Our Christmas Baby- one year old!!!

Exactly one year ago Dec. 20, 2007, Bree was born! She weighed 6'13, our little Christmas angel. She now weighs almost 18 pounds. She has been pure joy to have in our lives. Bree started smiling at three weeks and laughing at four.















Exactly opposite from Rhett, she has always had quite the appetite...







Is that an apple in the bathtub???




Besides fights over toys, Rhett has loved her from day one!!! Everyday he is so excited when Bree wakes up and is usually the first one in her room to greet her. When people come to visit, he proudly introduces his sister ("This is Bee") and takes her to them so they can hold her, whether they want to or not..


























No one can make Bree laugh harder than Rhett. She loves to play with him, take baths with him, and chew on all his toothbrushes.. He goes through a lot because she destroys them or loses them.


Just for fun here are some more of my favorite pictures of Bree...



I hate how I look in this picture, but it is so funny, the way she laid in my belly to make it look like this!!

She never leaves anything on, but at least I get some good pictures before she rips it off!
What can I say, she's so cute!

Every baby does it right? But does every baby look so darn adorable while doing it???

Bree can say,"Hi!"

Bree in her cute new dress. Ready to take Dad's scriptures to church.

This year has flown by, I can't believe my sweet girl is already a year old! Happy Birthday Bree!

The Exploits of Rhett and Bree

"Just one more thing..."

So I was letting Rhett help me make some soup and I turned around to put some stuff in the sink and I could hear him saying, "Just one more thing," and opening up the cupboard. I turned around in time to see the "one more thing" was going to be orange and black sprinkles! This by far would have been one of his more tastier additions. He always puts stuff in when my back is turned and I usually don't notice until we eat or I try cooking whatever it is and I'm thinking, "Why is this so runny/thick/various colors..??"

"Mommy, I pee!!"

This time I was in a totally different room when I thought I heard the front door close. So I called out for Rhett - he likes to run outside when he sees someone and start talking to them - (scary)..He came into the room with his pants down and said "Mommy I pee!" At first I clapped for him and was so happy, but then I wondered what this had to do with the front door closing, so I took a look.... What??? Where does he get these ideas????I couldn't be mad because it was too funny. Can you imagine driving by and seeing this little boy peeing out his front door??The next time he did it however, I was not so kind!!!

This is Bree when I try to unload the dishwasher.

This is when I am trying to cook...

Notice her cute headband is around her neck...

When I am tring to clean....

Everytime I do her hair!!!!!

"What is this thing?? I want it out!!!"

This is Bree looking so dang cute I can't get her dressed, I have to take pictures instead...

You might ask yourselves, "How does she get anything done?" The answer is I don't......

Pilgrims and Indians

To kick off the Thanksgiving fun we went to a playgroup and made little Indian outfits. Rhett's was ripped to shreds by the end of the day, but at least I got some cute pictures of it.

I love that Rhett's so cheesy for the pictures. Of course he didn't actually eat Thanksgiving dinner, but he did go out and ride the horses (he can ride all by himself, with Heath walking alongside) and the four wheelers, (he actually drives himself... just kidding).. And after dinner we had races.

At first we just made the kids run, but then Heath, Alan, Dari and I decided to race. Who won? Well, technically it was Alan, but his legs are twice as long as mine so really I'm much faster than him and if Heath wasn't pushing me back, I probably could have done better than the one second I lost by. So if we really have to name a winner I'd have to go with me....Then I saw cat poop on the ground and quit racing, because I really wasn't wearing the shoes for it, so I was going barefoot and the bragging rights suddenly just weren't worth it. But I'll brag anyway. I'm just dang fast...

Later that day we went to my parents house and played a game... Would you rather? Wow. My family gets so competitive. Most the time it's funny, but sometimes it just ends in a fight. This one was bordering. It asked questions like, "Would you rather sleep every night in jeans and shoes or in a motorcycle helmet?" Motorcycle helmet right?? I was outvoted on that one.. Really..shoes???? "Would you rather have a bottle cap stuck on the tip of your tongue for a week or a bean shoved up one nostril?" That one was close but the majority went with bottlecap, which seemed like the best answer to me. The one that almost pushed us over the edge was "Would you rather have your wife disappointed in you for something you really did or your child disappointed in you for three years over something you didn't really do?" We were still debating it forever after the game was over...So I want to know, what would you choose?? Think it over, ask your spouse what he or she would choose... you might be surprised!!Remember to report back to me and tell me what you came up with!!!

Halloween Fun

We bought our pumpkins 2 days before Halloween. Rhett was so excited, he wanted to sleep with his pumpkin, eat with it by his bowl or plate, and play with it. When we started to carve it - only the day before Halloween - Rhett cried out, "Daddy, don't hurt the pumpkin!!"

















I asked Rhett if he wanted triangles or circles for eyes and he said, "Stars!" So his had star eyes and Bree's had heart eyes. He was so proud of that pumpkin, it was so funny!

