Our life in pictures

Here are a few more pictures that came off my phone.

Lee and Becca decided to have a backyard camp out over Memorial Day weekend. Can you tell who the boss is here? Poor Lee, got the tent all set up and hauled all the crap outside and they only stayed out for about 2 hours! Becca didn't want to settle down and go to sleep out there; but in her defense, it was pretty warm. Not too fun sleeping outside when it's 80 degrees! I know they will try again when it cools off; she was so excited about "going camping." Maybe we will even be brave enough to try the real thing with all the kids.

This picture actually came from Ashley's phone. She took Becca for her first big-girl pedicure on her birthday! I didn't get to go because I was getting everything ready for her party, but I think they had a good time. Doesn't she look like such a big girl?

Here is our awesome little garden! We have really been enjoying it this summer. Thank goodness I married a man with a green thumb. For as long as I can remember, Lee has always talked about planting a garden. I don't have the time or the patience for it, I guess.

Lee did every bit of the work to build and plant this thing. I just eat the goodies! We've had corn, peas, yellow squash and cucumbers. The green beans didn't ever grow. Becca has really liked watching the garden grow and helping to pick the veggies, too.

Wilson Park picnic and a rockin' good time with Becca

We loaded up the crew and had a fun day at Wilson Park to celebrate Memorial Day. We joined our friends Mike and Jessica, Jason and Misty, and James and Angie to cook out and play. It was a pretty hot day but we toughed it out. Becca got to play with Emma and dip her feet in the water at the castle. She got in lots of playground time, too! Carley and Evan just hung out and watched all the action.

Becca loved playing at the castle. It's one of Fayetteville's landmarks. This is the park that is right behind the Kappa Delta house, where I lived for 3 years in college. I spent lots of time walking and studying at this park.

Trying to keep the babies on the blanket was pretty funny.

They weren't crazy about the grass, but also didn't want to sit still!

Poor Becca was so red-faced and hot!!

The first week of June was the annual Walmart Shareholders meeting in Fayetteville. Each year, they bring in several big-time concerts that are free to the public. I've been to a few over the years; I usually only fight the crowds if I think it's really worth it (i.e., Will Smith). This year, we decided it was worth it again!! We got a sitter for the babies and took Becca to see her first live concert and she really liked it! She loves listening to Lady Antebellum in the van, and knows several of their songs. Poor girl was just tuckered out by the time they got to her favorite song Need You Now. Of course, they save the best/most popular song for last. By that time, she was nearly asleep in my lap!

Darius Rucker (from Hootie & the Blowfish) is now a solo country star and opened for them. He did a great show--I enjoyed it a lot! He was great with the crowd and sang his own songs and some of Hootie's.

You can see we had pretty good seats, though we were on the side of the stage instead of in front. The downside was that we had about 5 levels of speakers blaring in our faces. I was afraid Becca would fuss about it being loud, but nope!

Fun with Pictures

I finally got around to loading my phone pictures onto my computer--yay me! Lots of times I take pictures with my phone because I need to move quickly; by the time I get the camera out, I might have missed the shot.

I don't really know when some of these were taken, but they were all before the kids' birthdays. They are always doing something funny, cute or crazy that's worth snapping a photo of!

Check out Daddy's Little Helper--isn't this so cute?

This was right after the big week-long monsoon rains we had. We got a leak in the roof and one inside the fireplace. Evan was helping Lee fix it, of course. Just melted my heart! Speaking of roof leaks: we are getting a whole new roof! The hailstorm was the week of Easter, and they just delivered our roofing supplies this week. I suspect the roofers will show up at 6:30am tomorrow (Saturday!), the only day we can usually sleep in! Ugh.

Here's a great picture of my SuperHusband and the kids' SuperDad. They are sleeping and he's got it totally under control. Another reason I love this man...



Sweet picture of Carley giving Fergie some love. And Fergie (gee-gee) just sat still and let her. She will let Carley, but not so much Evan. Poor Evan, all boy--he pokes her eyes, pulls her ears and tortures that dog. Fergie will just get up and leave the room when Evan comes around. HA!

