Time's a flyin'!!!!

So I just realized my last blog was the end of August, and considering we've had Emma's birthday and Halloween since then I am definitely behind!

So let's jump right in and see how much I can remember of the last couple months. Well first of all, Dani has still been entertaining us with her "isms"!
Luckily, Jeremy has been noting them down on his phone so we could remember! Here's what he had:
What's a motor mouth?
When I swallow food side to side it hurts my throat.
Baby-throw is my favorite game.
Your exercise ball smells like balls.
That noise scared me and made my mouth waddle like a penguin.
When you get a new shirt at the store that means you can't tuck it in.
Do I need to buy a Monster Energy drink?
I'm getting taller except for my pinky finger.
That shirt has skidmarks all over it.
I like Stu. That's a pretty name.
Let's play chewy cheese checkers.
I love getting pumpkins - my mom calls me a punk.
That noise is making me get blisters in my ears.
Dad you're not a person, you're a boy.
Let's play that board game where you hit really hard. You hold the board and I chop it. You can't use paper. That's not hard enough. I need a board.
Boys always have eyelashes to blink.
Don't flick water at my face. It frightens my eyes out.
A slice is when the golf ball curves right. It's like curry. That's not my favorite.

Okay... pause here for those of you that may be about to pee your pants because you were laughing so hard!

Now on to the Birthday! So Emma turned the BIG 8 on October 8th! We partied hard around these parts. For the day of her birthday, Jeremy spent the morning at her school as a WatchDog (Dads/Males who volunteer to spend some or all of the day at the school being an extra set of hands and eyes.) It's pretty fun for the kids' when their dads come and Jeremy loves all the attention the kids give him when he volunteers. Then after lunch I brought cupcakes to Emma's class to celebrate her birthday. THEN after school Emma got an extra surprise from Grandma Linda who had just flown in from San Diego. I picked her up at the airport and we hurried home to make it before school got out. Our timing ended up being perfect for us to pull up next to Emma as she was walking home and then Grandma jumped out of the car to give her a HUGE hug!! I took a "mental picture" (The Office, anyone...?) of that moment! Emma had been a little down before we pulled up, but after the shock and surprise of see Grandma jump from the car and tackle her, Emma had this look of pure joy!! Don't you love family who can do that!!!? Anyway, we had a great birthday afternoon and finished the evening off at our favorite barbeque joint, Rudy's! They have the best Texas barbeque hands down!!
The next day, Friday, Grandma and I spent the day preparing for Emma's SpongeBob birthday party on Saturday. We most of the day shopping, baking cookies and frosting the SpongeBob cake.
Saturday morning was a bit chilly and overcast, but we braved the weather for family pictures with our favorite photographer. Grandma got some great shots of us and the Checketts family. They're included in the slideshow on the right with the pics from the birthday and Halloween.
Then we hurried back to get ready for the party. Emma's friends: Braeden, Brooke, Berkeley, Lennon, Camilla, Julia and Bailey all came. We had fun doing Mr. Krabs' treasure hunt (put on by Natalie), decorating Patrick Star sugar cookies, Jellyfishing (a modified version of pin-the-tail) and a SpongeBob pinata. We all had Krabby Patties for dinner and of course SpongeBob cake for dessert. Emma's friends were very generous with their gifts. She got clothes, gift cards and craft kits. Her Grandma Susan also gave her a sterling silver charm bracelet which she'll get new charms for on her birthdays.
Sunday was birthday dinner at Grandma Susan's. Yummy stew, more cake and more gifts!! Grandma Linda was able to stay until Monday and we spent the day off of school spending Emma's gift cards at Target and Old Navy.
I'd say Emma knows how to party when it comes to birthdays! I hope this one lives long in her memory.

For Halloween Natalie suggested that we all go as M&M's. It turned out to be a great idea because it was easy, cheap and cute! We bought colored t-shirts at Hobby Lobby and then put big white M's on our chests made out of contact paper. Natalie was yellow, Emma blue, Dani purple, Jeremy red and me Green (yes, I do know what they say about the green ones!) The shirts worked awesome for the multiple parties and activities we had. Natalie and Emma wore theirs to Activity Days, two ward parties (yeah we crashed Walsh Ranch's), our block party and of course, trick-or-treating. Jer and I looked "cute" when we went to a couples Halloween party. And Dani, well we got her to wear her shirt to most of the activities, but she'd had enough of being the purple M&M by Halloween and at the last minute decide to go as a witch. She just dug the witch costume from the dress-ups and headed out to trick-or-treat. She's already informed that she'll be an M&M next year - sigh, whatever!

Hopefully, I'm pretty much caught up on the big events now. But more are a comin'! Emma's baptism is this Saturday and we're heading to Phoenix on the 20th to cheer Aunt Jen on in her 2nd Ironman race! Hopefully, I'll get those blogged before Christmas!!!

Brain Juice and Other Tidbits from the Brysons

Here are more "wacky-saurus" words from our favorite three-year-old comedian:
Jer's collection:
Mom is an adult. We don't talk about her age.
My brain doesn't want me to talk normal.
Pickles taste like fruit.
Do you know what color brain juice is?
How do you suck the juice out of a meatball?
When I was chomping my food I bit my tongue and it really really, really, really, hurt! - a little.
Dad your head is as big as the sky.

Kellie's collection:
As we are casually sitting around waiting for something, Dani conversationally turns to me and says: "I'm a little impressed that it's not true."
"What's not true?" I ask.
"Just everything."

Find these names in a baby name book...
One night Dani had her small stuffed bear collection out and was busy telling me and her sisters all about them.
"This one," she says pointing to one that looks like it's holding a piece of candy, "is named Afervent. And this one that is dressed for the beach is named Afergo Princess. The one in the pajamas is Afervoe Texas. The ballet girl is called Sparkle. And the one dressed like a rock star is called Rock Star, but he is not very good at teaching the children to sing!"

Last week we watched the second Harry Potter movie "The Chamber of Secrets." Dani wasn't scared at all of the big basilik and enjoyed telling Emma (who refuses to watch them because they are too scary for her) all about how the bird clawed out the snake's eyes. Anyway, after the movie ended, Dani turned to me and asked, "So what happens in Harry Potter 19?" Guess we have another Harry Potter fan at our house.

