Truth Tuesday, I mean, Wednesday

Okay. Take this for what it's worth. Here is my top 10.

first, enjoy some pictures.

oh, what a glass of water does for a toddler! She was trying to slurp it up like this and she splashed around for at least 15 minutes.

morning cartoons. She is just so cute!

playing in her favorite (and only accessible) kitchen cupboard. She loves climbing all the way inside!

rolling around on our new rug! I love it. It completely transforms our living room.

1. I am going crazy with Brinley hitting, kicking, and smacking me all the time. She gets mad, fast. Do I put her in time-outs every time she does it? That would be like, all. the. time! I don't know how to parent this nasty toddler phase. Seriously. She can be so exhausting. Not to mention her naps seem to be harder and harder to fight lately. Can I still blame it on day light savings last Sunday? Since the switch, she has been a total wreck at nap and bedtime.

2. On a positive note, she totally cut a canine! Only 3 more to go...blahhhh. I think the bottom ones were really giving her a hard time this weekend, which meant waking up every hour saying, "Oowwww mama." I can feel the other bottom canine, but it hasn't quite broken through the gum line. I have a feeling Brinley will be teething when she is in kindergarten! I am so exhausted from all this teething!!!

3. Why do older women judge you since you are young and in "child bearing years" and your child is over 2 now, that you should be pregnant again?? #1, she doesn't know what is going on, but still, judging me, or nudging me, or giving me the eye, you bug. Stop it please. And FYI, you probably shouldn't do that anyways because you never know what people are going through.

4. I need to figure out a new game plan for eating lunch. Brinley usually has a good snack/light lunch before naps, but then I never know what to make for myself. And by 3-4pm, I convince myself that I'll just eat a fruit snack to hold me over until dinner. Then when Ry gets home, I am tired and hungry. I need to work on that one.

5. I have been listening to Christmas music all week and I am looooving it. I mean, I've already decided that this is the weekend to take out Christmas decorations. Come on! Don't hate. I just want to enjoy the festiveness longer than just a few short weeks. Join the party.

6. My stupid sewing machine is failing me. Or maybe I'm just working her too hard. She broke two needles within 5 minutes! ahhhhhhhhh! And I have a baby gift I have been trying to finish for months for my sister-in-law (her baby was born in June...), and I MUST finish this weekend. MUST!!!

7. Why can't Florida decide if it is fall yet? Today, 80. Tomorrow, 65!? I don't get it. I keep pulling out my shorts every 3 days because it is just too dang warm! But then, inside our house drops to 68 at night and I'm freezing! Ready. For. Fall! NOW! and I know all yall in snow hate us right now, but we here in Florida like the 4 seasons just as much as you do!!

8. Pretty sure I am done Christmas shopping for Miss Brinley. We got her like 3 things. Between the Steele's and the Briggs', she has enough. I can't wait to see her face light up on Christmas morning!

9. I am kind of sick of seeing the same stuff pinned on Pinterest. I love it and really do lose track of time when I browse, but I'm waiting for some new things. I pinned lots for my "Wish List" that Ryan totally appreciates, and some other fun Holiday craft projects.

10. Um, can you say holiday Friday? Holla. I need a break from babysitting! If only I could have been donating my eggs every month instead of babysitting...wouldn't that be awesome!? They are going to waste anyways. Might as well make some dinero.

kidding, Mom.

Bleached Hair

You like?? don't be jealous.

juuuuuuuuuuuuuust kidding :-)

But I did dye my hair tonight. A perfect dark chocolate brown via John Frieda $11 box dye. And! also my first time trying the foam. It ROCKS! I will never ever everr go back to the normal liquid tubey kind. The foam is the way to go!

 It isn't too far from my natural, but it did a perfect job richening up the color and of course...the conditioning...Ooooh! The conditioning. I want that conditioner bottle for a hair-IV. Is that possible? The shine in my hair right now is to die for. 

Poor Ry was almost kicked in the pants 50 times for interrupting me and asking questions during the application process!!! ahhhh!!! Cannot interrupt the master at work. I gave him a big smooch after the dye was washed out, hair dried, and given my praises for being a perfect 10 hair did.

clean roots

grown out hair cut...

no make up.

I think the dye got to my head a bit. I'm wayyy too silly tonight!

The ULTIMATE birthday video!

read about her birthday
here

Brinley's Birthday Festivities

We had such a fun weekend! We celebrated Brinley's birthday every day that my parents were here and it was so fabulous! Stupid me didn't leave any presents for her actual birthday!! Oops!

To keep this post void of tangents and randomness, I am going to write what happened each day! Remember, this is our family journal first and foremost.

