Bria's 2nd Birthday!

July 2, 2016 Bria turned 2!!!! It doesn't seem possible but she has been such a joy.

By the time Bria turned 2 we were living back in Manhattan at my parents house.

We had her birthday party at the KSU Alumni Center. Both grandparents attended, Uncle Dustin, Aunt Jodi, Connor, Julia, Uncle Jordan, Aunt Amy, Colton, Marlee, Aunt Megan, Lamonte, Dustin and Ashley Delehantey, Travis and Lauren Chard, and Megan and Morgan Hood all attended your party.

You of course were loved and got all sorts of fun toys and clothes. You couldn't wait to get back to grammy and papa's so that you could start playing with everything. With you having a birthday in the summer comes lots of time at the pool so you and your cousins got to go swimming after nap time.

It was probably a given but you had Mickey/Minnie Mouse decorations/cake and we brought in food from Cox Brothers.

Update!

Well it seems I fell off the blogging train! I would like to get it started again so that the kids have something to read when they are older.

Last blog I wrote was about Halloween 2015. I of course missed Thanksgiving and Christmas of 2015. Then all of the holidays for 2016. I will write a separate blog for Bria's second and then all of the changes since then.

The last blog I wrote we were still living in Wakefield. In January 2016 Brian and I made the decision to move back to Manhattan. Brian was not enjoying his job as principal at Wakefield, and I did not like living in a small town again. We spent every weekend we could in Manhattan and it just made us happier. With that decision came the decision that Brian was going to leave education, with the way it was headed in the State it just seemed like the better idea. So, Brian ended up getting a job as the Loan operations Manager at Community First National Bank and we moved back to mom and dads house in Manhattan until we could find a place of our own.

We made the move in May and found a house, closed and moved in September. While living at mom and dads we found out Baby Sturges #2 was on his way (that will be another blog post).

Again, after working at the bank for 6 months, Brian realized how much he hated working a desk job and wanted to get back into education. He resigned from the bank in January 2017 but thankfully they kept him on until he found a teaching job. As of April 10, 2017 he will be a science teacher at Junction City High School. Huge relief off our shoulders and I will be glad when he gets back into education and out from behind a desk job all day!

I think that is a brief update of our life so far and now I will continue to write separate blogs on the kids and other changes. Hopefully I can keep this up in 2017!

Halloween 2015

Once again I am a little behind but that is OK better late than never!

Anyways, for Halloween this year we hung out in Manhattan again. Brian went to State cross country that morning in Wamego and then played in a golf tournament that afternoon. Once we was done we had dinner with Grammy, Papa, Aunt Amy, Uncle Jordan, Colton and Marlee. After that we put on our Halloween costumes and got ready to head out around Grammy and Papa's Neighborhood.

Marlee wore her kitty kat jammies, Colton dressed as Chase from Paw Patrol and Bria was a little pink Monster. We won't talk about Jordan's costume, you can just see that for yourself!

We got lots of goodies and the kids did better than I expected.

Enjoy the photos!

Bria's 15 month check up and Pre-Halloween Fun

Hello,

Not a lot of time has passed since my last blog but that's how it should be.

On October 14 we went in for our 15 month check up. Crazy how fast time flies but she sure is getting into a fun stage!

You love to dance and put on a show, but usually just for mom and dad. You become shy when anyone else is around so they don't get to see. Still fit into some 12 month clothes, but can also wear 18 month clothes. Still sleeping through the night except when those darn teeth are cutting. If I'm counting correctly, which you don't like me to do we only have 4 left and you will be done!!

Anyways, are your check up you had 4 shots :(. But a cookie made it all better. You were 31 inches tall (61%), 20 lbs 15 oz (43%) and your head is 46 1/2 cm (73%). Big ol head to store all the brains and smarts you have. The doctor was especially impressed because they had a picture of Willie the Wildcat up on the wall and you looked up and in the cutest 1 year old voice said Willie. Even when the doctor or nurse asked you told them who it was. This was the first time you had said it so I was impressed as well. Now you say Willie and K but you let mom and dad do the S and the U, then you finish it off with Wildcats. When you see Willie you tell us who he is and even give him kisses. We are now interested to see what you would do when you see the real Willie. Other than that the doctor was happy with everything and said you are tracking more like a 2 year old with your speech and what not.

Finally you drink your milk, it takes awhile to finish a cup but you drink it. You also do not shy away from the table, I'm not sure where you put it but you stuff it all in that little body somewhere.

Also, today 10/25 we got out some paint and let you paint your pumpkin. We were surprised with how well you did and how little of a mess you made. You only tried to eat it once and after that you didn't try again. Next blog will be about Halloween and your absolutely adorable costume! :)

Bria - 15 months

Well Hello. I realized its been 3 months since I posted anything and If I'm going to get better at this blogging thing after Bria's 1 year I haven't done a very good job!

It's been fairly quiet around here. Few exciting pieces of news before I dive into our boring lives. We welcomed a new niece to the family. Ms. Marlee Kirk was born July 16, 2015 in Manhattan. She had a few issues and got to spend some time in the hospital at Topeka but thankfully not near as long as her older brother. She is loved by many and Bria loves to try and "help" Aunt Amy during daycare.

Within the last few months we also found out that Aunt Jodi is also expecting another little girl in January. The boys will be out numbered and taken down very shortly!

Now about us. The end of July/ beginning of August we took a little vacation to Kansas City. It was partially for Brian and I to celebrate our 5 year Anniversary, do some shopping and have a small vacation with Bria. We left Wakefield/Manhattan on Friday and once we got to Kansas City we took Bria to the Deanna Rose Farm. I think Brian enjoyed being able to feed/play with the animals more than Bria did but she really seemed to enjoy throwing food to the fish. After a few hours there we went and checked into our hotel and got cleaned up so Brian and I could go out to dinner while Bria stayed with her Aunt Megan. Thank goodness she behaved! :) The next day we went swimming and dinked around the hotel, then finally got ready and met Brian's parents for lunch at the Legends, after lunch we went shopping! Shopping sure has changed now, I found myself wanting to buy more stuff for Bria than myself but don't worry Brian and I still got stuff. After a long exhausting day at Legend's we headed to Topeka where we stopped and got a big girl car seat for Bria. We went over to Jodi and Dustin's to hang out for awhile so Brian could install the new car seat before heading back home.

That was about our only big adventure. Bria spent most of the summer at a different daycare while Aunt Amy adjusted to life with 2 kids, she went back to her in September. Also, with mom and dad having a house in Manhattan we found ourselves there quite a bit on the weekends so we get lots of quality time with our cousins.

 She is starting to say a little bit more and of course is walking all over the place. I believe we are up to 13 teeth and have 3 more working their way through before her last few are in. She is definitely a dancer. Loves to dance to music, and sometimes imaginary music but it keeps Brian and I entertained just watching her. She is also obsessed with her belly button, in fact anyones belly button that will show her and let her play with it. I don't recommend starting that though, and I honestly don't want to see anyone else's belly button so please don't offer! :)

School has started and is going pretty well for Brian and I am still plugging along at AIB. We are also pretty busy with K-State football games every other weekend.

I am starting to take up photography kind of has a hobby for now and been spending quite a bit of time on that. It is a lot easier to practice with a 1 year old running around and the many faces of Bria. So, if your in the market for some photos at a cheap price let me know and I'd be happy to help out. Just remember I'm starting out so you pay for what you get! :)

For now enjoy some photos that I've snapped of little Bria.