Everyone should have a big sissy like mine...(by Cam Rigg)

When I wake up, if mommy is too slow to come get me out of my crib, my big sissy jumps in to play with me so I'm not sad.

My big sissy taught me the secret to staying warm on a cold day, cuddles by the heating vent. 

My big sissy lets me drape myself all over her when we watch TV together, she doesn't even mind when I suck my stinky thumb. 

My big sissy pushes me around in my car when Mommy's too busy doing laundry. She also helps me break the code on the iPad so I can play games even when I'm not supposed to. 

My big sissy lets me ride in her pink car and makes it go extra fast because I love going fast!

My big sissy is my bestest friend. 

Everyone should have a big sissy like mine. 

Mommy's Little Super Helper

Next year Brinley goes to Kindergarten, so right now I'm relishing having her home with me, she is totally mommy's little Super helper.

She loves to help me cook and can mix up a mean pancake batter.

She's also a great grocery shopping companion and always asks, "Is that on the list?" When I try to sneak extra stuff in the cart. 

She keeps my toenails looking fabulous with her personal pedicures.

Seriously how awesome is this pedi? 

She's a great little snow shoveler

And the best helper with Cam, always entertaining him, bringing him toys, treats, blanky, and most recently she's even started helping change his diapers. 

She helps me with the dishes and is pro at putting away silverware.

And loading it in the dishwasher.

She loves taking the warm clothes out of the drier 

(mostly so she can cuddle up in them and get all nice and toasty:)

And pouring in the soap.

Of course I reward her for all her hard super helper work. Making cookies together is one of her favorite things in the world, so we do it...a lot :)

And when she asks to go to Chik-Fila to get nuggets and chocolate milk, well how could I possibly say no to that face? I love my little sidekick and and I'm so grateful for this precious time when she's all mine before she goes to school.

Diva Playdate

The girls have been begging me to let them wear some of my make up.

 I always say no because I don't want them to trash my make up 

and I don't like them looking too grown up. (they grow up fast enough already.)

But they begged and begged, relentlessly. 

So when their little friend came over to play, 

I finally gave in and let them have a makeover diva playdate.

  

Once they were all dolled up, man alive were they happy. 

They squealed with excitement and ran off to find dresses to complete their diva look.

 Something about make up and dresses just unleashes all their sassy poses

 Working it for the camera

 Teya thinks a cheerleader-esque fist pump and pointed toe is the ultimate fashion pose. I think Brinley was trying to copy her but it didn't quite turn out ; )

Fancy faces

Diva life is not all posing for the camera. They like to make cookies too.

And of course everyone must taste test the cookie dough.

Then they requested a dance party.  All of Teya's playdates seem to end with dance parties these days. 

 Kelsey had an umbrella and thought it would make the perfect interpretive dancing prop.

They requested "sad music" (because I guess umbrellas = sadness) and came up with some of their finest choreography yet.

 Kelsey told everyone they had to have sad faces when they danced.

 Teya's sad face

 Brinley's sad face. 

Really. I told her to do sad and this is what she gave me!

So now you know, all it takes is a little makeup, some cookie dough and umbrella music to turn a normal playdate into a Diva playdate ; )

B is for Brinley

Brinley's preschool teacher sent me these pictures from school and they were too cute not to post.

B is for Brinley. 

C is for Carrot and Cactus

Using shapes to make "Mat Man"

And Brinley's impressive drawing of Mat Man 

(or Mat girl, she later told me, since she put a bow in his hair)

And one more drawing just because I think she's got skills for a 3 year old! This is one she drew of President Monson during conference last weekend. Love that she totally gave him a tie : )

Brinley's 1st day of preschool year 2

Brinley started preschool again with Mrs. Darby and I think it's been really good for her to have her own special thing that she does without Teya and Camden. She goes once a week for 3 hours and always comes home with the most adorable projects. The other day they went apple picking and made t-shirts with apple stamps that were so cute! Next year I'll put her in something that's 3 days a week to get her ready for kindergarten but for now this is just perfect.

My sister Naomi did a cute preschool interview with her daughter on her first day I decided to copy her idea . Her are some of Brinley's current favorites as a 3 year old preschooler:

Food: Corn

Wish: To be a rainbow unicorn

Color: Blue (I don't think that's really her favorite color but when I asked her, Teya whispered "pink" so I think she said blue to be different. She's funny like that. ; )

T.V show: Wild Kratts

Treat: Chocolate (for real! This girl is JUST like me!)

Activity: Play with Teya

Stuck in the Middle

Lately I've noticed Brinley kind of struggling with her new role as the middle child. I think it's tough because Teya is doing so many big girl things and starting kindergarten and just has a personality that demands a lot of attention.  Cam also gets lots of attention by default since he's the baby and can't do anything by himself. So that leaves Brinley stuck in the middle.

While she enjoys doing big girl things with Teya, I think what she really longs for is to be the baby again.

In fact, I think she's launching an "I'm the baby" campaign by casually taking over Camden's baby items. 

It started with the the bumbo seat which is now her go to sitting chair.

 She'll even stack it on her Dora chair for a boost.

I also found her in Cam's high chair the other day.

 And his car seat

And his exersaucer

 She really liked the exersaucer and tries to high jack it whenever he's not around.

 She also loves the baby swing and will sit in there for hours

 I don't have the heart to tell her to get out or that she's too big for those things.  

It's hard being the middle kid, but I hope she knows she'll always be my baby, no matter how big she gets.

Friday Foto: It's hard being the little sister

Poor Brinley is getting to that age where she wants to do EVERYTHING her big sister is doing but she's still a little too young.

Last week when Teya and I were getting ready to go on our Mommy/Daughter date she was trying to get into the pictures but mean old mom scooted her out.

She gave me a look that went something like this:

Don't worry Brinley, someday you'll get to do big girl things too : )

Growth Spurt

Today I took Brinley in for her 15 month well check and was amazed when they told me that since her last appointment 3 months ago, she has grown 4 inches!! I knew she had grown since I had to buy her a whole new wardrobe in size 18 months, but I had no idea she had sprouted that much! She jumped from the 18th percentile to the 45th percentile in height. Pretty impressive!

With the height change have come a lot of other changes. I feel like she is escaping the baby stage and moving full speed ahead into toddlerhood. She now "runs" which is basically a super fast walk with her right arm swinging wildly to propell her forward. She also has 12 teeth, including 4 molars and is quite the little chatter box. Some of the words she says are:

Mo=More
My=Mine
Peeze=please
Chee= cheese
tak oo=thank you
eee-ya-oh=here ya go
moobee=movie
nigh nigh=night night
dow=down
go=go
buddy=(referring to Monty, who I often call buddy)
DeDah=Teya
Choos=shoes
bahdoh=bottle (yeah, I still give her those, oops!)

She is ever the ray of sunshine in our home and continues to have such an easy going flexible personality. She's really getting into dressing up now and if we leave any clothes on the floor she will find them and try to put them on her head or her feet. She also will grab bows, barretts, and jewelry and bring them to me, begging in toddlerease for me to put them on her. She adores her big sissy and copies everything she does. When she wakes up from her naps and sees Teya she runs up to her and gives her big squishy hugs. It's heartmeltingly adorable : ) We love our little Brinsie and are so happy to have her in our family. Here as some recent pics.


And here's a bonus video of her watching Super readers on my iPod. Like I mentioned, she LOVES to dance, and even laying on her belly she was busting out some moves. There's a great moment too when she notices the camera and says "cheese!" and at the end she even goes back to some of her old bouncing baby moves. Classic!