Unfailing Love: Our Trip-Day One Day Two...

Vincent Gerard

This is my hubby. Also known as Vinny, Dowey, Dowebally, and (as of last night) Pickle Juice. (You may learn that I have an affinity for nicknames, comes from my daddy!) Unbelievably, the hubs and I have been married for 9 years! I can't believe it! Seems like just yesterday I was a freshman in college and my friend introduced me to this hunky senior with a hot red car! Vince is working hard to support our family and traveling here and there. Vince is a WONDERFUL father and his girls (all of us) are the most important things to him!

Barclay Kathryn

What to say? I'm Barclay, usually known as Barclay (not much you can do with Barclay). I was an elementary teacher for fours years until I had Bella. Now I am doing the job I have wanted to do ALL of my life, being a mom. I love these two girls more than I can possibly express and it is my joy and privilege to be able to spend each day with them. I recently entered the blog frontier, and although my blog followers will probably be able to be counted on one hand, I thought it would be exciting to be a part of something so neat. I love that there are many other moms out there facing the same joys, hardships, questions, surprises, and challenges that I am. I also hope to be a sort of medium to spread awareness for others that need prayers, help, or just someone to walk through life with!

Isabella Kathryn

Usually referred to as Bella. As well as Bells, Bellie, Belly Boo, Bellsie Bubs, Bubs, Bubba, Bells and Whistles.... Bella is our first born daughter. She is 6. Bella enjoys school, reading, riding her training-wheel free bike, she could color and write for hours, she loves singing to the Momma Mia soundtrack, anything princess or pink, having bows in her hair, playing dress up, and her little sisters! God blessed us with Bella a month early but she was perfectly healthy. In six years she has become such a bright, outgoing, sensitive, and fearless little girl. Bella really is the sweetest girl you will ever meet. She is eager to please. If she hurts or disappoints someone it literally crushes her to tears. This last year she asked Jesus to be her Lord and Savior and we could not be more proud!! Love this sweet, blonde, blue eyed beauty!

Bryanna Karina

Usually known as Brynn. As well as Brynnie, Miley, Miley Moo, Geegs, Geegers, Brynnie Boo, and many more. Ten days before Bella turned 2 years old we were blessed with another beautiful, healthy girl by planned c-section. This time I was able to see my baby right after birth, watch her get weighed, bathed, etc. I couldn't wait for Bella to meet her. Brynn is now 4 and keeps me laughing all day long. Brynn, since she was about 2 months old has been the smiliest baby I have ever met. All you need to do is look at her and she will flash you a world class smile. Brynn is smiley, more shy and reserved about things than her big sis, can be quite the clown when she feels safe or gets in a silly mood, amazingly brilliant, she's been speaking full sentences since she was 19 months and continues to amaze us with what comes out of her mouth. She loves doing whatever her big sister is doing, dressing up, looking at books, her blankie, being held, twirling in her dresses, singing, and dancing whenever she hears music! Brynn is my compassionate baby, she hates to see people hurting. We just love this sweet, shy, snuggly, smiling little girl!

Brooklyn Blythe

Also known as Brookie, Brookie Cookie, Cookie Lu, Lulu B just to name a few. Sweet, sweet Brooklyn is our family's latest addition! We welcomed Brookie into our family on August 23rd 2010 at 12:23pm by planned c-section. I was nervous she would be a bit high maintenance since she came out screaming bloody murder and continued to wail anytime anyone touched her- get her footprints, take her temperature, etc. Amazingly, she would instantly stop the moment the Hubs touched her or began talking to her. And since her birthday, we have barely heard a peep out of her..... And fast forward 18 months, she definitely makes plenty of peeps now! :) We are full blown in the the terrible twos (which IMO last from 18-36 months) I believe. To make matters worse she's also cutting her 4 molars. She definitely knows what she wants but can't quite articulate it, so gets frustrated. Eating is also a hit or miss these days which is very foreign to me. Mixed with the crabby days though is the funniest personality ever. She is a riot! She LOVES chasing after her big sisters or having them chase and imitate her. She also has this adorable chubby face and will peek out of the corner of her eyes and just melt your heart! She is definitely shy at first but if you can get through to her she will keep you in stitches with her antics. We love you little BB and couldn't ask for a sweeter addition to our family!

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Our Trip-Day One Day Two...

Our trip to Minnesota. Day 1. : ) Well actually Day 2. First the technical, Day one, we arrived by dinner time Friday evening, had dinner, got the kiddos to bed early after sleeping maybe 30 minutes during our car ride up, and then the hubs and I made a quick, late night trip to the local mall so he could get the new iphone he's been dying to get. The plus for me? I got his old one, yea! I didn't take any pictures during our drive up or that evening, sorry. Oh no wait! I lied. Our one piece of excitement on the drive up was we got a chance to see the Wiener Mobile. I know thrilling, huh?! I just had my point and shoot and we had such ~~beautiful~~ crummy weather for our road trip, so its not the greatest pic. This was taken looking into my side-view mirror, creative huh? : )

So on to day 2. Saturday morning. The girls got us up at ~~an ungodly hour~~ crack of dawn (6:15) since they were in a room together and Brynn tends to not sleep well when she doesn't get a good nap. So after an early start we decided we needed to hit a pool somewhere. Luckily my aunt had a membership to a really nice club with an outdoor pool with fun slides, and was able to get us all in free. Unfortunately they would not let Bella do the slides but the girls had fun splashing around with their mormor, poppi, and Auntie Lina (again they were taken with my point and shoot (for some reason the Hubs didn't want his nice camera at the pool) and a lot of them came out blurry : ( )!

My happy little waterbug!

Bella playing with her poppi and Great Auntie Lina.

Who knew a life jacket could be so much fun (trying not to think of what she's getting in her mouth!)?

Two very tired girlies!

After a nice, long swim we headed home for much needed naps. In an effort to get a good nap in we were trying to keep Brynnie up until we got home (and they hadn't had lunch yet), but after being up so early and an exhausting swim there was no hope. At one point the Hubs was hitting her in the face with her blankie and she wasn't even flinching. Once we got home, I even changed her diaper without waking her. She was one tired little girl. And there was my sleep angel 3 year old begging to go to sleep for her nap (we were insisting she get lunch in first)! While the girls napped my mom and I headed out to see The Proposal. It was very cute. I'm not sure what the actor's name in that is but I think he is HILARIOUS and seriously underrated. I'm predicting here that he will be big one day! You heard it here first folks. Some day I'll tell you my story how I discovered Jewel and Josh Groban. Anyway, I digress. So after the movie we headed home to get dinner going. We ate as a family, enjoyed watching the girls during bath time, put the girls to bed, and enjoyed a documentary on U.S presidents with Papa Bear!

Tomorrow I shall share our ~~crazy~~ fun, family-packed Day 3!