Brieleigh's Party- Two Years Old

We had a small little party for Brieleigh with a couple of her friends. She LOVES watching birds, and some of her favorite books are our bird identification books. So we had a bird watching party for her. We had a group of birds fly in during the party just in time for the kids to watch them. Brieleigh was so ecstatic to show them to her friends!

David did an awesome job with the bird cake. He made every bit of it from scratch, cut it out, and decorated it himself. I can take very little credit. I was so impressed, I told him it should be on Cake Boss on Food Network. It tasted great too!

Brieleigh going crazy when the birds flew in.

Brieleigh and her party friends: Berkley and Lewis, watching the birds.

Opening her presents

Brieleigh's 2nd Birthday

Our little girl turned two on December 15th! I can't beleive she is such a big girl now! At the same time, it seems so long ago that we brought her home from the hospital, swaddled her up to sleep, and carried her around in the Moby wrap. We have been using the "now you are a big girl" phrase alot and so far she seems proud to do "big girl" things. She went to the 2-3 year old worship training class at church today and has such good conversations with us lately. She told me a little about the angels and shepherds from her story at church today. She LOVES talking about every member of her family by name and her little friends.

We tried to make her day special for her although she and I were not feeling the best with a cold, and Daddy was swamped at work.

For breakfast, I got her a few mini decorated donuts from one of the many local donut shops.

I had planned to take her to the zoo or at least the park, but it was wet and rainy all day. Instead I promised we would go play at Chick-fil-A. She fell asleep for nap and did not wake up until dark around 5:30. They first thing she said was, "I wanna go to Chick-L-A!" So she and I went and got some ice cream so she could play for a little while.

Sitting on the butterfly at Chick-fil-A

Opening her presents

We got her a Radio Flyer vintage tricycle, and she loved helping Daddy "fix" it. She is still learning about the pedaling, but she likes to play with it regardless.

Kindergarten books from her Millie.

Singing "Happy Birthday" and Brieleigh saying how old she is.

Riding her new tricycle



Boulder, Colorado



In November, Brieleigh and I had the opportunity to go with David to Colorado for work. He was supposed to go on a Monday and Tuesday, so we all flew there Saturday to make a mini vacation out of it. It was so relaxing and fun just to be together. If I could live anywhere (that automatically came with a job for David and close family) I think I might pick Colorado. Everytime I go I am blown away by the awesomeness of God's creation and beauty. I love how they are so outdoors focused there which is a nice change from a city that has very limited natural beauty in the midst of so much development. I looked up some restaurants on Food Network and some other sites so that we could eat at some fun local joints. We found some definite winners which was alot of fun too!

Brieleigh LOVES airplanes, airports, and flying. She sat in her own empty seat for awhile.

We went for a hike up to see the Flatirons in Boulder. It was super windy, cold, very steep, and we were of course not used to the altitude. I am so glad we did the hike though.. it was totally worth it.

Brieleigh had to be carried a lot because it was a hard trail, and we were all exhausted from traveling, but she seemed to enjoy the hike as well.

The Flatirons coming down into Boulder.

We saw a little wildlife.. these mule deer stood right beside us for awhile. We also drove in the mountains a lot though did not stay too long because there were severe blizzards. We saw another pack of mule deer and a flock of turkeys right outside Rocky Mountain National Park.

While David did his site visits, Brieleigh and I walked around historic Pearl Street Mall... an outside mall with alot of little shops and restaurants. We mostly enjoyed the little play areas.

Of course we had to make a stop by Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory!

We hiked in a little snow, though we were not well equipped for such conditions so it was a very short experience.

We went by Red Rocks outside of Denver on the way to the airport. It has a huge rock formation and a natural ampitheater where all sorts of famous musicians have come for years and years.

At the top of the ampitheater



Brieleigh's "-ing" Words

Brieleigh LOVES watching this video. "I want to watch Brie-dee readin' the Bible again!" We wanted to catch on camera the way she drags out her "-ing" words. She also does it for a few other words as well. It is like she doesn't know when to end the word. Such a cutie! :)

Texas State Fair

Back in October (Why are you looking at me like that? Yes, I realize this is December!), Mom and Madeline came for a visit, and we took them to the Texas State Fair for their first time. We love the fair... not so much the rides and games, but the free stuff (cooking demos, Vitamix demos :), car shows, Texas food samplings, free shows, petting zoo, etc), the livestock, a little fair food, and the atmosphere.

Maddy, Brieleigh, and Mom riding the DART train to the fair

Our family

Brieleigh enjoying her free Texas samples- I think this was an ice cream cone :)

Mom and Madeline trying the crispy fried bacon. (I know... sounds like an oxymoron.)

At the Little Farm that she got to help with. It was so cute... especially these John Deere tractors. I really want one for her now.

Gathering her produce and crops to "sell" at the farmer's market

Fried Bubblegum- as bad as it sounds! (Marshmallows injected with bubblegum extract)
We did not get great food this year, but I did enjoy the "classics"- funnel cake and fried cookie dough!

Waiting for our Korean taco at the cooking demos

I finally had someone with me at the fair who is not too afraid of heights! This ferris wheel is there year around (otherwise, count me out) and is the tallest amusement park ride in the Western Hemisphere!

Overlooking Dallas- yes it made my stomach turn, but so worth it.

The view of Downtown Dallas from the top of the ferris wheel.