Family Happenings:
Natalie and Emma both started school this week. Emma is in second grade in her brand new elementary school a couple blocks away. She got a new bike as an early birthday present and has been riding to and from school with me (Kellie) every day. It's still 100 degrees every afternoon so even going a couple blocks on the bikes works up a sweat, but it's exciting to see her becoming a good bicyclist. She really likes her new teachers Mrs. Azios and Mrs. Thomason and is anxious to make some more friends since many of hers moved or stayed at the old elementary school.

Natalie is now in 6th grade at Henry Middle School. She has a full schedule with advanced language arts, advanced math, science, social studies, dance class and of course band. She got her French Horn a few days ago and has already been banished to her bedroom for practice time. Horns are very LOUD!! The case is big and bulky and she has banged up her ankles walking home with it. I just ordered her a luggage cart to transport it so hopefully that will help. She is very happy to have it to play, so we're happy too! Middle school seems to be suiting Natalie great. We just wonder how long it will be though until she has nightmares about not being able to remember her locker combination or find the right classroom - you had those too, huh?!

Dani, Kellie and Jeremy miss having the girls all home during the day and, of course, miss the sleeping in. But we're glad to be back into a routine and doing great!!

I kept notes this time!

So when Dani spurted out these few words of wisdoms I actually noted them down before I could forget the details... (or the whole conversation, which I realize happens most of the time.)

"Mom, I don't want to get a splinter. "
Since there are no splinter-causing items around, I ask confused: "How would you get a splinter?"
"I would fall down on a sword and land on the ground."

A few days ago, I enlisted Dani to carry a dirty container downstairs. She didn't want to do it, but knew that she didn't have much choice since Mom "enlisted" her.
So grudgingly she points out: "Mom, this smells bad."
I tritely answer: "Well, just don't smell it."
"I can't, my nose won't turn off."

Conversations in the car can be quite entertaining. So how would you answer this whopper: "Mom, How do you blow in Chinese?"

A few weeks ago, Dani got a tattoo sticker that applies with water. This happened a few days before Uncle Paul's and Aunt Elizabeth's wedding. When she immediately asked Jeremy to put it on, Jeremy said she had to wait until "Saturday" (basically after the wedding festivities and pictures) before we'd let her put it on. She eventually did get the tattoo applied and was quite happy with the "cheerful pirate" picture on her forearm.
I hadn't realized how much of an impact having to "wait until Saturday" to get her tattoo had made until she asked me today: "Mom, what day is it?" "Saturday," I tell her. To which she happily claims, "On Saturday, we can put on tattoos!"

P.S. I know that most of the posts lately have just been Dani-isms with very little updates on what our family is doing this summer. That's because we're in the doldrums of summer trying to stay cool in the 100+ heat and the Dani-isms are about the most entertaining part of our lives. But here's a quick rundown of the past few weeks:
Kellie has been helping Hilary pack up her house to put it on the market. (Boo hoo, they're really moving)!
Natalie has begun to count down the days until she officially starts middle school and gets her hands on her french horn for band. (It's 22 days as of this post. Guess she's not the only one counting.)
Emma had a meltdown last week because her new elementary school: Ronald Reagan Elementary chose as its mascot a Ray (as in stingray). Apparently, being a "Reagan Ray" is not what she voted for and it affected her quite strongly for an entire afternoon. The sobs could be heard all over the house. (Hope this isn't a sign of the teenage years to come.)
Dani is keeping us in stitches when she's not being a stubborn grouch - I blame her father's genes for that streak. We Harmon's are never stubborn or grouchy!
And speaking of her father, Jeremy is working hard at the practice and spending fun time at the new rec center with the girls. He likes having the girls out on summer break. I agree with him, summer is a lot nicer without the demands of school. That is until the girls mope around the house quoting the all-too-popular summer phrase: "I'm bored!!"
And I'll just finish this post up with one of my all-time-favorite "hot" summer phrases:
"If you haven't noticed, the white people are melting out here!!!" Ahh, Texas even the heat waves are BIG!

Who's "Bruce"?

So the other day after dinner Jeremy asked me if our receptionist, Sue, had "told me about Bruce." I was having a momentary brain fart and couldn't think of who Bruce was. (He happens to be one of the other doctors in our office, duh, Dr. Mounsey). Anyway, looking confused I asked, "Who's Bruce?" And before Jeremy could reply, Dani pipes in: "Fish are friends - not food!!!"

(This is one of those if you don't immediately get it, it's won't be as funny when I explain it, but here goes: Bruce is also the name of the Great White Shark in Finding Nemo who has committed to becoming a vegetarian. Thus the whole reference to "fish are friends..." The fact that Dani just threw that line out with such comedic timing is what makes this so funny!)

Here's one other random Dani-ism: Dad, you're awesome, like toots!

Oh yeah, one other Dani-ism!

While we were hanging out at my parents house, my sister, Ryanne, did a goofy, impromptu little song and dance routine. I laughed at her and told her she "should take that on the road!" Dani quickly turned to me and said concerned, "But Mom, cars drive on the road!!"

Pics are posted from our California vacation

Most of you know that the girls and I just came back from a couple of weeks of fun in the San Diego sun at my parents house. The slideshow of pics is on the right side of the blog.

Natalie, Emma and Dani went out a week before I did with my mom who flew to Texas to pick them up. (Jeremy was working and I was at girls camp.) Before I arrived the girls had gone to the San Diego zoo and the wild animal park (with Grandma Joyce) as well as hit the beaches for a few days.

Once I arrived we continued the whirlwind of fun with Ryanne and her boys and Jen and Rob at Disneyland. Dani loved the carousel and Nemo Submarine ride, while Emma and Natalie had their first tastes of Space Mountain, Indiana Jones, Star Tours and Big Thunder Railroad, which they both loved!! We especially had fun on Big Thunder because the fireworks were exploding overhead as we careened across the tracks. The night was a little longer than expected, because we discovered Ryanne had a flat tire on her van when we were leaving around midnight. We had to wait for AAA to come fix the flat since her spare tire was flat too. But the Disneyland security guard and AAA guy were very kind and helpful despite the late night.

