Brielle's 3rd Birthday Interview

From This:

To This:

It all happened so quickly.  I still can't believe she's three!  I really don't want to forget anything about this time in our lives.  And since I have the worse memory in the World, I guess I'll just have to write down as much as I can.  Hopefully this will be a start:

Brielle's 3^rd Birthday Interview:

What is your name? Brielle Kyhl
How old are you? 3
Where do you live? I don’t know. . . . .I live in Salk Lake.  Me: Oh Come on Brielle, you know where     you live.  Bree:  I live in. . . . someping. 


Favorites:
Food:  Um. . . . . Christmas. . . . . . . grapes.  (I'm not surprised there, she really doesn't like to eat much of anything ever.  She does sneak candy though, and she does ask for ramen more than any other food.)
Drink: Orange drinks.
Toy: Um. . . . . I can’t member it. . . like applesauce maybe?  (She’s in a very silly mood)
Game: I like membory.  It’s my favorite toy.  (Memory the matching game)
Song: I Love to See the Temple.
Book: The ducky book.
Dinner: I like some grapes I said.  Mommy, I just told you.
Animal: I like a horsey because I like it.
Color: Blue (even though it’s actually pink)
Movie: The Lion King
Princess: Beauty and the Beast (20 min ago it was Cinderella, and yesterday it was Tinkerbell).

(Brielle: Hold on mom, I gotta go change into Beauty and the Beast dress up, then I can talk to you. . . OK?)

Favorite things to do: I like to play membory. I like to color too and read and go to gymnastics. (Really though, I think it’s dress up.  She changes clothes like 20 times a day.  She’d rather do that than anything.)

Place to go? Somewhere.  I like to go to the house we’re building.

Favorite sport:  I like to play running.

What do you love about daddy? I can’t member.  Later: That he tickles me.
What do you love about mommy? You are funny.
What do you love about Taylee?  She plays with me.
What makes you happy? To tickle me.
What makes you sad? Being naughty.
Who’s your best friend? Noah.
What is mom’s favorite thing to do? You like to play Membory with me.
What is dad’s favorite thing to do? He likes to play games with me too.
What does our family like to do together? They like to play all the games.

What do you want to be when you grow up? I’d like to be the Princess.
What is your least favorite thing to eat? Bananas.
What are you really good at?  I’m good at looking at the tree (and not touching), and coloring.
What was the best part of your birthday party? Open presents and dress up in Cinderella.  I like to do that.
What are you thankful for? I am thankful for ducky.

 Brielle is like my breath of fresh air.  I feel so honored to be her Mommy.  Brielle, I love you more than I will ever be able to describe. I'm the luckiest girl in the world because I get to be with you everyday and forever.

XOXO,

Mommy

Parties, Other Parties, and More Parties

It all started with this adorable birthday girl.  She had been counting down the days to her birthday for a LONG time.  All she could ever talk about was November 19th.  Going as far as constantly using it as an excuse to get out of anything she didn't want to do.

For example:

Me: Breezy, it's time for bed.

Bree: Oh no, it's OK.  My birthday's on November 19th and I'm going to be 3 so I'm just going to stay up and watch a movie cuz it's my birthday soon. . . . . . Sound like a plan mom? 

(Sometimes it worked too. . . . . . I'm only human!)

We made a paper chain to help count down the days.  And then of course we had to make a necklace and a bracelet too.  Brielle is 100% girl!

Brielle loves to "write".  Mostly she scribbles, but it makes her feel very important, so she does it every chance she gets.  I was so excited when she wrote her name by herself (I had to tell her which letters to write, but she did the rest) several weeks ago.  She said she had to practice for her birthday.  I don't have a clue why she felt that way, but it works for me!

The big day finally came and Breezy was super pumped.  Trav and I woke her up by singing "Happy Birthday" to her and she was elated!  Then Trav went to work on the house and Brielle requested that we eat breakfast while watching Tinkerbell.  So that's exactly what we did.  That's about when my parents arrived along with my brother Randy.  Brielle has a little crush on Randy.  Having Uncle Randy there was the perfect present for this spoiled little girl!

The party continues at the bowling alley:

Honestly, I think Taylee enjoyed bowling more than Brielle did.  Brielle had fun, but Taylee squealed and giggled the entire time!  She loves balls, and every time the ball came back up the ramp right next to her, she thought that was the funniest thing in the world!  She wanted it to be her turn every time.  She truly could not get enough.  It was more fun watching her than anything else (at least for me).  Of course Trav and I were the top score-ers.  (Let's pretend I didn't have to use the bumpers just about every roll!)

Breezy had more fun choreographing dance moves while lying on the floor.

To make the experience more complete, she also had to do the good luck pants roll just like her Daddy:

Unfortunately, our apartment is too tiny to have a true party, but we did invite a few more grandparents to help us eat the cake.  And yes, I kind of did treat it as my own party and got two cakes that I picked out, two tubs of my favorite ice cream, and made caramel apples as well because it was what I wanted.  Selfish? Sure.  Delish? Absolutely!  I really don't think Breezy minded.  She was just excited about all of the presents!

Uncle Randy gave her a keyboard that we've had fun jamming out to.

Brielle cracked us up more than once changing her clothes right there in the middle of everyone because she just couldn't resist all of her dress up clothes.

The makeup was one of her favs.  As funny as it sounds, Brielle and I have made a lot of good memories in the morning putting on our makeup together.

