no time for blogging!

as you may have noticed by now, i have not been blogging! i'm way too busy!! so, friend me on facebook for updates because that's about all i have time to do! thanks for keeping up with our family!

introducing...

teagan audrey byrd

arrived october 23, 2009 at 12:23pm

6 lbs 2.8 oz, 18 3/4 inches

2009 balloon fiesta!

my sweet mali jean. SO fun having aunt amy as a super fabulous photographer...and hair stylist :)

videos from b's first soccer game

keep in mind this was her very first soccer game ever and she literally learned how to play 45 minutes before this game...and she's 5! but considering, she did such a great job. her team didn't win but i think that's because there was a professional in disguise in a 5-yr-old's body on the other team :)

the first video is when they scored their first goal. b's friend marlee made the goal and i love b's reaction!


the second video is of b taking it down the field. she was awesome and got really close but didn't score...next time b! see if you can tell who the professional in disguise is...

b's first soccer game

you can't tell in this picture, but she picked out cleats and shin guards that have butterflies on them. when you're 5 you can play soccer while still being super girly.
she did such a great job at getting in there and getting the ball...
a little offsides but that's okay...

and exhaustion...i guess it can drive you to do strange things...

best buddies...or butt buddies?

grayson came over to play yesterday and he and mali had a blast. their play dynamic is completely different without their older sisters in the way. i really can't tell you why they are doing this or why this even started, but it was hilarious and i had to get it on video. i love their faces and little giggles...and the fact that g kept putting mali back into position!

they started the day with a little buddy reading on mali's bed. they were reading about dora and all of her friends. it was funny to hear them talking about all of the characters. they were sharing and getting along so well!

pizza night!

instead of paying insane prices to order a pizza these days, we decided to make our own. we already had the movie and popcorn and now all we needed were our pizzas. the girls apron'd up and got their hands dirty...

first comes the sauce...

then the cheese. as you can see, i had to refrain mali from taking ALL of the cheese...
then comes the pepperoni. b doesn't like them so it was all mali.
then, of course, mali stops to eat said pepperoni. the look on b's face cracks me up.
and some pineapple!! b gets extra and mali continues to eat the toppings.
our finished pizzas!
mommy and daddy had some fun too :)

wordless wednesday...

braidyn is a kindergartner!!

my braidyn looks 13!

bye bye hugs from mali

in front of the school. she's going to double eagle elementary school.
going right on in! and these are her teachers, mrs. rossner and mrs. cathy.
some of her new friends.
story time! mrs. rossner read the kissing hand, which is about a little raccoon who was anxious about going to school. his mother shared a family secret with him, the kissing hand. she gave him a kiss on his paw and told him to press the kiss to his cheek whenever he missed her. after the story, chris and i kissed b's hand and she kissed ours, it was too sweet!
she got after school ice cream of course!! mali was very grateful to be along for the ride!

just a little update...

...since i seem to have NO time to do this anymore!

we went to chili's friday night after we returned from sedona (a post on that will be coming soon). mali left her paci on the table and we decided not to go back and get it. that night she didn't cry when going to bed, she just wouldn't stay in her bed. chris and i were trying to watch a movie so we just figured she'd fall asleep at some point. went to check on the girls a little later to find that mali had taken off her pj's and put on a dress and had two different flip-flops on her feet. braidyn's flip-flops that is. she was fast asleep. but comfortable! of course the battery in my camera had died so i was unable to take a picture, but i wanted to post the memory anyway!

she is officially paci free and doing well. nap times are difficult (today's nap was only 45 minutes as opposed to her typical 2 hour nap) but i'm sure in a few days all will be back to normal...whatever that is :) plus she's starting school this week! kid's express preschool anyway...and only if she gets in, she's still on the waiting list!

braidyn starts kindergarten this week!! i can NOT believe this came so soon. she meets her teacher on thursday and her official first day is friday. we got her some school supplies yesterday and got a very stylish outfit for her first day. she picked out a butterfly shirt, some dark denim capris, black and purple kickers, and a super cute bright pink headband that ties in the back. you will definitely see a picture of her "first day" outfit once the day comes!

mali's bday party

of course the camera battery died at the end of the song but we got the majority of it! she obviously couldn't resist the yummy cake, we couldn't keep her hands of off it! she didn't devour it like last year but she already had too many chips, grapes, m&m's, pops, and whatever else people were handing her!!

happy birthday sweet mali jean!!!!

happy birthday sweet mali jean! we can't believe you are TWO today. you brighten our days with your laughter, your lispe, and your silly dancing to "beat it". we love you so very much and are SO glad God gave you to us!

