Bramell, Party of Five

'Tis the Season 2011

2012-01-23T22:50:00.000-06:00

After much debating and thought (well, not that much), we decided not to make the trek to Wynne for Christmas. Just the sheer amount of stuff we'd have to take along with the kids was overwhelming. Not to mention the crazy amount of stuff we'd be bringing back home!!

Let's just say my kids were treated very nicely for Christmas. They should not be bored or in need of something to play with for many, many years. Literally. I'm glad they are so loved, but FOR THE LOVE OF PETE, would someone else in my family please start having some babies!!!

I love the look on Becca's face here when she was opening her BIG gift.

Pop got Carley her very first baby doll. She loves it!

Here's the "big" gift put together. Thanks to Lee and his mad toy-assembly skills. Becca is in love with this dollhouse.

I need to take a picture of it now. She got a set of 7 Disney Princess Barbie dolls for Christmas. Those, combined with the few she already had, make for a crowded house. Poor kid only has one Ken doll--she calls him Justin Bieber! I told Lee the other night that it totally looks like the house on The Bachelor....all those princesses and one dude. Glad I don't live there.

One December night, we were lucky enough to have some pretty mild temps. We took the kids to the Fayetteville Square to see the Christmas lights. Becca was thrilled to ride the ponies, see a real reindeer and look at the smelly camels. Evan and Carley just hung out in the stroller and did some people watching.

Did I already post these pictures? Now I feel like I've blogged about this already...did I? Oh well, I'm not going back to look now.

Better late than never

2012-01-23T22:19:00.001-06:00

It just occurred to me that I haven't posted any pictures from Thanksgiving or Christmas! I almost forgot to do it. The Bramells spent a nice Thanksgiving holiday in East Arkansas visiting our families. We had a great meal with my mom's side of the family in Jonesboro on Thursday. We spent Friday watching the Hogs vs. LSU game at Dad's, but Karen had to work. Then on Saturday, we went over to Memphis for our first trip to the Children's Museum of Memphis. We got to have lunch with Bernie, Annette and Sarah, then they joined us at the CMOM. We had hoped to go to the zoo instead, but the weather was pretty yucky. The kids loved the museum! I know we'll be going back.

The kids loved grocery shopping at the Kroger in the CMOM....even the little ones knew just what to do! They filled their carts and went to scan their loot at the cash register. So cute!

They loved playing with Sarah....and I think she liked it, too. I think we had to drag them off the slide.

Here is Becca at the dental office. I think she'd make a fine dentist!

It was pretty chilly on Thanksgiving Day, but the kids just had to get out and run a little. I didn't get many pictures. I guess I was too busy eating!

Leave it to Becca to make a toy out of anything. She used the door to Aunt Pam's storm shelter as a slide!

I think Blake was trying to get Evan to stand still. Um, no way!

18 month check up

2012-01-05T15:01:00.000-06:00

The kids had their 18 month well visit last week. Poor babies had to get 4 shots each! They were surprisingly tough. I think Becca was more upset about it than they were. The good news is that we are done with shots until they turn four. Yay!

Dr. Davis was very happy with their growth and development; they are both right on track. In fact, they hit a growth spurt after the 12-month mark and moved into the 25th percentile and even 50th in a couple of categories. Carley is 75th percentile in height!

Baby A (Evan): 24.5 pounds, 31.5 in tall.

Baby B (Carley): 23.9 pounds, 32.2 in tall.

We questioned him a little about Evan's speaking, or lack of. Carley is definitely talking way more than he is. The doc said at this age they should have between 3-10 words they can say and we know what they are talking about. Evan has maybe two at this point; Carley closer to 10. He told us not to worry unless his speech hasn't picked up by the two-year check up. He says most babies' speech kicks in right before they turn two. Evan certainly has no trouble telling us what he wants with his pointing and yelling, though.

While all three kids were running laps around the exam room, it occurred to me what our life is really like. I've been struggling to find the right way to explain it when people comment that "you sure have your hands full." Well, I can do it now! It's just like that scene in Toy Story 3 where the toys are fighting each other and Evil Dr. Porkchop (the pig) drops the Barrel of Monkeys out of the sky! That's it! They are the monkeys....it's totally like someone dropped a real life barrel of monkeys in our house. Every. Day.

More Becca Funnies

2012-01-02T21:19:00.000-06:00

It's late and I'm trying to get to bed so I can get up early to exercise. Wanted to write down a couple of Becca funnies before I forget.

Becca and Carley went to stay a few days at Tracy's house the week of Christmas, so Lee and I could finish our last minute prep. The first thing Becca said when she got home (seriously, THE FIRST): "The house is so clean!" Yeah kid, much easier to keep clean with only one kid around. Duh.

We took the kids to Silver Dollar City for the last night of the Christmas Festival. We didn't tell Becca we were going until we were ready to leave, as she has turned into a Miss Million Questions kind of gal. It's exhausting. We were literally on the other side of Springdale heading out of town when she asked (for the first time), "Are we there yet?" Seriously, 3 miles from our driveway.

Then, poor kid, the anticipation was killing her. The traffic into SDC was horrible, the parking was horrible and waiting in line at the gate wasn't much better. We got inside before dark, so she couldn't really get the whole effect of the lights right away. It wasn't long after dark that she was running around screaming, "It's the first day of my life!" over and over. Hilarious, as we're sure she meant the BEST day, not the first. But who could burst her bubble like that?

Pre-holidays 2011

2012-01-02T21:06:00.000-06:00

I know it's been a long time since the last post. Oh well, December happened. Will try to do a quick update, as it's getting late and my vacation ends tonight. Ugh. So not ready to go back to work!

Before Christmas, we took the kids to the mall. We thought we'd do some shopping--but--it was someone's bright idea NOT to bring the stroller. HA! No way, Jose. Those kids were going buck wild. We stopped to see Santa but not one of them cooperated. I'm sure it was quite funny to anyone who was watching us: Becca stayed in the line, the babies actually walked up to him but wouldn't sit with him. We finally settled on a high five from Santa and went on our merry way. At least there were no tears, right?

Every time we are in the mall, Becca has to ride the little rides. So I guess now we've started it with Carley and Evan. They loved it! Note to self: always take plenty of quarters or you're screwed.

The Fayetteville Square is always so beautiful at Christmastime. I have more photos, but these came off Lee's phone and are much easier to access. Becca rode the ponies twice. Better than last year, when she cried. See, we are making so much progress! It was pretty cold out, so we didn't stay long. Babies enjoyed looking at all the pretty lights. Evan enjoyed flirting with all the old ladies.

Sneak Peek

2011-12-01T19:47:00.001-06:00

Last month, Kim Ginn at Sweet Portrayal, who is our favorite photographer, did a special Christmas session giveaway on her Facebook page. Guess who won? ME! I dreaded the session for a whole week, just knowing the kids wouldn't cooperate. It was pretty crazy, but everyone did okay except Carley, who didn't want any part of it. Kim was still able to get some amazing pictures! If you live around here you should definitely try her out. She is great with the kids. I am only posting a few of the pictures because the best ones will be in a mailbox near you very soon; they are going to be our Christmas cards. Yay!

When I saw these pictures of the kids something very strange happened. All the crying, whining, fighting, hair-pulling, butt wiping, running, tantrums, back talking, bad attitudes, time-outs, climbing, and pooping in the bathtub suddenly didn't matter. I LOVE THESE KIDS. They are my heart and soul. And, boy, do we make some beautiful babies or what?

Becca is sitting at the computer with me right now. She just said, "Awww, I look so adorable!" And yes, she does. I love this picture of her on the bed.

When I saw this one of Evan, I almost lost it. What a gem! I tell him all the time that it's a good thing that he's so darn cute because there are so many days when I think I might just sit him out on the curb with the trash. Until I look at this face...

Kim took this one without us even knowing it. We were trying to calm Carley down during her fit. The kids were eating M & M cookies and getting crumbs and chocolate all over the white bedding! What a perfect picture of us (and Becca's little attitude).

New Pictures

2011-11-20T16:21:00.001-06:00

Just a quick post to put up some new pictures today. We are still floating on Cloud 9 after the excitement of college football this weekend. We've got HOG FEVER around here, baby! Better than Bieber Fever, right? Hoping that next week I can post about us beating LSU and maybe (maybe?) going to the championship game!

Here's a sweet little pic of Carley waiting for her lunch one day last week. I love when Lee sends me these sweet little shots while I'm at work; it just makes my day so much better.

Evan wanted his lunch, too!

WOOOOOO PIG SOOIE!

Guess what? We got to go to a Hog game for the first time in a couple of years. Such a good one, too--the game vs TN, where we had a couple of amazing offensive plays.

Snacktime at the Bramell house.

More Halloween

2011-11-07T21:18:00.000-06:00

Here are a few more pictures from our Halloween fun. Becca wore her costume to school, but the little ones just wore their holiday shirts instead. Much easier to get them around this way.

Carley and her crazy hair...I swear, the kid needs a haircut every 2 weeks!

I promised Becca that we'd make Halloween cookies. We tried last year, but they didn't turn out very good. Much better this time, and she enjoyed decorating them. What's funny is that I don't think she even ate one cookie! More for me and Lee...

Our 2 Jacks

My spooky skeleton boy--he was clearly not amused.

More Becca Cuteness

2011-11-02T11:40:00.002-05:00

You know that Becca is always cracking us up around here. I've had many stories in my head that I've needed to blog about, but haven't had the time lately. She is so talkative now, and her imagination is going wild! She is constantly talking about Disney World, Princesses and her imaginary friends. Having a conversation with her is not easy because we never know what she's talking about!

* The other day she was watching cartoons in the living room. I left the room to start some laundry. When I came back in, she'd accidentally changed the channel to the Home Shopping Network. They were selling rugs. She was sitting in the floor, totally focused on the TV.
Me: "Becca, what are you doing?"
Her: (very excitedly) "Mom, I'm watching this show about rugs!"

* Lately, every time I take her somewhere and leave the little ones home with Lee she says the same thing to him. "Dad, are you sure you can handle this?"

* Her imaginary friends are still hanging around. Last week, she even bought groceries for them when we were at Walmart getting our own food. We have lots of fun with Mouse, Squirrel and their mom Basagna (like lasagna). Funny girl!

Halloween Fun 2011

2011-11-02T10:45:00.000-05:00

I am glad we made it to Halloween! Becca was so excited that I just didn't think she could stand waiting another day. After much costume debating, she decided on her favorite princess, Ariel. Just our luck, we had the dress in our dress up supply, so I only had to find the red wig. Isn't she lovely?

The kids had their Halloween party at daycare with games, prizes, candy and a pizza party. I went for a little while then ended up bringing Carley home because she was super fussy and wouldn't let me put her down. Evan, on the other hand, didn't seem to even notice that I was there. He was too busy throwing things and climbing on tables and chairs. Becca did really well and wore her costume (wig included) for the entire party. Trick-or-treating was a different story...

The cutest mermaid under the sea.

We went to our old neighborhood so Becca could trick-or-treat with Madison. It was their 3rd Halloween together! We sure miss living by them.

The girls were funny and not even shy about saying "trick or treat" this year.

Before I get fussed at, this is about all the pictures we got of the little ones. It is impossible to get them to stand still for even a second! Lee might have gotten a few with his phone, so I'll have to check on that. After much debating and stress (for me), we decided on Mickey and Minnie for the little ones. You may recognize the Mickey costume since Becca wore it when she was 2. I found the polka dot dress at the Goodwill store and worked a little mommy magic on it to make it work for Carley. Add a tail and ears, and there you go!

Becca drove us nuts for a couple of weeks about dressing up with her. I couldn't talk Lee into it, but I went ahead and threw something together. It was really fun; the first time I've dressed up in many years.

Sweet little Minnie Mouse, on the move = blurry photo.

One of our friends from the old neighborhood (Nancy) invited us over to eat dinner before trick or treating. She made a nice dinner for us and the kids. Her little boy just turned 9 and I remember when he was the twins' age! Crazy!

I just had to take a picture of the little mischievous ones in the wagon. They just rode around all evening and hit each other with their pumpkins. They screamed, giggled, fought and yelled. It was pretty funny. About halfway through the night, Evan figured out that he could drag his pumpkin on the ground and make noise. So, of course, Carley had to do the same. It's monkey-see, monkey-do for them!

Overall, it was a good Halloween. Lee and I learned that getting 3 kids dressed and herded around is not easy! They all behaved very good, until the end of the night when Becca was so exhausted that she threw a fit. She's already talking about what costume she'll wear next year!

It's Fall, Ya'll!

2011-10-20T12:49:00.003-05:00

We woke up this morning to a brisk, sunny 35 degrees. Brrrr! I finally have some time to catch up on the blog. So much has happened, and again, I don't always take pictures. So you'll just have to read about the Bramell family adventures.

