our 3 year old

Happy birthday to the sweetest 3 year old under the sea or on the land!

Everything about Brinna is joy.

She is obsessed with The Little Mermaid. She asks to watch it every day. She is "sad like Ariel" or "mad like King Triton." She even quotes Prince Eric when I was helping her get down from a stool that wobbled "whoa, whoa, careful. Careful, easy." When she goes to swim lessons she tells me she has her mermaid tail on. Yes, she is quite into The Little Mermaid. So we celebrated her with a very low key Little Mermaid family party.

When her cousins got here, they put on the mermaid blankets and went for rides.

And this is what happens when you all run around one big room without paying attention. Get ready. I'm really smooth.

Tripping...

And crash...

It's all fun and games until your mom falls over.

Brinn LOVED this singing Ariel that we put on top of her cake. i'm certain she played it a hundred times that day. And who knows how many times since then.




Trying to make her three fingers...

So excited about the balloons, too.

We gathered around to sing to the birthday girl.

That's when she got her classic shy face on. I love this little shy smile she pulls.

Time to blow out the candle.

You are three, sweet girl!!

Most of her gifts were the Little Mermaid related.














We are the luckiest to get to be her parents.

Brinna is compassionate and caring. When she notices someone sad or mad she is right there with them to rub their back and help them feel better. She loves to cuddle and give hugs and tell you 'I lub you." She sings, dances, and does gymnastics around the house. She gets so excited to see her friends. She observes everything and copies exactly what you do. She loves to open the front door when someone rings the doorbell. She gets excited to play outside and swim. She is extremely easygoing and her big sisters number one playmate. Her smile is pure gold. 

We love you with all of our hearts, sweet Brinna Lou.




And that's enough, mom and dad.


Little Ariel came downstairs soon after her party.

And this is how we find her most days--either in her fancy ariel shoes or her dress.




Happy happy birthday, Brinna bug. We love watching you grow up.

the tortoises

We found a pet that we all agree on. 

Tortoises! Named Tuttle and Chomper.

Our next door neighbor has sulcata tortoises and they had babies on July 6. She so kindly gave us these two. Our kids are thrilled about that.


They are just tiny babies right now but they will grow up to be around 140 pounds. Huge! 


They will leave in the house for the next few years until they are big enough to go outside.

They get a lot of love.

Actually, it will be a bit of a miracle if they survive this little munchkin.

It was impossible to keep her away from them the first few days. Every time we turned our back she was all over them "watching with her eyeballs" which quickly turned into picking them up, poking their heads, or running through the house with them.



The novelty has worn off a bit and she understands better how we need to take care of them. But we still watch her like a hawk around these guys! We moved their tub up higher (to the stair landing actually) so she can't access them as easily. That helps, too. 


Everything about the tortoises has brought smiles to all the kids faces. Kacin, Layla, and Brinna give them the most attention though.

Do you think now the kids will stop bugging me for a dog?