skin around my face. I hate to have someone touch my face. In fact I don't even like it when someone gets close to my face. I think I have people claustrophobia.

3. Morning farts are the best farts of the day. Loralee is embarrassed that I'm writing this but I know there's a lot of you out there who agree with me. Lets have a shout out for morning farts!!

4. I drive a scooter. I think it enhances my masculinity by demonstrating that I'm not afraid to sit like a girl on a bike. I get some strange looks in the middle of winter when I'm wearing my ski pants, coat, gloves, and goggles riding down the street with 1/2 a foot of snow on the ground.

5. My toes look like potatoes. I've also been told that they look like Hobbit feet. But I like Frodo so that's OK with me.

In fact if you ask me I think they're very sexy toes. Very symmetrical.

6. I believe that in Heaven there will be fountains flowing forth with root beer. I love that stuff. It goes especially well with curry if you have the chance to try that. Barqs, A&W, any root beer is good root beer. But not root beer flavored candy, that's a desecration of the sanctity that is root beer.

could you be any more wholesome than this? Yeah rootbeer!

So there you go, 6 things that make all the ladies out there glad they passed up the Dave train. I hereby tag: Asialene/Davis, Adrienne, Chris/Stacy, Jeff/Alisha, Matt/Annie, Debbie/Jim. I put a good 5 min into this people so I want some effort here!