We also did a trip to Old Town, San Diego. It's a re-creation of what San Diego first looked like after it was settled. It was fun and free. We toured the buildings, and watched real blacksmiths at work. And got a lot of fun pictures with the cousins. Check out these rules for schoolchildren and teachers in 1872! Don't think any of us would have made it through one day at school there!

Besides living through the escapades of the Day brothers (if you want to hear about those check out my sister's blog: http://the5happydayz.blogspot.com/), we took in some lazy time at the pool and returned to the zoo another day for a fun afternoon. The girls also had a lot of fun hanging out with the Savannah and Sadie Willis. They are granddaughters of my parents' friends/neighbors. We had a great evening of barbeque, games and desserts with them too.

Well, I think that's a brief synopsis of our fun vacation. Of course we're happy to be home, but sad that it's already over. Can't wait for next summer...!

Missing the Dani"isms"?

I know it's been a long time since you've had a dose of Dani'isms". But don't worry Dani hasn't lost her touch! I've just been too busy to blog her latest and craziest ISMS. But we've still been collecting them:
(Obviously, Jeremy has done most of the collecting.)

• Mom is soooo lucky. She gets Chapstick.
• Dad, your ears wiggle when you eat.
• Dad, look! It's the music truck on our street! (Shhh, she still believes that the truck ONLY plays music.)
• Dad, you smell like you were weeding the garden for a whole week.
• Dad, I'm awkward.
• Bananas don't bounce, they dance.
• Monkey Bob can't eat a banana. He's already stuffed. (Monkey Bob is her stuffed animal monkey.)
• Dad, I'm a twin now.
• Those are clam rocks. They're only the biggest rocks in the world.
• When I was bigger, I used to be like Emma.
• I'm making up a song for my festival. It has a strawberry mountain and an elevator, and lots of lanterns so we can see in the dark, and lots of TVs. (Originally, Jeremy thought she said "vegetable" instead of "festival" - just as funny on a whole different level!)
• On our way home from Cali while flying on the airplane: Mom, I can't talk. There are clouds in my mouth.
• Sophie is a magic dog! She can change into a wack-a-saurus moose! (Sophie is my sister's YorkiePoo. She's pretty small weighing in at only around 2 pounds. I just wonder where she hides her moose costume!)

I know I missed a few, so if any of you faithful readers had a Dani-ism encounter please send them to me!

Latest and Greatest Dani"isms"

"Dad, we don't eat our butts, that's disgusting!!"
Disgusting is her most favorite word of the moment.

"I'm strong enough to ROAST MARSHMALLOWS!"

To Grandma and Rob and Jen over the webcam in response to Grandma's question about the Easter Bunny poop: "No the Whoppers weren't bunny poop, they were squirrel poop!" Umm, really, it WAS just candy!

"I need sharp nails for grabbing things - like my clothes!"

Natalie's "Dynamite" 11th Birthday!

So in an effort to catch up on my blogging here's a recap of Natalie's birthday party from 2 weeks ago...

Natalie seriously considered for a couple weeks what she wanted to do for her birthday. After much deliberation she finally decided to have a Nerd birthday party. Everyone was to come dressed as nerds. And to make sure it was the Ultimate in Nerdy we would watch Napoleon Dynamite and play games and eat food based upon the movie.

Upon arrival Natalie's nerdy friends: Keely, Hannah, Haley, Amanda, and Taylor were ushered to the "glamour shots" studio where "Deb" (Hilary) took their photos. Then we all sat down and learned to make friendship bracelets like the ones Deb is selling door to door to earn money for college in the movie.

Actually many of Natalie's friends hadn't ever seen Napoleon Dynamite so once we got them fed with pizza and "tots" and they were working hard on their bracelets we turned on the movie so they could "get" why we were taking their glamour shots, feeding them tots and making friendship "boondoggles."

As we got to certain parts in the movie that we had planned games based on, we would stop the movie and play the games. First we stopped to go "feed Tina." We had some mashed potatoes made up and we stapled a poster of this llama on the fence outside. The girls took turns flinging mashed potatoes at the poster. It was hilarious!!! I posted the video on the blog to the right. Later we stopped the move again to play Pin the Tail on the... Liger!! (of course!)

When we got to the "gimme some of your tots" scene, we stopped it one last time for ice cream and "tater tot" cake. Don't worry, it wasn't really an overgrown tuber turned tot - it was a cake. (Thanks to Grandma Joyce for coming through on another awesome cake! And for Ryanne for letting us copy her idea.)

The girls finished watching the movie and I headed up to the computer to process the glamour shots so the girls could take them home. Here are the pics of Natalie, Emma and Dani.

So the Nerd Night was a complete success and the girls departed with chapstick, glamour pics, clip-on pens and friendship bracelets of the own creations. Thanks to Hilary and Grandma Joyce for helping out and for putting up with all our hair-brained ideas! "Nerd"alie loved her party!!!!

Easter! Better late than never...

So I'm only a few weeks behind, but I'm finally getting the pictures posted from our Easter adventures. Here's a brief run down of what our adventures included. The weekend before Easter our HOA held an Easter egg hunt and petting zoo. Jeremy played Mr. Mom well and took the girls and camera for the afternoon. (I was laid up with bad allergies and pink eye so I wasn't in any shape to join them.) The girls really enjoyed the animals: piggys, chicks, hens, bunnies and a few others.
I think the egg hunt was fun too. Unfortunately, some of the neighbors' donated eggs sat in the sun too long waiting to be "found" and by the time the kids got to them the chocolate candy had melted. Word to the wise - don't put chocolate in an egg you plan to hunt for when it's over 70 degrees!!!

Easter morning was full of unmelted chocolate "bunny poops" leading from the girls' rooms to their Easter Baskets. As Emma scurried down the hall gathering the poops (Whoppers) Dani stopped to verify the poops were edible. Mouthful: "Mmm, they're not poop! They're just candy!" Dani was also delighted with the "cheeps" (cheap Peeps?) and Emma and Natalie scored with chore points and cash.


After a LONG, and noisy, kids-filled-up-on-too-much-candy day at church, we headed to Jeremy's parents for a delicious dinner with his family. The kids ended the day with a confetti egg fight where no one, or dog (poor Duffy), was safe and all left with confetti in their hair if not in other, um, unmentionable spots.


