All in a Day's Work

T.J. came home early yesterday, and Bronwen was super-happy and reflected her sentiments with her clothing.They decided to play outside. I was able to join them and document the shenanigans.
First, a little punk-rock face on the slide.Kisses for her daddy:Then the fun began. Bronwen enjoyed watching T.J. sweep up sand and load it into the dump truck. She was pretty tough as she supervised his work:
He must have been doing it right, though!
Then, once the truck was loaded, she would dump the sand.And thoroughly examine it.She did take time to smell the flowers.And finally, she was so happy, she danced!We were all happy to have him home! It was a great afternoon indeed.

Sad News

T.J.'s dear grandmother, known affectionately as "Dee Dee," passed away last night. She had been recovering from triple bypass surgery, and while she had plenty of fight in her, her kidneys ultimately refused to cooperate.

Luckily we all got to see her and tell her how much we loved her. She had a wonderful life indeed--two daughters, seven grandchildren, six great-grand daughters, five more great-grand babies on the way, and innumerable friends who thought the world of her. We will miss you Dee Dee!

T.J.'s mom and Dee Dee with Bronwen the day of her birth:

Birthday Greetings

I know there are some who object to my asking Bronwen questions while she eats, but it is the only time I have her in a location where she isn't going for the video camera. Tradeoffs, my friends! Anyhow, I think this worked out just fine. Happy Birthday Aunt Jana!

Where was Pepper?

Since so many of you asked...She was on the windowsill right above Mollie, looking out. I couldn't take the pic without the cords getting in the way, but there you go!

Spoiled, nah...

Cassie, in her self-made nest:
Mollie, between the bookshelf and the window:

Photo Session

I guess T.J. isn't concerned about combing her hair, so it is a bit 70's looking in the Elmo shots.Tiffany was right--when T.J. and Bronwen were wearing warm-up pants I should have taken a picture. Well, here you go...Bronwen actually pressed the button on the delay timer and ran over to stand with her Daddy.

Part 3--While Bronwen Slept

Would write text, but Gracie is in my arms now--seriously, such a sweetie!

Part 2, While Gracie Slept

Bronwen played with her Elmo See and Say, her alphabet letters, her zoo, her crayons, and her kitchen:



Then she helped out with household chores. At the end of the video, she is sliding the mop back and forth, and following it with her head. It's hard to tell because she was right next to me, almost in my lap. Note how well she turns the Swiffer back over when it flips.



After all those chores, Bronwen wanted to play with the cats; see if you can spy Pepper:



Finally, Gracie was awake and Bronwen was eating her lunch. Gracie is a snuggle bug and likes to be held. Here is evidence that Bronwen is sweet and loves the baby, despite her Mama's holding her. My apologies for the shoddy camera work. I couldn't tell if I was actually getting Gracie in there or not. And then my camera ran out of memory...oops.

Bronwen gets Practice

Bronwen and I had the pleasure of watching Gracie yesterday. Sadly, I didn't properly document our activities, but I had to charge the camera's batteries, and I was working on remembering what having a tiny little baby entails. Luckily, Gracie is an absolute angel, so we had no problems at all. I just need more lap space, which I will have come April.

So today I will try to show our day as best as I can. It depends on how cooperative the tiny people remain.

Here is our day so far. Leslie dropped off Gracie, who looked like this--and still does:Bronwen was once again excited to have the baby here. She likes Gracie's car seat toys (see frog on table) and called one of her friends to tell all about it. This is the face I got when I asked her to smile.

Lunch Today

Nothing too terribly exciting, but Bronwen's Mimi was complaining that I wasn't updating the blog enough. I tried to explain that we have been terribly busy, but I realized how lame of an excuse that was. So here she is--I now present, Bronwen at the end of lunch time!



Just some clarification:
When I ask her about the stamp, she says, "Dance!" because that is what she did at music today--amid other things. Also at the beginning of the video--she is actually the one who pressed the button on the camera, so that is why it is kind of an odd start.

Continued:

New Year's Gardening

New Year's day was a little chilly, so we decided it was the perfect time to embark upon a long-neglected project: our garden. We just wanted to put down a layer of newspaper and pine straw because weeds were overtaking everything. Bronwen was so excited, she did a little dance. (TJ was wearing matching warm-up pants, but his didn't have a pink stripe)Here is the back view:

Here, Bronwen examined a gardenia in need of pruning:
She got the clippers from me, but they were locked the whole time, I promise. Finally looking at the camera:Please ignore how tired I look. I was. The point of this picture is the rainbow that we saw. It was really beautiful but hard to capture on film.