The girls...

The girls' turn...

Disney in June

Brynn continues to be the spunky, chatty girl as always been. She says whatever she is thinking, and that is sometimes a bit scary. She always wants to know what is next on the agenda and, like Price, is a social butterfly.

She wore this dress to school on dress-up day with her hair up and came home beaming because so many people told her how beautiful she looked.

Brynn swam for the local swim team for the first time this summer. We were not really sure how it would go over so we did the trial period first knowing if nothing else her swim skills would improve. Well, she loved being a Gator. She may not have finished first in the water but her enthusiasm was worth a gold medal. She worked hard at practices, participated in the swimathon, swimming more laps than any of us thought she could,  and even swam at the UVA pool which is very deep without hesitation. Her swim cap is probably still at the bottom of that pool. And her dives are simply fun to watch... she gets up on the block, gets in dive position, when the gun sounds she moves her arms nest to her ears, puts her hands together in find dive fashion, and then jumps in. That is Brynn for you!

The dive.

She wanted to be a cop or an army girl for Halloween this year. Cop won out because she wanted the handcuffs.

Brynn returned to Girl Scouting again this year, moving up to Brownies. She enjoys being with her friends and all the activities. For a fundraiser this year some of the girls wrapped presents for 3 hours at a local electronics store. She was a great "sales lady" with her bubbly personality. She was very polite too and almost made it the whole time without embarrassing me. But then it came out. "Oh poop!" in response to a man and his sons' polite, "No thank you." She said it laughing and thankfully, the family did as well.

She likes to clean up after she cooks.

Brynn decided not to dance or play soccer this fall and instead tried Aikido. She had a fabulous instructor but decided it just wasn't her thing. I think she thought she would be training to be a fighter like in the movie The Karate Kid. She is going to start dancing again in January, tap and jazz. She misses being on stage.

Painting pumpkins.

Thankfully Brynn has had great teachers both last year and this year. They say she is well behaved in school. I am thankful that her chattiness isn't an issue. Both teachers say that she is a very hard worker, inquisitive, and curious. Her classmates from 1st grade voted her "Funniest" ~ yes, both my 1st graders earned the same superlative in their different classes. So proud to have two class clowns. :o)

Animal Kingdom at Disney... I think the look fits her!

They may not be her favorite but she did enjoy the princess breakfast at Disney. She went as Mulan and we heard several times throughout the day how nice it was to see Mulan since she is not seen too often.

Brynn was thrilled to be tall enough for most of the big rides at Disney and Kings Dominion this summer and very little scares her. At the Tower of Terror she would get in the line and say, loudly, how scared she was, getting everyone's sympathy before the ride and lots of, "Are you okay?" inquiries after. She duped them all, considering she did this on her 2nd and 3rd time on the ride and it wasn't me dragging her on it!

Such a ham!

Story character day at school.

For Christmas this year Brynn wanted, and received, an Easy Bake oven, spy glasses, and Bayblades (something Caleb also enjoys). She still loves horses, drawing, and writing.

Sassy!

Nyah has grown up so much since last Spring. While she still sometimes gets stubborn and emotional, she is also inquisitive, thoughtful, and fun. And she loves to help clean up around the house! Woo hoo!

She insisted on the wig for her Ariel Halloween costume though when the time came I had to beg her to wear it.

Nyah finished up 3 year old preschool in May and now is in the 4 year old class, going 3 days a week. She has the same teacher her older siblings have and has learned so much, though she often says she is done with preschool (sounding a bit like Evan). She is also still going to speech two days a week and her speech is now so much more understandable though she also is becoming aware that we don't understand everything she says and that she says some things wrong and it bothers her. She has a classmate one of the days she goes to speech and they are cute together... he is so friendly and outgoing and she jokingly ignores him (sign of things to come?).

Before the December recital; we have had some nice weather here!

Nyah is doing dance again this year. There are only 3 girls in her class. She looks forward to going every week and while she got a bit nervous, again, before the recital practice, she ended up loving being on stage. And her dance teacher made her year when she picked out a blue costume for the recital AND a blue costume for the group for the spring recital.

Bouncing her way across the soccer field.

