Is it a Boy or Girl?

Alright everyone!  Here is our big news.  Watch Breanne find out if she is having a baby sister or baby brother.  Enjoy!

Breanne's New "Pet"

Kids love nature and all things concerning animals and Breanne is no different.  But with Breanne the smaller the better.  For some reason, really really small things are "sooooo cuuuute!"  Of course in the animal kingdom the smallest of these things are bugs.  Breanne often likes to dig up worms, rolly polly bugs (I have no idea what they are really called) and caterpillars.  The only bugs she is not a fan of are spiders and since they aren't really insects anyway, they don't count.

Anyway, yesterday she got off the school bus with a huge smile on her face and two paper bowls stapled together.  "I have a new pet!"  To say she was excited would be an understatement.  Attempting to be a good mother but not really into bugs myself I feigned excitement for her and her new pet.  "Oh, great hun!  What have you got?"  She shakes the bowls like a tambourine.  "A caterpillar!  A Gypsy!"  "Fantastic" I said.  "Great, the thing stinks and will be smushed on my living room floor in no time" I think.  Well she turned out to be a pretty good caterpillar mommy.  She came in, got it some grass and leaves.  (Is that even what these things eat?) and found it a new home in the butterfly tent Mom-mom got her last year that is supposed to be for actual butterflies not gross little gypsy moths that kill plants.

Needless to say Brandon and I had little hope for this poor thing.  He had been found hours earlier at recess which means he'd most likely been passed around the classroom, handled by most kids, taken on a bus ride, and then shaken like a musical instrument before finding a nice resting place in our butterfly tent.  David even had a little interest in him which for the most part is very very dangerous.

Well wouldn't you know it, the darn thing survived and found a nice secure place in his cocoon in the tent.  We were shocked.  Bre was proud.  And in a few days, we'll have a nice moth flying around.  Fun! I think we may have to order some more butterflies.

Big News For Breanne

Last weekend we shared some big news with Breanne.  Check out her reaction:

Dancing in the Moonlight

There are lots of things that our family likes to do together. We play games, we wrestle, we play disk golf...ok, Brandon plays and I walk, I throw like a girl. Above all else though, we love to dance. Not because we're good either...trust me, we're not. There's no dance floor material here. (Unless we're talking about the three Honza brothers at a wild wedding, then we might have something to talk about) But seriously, we are strictly closed curtains, don't answer the door type people when it comes to our dance skills. Tonight however, I thought this was worth sharing. Brandon decided tonight was the night to pass down the knowledge of valuable dance moves to his ready to learn daughter. Dance she did, and it's the cutest. Go Breanne!

Breanne and Daddy Day or Days

So, last week while I was doing New Teacher Orientation, Breanne approached Lauren and said she wanted a daddy/daughter day before I went back to school.  Like any sensitive father, I wiped away a tear and, of course, agreed to spend a wonderful day with her.  The only problem was we were booked pretty solid for the next couple of days.  So instead of one special days, we did several chunks of days.  We began the 1st of many chunks by going to see "The Smurfs" Saturday morning.  It was a decent movie, but it was even more fun just watching Breanne react to seeing the Smurfs on the big screen.  Sunday, we were suppose to go to a lobster feast, but it was canceled due to rain (and quite frankly, I had just played my first soccer game in a decade and played 88 out of 90 minutes).  Instead we went and had ice cream.  Breanne had crazy vanilla and I had my usual cooked brownie topped with chocolate peanut butter ice cream with some extra peanut butter on top.  Hey, you don't keep a figure like mine by having frozen yogurt.  Our final segment happened yesterday.  I was able to get off work early because, of all things, we had an earthquake (5.9).  We went out disc golfing on a beautiful afternoon.

As you can see, Breanne is starting to get pretty good at throwing too.  Breanne actually played the first 3 holes by throwing, picking up, and throwing from where I landed.  During the round, I had one of my best throws of all time.  As seen in the picture below, I was more than 30 yards away from the basket when I threw and put it in.  The picture below shows my view from where I threw the disc from.

 

Sorry the photo is so big, but it is hard to see the basket otherwise.  Anyhow, it is great that one of the first things Breanne asks to do with me is play disc golf.  We did our usual playground time to break up the round and then finished it out.  Following disc golf we hit up Chick-fila' one of Breanne's favorites and low and behold, it was kid night and a clown/magician was there.  We ended our night watching a guy juggle, make napkins come back together, and play a guitar while standing on a ball that was 3' in diameter.  

As a father, there really is nothing better than having your child want to spend time with you.  The fact that she is so into playing disc golf is a bonus, but I would do anything.  Thank you Breanne for our wonderful day!

Bre's first photoshoot

My daughter melted my heart today. She's been doing that a lot recently, or maybe it's just the upcoming school year that has me sentimental and weepy. Today she told me she was going to do her very first photoshoot so that she can come and help me on my next shoot. She asked for help and guidance on where to put "Linda" her kitty and how to use the camera. It was a bonding moment, for me anyway. Ugh...I just love her.

Notice the leash keeping Linda steady and in one place. Not a bad idea. :)

She then decided she should take "brother/sister" pictures. I'm thinking I should try this technique with multiple children. Just get a single collar and strap it on both of them! It seemed to work for this duo.

