Brinley and Daddy Coloring

Here is a short video from Saturday of Brinley and her Daddy coloring. It was the first time for us to have the crayons and coloring book out, and I think she enjoyed it. She doesn't have a lot of interest in coloring yet--I don't quite think she's grasped the concept yet--but we go over what crayons are which colors, and Bruce or I will draw shapes or write letters and numbers. Enjoy!

More Visitors and Household Projects

This past weekend we were blessed to have my mom and dad come visit us for a few days. Overall, we had a lovely weekend together. My dad and Bruce finished hanging up the gutters on the south side of the back of our home. (This was something that Bruce and his dad started a few weeks before but were unable to finish because time got away from them.) Dad and Bruce also finished laying the insulation down in the attic area over the garage. (When Bruce's parents were here, he and his dad installed the door and layed about half of the flooring of the attic storage with insulation.) Dad and Bruce also put plywood down over the insulation to act as flooring. Of course we had a wonderful time enjoying each other's company and we look forward to seeing each other again during the holidays. Here are a few pictures from our weekend together:

Brinley, Bruce, Mom and Dad working on getting the gutters hung.

A'Pexi sitting pretty and watching everybody else work.

~Brinley Anne~

Brinley pointing out the orange flowers to Mommy.

Brinley checking out Mommy's potted-flowers on the patio.

Nana and Brinley snuggling up to read a story together.

New Cell Phones=Videos To Share

This past week, Bruce and I gave each other new cell phones for our birthdays. While this may not seem like much to some, Bruce and I had used our old phones for about 4 years and to be honest, the only reason we decided to replace them was they were no longer working very well. So, since Bruce and I have never invested in a camcorder of any kind and have been wanting to for quite a while, I decided on an iPhone (which I am loving by the way!) that has an impressive camcorder feature that allows me upload videos that I take with my cell phone straight to youTube and seamlessly to Blogger to share with you all.

I am so excited to finally be able to share video of Brinley, and our lives in general, on our blog! While pictures are great, I know those of you that live far away from us--like 600+ miles away in Texas-- are just itching to see our little stinker cutie pie in action. So, without further ado, here is a short video of Brinley playing in our front yard this past weekend while her Nana and Papa were here to work visit.

Grandpa and Grandma Come To Visit...and Work!

This past weekend Bruce's parents, Joe and Cilla, came to visit us and see our new home for the first time. Aside from the rain showers that decided to visit us off and on, we had a great weekend. Joe and Cilla arrived Friday early afternoon. After a quick lunch the guys ventured out to Lowe's to get what supplies they knew they would need for the projects that they planned on doing over the weekend. Shortly after returning, they began to work on adding guttars to our home. Apparently guttars are quite a rarity here along the Gulf Coast, which is something that I don't quite understand since Mobile is literally the rainiest city in the U.S. After spending the rest of the afternoon and most of the evening working on the guttars, I served Taco Soup and Mexican Cornbread for supper and we had Chocolate Cake that Cilla brought so that Joe and I could celebrate our birthdays--his was the 16th and mine is the 2nd. That first evening we stayed up pretty late visiting and enjoying each others company.


Brinley helping her Daddy and 'Grandpa JET' with the gutters.

Saturday morning, Bruce and Joe made another trip out to pick up a few more supplies to create an attic access in our garage that they didn't have room for on Friday. Although our home has an attic access in the hallway, it was really only designed for accessing the a/c duct work and such. There really isn't any room at all to lay down plywood and and use as a storage area. So, Saturday morning after Bruce and Joe returned from the hardware store, they created an access in our garage. That evening, Bruce grilled steaks for dinner, and I put together a salad and baked potatoes for our side dishes. After having such a busy, work-filled day we didn't stay up visiting quite as late as we had the evening before.

Brinley and her 'Grandma PET' reading stories together.

Bruce parents left Sunday so they could stay a few days at Orange Beach before heading back up to Memphis. All in all, we had a wonderful visit. Bruce and I especially appreciate all the help that his parents provided. The gutters have been working like a charm, and I look forward to finish going through several boxes that are in our spare bedroom still unpacked from the moved and being able to properly store thing in our attic.

Now Bruce and I just need to make a 'to-do' list for Joe and Cilla's next visit. ;-)

Brinley's First Haircut

Yesterday, I got an itch to do a little bit of trimming on Brinley's hair. Since she has never had a haircut at all, there was quite a bit of unevenness because during her first year she lost some of her hair--mainly the sides--while other sections--mainly the top and back--just kept growing. Because her hair is quite thin and stringy as it is, trimming it up really did wonders for it. And just for the record, she was a very good girl while I was doing my work.

The front before her hair was trimmed--not too bad, but a little poofy.

Side profile before her hair was trimmed. Definately starting to resemble a mullet and we can't have that!

The back before her hair was trimmed--very stringy and uneven.

The front after her haircut. Much better!

Another picture of the front/top after her haircut.


"Enough pictures mommy...the lens cap is going on the camera!"

"I can't get it to stay on!!!"

Mommy adds a bow for the finishing touch.

Reading a book after Mommy was finished cutting hair.

Later that afternoon, she decided to stack every shoe that she could get her hands on into her push buggy. She would stack them up as high as she could get them. When they started falling over, she would take them all out and then restack them. Lately, she has been really interested in putting things in containers and taking them out over and over and over...

Labor Day Weekend

This past weekend being Labor Day Weekend, Bruce, Brinley and I were blessed with a FOUR-day weekend together, and we spent our time piddling around the house and in the yard. To fullfill a few requests that I have had for current pictures, here are a few shots that were snapped over the past few days.

Picking up the balls in the backyard so Daddy can mow.

Watching Daddy mow the front yard.

Off to help Mommy water the flowers!

Trying on Daddy's cap.

Visiting Family

This past weekend we headed up to the Memphis area to spend time with Bruce's family. Here are a few pictures that Bruce's mom took while we were there:

The first evening that we were there, we celebrated Bruce's 31st birthday.

Having a snack while at Grandpa and Grandma's.

Daddy showing Brinley Grandma's pretty flowers.