Peek-a-boo Valentine

I thought I would post a picture of our famous Peek-a-boo Valentine from 2005! I am THRILLED to hear that atleast 3 of you still have them because you have NO IDEA how many hours I put into them! Oh.....those were the days when I had hours and hours to do random things... Happy Valentines Day!

Sunday Fun!!!

Baby Dean was ready for his 'Sailing Day' Photo Shoot before church! He looks so cute cross eyed...if I do say so myself!
We picked up this little 'Mailbox kit' at Target and Brielle got to put all the foam stickers on it...then she could not wait to put some of the Valentines that she's made (with her Nana) inside. She was so excited to have her own mailbox that she wanted to sleep with it right next to her!
My 3 (not so) little Valentines...have you ever seen such adorable smiles!?

To Grandmothers house we go...

A couple of weeks ago we went to visit Chris' family in Maryland. It was such a great trip! Brielle had so much fun, she did not want to come home! It was baby Dean's debut to his Rueckert Grandparents...it is was a success! He was such a good baby while we there and on the airplane...in fact we did not leave our seats the entire flight (no bathroom breaks or anything), these two are angels...I bet when we have a third baby he/she will make up for all the good luck we've had so far!

We had 'big plans' to do NOTHING and just RELAX (because this is not something we do a lot of), this lasted 2 days and on day 3 we found ourselves at Home Depot and Chris had big plans for projects to help his parents do things around their house...like organize their storage and paint the basement...he is such a mess! He doesn't 'relax' very well...actually that is not true...he is okay for a day or two and then he gets really antsy and has to find some kind of project to do! However, it was great because Chris and I got to paint together (which we don't get to do very often because usually I'm taking care of the kids), because his mom watched Baby Dean and Brielle was very busy playing with her Aunt Amanda...it was fun to spend time working together and we felt like we had accomplished something. We had such a great time and of course the food was AMAZING! Linda, Chris' little sister, even flew in for the weekend from Boston! I have great in-laws!

Grandpa Dean and Baby Dean!

Brielle with Aunt Amanda (our beautiful 13 year old). Brielle had so much fun snuggling up and watching movies with her and playing games! I always thought it would be so fun to have an Aunt that was a little older but still young enough to play with me...Brielle is so lucky!Ice Cream with Grandpa....where do I begin...Chris' dad loves dessert! One night he came home around 9pm and decided that he and Brielle should have some Ice Cream...he scooped her a big bowl (small for him but huge for her) and they enjoyed it together. The best part was that she had already had cookies and milk, a Cinnamon roll and something else I cannot remember (before he came home), but you should always get to indulge with Grandpa.

Grandma Inger did not want me to take this picture and I'm sure she will not be thrilled that I have posted it (because it was the morning we left and she had not gotten herself 'ready' for the day), but it was the only picture I got of her and it is the perfect picture because she is the kind of Grandmother kids dream of! She was never to busy for Brielle...they played TONS of games and read lots of books! In fact, this morning I overheard Brielle playing Barbies and she was pretending that they were all going to Grandma Inger's house...and they kept telling each other how excited they were and how much fun it was going to be to see Grandma Inger!

Maryland 2...

We went to dinner one night at Chris' brothers house...it was delicious...but the best part was watching Brielle and Max!
Brielle and Max watching 'Marry Poppins' ...he is acting out Bert and obviously Brielle is Mary...FYI--this is the penguin scene.

Maryland 3

The day before we came home, we took Brielle to Baltimore. We went to Hard Rock Cafe and the National Aquarium, which are both right on the Chesapeake Bay.

Brielle at the Hard Rock Cafe...holding the shirt she picked out to send to Danielle!

Mary & Joseph hit the road!

I found Brielle's Barbie car (that Aunt Nat gave her) like this on Christmas morning...apparently Mary and Joseph have found a new way to travel! What a crack up!

Christmas with Nana and Bopa!

She wanted this dress and jewelry case from the movie 'Enchanted'...we went to see this movie over the holidays and she loved it! In fact, we all loved it (including Chris).
Brielle calls this her 'married dress', it is so funny! Lately she has been pretending to be a mom with kids a lot and she talks about her husband all the time! One day I asked her who her husband was and she said "Oh, his name is Mickey" So, there you have it...apparently Brielle is married to Mickey Mouse!

I am not really sure what happened but I did not take any pictures at our house on Christmas morning! We took lots of video but not a single picture! I'll have Brielle pose with some of her presents tomorrow...however she may have gotten more presents at my parents house then she did at home. My dad is absolutely smitten with this little girl! He plays with her for hours...she especially loves it when he is Donald Duck (because he talks like him and everything) and he even watches TV with her (her choice of the channel). Sometimes he will stop by our house because he has not had enough "brielle time" and he'll quickly say 'hi' to me and Chris...then spend the rest of the time having a Tea party or something...then he says goodbye to us and leaves...obviously he is not coming over to see us. Anyway, I think you get the idea...he loves her! What does this have to do with Christmas? Well, my mom had already done all her Christmas shopping and she'd bought Brielle a bunch of things....then 5 or 6 days before Christmas I got a call from my dad and he told me that he wanted to take Brielle to the Disney store at the mall (which had just opened a week or two earlier...Brielle had been VERY EAGERLY anticipating the opening, she must have asked me a million times if it was open yet), he wanted to get an idea of what to get her for Christmas. I thought he was nuts...he wanted to take a 3 year old (that already has him wrapped around her finger) to the mall (where seven million other people were doing their last minute shopping) to a store where she wants EVERYTHING! She had a wonderful time on their shopping trip and when I picked her up she kept telling me that she needed to go back to the "mickey store" to get some clothes for Bopa...I don't think so! My mom went with him to the "mickey store" to supervise (ie. make sure he did not buy everything), but in the end she was spoiled and Bopa bought lots of her 'wishes'...she was truly a princess....good think she is so cute and sweet, it would not be nearly as much fun to spiol her if she was bratty!