The pumpkins' final resting place was (is -I still need to get rid of them) by the scarecrow. This was right before we left for the library. Rhett is a cowboy riding a horse. He named the horse Nerf, which is the name of the horse that he rides at his Grandpa Edwards' house. Bree was a unicorn, but she kept taking her little hood off. She looked hilarious crawling around with those huge wings on the back.
I tried to get a Devil costume for Heath and an angel for me, but Heath doesn't think he looked like a real Devil..

I did what I could..

Heath and I took turns taking Rhett around the block, but it turns out that he thought it was WAY more fun handing candy out to the kids who knocked on our door. Go figure...

Ode to Bree

Since a lot of my posts are about Rhett's accomplishments, they don't really include Bree. Even the last one had our whole family and not one picture of Bree, so I decided to contribute a post to her!! Among her recent accomplishments - turning 10 months old, standing alone, and getting two bottom teeth, without hardly any trouble!!

After making fun of my sister for taking 70 pictures at Rhett's b-day party, I read that to get one really good picture of a kid, photographers plan on taking about 70 pictures.. So one day I just started snapping away. These three were some of my favorites.

Bree is so tiny!! These are pictures of her around May or June. This cute little outfit is 3-6 months and I was so worried that it would get to hot for her to wear it before she grew out of it. In May she was five months and I saftey pinned it on!

Here is Bree now - It's started getting chilly so I pulled out warmer clothes and decided to try this outfit on again!

Perfect fit at 10 months - 15.3 pounds, 27 in.

She won't leave the bows on anymore. I've given up. I do her hair once in the morning and then just leave her headband by the door after she rips it out so we can get it if we are going somewhere or if someone comes over!

Bree loves Rhett and hates it when he's sleeping and won't pay attention to her.

Bree loves climbing on to chairs...
Or under chairs!!!

She's alittle monkey. She even climbs into this walker by herself!

Besides being a monkey, Bree's my cuddly bunny. Everytime she wakes up she gives me great big hugs, laying her head on my shoulder, and wrapping her little arms around my neck as far as they'll go. She then opens and closes her little hands- giving me little squeezes as she hugs. When she's tired and your holding her, she pets your hair or shoulder and gives kisses.

Snuggling is one of her more feminine qualities. She does this along with growling, headbutting, hairpulling, and screaming at or along with Rhett! Bree is such a character and brings so much laughter into our home! We don't know what we would do without her. Love you Bree!

Fun Night Out!!!

Thanks to the Moores for calling us Monday night to go ride in their Dune Buggy!!! We had an impromptu fun night out. Heath grabbed his parents' four wheelers and Moores brought their Dune Buggy, marshmellows, and cookies, and headed out to Badger Point. Rhett is in the backseat with Annie. He loved riding in that thing, even though he would scream as they went up and down the hills.

I impressed everyone with my girl scout firemaking skills and made us a little fire out of sagebrush and Weed Man envelopes!!

Around the fire is Rhett, Colin, Annie, Rachel, and Jenna. Jenna was so funny! She loved riding the four wheeler, Heath took her around a bunch of times. Her helmet was kind of small and it was squishing her little cheeks, Rachel and I were laughing so hard. It was SO cute, I loved it. Unfortunately I was laughing so hard, I could never get a good picture, because everytime I went to push the button I started laughing and it blurred it.

While Heath, Bree, Annie and I were sitting around the fire. Annie told us all about her boyfriends in Kindergarten and how Jenna went to "Pretty School." We loved it!! I'm always amazed that Rhett is such a boy - without anyone teaching him the things he comes up with!! I took him potty out in the sage brush and he started making shapes in the sand.. When we came back I told everyone, "Rhett made a square in the sand!" Later Jenna had to go and she asked her mom, "What shape did I make?" When we were leaving Rhett had to pee on the fire before we could go... How do boys come up with these things???

Thanks again Moores - it was great!!

Rhett's Potty Trained!! - pretty much..

When I faced the potty training time, I did what I do with about every subject in my life. I read about a hundred books on it, different theories and perspectives, learned everything about everything, confused myself, decided it was too hard and found a thousand reasons to keep putting it off. Rhett was helpful by showing no desire whatsoever to go on the toilet or be a "big boy." About four weeks ago we were at the park with a playgroup and one of the little boys had to go, so his mom and him ran to a tree and went. Of course I pointed out what a big boy he was and Rhett thought it was so cool to pee on the tree!! He wanted to go do it to, so I let him. One of the mom's was telling me how she made a chart and bought a toy, etc..I had read about this kind of stuff before, but I was inspired this time. I decided to combine the multiple theories floating around in my head and forget about all the "signs" he was supposed to display and wasn't etc. etc. I took him to the store, found a toy he wanted (a sword) and for the first time he was interested in the big boy underwear and picked some out he liked so he could get his sword. We rushed home and I made him a really messy potty chart, put the toy up, used the potty doll, gave treats for dryness and double treats for going on the toilet, like I said combined everything and ta da!! (as Rhett says) For two or three days his only accidents were during his nap, but after that he did pretty well. He's had two or three pee accidents since then, but he will NOT poop on the toilet!! I don't know what to do. He holds it and holds it until night time and then poops at 1 or 2 in the morning - and then comes and gets in bed with me..Any suggestions??

I know he is way to skinny!!! I try to feed him, I really do!!