Braska Bear

This was a big job.  Putting away our clothes from the cold weather and getting out the ones for warm weather. It got to be a BIG mess, too.  But the good news is that we have LOTS of cute clothes to wear now for summer.  Most of them we wore last year, too, but that’s when happens when you just stay little like us!

We cleaned out our van today because we’re getting a new one! Well, a new one that’s older.  But it’s had a lot less driving than this one. And it looks JUST the same because we like this one lots! While Mommy was cleaning out, we hopped in the back back. That’s the part where the groceries and other stuff usually ride.  Me and KiKi thought it was pretty fun back there! We went out to take our van to Grammy. She had our new one. She was at our cousin Arden’s house playing with her.  Mommy will show you more about the new van over here if you wanna see it… we like the new one, mostly because it’s just like the old one!

Madison and Patrick were here today when I woke up.  They must get up REALLY early.  Their mommy has to go to work early, so she brings them here before anybody else but Mommy is awake.  Madison was happy to see me and climbed up on the couch to snuggle before we got dressed. Later on, Mommy and KiKi were making some lunch.  I sat by Baby Patrick and talked to him while we waited for the food to be done.  I always want Mommy to let me hold him by myself, but she says this little bouncy seat works just fine when she’s busy. KiKi is a good helper in the kitchen.  I like to help, but only for one minute.  I’d rather go play with the baby!  KiKi likes to tear lettuce. And EAT lettuce. It’s one of her favorite snacks to eat.

KiKi was taking pictures again. Daddy was home since today was a holiday.  She caught us in our regular spots…  being silly, of course.

We got dressed all springy for church today. Mommy has been looking for the clothes that she saved from last year when it was warm weather, and she found them this week.  So we got to pick from LOTS of cute clothes that we liked last year and still fit.  We decided on these dresses for church.  Except I picked yellow this time…  (I had purple last year…)  They even have matching bows that Mommy made for last year. (Mommy note: I feel like the above picture is inspired by the final pose from a hip, slightly artsy/dramatic music video or something… it kind of makes me giggle. ) Daddy was trying to tell me to put my tongue away, but it’s kind of my thing lately to NOT do what someone is asking me to do.  I’m a big girl, ya know. This was last year, on Easter, when we wore these dresses before. See, KiKi wore the yellow dress last year.  We don’t grow very quick in our house, so we get to keep our clothes around for a while!

My Uncle Ryan is coming to live in our town! He usually lives in Oklahoma at college, but he’s gonna be working at Daddy’s work this summer, and I think we’ll have some fun times when they’re not working.  

This is Jack’s daddy. And Dashlyn’s daddy.  He’s Mr. Allan, and we like him a lot. We got to play at his house for a while tonight, and that’s fun.  He’s not usually there when we go over to play, so it’s always super fun to get to see him.

Madison was happy to see me today.  She sure likes to cuddle.  She leaned on me for a while, and I liked it.  She’s almost 3, but she’s still little, so she makes me feel like a big girl! Later, I sat down on the floor, and Madison came over to cuddle again.  I just decided to lay down, and she laid on my belly for a while.  Like for a lot of minutes.  And I just let her because it was nice.  I told Mommy, “Awww, she’s so nice. I like to cuddle.” I also like to help with Baby Patrick anytime I can.  He had to get his clothes changed, so I asked if I could hold him before Mommy put his clothes back on. He is so soft.

Madison came to play today. She was pretty tired, so she mostly just rested after we picked her up from school.  She’s Baby Patrick’s big sister. I hope she wants to play with us more next time.  She’s really cute.  And she likes to lay on the floor like I used to do.

Mommy got me this doll for Christmas, and she’s been sitting in the play room mostly.  But today, I decided to give her a cuddle, and guess what??  She’s pretty fun to play with!  Now KiKi and I are playing with them a lot!  We got dressed and went to the eye doctor so he could check my eyes after my last surgery. We like to play a little while we wait for him. He said I’m pretty fixed up, so no more surgeries for a while.  Good news! We always like to look at the fountain by the doctor’s office.  Daddy surprised us by coming to the doctor’s office too.  He works really close to there.  He waited with KiKi for me and Mommy to talk to the doctor.

We had a great trip in Wisconsin, but it’s time to come home.  We got up and got dressed.  I picked blue today, KiKi wanted purple. We packed up the van and headed back.  When we stopped for a while. KiKi got up in the seat where Mommy sits to drive.  KiKi got an apple, buckled herself in, and got comfy. We stopped a lot, and Mommy got grouchy about stopping… she likes to drive without stopping… but we made it back in time to stretch for cheer.  Yay!

This is Miss Bushra. She is our new friend.  She just had a teeny tiny baby who is “extra” super cute, like me.  We went to Wisconsin to meet her and go to the baby party.  It was really fun. We’ll show more pictures… this one is before we were getting ready to go.  Thanks for letting us visit, Miss Bushra!

Today we went to the zoo.  A bunch of friends who live in Wisconsin and us. I’ll show more pictures later, but this part was SCARY at first.  I didn’t like it at ALL.  Then it was kind of fun by the end.  Maybe I’ll do it again sometime.

I’ve got lots more pictures to show you, but here’s my favorite one from this day.  We drove a long way and then got to play at Ellie, Nichole, and Nina’s house.  They have a REALLY neat swingset, and it had a fun climbing part to it, so I just did it over and over. Climb then slide. Climb then slide.  FUN!

