Miss Congeniality

Victoria was a contestant in the Miss Oil Capital Teen, Miss Keystone Lake Teen, and Miss Tulsa County Teen on Saturday (2- 26-11) in, you guesses it, Tulsa, OK. Alea, Jordan, Brinley and I went to watch her. She did a wonderful job.

Victoria won Miss Congeniality!!!

 There were 17 contestants.

Victoria is in the middle in the yellow dress

I love these girls so much! They are both so beautiful!!

Brinley was so tired and this is the only look that we coudl get from her! Brinley did a wonderful job and she enjoyed watching all the girls!

WAY TO GO VICTORIA!!!

WE LOVE YOU!! GREG, BECKY, AND BRINLEY

Visit from Family

Last week we had a surprise visit from Greg's sister and her family. They live in Iowa and we don't get to see them very much. They were staying at Gene and Jane's house so Greg, Brinley and I went over there on Thursday night to visit them!

loves to play with cell phones and Emilee had no problem letting her play with hers. Needless to say Emilee and Brinley quickly became friends.

Kaylee and Brinley

(Bee and B)

that got a little confusing!!

Em and Brinley

Uncle Ed and Brinley

Aunt Kim and Brinley

Somehow B talked Kim into helping her walk around the house for quite a while!

Brinley got to spend a little more time with all these guys because Thursday (2-24-11) was Greg and I's 4 year Anniversary and to celebrate we went to Paniveno to have a nice dinner. Brinley went over to Grandma Jane's and I think everyone had a part in watching her until Greg and I got back.
We had a wonderful and much needed dinner. I love having a family of three but I sure do miss the alone time that Greg and I used to have all the time. I cherish every moment that we get to spend together.
I love you Greg!!!

Baby Logan is here!

Congratulations to Jennifer and Mike (my niece and nephew)!! They had their baby boy today!

Logan Michael

born @ 11:25am

7lbs 15.8 oz. 20 in. long

Baby and Mom are doing wonderful!

Happy 10 months Brinley!!

2-21-2011

10 Months!!!! Only 2 more months until she is 1 year old. I am so not ready for that day! All I hear everyone say is that they grow up fast so cherish every moment. That just breaks my heart because I absolutely love the stage that Brinley is in right now. She is so funny! I just love to sit on the floor and play with her and make her laugh. She is doing some of the funniest things these days. These monthly pictures are getting harder and harder to take. (Have I said this before? Haha) Brinley is all smiles until she sees the camera. She is just like her daddy when it comes to pictures. She will cheese it up until she big black thing in front of my face. Then all she wants is to touch it and check it out.

What is Brinley up to?!

• She is eating every 4-5 hours during the day, usually around 6 ounces. 
• She eats solid food two times a day....yogurt, muffins,  whole corn, green beans, carrots, hamburger, and chicken. She is drinking apple juice and water (out of her sippy cup).
• She is still eating baby food twice a day as well. Sometimes she loves it other times she just wants to feed herself. If she cannot pick it up herself, she usually doesn't want it!
• She is sleeping 10-11 hours at night!
• Her schedule: 8 ounces at 7AM, breakfast at 9:30AM, 1 hour nap, lunch at 12, 6 ounces at 2PM, 1-2 hour nap, dinner at 6PM, then bath time, 6 ounces at 8PM, and then bed.
• She is eating puffs, baby mum-mums, yogurt melts, and crackers, but she always wants what I am eating.

• She has 6 teeth. (2 on the bottom and 4 on the top)
• She is in size 2 diapers.
• She wears a size 2 or 3 shoe. (depends on the brand)
• She has started sucking on her fingers when she is tired.
• She LOVES bath time if she is in a good mood. (she is still in her tub in our big tub)
• She is wearing 6-9 and 9 month clothes. (she is about to out grow them, that means we get to go shopping!)
• She is tarting to have separation issues from daddy when he drops her off at the sitters. But she will still go to anyone as long as she can see momma and daddy.

• She can and will (finally) hold her bottle all by herself.
• She LOVES Coco and is starting to try to play with her. (she will pick up Coco's toy and hold it in front of her trying to get her to play tug of war, It is so cute!)
• She is saying momma, dadda, bub (or at least Bub thinks she is saying his name, ha), ba-ba(for bottle and bye-bye)
• She waves Hi and Bye when she wants to!
• She claps when you say, "Yeah"!
• She has a "CHEESE" face (it has been hard to get a pic because she does it so quick!)
• She LOVES to give open mouth kisses (but it is hit and miss on who she will give one to, it's very random)!  

• She is crawling...EVERYWHERE!
• She is pulling up on everything!
• She is letting go and standing on her own.
• She is into climbing on and over everything. 
• She LOVES to climb up and down the stairs at Grandma Jane's house. (She has started to climb down from chairs as well)
• She is loving all of her toys. She loves any of them that make any type of noise. (although she is always carrying around her puppy) 
• She LOVES other kids. She just wants to touch them!  

