Spoiled

You probably already know this, but Briz is spoiled.  Big time.  I can admit it.  When she was born I was adamant about not letting her be spoiled, and I was very purposeful in trying to not give her too much.  But things have changed and our family looks a bit different than we thought.  So . . .  I decided that I want to enjoy being Brizzy's mama and having fun with her.  What do we do when we want to have fun?  Go to Disneyland of course!

It was such a fun day with just Briz and I.  She is at a great age because she was so excited about everything, was good about waiting in lines (although I had a 20 minute waiting rule), and riding the big scary rides.  It was a hot hot day, with a nice little breeze.  We made friends with everyone in line, and met people from all over the world.  We sang and danced a lot.  Brizzy got the Disney Junior theme song stuck in my head cause she would not stop singing it. It was a great (and tiring) day.

First time in Cars Land.  She could not have been more excited about meeting the real Lightning McQueen.  She was a bit skeptical and intrigued at first, but then when she saw the eyes move and him speaking, it was a done deal!

She told me yesterday, when do I get to meet Cinderella again? I responded with, "You're kidding right?  You've met Cinderella twice in the last month!"

I think this was her favorite.  She met Ariel at Disneyworld, but she was the Mermaid Ariel.  Very different.  She wanted to meet Ariel in her blue dress.

And she loved meeting Aurora.  They talked all about flying on planes.  After, Briz wanted to know how princesses travel.  We jointly concluded they must have special princess airplanes.

She also saw Mary Poppins and Burt in the parade and was ecstatic! She then changed from singing the Disney Channel theme song to the Chimchimeree/Step in Time song (whilst marching of course).

Didn't get to ride on Dumbo at Disneyworld cause the line was 80 minutes!!!  What!  Thank goodness it was only five, because for some reason Briz loves this ride.

Wanted to imitate Alice (and the girls before her who did the exact same pose).

Last ride of the day.  She loves this ride too.  Singing and dancing dolls dressed up from around the world?  A little four year old's dream come true!

My favorite moment perhaps though was taking her on Soarin' over California for the first time. She was overwhelmed with joy and I loved watching it.

Art Party!!!

I already posted a bit about her birthday party, but I hadn't uploaded pictures yet, so I thought I would share some photos from Brizzy's art party.

 All little girls and one boy.  Poor Elliott.  But he's a good sport.

 Painting frames

Finger Painting

 Face Painting

 And Poster Painting

 Aunt Brittany is the best.  Plus, she's cute.

 A lot of messes

 A lot of snacks

 A pinata

 With a lot of candy

 Nick was pretty proud of himself for destroying the pinata.

Briz tore threw her presents.   But all the girls loved the high heels from Aunt Brittany.  Briz tries to convince me every. single. day. to let her wear them.

Look at that face.  So modest about the attention.  Or not at all.  She is a great actress. All day she kept asking me, " When are they going to sing to me?"

Spring Break Washington Style

The Hughs came down to Portland for their Spring Break, and we took the chance to do some fun things with them.  Poor Bri was like 37 weeks pregnant trying to haul all three kids around.  It made me tired just watching her.  But regardless, we had fun.  

Portia and Briz in particular love each other.  It's a little scary how much they act like little teeny boppers.  Here they are taking self portraits with Portia's new camera.  

Of course we went to the zoo.  It was a great day, a bunch of animals were out.

Portia, Teya, and Briz entertaining themselves while Palmer obsessed over the blow hole.  I think it may have been his favorite thing at the zoo.

They were a little disturbed by his rear end.  Can you blame them? (sidenote: Nick and I went and saw Cosby this weekend and he did like a five minute bit about all of the animals that God has punished.  He discussed how the Baboon was cursed to always have his behind enflamed).

Another day we went down to the Tulip Festival.  There is this Fred Meyer poster by our house with flowers on it, and Briz informs me about 75% of the time we drive by it, that it's a sign for the Tulip Festival.

You can't tell in this picture, but the name of the flower is Big Smile.

Bri caught this one for me :)

We miss them and can't wait to meet their new addition, Thatcher.  Seattle is close, but maybe not close enough? :)

My Big Four Year Old

Briz turned the big 4 on April 30th.  I was freaking out a bit, but I'm pretty sure I'm over the shock, since Briz reminds me about 46 times a day that she is four now.  The great thing is that I use it to my benefit. . . "Oh Briz, you can clean up your room because four-year-olds clean up their room."  Bam.  

She had a wonderful birthday, mostly because I'm stupid and thought it would be fun to throw her a big birthday party.  Wrong.  Well, I should say, it was fun to see Briz and all of her friends excited.  But I am stupid because she would have been just as excited had I made her her own plate of rainbow cupcakes and let her eat all of them herself.  Oh well, you live and learn.  We had an art party (Briz is obsessed with all things art related) at the park since it was so nice.  Her friends and her all got to paint a ton, play at the park, hit a pinata, eat cupcakes and way too much candy, and even play with water guns a bit. 

 Perhaps the best present was her aunt Brittany!  She came into town just for Brizzy's birthday.  Talk about the best aunt ever.  And on top of that, she bought Briz three pairs of princess high heeled shoes.  When she opened them up, all of Brizzy's friends screamed they were so excited.

And here she is on her actual birthday, wearing the high heels.  I let her wear them all day, which for me, was a big deal.  I let her dress herself and she got to choose to do whatever she wanted to do.  That, of course, ended by nap time, when I decided I could handle no more whiney/bossiness.

Prior to nap time, we were able to visit Dad at work, and we attempted to eat at a nearby park.  Didn't work out so well in the rain.  But either way, Briz was just excited to see her Dad.

I love my big four year old, and can't wait to see what she learns this year.