The first weekend in October, Grammy and Nanny came for a visit. The weather was perfect for an afternoon at the pumpkin patch! The kids all ran around, we took a hayride around the farm and picked our own pumpkins to bring home. We like the McGarrah's Farm in Pea Ridge; this was our second time there. We tried a different one last year but I didn't like it as well.

Here are my two littlest pumpkins checking it all out!

Becca loved riding on the mule train.

Funny pictures made us giggle.

All the kids loved playing in the hay tunnel. What a great, fun idea!

Evan & Carley weren't sure what to think about hay. They both touched it and looked confused.

What does a cow say?? MOOOO!

Two cool dudes. You can see the pumpkin patch behind them.

Carley on the hayride through the farm. We all enjoyed the ride and the stories about the haunted farm.

Big girl just wanted to climb, climb, climb. Such a warm day that her face was red like her shirt!

After wearing the kids out at the farm, we topped it off with a yummy dinner at Monte Ne Chicken. We don't go there often, but when we do, we wonder why we don't go more!

Crummy weekend, cute video

2011-09-18T20:59:00.003-05:00

I guess it's never too early to learn the Hog Call, right? I came home from the store yesterday to find that Lee had been practicing with the babies. So cute! And this video is from a day later; they still remembered how to do it!

Crazy Weekend/Friday Night: We were planning to head to Silver Dollar City first thing on Saturday morning. Instead, Evan barfed right after dinner. Then Carley barfed in her bed about 10:00pm. Second baths and changes later, they seemed fine. Not sure what was going on, but there was a sick kid in daycare last week so we figure it's some little bug.

Saturday: We woke up to pouring rain and cool temps, to find that Branson weather wasn't any better. We decided with poor weather and possibly sick babies, we'd better just keep the Crazy Train at home. Decided to postpone the trip to Sunday, where frankly, the weather didn't look much better but we'd chance scattered storms. Lee's nephew, Shane, stopped by to see us since he was in town for the Razorback game. We took Carley for her second haircut and went to eat lunch out on the town. We topped off the afternoon with a Bramell Family Nap and Hogs on TV. Pretty good day, after all.

Sunday: We woke up to cloudy skies at home. Checked out the Branson forecast and decided to take a chance. Of course 60% chance of scattered storms meant trouble. It didn't rain a drop on us the whole way there--until we pulled into the parking spot at SDC! The bottom fell out, and it started to thunder and lightning! Thankfully, we hadn't made it out of the van yet (like the poor suckers parked beside us!). We waited there for a while, then went back into town for lunch and more waiting. The kids were TERRIBLE during lunch. It was still pouring down rain, so we went right back home! Ugh. By the way, Evan has started throwing food at the table; it's lovely. We may never eat at a restaurant again.

Enjoy the video. It's the highlight of our weekend. Good night.

Oh, they are growing up so fast!

2011-08-28T20:54:00.005-05:00

Why didn't anyone warn me how hard it is to watch your kiddos grow up and change so fast? It's really pretty fascinating. Little Miss Becca has really found her personality this summer. She is starting to "get" humor. Her big thing at the moment is the ever-loved Knock-Knock Joke! God help us. We'll take turns; she tells us one, then we have to tell her one. Of course, her jokes never make any sense, but we all laugh like crazy hyenas anyway! Then, she will say: "Joke me!" when she wants us to tell her a joke. This goes on for hours until I could poke my eye out with an ice pick. Lee and I really need to step up our game because her jokes are usually funnier than ours.

Last week, she moved up to the 4-year-old class at daycare, which is technically preschool now. She has a new teacher (Ms. Leah) who I think will be awesome for her. Besides being the mother of twin boys, Ms. Leah is a real certified elementary teacher! This makes us so happy about what lies ahead this year; Becca is going to learn so much.

*Side Note: I just went to tuck her in bed and she's listening to her radio. "I only like Lady Antebellum and Lady Gaga, OK?" she says. Then I explain that I can't tell the radio what songs to play. *

Can't take pictures of the babies without taking some of the big girl, too. It was spaghetti night at the Bramell house. Yum!

I caught Carley & Evan playing footsie at the dinner table. Of course, they quit by the time I got the camera out. They have even starting holding hands in their high chairs, too. It's sweet.

We've had Becca's play tent and tunnel put up under the bed for a few months because our house was overrun with toys. So I took the tunnel out the other day for the little ones to play with. They loved it! You can almost see how hard they are thinking while trying to figure out what the tunnel is for. I guess Fergie told them what to do.

Carley and Evan are almost 15 months old now. Carley has finally started giving kisses--I thought she never would! They are starting to babble at each other a lot, but nothing is making sense yet. They also seem to fight with each other more; one taking toys from the other, etc. I can't figure out who is the bully; I think it's pretty even. However, I do think that Carley is the mastermind and Evan is the muscle in most of their schemes. They are starting to work together to do things--like open drawers, climb on things, dump over the trash, etc. You can just see Carley trying to show him what to do, then they both get it going together. It's hard to get mad when they are laughing like maniacs over pulling out all the tissues or unrolling an entire roll of toilet paper.

Oh yeah, and if you are visiting the Bramell house and something comes up missing--check the bathtub. Seriously. The tub is the new lost & found: shoes, binkys, toys, brushes, you name it. One guess who the culprit is? You're wrong....we caught HER in action this weekend.

And I have to tell a funny on Evan. I swear I am not even exaggerating about this. The boy will stand up to pee in the bathtub every night!! At least 3 nights of the last week he stood up, grabbed the towel bar with both hands for support and peed right into the tub. WTH? It's like he is totally doing it on purpose.

I'm tired.

Headbangers Ball?

2011-08-27T17:04:00.002-05:00

Just in case you have been wondering about the difference in little girls and little boys, I will show you here. I have no words to describe this crazy little boy. Also notice how his sister is playing quietly in the background.

Ever wonder what we do at night?

2011-08-07T13:42:00.003-05:00

Carley & Evan are officially walking!! Things just got a whole lot more nutty around here. It's always playtime right before bed. Probably another reason why someone is always getting a bloody lip.

Funny things to remember

2011-07-22T12:59:00.005-05:00

I've had this post written in my head for a few days, so I need to just get it down before I forget. I'm doing a poor job keeping baby books or memory books for the kids, but so thankful for the blog to help document all the things I want to remember to pass on to them when they are bigger.

I took this picture of Carley the other day. She is our climber! We never had to worry about Becca climbing very much, but Carley is a whole other story. WOW. This was one morning while I was getting ready for work. I put them in the "cage" to play and walked back through the house to find her on top of the laundry basket.

Carley

Carley is just really quirky, I think. Besides climbing on the laundry basket, her favorite spot in the house is on top of the hearth. Now, it's really just about a 3" step...but she loves to sit up there. What's funny is that she can't figure out how to get down! She'll sit up there and play forever, then cry when she's ready for us to come get her down. It's hilarious!

She also has a lovey, which Becca never did. She loves to sleep with her blankie then drag it around the house all day.

The kids are usually sitting at the table eating dinner when I get home from work in the evenings. Becca and Fergie will run to me at the door, Evan will wave at me from his high chair, and Carley will scream bloody murder and cry until I pick her up for hugs. On the days when they aren't already eating, it's a dogpile on the floor when I come home. I love it! It's so sweet to be missed when I'm gone.

Evan

Talk about a busy-body! Evan is on the move and never, ever still. It's strange to already be able to see such a difference in having a baby boy vs. baby girl. He is so destructive; he tips over the trash can, flops around in the tub like a fish and throws things like crazy. His favorite activity is throwing the ball--and he's really good at it! He can throw right to where he's looking and he can stop a rolling ball with his hands and legs. YAY~~maybe we'll have a Major Leaguer!

Becca

The other day Lee and I went together to pick her up at school. She got into the van and asked us if we know Justin Bieber! Lordy, I am so not ready for that yet! I guess the kids talk about the Biebs, because we definitely do not at home.

We've been talking a lot lately about her growing up and getting big. She says that she doesn't want to get big, that she just wants to be a kid forever. I'm trying to convince her that getting big is fun! Ha! The other night, she was helping me fix dinner. Here's our conversation--

Her: When I get big, we can all work at at restaurant.

Me: Who?

Her: Me, You and Daddy. I'll be the cooker and you and daddy can be the bringers!

Me: What's a bringer?

Her: You know, you bring people the food!!

I guess it does make sense. : D

Carley's first haircut

2011-07-22T12:43:00.002-05:00

Big girl Carley got her first haircut the day after her 1st birthday! She really had been needing one for a couple of months, but I wanted to wait. There is a new place in Fayetteville for kids called Pigtails & Crewcuts, so we gave them a try! The decor is so cute, with the fun chairs and TV's everywhere.

Carley surprised us for sure! I expected to have to hold her for the haircut, but check this out! She sat all by herself and never made even a little peep. She was perfectly still and quiet and the lady was finished in 5 minutes. I just couldn't believe it! It was a Saturday and the place was packed, so we ended up waiting a long time. I guess the waiting must have worn her out.

We went ahead and got Becca's hair cut, too. She really liked the toy room to wait in and she liked getting a sucker after her hair finished. She looks so big sitting in that car!

Our life in pictures

2011-07-22T11:54:00.002-05:00

Here are a few more pictures that came off my phone.

Lee and Becca decided to have a backyard camp out over Memorial Day weekend. Can you tell who the boss is here? Poor Lee, got the tent all set up and hauled all the crap outside and they only stayed out for about 2 hours! Becca didn't want to settle down and go to sleep out there; but in her defense, it was pretty warm. Not too fun sleeping outside when it's 80 degrees! I know they will try again when it cools off; she was so excited about "going camping." Maybe we will even be brave enough to try the real thing with all the kids.

This picture actually came from Ashley's phone. She took Becca for her first big-girl pedicure on her birthday! I didn't get to go because I was getting everything ready for her party, but I think they had a good time. Doesn't she look like such a big girl?

Here is our awesome little garden! We have really been enjoying it this summer. Thank goodness I married a man with a green thumb. For as long as I can remember, Lee has always talked about planting a garden. I don't have the time or the patience for it, I guess.

Lee did every bit of the work to build and plant this thing. I just eat the goodies! We've had corn, peas, yellow squash and cucumbers. The green beans didn't ever grow. Becca has really liked watching the garden grow and helping to pick the veggies, too.

Wilson Park picnic and a rockin' good time with Becca

2011-07-20T11:12:00.002-05:00

We loaded up the crew and had a fun day at Wilson Park to celebrate Memorial Day. We joined our friends Mike and Jessica, Jason and Misty, and James and Angie to cook out and play. It was a pretty hot day but we toughed it out. Becca got to play with Emma and dip her feet in the water at the castle. She got in lots of playground time, too! Carley and Evan just hung out and watched all the action.

Becca loved playing at the castle. It's one of Fayetteville's landmarks. This is the park that is right behind the Kappa Delta house, where I lived for 3 years in college. I spent lots of time walking and studying at this park.

Trying to keep the babies on the blanket was pretty funny.

They weren't crazy about the grass, but also didn't want to sit still!

Poor Becca was so red-faced and hot!!

The first week of June was the annual Walmart Shareholders meeting in Fayetteville. Each year, they bring in several big-time concerts that are free to the public. I've been to a few over the years; I usually only fight the crowds if I think it's really worth it (i.e., Will Smith). This year, we decided it was worth it again!! We got a sitter for the babies and took Becca to see her first live concert and she really liked it! She loves listening to Lady Antebellum in the van, and knows several of their songs. Poor girl was just tuckered out by the time they got to her favorite song Need You Now. Of course, they save the best/most popular song for last. By that time, she was nearly asleep in my lap!

Darius Rucker (from Hootie & the Blowfish) is now a solo country star and opened for them. He did a great show--I enjoyed it a lot! He was great with the crowd and sang his own songs and some of Hootie's.

You can see we had pretty good seats, though we were on the side of the stage instead of in front. The downside was that we had about 5 levels of speakers blaring in our faces. I was afraid Becca would fuss about it being loud, but nope!

Fun with Pictures

2011-07-15T10:48:00.002-05:00

I finally got around to loading my phone pictures onto my computer--yay me! Lots of times I take pictures with my phone because I need to move quickly; by the time I get the camera out, I might have missed the shot.

I don't really know when some of these were taken, but they were all before the kids' birthdays. They are always doing something funny, cute or crazy that's worth snapping a photo of!

Check out Daddy's Little Helper--isn't this so cute?

This was right after the big week-long monsoon rains we had. We got a leak in the roof and one inside the fireplace. Evan was helping Lee fix it, of course. Just melted my heart! Speaking of roof leaks: we are getting a whole new roof! The hailstorm was the week of Easter, and they just delivered our roofing supplies this week. I suspect the roofers will show up at 6:30am tomorrow (Saturday!), the only day we can usually sleep in! Ugh.