The following day, the kids were not in school and Paul and Elizabeth volunteered to spend the day with all three of them. They flew kites, went to McDonalds, and finished the day off at InnerSpace Caverns (local caves). They girls had so much fun. Dani still talks about her fun day with "Elizabeth" (I think Paul's included when she says Elizabeth) any time she sees a kite. I enjoyed my day off and even got in a trip to Costco all by myself. (Now that's a thrill only a mother would completely understand.) Anyway, Thanks again Paul and Elizabeth!!

Update on Natalie's instrument tryouts...

She came home Friday very excited to tell me that she will very likely be playing the French Horn in band next year!
Jeremy and I were hoping she'd choose something a little more portable and less expensive to rent, but we're happy she's excited about learning a new instrument!

My Musical Kids

So Natalie's been gearing up to take band next year and she has a instrument-tryout session with the band teachers in a couple weeks to figure out what instrument she would like to play. We've talked about the various instruments available and what she's interested in: horns, flute, trombone, clarinet etc.
Apparently Dani has been listening more closely to these conversations than I realized because the other day she runs into the kitchen and tells me excitedly, "Mom, I can play the trombone!!!"
"Really?!" I reply, "Where did you learn to play the trombone?"
"In the living room!"
Hmm, guess I set myself up for that one!

Adventures of the Tooth Fairy

So, guess what!? Emma lost another tooth on Tuesday! We knew it was loose but we didn't want a repeat of tooth number one, so we were just biding our time. Anyway, she came home from school sporting a new hole in her mouth and a tooth-shaped tooth holder from the school nurse's office. She was smiling so big and she was so happy cause she managed to get this one out on her own and there was no drama and no PAIN!!! We were all very happy for her (and relieved that we weren't going to have another loose-tooth meltdown!)

Anyway, Tuesday night she went to bed and got up about an hour later. She came downstairs with a red face and tears in her eyes. I asked what was wrong and she broke down saying she wanted to leave a note for the tooth fairy but she couldn't spell "Please". My first thought was - Oh Yeah!!! I almost forgot the tooth fairy needed to come tonight - whew, glad Emma reminded me... to, umm "leave the door unlocked!" Then I told Emma to calm down and I would help her write the note.

She got a new piece of paper and a pen and I spelled out Please for her. She wrote it out and then asked how to spell "dollar" so I spelled that out for her. But then she broke down again because she'd messed up with her pen and she couldn't erase it. I tried to tell her to just scribble it out and keep going, but she wasn't having that. So I offered to write the note for her. Here's what she dictated to me:

"Please give me 100 dollars..."

I about choked when I heard "100 dollars"! How much cash did she think the tooth fairy kept on her?! I delicately tried to explain that there might be a chance the tooth fairy didn't give out that much money for a tooth. She had this look in her eyes like "Well, one can always hope!" So I let that conversation drop thinking I'd, um, let "the tooth fairy" get creative with that one later.

Then Emma proceeds to dictate the rest of the note:

"...and..."

AND!!! THERE'S AN AND!!!?

"...and a comic book."

:Wow," I think, "this kid's got a lot of Moxie!" (bonus points using Ryanne's company name, hee, hee!!!)

So now I tried my best to explain that the tooth fairy isn't quite like Santa or the Easter Bunny. She typically only brings money, not toys, because she's so small and it's hard to carry toys. Once again I got that "One can always hope" look.

So she trotted off to bed with her note and I gave a look to Grandma Joyce (yes, she's here visiting for Nat's birthday tomorrow) that basically said "hmm, that tooth fairy's got her work cut out for her!"

So I believe I heard the tooth fairy land in Emma's room about 2am that night. She was a little late because she had to stop and write the following note attached to a scanned image of a 100 bill:

"Dear Emma,

Wow 100 dollars? That's a lot of money! You deserve it, but my boss, the Fairy Queen, says I can only give out copies of 100 dollar bills. So I hope you like it!

The Queen says $100 is just too much money for me to carry on my route. I could get robbed by dark Nipsies or Imps (Natalie could tell you about those trickies!)" Sidenote: Natalie has been reading the Fablehaven series. If you liked Harry Potter, you'll enjoy Fablehaven just as much.

Continuing the note: "I'm sorry I couldn't leave you a comic book either, but I don't usually carry anything but dollars to leave. Here is a dollar for your tooth and a dollar for a comic book.

Also, I talked to your mom about this and she said I could give you 30 points for your DS." (Emma is saving chores points for a Nintendo DS.) "She said you didn't need any help for this tooth to come out - and pulled it out without any tears!!! AWESOME!!!

See ya when the next tooth comes out,

Flossie"

The list is getting longer and longer...

The Dani-isms are coming on a daily basis. Unfortunately, as funny as they are, I can't seem to remember a lot of them. But here are the ones from the last few weeks that have lodged themselves in my feeble brain...

I think Dani has this thing about bananas and tomatoes. Many of her latest ones have dealt with one or the other:
"Dad, you're driving me tomatoes!!"

"Look, I can do the tomato splits!" And then she plops awkwardly down on the floor with her legs contorted into something like half-splits.

Today, a Sister stopped me in the hallway after church to comment on how cute Dani was today in Primary. She told me that the leader in Sharing Time had been talking about how the Holy Ghost can give us a warm feeling in our tummies (guess that easier for them to understand than chest). The leader then asked the kids if they felt the warm feeling in their tummies and Dani pipes up: "All I can feel are bananas in my tummy!!"

Comments on Easter:
Dani days before Easter: "I LOVE Easter!!! I can't wait for the rotten egg hunt!!!"

During Easter Morning: "Dad, the Easter Bunny is still at the North Pole!"

And finally: "Are we going to have an Easter Bunny Hump?!" (umm, I think she meant huNT.)

Completely Random Thoughts By Danika Jolie Bryson:

"I love shopping at the shoe store. I like to buy roaches and sandals!!!"

For some reason known only to the inner-working of Dani's mind, Dani has taken to calling us the following:
Dad: Daddy-O
Mom: Mamma Mia
Natalie: Natalie Splat
Emma: Emma-Lemma Ding-Dong Head

And for the grand finale: "Dad, I love to eat noodles with squirrel!"

