First off, my apologies for being so behind on these updates. I can't believe it has been nearly three months since the last update, but there is a good reason, I promise! It is just the Wilkin Family has been in the process of a big change, we moved back to Lima. Grange has given me the opportunity to work remotely until the house sells (potentially) and I don't have to physically be in the office unless Grange requests it (so Thank You Grange!). As I'm sure you know, it takes a lot of time and effort to move, and thus the long delay.
Enough about me, let's talk about Brianne. Can you believe she is 4 years old! Dear Lord, where has the time gone? Her birthday party was a huge success, one of royalty. She had a princess party! A three tiered cake, with princesses surrounding it, a photo shoot where you could dress up as a prince or princess and get your photo taken with Cinderella, Belle, and Aurora, plus music that consisted from songs of various Disney princess movies. It was a day I'm sure she'll remember as she spent it with her family and friends.
Not only did we celebrate her 4th birthday, but she has had her 4th Valentine's day too, and keeping up with past years, Daddy bought her carnations in a purple vase. To say she was pleased, is an understatement, she was thrilled and asked to look, hold and smell them daily.
Also in these past few months our brilliant daughter can now spell her name. Of course, once you place the video camera on her, she forgets a bit, but prior to that, it was clear as day, but don't take my word for it, watch it for yourself!
So with the move back to Lima, there has been quite a bit of adjustment, but Brianne is doing very well. She is enjoying her room (except for bed time) but we don't really attribute that to the move, as she was having difficulties with bed time in Columbus too. She has her princess room, full of stuff animals, her princesses, numerous blankets, and all the clothes you can imagine (oh and about 20 pairs of shoes)!
As a plus, since we've moved back, Brianne has had a few chances to play in the snow that remained in our yard and drive way that she wasn't able to play in while in Columbus. It was just too bitterly cold in Columbus and when it warmed up, it warmed up enough to melt it all away. At the house however, even with the warmer weather, we still had piles of snow that she could dig through to make snow balls to throw at Mommy and Daddy.
Then there is her delegating skills, or maybe skills of persuasion. Either case, I'm not sure these are good skills for her to have just yet... The other evening whilst getting the kids ready for bed, Mommy reminded her to take her dirty clothes to the bathroom and place them in their hamper. She then turns to Keaten and states "Bubba Keaten, take these please." and he goes off and places them in the hamper for her. I have no idea how long this may have been going on prior to us seeing it in person... We recall seeing him do it once before, but thought he was just mimicking her, but maybe she delegated him at that time too.
At some point our daughter received a bag of pipe cleaners and boy on boy does she love them! One night her and I did nothing but build different items out of the pipe cleaners. Daddy had to build an elephant, butterfly, horse, zebra, giraffe, monkey, a heart, a self portrait of himself, and so much more! I have to say, I think I nailed all of them and more importantly, she did too.
Okay, so the moment you've been waiting for, what is with this title? Married Already?!? There has to be a story behind this and unfortunately there is. One day our daughter was having a play date with Sam. After playing at World of Bounce, they decided to go get some lunch at Wendy's. It was this fateful trip that had nearly caused this Daddy to have a stroke. As they got out of their vehicles, Brianne held Sam's hand as they crossed the parking lot to Wendy's. While walking across she yelled to Mommy, "Mommy, we're married, because we are holding hands!" *face palm*, what has my wife been teaching our daughter? Thankfully, Sam's Mom nor him really grasped the situation and so I'm not quite a father of the bride as of yet, but to make matters worse, that week she discovered "Say Yes to the Dress" and proceeded to notify us she needed a wedding dress. *sigh*, I'm not sure I'll ever be ready for that day to come...
Anyways, that's a few months in a nut shell and we'll try not to let that long of an interim occur again. In the meantime, please take a look at some of the adorable photos from these past months until our next update.
Love,
Matt, Kami, Brianne and Keaten