Here's a great picture of my SuperHusband and the kids' SuperDad. They are sleeping and he's got it totally under control. Another reason I love this man...

Sweet picture of Carley giving Fergie some love. And Fergie (gee-gee) just sat still and let her. She will let Carley, but not so much Evan. Poor Evan, all boy--he pokes her eyes, pulls her ears and tortures that dog. Fergie will just get up and leave the room when Evan comes around. HA!

Speaking of that little toot, here's Evan hanging out in the backyard. I think this was one nice spring day before it got so miserably hot. Both girls were inside napping, so I got some play time alone with Evan.

I copied this picture off the church website where Becca goes to daycare. These are her two besties from school--Jaelyn and Ashley. Unfortunately, they have both moved to a different daycare this summer. Becca has been very sad about losing them; it almost tore me up. We have made sure to have playdates and they both came to her birthday party. Silly girls being silly!

12 month update

2011-06-24T07:41:00.004-05:00

I know I'm a little slow on this one. It's been a busy couple of weeks at the Bramell house. We had a week-long visit from Lee's brother, Dennis. Then his niece Jen came out to visit a few days. I'm sitting here thinking that I'm pretty sure we didn't take any pictures during either visit! Good grief, what's wrong with me?

Anyway, here are some more birthday pics. Check out their new wheels....don't worry about Evan, now he has a red car just like Carley's. It just took me a little longer to find a blue one. In the meantime, they shared. The cars are a big hit! And with big sister, too. I have new pictures to post later.

* Babies have been off the formula/bottle for almost a week. Yay!

* They are drinking whole milk, and eating like pigs.

* Evan was sick this week with a virus. He had a fever for a couple of days, followed by the upset tummy. He wasn't sleeping well either. It was a rough week.

* Neither baby is walking yet, but they are sure trying. Carley is standing on her own for a short time, but not going anywhere!

* Of course, they are into everything! We have to keep all the doors shut.

* Carley puts everything in her mouth--even teeny, tiny specks of dirt off the floor!

* They have one-year check up next Tuesday, so we'll know what they weigh, etc. Hoping to turn their car seats around after that.

Evan & Carley's Birthday Fun

2011-06-12T12:20:00.003-05:00

I can't ever seem to get the pictures to load in the order I want them, so you are going to see the birthday cake mess in reverse order! We didn't do anything big for them because I had to work Friday night. Lee's brother Dennis had been staying with us all week, but he left on the morning of the birthdays. So, about 4:00 we decided to let them have their cake and eat it too!

As we expected, Evan dove right into his cake. He took one swipe and went straight to his mouth. Carley just looked at hers for a while before finally poking it a little. Then she took a tiny little taste. It didn't take long until they were both covered and pigging out! They both ate a lot more than I thought they would. It was funny because they were so serious and quiet; they didn't squeal and giggle like Becca did with her first birthday cake.

In case you can't tell, I had their cakes decorated to match their birthday outfits. I think they turned out great! I'm sorry for all you family and friends who couldn't be here to watch---it's just a bad time for me at work, during Relay season. It's impossible for us to get away. But this was our last RFL weekend for the year, so it's all good now. Enjoy the pictures; video will be up soon.

Birthday Number FOUR

2011-06-12T12:10:00.002-05:00

Becca got her first big girl bike for her birthday! Of course, it has all the Disney princesses on it. She's been riding up and down the sidewalk in front of our house. We are still walking beside her; even with training wheels, it's still a little scary for her. She is getting the hang of it very quickly though!

When we were in Branson, she got to go in the Disney store and spend some birthday money. They were so nice in there; she got this cool birthday hat, a button and a birthday certificate. With her money, she bought a set of princess dinnerware---cup, plate and place mat. Also a Princess Belle t-shirt. She took her shopping trip very seriously and looked at everything in the store before making a decision.

This girl is all princess, all the time now! We have started talking about taking a trip to Disney World next spring, and she is so excited I don't know if she can wait that long. I got online and ordered a Disney vacation planning DVD, which came in the mail last week. When she brought in the mail, you'd have thought it was delivered by Cinderella herself, she was so excited!! Poor kid didn't even know what it was, but it said "Disney" on the outside so that's all it took. She immediately had to watch the video on Lee's computer. He walked by to check on her later, and she said, "Dad, I'm so happy I just cried a little!" Good grief. Now she's got us all excited about going--I don't know if I can wait till next year either!!

More SDC pics

2011-06-07T07:52:00.001-05:00

Weeeeee! We all rode the teacups.

Hangin' out

Rainy trip to Branson

2011-06-07T07:30:00.002-05:00

On Becca's birthday we headed off to spend a few days in Branson. We hadn't really planned on taking a "vacation" this year, but a few days away sounded really nice. Unfortunately, the weather just didn't want to cooperate with us. We only got one day without rain (Tuesday), so we headed to Steal Your Dollar City, I mean, Silver Dollar City then. The other days we did indoor things and tried to stay dry. We only got about 15 minutes in the indoor pool during the whole trip too, because they closed it down when the thunderstorms rolled in. My poor fishy was a little disappointed, but she didn't even complain!

Nanny and Grammy joined us on our trip. Always nice to have some extra hands. Lee and I were able to slip out and catch a movie on the rainy Monday afternoon we were there.

Here are some photos from Becca's first trip to SDC--she loved it!! The kid rode every ride they would let her on. Then she cried about the ones she wasn't tall enough to ride.....she must get that daredevil stuff from Pop and TP. Lee is very happy to have her riding with him, since I am too chicken for most of them.

We went ahead and bought season passes so we can go back whenever we want this year! I thought it would be something fun for us and pretty easy to manage, since it's only a 2 hour drive to get there.

Stopped for a snack. Being a daredevil makes you hungry!

That's Becca and Lee in the front of the log ride. It was not easy getting a pic of them moving past me.

Nanny and Lee on the "big swings" as Becca says.

Poor Carley had a fever this day, but she was such a good baby. They both had a good time looking around and taking in all the activity.

Becca was the only one on the kiddie swings!

The girls liked the carousel, but I couldn't get Evan to sit down on a horse. He cried and squirmed, so we rode on a car with him in my lap. I think he was sleepy.

I think we all rode the elephant ride at least once. Totally my speed : D

Birthday, Part II

2011-05-28T18:34:00.005-05:00

Here are the pictures of the kids playing at Boingo Bounce. Can I just say that I really wish we had thought of this business idea first??? It's just a big 'ole empty room with inflatable bouncy toys. You pay one price to get in and jump all you want....and parents are FREE! And yes, adults can jump, too. We did.

I guess I didn't get too many pictures because we were busy playing. They even had a cool area for the little babies to bounce around on. They liked the little rocking toys, too.

Ashley even stopped by for a visit.

Earlier in the day she took Becca for a real big-girl pedicure! Becca always has fun with Ashley.

4th Birthday Bash

2011-05-28T18:20:00.003-05:00

Becca had a great 4th birthday! We just invited a few of her buddies to the park for cake then all went over to the Boingo Bounce to burn off the energy. The weather was great for the park, and the kids had a big time and lots of fun.

Funny thing is, we weren't really planning on having a party this year. But a couple of her friends from school just recently had birthday parties, so that got her asking about hers.

Didn't take long for her to get hot and sweaty!

Of course, her favorite friend Grayson had to sit next to her to open gifts!

They are so funny together.

The Barbie dolls were a big hit!!

Becca insisted on The Little Mermaid cake. It turned out great and very yummy, too! She is totally into the princess phase right now. We rotate favorites between Ariel, Cinderella and Belle from week to week.

Month 11 Update

2011-05-19T09:55:00.002-05:00

Evan and Carley are quickly approaching their first birthday! I can hardly believe it. Just this time last year, as we were preparing for Becca's birthday party, I was feeling pretty miserable and ready for them to get here.

Here are some things about the kids this month.

Evan

Top 2 front teeth have finally broken through. That total is now Evan 4 and Carley 2.

For the past week, our best sleeper in the house has switched to worst in the house....could be related to the above item?

This boy wants to walk so badly! He is pulling up on everything; if you even walk past him, he will grab your leg and pull up on you.

Mr. Piggy loves to eat! He is out-eating Carley for sure. He will eat anything. And beg for more!

Carley

Still a good sleeper.

She is not the super crawler that brother is; instead, she does this funny scooting thing. But don't let it fool you; she can get anywhere she wants to very quickly.

She does not seem as interested in walking as Evan does.

Carley has a love-hate relationship with her bottles and food. She can take it or leave it. Sometimes she won't finish a whole bottle. She definitely does not want anymore baby food from a jar! She acts like that is pure torture.

Still crazy about her big sister.

Talking more than Evan, but no real words yet except for DA-DA-DA. She's just loud!

Here is a picture from dinnertime last week. Apparently, Miss Carley thinks she's in a recliner! This is how she sits every time she's in the highchair. She will even try to put her feet up when the tray is on!

Random Pictures

2011-05-15T11:36:00.004-05:00

I don't really have a purpose for this post, other than to put up some new pictures.

Here is Evan playing under our end table. Looks like he's in jail! Now that he's mobile, the kid won't be still. Carley will sit and play quietly with a toy, but not this little dude.

Another fun thing to do is crawl underneath the exersaucer. Who knew?

And, this post can't be all about Evan.....so here's a little video of The Diva playing with the ball popper. You can see a little bit of her crawling technique, which I call "wounded soldier" style.

**Note: I tried all day, and can't get the video to load. Will try again tomorrow.

Our soccer girl

2011-05-15T11:19:00.004-05:00

And yes, we finally have a new camera! Hooray!

Becca has been playing soccer this spring. Well, she is on a team. For the first several practices, she literally stood in the middle of the field with her head down and spoke to nobody. We almost let her quit, but decided to encourage, *cough* force her to stick it out.

After several weeks of practice and a few games, she's slowly coming around. She is starting to actually run around on the field and follow the action, but she's not trying to kick it yet. She will do it when it's her turn to kick off to start the game, though. The coach said her behavior is very normal for her age; most of the other kids are a year older and played together on the team last year, so they all know each other.

We have to wait until she's 5 to play t-ball, so this is all we have for now. I hope she'll come around and really start to enjoy it. In the meantime, she's enjoying wearing her uniform and shin guards!

Easter 2011

2011-05-02T13:24:00.003-05:00

Unfortunately, we had a very wet and soggy Easter this year. We got 12.5 inches of rain over a week's time. I was able to go out and hide eggs for Becca once on Friday evening in a brief period of sunshine.

Friday night, we started dyeing eggs and finished up Saturday morning while we were waiting on Pop and Karen to arrive. We'd planned on going to Wynne for the weekend, but just couldn't get it together. Thursday night rolled around and laundry wasn't done and backs weren't packed. Lee and I were just exhausted from the week and we couldn't bring ourselves to road trip. Thanks Dad, for coming to see us instead! Of course, it would have been nice if the rain had stopped for Becca to play soccer and hunt eggs. Instead, we had a nice visit cooped up in the house. We didn't even get to dress up in our Easter best because I wasn't getting them out to go to church in that mess. Six whole days of storms!! Crazy.

We took some video of Becca's first time to color eggs. I think she had a great time.

As fate would have it, it's probably a good thing we didn't leave town. Figured out we have hail damage on our roof--Lee had to patch it or we might have come home to a flooded house. The insurance claims guy was supposed to come on Easter Sunday, but couldn't due to more storms. Moved it to today, but he's had to cancel again due to MORE RAIN TODAY. So, hopefully next week? Hail damage on the truck, too. Woohoo.

Babies on the move!!

2011-04-18T10:01:00.002-05:00

Still no new camera, although some progress has been made. Lee is researching which one to buy after his weekend trip to Best Buy. We want something that takes great photos, but won't cost us a fortune.

In the meantime, a perfect opportunity take some video of crawling babies! Evan is definitely crawling and Carley is still thinking about it. She is getting around in her own way, mostly scooting and rolling. I have a feeling things are about to get a lot crazier around here now.

Family Fun at the Aquarium

2011-03-29T13:33:00.007-05:00

Last week was spring break at Kids' Day Out, so I also took a couple of days off to spend some time with the family. On Monday, we headed over to Tulsa to visit the Oklahoma Aquarium. I had been bugging Lee for a while to take us there, so I'm glad that I finally wore him down. It was a cool little place; Becca enjoyed it. It was fun that there were lots of stations where the kids could get their hands wet petting fish, feeding turtles and exploring sea life. The best part was the shark habitat that was enclosed in a see-through, walk-through tunnel! We didn't get there in time to watch the sharks eat, but at least we got there. Evan and Carley were very content to be shuttled around in their chariot and check out the scenery. It was a good way to spend an afternoon, and not too far from home. Here are some pictures that I converted from the video camera. In the video Becca is touching a sea cucumber.