I'm raising a 3-year-old TEENAGER!!!

Okay, so arguments with Dani have become a daily occurance at our home. They range from turning on the bathroom light to choosing an outfit for the day. Can't remember exactly what fight we were having when this line came up, but it definitely made my mind do a double-take:

"You're ruining my life!!!!" Danika Bryson, age 3 (yes, three! Where did she hear that one?!)

Speaking of teeth...

Not to be left out of the events surrounding Emma's loose tooth, Dani told Jeremy a few days ago: "Grandma gave me a loose tooth. She put it in a jar for me and I LOVE IT!!"

Emma loses her first tooth - oh, the drama!!!

So if you ask Emma, she thought she would never finally lose a tooth. Here she is almost through first grade and everyone else in her class has been losing teeth since Kindergarten! Well yesterday her lucky day finally arrived and I'm sure we won't forget it!! Her front tooth has been loose for several weeks and for the past couple days has felt loose enough to pull out. But if any of you have spent any time around Emma, you know she is not only a borderline hypochondriac but she typically refuses to cooperate when it comes alleviating her pain (real or pretend). I have many not-so-fond memories of begging, bribing, threatening and eventually physically forcing her to take whatever medicine she needs. I remember the infamous sleepness night of insanity at Jen's house trying to get Emma to take cough medicine (not one of my better parenting moments as Jen and Ryanne would attest to); and then there was the time that I finally got Emma to take her Penicillin only to watch her gag it down and then up again along with a just eaten Wendy's burger and fries - ARGH!!!
But I digress... back to the drama at hand. When I came to school yesterday to volunteer, Emma informed me that her tooth hurt so much and was so loose that she was having a hard time eating. I spent her lunch and recess time doing my best (in between bouts of tears) to remove her tooth. That darn thing just didn't want to come out! It was so loose, it was bending forward and back, but no luck.
We checked it out after school and that evening, but Emma was not willing to subject herself to the pain required to pull it out. She'd rather complain about the pain her swollen gums were in. Oh, and did I mention she made a trip to the nurse's office at school after I left? The nurse consoled her and called me, but the nurse couldn't/wouldn't pull it out. This tooth was beginning to be a pain for all of us!
That night, Jeremy and I talked to her and made several deals to convince her to let us get it out. One being that if I couldn't get it out, she'd let Dad pull it out, but she insisted that I try first. The second deal being that she and Dad would go get popsicles once it was out. I tried to get it, but I couldn't get a good pull because Emma kept moving at the first sign of pain. Then, of course, she wouldn't let Jer touch it. So - here's where the questionable parenting begins - we finally held her down and Jeremy gave the tooth a good flick of his finger and out it came!! Emma was hysterical and had worked herself into such a frenzy that she ended up puking into her hand and rushing to the toilet. Meanwhile Jeremy and I were trying to find the tooth, which at first Jeremy had thought she'd swallowed. I had seen it come out instead of in her mouth so I knew it was on the bed somewhere. Once we found the tooth, Emma came out of the bathroom her face covered in tears, puke and blood. It was disgusting and hilarious (yeah, I know bad parents) but we couldn't help joking with the now smiling and toothless Emma that she looked like a vampire just finishing dinner.
We cleaned Emma up and all the while she's concerned about asking Natalie to borrow her toothfairy pillow. So I guess we didn't inflict too much lasting pyschological damage. And yes, she and Dad made a trip to HEB to get popsicles! She was so happy the rest of the night that we told her we thought maybe we'd pulled out the tooth that makes her grumpy! In fact, all day today she's been happy and cooperative. Could this grumpy tooth theory be true? Or was it just because the Toothfairy left her $5.00?!

What will she say next?

Either Dani is getting funnier or my memory is retaining more! Here are her latest adventures in the spoken word:

Yesterday evening as Jeremy and I and the neighbors were hanging out in our driveway watching the kids play, Dani decrees: "This is my day! I am the queen! Welcome to my castle!"

This afternoon Dani walks up to me and declares: "Mom, I'm hungry!" Then she makes something of emaciated-like face by pulling her lower eyelids and her cheeks down with her fingertips and finishes: "I think I need fresh meat!"

February - Where did it go?!

So I realized the only post I'd done for February was for Dani"isms". Lame, I know, since this is as close to a journal/family history I can manage. So before my memory disappears as fast as the month did, I'll try a recap.

The girls has three days off of at the beginning of February; so after returning from the cruise to take in one Friday of school, Natalie and Emma road-tripped with Grandma Susan and Keely to Dallas the following Monday. They spent the night in a hotel and then went to the King Tut exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art. They all loved it, but were a little disappointed to learn that they wouldn't actually see King Tut's sarcophagus as it's so valuable that it doesn't leave Egypt anymore. Grandma got in some good spoil-time too - the girls all came home with new outfits!


In keeping with the current trend of only going to school a couple times a week, a few days after they're return from Dallas - Natalie and Emma (and Jeremy) all came down with various versions of the FLU!! We had Natalie puking one day and then Emma crying from headaches and fever the next. Jeremy suffered through his in stoic silence. We think, though, that he actually had it the worst. He told me in the recovery phase that he thinks he actually was suffering from walking pnemonia. Not to be left out, Dani and I each took a glancing blow from Mr. Flu, but managed to walk away with only stuffy noses for a day or so.

For Valentine's Day we passed around the chocolates! Big Hershey's kisses and the standard heart-shaped box of chocolates made their way to our tummies! We spent the day helping out at the Checketts garage sale, and then Jeremy and I and Tim and Hilary split a babysitter and did dinner and a movie. We enjoyed a yummy dinner at the Texas Roadhouse, caught the 7:30 showing of Twilight (yeah, the guys too, and they enjoyed it) and then we finished off the "day of love" with more chocolate -one of our favorite desserts: the Chocolate Molten Lava Cake from Chili's. Mmm, mmm, mmm!

The third week of February got us back into the swing of school. Natalie and Emma attended all five days illness and vacation free! I played catch up on household chores (although it's hard to tell now!), and Emma and I had dentist appointments. Yeah, slow week if mention of the dentist makes it into your blog!