BEAT IT!!!

this may be the funniest video i've ever posted...and longest. it's really the very beginning that's so stinkin' funny. anyway, the girls LOVE "beat it" by michael jackson. they request it over and over...and over and over again. they have a cd player in their room and every time we walk in there mali yells "BEAT IT!". the other day chris told me that mali attempted the moonwalk while dancing to this song...we had never even showed her what the moonwalk was, i guess it's just in her blood :) she is a true mj! many of our friends wanted to see it on video but we couldn't get her to do it again without showing her this time what the moonwalk was. it's not original, but still funny nonetheless, and she's definitely added some moves of her own as well! we cry with laughter every time we watch this video, so if it's as funny to you as it is to us, then you might want to have some kleenex handy!

the cruise...a post in progress...

hey guys! i know it's been a long time since i've posted but i've been a little busy lately! after hangin' in denver with amy, aislyn, and grayson, my mom, sister, and i went on a cruise. i have a bazillion things to blog about but since the cruise is fresh in my mind and everyone's been asking me how it went, i thought i'd go ahead and post some goodies from the cruise first. here goes....

first things first, we boarded the ship and checked out the lunch buffet. to our excitement christy and i spotted some crawfish (not crawdads or crayfish...crawfish people) and some mac n cheese that we had on our last cruise...SO good! so we loaded up our plates and shoved our faces!
for dinner, you have the same table mates during the cruise. we had a full table and met some of the greatest people! jim, willie, and chris, victor and valentin, and david and chris. we had the privilege of dining with our new friends four nights in a row! for some reason i don't have any pictures of these fantastic people, just some video, which doesn't want to upload at the moment. if i can get some of the pics from christy's camera, i'll post some pics of our friends.

if any of you guys are reading the blog, we truly enjoyed meeting you and hope to keep in touch and cruise together again in the future! we had SUCH a great time getting to know each and every one of you!! thanks for making dinner (and the casino, hot tub, sun bathing, midnight mexican buffet, karaoke, cabo, etc) so much fun!!

speaking of dinner...mmmmm...never a dissappointing plate my friends. and dessert...hold on, i'm salivating...already missing my chocolate melting cake with extra vanilla ice cream. it's the bomb. literally. an explosion in your mouth! here's a pic, half eaten of course, couldn't ever remember to take a picture of it before i dug in...people, it is really that good. oh, also pictured was some sort of souffle. it was good, but nothing compares to the chocolate melting cake with extra vanilla ice cream. and please don't judge me for having two desserts. the baby wanted one of them and i couldn't tell her no. ha.
moving on to cabo. our excursion was a land & sea tour of cabo. we visited the peninsula, a glass blowing factory, a cactus garden, a restaurant with the most amazing view i've ever seen, and a shopping district on another part of the island. it was a bit long and tiring, but we had a great time seeing cabo in a way that we couldn't have done on our own. and our friends victor and valentin were on our same excursion so we had fun exploring with them!

this was our boat tour along the peninsula





the glass blowing factory - these guys made a beautiful glass pitcher in like 5 minutes! for some reason this is the only video my computer likes at the moment.

one of the many breathtaking views from georgio's restaurant...amazing!

the cactus garden. they had over 40 species of cacti there...i think. i was too tired to remember. and i wasn't necessarily doing cartwheels about this part of our tour.

and back to the ship we go!

for our late night entertainment, we did a little karaoke. christy closed the show with a little carrie underwood and had the whole crowd cheering. as soon as i can get my videos to upload, i'll post the video...it's really good!
but for now, i will post some pics of valentin and chris doing the hustle. chris wasn't sure if he remembered how to do it so valentin refreshed his memory. it was quite entertaining! chris is in the red and valentin in the white.




i have a few more videos i want to post from the cruise but those are all of the pics for now.

after we debarked in san diego, we spent the day at the beach on coronado island. we went to a historical hotel on the island where we ate lunch overlooking the beach and then took a walk along the beach before we headed back. i SO wish we had a beach in albuquerque!
oh, and please excuse the picture and the whale in the picture. it was taken with my camera phone and well, i was in the picture.

that's it for now, but check back soon for more videos from the cruise and more posts of the fam!