My Sweeties!!!

2011-03-24T07:49:00.002-05:00

We had professional photos taken in February. Here is one of the great shots we got. The kids did so great. Thanks to Kim Ginn at Sweet Portrayal for another great experience. She also took the twins' newborn photos.

Aren't my kiddos the cutest you've ever seen?

Kid Updates for March

2011-03-24T07:30:00.005-05:00

We still haven't gotten a new camera, so bear with me. I'm just going to give a quick update and you'll have to use your imagination.

Something strange happened this month. My friends with twins have told me about it, and I thought it might have passed us by, but it didn't! I woke up one morning a few weeks ago and felt so refreshed! It's like we've crossed some mysterious invisible threshold. Maybe it's because the kids will sleep till 8:00am on a Saturday? It just sure finally feels like everything is getting easier. I've waited for this! Woo hoo!

Maybe I'm naive and it's just the lovely spring weather and sunshine. Ironically, the sermon at church on Sunday was about the Lent/Easter/Spring season and the symbolic time of renewal and new beginnings. It really spoke to me. Or, again, maybe it was the sun through the stained glass windows. Either way, I'll take it. It's our time of waking up and feeling refreshed here in the Bramell house. Guess we need to rest up because these babies are about to be on the move!!

Evan and Carley are 9 months old! At their March check-up he weighed 16.5 lbs and she 17lbs. They were 26" and 27" inches tall, respectively. They are still quite small for their age, but doing great developmentally. They both finally have their bottom 2 front teeth--Evan was first!

EVAN: still not rolling over (L-A-Z-Y)

Belly sleeper

Sleeps all night in his crib

Loves to give big, wet open mouth kisses

Has a weird quirk where he moves his wrist back and forth like he's revving a motorcycle

Thinking about crawling, but can't figure it out

First to say "mama;" says "dada" now, too

Already fighting each other for toys!!

CARLEY: rolling over great

Belly sleeper

Sleeps all night in her crib

Not much for cuddling or smooching

Her weird quirk is shaking her head back and forth over and over

She is also thinking about crawling

She still loves Becca and Fergie better than the rest of us

Jabbering "mama" and "dada" some, but mostly just screaming LOUDLY to hear herself

BECCA: can spell her name

Learning our street name/address

Great big sis!

Started soccer practice this month, but won't do anything but stand and stare--you know what I mean!

Still taking naps (Hooray!!)

That's the quick update for now. Gotta run; they are all waking up. And it's 7:45 on a Thursday.

Peekaboo!

2011-03-18T14:56:00.002-05:00

So I heard that Grammy and Nanny taught Carley and Evan how to play peekaboo during the kids' recent visit. Both babies have been enjoying it at home now, too. Here is a funny video of Carley trying to play by herself after dinner the other night. She's almost got the hang of it!!

Fun times with the kids

2011-03-18T14:45:00.002-05:00

Another video find from the big snow in February!

8 month update

2011-02-16T21:43:00.002-06:00

WOW! Baby A and Baby B are now 8 months old...hard to believe it's gone so quickly. I wanted to take some pictures to post while we were snowed in, but *ahem* someone threw a tantrum and apparently broke the camera. I'll have to see if it can be salvaged.

CARLEY:

Rolling over very well

Sitting up unassisted

Starting to roll over at night and belly sleep (like her sister did!)

Very LOUD baby--she doesn't cry, she screams

Chattering a lot, but nothing that makes sense

We think she is a vegetarian--clearly she prefers veggies to any baby food with meat. Totally the opposite of Becca at that age.

No teeth yet and no signs of any

Moved out of baby carrier and into rear-facing car seat

She is totally enamoured with big sister; can't take her eyes off of Becca. It's so cute!

EVAN:

Sitting up unassisted, but not rolling over yet

We call him "Screech" because of the sounds he makes

He still fusses quite a bit, but he's still very smiley too.

He's a flirt to everyone that talks to him or pays attention to him.

Stinker still won't sleep in his bed. Only sleeping in the swing or in bed with us (I know).

Very good eater, not picky about anything

No teeth yet, and no signs of any

Moved out of baby carrier and into rear-facing car seat

Last week, we went ahead and bought two new cribs for the kids. We were thankful to have a couple given to us before they were born, but unfortunately, they were both recalled. We had been waiting it out, but decided to go ahead and take advantage of a big sale at Toys R Us. The beds are really pretty. Thank goodness I have a handy hubby to take them apart and put them together.

We've also switched their formula (again), hopefully for the last time. We've started on the Member's Mark Gentle (purple can, dad) from Sam's. It's sooooo much cheaper. We are getting a full 7 days out of one 48 oz can! We keep reminding ourselves only 4 more months of bottles!! We've also been buying the Member's Mark diapers, too. They are working well for us and seem to be a good value.

Becca's friends are starting to turn 4 already, and it's making me sad. My baby is getting so big I can't stand it! She's so funny and smart and fun to have a conversation with. Her new thing is making up songs--she's always singing. I hope she's always a happy girl like this. She is a wonderful big sister and such a good girl. I'm a lucky mama for sure.

Gosh, our kids are funny!

2011-01-30T12:54:00.009-06:00

First up, Miss Carley. This week she has learned to roll over. This means the end of the bouncy seat for her....or at least when she's not buckled in! As you can see, she was not happy with being in this position.

Then, we have LL Cool E. THIS, my friends, is why the boy won't hold his own bottle. This is his position of preference when taking his bottle. Doesn't matter if he's in the high chair or being held, he always covers up his eyes. He's been doing this for a long time. I like to think he's telling us, "This formula is so good, I might lose my mind!" Funny little boy.

Now, for our latest Becca funny. If I was a few years younger with less kid experience, I'm sure I'd have been totally mortified by what happened last night. But now, I kinda just think it's funny. We took the Party of Five out to the ol' Western Sizzlin for dinner last night. We'd spent the afternoon on a long walk on the Scull Creek Trail in Fayetteville enjoying the 70 degree weather in January. Since everyone was behaving, we decided to press our luck. We normally like to go to the Western Sizzlin because of the buffet--Becca can get food in front of her immediately and change her mind 100 times about what she wants to eat.

So, last night, Becca wouldn't eat a thing....and wouldn't sit still. This is usually a sign that she needs to go potty; she acts this way at home. Lee took her into the men's room once, only for her to go #1. A few minutes later, I took her into the ladies' room to do her other business. As we came back to our table, she walks by the table of strangers next to us and says loudly, "I just took a BIG poop!" Oh dear. Thank goodness they laughed. I wanted to hide.

There you go, life with a chatty 3-year-old. On the way home, Lee told her that people don't need to know when she poops.

More Christmas Pics

2011-01-30T12:45:00.005-06:00

I found some more pictures from Christmas that I guess we never posted.

Of course, Becca helped Pop open his gifts, too.

Aunt TP and Carley, trying on her new tutu.

Cuteness!!

Grammy and Carley

Becca modeling her snowman dress. Ha, it looks like she doesn't have any arms!

Aunt Nanette getting some Evan lovin'. Just call him LL Cool E because the ladies love him.

Kiddo Update

2011-01-28T16:29:00.003-06:00

Wow, it's really been almost a month since my last post? I just can't seem to find time to get it done.....here's a quick update. No pictures now, but I will try soon.

Our blogging has been so pitiful that my mom actually sent me an email the other day to ask me what's going on with the kids. She wants to know what kinds of things they are doing, funny things Becca says, etc. Lee's response was this, "Tell her the babies are walking and that Becca's new favorite word is a four-letter 'F' word!" Then, for good measure, we thought we'd let her know that we found Becca behind the house smoking a cigarette last week.

We'll start with Becca:

She is doing really well at school. I talked to her teacher the other day; she's very impressed at how smart she is. Takes after her mother, I'm sure. She is doing great on identifying her letters when she sees them. She is also doing well on knowing her left and right. Becca is a great big sister, and she will tell you that....hahaha. She loves the babies and is a good helper at home. I am ready for warm weather so we can let her outside to burn off some energy. The child NEVER sits still. NEVER EVER. It's exhausting.

Evan and Carley are doing great, too. Lee is putting in their big car seats right now. I can't believe it! But they've outgrown the carriers, which means it's going to be a little more tricky taking them anywhere--we'll be using that stroller a lot more.

* Carley started rolling over last week. Evan hasn't quite gotten the hang of it, but he's trying.

* Evan is still sleeping every night in his swing, which is going to be a problem when he gets a little bigger. However, the little stinker has managed to weasel his way into our bed for the past 5 nights or so, during the middle of the night. I think he's a snuggler.

* They are both enjoying baby food, and neither has any teeth yet. Evan is actually starting to out-eat Carley, which we never expected!

* Carley has started a pitiful little fake cough when she wants attention. Very funny!

* Neither of them like to take turns. We feed them in the high chairs at the same time, taking turns with a bite. Evan cries every time it's Carley's turn for a bite.

We took them all to Walmart last week for the first time. Surprisingly, it went quite well. But we did get a lot of attention, as always, when out in public. Yes, they are twins. No, not identical. Yes, we have our hands full. Yes, we are blessed....yada, yada, yada. If Evan wasn't such a flirt with the ladies, maybe we wouldn't get so much attention? Nobody can resist that big 'ole grin of his. Especially his mama!

Christmas 2010

2010-12-31T14:37:00.003-06:00

We had a great Christmas this year! One thing I know for sure? My children are spoiled! We tried really hard not to go overboard on the gift-giving. But, apparently, my family didn't get that memo. Clearly, they are not the ones having to keep all the toys picked up around here!

I spent yesterday afternoon organizing Becca's bedroom and making room for all her new loot. Of course, the child doesn't understand the concept of getting rid of things she doesn't need/play with anymore. She doesn't even want to give them to kids who don't have any toys! Guess we need to work on that...

Here is my favorite photo of the kids. We took this on our trip to Branson. Becca is still not keen on visiting with the "real Santa," so I was thrilled that she at least sat for this picture with the big guy. This Santa was in one of the shops we visited. IF I had done Christmas cards this year, this would have been our photo. LOVE IT!

Fergie was checking out all the Christmas morning loot. Becca got just what she asked Santa for in her letter, text and e-mail that she sent him: a race car with a track, a Barbie and a big girl Dora doll that talks and has a hair brush.

Lee & Becca checking out her stocking.

The babies got to watch all the fun from the front row.

Becca loved this gift from Tracy and Jonathan--matching raincoat, umbrella and boots!

Our little elf Evan enjoyed his new gift too!

What a year it's been for the Bramells. Who knew our life would change so much so quickly? We are very lucky and very loved. Our house may be a wreck and there may be mountains of dirty laundry, but we are hanging in there. We have 3 healthy, wonderful kids and a minivan that we love! Happy New Year everyone!

Catch up Pictures

2010-12-31T14:28:00.002-06:00

Just ran across these pictures from our Thanksgiving visit to Wynne.

Carley and Becca stayed with Dad and Karen on Black Friday while Lee and I went to Jonesboro for the day. Evan stayed with Grammy and Nanny.

This was the funniest thing EVER! Dad has this Rooster in his kitchen....Becca decided to give it a ride. Very entertaining, to say the least.

Pop and Carley hanging out on the couch.

Branson 2010

2010-12-14T20:45:00.002-06:00

We made our (almost) annual December trip to Branson the first weekend of the month. We celebrated Tracy and Jonathan's birthdays, saw some Christmas lights and let our little fishy enjoy some pool time.

We had hoped to try Silver Dollar City for the first time with Becca and the babies, but it turned out to be too cold and windy. Plan B was hitting the Dixie Stampede Christmas show (indoors), but that didn't happen either....sold out. I was pretty bummed out and missing the holiday cheer. The drive-thru light display was pretty good and pretty cheap, so that's what we got to do.

It was nice to spend some more time with the family, but it was hard being gone from home two weekends in a row. The kids were all well-behaved, though, so it was ok.

Here is our own little WEB GEM created when we went to dinner at Shorty Small's. Enjoy, Uncle T...your pig riding skills made the blog highlights!

Party in the USA

2010-12-03T10:49:00.002-06:00

This may be my most favorite video of Becca, EVER. This was last night during dinner. We had the radio on, trying to eat and get out Christmas decorations all at the same time.

Not sure who she got her moves from.....but she can work it. Turn up your sound and enjoy!

Our super reader

2010-12-03T10:32:00.002-06:00

Lee recorded a new video last night, so as I was going through the camera, I also found this one. Becca was reading to me before bed one night. She is still crazy about her books. Most nights we have 3-5 bedtime stories. She also likes to take a pile of books with her when she naps. It's the cutest thing! We are thrilled that she loves books.