Actually that Friday night and Saturday morning was our Stake's annual Women's Conference. This conference is always inspiring. Friday evening I heard women of the stake tell about their various trials and how they were supported and strengthened by the Lord. While I have to admit it wasn't an evening of uplifting topics (divorce, joblessness, depression, disability, and death - yeah, it was a cry-fest) I did leave with deep feelings of gratitude and humility towards Heavenly Father. But finishing the night off with friends, great discussions, and Red Robin's fries and campfire sauce did make for a good evening.

On Saturday morning I returned to the conference with friends for some mini-classes, speakers and lunch. One of the classes was on food storage and breadmaking both of which have been on my goal-list for this year. I was also thoroughly fascinated by a sister who is a New Testament guru speak on the background and meaning of many of the subjects in the book of Revelation - all I can say is ah-ha and amazing!!!

This last week you would have most likely found me helping Hilary paint a military mural for the Army-themed youth conference next weekend. It turned out to be a lot bigger project than we'd anticipated painting three life-sized men in miliary fatigues holding an American flag. We finished last night and are satisfied and relieved to have it finished. Being the supportive friend that I am, I told Hilary next time she got a grandiose idea like this for another church project to call me - so I could talk her out of it!

When I wasn't learning the art to painting camoflauge, I was at the school watching Natalie's 5th grade musical performance entitled "The Magic Jukebox" and trying out chili at Emma's 1st grade chili cookoff (her class got the award for the "beanieist" chili!) Natalie's show featured various songs throughout the decades. There was everything from swing to the Twist, to Elvis impersonators, to the famous 80's hit "Footloose." Natalie took center stage for the 60's classics Locomotion and Dancin' in the Streets. She made good use of her halloween costume, a hippie, and showed us how to flip her straightened hair and hip-check her fellow dancers. Hopefully, I'll get the video posted soon.

For the last day of February (yesterday) the kids (yep, even little Sunbeam Dani) attended a primary activity where they learned about Nephi's travels from the setting of a large tent in the primary room and then built their own boats out of popsicle sticks. Emma actually chose to stay home and help Dad put up some molding in the den. He's using the molding to run his surround sound speaker wires to the back of the room so, after four years in this house, we can have true surround sound for our TV-watching pleasure. I have a feeling he's next going to ask for a flat-screen TV to go with this great new surround sound. I suppose it's a possibility if he keeps working as hard as he did this month at the practice. I think this last week was a practice-best for him in terms of patient load - 63 is his count. I'm so grateful that he's staying busy during these hard times and I praise the Lord for this and all our blessings.

Well until next month... or sooner if I can get my act together!

She's on a roll...

Okay, this week Dani has outdone herself in the Dani"ism" department (and my memory actually retained three of them long enough to blog them.)

After taking a swig of ice cold lemonade Dani declared: "Mom, my tounge is cold!"
"Mmm, hmm." I answer.
Then a few seconds later she continues: "Yeah, it's so cold it hurts! I think I need to go to the doctor to get a new tounge!"
(I guess "Elmo Goes to the Doctor" really made an impression.)

On Friday, Emma dressed up like a cowgirl for a Texas celebration her class was having. When Dani saw this, she too decided that she wanted to dress up like a cowgirl. So after already having put on her pink shorts and pink shirt, she throws on her red boots and her purple rodeo queen cowgirl hat and moseys on downstairs. She finds me in the kitchen and declares: "Mom, I'm a cowgirl! And Emma is a cowgirl too! And you are a Cow!!!"
(Umm, I'm sure she was just a little confused since I hadn't come down to breakfast with my boots and hat on too.)

Finally, yesterday at the Checketts I hear Dani upstairs say out of the blue to 10-year-old Berkeley: "Berkeley, do you want to eat a booger?"
To which Berkeley replies "Whhaat!?"
(Yes folks, this is one of those rare times when not actually "being there" may make the joke funnier! Imagination is a wonderful thing!)

Those Crazy Dani"isms" just keep coming...

Dad: "Good thing we didn't go camping last night, cause it got really cold."
Dani: "Camping is for waffles!"

Dani to Jeremy while he's making her lunch: "I have 3000 sharp teeth so I can chew oranges! And they're really sharp!" (Guess mom's let her watch the shark episode of "Diego" a few too many times. Although, I'm pretty sure Diego didn't mention any orange-eating sharks.)

Dani: "No Dad, we only pretend to eat mommy!" (Honest, we don't encourage cannibalism! Pretend or otherwise!)

"Look Mom, I'm Apartment-Girl-Man!!!" (She's a prop comedian too!)

