July Brenna Mega-Post

With Voivod's "Infini" blaring in my i-Pod earphones, and Emily laying down with our tuckered daughter (read on), I hope to right the wrongs of my measily two-line blogs that I've been posting lately. It's been pretty busy getting as much work off my desk as possible before the arrival of Grandma and Grandpa H., and with that behind me, I'm ready to bore you endlessly with details about our last few days here in hell, er, Apache Junction (it was 110 here today).

Here's a shot of Brenna waiting for the grandparents to arrive. Or something like that. She's gotten very good with dressing herself, including accessorizing. The backwards flower visor is the in-look for 2010, you just don't know it yet. And don't forget the fuzzy slippers. I'm going out this week to get myself a pair.

Brenna was given a neat Beauty And The Beast puzzle, and is shown here explaining to Grandpa how the whole thing goes together.

Here you'll see Emily and Brenna posing over at the Apache Junction Super 8 pool. Brenna can't get enough of the water. Probably because it's the only escape from our summer heat. It didn't take the girl long to figure that one out, you either like water or you turn into crispy bacon by November. And no one wants a slab of burnt pork for a daughter. I know I don't.



Yes, she likes the water.

Later in the week (or near the end of the week, I'm confused), we all took advantage of the Phoenix Children's Museum's freebie Friday night (or whatever it was called). We got there 30 minutes early and had to stand in the sun in a line outside the building, until they let us in. It was elbows and orifaces in there, but Brenna sure enjoyed herself.

Here she is putting together a 4th of July pom-pom with minimal help from Emily.



And here she is spending about 30 minutes pushing sand around on a lit up table in the hallway of the 2nd floor of said museum. Grandma and Grandpa look on in the background, poised for another priceless Brenna shot.

Not sure what Brenna was doing here, besides looking cute. We'll leave it at that.

In the 3 and under room, Brenna spent some time "planting flowers", as seen here. I like this shot, the lighting is neato.

And here she is doing her Marilyn Monroe, standing over a vent with air coming out of it from underneath her (notice the hair blowing in the breeeze). This was a big hit, I think I'll install one of these in our house.



And here we are scooping split peas into a scale. Good times.

And last, but certainly not least, today we drove down to Tucson to go to a waterpark with (my) cousin Melanie and her lovely family. My aunt and uncle flew down as well, so this was as close to a family reunion as you can get, save someone dying, which nobody wants.

I look pretty pleased in this picture that despite my lack of coordination, I managed to not lose my child in the pool area anywhere. Emily captured that moment wonderfully here.



And finally, our child eating yogurt bites beneath a shady tree. That pretty much just sums up summertime. I think that wraps up this blog as well.

Vacation Bible School

Here are a few shots of Brenna in the arts/crafts class during VBS last week. She did a fine job of drawing eyes on her little puppet, and enjoyed shaking her colored sand all over her gluey paper.

New Brenna!

Well, here are some new Brenna shots from the past week or so.

First, Brenna helping me open a birthday package. She thoroughly enjoyed pulling all of the stuffing out.

And some painting pictures. These are kind of out of order, the crazed Brenna look came after the last two pictures of studiousness.

Fresh Out Of Brenna

Sorry, haven't had many new pictures to post lately, we've been busy this week with Vacation Bible School, which Brenna has been thoroughly enjoying. Her favorites so far have been music time (she's mastered the shaky egg, drum, and triangle), and arts and crafts time.

Here's a shot from a few weeks ago when Brenna wasn't feeling well, and wanted Daddy to carry her around like a baby.

That's all I have for now.

More Random Brenna

Here are the last of our recent shots of Brenna.

She recently got a cool book about giraffes from Grandma and Grandpa H, and here she is showing off the book, and reading it with me.

For those of you that like your Brenna dipped in chocolate, here's another shot of her bathing in it.

And finally, hanging out in a doorway, that's what the cool kids are doing these days.

Rationing The Brenna

Here are a few new shots from the recent flood that we've taken lately.

The first is of Brenna from this past Saturday. The pinching the neck thing is a nervous habit, if you're nearby, she'll pinch you as an alternative, not too pleasant.

This is her June dress from the Little Einsteins show from the Disney Channel.

And fresh off the presses, a couple of pictures this morning of me trying to teach the child to "flash the horns", in homage to heavy metal. Her pinkies don't seem to work in conjunction with her index fingers, so below is what we got for our experiment.

So far today I've put in my time at work, done two loads of laundry, filled our outside trash can with lawn clippings from the back yard, walked three miles and ran one on the treadmill, listened to the live (18 minute) version of The Outlaws' "Green Grass And High Tides" (one of the finest songs God has ever graced us with, IMO), and have shared this blog with the world. If there was only time for a nap before Emily and Brenna get home.

The Sun Is A Killer

Trying on the newest thing in sun protection, chocolate sunscreen.

Brenna In The Yard

I figure there are more followers of Brenna than the Hoes blog, so here are some shots of our child enjoying her new watering can out in the yard. The weather here has been delightful, and we're getting outside as much as we can, before things take a turn for the worse. Photos by Emily.

Insert witty remarks that aren't coming to me at the moment here.

Back Home

I'm back home from my trip to South Carolina, and have all of one new Brenna picture to share. This one was taken on Sunday morning while she was enjoying her breakfast on the couch, whilst watching something on Noggin, no doubt. I had two other pictures from this same occasion, but in one her mouth is hanging open, Pop Tarts in plain sight, and in the other she looked just plain stoned. So here you are, quality over quantity today.