Trick-or-Treat Fun

2010-11-14T08:58:00.006-06:00

Halloween fell on Sunday this year. There was much discussion in the state about changing trick-or-treating to Saturday instead. The towns in our area left it on Sunday, which was no big deal, really. What are they gonna do, move it every year for the next 4 years, too?

Lee took Becca back to our old neighborhood so she could trick-or-treat with her buddy Madison, as she has done for the past two years. Now that we've moved, they don't get to see each other anymore. I stayed home with the wee ones to hand out candy at the door. We had a big night of eating Gerber green beans and listening to Fergie bark at the costumes.

I really would have loved to see this! Madison is Elmo (again!), Princess Becca and the Fairy Greenlee, who is the daughter of the family renting our old house. Lee said it was all three daddies and their girls hitting the streets. Priceless!

Becca has always been too shy to knock on doors or say "trick-or-treat." Last year, she let Madison do all the work and she just held out her pumpkin for candy. This time, Lee reported that she was right in the action. She liked to ring the bell and the girls would say "trick-or-treat" and giggle. So fun for her!

We got all the kids in their costumes and wanted to visit a couple of our neighbors to let Becca practice. Carley the Sleepy Penguin crashed on the couch before we made it out the door. Becca was itching to go NOW. Sweet Bear Evan was just hanging out in his bouncy seat trying to figure out what was going on. I'm sure future Halloweens around here are going to get crazy!

Halloween 2010

2010-11-14T08:40:00.003-06:00

Here are some photos of our pre-Halloween festivities. The kids celebrated on Friday, with a party at their school. Grammy came to visit for the weekend, but wasn't able to stay for trick-or-treating on Sunday evening.

Costume pics to follow. I only get to sit down for 5 minutes, you know!

My sweet girls are just crazy about each other!

Our little pumpkins dressed for school on Friday! Don't they look happy?

Impromptu photo shoot with my crew. Where's Fergie anyway?

Grammy changing one last diaper before she left. He's her favorite grandson!

Mr. Jack O. Lantern, masterpiece of Lee Bramell and his assistant, Becca.

Potty-Training SUCCESS!

2010-11-12T10:45:00.004-06:00

No photos to post right now, but I wanted to get this written because I want to remember it forever!

HAPPY HAPPY, JOY JOY: At 3.5 years old, Becca is finally potty-trained! I can't even remember her last accident and she's even staying dry all night long. She doesn't want to wear Pull-Ups to bed, so we aren't making her. And she's doing great! She got up during the night to go use the potty last night. She's going at school now; not holding it all day long.

Want to hear something hilarious? Of course you do! One night a couple of weeks ago, Becca told me that she wanted to say her own prayer before bed, instead of repeating after me (like we usually do). She is really just now understanding the concept. This was her sweet, wonderful, hilarious bedtime prayer:

"Dear God,

Thank you for poop in the potty. I can go to Jump Zone now. The End."

HAHAHAHAHAHA! Do you think we had been bribing her, or what? And yes, her prayer was answered : D

Formula Update

2010-11-05T23:36:00.002-05:00

It's been a couple of months now since the Similac recall, and it's still not back on the shelf. We were using Target brand for a while, but they never seemed to keep enough in stock. We need A LOT. So, we have finally settled on the Parent's Choice brand at Walmart. It's so much cheaper than name brand and the babies are doing fine on it.

I just wanted to post a picture in case you are out shopping and happen upon the formula aisle *ahem*. Then, at least you will know which kind to buy. If you are shopping for formula, that is. : )

Becca and Grayson sittin' in a tree...

2010-11-05T23:13:00.003-05:00

Yes, our child has a boyfriend! She just doesn't know it....haha. This post has been a long time coming, but I haven't found the time.

Oct. 16 we left the babies with our neighbor Sara, and took Becca to a birthday party at the Ozark Corn Maze in Cave Springs. We were celebrating Dalton's 2nd birthday. Here is the back story on the Cox boys.

Becca went to daycare for a year in Farmington, where Grayson was in her class. Every day we got to hear her talk about "my Gracie" and see her eyes light up when she talked about him. A couple of times, I even got hugs and kisses from him when I dropped her off at school. One day, another mom approached me during drop-off. It went like this--

Her: "Are you Becca's mom?"
Me: "Yes."
Her: "I'm Grayson's mom. I think we saw you last night in the grocery store. Grayson insisted that 'that's Becca's mom,' and begged to go back and see you, but I wasn't sure he knew what he was talking about."
Me: "Well, it was me. " (Becca was not with me)
Her: "Grayson talks about Becca all the time. I think he likes her."
Me: "She calls him her Gracie."
Her: "He says he likes her pretty hair!"

So, at the end of May, we changed daycares since we had moved to Springdale. I was really tore up about leaving Grayson behind. Right after the babies were born, I called his mom to ask for a playdate. It was the first time I'd really been around her and our first real playdate. You might remember that post--we went to Jump Zone.

Fast forward a couple of months....Grayson's mom, Stephanie, and I have become friends on Facebook. She posted that she was trying to get together some people to play in Fayetteville's kickball league. I replied that Lee and I would like to play! So--if you didn't know--we played in a 6-week league this fall. Every Monday, we had friends who would keep the kids while we played. It was so fun! And we got to know the Cox Family, who might very well be our in-laws someday.

All that to say....Dalton is Grayson's younger brother. This was his party. We all had a blast!

petting zoo

Swinging at the park before the corn maze

Silly kids eating lunch at the park--never got them both looking at the same time!

This is the cow train. Look right in the middle and see me crammed in that thing with Becca. She wouldn't ride alone. It was the most uncomfortable thing EVER.

Man, I'd love to know what they were talking about! Checking out the corn.

Green mouth from birthday cupcake.

Turkey Trot 2010

2010-10-17T11:06:00.004-05:00

On October 9, we got up really early and took the show on the road to Yellville for Turkey Trot. That's their town festival every fall. We've been a couple of times before, but this year was a lot more work with the Party of Five and one in the middle of potty training.

The theme of the festival was "pirate", as you can see from the photos. By sheer miracle, we were up and on the road by 7:30 to make it to the parade by 10:00. Becca was so excited that we didn't think she'd sleep the night before. Parade and candy were her main focus of the day.

Not sure about dinosaurs and pirates, but oh well. A dino in a parade was something to see.

Can't have a town festival without a bouncy house, right? Becca's favorite. And, with the potty training in progress, all I could think was "I hope she doesn't pee in that thing!!" She didn't.

Becca and Lee collecting their booty at the parade.

Evan and Carley hung out in the stroller most of the day, perfectly happy. They didn't much care for the sirens on the firetrucks, though. These two sure got a lot of attention. Lee was able to see a lot of his friends and people he grew up with. We went to his brother Rob's house to watch the Razorback game and spend some time with the family there. Wondering now why I didn't get any pictures of them with the kids? Probably just too tired at that point of the day....

First cereal for babies

2010-10-17T10:52:00.002-05:00

At our 4-month check up, the doctor said we could go ahead and introduce cereal when we were ready. So, a couple of weeks ago we did it. Carley was definitely ready, and got the hang of eating from a spoon pretty quickly. Brother, not so much. But with practice, he's gotten much better. I think it's helping both of them to sleep better at night, having a full belly. We are just feeding them cereal at our dinnertime. This week we tried green beans and they both loved it! Pictures to come...

Of course, big sis wanted in on the action. But she didn't want to eat any rice cereal.

Evan and Carley's 4-month Check up

2010-10-01T20:22:00.002-05:00

Babies went for their 4-month check up and shots yesterday. Dr. Davis says they are perfect and looking great! Here are their stats--

Evan: 11 lbs, 4.5 oz and 23" long

Carley: 12 lbs, 9 oz and 23" long

As you can see, Sister doesn't miss a meal!

Things to Note:

Evan is sleeping all night. Carley wakes at 4:00 am to eat. Yes, every morning.
Doc says we can start them on some cereal if we want to. Going to try and see if this gets Carley to sleep till 6:00, at least. Might also help Evan's reflux.
Both wearing size 3-6 month clothes
Our Similac RS formula is extremely hard to find, for some reason. We buy out the store every time we find it somewhere. However, due to the Similac recall last week, we started buying the Target store brand formula. WOO HOO ! Why didn't we do this sooner? It's so much cheaper!
Babies both enjoy bathtime.

That's all for now. I'm sure I'll think of more later.

Go Hogs Go and Famous Babies

2010-10-01T19:56:00.004-05:00

Here is a fun picture we took a few weeks ago with Becca and her little sister. Fun times in the laundry basket.....we sure know how to have a good time around here!

I just had to try the bow on Carley. Still a little overwhelming on her, so we'll try again in a few weeks.

This was the day before the big Hogs vs. Bama game. We were so fired up that we wore our Razorback gear on Friday AND Saturday! You will notice our big girl wearing her panties~ woo hoo! She is doing great so far.

Tracy came to visit for the weekend. We all woke up so excited about the game on Saturday that we decided to load up the circus and take it on the road! We went down to the stadium to hang out with the tailgaters. The babies and Becca did great and loved people watching. We took the double stroller, so Evan could ride with the cooler! HAHA. Well, he did for a while. Then Becca got tired of walking and took the shotgun seat. Carley rode in the carrier strapped to my chest the whole time (and Tracy's some). The weather was beautiful and we ran into a few friends to chat with. And yes, my baby is a tiny bit sunburned....I know, I know (*hanging head*). This isn't my first child, I know to put a hat on them....but I just didn't think about it.

WOO PIG SOOOOOIE! I know my babies are cute!

So, wanna know why our babies are famous? They are going to be in the October issue of Peekaboo magazine, a local family magazine here. Every October the magazine features twins and triplets! How fun! I'm sure it's very difficult to get chosen to be in the magazine, but it might help just a teeny bit that 1) our babies are ADORABLE and 2) I know the magazine editor :D

Anyway, it should be out today but I haven't seen it yet. We got to do another photo shoot with the awesome photographer who took their newborn pics. Sad to say, Evan wasn't exactly cooperative. We didn't get but one decent shot, so I don't know if they are printing that one or one of their beautiful newborn photos. Either way, we'll be happy. I even got to write a little about our experience of finding out we were having twins. I just took what I wrote on that blog post back in February and turned in into a little story. I'll try to post the whole thing on here when I get it.

I've been back at work now for a month, and I am one tired mommy at the end of the day. I'm thankful that I have Lee.....it truly takes teamwork to run this show. His mom would sure be proud of him for being such a great dad and husband.

edit: Hmmm, after looking at these last few posts....you all probably think we never brush Becca's hair. Looks that way. Seriously, she leaves the house looking so cute, but the child takes out her bows, barrettes and ponytails at school every day!

To pee or not to pee

2010-09-23T15:34:00.002-05:00

We are now on Day 6 of Becca's potty training adventure, or HELL as I call it. It started out very badly, but has taken a nice turn for the better. Let's start at the beginning. Actually, it's not the real beginning. This is about the 3rd time we've "started" this process. This time, we are just making more progress than the other times.

Lee and I took off for a quick trip to KC last Friday night. When we got home Saturday, Becca was wearing her panties (on her request). Grammy and Nanny got the ball rolling with her and we just kept it going. Saturday and Sunday were spent cleaning up puddles in the floor. Monday the girl just held it all day! Then Monday evening, she decided she likes to pee in the backyard. So by this time, she has peed a few times in the yard and pooped once! YES, she POOPED in the BACKYARD. Hey, whatever works. At least she'll be good at camping, right?

Monday night she woke up from sleep during the night and peed in the potty! What shock! So this brings us to Tuesday. Since there was no daycare, Lee and I were able to stay with her and practice all day. She finally started using the potty! In the last 24 hours, she has used the potty 3 times, stayed dry all night and had 1 accident at school today. Not too bad, Big Sister!

Keep your fingers crossed that we'll have this girl potty trained in the next week or so. But at least she is not begging for her diapers back.

I'll try to do better about blogging. Where does the time go? I never have time anymore!!

Miss Smarty Pants

2010-08-26T12:50:00.003-05:00

We were playing out in the backyard yesterday before dinner. I thought everyone would enjoy seeing our little ham showing off her smarts. Then, of course, she wanted to come inside and watch her movies that we made.

2 month checkup and babies' first day of daycare

2010-08-25T13:35:00.002-05:00

Believe it or not, these babies are almost 3 months old! We went on Monday for their 2-month well check up and shots. The doctor says they are both doing great and progressing as they should be. Their stats are:

Carley- 11 pounds even and 21" long
Evan- 10 pounds, 5 oz. and 22" long (he is going to be tall and skinny like his daddy) :D

A few weeks ago we decided to switch Evan's formula because clearly he was having reflux and spitting up a whole lot and super fussy. We are now using Similac with rice starch in it. They are changing the packaging, so there are two different looking cans out there. Similac RS or Similac Sensitive for Spit-Up, if you are shopping. Just FYI.