Wednesday and Thursday cont'd

Okay, I had some time this morning to sort through our cruise pictures and I have them posted both here on the blog (see slideshow) and on my Facebook page. I put captions with them all so they make a bit more sense. Now for the rest of the cruise...
After our fun day in Progreso, we boarded the ship for the start of the trip home. I think that was the evening where we saw our cruise director do some amazing juggling (he juggles, he fiddles AND he cruise directs... quite a jack-of-all-trades) and then we saw a comedian. He was quite funny - he did this whole bit on being a cruise ship during Hurricane Bertha - HILARIOUS! Although, can't say as I want to cruise during hurricane season now!
Wednesday morning dawned gray and dreary. I was hoping the sun would peek out later in the day, but no such luck. It just got rainy and cold. So much for one last play in the pools. Actually, before lunch, Emma did brave the kids' pool at the back of the ship. She had it all to herself since it was drizzling. Natalie and I read under the awning and watched Emma get sloshed around in her own wave pool. Yeah, the seas were a bit stormy so the boat was rocking a bit more than usual, but it wasn't bad.
After Emma's swim we went inside for lunch. The place was PACKED!!! Nobody wanted to eat outside with the rain so it was long lines for food and a table. But as usual the food was GREAT! For dessert I had an ice cream puff shaped like a swan. FANCY! And that was just lunch!!
After lunch we wandered the stores and did a little more gift shopping. Then we played some card games while we watched the boat pitch to and fro from the windows. By the end of the card games we were getting a little stir crazy so Natalie, Becky and I did laps around the inside of the ship. We found a little cart and Natalie tried cruise ship surfing, until the housekeeping staff caught us - then we took off for another floor.
We also wandered outside at the front of the ship and WOW IT HAD GOTTEN COLD!!!! The wind was blowing so hard that Grandma Susan's prediction that Becky or Natalie would fall off the ship almost came true!! We have it on video - I'll post it later!
At 6pm we headed off to the dining room for one last feast. It was delicious, of course. Did anyone else have Baked Alaska for dessert on a Wednesday night? I did!!!
We finished off the day with our last show. This one was called "The Dream Cruise" (we think). Anyway, it was lots of singing, dancing and costume and set changes. A little all-over-the-place for my tastes, but not a bad way to finish off a wonderful vacation.
Thursday morning as we pulled into Galveston we immediately had a taste of what most of Texas had been feeling all week - COLD!!! We found out that Tuesday night brought ice storms to Austin. Dang, and we missed it for Sunny Cozumel! Anyway, we ate a quick (but filling) breakfast before braving the cold as we disemarked.
Overall this was a wonderful vacation!! I have to say though, one of the best moments was waking up Friday morning to a "Thank You" card left outside our bedroom door:
"Dear Mom and Dad, Thank you so much for taking us on the cruise! It was the best time of my life! It was the best Christmas present that I could ever ask for! I know that it was a stretch for money, so I will try extra hard to help out and be a better sister. Love, Nat XOXO PS I could never ask for better parents!
So there you have it folks - you can buy your children's love and have a great cruise vacation too!!! Seriously though, we're cruise addicts, now. Anyone thinking about cruising, call us and we'll go with you!!

Wednesday and Thursday

Okay, We just got home a few hours ago so I'm still in the middle of re-grouping. I'll post details and pics of yesterday and today when I can sort through my pics later. Just a quick Thanks to Hilary for posting the other days and pics for me. It would have cost a boatload (hee, hee) if I had had to upload the post and pics from the ship.
Later

Tuesday

Tuesday:
Well, we’re continuing to have more fun than ever! Today we docked at Progreso, Mexico. The pier from the ship to the shore was about five miles out into the ocean. So once we disembarked we had to take a bus to the actual city. Progreso is like most Mexican tourist towns – lots of vendors wanting us to buy their wares. We spent some time in the flea market area. I had a good laugh watching Jeremy barter with an older Senor over hammocks. The Senor had Jeremy lying in a bunch of different hammocks and then he started to show him a book called the Hamma Sutra. Just use your imagination what the drawings showed – all in a hammock!!! We already have a couple hammocks at home so Jeremy wasn’t too serious about buying some more, but by the time we left the Senor had lowered his price from $140 for two hammocks to $10 for one! And yet we still walked away. We really didn’t need one and we didn’t want to tote it around with us the rest of the day anyway.
From there we talked to Pedro who set us up on a 2-hour tour that included a drive through Progreso, a stop at the salt flats outside of town, viewing some Mayan ruins called Xcampo (I think), and some time to play at a private beach. It was really fun! The girls especially enjoyed the ruins. These ones weren’t very large or popular, so we were able to walk around on them and climb to the tops. There were two pyramids – one was for the sun and one was for the moon. Of course, Natalie took a little tumble off one. I told her to be more careful or she was going to end up as an accidental Mayan sacrifice.
At the beach they all looked for seashells and now have quite a collection. In fact, Emma just now dumped hers out on my nice clean sheets to view! Nothing like sandy sheets for a good night’s rest!
When we returned to Progreso we did a bit more souvenir shopping and then boarded the bus for the ride back. We didn’t eat much since breakfast, so we made a beeline for the pizza and sandwiches when we got back. Then two hours later (and a few card games of Hearts) we bellied up for dinner in the dining room!! We just rolled our full tummies back to our cabin and are resting a bit before we head off to watch the comedy and juggling show in an hour. We plan to finish off the night splitting a big piece of chocolate cake we’ve been eyeing in one of the cafes.
Tomorrow we’ll spend the day on the ship having one last day of FUN, FUN, FUN!!!
Until tomorrow….

Cruise update Monday Jan 26, 2009

Monday:
Hello from Cozumel!!! Wow, we are having the BEST VACATION EVER!!!! Just to bring you up to date: Yesterday, after my first post, we spent time sunning ourselves at the pool and waterslide; had a delish lunch and then all five of us (Kellie, Jeremy, Natalie, Emma and Becky) played a couple WINDY rounds of mini-golf on the top of the ship. Kellie and Jeremy both got holes-in-one! Emma then left us to go build a volcano with her Camp Carnival (CC) buddies, and the rest of us relaxed until it was time to dress up and go to the Captain’s Welcome Aboard party and dinner. Dinner was wonderful – we had steak, lobster, salmon and Kellie’s favorite dessert the Warm Chocolate Melting Cake – mmm, mmm, mmm!!!!!
After dinner Emma passed out from all the fun. But the rest of us caught the revue show “X-Treme County” in the theater. Lots of country singin’, dancin’ and fiddlin’! Then Natalie headed off to a CC PJ Party and the rest of us crashed with Emma.
This morning we pulled into Cozumel around 8am. There was another Carnival ship right next to us, the Glory. It was much bigger than our ship and looked similar to the ship Jeremy and I cruised on last year, the Conquest.
We disembarked around 9am, window shopped a bit before getting on the bus to our excursion site. We decided to do the Playa Mia Deluxe Beach trip. WHAT A BLAST!!! We snorkeled, paddle-boated, kayaked, played on the water trampoline, had all-you-can –eat Mexican buffet and then finished it off with get this – wave running and parasailing!!!!! Actually, Becky and Kellie decided to parasail at the same time Jeremy and the girls were out on the wave-runner. It was sooooo cool! While we were flying about 300 feet in the air checking out a gorgeous view of the ocean and island, the three on the wave-runner were speeding around below us doing doughnuts and flying through the super-blue water. Parasailing wasn’t something I ever really wanted to do, but I went on the boat to take pictures of Becky and it looked so easy and peaceful that when the guys offered to send me up I said sure before my nerves could get the better of me. All I can say is, if you ever get the chance to parasail, do it!!! It’s so beautiful and peaceful and not scary AT ALL!!!
After all that excitement we boarded the bus back to the port. Just about everyone on the bus was DRUNK and LOUD. I think it gave the girls a good lesson about how stupid people are when they drink. Anyway before we got back on the ship, the girls did a little souvenir shopping and we took a few fun pics at The Three Amigos restaurant. Well, we’re getting ready to head back out to sea. But there are parties and buffets scheduled all night, so we’ll see what other fun we can pack into this great day before we pull into Progreso, Mexico tomorrow.

