A Few Fav's from a Recent Photo Shoot

Many thanks to Kandice Ray Photography for these wonderful pictures of Brianna.  These are just a few of my favorites from the shoot a few weeks ago!

I know she's mine, but I have to say, Justin and I have a beautiful daughter, full of personality, and she's absolutely the light of our lives!

First Camping Trip

Justin and I haven't been camping in awhile, okay a very long while, so this weekend, we joined a few good friends in camping at Turner Falls, Oklahoma.  I took Brianna up for the day and she had a blast!  Below are a few pictures ... enjoy!

Watching for fish with Daddy

 

Throwing rocks in the stream and getting muddy!

Help me with my chair daddy?

 But don't help me too much!

Having a great time!

A Little Doll

 

So, its November and finally cold enough here for a coat.  I've been waiting to break out this beautiful coat and hat set my sister and mom found for Brianna!  Just like with bows, she hasn't wanted to wear hats before and had this one on less than 30 seconds before pulling it off.  I explained to her that it was cold outside and she needed to wear her hat to keep her head warm, plus I told her she would look so cute with it on.  She patted her head and said "hat head daddy?" and I confirmed that yes, she would be just like daddy if she put her hat on.   That did it!  She said "hat on!" and didn't take it off until it fell in her eyes while trying to eat her cheese stick in the car on the way to school.  

She looks like such a big girl now ... no more baby :-(  Every morning, she asks "where ye-yow (yellow) school bus is?" and she watches for them the whole ride to school.  If she sees one, "ye-yow school bus mommy! ye-yow school bus!".  I know that before long, she'll be one of the big kids riding the yellow school bus every morning and that thought makes me very sad.  I'm not ready for her to grow up.

Its a bird ... Its a plane ... No, Its FLASH!

Yep, that's Brianna in her homemade Flash costume!  It was her daddy's idea since she likes to run so much, it seemed appropriate that we make her in to a super hero known for speed.  She had a blast hanging out with our good friends, the Durham's, and getting spoiled and loved on by little mama's Averi and Aspen.  She also got her first kiss from a boy, at least that I know of.  Knight's very good at giving kisses, and very serious about making sure his target gets the full effect of his kisses too!

Her daddy said he knew Knight was too old for her (he'll be 3 in a few days) and that he should have kept a better eye on that boy!  But look at those curls ... how could any girl resist that.  You notice Brianna isn't really pushing him away.  I think his beautiful blue eyes won her over just a little bit!

Finally - A Bow!

Okay, I know its been a long time since my last post and I owe several updates on Brianna, our vacation in Charleston and life in general. For now though, you'll have to be content with this slightly dark and grainy picture I shot over my shoulder this morning with my iPhone.

You see, there is a reason that you never see Brianna in pictures with bows or hats or headbands or any other form of girly paraphernalia in her hair.  She simply won't tolerate it.  She hasn't since the day she was born and fussed at me for trying to put a hat on her head to take her outside in the cold February wind.  Needless to say, I won that battle but it was just the start of me trying to put things in her hair only to have them yanked out, sometimes with tears.  But, lately, all the other little girls at school have had bows in their hair and while she's told me all about them, she's yet to want one of her own.

This morning, as I was brushing her hair for school, I asked her for the first time in weeks if she wanted to put a bow in her hair.  She looked at me, touched her head and said "bow? hair?".  So I asked again if she wanted the pink bow.  "No!" she said, followed quickly by the statement "blue bow!" with much head patting and grinning.  So, I put it in her hair and she very gently patted it and said "blue bow.  hair."  She walked out of her room so gently is was like she was afraid that it was going to fall out!  Then that walk developed a bit of prissiness and she looked at me like "I've got a bow in my hair and I know I'm cute!".  At school, the teachers commented on her bow and she patted it every so gently saying "blue bow.  hair" and grinning.  I checked the webcam at daycare two hours later and it was still in her hair!  Amazing that for almost 21 months, I've tried and tried to get her to wear a bow and one morning, she just seemed to decide it was okay.  Oh how I love my stubborn little daughter!

 

Zoo Pictures!

I'm so thankful that this was a much cooler weekend than past ones since, with Nana and Pops visiting, it make our trip to the zoo much more enjoyable.  Brianna seemed to really enjoy seeing all the animals, particularly the monkeys, elephants and giraffes!  She got a little nervous when they started walking towards her but she kept that wide-eyed look of amazement and I can only imagine what she must have been thinking.  Its one thing to know what the animals are in the pages of her books, but it must have been completely different to see them life-sized, moving, making noise and running around. 

One of the mother chimps had an infant and she spent several minutes trying to make herself comfortable so she could feed her baby.  Brianna kept pointing at it and smiling, saying "baby monkey" over and over.  I think she could have watched them play and interact for hours.  She wasn't content to sit in her stroller or be held either.  Honestly, we could have left the stroller at home for as much use as it got.  We had her little monkey backpack and she just ran from one place to another with one of us holding on to the tail.  I have to say, I always thought a "child leash" was unnecessary until I had a toddler of my own and realized just how enjoyable it can be to let you child run till they're heart's content, but not run off or get into trouble.  She laughed and giggled and shrieked and told us all the names of the animals until we were all ready to drop.  It was a very successful and fun-fill day!

Anyway, on to the pictures...

Checking out the elephant's picture with Nana

Family Picture

Elephants really do have long noses Mommy!

Checking out the Orangutans with Pops!  She kept this wide-eyed look almost all day.  It was like she couldn't believe that the animals she's used to seeing in her books really were alive.

Snake Petting ... she was all excited to "pet" the snake until it was her turn, then she didn't want anything to do with it.

Watching the kangaroo's sleep

Strolling along, happy as can be

Fast asleep in the car ... my big girl was all worn out from her adventures.

Dancing!

This video says it all ... my baby girl loves music!