Her fabulous Aunt Misty arranged for Brielle to get a call from one of her very favorite princesses - Cinderella!  She's still talking about that to this day!

Brielle with all her loot.

Sweet sisters :)

 Needless to say, Brielle's Birthday did not disappoint.

Thanksgiving Day

The most exciting part: We were able to meet Ryan and Misty's beautiful little boy just one day old in this pic.  Dylan Parker Rhodes.  It was so fun to hold him and made me want a little boy even more!

I didn't get any pictures of Thanksgiving dinner, I guess we were all too busy chowing down.  It was a fabulous day to reflect on everything we're grateful for though.  I was grateful that calories don't count on Thanksgiving!

Sneaking:

 We had a fabulous time and my parents really outdid themselves! 

Party Continuum: This Is the Place State Park

Unfortunately, Travis left later that night to go back to Richfield to work on the house, but the girls and I decided to keep the party going.  (I know it sounds terrible, I really felt terrible too but there was nothing I could do to help at the house).  So we met up with Trav's family, and went to This Is the Place State Park.  It was so much fun!

Taylee and I on the train:

I spy Comet and Cupid!

Of course we had to stop and learn the sweet Pioneer dance moves.  It was fun because it brought back a lot of memories of when I used to volunteer there with my friend Melanie Visser to teach those same dances.

Our cheering section:

My 5 year old nephew Jackson was my partner and he did awesome!  We had so much fun goofing off and learning some sweet moves.  Abbey and Tyson really got into it too.

Elf Village:

My dance partner and I:

The funniest part was when we discovered that Taylee wasn't buckled in, and had slid down until just her head was still actually on the seat.  Poor baby!  She was a good sport though, we didn't have a clue!

Santa was AWESOME!  He was super nice and sweet with the girls.  Both of them loved him.  Brielle never loves anyone right away, but she did him!  She told him she just wanted candy.  He gave her a candy cane and she was sold on him!

Taylee was mesmerized.

Discovery Gateway

Why not?

The ball pit was a favorite among my girls.  It took several efforts to get them out of there.

I love this picture!

I love that it's directed to such a wide age range.  Taylee stayed just as busy as Brielle did.

Abbey, Tripp, me, Jackson

See what I mean by wide age range?  Tyson is 32 and was just as delighted as my 3 year old!

Captain Breeze:

We've had a fabulous couple of weeks and we hope that everyone else enjoyed Thanksgiving even half as much as we did!



The Princess and the Poodle

I heart traditions. 

I heart costume parties. 

And I really heart candy.

Makes for a great Halloween!

My cow "utters" seemed to be a hit everywhere we went.  In fact, when Brielle first saw me dressed up, she came up to me, grabbed an utter and said, "Mom, I really like your cow boobies"!

My children and I with some of my favorites at the ward Halloween carnival that the youth were in charge of:

Brielle is adored by so many of the young women, but she drives me crazy because she is SO stinkin' shy!  If she gets nervous, she goes from cute to not so cute very quickly because she either has to be held by me, or freaks out and shuts down.  Poor thing, I just don't know how to help her. 

Here comes the torture.  That's right:  Pictures by the pumpkins.  You'd think I was truly punishing my children.

Taylee literally took off running when I set her by the pumpkins for pics.

It's the crouch-and-run!  She pretends like she's sitting, and then when I get close to pick her up, she takes off running again.  I'm depressed to tell you that it's worked on more than one occasion!

She thought she was so funny trying to get away.  That's kind of our daily game now.  I tell her to come here, she takes off in the other direction just as fast as her chubby little legs will carry her.

In the end, I thought I won. . . . . until I actually saw the picture.  Dang!

Poor Poodle:

Check out the slobber!  All tuckered out after visiting Daddy at work.

I know I'm biased, but man I think this is one pretty princess.

Excited to go to the trunk or treat:

Brielle kept dancing and singing and twirling.  She was in LOVE with her costume!

And even more delighted when she got to put on makeup and a necklace!

Taylee just likes to sneak my chap stick so she can eat it.  Dang dog!

Trick or treating with Daddy!  Yay!!  At every door, Brielle would say, "Trick or Treating".

Taylee of course would grab as many candies as she could when they'd hold the bowl out, and then she had a very hard time putting them in her bucket.  She had to have at least one candy in each hand at all times because she was so afraid she wouldn't get them back.

Too much fun, not enough sleep.

Visiting Grandma and Grandpa's house.

After all the extra candy that Grandma Marg gave her, Taylee was rejuvenated and ready for more trick or treating.

Grandma and Grandpa Kyhl.

We came home to some delicious bread bowl soup (just like my parents did for me every year of my life), and the sugar cookies we'd made and decorated.  As if we didn't already have enough sugar!

All in all, it was a great Halloween. 

Since then, we have been super lazy.  And by that I mean I have been super lazy.  Brielle stays busy trying on every costume in the house and modeling them for me.

You know, I really love doing crafts with my kids and reading them books.  I love taking them to the library and coloring with them.  Most days that I'm home, we do stay pretty busy doing every creative thing we can think of, but sometimes it's absolutely wonderful doing absolutely nothing and getting to watch stuff like this unfold!

While Travis and I (but mostly Travis) work on the house, our kids are usually doing something like this:

There are some truly delightful kids in our neighborhood, and for that I'm extremely grateful.

Brielle asks me regularly if she can sleep on the "jumper".  I think the tramp is her favorite part about gymnastics too.  That girl would gladly skip all three meals if she could just jump all day long.

Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend!