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!

praying for grayson

our sweet nephew grayson is heading to colorado today to go to a super duper hospital dedicated to children with allergies. please keep him and his family in your prayers as they travel. they have also has illnesses hit them as of yesterday - fever, diarrhea, and strep...not fun when you're traveling. for frequent updates about little g, visit the grebe family blog here.

Rainbow Flower Byrd

braidyn just informed us that she would like us to name her new baby sister Rainbow Flower Byrd. any thoughts? suggestions? please, we welcome them all!

WING!!!

mali loves to "wing". i know this video is longer than a minute, but you have to wait to the end...it's the best part. she would "wing" all day if we let her. "winging" is just a real good time!

oh, and please pardon our neighbor's weed-wacking. rude. (only some of you will get that.)

my favorite hat

yes, it's a kitchen bowl from b's play kitchen, but don't tell her that.

cousins

cousin playdates are the best!

aquaphor

...and this was the first time it happened. the second time braidyn was standing there egging her on, telling her where to put it next. i didn't get pictures that time because i was a bit more mad...oh, and it took about 6 hair washes to finally get it out. sweet mali jean.

thorns...

the other day braidyn and i were in the drive-thru at sonic...waiting patiently in line...and the song "big house" by audio adrenaline came on the radio. this is one of b's favorite songs...she knows every word. anyway, this was our conversation as the song came on...

me: you know b, when it says "Father's house" it means God's house.

b: no, it means our house...

me: no, it's talking about when we die and go to Heaven, that we get to go to God's house...our Father's house.

b: well, i'm scared to die.

me: why baby??

b: because of the thorns.

me: what thorns baby?

b: well, Jesus got thorns when he died.

me: that's right, but Jesus took our thorns for us so that when we die, we don't have to have the thorns.

b: well, what happened to the thorns?

me: when Jesus died, they took the crown of thorns off of him and threw them away...they are gone, i promise.

b: oh.

me: so, when we die, if we have Jesus in our hearts, we get to go to Heaven...NO THORNS...and we get to have fun in God's house!

b: well, i don't have Jesus in my heart.

me: why not?

b: because i forgot to ask Him.

me: well, do you want to ask Him right now?

b: yeah!

me: okay, well then repeat after me...

b: no momma, i can do it.

me: are you sure? you should say something like...."Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for me and for taking the thorns for me so that i don't have to. i know that i am a sinner, please forgive me and help me to make better decisions and be a servant to others. please come into my heart and help me to live for you every day of my life. i love you so much. amen."

b: oh, well, maybe i will repeat after you!

and then precious little b asked Jesus Christ to come into her heart right there in the sonic drive-thru at the age of 5. i was fighting back the tears as i had her call her daddy to tell him what we just did....one of the best days of my life!

disney world 09!

thanks to a bunch of southwest and american express points (that chris accumulated by purchasing merchandise for pro image) we were able to take a trip to disney world for spring break. with so much already being paid for by points, we were able to go and have a fabulous time and not worry about how expensive it was going to be! here is a little slide show of SOME of the pics that we took...there were only so many we could upload :) enjoy!!

another little byrdie on it's way??

we were going to wait to post our news but so many people have been checking for an update so i thought i might as well go ahead. we are expecting again!! and it happened much faster than we had anticipated...isn't God's timing awesome?! this time around, my numbers are looking much better than the time before. we won't get our first ultrasound to detect a heartbeat until the 16th of march so i will give an update then. but for now, i am pregnant, and sicker than ever before...which is a good thing!

thank you all for your prayers. we have truly felt them. we love you all!!

B is almost 5...CRAZY!!!

my amazingly talented sister-in-law amy did b's 5 year shoot today and i cannot believe how my baby has grown. check out the preview here.

Please pray for little baby matt

Read baby matt's story here.

www.prayformatt.blogspot.com

He really needs your prayers right now

best friends

we cannot separate these two. and mali likes to wrestle with belle, it's so funny! here are some pics from their latest match...



not sure what this next move was all about, but it was hilarious to watch...

just a bunch of random for ya

these are pretty much from christmas time...i know, it's the end of january...but we've been busy!

b is always good for a laugh

the other day in the car ride home from school, braidyn was signing...

the ACTUAL words are "it’s all God’s children singing glory, glory, hallelujah, He reigns" by the newsboys...

HOWEVER this is what she was singing...

