Brynn's Dedication

Psalm 139:13-16 says:

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

Today we had an amazing day. We had Brynn Apryl Blythe dedicated to the Lord at our church, Ev Free Fullerton. It was a wonderful time and we had so many family members join us at the event. We feel so fortunate to know that we have family members who love the Lord and will commit to helping us to raise our daughter in Christ. We are thankful for all the godly examples that He has placed in her life, and strive to be Christ-centered parents in order to guide and direct her in His ways. Here is a glimpse into the Dedication and the back-yard BBQ we had for our family afterwards.

GiGi and Addie waiting for church to start.

An awesome shot of Addie twirling in her dress Nana made.

My girl

Both my girls

On stage...we didn't know it, but Addie decided to join us!

Our sweet little family.

I made Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

They were super tart and delicious!

Brynn only stayed awake for enough time to eat and take pics.

Daddy, Brynn, Grandma, Auntie Jackie, Phil, Addie, and Mommy

Addie, Papa, Nana, and Brynn

Auntie Shannon, Bubby (Josiah), Addie, Mommy, and Hannah

Addie, Grampy, Grammy, Brynn, Mommy, Daddy

Justin and his Dad talking shop.

Loving our backyard play area!

Gigi and Brynn

Auntie Shannon and Brynnie Bear

Brynn and Josiah

Hannah and Addie have fun.

Now since it ended up being 90 degrees, we ended up getting out the kid pool and stripping the little ones into their undies and let them play in the water...BUT we decided those pics didn't need to be out in cyber space...They'll thank me when they're 16!

Thanks to everyone who made today wonderful and memorable!

Making Orange Juice

This day was actually about a month ago, but I just finally got all the pictures uploaded, so I can finally write about it.

Picking the fruit.

In our new house, there are lots of fruit trees.  The one that has been producing more fruit that we could ever keep up with are clementines.  We used to buy these in the store, marked "Cuties" all the time, but now we can just go pick them from our tree.  The only bummer is that ours have seeds. 

We decided that since we have so many of them, we'd pick a bunch and make some fresh squeezed juice.  Addie picked all the clementines for us.  

 She was proud of all her hard work

She filled the whole bag!

It was pretty heavy!

We sliced them all up....

Brynn of course helped to EMPTY the bag...

Addie said the juicer tickled her hand.

Our finished product!  Daddy LOVED it!

17 months and counting...

It is hard to believe that is Brynn is now a year and a half!  Where has the time gone?  To say that Brynn and Addie are different is an understatement!  How amazing and interesting is it to see how we really are born with a certain personality!  That God truly creates us to be a One of  a Kind.  I think any parent of two or more children can see that on a daily basis when watching their kids.  Here are just a few fun tidbits of info about our little Brynn as of now...

* She LOVES to be outside!  She is happiest running and playing and just feeling the breeze on her face.

*She is into EVERYTHING!  There is no drawer she has left full, no bin she's left unopened, no door she's left closed, and no laundry she's left folded!  She is so interested in it all.

*She is totally a blankie girl.  She doesn't really care which one it is, as long as it's the kind my mom makes with the silky ribbon edge.  She loves to hold them, walk around with them, and rub the ribbon part as she falls asleep.

*Brynn absolutely loves dogs!  She gets so excited every time she sees one!  She loves on them, pets them, and squeals with delight when they lick her.  She truly plays with Chance, in a way that Addie never has.

*She is still small for her age.  She is still wearing clothes about 6 months younger than her age.  She's small, but she's got a lot of fire in her!

*She is now signing many words.  She signs: please, more, water, milk, all done, thank you, gentle, and dog

*She has just begun to say words.  Her vocabulary to date is: ma-ma, da-da, papa, nana, ah-da (Addie), all done, uh-oh, up, hi, no, map and back pack (thanks to Dora).  One day I was able to get her to say sister and diaper, but now she just laughs at me when I ask her to say them again.


*Her favorite foods right now are scrambled eggs, bananas, canned pears, applesauce, noodles of any kind, and cheese.

*Brynn loves music and can't help but dance anytime she hears it.

*She seems to have a funny face every time we take her picture!  As evident here!

She is our Brynnie Bear and we can't imagine life without her!

You'd think...

You'd think I never gave this kid a nap by the places lately she's trying to fall asleep!

Addie's Preschool Valentine's Party

A few days ago was Addison's preschool Valentine's Day party!  She was over the moon about it.  It was her first time making, giving , and receiving valentines.  In fact she let me know on the car ride there that today it was HER party, not mine.  I asked if I could still have fun and eat some of the yummy food and she agreed as long as I knew that it was her party and not mine.  Man!  She's one tough cookie!  Anyway here are a few highlights from our day.

Addie hugging her bag full of valentines.

Addie "lunching" with her girls...L-R Brynn, Addie, Ava, and Hannah

Brynn joining in on the fun.

Addie getting her Jenelle fix.

 Brynn decided to sit on Miss Martha's lap for our story time.

This last picture I'm just throwing in.  It's a picture of the valentine the girls and I made for Justin.  It turned out cute and the girls liked getting their feet painted!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Need to get caught up!

I can't believe it has been so long since I last blogged! I guess that's what Christmas and moving can do to someone. I feel like I need to get caught up, so here is my attempt at giving you the reader's digest of what's been going on with The Blythes.

First off, Christmas time was wonderful. We did lots of fun activities! One was our now annual trip to see the Nutcracker in Orange County. My mom and I took Addie to it last year and she LOVED it. So we repeated the tradition again. Soon, Brynn will join us (in a year or two).

 Here are few pics of us heading there and of my sweet girl with a one of the ballerinas.

Then it was time to make a gingerbread house!  We waited until Brynnie was sleeping and went to town!  She had so much fun...but I think she had more fun licking her fingers and sampling the candy!

My brother and his family came in for Christmas time, so we decided to head down to Birch Street to see all the lights that this particular neighborhood puts up.  It's totally amazing.  I think all my nieces and nephews were impressed!  It was pretty cold and we had to park about 3 blocks away because it was so busy, but it was well worth it.  Brynn is AGAIN not pictured here.  She was sick (poor baby, seems usual for her) and so Justin stayed behind in the warm car with her since she had fallen asleep.  I promise, we do have TWO kids!  LOL  Also, I'm realizing how bad this pic is!  Oh well, you get the idea.

Cosette, Sammy, Kaelyn, Addie, and Brayden

My sweet girl

Nana and Papa with MOST of their grand kids...

Hitching a ride on Papa's shoulders.

Another great change in our lives is that my cousin Shannon and her family moved back here to Southern California, right after Christmas.  We have lived away from each other since about 6 months after she got married, 6 years ago.  We are extremely close and have always wanted to live near each other so we can raise our kids together.  Well...it's finally here!  I couldn't be happier!  So here are a few pics of us at the park.  We go there together all the time now.  I am so blessed.  We also get to go with my other amazing cousin Sara and her new sweet baby Abby.

Sara and Abby

Oh look!  There's Brynn!  See, I told you we bring her with us!

My girl...Shann Wong! (Silly nickname)

Our sweet kiddos, finally getting to spend quality time together.  R-L Addie, Hannah, and Bubby (Josiah)

The last big thing that I'm sure most of anyone who reads this knows is that we moved!  We are now living in a house in Whittier and we couldn't be happier.  It's not that it's all that much bigger than where we are, but it fits our needs so much better.  I'm attaching a few pics, but please excuse any messes...I mean come on...I have two small kids!  What do you expect?

Girl's playroom...a godsend!  I can close the door and not look at the mess and it's all contained!

One view of the girl's bedroom.  The crib is on the opposite wall.  This has turned out great!  Who knew that Addie could sleep through a hurricane!  (aka, Brynn's late-night crying fits)

I finally have a mantle!  We build fires all the time and love it!

A bigger kitchen!  Thank God!

Our favorite part of the whole house!  The backyard!  Here is the "kid's" part.  I love that they can finally play outside!

This tends to be Chance's part, but also great of running around and playing tag.

So that's a quick update for all you out of town friends and family.  Sorry no one got a Christmas card this year.  What with moving and all, it just didn't happen.  Oh well, there's always next year?!