• She is the happiest when she wakes up from sleeping and gives the biggest smile.
• She is noisy! She is always making noises: laughing, squealing, screaming, growling, and fake coughing! 
• She gets to play with her cousins all day while mommy and daddy are at work! (My cousin is her sitter)

• She loves to be outside! And it is finally warming up a bit so we can go out there!
• She loves to drink water out of a straw (her daddy holds it and lets the water drop in her mouth).
• She is in her crib in her own room.
• She is in a convertible car seat!

Brinley Nicole,

I am so not ready for you to be 1, or even 2 months away from turning one! I'm not sure where all the time has gone. I wish I could just freeze time because you are in your funniest stage yet and your daddy and I love it! You bring so much joy to our world. I pray that your daddy and I can teach you everything you need to know. And that one day you will appreciate us for what we have done for you. I pray that God gives me the guidance I need to help you through thick and thin. We love you more than you will ever know!

Mommy and Daddy

Great Grandma and Grandpa & Bathtime

My grandparents (Brinley's Great Grandparents) were in town on Thursday. We don't get to see them very often. They live just far enough away that we don't get to go down there as much as we would like. But when they have appointments in town we always make sure that we get to see them.

Grandma's birthday was last month and my grandpa's birthday is this month as well as their anniversary, so we all went out to eat. Grandma wanted Mexican!! YEAH, I love Mexican food.

 After I picked up Brinley we stopped at my mom's house to visit with Grandma and Grandpa before we went out to eat. Brinley and I came home after about an hour to get ready for dinner (I didn't have any food or snacks in the diaper bag for her and those are a must if I am going to eat in front of her!)  My mom, sister Victoria, sister Holly and her family, grandma and grandpa, and Brinley and I went to Garcia's to eat. We had a great time and I enjoy every moment that Brinley gets to spend with her great grandparents!!

Brinley and my mom

After we got home it was time for a bath! This little girl is so iffy about her baths it is terrible. One night she loves it and the next night she hates it. Tonight she loved it!!! Thanks goodness!

She thinks that it is okay to stand up in the middle of her bath. Right now she is in her bathtub inside our bathtub (if that makes any sense to you). I am thinking that it is almost time to take out the baby tub and just go with the big tub. I am just terrified that she will try to stand up and slip and fall, so I need to find a nonslip pad or strips to put down to ease my worries!

We used to use the sprayer that came with the tub to wash her hair but she would throw a fit so we started using a cup and it seems to work better. She always wants to play with the cup after her hair is washed too.

One of many faces....This is such a beautiful face!! She concentrates so hard when she really wants something or is trying to figure something out.  She has a new CHEESE face but she does it so fast that I haven't been able to get a picture of it. Hopefully sometime soon.

This little girl turns 10 months old tomorrow!!

Valentine's Day and Daddy Time

We had a great Valentines Day! I picked Brinley up from the sitters and we played until daddy got home. Then we cooked and ate dinner as a family. My how the times have changed. Just a year or so ago Greg and I would have gone out to have a nice romantic dinner with a few drinks, now we are staying home and spending the time with our beloved daughter!!! Yes this is he best family pic that we could get! Some little girl had no intention of sitting still!

Brinley got a balloon from her daddy and she just fell in love! She also got a big teddy bear from her grandma Berneta but I forgot to take a picture of her with it. (mabe later if I remember)

Finally walking without holding both of our hands!

Brinley has really been into spending time with her daddy! She doesn't care to much for me when he is home, until she gets hungry or it is bedtime! Kinda makes me sad but I love to see them interacting. I have a new found love for my husband and it grows stronger every time I watch him with Brinley!

I never thought the day would come when Greg would put a bow in his hair just to make B laugh, but he did!He wouldn't let me get a picture of it, but you can use your imagination and picture Greg with a cute pink bow....HAHA! Anyone who had been around us knows that Greg doesn't care for the big bows that I put on Brinley, he is always taking them off of trying to get her to take them off herself!

Well today we had to take a few pictures of the racecar to send to the person who is going to letter it. So when we got home Greg grabbed B, I grabbed the camera and out to the shop we went. This is what Brinley got to do today and she loved it!!

Climbing the Stairs!!!

B can climb the stairs at Grandma Janes!!! She has been doing this for a while now but I just now got some pictures and a video. She is very good at going up, but she is just now sort-of getting the hang of coming down.

I got a video of her climbing up and then she decided she only wanted to go up the first step or two and turn around and fall down face plant onto the floor.