"God's children singing holy moly, hallelujah, He reigns."

i had a great laugh the whole way home...thanks b!

a "B" saturday

we all went to "it'z" the other day for a fun family outing. as we were sitting there having dessert, watching all of the fun birthday parties around us, this was the conversation...

braidyn: "mommy, i want my birthday to be on a sunday."

getting out my handy dandy iphone to look it up, me: "well, baby, let's just see what day your birthday is on...it's on a saturday."

braidyn: "well, is today a saturday?"

me: "yes it is baby, but your birthday isn't on this saturday, it's on a saturday."

braidyn: "oh, so is today a "b" saturday?"

then chris and i laughed hysterically for about 10 minutes.

bath time video

bath time is always so much fun in the byrd tub. b likes to spray mali on the tummy with the blowfish and mali likes to splash and then wipe the water off of her face...it's a good time! mali has also become our chatter bug. she does say some words that we can understand but the rest is just jibberish...also a good time!

braidyn is reading!!

b has been home sick for the past 2 days so we have been doing some homework. yesterday we did writing and coloring and today we did some reading. i was amazed at how well she was doing. this video was of her reading these words for the first time...we did not practice them before i took the video! we always knew she was a smart cookie. her pre-k teacher said she might be reading at an APS 3rd grade reading level by the end of the school year...that just seems amazing to me. way to go b!!

another angel byrd baby

Now is not your time, little one
Though it seemed your life had just begun.
I've learned before about these things
Sometimes even the tiniest angels get their wings.
It's difficult to know you're still inside me
But our third child you never will be.
It's so hard to grieve your loss
You're the second angel baby we have lost.
Yes, you have a brother or sister awaiting you
Somewhere up above in the Heavens so blue.
And I too will join you someday, you see
When God decides to send for me.
Now is not your time, little one
But you will live on in my heart, sweet daughter or son.

(c) Sarah Kelly All Rights Reserved

i know it's been a while since i've posted and i hate to start up again with this one. earlier this week i found out i was pregnant and the very next day i found out that i'm losing the baby. this post may be a bit premature, however the numbers from my test results were extremely low and i've been there before...i know what the numbers mean. i found this poem on the internet and couldn't believe how accurately it fit into our lives. this little angel baby will join our first angel baby in Heaven...i guess God wanted a little playmate for him or her. we are beside ourselves with the news but our new year's resolution was to be joyful always, pray continually, and give thanks in ALL circumstances. God is just making sure that we're gonna hold to that. and we have to, it's the only way we can get through. we just ask for your prayers through the process. love you guys.

update: just wanted to let everyone know that the results came back today and confirmed that we are, in fact, losing the baby. again, we could really use your prayers during this difficult time.

"alyse abida"

another funny b story.


so we're driving in the car to go to hobby lobby (one of my favorite places...hint, hint) after i got braidyn from school the other day. the radio was off and we were talking about her day at school - which we do every day after school - and when we were done talking there was a bit of silence in the car. all of a sudden i hear from the back seat...

"alyse abida!" (a-leese, a-bee-da!) and then just more silence. nothing else. just "alyse abida" like it was a friends name or something.

i couldn't help but hold back the tears i was laughing so hard and then i said...

"honey, it's FELIZE NAVIDAD!"

and then we started singing the song...singing "alyse abida" of course.

i love you inzimmerating...

i was setting up a movie for braidyn (so i could make dinner of course) and she was just talking to me and i wasn't listening to her at all because i was just sitting there thinking of how much i love that little girl. so i decided to tell her and this was our conversation:

me: "b, do you know how much i love you?" as i grabbed her and pulled her into my lap

me again: "i love you....." as i was thinking of saying infinity, this is what braidyn said...

b: "you love me inzimmerating!"

me: "yes, baby, mommy loves you INFINITY!"

b: "yeah, you love me infinity!" as if that's what she said the first time."

yes, i love my braidyn inzimmerating...and infinity!

another talker in the family

i guess i should have combed her hair or something for her big debut. sorry about that, but she's still a cute performer!

sneak peak

just a sneak peak from my amazing photographer sister-in-law. view her incredible portfolio here.

b got another haircut!

i have a new hairdresser that i LOVE and i took braidyn to get a trim the other day. she straightened it so b could have long hair, which she's always dreamed of...and her dream is slowly coming true!
thanks nicole, you're the best!!

daddy got a booboo...

and b thought it was necessary to put a dora bandaid on it...

braidyn is an indian!

b's pre-k class had a thanksgiving play last week and braidyn was an indian. she had one line in the play (see next post) and she did great! she was definitely the cutest little indian i've ever seen! here are a few pics from that day...


her little friend stephanie, who was a pilgrim...

her friend zoe, who was the indian princess...

most of our family was able to come support braidyn and see the play. thanks for coming!! here's a pic of b and cousin aislyn...
here's a picture of the whole indian tribe...
and the whole pre-k class...