I wasn't thinking clearly (which isn't all that unusual) when I said I wouldn't post again this year. Today is not only New Year's Eve, but a very good friend of mine's birthday!!
So, happy new year and

Happy Birthday Ellen!! Hope you enjoyed your chicken tetrazzini! :o)

Closing Out The Year With....

...antibiotics. Poor Laura Anne was diagnosed with a double ear infection this week so she's now taking another antibiotic. She was downright miserable on Thursday and so was I, to be honest. My arm is still a little sore from having to hold her constantly for 4 hours. But she seems to be feeling a little better now. Unfortunately we had to cancel our trip to Tennessee because of her discomfort. So we're trying to schedule a quick trip to Florida in January instead. This was, after all, supposed to be our last visit with family until after the baby comes. The end is near...my 3rd trimester starts tomorrow!!!! I can't believe how fast it has gone! There's still so much to do!

Well anyway, Happy New Year! I probably won't post again until 2008. Until then......

Another Birthday To Celebrate!

Happy Birthday to Pops!!

We'll see you soon!

Love, Chris, Brianna and Laura Anne (and baby)

Merry Christmas!!!!!

Happy birthday Garrett!!!

Say A Little Prayer

Laura Anne has had a cough for a few weeks, but just since her check-up last Wednesday it has gotten worse. Friday night she went to bed with a fever. Saturday and Sunday she hardly ate anything. Sunday afternoon her fever was 102.1 so I called her doctor. They wanted us to bring her in and after examining her the doctor confirmed that Laura Anne has pneumonia. It's not very advanced, which we're thankful for, but she's still to be on an antibiotic for four days. We need to take her back to the doctor on Thursday for a check-up.

Needless to say, she's uncomfortable, clingy, fussy, irritable and so on. Night time is really hard on all of us. So if you all could please remember her (and us) in your prayers for the next few days we would greatly appreciate it. So far today, she is eating a little better which is definitely a good thing.

I hope you all have a very merry Christmas! Don't forget the Baby in the manger. I'm reminded of the lyrics to a song I like:

Hope that you don't mind our manger
How I wish we would have known
But long awaited Holy Stranger
Make yourself at home
Bring your peace into our violence
Bid our hungry souls be filled
World now breaking Heaven's silence
Welcome to our world

Fragile finger sent to heal us
Tender brow prepared for thorn
Tiny heart whose blood will save us unto us is born
So wrap our injured flesh around You
Breathe our air and walk our sod
Rob our sin and make us holy
perfect Son of God

2 Years Old!!

Happy Birthday to Laura Anne!! The party turned out great and the cake didn't look so bad either, in my opinion. :o) Our friends Jerry, Ellen, Arelys, Ciara and Sophie all came to celebrate this special occasion. Everybody had a great time!

Laura Anne and her friend Sophie

What a cheesy grin

From Uncle Jerry and Aunt Ellen: a set of 3 mini teacups and saucers!!

From Mommy and Daddy: Princess luggage set!

From Grandma and Papa: a tricycle!

Now it's cake time!

She wasted no time in sticking her finger into the frosting!

~Mommy, Daddy and Laura Anne~

We took a ton of pictures and I obviously couldn't post them all here, so I selected several more and put them on Shutterfly for you all to view and enjoy. The link is www.castleberrymoments.shutterfly.com and the password is Brianna. It is case sensitive so capitalized the B.

I Almost Forgot...

Happy 1st Birthday to Sadie!!

Silent Night, Holy Night

We had our Live Nativity at church last weekend. Laura Anne was fascinated by the animals, especially Clyde the camel. She also had fun singing with the carolers. I get a kick out of watching her sing because she sings at the top of her lungs and you can't understand a word! She just loves it!

Petting the goat
The sheep is so fluffy!
Here's Clyde! He gave her a kiss right on her cheek! She wasn't even scared.
The reason we celebrate Christmas...and hubby is Joseph! :o)

"For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord"

Luke 2:11

D-d-deer

This is "reindeer" in Laura Anne language. When we sing "Rudolph" it goes something like this:

me: Rudolph, the red-nosed..
LA: d-d-deer
me: had a very
LA: shiny nose
me: and if you ever
LA: saw it
me: you would even say
LA: close it!

I Can't Believe It

A little girl I know will be celebrating her second birthday next Friday! I really can't believe that it's been two years since Laura Anne came into our lives. She has been such a joy and I can't imagine life without her.
Now, past the mushy stuff. Her birthday theme this year is Disney Princess! We're having a small celebration this year. We're having just a couple of friends over. I plan on making a really fabulous cake (at least I hope it turns out fabulous!) I've been searching the internet for ideas for castle cakes, and I'm really excited with what I found. My plan is to get some princess figurines from the Disney store to decorate the cake with.
I made the mistake of buying the princess plates and cups and such while Laura Anne was with me. It took some major distracting to hide them once we got home. I knew she wouldn't understand the concept of "it's for your party next week". But anyhow, I think she's going to be really excited about her party.
So stay tuned for the party news!

