Fun Christmas Days

Merry Christmas everyone. We have a had a truly amazing blessed Christmas Eve and a magnificent Christmas Day. Yesterday we went to Hampton to go visit with John's family. They made a low country boil and Clams Casino. It was fun. We opened up our presents, built a gingerbread house and visited for a couple of hours.







When we got home last night we all opened our Christmas Eve pajamas and sung Carols around the piano. This is my favorite tradition.




Then John's brother Chris, sister in law Heather, and niece Savannah came by on there way in from Texas. It was great getting to visit and exchange gifts.



Today was so fun. We opened our presents and had a huge Christmas feast. John got me a gold charm bracelet with 3 charms. A palmetto tree ( so I always remember where we came from), a butterfly (to represent Brinley) , and a gold and diamond lock ( its the key to Johns heart he said...so sweet). I also got 3 shade shirts which I can never get enough of. I love those things. I highly recommend them. I also got a new pink canon digital camera. My other one had broken and I was so upset about it. My husband totally spoiled me.

Brinley got so much stuff I am almost ashamed to write the list down. Let's just say that she is one spoiled little girl. One thing that she was totally excited about is her Power Wheel. John got her a portable DVD player for the car which I am so thrilled about. It will make our trips much nicer especially when we start driving back and forth to Tennessee.

We also had a huge dinner and our friend Becca came over with Brinley's little friend Audrey.

The day has been perfect except that about an hour ago Brinley fell and bite straight through her lip. Poor baby.

Dear Santa,

I am so excited that I just had to say.....Melea is going to be coming home today!!!!!!!! She got sick again and was sent back to MUSC and it looked like she was going to be there for a while, but she is stable again so they are letting her come home. Yay! I was so scared that she was going to be stuck in Charleston for Christmas but if things stay pretty good then she will be able to be home with us.
I was really getting annoyed that she was going to be away from us. Melea happens to be one of the people I really want to spend the holidays with...after Brin and John of course. I was so sad that she got sick right before our big family exchange and thought that it would just not be the same with out her. So it looks like things are gonna go as planned. I am so thankful for answered prayers. We are still praying that we get a Christmas miracle and Melea just gets better....that is what we all want this year. It is crazy how things like this totally change perspectives on things. Who cares about trivial stuff like presents when you might not be with the ones you love. I found a 'letter' I wrote to Santa 7 years ago when Melea first got sick. My mom had us write letters to Santa...lol. This was mine.

Dear Santa,
Make Melea Well Please. If you could do that, that would be great. She does not deserve this and happens to be one cool girl that needs to have her health back so that she can spread her greatness to the reast of world.
Thanks,
Amanda

Thats not to much to ask for is it? Merry Christmas Everyone.

Changes

I found this picture on the computer today. I cannot believe how much Brinley has changed. It is crazy. This picture was taken last November when we were in Los Angeles visiting my sister. Uncle Matt got her to laugh for the first time and luckily I caught it on camera. She had such dark, thick beautiful hair that stuck straight up. She was born with it and luckily it never decided to fall out. Only now her hair is turning blonde. I was hoping that when I got her out of the sun from summer time that it would darken back up, but it is continuing to grow in very light. Oh well. She is going to help me get over my prejudices against blondes...lol. I am totally joking. I just never thought that I would have a blonde seeing as how the Greek gene on my side tends to be pretty dominant. Aparantly Brin got a lot of the Pierson gene.

What a cutie pie!!!

Park Day

Brinley loves the park. We go to the park at least 2 times a week. Lately it has been really chilly so we are cutting back on our visits, but over Thanksgiving John and I took her to a new park that she thought was great. It was a really pretty day, and Brin loved having Daddy there to climb on everything with. Here a few pictures from the fun family day.

Brinley's new words

Brinley is talking up a storm. I can not believe how much she is saying now. She is learning 2 words a day. Her recent words that just melted my heart were "Jesus", "Christmas Tree", and "Amen". She said Jesus this past Sunday when I was walking her in the halls. She looked up at a picture in the hall and pointed with her finger and said "jeesuus". It was so cute. Then after the Sacrament was blessed she yelled, "Aaaameeen". I did not even know she knew that word. It was adorable.

My Nana taught her "christmas tree", so everytime she sees one she says "kissmus tee". John and I counted her words last night and she is up to 45 that she uses on a daily basis. It is wonderful that she is finally communicating with us. She was starting to get frustrated trying to communicate with us.

Another word that John taught her a few days ago was "WOW". She says it every time she gets excited about things. Generally she uses it when looking at the Christmas Tree or Christmas lights. She says "WOW! Kissmus tee".

My mom is going to be thrilled over Brinley's vocabulary when she gets here. Mom has been so diligent at reading to her and always teaching her when they hang out. My mom has been a language teacher for many years so teaching is just in her blood and I really appreciate all of the one on one teaching time she does with her. Thanks to her, Brinley loves books. Everytime she wants to read one she will head straight for my mom's room and climb in the recliner. It is adorable.

Brinley is so fun. I literally can not think of anything better than simply being around her. Watching her learn and grow has given me an all new perspective on life. Thanks kiddo!

Some fun pictures of B:

Brinley is so funny. She loves to put on my purses and wear John's hat. I found her next to our bed with one of John's baseball caps on and wearing my purse over one arm and a Christmas present bad on her other forearm.

Our Carolina Girl ! It has already started..lol. John loves it.

A Christmas Surprise

I found out a few days ago that my Otosan is going to be coming to America with my mom on Saturday! He is going to be here for Christmas and I am SO thrilled. It will the first time that we have been together as a family for Christmas in 7 years. I am so excited that I just had to share. He came in July when we went to go visit my sister in Texas, but the stay was not long enough. Otosan is going to be here for a longer amount of time so there will be plenty of fun going on! YAY!

These are a few pictures we took together when he was here this summer.

Otosan, Brinley and I

Mom, Brinley and Otosan

By the way, 'Otosan' means 'Dad' in Japanese just in case any one was wondering.

Quick Beach Trip

We had the beach house for Thanksgiving week this year, so Brin, Nana, Papa and I went and stayed for a few days. John's boss lost her husband shortly before the trip so he had to stay behind so he could run things at work. Brinley and I missed him, but I know that we will get another beach visit with him soon. We get in for a week every 3 months so it won't long before another one comes by. We ended up coming home in time for Thanksgiving Day so we could be with the whole family but we made sure to make the best out of the short visit. 4 days at Weebees is never enough.

Brinley had a blast. She loved going on the beach and trying to run in to the water before I could get to her. She was terrified of it this summer, but of course now that it is freezing outside she was all about getting wet. We had fun collecting sea shells to put on a memory stone we are making for Nana's garden.

Nana and Papa made sure to spoil us with nice dinners and a shopping spree. Nana stocked Brinley up with stride rites for the next couple of months. Thanks Nan!

It was a great little trip and provided lots of time to relax. I read two books and Brinley slept in till 8:00 one morning so it was great to sleep in. Weebees is my favorite place on earth. I think Brin and I are going to make the trip home from Tennessee every 3 months so we can go to the beach house. I have some of my best childhood memories there, and love that Brinley will have that house to make memories in also.