Labor Day Weekend 2010

We didn't really have any big Labor Day related weekend plans this year. But the weather outside was LOVELY! On Saturday we went for our usual lunch & car ride and then came back and spread a blanket in the shade for a little while...

First Day of "School"

Today was Brantley's first day of Play School! And since she didn't really know what was happening in the weeks before I was excited enough for both us. For those you who don't know, I LOVED school as a young child. I "taught" Briggs for years before he ever actually had to enter a real classroom (and look at him now. Yep, I think it was that early childhood education that got him where he is today). I can remember Mom taking me, to what I guess was a teacher/school wholesale store off of 28th Avenue, to get REAL grade books and lesson plan books. OH, HOW EXCITED I WAS! That was my summer fun. I actually asked for homework when I was in the second grade...or just made up my own.
So even though Brantley is only attending Play School, I was pumped to be shopping for my daughter's "school supply" list up & down the aisles of Target. I even made her(i.e. bought & had monogrammed) a separate bag to take to with her on her school days. She attends on Friday mornings from 9 until 11:30 but is welcome to come on Mondays or Wednesdays as well. I am so happy for her to get to interact with the other children and spend constructive time away from me. And I'm not too sad about having 2 solid hours to commit to whatever I want, whether it be cleaning, running errands, doctor appointments, preparing for the weekend, like I said, whatever.
Here are a few pictures from Brantley's first morning before school





She got a good report on her first day and the teacher noted that she LOVES the train table! We are about to bust to know when we can "observe" her in class! Very soon I hope, the director had asked that the parents give them a couple of weeks to get into a good routine then we are more than welcome to come see them doing their playing. I cannot wait...

August Fun Pics

These are some of our bright spots from August...

31st Birthday!

Someone in our house turned 31 this month and it wasn't me or Brantley...This was one of the harder birthdays for me to decide on a gift for Kris because I wanted to give him the world. Over the past year he has made my life better than I ever dreamed life could be (and I have a pretty good imagination). And he continues to make it better & brighter on a daily basis. So on the recommendation of a good & trusted friend, I booked a helicopter tour of New Orleans.
The tour started at 9:15 on Saturday morning which meant we had to leave home at 7. These are not Powell-friendly times on a Saturday morning...and it rained ALL. DAY. LONG. But despite the rain we still got to go up for our tour! And the visibility of things below was not bad at all. Here are some of our pictures




City views...



Brad Pitt's "Make It Right" homes in the Lower 9th Ward


Superdome


After the tour, we went for lunch at Commander's Palace. The food was great and the service was BEYOND great. We had 3 waiters for our table...no detail was left out with these people. Our good friends who live in New Orleans met us there and that made for a lovely party!


And for those of you who are wondering about Brantley during all of this, GrandPattie picked her up at 6:30am and took her to her house for the day. They had their own fun and Brantley had no nap but no meltdowns either. We did bring her a little piece of our adventures from the Big Easy...

10 Month Birthday!

Sweet girl turned 10 months old today! We gathered some of our "bear"est friends and had a party! Tutu Bear made a special guest appearance, as she only comes out on special occasions. She was part of Brantley's door wreath at the hospital that was lovingly made by GrandPattie. We sang, we played, we rolled around on the floor, and most importantly we captured it all on...a memory card? I wonder if Brantley will ever know anything about film. Probably as much as I know about an 8 track cassette...
Brantley has become quite proficient in her crawling abilities and perceives no obstacle too big if she really feels the need to get to something. She is still pulling up on everything and has added opening cabinets & drawers to that what happens when she gets on her feet. However, she is not showing much interest in trying to walk, which is just fine with her Mama. For now. Two of her biggest milestones have been pointing and putting things INTO other things (e.g. balls into cups, bottle caps into empty coffee cans, etc.). Her old favorite pastime was taking things OUT of other things, which she still enjoys on a regular basis. She is tipping the scales at 17.5 pounds and is almost 30 inches tall! She is growing so fast and so perfectly it blows my mind.

Bye bye Summer

The end of summer has been busy but fun. We had a long overdue visit with some dear friends on the Coast in August. They moved into a lovely new house which is perfect for 2 exploring little boys! Brantley had not seen them since January but did not hesitate to join right in with their fun. A good time was had by all!

First Swimming Lessons

Brantley and her friend Andrew have been taking their first swimming lessons for the past week. It has been an interesting experience as I never know exactly what kind of mood Brantley will be in between 5:15 and 5:45 everyday...I think her favorite part of the whole thing has been that Andrew & his mom come over to our house everyday before class to hang out. She genuinely loves having another baby to interact with and that makes me really excited about her attending Trinity's playschool in the fall. But that's another post for a later time...
Swim class starts at 5:15 Monday thru Thursday and lasts until 5:45. Brantley & Andrew are the youngest in the class and the other children are around 2 years old. They practice things like reaching out to grab floating objects, scooting off the side into the water, "jumping", floating (on their stomach is okay, on their back is not so okay), kicking legs, and just becoming generally comfortable in the water. It has been a really fun experience and I am SO glad that we did it.
Kris came to observe Brantley on Monday and brought the camera along...