Bailey

I love this kid!

We have been potty training and she is super stubborn. It's taken an entire week to crack her! She is finally getting it. Every morning when we take off the diaper and put on the panties, we talk about where we go potty. This was our exchange this morning:

Me: Bailey, we don't go potty where?

Bailey: In my panties.

Me: So where DO we go potty?

Bailey: In the Tiki Room!

I have no idea why she said that, other than we watch the video of Disneyland a few times each day. She is continuously asking if we can go back to Disneyland.

You should see her dance. She's got great rhythm.

She is not picky at all. She will eat whatever is put in front of her. She LOVES food. Especially cereal.

She prefers to be called Princess. When I say, "Bailey, come here please" she responds, "I'm not Bailey, I'm Princess!"

Her laugh is awesome!

Definitely the dirtiest kid in our household! She is a dirt magnet!

She has this little dimple on her left cheek, right below her nose. It shows up when she has her 'serious face' on. I absolutely love it!

Crazy Bays is what we call her, and for good reason. We are so lucky to have her in our family. What a sweetheart!

I'm so motivated...

...to eat healthier. I've always known that it's important to eat healthy, and you are what you eat. It's just difficult to transition from the foods you are used to eating and cooking. But I'm going to start with baby steps. My friend Michelle had her sister come speak to a bunch of us, and make us a delish dinner. The dinner was just icing on the cake, I was so excited to hear her story of how she transitioned from a normal diet to a plant-based foods diet, and without much support from her husband. The statistics are really what got me. You can reverse and prevent disease by making most of your diet plant-based and eliminating most animal proteins. It's just the beginning for me, but I can tell it's going to be good.

I forgot to mention that my beautiful sister gave birth to her handsome little man on Tuesday, Sept. 15, at 1:30 am our time/ 3:30 pm China time. Mr. William or Big Willy as they call him, came in at an unexpected 9 lbs. 12 oz, and 20 inches. It still amazes me that my little sister could carry a baby that big! I think he looks just like my brothers, definitely a Brusch. Mom and baby are doing awesome. In fact, Jen said that when they brought him in so she could feed him, he latched right on and ate for an hour and a half! Good boy! Will is the first grandson for my parents, so it's exciting after this gaggle of girls that we have!


Tonight when I got home Brielle ran into my arms, played with my earring for a second and said, "Mom your earrings are cool." Haha, I've never heard her use that word. Funny.

Shoo fly...

We got to go to the movies on Saturday night. It is rare for us, so even though we were seeing GI Joe, I still had fun (and it really wasn't that bad!). We were sitting there in the dark and all I could think about was how yummy my hubby smelled! Mmmm- delish. At one point I pressed my nose into his shoulder and just inhaled. I think he thought something was wrong with me!

We have a serious fruit fly problem lately. They are infiltrating our every square foot. I was swatting at them with a towel this morning and Ambree started in with a rousing rendition of Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me! When she was done she said, "There Mom, that outta do it!"

Truth be told, she actually sang, 'Shoo fly, don't fother me'. That's how she always says bother. She has also always loved necklaces, but she says nessclass instead. That one has always stuck. Chances are, if you've ever worn a necklace around Ambree, she's complimented you on your nessclass. Gotta love it!

It's my Dad's birthday today, so Happy Birthday Dad! We had a fun little party last night. I love being with my family. Family rock!

9/11

Joe went straight from work today to the wild to go hunting. I haven't seen him since about 5:45 this morning and I really wasn't conscious at that point. I miss him, so I'm waiting up. While I wait, and since the girls are asleep, I've been watching the history channel about the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. I am again amazed at how very precious life is. My heart goes out to anyone who lost a loved one on that horrible day.

It's also Jen's due date today. Today is actually tomorrow for her, so she's officially overdue. She is doing very well and feels great at this point. She said she thinks it may be another week before little Will decides to show. No pressure, Jen, but we're waiting...

I'll keep you posted.

School days

School's back in. I always get a little sad when school starts because it means summer is coming to a close, and it's time to get back into a routine. Fortunately we have another year of pre-school, which I love because it's only two days a week. We still have a few days to sleep in, wear jammies 'till lunch time, and relax, before kindergarten.

I'm so grateful that Ambree loves school so much. She was a happy girl last Wednesday when it was time to go back.

You would've thought she was trained by Tyra! She was posing all over the place. So funny! (These are the beautiful flowers my Grandpa planted for us in May.)

Ambree LOVES Miss Stacy!

And while Ambree's away at school, these two have full reign of the house! Watch out Mom!

