Amazingly Brave!

As if going off the high dive is not brave enough.  This video is right after she almost fell from 3/4 of the way up the steps.  One of the most terrifying events of my (Elise) life.  Dan thankfully didn't see it.  While I was messing with the camera I saw her starting to fall and then she caught herself on the rail and was dangling with no feet touching off to the side of the ladder.  I started running towards her and she regained her footing and marched all the way up.  I regained myself enough to video in case we could never talk her into doing it again.  She then swam to the ladder and climbed out.  We both started crying but she would have nothing to do with me.  Already my 5 year old is too cool to be comforted by her mom.  I asked her what was wrong and she said she was mad because I was running to her to help and "she did not need help".  Already she wants to be so big.  And she did go off again with her daddy standing at the bottom of the ladder holding his breath.


Brianna and high dive from Elise Deeble on Vimeo.

Bri's Splash Bash! (5th Birthday Party!)

my beautiful girl, ready for her 5th birthday party called "Bri's Splash Bash!"

Today we celebrated Bri's 5th Birthday and it was a huge hit.  But it didn't start out that way...We were worried about extreme heat but never dreamed that we would need to worry about RAIN!  Sure enough, it poured buckets just minutes before the doorbell rang.  Bri was sad but she took it like a champ.  Elise and I (daddy) were so proud of how she handled the disappointment.  So we quickly scrambled up a Plan B (or, to be exact, Elise did).  We moved everything inside and played games:  Freeze Dance, darts, charades, and the classic limbo.  It was a non-stop frenzy and then we gulped down some of the best chocolate cake this side of Butde's Mississippi Mud Pie and then - wouldn't you know it - the rain stopped and we ran outside and had an EPIC water fight.  Water balloons, guns, bazooka blasters (kind of), kiddie pools, you name it.  The drenching went on for at least a good hour.  

Showing off a gift!

Mom made a family favorite!

freeze dance!

Daddy was the happy "fall guy" for the festivities!

The girls treated these buckets like little Jacuzzi's..

Brianna,  your Mommy and Daddy love you so much and we could NOT be prouder to have you as our daughter.  Happy Birthday sweet girl.  We pray that God will continue to nurture that sparkle in you.

First 4th of July Celebration

The girls celebrated their 1st 4th of July with a late, late night of friends, fireworks, bounce houses and ice cream. Here are some of the quotes from the night:

• "This is the best day EV-VER!" - Bri
• "Can we have fireworks everyday?" - Mia
• "I wish my birthday was on the 4th of July so I could have fireworks on my birthday!"  - Bri
• "Well, I was kind of scared but not really scared."  - Hadley