Friday
With two doggies in tow, my parents arrived around 3pm on Friday afternoon. Ryan was due home from work about 4pm, so we just hung around and chatted. During this time, my mother pulled out many random things to pass onto me that she had laying around the house, and she totally included new plates, bowls, cups, spoons and forks from IKEA for Brinley (I love this part of her trips)!!! By the time Ry got home, Brinley was up from her nap, the doggies had been walked, and we were ready to go out for dinner. We had a great time at dinner, and when we got back, Grandpa and Ryan helped with bath while my mom and I jetted off to Target for some retail therapy! Yes please!

meet: Penny (L) and Sophie (R)

Her new baby doll from Auntie Chrissy. She loves it!

screaming with Grandpa!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday
We started off the day by opening some presents from Grandma and Grandpa Steele and Briggs. Brinley was loving the new Duplo she got from Grandma Steele. Brinley has also been picking her new Pillow Pet from Grandma Briggs for bedtime all week! While all this was going on, I was whipping up those fabulous Lemon Poppy seed Pancakes we can't stop making when we have guests. They were delish once again. Ryan was given two incredible season tickets for the game (perfect timing!) and of course he snatched them up and told my dad they had a different man outing besides golf. My mother and I agreed that it was golf OR the football game, not both. They were fine to ditch the golf! The game was a total blow out against NC State (sorry Wolfpack!) so by the 3rd quarter they were ready to go. They definitely ate "stadium food" and loved every second. My dad learned the War Chant and really enjoyed the atmosphere of the wild Seminoles!!

opening Grandma Steele's gifts. She loved the unwrapping process!

Opening Grandma and Grandpa Briggs' gifts! She loved the Pillow Pet Ladybug! 

breakfast. YUM! Her new special plates from the Marcum's!

After the game on Saturday, we headed to our favorite park. We took the doggies because the park has a great dog park section. Brinley had a blast playing around the playground and running around. She rarely gets the opportunity to go to parks because of our schedules and me babysitting during the day, so she was runnnnning around the entire time.

For dinner, Ryan cooked us Spicy Turkey Burgers that were to die for. Of course we had the Sriracha Mayo that we love so much. Grandpa and Brinley were two little peas in a pod. She loved doing tricks with Sophie. She is such a good helper. We ended the night with a movie marathon watching The Good Witch movies on The Hallmark Channel. Totally cheesy, but fun to watch.

Sunday
We had our normal Church routine which consisted of Brinley taking all the contents out of Grandma's purse, a minor meltdown in the foyer, consuming 2 packages of fruit snacks, and all of us stealing her Cheez-its. Thankfully, she took a great Sunday nap while all of us relaxed. The tradition in my house growing up was to have Goulash for dinner on Halloween, but since I wanted Brinley's birthday to be not Halloweenie this year, we made it for Sunday. We cooked it in the crock pot this time, and it turned out great!

before church. 

Of course with Sophie too :) Isn't my mama a hottie? She does NOT look like a Grandma!

Monday

(happy birthday Brin!)

 It was basically back to normal schedule on Monday. Ryan had school all day, my dad had a work thing in the afternoon, and I went back to babysitting. Poor Brinley had her 2 year check up that I had to fit in since my mom was able to watch the baby, but fortunately for her, she is all caught up on her shots! I think she weighs somewhere between 24-26 pounds. She was not happy with the nurse or doctor. We had a great day just lounging and preparing for Brinley's party later. We decided to not Trick or Treat this year and just focus October 31st on Brinley. She is still so small that I think she will really enjoy going next year.

lounging on her birthday. I made that shirt too!! 

Right when Ryan got home from school and work, him, my dad and Brinley headed off to this great park close to our house for a couple hours. While they were gone, my mom and I cleaned the house, prepared dinner, made the ice cream cone cupcakes for Brinley, and got her decorations positioned perfectly!

park time! 

going down the slide with daddy!

The lighting outside was so perfect we had to get pictures taken. So, off we went...outside our front door! I think they turned out really nice.

official pictures

smooches

Cute!

Here are the decorations! I tied balloons to her highchair and we had some hanging from the dining room light fixture. I could tell she loved it because it was all set up when they got back from the park. She really did notice all the decorations! She kept saying, "Happy Birthday to meeee!"

the birthday party set up

The fabulous (and super easy) dinner! The Autumn Chopped Salad I pinned a few weeks ago. We added chicken and cut out the bacon, subbed walnuts for pecans, and only used the creamy poppy seed dressing instead of the vinaigrette.

the spread

She didn't like us singing to her!! She just started saying NO WAY!!!!! This picture makes me laugh!

 Funny!!

enjoying our ice cream cone cupcakes! 

We always have such a fun time with my parents, and I attribute a lot of that with how well Ryan gets along with them. He really is grafted into my family perfectly and my parents treat him just like he was their own son; with Canadian sarcasm and all! Love you Brinley boo!!!

Can you believe this was Brinley a year ago!!!???? She has changed SO much! Plus, on her first birthday she had zero teeth. Now she has 12 teeth!!! and in the process of cutting her 4 canines! Go girl!

read about:
last year birthday weekend