South Carolina Beach Day 1

Hello all,

We made to Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina yesterday to vacation and spend time with our friends Dan and Holly.  Today we made our way to the beach (Isle of Palms) which is only a very short drive from Dan and Holly's!  Last years trip to the beach was a little difficult as David was only 2 months old so Lauren and I took turns holding David while the other spent most of their time running down Breanne.  So we were a little interested to see how things were a year later. 

Despite the short trip to the beach, David decided to take a nap in the car.  It was a 5 minute power nap that ended as soon as we arrived on the beach, but we did get this picture:

This would be the end of his napping though, as David loved everything about the beach.  He played in the sand, he played in the water, he ate the sand, and he drank the water.  Despite showing signs of being he tired, he just kept on trucking the entire time.  He loves playing with the sand toys and splashing in the water.  It is so much fun watching him explore the beach. 

Breanne has also made some changes in how she is at the beach.  Lauren has been working real hard with her on her swimming and you can definitely tell.  In years past, I had to drag her out kicking and screaming to get her to out in the surf with me.  I have not spent this much time in the water since I was 13 and spending every moment I could out there.  Isle of Palm's beach is perfect for kids in that it is very shallow.  Even where the waves get bigger I could set Bre down and she could stand to give myself a break between waves.  She is very confident in her swimming and no longer afraid of the water. 

While we spent a little time building castles, it was hard to keep her away from the waves too long.  She also enjoyed playing with two squeaky frogs that she would fill up with water and squirt us with.  Of course, as she did this, she informed us that the frogs were peeing on us.  :)  Oh, to be four.

Having been at the beach for 3 hours, the kiddos began to tire.  Bre runs around so much she gets raw marks on her legs and has a hard time walking.  Today was no different.  David was fussy so we cleaned him off only to find an explosive diaper in the process.  It was time to go. 

David stayed awake for about a minute on our way home (another power nap) so when we first arrived back, we cleaned everyone else off before him.  After being taken out of his seat, we got this short video, showing how tired he was.

Currently, the kids are upstairs trying to nap (although believe it or not I can hear David still talking).  I have a feeling we may not hear for them for a couple of hours (or we might see them in 5 minutes). 

Hello blogging world! Brandon and I decided to start a family blog! The discussion started with a realization that up until this point we have no written history of our family. Tons of pictures, yes, I am a photographer, but very little written history. When I think of my Grandma's generation, so much of her life is written in letters. Unfortunately with the computer age, no one writes letters anymore and hardly anyone keeps e-mails around for longer than a week. I'd like to have some sort of record of our family so that our children can look back at our lives together.

That being said, I have the desire to record our lives for our children, this does not give me the ability to do so without grammatical and spelling errors. I am going to apologize to any English teacher or anyone reading this who has any reasonable talent in written English...I have no talent. I blame my 6th and 8th grade English teacher. (I had her twice)

Anyway, here is my anecdote for tonight and it's short.

As with all kids, Breanne says some of the funniest, most ridiculous things. Breanne made me belly laugh tonight. She is a thumb sucker and we have recently been threatening ways to get her to stop sucking her thumb. We were finishing up our bedtime routine, lying on my bed reading books and she looks at my toes. She notices my chipped and old nail polish.

She asks, "Mommy, is that the yucky stuff?

I'm confused, "What?"

"You know," she says, "The stuff you put on your nails to stop sucking your toes and thumbs?" My first thought, "Yup honey, I've been trying to get your father to stop sucking my toes for a while now."

Breanne's First Orioles Game

I know this was almost a month ago, but I was able to take Breanne to her first Oriole game.  All parents out there know this is a big deal not so much as to go to a baseball game, but because you never know how long a 4 year old will last.  Things didn't start out too well, as the sky opened up at about 1:15.  The good news was we got tickets under cover, but the game started about 15 minutes late.  All in all, it could have been worse.

I did find myself thinking back to when I went to games with my parents as a child and I always remember having a hot dog.  Now, I love hot dogs, but there is something about a hot dog at a ballgame.  They just taste better.  Here Breanne is just before digging in!

However, if you ask Breanne what her favorite treat was, it was not the hot dog, but cotton candy.  The cotton candy man seemed to avoid our section, so we eventually had to go hunt down a vendor inside.  The bag was gone in 15 minutes tops. 

I know you are asking about the game, but remember I went with a 4 year old, so the game came second.  However, after giving up 3 runs in top of the first, Adam Jones and Vlad Guerrero hit back to back home runs in the bottom of the first.  Adam Jones ball actually landed in the section in front of us about 4 rows away which was pretty cool. 

While we the score would change the next couple of innings we discussed other things like the different music that was played, why cotton candy is so good, and why aren't allowed to bring animals to the game.  At the end of the 5th inning Breanne announced she was bored and ready to go.  Baltimore does a pretty good job of getting kids excited about baseball though.  We stopped by and got Breanne a certificate for her first time and, of course, I had to get a picture of her with it next to #8 (she also wanted her picture taken with the Babe Ruth statue, although she wanted to know why a guy had the name of Baby). 

I do have to make a special thank you to one of the workers.  After leaving the stadium (you can not re-enter) Breanne announced she had to use the potty.  We quickly returned to the gate and after a little begging on my part, we were allowed to re-enter to use the potty.  That guy has no idea how much he helped me out, but I owe him a big thank you. 

Despite Breanne saying she was bored at the end of the game, she melted my heart the next morning.  Right before I walked out the door for work, Breanne asked if we could go back to another game again soon.  Can't wait to take my little girl back again!