Our new baby girl

Poor Torrey is becoming increasingly out numbered because we have added another girl to our family.


We went to the pet store yesterday to look around. We were thinking about getting Brianna a bird but mostly went "just to look". The cockatiels and parakeets were not very friendly. Brianna tried several times to get one on her finger but they all kept flying away from her hand. The last thing I wanted was another animal the kids couldn't play with. So, we decided to play with a couple puppies.

We played with a little Chihuahua.

And then we found this cute little Papillon. Brie fell in love instantly (so did I), Torrey took a little bit longer...after 15 minutes of playing with her we decided to take her home with us.

We are still working on a name







She is a very sweet and calm little puppy, that fits in well with the family so far.

Picture A Day: Day 3

Olivia giving her uncle Jaxon (who is a year younger than her!) a big bear hug!

Picture a Day: Day 2

Every morning as soon as we get in the car, Olivia asks to hold Brianna's hand. They hold hands all the way to the school. It's the sweetest thing. I'm so glad I thought to take a picture because I know one day I'm going to miss not seeing this on a daily basis.

A Picture A Day: Day 1

I've been reading about the 365 photo a day challenge and I think I'm going to give it a try. Basically, I need to take a photo every day and post about it. I think this will be a fun way to capture the every day moments of our year.

Day 1:

Snuggled on the couch reading before bed.

Ice Fishing

Torrey took Brianna ice fishing today. They caught over 20 fish but only 6 were big enough to keep.

Brie checking the tip-up

Having fun in the ice shanty

I love her expression in this picture. She looks pretty proud of that little fish!

Maybe next winter we can all go. I'm sure Olivia would love seeing the fish and playing in the shanty!

Cookies

One of my favorite things to do with Brianna is bake. This time we let Olivia join in on the fun. We made oatmeal cookies. She LOVED stirring the ingredients together. I could tell she felt like such a big girl.




Brianna helped measure the ingredients and took over the stirring job when Olivia started flinging the dough out of the bowl!





They were delicious!

Birthday Girl

My first born turned EIGHT in December! I can't believe how fast the years went by.




Brianna at 8:

~You are doing really well in school. You are reading at a 3rd grade level and you excel in spelling

~You LOVE to play with your friends

~You are a great little artist and song writer

~You have a silly sense of humor

~You are a GREAT big sister. Olivia just adores you

*Favorite color: Blue and Green
*Favorite food: grilled pork chops and anything chocolate
*Favorite book: Junie B. Jones Has a Monster Under Her bed
*Favorite TV show: Hannah Montana



Since we had family in from out of town, we decided to have a small family party at home this year.











Brianna received lots of great gifts. Barbies, art & crafts, and a new jacket to name a few. Mom and dad got her a Nintendo DS! She was very excited since she's been asking for one for about 2 years now!

It was a bit chaotic at times. We had 5 babies under 2 years old, and 7 kids running around playing games!






Blowing out the candles

Livvy waiting for cake!