And for your viewing pleasure! I got a video camera for my birthday/Christmas (they are only 10 days apart) and I am just now getting around to posting videos. I have a lot from Christmas and other misc. of Brinley soIi may post them in a blog sometime. But for now here are 3 videos of Brinley crawilng up the stairs and face planting it on the floor from the bottom step. If you watch closely she only goes down one step the way we were trying to teach her!

Happy Valentine's Day 2011

From our hearts to yours.....

Happy Valentine's Day

The Burt's

Oklahoma Blizzard #2 2011

So this last week we had our second blizzard of the year ~Wednesday Feb.9 and Thursday Feb.10~  . This time we got way more snow than the week before. The news reported that we got 13 inches of snow! Greg's sister lives in Iowa and she said that we had more snow on the ground than they did up there.

It started snowing late Tuesday night and didn't stop until late Wednesday afternoon. I got 2 more snow days to spend playing with Brinley! I got up at about 8:30 on Wednesday to let my dog out and this is what the screen door looked like! It was conpletely frosted over and I couldn't see outside.

 Here is our front yard, looking out the front door towards the racecar shop. You can just barely see the tire tracks from Greg going to work almost an hour earlier. The snow was drifted up on the front porch so bad that I could barely open the door to let out Coco. She is not one to play out in the cold. She is a very prissy dog and quickly retreated back into the house after taking care of her morning buisness!

 This is looking across the street and at the plant stand on the front porch. It was on the second step and the legs were halfway covered in snow!

 We had temperatures in the -teens. NEGATIVE Temperatures. So since it was so cold Brinley and I stayed cozy and warm inside the house. She enjoyed realxing in her bouncer. At one time this thing was way to big for her. My how she has grown! She loved it when I turned on the vibration!

By early afternoon the sun was out and our door had begun to defrost. It was still cold and Brinley thought it was fun to lick it! Yes it was clean!!!

 When Greg got home from lunch I had him measure the snow just off the steps of our front porch and it was 12 inches! I never remember ever having this much snow on the ground in my lifetime. I took a picture after Greg had cleared a small path for Coco to get off of the porch (Remember me daying she was a prissy dog, well she is also very spioled!). The snow was over his knees where he was shoveling!

Well I had a wonderful 2 days off from work but unfortunatley it was back to work on Friday! We did go visit Grandma Jane and Papa Gene on Thursday. Coming Soon....Post on B crawling up the stairs!

Baby Sprinkle

Last weekend - Saturday February 5, 2011 (I know I am behind on posts!) I helped host a Baby Shower Sprinkle for my niece Jennifer and her soon to be here son Logan! I was excited to take Brinley because she doesn't get the chance to spend time with her cousins. I know it sounds weird that I have a niece old enough to be having her 2nd child!

(no matter how hard I try Brinley will no longer leave her beautiful bows in her hair)

Here's the quick run down on the family history. My husband (Greg) has a half-brother (Chris) who is about 15 years older than he his. Chris has 2 daughters (Jennifer and Jessi) and 1 son (Cody). Jennifer has a daughter, Adylyn and is pregnant with Logan. Jessi has a son, Reese. And Cody has a son, Jax. Jennifer is just a few years younger than I am. So by marriage I am an Aunt, actually a Great Aunt! CRAZY, I KNOW!!

I didn't get a picture of Vanessa (Cody's girlfriend) and Jax

Brinley doesn't get to see Ady, Reese, and Jax much because we are all so busy. I am super busy during basketball season. I was also excited that Brinley would get to see Hadlea again (My friend Heather's daughter whom I actually met through Jennifer when we threw her the shower for Adylyn). But Oklahoma has gotten a lot of snow and Heather was not able to make it to Medford for the Sprinkle. Sad face! We missed you and Hadlea but it was a wonderful Sprinkle.

Brinley tried and tried to see what Jennifer was doing up there but she had no success! 

 She loved pushing the boxes of diapers around!

Greg's best friend's mother lives in Medford and stopped by. She just loves Brinley like she is one of her own grandchildren. Brinley loves Oma also, it just doesn't look like it in this picture. Brinley had a lot to tell Oma but wouldn't let Grandma Jane leave her side! Grandma Jane is holding B and Oma is just listening to B's story!

 I tried so hard to get a good picture of these to girls sitting next to each other. Brinley just loves Ady, and she loves to follow Ady around. I can't wait until these two girls are old enough to really enjoy each other!

 I have no idea what they are doing but Ady could get Brinley to sit still and play with her, which I cannot do! Ha

 And finally a picture of Brinley and Jax. Brinley is about 2 1/2 months older than Jax. She is much taller but Jax weighs more than she does right now. These two are such good babies. neither one of them threw a fit the entire time we were there. They just crawled around everywhere and had a great time. Aunt Lynda put all the kids in here and Reese quickly bailed and Ady did so shortly after. These two couldn't get out without help so they were stuck.

I had a great time at the Sprinkle and I think Jen is set with Diapers and wipes for quite a while!