Chee Chee Chee

This is how Laura Anne says "christmas tree". She can say "Christmas" and she can say "tree", but put them together and they come out "chee chee chee". She's absolutely fascinated by everything Christmas. It is so much fun! She loves to drive around and look at lights, loves candy canes, loves the trees and ornaments, and loves the reindeer. Although she seems a little confused when it comes to reindeer. 98% of the time she calls them kangaroos. Don't ask me why! It's so funny. She loves to watch "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Kangaroo". :o)

Saturday night we decorated our Christmas tree. Laura Anne thoroughly enjoyed hanging ornaments. She came across a few that didn't want to stay on the branch and if she didn't feel like picking it up and trying again, she'd just leave it on the floor and go searching for another ornament to hang. At one point there were at least three ornaments laying on the floor and she was still coming to me for more to hang! :o)

We all had lots of fun and made some great memories! Here are a few snapshots of the fun.

Cinderella ornament

Helping Daddy hang ornaments
Little reindeer girl
Trying hot chocolate for the first time...boy is it good!
Finished Christmas tree and our goofy girl

Predictions

Almost everyone I talk to thinks we're having a boy. For the past several weeks we've been trying to get Laura Anne's opinion, but her opinion is always the last thing she hears. For example, if you say "do you want a boy or a girl?" she'll say "girl". But if you say "girl or boy?" she'll say "boy".

Well, apparently she really does have her own opinion. Sunday morning, we were all laying in bed talking about the baby, no gender was mentioned. Out of nowhere, Laura Anne pointed to my tummy and said "boy". Short, sweet, and definitely to the point. Me and Chris looked at each other like, "did she really just say that?" It was so cute! So I guess we'll find out in about 4 months if she's right!

Laura Anne the Explorer

She decided to see what it was like inside Sadie's cage.

Sadie's Playdate

Sadie had her first playdate on Saturday. We met a coworker of Chris' at a dog park. Her dog is a chocolate lab also. His name is Kai. Sadie and Kai had great fun playing together, along with a bunch of other dogs. We will probably take Sadie there more regularly now. It's great exercise for her, and she really seemed to enjoy herself. We had fun watching her and all the other dogs, too.
(Sadie is the lighter brown lab)

Happy December!

Click on the link below. This should help get you in the Christmas spirit! Make sure your volume is turned up!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9550433552

Sibstravaganza

Saturday was our sibling party. All six of the Lingle clan, along with spouses and better halves, got together for games, food and fun. No parents or little children allowed!
Here's where things started to get a little crazy.
We thought we'd try out an old family tradition. It's something we like to call The Lingle Pile. We all lay on top of each other, from oldest to youngest. Keep in mind, this began when Garrett, the youngest, was probably around four or so. So it's definitely gotten harder over the years. Poor Steve. And obviously, I was not able to participate as usual, due to my delicate condition, so I just stuck my head in between Brandon and Ryan. :o)
Then I had the idea to try a Lingle Totem Pole! This was a little easier.
I think we all had a great time. We chose to do our Christmas gift exchange also, since we all won't be together for Christmas.
The plans for our trip were supposed to be that Chris drove home Sunday and I stayed in Florida with his parents until Thursday. Unfortunately, due to some unusual, and pretty painful back issues I was having on Sunday morning, we decided that I should be home with Chris and near my doctor. So we're back home now, and we're thankful that we could spend time with our families.
Now it's time to decorate for Christmas!!

Thankful For Family

Friday it was mostly just us girls. We went to the park. The swings were Laura Anne's favorite!

Then we met a little furry guy who we named Snoopy for the day.
Grandma's helping Laura Anne down the slide.
Yes, this was spinning while she was sitting. :o)
Crawling through the tube!
After meeting up with the guys for dinner we went to visit Chris' sister, Nellie, and her family. Laura Anne thought it would be fun to push cousin Camila around the house in a doll stroller. It caught on; Barbara pushed Laura Anne for a little bit, too.

Elizabeth and Erin both got to feel the baby move so that was cool.

Laura Anne loves Snowy! Her favorite thing to do with him is follow him around the house saying, "come here, Snowy!"

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! We braved the highway with both our girls this time. It took us 10 hours to get to our destination. (Children and dogs require long rest stops!) But they both did great.
At the Castleberry reunion, the youngest girls play a game together.
Here's Sheri with Joshua and Steven, looking so cute in their matching shirts!
Laura Anne spent some time playing with Grammy. Mutton is in the background.
And what's Thanksgiving without Charlie Brown? Laura Anne has fallen in love with Snoopy. She giggles at everything he does!

Our Little Gymnast

As a gift for Mother's Day this year, I received a gift certificate for me and Laura Anne to take Tiny Roo classes at a local gymnastics place. Basically, we get 4 sessions where Laura Anne can run freely and try out all kinds of activities, including the trampoline, slide, the "pit", rings, etc. We've gone two times and she really loves it. Here's some pictures of the fun she had this morning.
This is the instructor, Miss Geri.

Climbing up the wall!
Trying out the balance beam
"The Pit" is so fun! But it's really hard to get out of!
Hula hoopin'
Jumping on the trampoline is one of her favorites!

Walking across the wobbly bridge
Playing in the doughnut
This slide was so fast!!
Hanging on the rings
Laura Anne and her class. They always get a coloring sheet and a sticker before they go home.
This is the ride home :o)