My thoughts

We went for a walk last night, Joe, the girls, and me. I love walking up our street, with all the orchards. The aroma of ripe peaches was awesome! I love the smell of ripe peaches. We also walked past a house that belongs to an older couple. No kids at home, they're all grown and married and with their own families. Joe and I looked at this house as we walked by, and noticed how meticulous their yard looked. The front window was open and I looked at how quiet and peaceful everything seemed to be. The television was on. I mentioned that everything looked perfect. Joe said that there's no one home to mess it up. We began talking about how nice that stage of life will be. Then I looked down at my curious little Brielle, walking next to me, holding on to my finger. She kept getting rocks in her flip-flops, and we had to keep stopping. Ambree fell asleep and Joe lowered the stroller seat down for her, and Bailey was chattering to us about this and that. I thought, that stage will be nice, but I will really miss this stage when it's over. I love being Mom. I love being the one my girls run to when they fall. I love their sweet innocence. I am completely happy in the stage we're in. Life is good.

The song...

My little brother, Ben, wrote this amazing song for my girls when he returned from his mission last December. The day he sat down with his guitar and played it for me and my girls, I had some serious tears. It's so awesome, and sweet. He recently recorded it onto a CD and we have it on repeat because the girls absolutely LOVE it. It's fun because in it he talks about the things that they love. Here are the words...

Somewhere Far Away

I'm somewhere under the sea
I'm somewhere far, far away right now
I know that I want to see
Ambree, Bailey and Briellie

So I'll come to Barbie Diamond Castle
I'll even climb the walls if I have to
I'll come just so I can play with you
I'll even play dolls if I have to

You're such an inspiration to me
You want to be everything good that you see
Just like your Mommy

I'm somewhere up in the sky
I'm somewhere way, way up high
I know that I want to fly
And take you on a magic carpet ride

So, where's the Genie?
He made all three of my wishes come true
I got to see each one of you

Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky
So twinkle, twinkle you three little stars
How I wonder what you are

And if it's important to make all of your wishes on the prettiest stars in the sky
Then from now on, from now on

I'll make all of my best wishes on you!

Disneyland!

I have such a love for Disneyland. Maybe it's because of all the fond memories I have both with my family growing up, and also with my own family. But it's also the magic of it all. I still get a little tear in my eye every time we walk into the park and underneath the plaque that says, "Here you leave today and enter a world of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy." I know I'm cheesy, but I seriously love the place!

We had a window of about 2 weeks in August where Joe's work was okay with him taking a vacation before he began the classroom part of his training that he cannot miss. We talked about it for a few days, and all I could say was, "let's go to Disneyland." We've taken Ambree a few times but the twins had never been. So off we went to the Happiest Place on Earth.

We had so much fun. Too much fun! Please don't feel like you have to look at all the pictures because I had a hard time deciding which ones to post.

Ambree doing the happy dance on our first day. We were waiting for Joe, who was picking up our tickets. What you can't see is that I'm on the other side of the camera doing the happy dance too!

Jennylyn and I somehow got Ambree and Emma on Splash Mtn. We told them that if they went on it we would let them get their faces painted. They weren't happy about it, but they did it. I don't think we'll get Ambree on that one again!

Joe and Josh on the Grizzly River Run getting soaked!

Ambree loved meeting the characters. We hadn't ever seen Brother Bear but she was eager to meet them. When we were leaving Ambree said, "Bye Brother Bear and Papa Bear!" I think she was thinking more along the lines of The Berenstain Bears!

We went to dinner at the Big Thunder Ranch and they had live entertainment. This cowboy came right to our table and asked each of the girls their names then he sang a song about them all. We were all laughing so hard!

Alice has always been my very favorite! I may have been more excited than the girls in this one!

Dancing at breakfast in Goofy's kitchen! Brielle was my only child who would dance with me!

This meeting made the whole trip worth it for Ambree. Prince Phillip!!! Can't you see the stars in her eyes!

The big guys!

I got Joe to love California Screamin'!!! He had never done an upside down roller coaster before this one. This time we couldn't keep him off it!!!

Waiting for Bailey's parade. Bailey could've sat all day watching the parades. She called them 'my parade' and she would continually ask, "when is my parade going to pop out?" By the end of the week we were all calling the parades 'Bailey's parade'.

They were pretty good sports about going on the rides, but they would keep their ears plugged. They would even do this on the slower rides, like Small World!

This one is especially for our favorite 'Antie'!

Funny story. Ambree loves Heimlich. She was so excited and she was talking with the girl behind us in line, who had never been on this ride. Ambree told her it was so fun, and that she needed to keep her hands up for the entire ride. She was such a good sport, the girl behind us. You can see her hands up in this pic. Brielle is shielding herself from the watermelon spray!

I love Bailey in this pic! So star-struck!

Waiting to meet Ariel at her Grotto!