Nyah also played soccer this fall for team Ducky. She was so excited to play and did great in practices. On game days she did a lot more bouncing and running around than actual kicking and stealing but she had fun. She always looked forward to the "Gatorader" she insisted I have for her on Saturdays.

Helping mom with some baking.

I cannot say enough how great Nyah has been with "Baby Jessa" ~ she calls her "my baby" and often says how much she loves her. I really expected their relationship to be one of the biggest challenges this year; instead it brightens my day to see their relationship. Only in the last few days, actually, am I seeing a bit more tension but that is because Jessa is much more mobile and into everything and Nyah doesn't want her to play with her Barbies or Legos (and I am thankful that she is keeping those little shoes away).

Buddies

She loves the camera she got for Christmas. 

Nyah now has a princess room and someday Jessa will be in there as well. It is painted "Bibbity Boppity Blue" and "Cinderella Ballgown Blue" and has huge decals on the walls. Nyah is very much a girly-girl...wearing skirts to soccer, wanting to wear dresses every day if allowed, and loving princesses, Barbies, and having her nails painted. She also likes to ride her bicycle, wear flip-flops and bows, and play with Playdoh. She already has her bag packed for her next trip to Disney (maybe June 2013) and has made it very clear we are not to unpack it.

Smiling Nyah and her faves... flip flops, bicycle, favorite dance outfit (blue of course)

Jessa seems to have turned into a toddler overnight. Wow the time has flown. She is still a sweet baby though the past week, with all the Christmas activity, has left her a bit out of sorts. She is in a cling-to-mommy stage at the moment and is still a terrible sleeper; she goes down fairly easily for naps and at first in the evening but from 11pm to 5:30am she wants to be with me, in my bed, and is a very light sleeper. Circumstances here haven't helped the sleep issue either... we are a bit of pushovers for her cuteness and the  earthquake scariness happened right at the time we were about to start serious sleep training (more on that later but in short, I felt bad making Doug lose more sleep to help when he was already exhausted from dealing with earthquake aftermath).

Pretty baby... 9 months old

Anyway, back to the wonderful things about Jessa. She is now almost 11 months old. She is average height and a bit below average weight but healthy as can be; she is just petite. She is still wearing 6-9 month clothing. She is a speedy crawler, loves her pacifiers and anything that is not her's, puts everything she can in her mouth (Nerf bullet at the moment ~ one of the safer choices), knows and signs (in her own way) milk, all done, and more, and has turned into quite a chatterbox.

Cutie!

Her eyes are hazel... Doug and I both have hazel eyes though none of the other kids do. She has brown hair with a little curl but I am not sure it will be curly. Her birthmark on her back is still there.She LOVES music and will bounce up and down to any tune. She loves yogurt and fruit and will make the funniest faces the first time she tastes something different though she usually will try a 2nd bite. She played baby Jesus in a church movie earlier this month though she was a bit of a demanding actress; clearly we didn't meet her demands of not reclining her but the movie turned out amazing anyway.

Taking a little bath... usually it is in the tub. 9 months.

She is just learning to stand independently and laughs when she falls on her rear. She talks to you as if you understand her. Right now she is letting me type this though usually she wants to type herself; she is busy chewing on a Christmas ornament. She has her two bottom teeth but recently started more biting and drooling so others may be coming. She is still nursing and isn't seeming to lose interest as much as the others did at this age. She hates the bath when she first gets in and then loves to splash. She does not like to be buckled into a car seat. She likes to eat scraps off the kitchen floor, which has led to me vacuuming a bit more than I used to.

She was not too fond of Santa. I think he is pointing at me to tell me, "I told you so!" ~ I knew she was going to cry but I had to have the 1st Christmas Santa picture.

Didn't take long for her 1st black eye and it was on my watch! Eight months of sleep deprivation caught up with me and she took a tumble off the bed.

She was spoiled rotten with gifts for Christmas and her toy of choice was my lens cap!

Have a mentioned how much she loves her "Paci" ~ she often has one in her mouth and another in one hand. She is absolutely adorable when she waves hello or goodbye and absolutely pathetically cute when she reaches up to be picked up. My arms are tired most days. Maybe I'll start trying to unspoil her when she turns one. Maybe.

Cutest witch ever!

More tomorrow!