Uncle Tim came to visit!!

Over Labor Day Weekend, we got to visit with Tim and his girlfriend, Catherine--what a treat!  We went hiking in the Smokies, ate a delicious dinner at Big Ed's, and Tim got to meet Lady at our house.  We can't wait to see them again!

Tim and Catherine in front of a big Chestnut tree

Apparently the Smokies has two REALLy big
trees--this was one of them.

Family Photo (Brinley slept most of the way up the mountain-
she woke up for the picture and then the hike back to the car).

Big snail

We thought this was going to be the "wild life" that we saw,
but no, we definitely saw a bear.  Unfortunately our camera
was out of batteries when we saw the bear--but we really did see it.

Taking a break--Ramsey Cascades (I think that was the name
of the hike) is pretty tough!

Hugging the tree

Hopefully we'll make it out to San Francisco before too long to see Uncle Tim and Catherine again--but we also hope they'll join us in Oak Ridge before too long too!  Love you guys!

Cousins!

A few weeks ago, Aunt Lala and Anna and Jackson came to visit!  We are so glad they came to TN again :).  Brinley was very excited to play with her cousins again!  I was pretty happy to see them too!  

We did several fun outings--in addition to the pictures here, we also went to the bounce house, went shopping in Turkey Creek, went to the Children's Museum (twice!!), and the beach here in Oak Ridge.  Wow!  What a fun time we had!!

Brinley's first miniature golf experience!

Anna and Mimi playing

Jackson and Aunt Lala

Brinley and Jackson

Hole in One! (okay, not really...)

"what? I'm not scared of the haunted house!"

Jackson and Aunt Lala did the go-carts

Aunt Lala spent the night at our house!

Silly Brinley!

Mimi and Dow set up a tent on the deck.  Jackson and Anna actually used it...
Brinley had fun the next day screaming and jumping
in it with the big kids

Family Photo in Market Square

Playing in the fountains at Market Square

Jackson

Anna

Brinley

The kids

Can't wait to see everyone in a couple of weeks AGAIN (plus Uncle Mike and Honey!)  Love you guys!

One and a Half Years!

Our Little Mae continues to be the sweetest little baby we know!  Brinley is technically 19 months old now, but I have some cute photos of her at 18 months that I wanted to share.  One of Brinley's new best friends is Lady (our foster dog).  Brinley likes to give Lady pats, make sure she has enough water in her dish, feed Lady her food, and put Lady "n'night" in her crate with a treat.  It is really nice (and important for Karl and I) that Brinley have such a positive experience and love with dogs.

Brinley is talking, talking, talking now, and it's fun to listen to her tell stories.  Those "stories" still need a lot of translation from mom when someone is listening, but I'm amazed each day at the vocabulary that Brinley is building.  Some of her favorite toys right now are her dolls--and everything included in taking care of her dolls.  Brinley also continues to just be plain "busy" all the time putting things in containers and testing to see how things work.

We are very proud of Brinley and just love her so much!  Here are some fun pictures of our sweet girl!

This is one of Brinley's favorites:  stickers!

Brinley still loves her slide!

Hanging out with Lady

This is Brinley's typical "cheese" face

One of the things we love about Brinley is her silliness.
Not many people get to see that side of Brinley because
she's pretty shy when we're out and about.  Karl
and I say we know Brinley is our kid for 3 reasons (other
than she looks identical to us obviously):  1.  Brinley
loves spaghetti, 2.  Brinley loves ketchup, 3:  Brinley is VERY silly,
just like her parents.

Meet Brinley's tongue

Brinley built this tower all by herself!  

Smiling for the camera

Brinley is getting lots of hair now, which of course I just love to play with.
This hairstyle is actually something Karl did...he might
secretly want to be a hair dresser as much as I do.

Watching Daddy leave for work.

Best Friends (and yes, I have thought about how sad
it will be for Brinley when Lady finds a permanent home--
and no, we're not keeping her).

Brinley reading to her baby

Loving the splash pad at the zoo

Summer Fun!

When we went to the zoo, Brinley insisted that she bring her backpack
(we were bringing a backpack too...).   When I was locking up the house,
she turned around and called my name--made me think of how big she is--
with that backpack on, it made me think she was getting ready to
go to school!