About 2 weeks ago, we had to put Evan on Prevacid for acid reflux. He was having the exact same symptoms and problems that Becca had at this age, so we knew what to look for. It has taken awhile, but we are finally seeing some improvement. The doc says to expect him to stay on the meds until 5 or 6 months old.

This is my last week on maternity leave, so the babies started daycare today with Becca. I figured we could use a few days to practice the routine.

All our babies before daycare this morning. Becca was so happy that Carley and Evan can finally go with her to school! Big Sister even helped them find their room today.

This is a 10 week picture. I just thought Carley and Evan looked cute in these outfits!

Silly Girl

2010-08-13T10:32:00.002-05:00

Not sure when Lee took this video. I just found it when I was going through the video camera. This is one of Becca's new expressions.

Playdate with Grayson

2010-08-12T20:59:00.004-05:00

Wednesday we had a playdate with Becca's friend, Grayson and his brother Dalton. They are friends from our old daycare. Becca says that Grayson is "her buddy." She is crazy about him, it's so cute!

We went to the Jump Zone in Bentonville then to lunch. Jump Zone is this place that has a bunch of inflatable bouncy houses, slides, etc. The kids can just go crazy in there....and the parents can play, too! I took a few videos. You can totally hear them giggling.

The kids had not seen each other since Becca's birthday, so they were very happy to play together. (oh--and I had to change her clothes because she's not good at drinking from the water fountain yet). HA!

Six Week Update

2010-07-27T15:49:00.003-05:00

Yes, it's been SIX WEEKS already! Time flies fast when you don't get any sleep! Since the last post was all about Becca, this one is going to be about Evan and Carley.

The kiddos are growing! We have moved them out of size newborn diapers and clothes. They are into Size 1 diapers and 0-3 month clothes.

They are maybe, sorta trying to start sleeping for longer stretches between feedings....now, if that would stretch during the night, we'd be doing great! We're getting there...slowly.

They are both eating 4 oz. of formula. Much different from where we started, around .5 oz.

Evan and Carley are bunking together in one crib for now. In their own room. They are MUCH too noisy to be in our room; that only lasted for a couple of nights. Forget it!

Becca tells everyone that will listen this, "The babies cry a lot and wake me up." Well, join the club I say.

We have been asked about the products we are using, by our dear friends and family who still want to help out. We prefer Huggies diapers, Size1 now, and Similac brand formula. Carley is taking the regular Similac (blue can) and Evan takes the Sensitive formula (orange can). Just in case you are out shopping and get the urge to buy some formula, you know....wink, wink.

We had some company over the last couple of weeks. Lee's sister Dee came from Boise for a week--BLESSING!! Dee helped so much and let us get some much needed sleep. Then her daughter, Jennifer came for the weekend. We also saw Lee's other brothers Bernie and Rob and their wives for the weekend. It was a big crowd, but we were glad to see them all. It was the first time for them to see Evan and Carley and they all made sure to give them lots of lovin'.

Next to visit was TP. She, too, was a great helper for us. We managed to find time to get out in the garage and finally do some purging and organizing. And--yay--she and I snuck off to see Eclipse at the movies. Thanks, TP!

Sleeping Evan with Becca's boy twin doll.

Sleeping Carley with the girl twin doll.

Evan

* Shout out and many thanks to my BFF Lisa for loaning me all her baby boy clothes. We didn't have to buy a thing for Evan! Thank goodness for great friends.

Evan, must be thinking about what's for dinner....

Carley

Little Nemo...

2010-07-14T17:26:00.004-05:00

Just some pics of the fish in the family...

This is us with our instructor, April. Becca was shy the first day, but is warming up to her now.

She will be doing the triple lindy before we know it...

Swing Batter, Batter...no HGH here.

2010-07-06T20:10:00.004-05:00

Looks like our Big Girl is gonna be a slugger! We are so excited that she has taken to her tee ball set so well. When she got this for her birthday it was the first time she'd ever swung a bat, so she's really coming along great. This video was made a few weeks ago; she's really slugging it now. We practice in the backyard several times a week.

Thanks to Coach Dad for helping to perfect her "stance" and her smooth swing. LOL! What a hoot!

The sweetest thing you ever saw...

2010-07-06T20:04:00.003-05:00

We had professional pictures taken when the kids were 14 days old. Nice story, here. Through my work I have become friends with the editor of Peekaboo magazine....a local publication. She told me right after the twins were born that she works with a professional photographer who wanted to offer us a free portrait sitting in order to work some twins into her portfolio. WOW! What a great opportunity! And we got some AWESOME photos to boot! This is the only one I have to share right now due to copyrights, etc. They are all over Facebook if you want to see more. Now we are going to go bankrupt from ordering pictures.

Thanks to Kimberly Ginn of Sweet Portrayal in Rogers. I highly recommend her to take photos of your kids or family. She was so nice and spent 2 whole hours with us to get the perfect photos of Carley and Evan.

Don't lie, we know you're jealous of us

2010-07-06T19:19:00.003-05:00

Here is just one reason why I haven't taken a lot of photos for the blog. Not much material to work with. That, and it's hard to work the camera with a baby and a bottle in both hands.

Lee took Becca out for a walk last night. I was hanging out with the babies. Turn up your sound. The little babes are 3 weeks old!

Bottle Feeding, Butt Wiping, Mini Van-Driving Awesome Parents

2010-06-29T14:57:00.003-05:00

First and foremost, here is a picture of our newest addition. It's a 2003 Honda Odysssey, and we really like it (shhhh!). It's a little bit older than what we wanted, but it's top of the line and very clean and nice. Shout out to my cousin Adam for the advice on the purchase; he is the Honda Man. So, look for us to roll through your town later this summer when we take our first Party of Five road trip to the Eastside.

And yes, I know what comments I'm about to get on here. I stole some of mom's pictures because SERIOUSLY, I haven't had time to take any!! Free time is spent showering, sleeping or washing baby things. We had a professional photo session last week, so we will soon have lots of gorgeous photos to share. Or you can see them on my Facebook page. Or Tracy's. Or Lee's. Or Mom's. Take your pick.

Ashley took Becca to see her first movie in a theater. They had a great time!

Here is Becca on the morning of her first day at the new daycare. She gets to take her lunch, so she was all about the new Dora lunchbox!

Quick update on Evan and Carley--

Had our two-week checkup yesterday at the clinic. They measure exactly the same in length and head circumference. She outweighs him just a tiny bit. She was 6 lbs, 1.5 oz and He was 5 lbs, 15.5 oz. Just call it 6 lbs!

The doctor says they are doing great and right where he wants them to be. They are eating good, and we're working on getting them to sleep longer between feeding at night. Unfortunately, we've discovered they don't like to sleep between the hours of 11:00pm and about 3:00 am. AGGHH! Other than that, they sleep GREAT. Go figure.

I think we're all adjusting well. If Lee and I can manage to squeeze in a cat nap during the day, even better. Well, someone just pooped so I gotta go! More later....

Welcome to the world Carley and Evan!

2010-06-18T16:03:00.004-05:00

Whew. First time I've had a chance to do this all week. Get used to it, right?

I still haven't talked to many of you, so I'll start with the events that led up to "birth day" last Thursday, June 10 and the arrival of our sweet new babes, Carley Fran and Evan Wyatt. Of course, my c-section was scheduled for June 25, but I knew there was no way I'd make it that long. And thank goodness!

I woke up early on Thursday morning, like 2:00ish, with minor contractions. I roamed around the house quietly by myself until I was sure it was really labor. When Lee's alarm went off at 5:00, I told him to call in to work because we needed to head to the hospital. My great friend Sara met us at the hospital and took Becca back to her house, as we had planned. Once in the ER, I found out my doctor was coming on call at 7:00--yay! From 6:00-8:30, I just waited and stayed hooked up to the monitors. My doctor came in and told me I'd be second in line and in the OR soon; we don't mess around. Babies were born at 9:15 and 9:16 (Evan first).

This time I had to be completely put out with anesthesia, so I don't remember anything after being taken into the OR. Probably better that way, because I was nervous. The bad thing is that it took forever for the sleepy to wear off. I didn't hold the babies for several hours and really can't tell you anything about what happened Thursday afternoon.

I got discharged from the hospital on Sunday, but the babies had to stay an extra night. Evan wasn't eating enough to make the doctors happy and they decided not to split the kiddos up. By the time we went back on Monday morning, he was doing better and they let us take them both home.

First pediatrician appointment was Tuesday and both babies got a great report! We are so lucky they were so healthy and strong, being born at 36 weeks.

Becca is SO EXCITED about being a big sister! I think this is Evan she's holding.

Evan on bottom, Carley on top. Snuggle buddies!

Getting some rest in the nursery.

Tick Tock, Tick Tock....watch out, she might EXPLODE!

2010-06-06T15:00:00.003-05:00

Thought I'd do a little Bramell update while I'm sitting on my nest. We've made it to 35 weeks and 4 days. I've about decided that I must be the only freak of nature who could carry twins to 40 weeks (if they let me). Thank goodness, surgery is set for June 25 so there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I am just about miserable--and the 90 degree temps are not helping a bit!! I am planning to work this week from home on my laptop, then start my maternity leave on June 14. Getting a shower and "dressed" for work is becoming too much of a chore and I only have a couple of outfits that are even comfortable enough to wear out of the house.

Let's see.....what else. Oh, we found renters for our house. BIG YAY! They are going to move in the middle of July, so that will take a big burden off us right now. It's a couple moving here from Atlanta, so we don't know them...just got lucky!

We are having some minor repairs done on the XTerra so we can get it up for sale. We've decided to take the plunge and go ahead and get a minivan. We've looked at and driven some, and they are definitely what we need for our growing family.

Becca will start at her new daycare on June 16, and seems to be excited about it. I was trying to avoid too much change at once for her, but what can we do?? She'll be fine, and the babies will join her there when I go back to work.

As far as baby prep, I think we are set. We have just about two of everything and a great stock of supplies, thanks to a lot of awesome friends and family. Lee took diaper inventory the other day and figures we have about 2400 diapers---which we calculate should last about 4 months!! Crazy. That's a lot of wiping butts!

Enough for now. Going to go put my swollen, tired feet up and rest. Becca is napping and Lee's working in the yard, so I have a golden opportunity here. Stay tuned....the next post just may be THE ONE!!!

We'll never go inside again....

2010-05-25T15:17:00.002-05:00

Here is Becca playing with her outdoor birthday toys. We are really racking up the hours playing outside since Saturday. The t-ball set came from TP and Jonathan and the trampoline came from Grammy and Nanny. I highly recommend both if you have a kid Becca's age.

Happy Birthday, Big Girl!

2010-05-25T14:57:00.004-05:00

Saturday was Becca's 3rd birthday. We had a small party at Gulley Park and invited her friends from daycare and from the old neighborhood. It was a beautiful day! The warmest day we've had yet; you can tell by looking at my sweaty, dirty kid.

We grilled hot dogs, had cake and let the kids wear themselves out on the playground. And yes, I must be insane to have a party when I'm 33.5 weeks pregnant!! But, I know it was important to do it for Becca since her whole world is about to change. Again, thank God for Lee. He was awesome doing all the work while I just sat on my huge bootay. And thanks to Grammy for coming up here to help out, too.

If you need further proof of JUST HOW INSANE I am, see photo below. Oh. My. God. I am huge.

This is Becca and her friend Avery, who we know from daycare and church. How sweet!

Girls were pretty in pink--checking out the cake!

At Becca's request, a Mickey Mouse cake. I just didn't have the time and/or energy to make one.

Madison and Joe from our old neighborhood.

With her buddy Eleanor.

The little boy in green is Grayson. He is Becca's special buddy at school. If a 3 year old can have a boyfriend, he is it. They are so cute and funny together. We are going to miss him when we move daycares.

Catching up

2010-04-30T09:36:00.004-05:00

Sorry for not blogging in a while. We finally got all moved into the house in Springdale. A million thanks to Tracy and Jonathan, because we could NOT have done it without their help! They came up here two weekends in a row to help move and take up my slack. We are getting settled in very well. There are still a few boxes to go through, and things to hang on the walls, but we doing it a little at a time. Poor Lee, he's having to do so much to take care of the things I just can't do anymore. And we are still looking for renters for our house in Fayetteville. We should have it all cleaned and ready to go after this weekend.

Here are a couple of pics I snapped the other day when they were working in the yard. Lee mowed, and Becca helped pick up leaves. So cute!