Speaking of that little toot, here's Evan hanging out in the backyard. I think this was one nice spring day before it got so miserably hot. Both girls were inside napping, so I got some play time alone with Evan.

I copied this picture off the church website where Becca goes to daycare. These are her two besties from school--Jaelyn and Ashley. Unfortunately, they have both moved to a different daycare this summer. Becca has been very sad about losing them; it almost tore me up. We have made sure to have playdates and they both came to her birthday party. Silly girls being silly!

12 month update

I know I'm a little slow on this one. It's been a busy couple of weeks at the Bramell house. We had a week-long visit from Lee's brother, Dennis. Then his niece Jen came out to visit a few days. I'm sitting here thinking that I'm pretty sure we didn't take any pictures during either visit! Good grief, what's wrong with me?

Anyway, here are some more birthday pics. Check out their new wheels....don't worry about Evan, now he has a red car just like Carley's. It just took me a little longer to find a blue one. In the meantime, they shared. The cars are a big hit! And with big sister, too. I have new pictures to post later.

* Babies have been off the formula/bottle for almost a week. Yay!

* They are drinking whole milk, and eating like pigs.

* Evan was sick this week with a virus. He had a fever for a couple of days, followed by the upset tummy. He wasn't sleeping well either. It was a rough week.

* Neither baby is walking yet, but they are sure trying. Carley is standing on her own for a short time, but not going anywhere!

* Of course, they are into everything! We have to keep all the doors shut.

* Carley puts everything in her mouth--even teeny, tiny specks of dirt off the floor!

* They have one-year check up next Tuesday, so we'll know what they weigh, etc. Hoping to turn their car seats around after that.

Evan & Carley's Birthday Fun

I can't ever seem to get the pictures to load in the order I want them, so you are going to see the birthday cake mess in reverse order! We didn't do anything big for them because I had to work Friday night. Lee's brother Dennis had been staying with us all week, but he left on the morning of the birthdays. So, about 4:00 we decided to let them have their cake and eat it too!

As we expected, Evan dove right into his cake. He took one swipe and went straight to his mouth. Carley just looked at hers for a while before finally poking it a little. Then she took a tiny little taste. It didn't take long until they were both covered and pigging out! They both ate a lot more than I thought they would. It was funny because they were so serious and quiet; they didn't squeal and giggle like Becca did with her first birthday cake.

In case you can't tell, I had their cakes decorated to match their birthday outfits. I think they turned out great! I'm sorry for all you family and friends who couldn't be here to watch---it's just a bad time for me at work, during Relay season. It's impossible for us to get away. But this was our last RFL weekend for the year, so it's all good now. Enjoy the pictures; video will be up soon.

Birthday Number FOUR

Becca got her first big girl bike for her birthday! Of course, it has all the Disney princesses on it. She's been riding up and down the sidewalk in front of our house. We are still walking beside her; even with training wheels, it's still a little scary for her. She is getting the hang of it very quickly though!

When we were in Branson, she got to go in the Disney store and spend some birthday money. They were so nice in there; she got this cool birthday hat, a button and a birthday certificate. With her money, she bought a set of princess dinnerware---cup, plate and place mat. Also a Princess Belle t-shirt. She took her shopping trip very seriously and looked at everything in the store before making a decision.

This girl is all princess, all the time now! We have started talking about taking a trip to Disney World next spring, and she is so excited I don't know if she can wait that long. I got online and ordered a Disney vacation planning DVD, which came in the mail last week. When she brought in the mail, you'd have thought it was delivered by Cinderella herself, she was so excited!! Poor kid didn't even know what it was, but it said "Disney" on the outside so that's all it took. She immediately had to watch the video on Lee's computer. He walked by to check on her later, and she said, "Dad, I'm so happy I just cried a little!" Good grief. Now she's got us all excited about going--I don't know if I can wait till next year either!!

More SDC pics

Weeeeee! We all rode the teacups.

Hangin' out