(I’ve put up a lot of stories, since I was behind, so make sure you go back a few days and see them. And leave me a note about what you like, too! I put them all on the days that we took the pictures.) Tomorrow we go to Wisconsin. We will be in the car a long time. We’re gonna play a lot with friends and we’re gonna do lots of stuff.  So we have to get some good sleep before we leave. KiKi sometimes gets lonely at night, so she’s been sneaking into bed with me after I go to sleep.  I didn’t leave her much room tonight…

Mommy saw this tonight at a place where she was.  We’re going on a trip in a couple days, so I wonder if we get to take it with us and bring some friends along! (Mommy note: Pictures of the girls for a few days were lost, flushed down the toilet. Well, not flushed, but apparently washed away in the 1.2 seconds that my phone spent in the toilet.  Grrrrrrrrr….  Thank goodness it was “clean” water…)

Instead of going to Ella’s house for Tuesday like usual, we went to the Tot Lot again.  Mommy couldn’t go, but Daddy took us.  I climbed and played, and then I said… SURPRISE!

Sunday nights I go to cheer, and then on Monday nights, I do my tumbling part of cheer and KiKi does her own cheer squad, too. This time we have movies to show you!! Here’s me… doing some flips, swinging on the Tinker Bell swing, and going WAY up in stunting practice!  I’m getting better every week! Make a video - it's fun, easy and free! www.onetruemedia.com      (Mommy note: We are seeing SO much improvement in Braska’s strength and her confidence in her ability to try new things since she started cheer just 4 weeks.  It’s especially obvious in the stunting, that she will let them raise her at all, and that she will now let go and raise her arms. That’s big!  I wouldn’t have believed we would have seen this kind of effort and progress from her if I’d not seen it myself. ) And here’s KiKi, doing her flips and Tinker Bell, and going WAY WAY up in stunting. Make a video - it's fun, easy and free! www.onetruemedia.com ...

Remember when she had this cute pageant hair?  I have been hearing from sources all day that News Channel 5 is running a commercial for a story tonight that features at least a bit of Braska.  Apparently there is a story running about the Miss Amazing Pageant tonight at 10.  If you are in the Saint Louis metro or News Channel 5 viewing area, be sure to watch! We will.  Edited to add… it was a small little blip of Braska on stage with her group, but the whole story is worth watching.  It’s happening again next year, so be ready little Missouri friends!!  http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/320022/4/Miss-Amazing-Pageant-celebrating-girls-and-women-with-disabilities If you didn’t see our blips about it from last month, they are here , here , and video here . **Sent from the land of Android via Verizon and my Incredible.

Today was Mommy’s day.  We took some pictures before church. The best present Mommy asked for… smooches! We went to church and saw Grammy, that’s Mommy’s mom.  Then we went to Grandma C’s house after church.  She is Daddy’s mom.  It’s kind of their day, too, I guess. KiKi and Grandma C made cookies. And the best part is to lick the yummies after the cookies are all mixed. That’s what KiKi likes. After we left Grandma C’s, we went to cheer, and I did so good!   I stood up tall when we did stunting practice.  I didn’t even hold on!   I just did a big high V like I’m supposed to! I really like cheer… Yay!!

KiKi likes to take pictures sometimes.  I try to do it, but it’s kind of hard to get it looking at the right thing and then get the button pushed.  So we practiced today. KiKi took some pictures first.  She tried to get one of everyone in the family. First she got Daddy when he was coming to give me some milk. Then she got Belle. Just standing, I guess. Then she got me and Mommy in the kitchen.  KiKi likes when we pose all silly and stuff. Then I decided to take some pictures.  I got this one first.  My toes. Then I got one of KiKi, posing all silly again. We went shopping today with Daddy at a bookstore.  They had storytime while we were there, and we got to color pictures, too. Later, Auntie Joy came over for a while.  She stayed and played with us and drew us pictures and we guessed them. KiKi also did some work on Mommy’s computer when she wasn’t looking....

(Mommy apologies for the delayed posting of these… getting caught up soon!) May 11 is my daddy’s birthday.  But I forgot to take a picture with him!  Oh no! We’re having a party for him in a few weeks, so we’ll do pictures then.  This is where I did my hand print for school.  The kids that are going to kindergarten get to put their hands on the wall and leave them there for a while…  it’s pretty neat.  Miss Natalie, Jack’s teacher, let me come with them so I could have my hand next to his.  Mine is the red one over my head…  I was being silly about this picture stuff. Here’s Miss Natalie with Jack and Me.  She was my teacher a couple years ago with I was 3.  And she’s Jack’s this year. 

We got to play with Uncle Ryan for a while today at Auntie Rachel’s.  He is way fun.  He played in the playhouse and did all kinds of games with us. We were tuckered out on the way home.

Did you know that sometimes it’s funny to see a picture when everyone is making a weird face but they didn’t mean to?  Like this one…  I wanted to take a picture, but I guess they weren’t quite ready.  I gotta get better with pictures. (That’s my Auntie Rachel, Auntie Julia, and Uncle Ryan… and KiKi, too.)

I love going to the Tot Lot!  Instead of going to Ella’s house tonight, we went to play at the Tot Lot with Landon and his mommy and daddy.  Mommy found me doing my favorite thing lately.  Climbing!!       I’m so much faster than last time Mommy saw me.  She was really impressed with me.  That means she liked it.  And I always love getting up to the top!       And of course, to get down… I slide!! Here’s a movie of me doing my climbing and sliding… I did it over and over and over, but this is just showing you once.