I think we are really going to like living here. Having all the extra space will sure be nice when the babies join us. We are getting excited! Only about 8 weeks to go, if it goes according to plans. I am getting tired much easier now. I've been trying to come home from work early most days and rest before Becca gets home. She's so funny---the teachers at daycare say she talks about "her babies" and "her twins" all the time. There are 2 other expecting mommies in her room, so all the kids talk about the other moms having one baby but Becca's mom is having two! They are all so funny.

AND NO, WE STILL DON'T HAVE NAMES!! But we're getting close!

More Easter Pics

2010-04-09T09:35:00.003-05:00

More from church and hunting eggs at home. Who had more fun, Becca or Fergie? It was hilarious! Fergie would literally sniff the eggs and stand there beside them until Becca came to pick them up. And later, we found two dyed eggs under our bed after Becca tattled that Fergie "took my eggs!!"

Lee's sister Dee made Becca's precious dress. We just love it! Thanks again, Aunt Dee!

Easter Egg Hunting

2010-04-08T09:49:00.002-05:00

Lee, Grammy and I took Becca to the Easter egg hunt and cookout at church on Saturday. It was a beautiful, sunny day. We even had to break out the sunscreen! Yay, spring!

Becca was really funny hunting eggs. There was a mixture of plastic, candy-filled eggs and dyed eggs (which we've never had before). She walked around only picking up the real eggs! I guess maybe because they were heavier? Of course, she clumsily threw them into her bucket so we had many broken, stinky eggs by the end of the day. It also took awhile for her to carry her bucket. She tried to just pick up the eggs and carry them in her arms for the longest time. She would just make trips back and forth to put them in her bucket. This made her get a lot less eggs than the other kids....I was worried she would only get a few. But, finally she got the hang of it!

They also had the Easter Bunny make an appearance at church, but of course, my child wouldn't go near him! Then she begged us to "see the bunny" for two days afterward....go figure. Just like Strike, Slugger, Santa, Chuck E. Cheese and all the other characters she won't go near.

The sweet little dress she's wearing came from Pop & Karen. We love it!

I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this picture. As most of you know, getting her to smile for a photo is nearly impossible. So, good job DADDY!

This was the only other girl Becca's age hunting eggs....we have mostly boys in church her age.

Pop's Weekend Visit

2010-04-07T09:40:00.003-05:00

Pop came to see us a couple of weeks ago. I've been trying to get this blog done since then, but it just wasn't happening. This tired mama doesn't get a lot of things done these days. Guess it's just the beginning, huh?

We are so glad that dad came to visit. So much easier on me not having to travel. And we've got so much to do before the move that I just couldn't give up a whole weekend.

Becca had the best time having Pop all to herself. They had an afternoon of sidewalk chalk (poor Dad!) and playing ball. Then into the house where I'm sure he read her about 150 books over the weekend. Heehee, welcome to our world.

Here are some CUTE pics of them together!

Struggles

2010-03-24T10:39:00.002-05:00

I thought it might help me to air this out in writing. I am really struggling with where to send the kiddos for daycare. As you can imagine, sending 3 kids full-time is outrageously expensive! For example, the least expensive I've found is $1,150/month and it goes up to $1,600!!. No way that is going to fly. And, believe it or not, in-home people are NOT cheaper and you have to trust someone to watch your kids while watching 6 or 8 others. Nannies coming into our home are off the chart $$$$!!!

So, I've done a lot of looking around. Getting TWO spots in an infant room is hard to do, so I have to act fast. Becca was on a waiting list at several places when she was an infant and that was just for one spot.

We have decided that part-time care is going to be our best choice. It's what we can afford. I want to keep Becca in a social, school-type environment where she will be engaged and learning. It would be nice (and easiest) to take the babies to the same place. Some places are designed for "mother's day out" and only open to 1 year+, some close in the summer or for long breaks and some are just stupidly expensive.

I have narrowed it down to 3 places. Well, two really. I liked a third place but the neighborhood was quite questionable. I just don't think I could look past it. I got 3 references on the place and general area--2 were not good (one from the mailman). The facility itself is fine, but I can't send Becca outside to play in a neighborhood where there is known riff-raff and sex offenders nearby.

My first choice is St. Thomas church in Springdale. It's literally a mile from the house and 2 from my office. The good thing is they go nearly year-round, taking a few 2-week breaks in between sessions. I can send all of them 4 days a week from 9:00-2:00, which should give Lee some time to do his real estate work after UPS. The bad: they are closed on Tuesdays, which means I have to find someone to keep all 3 kids once a week. And I may need help from FAMILY and FRIENDS during those longer breaks in care. Don't think I won't ask. That is my new plan for survival--ASK FOR HELP!!

The other place is actually a full-time place (also at a church) but it costs a bit more than St. Thomas. I realize we would be getting more, but we can get by on part-time care. The other thing with it is that I just didn't love it. It was just OK. Is "just OK" good enough for my kids? I keep thinking maybe I am spoiled because we love Becca's daycare in Farmington....agh!

Anyway, that is it. I will be surprised if anyone reads through this entire post. St. Thomas enrolls next week for fall, so I have to decide fast. If we don't get 3 spots, I'll have to start over.

New pictures

2010-03-10T13:43:00.005-06:00

New pictures, thanks to Grammy. We had a nice visit with Nanny and Grammy over the weekend--finally some good weather to get out and play!!

Our funny girl

2010-03-09T10:45:00.002-06:00

I can always count on Becca to make us laugh or remember something I don't want her to! She is so funny with some of the things she says to us.

This all happened just this morning.

First, she put her hands on my belly and said, "I want to say hi to the babies. Are they awake?"
Isn't that sweet?

Then, as she was watching me get dressed, she kindly pointed out to me: "Your booty's falling out!" (of my pants, she meant)...LOL!! I guess even she could see that I need some bigger pants!

We had a little showdown while putting on her shoes. She had on socks with her new crocs ( I know it's nerdy) but it's been cool outside in the mornings. She saw that I didn't have socks on with my dress shoes, so she took hers off. ME: "Becca, you need to wear socks so your feet won't be cold." HER: "I want to take my socks off, like you." So, how can I argue with that? Little stinker.

Double Trouble

2010-02-22T10:01:00.003-06:00

I've been sitting on this news for a little over a week now. Some of you will already know by now, but I just haven't had time to blog yet. We've been in shock and also fighting a round of the stomach virus.

We had our 19-week ultrasound appointment on Friday 2/12 to determine the baby's gender. Well, hold onto your hats people....it's a BOY AND A GIRL!! Yes, that's right. TWINS. Happy Valentine's Day to us, huh? I have pictures and a DVD as proof, but no way to upload them to share. Here's the story, as it is:

I laid on the table for all of 5 seconds--

Tech: "So, I have a question."

Me: "Yeah?"

Tech: "Did you already know there are two babies?"

Me: "Uhhh. What?"

Tech: "Yeah, one's definitely a boy, but it'll take me a minute to get to the other one."

Me: Hysterical laughing, crying, laughing, crying....repeat and repeat.

Lee: Silence.

We spent most of the weekend in shock, but now that we've had some time, it's all good. Well, mostly good. Funny how the course of your plans can change in one moment.

These are the most often asked questions, in no particular order:

NO, I had NO idea I was pregnant with twins. No mother's intuition or anything. Not to mention two doc visits to hear ONE heartbeat. Duh. Shocking.

YES, twins run in my family. Like a wildfire. Tag, I'm it.

NO, I'm not quitting my job. Just not logical. At least for now.

NO, I don't know how we can afford 3 kids in daycare! If YOU figure it out, let us know.

YES, we do need a bigger house. Plans are moving forward for us to move to Springdale into Francena's house, since it hasn't sold yet. Ours will be for rent soon if you know anyone looking.

NO, we haven't picked out names yet. We didn't even have one name picked out.

YES, Becca seems to understand what's going on. I hope this doesn't turn her into some crazy, jealous freak.

YES, we need a bigger vehicle. Trying to wrap my head around driving a minivan. Not quite there yet.

YES, we will be taking donations--you name it...money, diapers, formula, babysitting. No offers refused here!!

So, that is all. Just take it in.

Our Snow Day

2010-02-06T08:08:00.003-06:00

We finally had a really big, good for playing in snow! And it wasn't so bitter cold out that we couldn't enjoy it this time. Last Saturday and Sunday, we bundled up and headed out to play.

We went over to the hilly part of our neighborhood where the kids had started sledding in the driveway of an empty house. Lee and the big kids had a good time, but Becca wasn't crazy about it. She just wanted to walk up and down the driveway with Fergie. Of course, I couldn't join in the fun this time but I got to watch. It was perfect for sledding! And I didn't take my camera that time. Oops.

After sledding on Sunday, we came back home and started our snowman. Becca and I weren't much help because we were getting tired. But Lee did a great job on it! Later I made snow ice cream and homemade icees. Yummy.

Right now, a week later, there's not a speck of snow in our yard but the snowman is still standing!!

Becca, Lee and Fergie before going outside.

Walking up the sledding driveway. The only picture I got, I guess.

Winter Wonderland in front of our house.

Making Frosty

Here he is!!

Welcome to our world

2010-01-27T10:34:00.006-06:00

So, I guess I'm finally out of my blog fog since I've posted so much in one week. Honestly, I've been so dang busy that I haven't had time to even think about blogging, much less do it. Work has been so crazy that the house is a mess and I've not even had time to think about how pregnant I am! That's 17 weeks now, if you're wondering. We'll have the big news ultrasound coming up on Feb. 11th to find out if Lee will be running away or not. : D

I'm feeling pretty good. I'd feel much better if we were getting more sleep in the Bramell house, but that's another story.

Here are some things I wanna share or risk forgetting:

1. Husband + wife (and belly) + dog + squirmy kid = 3
That's about how many hours of good sleep we are getting at our house these days. Seriously. Becca is going to sleep in her own room, but getting into our bed every night now. This has been going on since about Thanksgiving. I've made it my mission in life to poll every person I know (and some that I don't know) who have kids to see if this is normal or we are just pushovers. Let's see....I've talked to friends, co-workers, neighbors, the pediatrician, my OB doc and random strangers in Walmart. They all say the same thing--it happens at this age, and there's not much we can do about it, short of dragging her back to her room 10 times a night. And frankly, this child is so stubborn that she's not having any of that. So for now, one of us adults is being forced out on the couch until we resolve this. Hopefully before she starts kindergarten! Hmmm...do I sound cranky?

2. "I'm not Becca, I'm Dora!"
Lucky me, I was treated to Sunday breakfast cooked specially for me by Dora and Boots (that would be Lee). It was yummy! I think we may be getting too much Dora lately because the other day Becca told Lee to "Vamanos!" (that is hurry up/come on)

3. The child has begged us for a clock in her room.
So, OK, whatever. Now she has a clock. She thinks it's always 5:00. Guess she probably hears the daycare teachers wishing for 5:00; that's my guess anyway.

4. She's funny about the "baby" thing.
She keeps saying, "When I get big, I'll have a baby in my belly, too...OK?" And, she insists it's a girl (mine, not hers). We'll see....

Turn up your sound and enjoy!

2010-01-25T13:45:00.003-06:00

Look at the skills this girl has! Lee was working with her to practice throwing and catching. She's definitely got the throwing part down, although she did pretty good on the catching. Sometimes, it just looks like they are playing dodge ball.

You can tell Becca was just having a great time playing ball with her daddy. Of course, it was bedtime and I thought I'd never get her settled down! And, poor Fergie just wanted to play, too.

Here's for all you Crabby Patties who always fuss about our 30 second videos....a nice long one for you.

Fairy Princess Becca

2010-01-24T16:34:00.004-06:00

This is part of the dress up set from Christmas. Here she is putting on her make-up and talking on the phone at the same time. Nothing wrong with learning early, I guess.

This may be my all-time favorite picture of Becca. She was flying, of course! Don't you just want to eat her up? Thanks for the awesome dress, TP. You've made her very happy.

It has finally happened...

2010-01-24T16:20:00.003-06:00

Yes, our little rough and tumble has finally hit the girly-girl phase. I was really starting to wonder if she had it in her. She'd much rather wrestle with the boys at daycare and play in the dirt. But just since Christmas, we've seen the girl come out in her.

Grammy gave her a cool purse set with some fancy dress up shoes, which must have gotten it started. Then I gave her a manicure and pedicure to pretty her up. Last weekend, we took a girls road trip to Batesville to see TP and Uncle T's new house. Tracy gave her this sweet little fairy princess dress and now it's ON!!

She puts on the dress about 10 times each day. These aren't all the pics; I'll have to put up more later since I'm at home and internet is slower here.

Talking it over with Jonathan.

Show off a little?

Look out boys!!