Hasta Manana!!!!

Hey All,

Just a quick post to let you know we’re on board and havin’ sooooo much fun! Yesterday (Saturday) afternoon, we spent exploring the ship. The ship is HUGE!!! But, our cabin is quite cozy for five people. With all the beds out it’s like a 3D maze to get from one side of the room to the other, but we’re spending most of our time in other places. We’ve already eaten waaaaay too much yummy food. Emma was thrilled to see the 24 hour pizza bar and self-serve ice cream! She’s also enjoying the Camp Carnival activities. Right now she’s coloring her own Carnival t-shirt and I think Natalie’s on a scavenger hunt with other kids her age.

Last night we went to the Welcome Aboard show and saw singers, dancers, the live band, and a comedian. Oh yeah, and we’ve confirmed that Elvis didn’t die – he multiplied!!! We saw three of him yesterday in one of the lounges. Funny though, one of the Elvis’s looked suspiciously like Bro. Hensen from the Cedar Park Ward!!!

This morning we all got our exercise running around the track on the top deck of the ship. Natalie and I did just over a mile run! COOL! Then we proceeded to the all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet! So much for burning calories!!!!

Right now, Jeremy and I are trying to decide what excursion to sign up for in Cozumel tomorrow – looks like we’re gonna take the girls on the Deluxe Sail Snorkel Beach Party. FUN, FUN, FUN!!!

Here are a few pics so far. Actually, we have more interesting ones than these, but they’re on Natalie’s camera and it appears that our USB cable doesn’t fit her camera. (Even though it looked like it would at home. Arghh!)

Sailin' Aweigh!!

Hey all, just wanted to tell you that you can check our blog while we're on our cruise to get the latest on the day's events! Our plan is to post at least once a day - we'll see!!
We're sooo excited!!!!

Rundown of new Dani-isms

Today: Randomly yelling down the stairs to Dad: "Dad, don't touch my rosemary!!" Picture us scratching our heads.

Responding to our comment that her two black-eyes (she fell out of the swing Christmas day) made her look like a Ghoul: "No!!! I look like a Goosebump!!!" You decide...




"Mom, I want to wear my COLKA-dot socks today!" We can't convince her that the correct pronounciation is POLKA-dot.

Speaking of pronounciation, has your child ever asked you for "Marshmallow Ladies" for breakfast? I believe she wants the Marshmallow Mateys (fake Lucky Charms), but Marshmallow Ladies would be a fun way to break up the breakfast monotony.

Very Fun-(and food)-Filled Holidays!!

Okay, so I know the holidays were like a month ago, but I think I've finally recovered from the self-inflicted torture of putting the "Brysons 2008" photo/video slideshow together, so I'm ready to take on my blog and upload some holiday memories. (If this sentence made no sense to you, you are one of the lucky ones who hasn't been privy to one of my photo montage deadline meltdowns! It really is a sick hobby!)
Anyway, Christmas and New Years were great!!! We had my sister, Jen, and her dog, Sophie, here for Christmas and my brother, Rob, came out for New Years. During this time, Dani also celebrated her 3rd birthday and Jeremy and I spent our 14th wedding anniversary, shopping, watching the new James Bond flick and sharing dinner at Chili's.
On Christmas Eve, we spent the evening at Jeremy's parents home enjoying their annual party filled with Santa, food, presents, food, a pinata, food, and dessert! Thankfully, this year no one awoke us to vomit-filled upper bunks (that's a story from 2005! Can anyone say, Mommy just had a c-section! Cleaning up puke is definitely not on the doctor's "okay to do" list!)
Oh yeah, back to 2008, our girls kindly let us sleep in until 8am - yeah, no kidding 8AM! And then we headed downstairs to the presents. Actually, this year there wasn't much under the tree. Back in August we decided to pull a "Christmas with the Kranks" and forgo the many gifts for one big cruise vacation. So in 3 days, Jer, me, Nat and Em will be hoisting anchor and heading to Mexico for 5-days of FUN, FUN, FUN! Dani is going to stay home this time and have 5-days of FUN, FUN, FUN with Hilary!!
What was under the tree from Santa were supplies to make "school kits" to donate to LDS Humanitarian Services. The girls had an enjoyable time assembling the supplies into 20 school bags. The bags will eventually be sent around the world to places like orphanages where there is a need for children to have basic school supplies. Here's the link to the Humanitarian Services page where we learned what to do: http://www.providentliving.org/content/display/0,11666,4598-1-3263-1,00.html
This was a great way for the girls to give a little more and feel the real Spirit of Christmas as we served those we don't even know.
We spent the rest of Christmas day at home enjoying Jer's family as they came by to exchange gifts, and of course we ate most of the leftovers from the night before. Jen flew home that evening and we finished the rest of Christmas doing none other than - EATING!!! We had a delicious prime-rib dinner with the Checketts. I guess you could say we had a very Full-Filling Christmas.
New Years came with food too - but it was more exciting to have Rob visiting! We spend Dec. 31st getting Rob some contact lenses (his first time with contacts - little painful); fighting the crowds at Costco to get pizza for lunch (Costco must have broken some sort of fire code there were so many people inside!!!); and going to downtown Austin's First Night to check out all things Austin - including the ecclectic, but always entertaining, Grand Procession Parade!
We finished off the year with - you guessed it - more food at the Checketts. Happy 2009 - they're now sending me to the FAT FARM!!! But, of course, not before we spend Jan 1st at the Ferguson's strapping on the old barbeque feedbag! It was an absolutely fabulous day spent on their ranch enjoying lots of great friends and dutch oven chocolate cake and cobbler!
So now that your full just from reading our holiday menu, uh, I mean activities, enjoy the above slideshow to go with the story.