I'm also very happy to report that it's barely reached 90 degrees the last three days, which is about ten below average. Maybe summer has forgotten about us this year? Ha, not likely, but at least this lull shortens the hot stretch leading into monsoon season (early July). Roll over to the Hoes blog for some new pictures of ripening fruit!

And one last thank you for continuing to click the links on this site. As of last week, you generated the first blog related deposit into Brenna's college fund!

Heading Home

On my way home from South Carolina today, currently sitting in the DFW airport. Stay tuned, more Brenna pictures to come once we have some time to build up the archives again!

Limping To The Finish Line

A gruelling work week has mercifully come to an end, although I'll be working a good bit tomorrow, and travelling on Sunday. Yes, what an exciting weekend. At any rate, I'm ready for this wave of work to be over with so I can start focusing on other things. Like more work.

Anyway, here are a few pictures before I head out of town. Brenna likes looking at our pictures of family on the frig, and we are doing just that.

Memorial Weekend

So, it's nearly a week since I've last posted. Oopsie, time flies, doesn't it?

We've had a relaxing holiday weekend, thus far. On Saturday we cleaned our bedroom, bathroom, and part of our kitchen. We tried taking Brenna to the Apache Junction library, but they decided to close up shop for the entire three day weekend. We also took her to the new Multi-Generational Center that was opened a few years ago. For about forty dollars a month (if you pay for an entire year at one time), you have access to an indoor basketball court, indoor jogging track, exercise equipment, game room (pool table, etc), onsite childcare, rock climbing wall, etc. The key word in all of this is INDOORS. Not a bad price for staying in shape, and not having to do it in a 1000 degree garage. Something we'll ponder for this summer.

Today we went to church, had lunch with Brenna's grandparents, and lazed around the house the rest of the afternoon.

Here are a few shots of Brenna from today.

An upclose one, for starters. Any time the camera comes out, she now runs for it, so she can do the picture taking. Here she is in mid-run, heading right for me.





Here's one of her doing two of her favorite activities, coloring, and watching Mexican wrestling. What a combination, but no kidding, she still loves watching this DVD that I got at Bookmans about six months ago. Especially a part where the luchadors go to a nightclub where this, um, voluptuous woman is serenading the crowd through interpretive dance. Brenna will ask that we replay this part seven or eight times before she gets tired of it.

Interpretive Dance

Eventually I will go out to the garage and track down the software instructions for our camcorder, so I can resume uploading video of our daughter. We have some good clips of her dancing, which her all time favorite pastime, but for now, these pictures will have to do.

She has quite the collection of what she calls "tricky moves", here are a few of them.

1 - Mid-twirl windmill move - She's got the Pete Townsend guitar windmill move down to an art. Capturing that in a picture would be near impossible, but here is part of the hand movement

2 - Side-stepping - This one she perfected when she could barely walk, and she's fine-tuned it over the past year

3 - The Leg-Lift - Her current favorite that she likes showing off. There are numerous variations of this, including laying on the ground raising a leg up, sitting on the floor and lifting a leg up, you get the drift.

Tonight while Emily was in the bedroom, she actually did a split. The camera wasn't handy for that one, hopefully I'll catch it the next time she does it.

Weekend

Brenna enjoyed herself at the wedding we went to last night, and danced until the wee hours. There's a picture at the bottom of her sitting the grass, enjoying it all.

The first two pictures are of the two of us enjoying the Sunday comics this morning.

On The Run Again

So, here are a few shots of us going to see Brenna's favorite cousin Rachel performing in a school talent show.

This week was pretty much a blur. Tomorrow we're going to a family wedding in the far south valley, and we plan on slathering the anti-insect spray all over our arms and legs, as the mosquitoes are already getting bad here (which is odd, since it's rained exactly one time in the last three months). I'm on call for work Sunday afternoon, and will be working on Monday starting at midnight and plowing through a number of projects until 8 or 9 that morning when my regular shift starts. Should be a fun day, although really I'm looking forward to moving some folders off my desk and into the file cabinet. Monday will also clear the way for focusing on my upcoming trip to Columbia, South Carolina the first week in June. I'd like to say that trip will offer a nice break from our relentless heat, but it probably will be just as uncomfortable there as it is here. I recently found out about a new customer coming on board with us in September out of San Francisco, THAT will be a nice break from our summer.

But enough about me, how are you?

Perhaps more Brenna shots will come early next week from the wedding, and whatever we get into outside of that. Between now and mid-June, I expect that my posts will be fewer and farther between, for which I apologize.

While I'm gone, don't forget to periodically click on those annoying adds at the top of the blog. There have been some interesting ones lately. I don't know how anything I've mentioned here could possibly generate a singles ad. What's next, mail-order wives from Siberia? Stay tuned, I know I will be.

Think rain, and send it to the Southwest.

A Lounging Brenna

Not much new to share, especially in pictures. I'm just about tapped out there.

Here is one of Brenna lounging on the couch last weekend. She continues to enjoy helping me in the yard, and learned the artful skill of jumping with both feet off the deck onto the flagstone walk. Thankfully it's only a distance of probably six inches, but she rather enjoys this. She's also taken to some fancy dancing, including getting on her hands and feet and lifting one leg off the ground. I guess you'd have to be there to appreciate the balancing act.

Oh yes, and it's still hot, but that's nothing new. Stay tuned for continued belly-aching on my part about how dry it is. That should continue until around early July.

Mother's Day

In honor of Mother's Day here are a few new pictures of Brenna from today, hanging around the house, and posting with her mama and Grandma Becky.