Nanny and Grammy came up to Batesville for lunch on Saturday. Becca was thrilled to see her most favorite person in the whole world. They are so funny!

Bramell Christmas 2009

2009-12-31T10:53:00.004-06:00

This picture was taken the day we went to see Santa at the mall. We got Becca all dressed up and she was ready to see him, only to chicken out when it was her turn in line. She got about a foot from him and never said a word. Go figure. Then, the next week at daycare, they sent home a nice little photo of her sitting in Santa's lap! We were definitely surprised. No tears!

She does like to ride on the little cars in the mall, though. We try to do it when she's with us.

Here is some of her loot from Christmas morning. She really seemed to "get" the whole Santa thing this year, which was pretty fun. These dolls with snap on clothes were a big hit.

You can see out the back door that we were up before the sun on Christmas Day! How can she even know to be that excited yet?? Unfortunately, we didn't take very many pics. Our camera was on its last leg, as you can probably tell from the picture quality here. But, lucky for us, Grammy got us a brand new wonderful camera that we are excited to try out.

The Dora house slippers were her favorite gift from Santa, by far. She immediately put them on and wore them the whole day, all the way to Wynne.

I did take a couple of videos that I'll try to post soon. We are potty training this week, so I just don't have much time. Happy New Year everyone! Here's hoping for a much better 2010....

Well, I have a really good reason.....

2009-12-14T12:47:00.002-06:00

I do have a really good reason for not blogging in a long, long time. Really. I just haven't felt very good. That's what happens when you're pregnant!!

Yes, I AM. I am 10 weeks along now and feeling a little bit better. Becca is growing like a weed and getting sassy and throwing lots of fits, too. She is just keeping us on our toes and it's hard to find the time and/or energy to blog.

I am happy to report that she is finally getting to where she'll smile for a photo. I took these the other night by our new, wonderful Christmas tree. I love it! No more Charlie Brown tree for the Bramells!

We went to see Santa yesterday at the mall. No luck. After waiting in line 45 minutes, she wouldn't sit on his lap or even touch him. She didn't cry, so we have made progress. : D

More later...it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

2009-11-13T10:50:00.002-06:00

We took Becca to see the U of A Marching Band Spectacular Show earlier this week. It was a short, free hour-long show and I thought it would be perfect to expose her to some great music. It was a good thing we sat on the end of the aisle, because that girl wanted to DANCE! Of course, I only got tiny snippets of video because she would stop dancing when she saw the camera. She definitely entertained us.

Funny thing, she has always been afraid of the Razorback Hog mascots. She almost cried when we got there; she said she was scared. We promised her it would be fun, and within a minute of the first drum's beat, she was hooked. In fact, when we got home, she threw herself on the floor and cried "I want more music!!" I told her that her Grammy would be so proud. A true bandie in the making.

Poor Lee was such a good sport; he never even complained about me dragging him to a band concert.

Happy Halloween!!!

2009-10-31T20:04:00.005-05:00

This is just the order it put them in. Happy Halloween!!

Here is the loot!!

Spoooookkiiiieeeeee

Mickey and Elmo.

Mice eat cheese don't they...

Livin' the good life!

2009-10-29T16:19:00.002-05:00

I don't even know what to say. Just look at this. I love my girls!

Bramells visit the pumpkin patch

2009-10-22T11:27:00.004-05:00

Hold on to your hats, my friends. This just might be the record-holding post for the most amount of pictures ever.

On Sunday we took advantage of the beautiful (but cool) weather and took a trip to the pumpkin patch in Pea Ridge after naptime. We had a great time! It was really a neat place with a lot to do. We chose to "pick your own" but the pickin's were slim due to all the rain we'd gotten recently. We ended up with a couple of good ones and muddy shoes.....good times.

Becca and Fergie enjoying some fetch in the yard before we left.

Look at our cutie pie! And no, we didn't chop off her arms.

Of course, Bert had to join us on our outing. Keep watching, it's like "Where's Waldo!"

The hay tunnel was Becca's favorite part of the trip.

Cheese!

We couldn't pass up this photo opp!

We went on a hayride around the farm. Pretty cool, when you are 2 years old. And it's still fun when you are 30-something.

They are having pumpkin painting day with dad at daycare this afternoon. I'm sure I'll have more pictures after we see their creations. Happy Fall, Ya'll!

Fall in the Ozarks

2009-10-21T15:05:00.002-05:00

I just can't imagine anything prettier than fall in the Ozarks. I really enjoyed my trip to Fort Smith and back last Friday. The weather was perfect, the sun was shining and the leaves were beautiful.

Somehow, my camera just does not do it justice. You are all welcome to come visit and see for yourselves; the trees should be in prime color for another couple of weeks.

Because I am such a stud...

2009-10-19T16:05:00.002-05:00

For all of you who aren't wimps, this won't be a big deal. But for me, it's HUGE! I am totally afraid of heights so I was less than thrilled to find out I was going to a "team building" day with my boss and new team a couple of weeks ago.

This is a climbing gym in Little Rock. I'm a tad embarrassed to say it took me three tries to get to the top, but I did. And, of course, I made them take a picture so I could prove it to Lee.

Woooooo Pig Soooooie!!

2009-10-16T17:29:00.003-05:00

We've had this one for a couple of weeks, but the Hogs could sure use the extra cheers this week! Check it out.

As you know, it's never too early to start the Hog callin'.

Our "quirky" little girl

2009-10-05T10:56:00.002-05:00

"Hello, my name is Rhonda and my child is quirky."

She has a bit of a problem. We've been trying to figure out what to call it, and decided on quirky. Becca has a fondness for lining things up. We started to notice it a couple of months ago, and it's gotten progressively worse lately. She will line up anything we have in multiples: DVDs, legos, coasters, you name it. We were starting to worry a little that something might be "wrong" with her, but she is totally normal in every other way. Developmentally, she's A-OK. So I talked to her daycare teacher about it one Monday. She laughed and said that the kids do that every day in class! They line up Matchbox cars or blocks from wall to wall and play with them. This is obviously where she's learned it!

I am not worried anymore. We've talked to some other parents we know, and found out that their kids do/have done the same thing. Personally, I think it's just showing off her superior organizing skills....isn't she a genius!!!

She got into our CD rack one morning while I was getting ready for work.

The very next night, this is what Lee and I walked in to her room to find. This was after we put her to bed! I guess she couldn't sleep with all those babies in her bed....haha.

Lounging

2009-09-28T11:28:00.003-05:00

This was last week during the Razorback game vs. GA. Lee was out with the boys, I was watching the game in the living room and Becca was lounging in Fergie's bed watching Monsters, Inc. for the 3rd time in a row!!

Let's compare!

2009-09-28T11:06:00.007-05:00

I looked back and found the photo we took with Slugger in 2008 to compare to this year's. Not much difference, really. Except that Becca let me stand a little closer to him last year. She is obviously not thrilled about him at all. Well, that and in the new picture, you can't tell that she is so scared that she's shaking.

Along with Slugger, Strike and the Razorback, add to the list of "big costumed characters that scare Becca": Chuck E. Cheese. No pictures, but a big fit on Saturday when she saw him. Poor kid.

Branson Family Getaway

2009-09-24T10:21:00.002-05:00

So last week, I took Becca and we met Grammy, Nanny and Aunt Pam for a few days in Branson. The weather was mostly terrible, but we had a nice time anyway. I must disclose up front that I am a poor excuse for a mother because I went off without my camera. I just didn't even think about it!! Of course, I missed some great photo opps, but maybe someone else will share their pics and I can post them here.

I could have titled this post "What I Learned about My Child," but here's the short list:

She definitely takes after her mother in one area: she got CAR SICK!! We had to pull over twice on the way to Branson to clean her up. The first time was only about 30 miles from home! Poor girl said "vomit" for the whole time we were gone!
I think I gave birth to a mermaid or a fish or something. She loves, loves, loves the swimming pool. We went to the indoor pool a couple of times at the condo. Becca amazed her grandmas with her skills. That girl is not afraid of the water, jumps off the side of the pool and will go under water and never even fuss. She is almost swimming (with floaties), so I think we'll be taking lessons pretty soon.
The girl does NOT like to go to bed when we're away from home. It took an average of 2 hours to get her down every night. I think she just wanted to play with Nanny...

We also visited the Branson Landing to look at the pretty fountains. That's Becca's new thing; she loves to "touch it, mama" when she sees a fountain. She did it in Kansas City, at church, and at Branson.

We took a ride on the Branson Scenic Railway, which was pretty cool. We rode about an hour out into the mountains. Becca enjoyed watching people and getting attention from everyone. I thought it was cool, but probably much better later in the fall when the leaves are turning.

Other than some shopping at the outlet mall, that's about all we did. Let's just say that we will have the best-dressed child at daycare this winter!! So excited about all her new clothes!! I stayed in with Becca while the others went to a show one night.

More Kansas City fun

2009-09-15T10:07:00.003-05:00

Wow, posting from work is much faster than at home!! Here are some more photos of our trip to Kansas City for Labor Day weekend.

This, people, is my brother-in-law Jonathan. I have a story to tell about him. Let's just say that we're lucky that we didn't have to bail him out of the KC jail. That baseball he's holding came from Torii Hunter (Royals were playing the Angels). We were all standing on the deck out behind center field so we could holler at Torii, who is also from Arkansas. Lee took his glove and had a plan to get Torii to throw him a ball for days before we went. Seriously. So, we're standing out there--Jonathan with the glove on, mind you--and Torii throws the ball right to Jonathan after warm-ups. The ball tips the glove and falls down behind the center field fence. You can probably guess the rest of this story. Jonathan spends the last half of the inning plotting to get the ball back. As soon as the last out of the game happened, there he went over the fence! He was so fast I almost didn't see him! And, apparently, neither did the security guard standing in right field! Way to go, Jonathan! And you made the blog : )

This is the carousel in the kiddie park at the Royals stadium. This is something new to the park this year; they have added a whole area just for the kids--a playground, mini golf, and mini baseball diamond, too. Of course, Becca thought it was all wonderful!

Here we are in our outfield seats (also part of the new additions). I'm sure there's more to tell, but I gotta get going now....

Testing One Two, Testing...

2009-09-14T13:56:00.005-05:00

WWI Memorial--Kansas City, MO

Union Station--Kansas City, MO

Ok. Obviously our "high speed" internet isn't that fast. We have had the durndest time getting the blog to put in pics, but I put these two in and it worked in less than 10 secs (I'm at the office). I just came back in and edited. It's like back from the future or something...

If this won't melt your heart, nothing will!

2009-08-31T13:33:00.002-05:00

Here are a few pictures of Becca and her bestest friend, Madison. Some of you readers will know Madison's grandparents--Laura and Jolly Bussell from Brinkley. Madison lives in our neighborhood; she is about 4 months older than Becca. They've been playing together since they were just babies! They love each other so much!

This was taken the other evening after a long ride in the wagon. I have a few more that I'll try to get on here soon. Enjoy!

Our funny girl

2009-08-26T12:29:00.003-05:00

Can I just say that I'm so glad Becca's speech has really taken off? She is talking so much and it's so much easier to understand her lately. I don't know if it's her age, or just being around the other kids in daycare so much. But, it's hilarious!

* Sometimes she talks in questions (and answers them, of course).
Example: "Where's my book? Oh there it is!" Mainly, when the desired object is sitting in plain sight.

* I drop her off every morning at daycare because Lee goes to work so early. Most days, he picks her up before I get home. In the mornings, I usually ask her "Do you want me to pick you up today or Daddy?" And, 90% of the time, her answer is "DADDY!" Of course. One day I had pickup duty. I thought she was happy to see me because she squealed and ran to me, then halted in her tracks only to look at me and say "Where Daddy?" Stinker.

* Apparently, Dora is from France. Becca calls her Dora the "Esplo-your."

* Last night, I was on the phone in the kitchen. Becca was in the backyard with Fergie. She throws the door open, runs into the kitchen and announces, "Fergie pooped in the grass!!!" She said it like she'd just found a million bucks in the yard.

* OK, so this story has some background to it. You know that Nanny stayed with us for a week in July. Well, if you are related to me, you know this or you are not surprised by this: Nola doesn't just pack a suitcase. She packs in plastic bags, like Wal-Mart sacks and various other random containers. So, she had one of those plastic cottage cheese bowls with a lid that Becca took to playing with. So she left it here for Becca (thanks, Nanny. We need more crap in our house). Anyway, a friend of mine was at the house staying with Becca last Saturday. I left Becca eating some dry cereal in a cup. When we got home, my sitter said, "Becca really wanted her cereal in this bowl. She handed it to me several times and said 'dump cereal'." She just wanted to eat her cereal in the dang cottage cheese bowl!

Going to post some new, super cute pics tonight. Stay tuned!!