Life as a Brandtito

Some days you just need a lil Glitter...

  Meet Puffin Bear. The dog with no name and yet millions of names belonging to my Mom & Step Dad. She was born Ladybug Cotton but has since been disnamed and renamed so many times that she really has no individual name, but rather a name that varies by the individual speaking to her. Her names include Pup, Puffin, Puffin Bear, Neisha, Faneisha & many more.   We believe that all this confusion of names and no names has had a rather negative effect on her brain rendering her not the brightest of dogs...but she is the sweetest.  The girls will be watching Neisha for the next week while Nana & Papa are out of town. They will be paid for their services & are very eager to give Puffin a few round of Heaven & Annabelle puppy training. They are determined that they can teach her a thing or two...I, am not so sure about that.

I cannot appreciate the happiness of Gavin's smile in this photo.....He's far too excited about wearing Blue and Orange!!!!

The Heat is now 2-2. But this little girl is still number 1 to me!!!!

Did I mention we took a cruise to the Bahamas?  Well....We did, And I am SO sad to return to reality. It's been almost a week of being back and no one has cooked me a 3 course dinner, cleaned my bathroom, made my bed OR left me a towel animal with chocolates. I don't know if I can get used to this.  First stop, Freeport....Paradise Cove had the MOST fabulous snorkeling!  Me, John & My favorite North Dakota couple who cruised with us! :) Already planning a 2013 repeat! The Gang @ The Queen's Staircase in Nassau  Lunch in Fish Fry-Nassau Bahamas  Pubic Beach in Nassau Half Moon Cay. I could sure get used to this view.... Cheers!!  Seriously, I wanted to scream when I saw this. I fell in love with this dessert on our Honeymoon. Reuniting felt so right.  Doesn't this look like a Postcard?!!?? Our ship in Half Moon Cay. Our travel agent is amazing and scored us a GREAT deal on a hotel with free Island of Adventure

Tonight the girls Girl Scout took went on  field trip to Petland...aka Heaven on Earth. Any time I am having a bad day, or feeling REALLY stressed out, I head over to Petland to calm my nerves. They pretty much force puppies upon you when you walk in the door. There are little gated off areas that you can take these precious fur-balls into and just play with them until your heart is content (or until they remind you 10 times they're closing soon). It is impossible to leave Petland in a bad mood. Needless to say I LOVE Petland, and had to tag along. Ever the "cool" parent, I hung back and let the girls do their thing (more puppy time for me). The girls got to hold, puppies, kittens, bunnies and even pet a snake. They are working on their "pet" badges currently and listened to animal facts from the Petland staff. Did you know Rabbit's do not sweat? They do not have sweat glands & use their ears to regulate their body temperature. AB informed me of this fac

Check out these AWESOME mid terms!! All A'for Annabelle and A/B's for Gavin and Heaven!!! Dang these kids are smart! Clearly I'm wearing off in them.....

I think Gavin may be going thru a growth spurt..... That's right, a hamburger AND a hot dog. 

Second game 4-0! Go Heat!!! Annabelle did great! She played as a defender most of the game & made several great stops!! Heaven cheering from the stands. It was HOT. Like...HOT!!!  Gav was pretty miserable the whole game due to the heat, But he tried to be a good sport... Well...sort of.

Soccer season is back! This year only Annabelle has decided to play and she is returning to Team Heat!! She was the only returning player, and is enjoying her seniority. They've won their first game of the season...which is already an improvement from last year. With new coaches thus season and lots of great players I think we can look forward to many more wins!! Also, I forgot how insanely, stupid hot it is during morning soccer games. That is something I wish I'd noted before leaving in a black sweater. Lessons learned.

To say Go Noles!!! Heaven was more excited than this pictures shows...

Annabelle was chosen for Chief of the Week this week!! YAY!!! 

Here's Heaven in her BD shirt for School today :)

Heaven was blessed with some gorgeous weather on her 9th birthday. Since her Birthday fell on a weekend day, she will get to wear her birthday shirt to school tomorrow. Due to a child in her class having a peanut allergy, we're not doing treats for her class like we usually do.  Me & John are going to check her out for a special birthday lunch instead. Today we went to church, delivered some Grandparents Day goodies, and headed out to the beach per Heaven's request. The kiddo's swam for a bit, and then we headed to dinner at Heaven's choice of Peg Leg Pete's.  Definitely one of my favorites too! The kids had a great time, and Heaven was SO excited because the band played her Happy Birthday. Annabelle made sure to ask the waiter about Heaven's free birthday dessert :)  We're planning her actual Birthday Party for the last weekend of the month, after Me & John get back from our cruise. She's been planning since Christmas....S