Christmas Decorating and Boot Hockey!

Saturday we spent the day "bumming" around Duluth looking for more Christmas decorations. We found a bunch at a cute store called Country by the Lake just beyond the Ariel Lift Bridge in Duluth. We were on a mission to find three stockings that went well together and were able to do so. We are so excited for Brooks' first Christmas.

Once we got home we started in on decorating the house. Greg did the tree (inside and out) and I attempted to do the other decorating. Later in the evening, Steph's family stopped by to find me sitting on the couch having a meltdown because I didn't know where to put anything. We tripled the size of our house when we moved, I had more decorations than last year, and I still could not figure out where to put anything. So it was another case of "Stephanie to the rescue!" She was able to get me started (even though I had attempted it for over an hour) and we were able to get the house looking very festive.

Today (Sunday), we skipped church (bad) and let Brooks take a long morning nap. Once he got up we were off to do more errands. Tonight we had a game of boot hockey in the driveway. It was so fun. Afterwards, we ordered Chinese and listened to a beautiful Christmas presentation by Kennedy and Maggie. Brooks also had his first all solid meal. He had turkey, cheese, peas and pears. He did great, didn't choke (my biggest fear) and loved all of it! He even loved the peas! Way to go, munchkin!

It is so hard to think about going back to work tomorrow. Brooks has swimming lessons tomorrow night and we will be back in the swing of things. We still anxiously await the arrival of Dylan, our first boy cousin. He should be here any day now! Hurry UP!

Whirlwind of a Week!

Happy Thanksgiving a day late to everyone! We have had a super busy week and have not had a second to update. Here is our "week in review!"

Monday: Mama worked. Daddy took Brooks to lunch with Grandma and Grandpa Johnson. After work, Mama and Daddy got Brooks all dressed into his swimsuit only to realize that there were no swimming lessons because of Thanksgiving. So...daddy, being the awesome daddy that he is, gave Brooks swimming lessons in the bathtub.

Tuesday: Happy Birthday Celebration for our Auntie S'ers. She turned 31 on Thanksgiving so we celebrated with a party at Oma and Opa's house. We also went to Kindermusick and had a blast "scrubbing, dusting and washing our clothes." (The theme this week was cleaning)

Wednesday: Mama had to go to the cities for work. When she got home she brought Brooks over to Auntie Le Le's for a sleepover. Then mama, daddy, Auntie S'ers and Uncle Keven went to the grocery store to get food for Thanksgiving. Everyone went back to the our house to set the table, make potatoes for Thanksgiving and play Wii (the boys!). It ended up being a late night but was so much fun.Thursday: Happy TURKEY Day! We are so thankful for our little man "Brooks Hartley." He has blessed us in so many ways. We can't remember life without him and feel like he has been in our family forever. He brings us so much joy and we thank the Lord for him. It was a great day with the whole family over at our house for dinner. We also enjoyed each other's company at the Turkey Trot. Brooks experienced his first race being pushed by Opa for the 4 mile race. He even got a T-shirt that may fit him when he is 10 years old or so.Friday: When Brooks woke up we had a little "family bed time." It was fun to cuddle Brooks in bed and give him millions of kisses. We all had the day off, so we went shopping and hung out as a family. This evening we had Greg's close group of friends over with their wives and kids. It was really fun to see the group changing as more babies are born. Brooks found a new friend named "Lilly." She is one month younger than Brooks. He tried to kiss Lilly and also shared his toys real nicely with her. Notice that Brooks is a GIANT next to Lilly. He looks like he is 2 years old!

Tomorrow we will decorate for Christmas and continue to enjoy our long weekend!

Giggle, Giggle, HA HA!

Brooks thinks that funny faces during lunch are so funny. Check out this video. You NEED volume. It is so wonderful. Music to our ears!

Happy Birthday Auntie S'ers!

Happy 31st Birthday to our most wonderful Auntie S'ers. We love you so much. You have taught us so much about how to raise Brooks and how to be good parents. You are so loved and adored by the Greg Johnson family! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

You are so "Rock of Love!"

Back From Colorado!

We had a good time visiting Auntie Bean in Colorado. We were able to see where she goes to school, meet her new friends and do some tourist type activities. We visited the Olympic Training Center and also Garden of the Gods. It was beautiful. Brooks was a trooper. We had many people ohh and ahh over him and tell us how well behaved he was on the plane. There was only one stretch of the plane rides that he was crabby, other than that you wouldn't of even known he was on the plane unless you were one of the lucky ones he was flirting with over the back of the seat! Brooks had a couple of firsts on this trip. He got a much needed haircut for the first time and learned to pull himself up on things for the first time. He now stands (I can't believe it) up in his crib and screams at the top of his lungs for us to come and get him. Once he sees us, he just smiles at us like he is so cute or something! :) We have pictures of the first haircut, but we have to figure out how to load them from Snapfish onto this site. Once we figure that out, we'll let you see how Brooks went from baby to little boy in less than ten minutes. He now has bangs and sideburns. It is so cute. He cried when we had to hold his head and hands down. It took 4 of us to get the cut accomplished and it still is a little bit uneven. What can you do when your 8 month old has a full head of hair? Upon return we got to see our cousins (Kennedy and Maggie) who were really missing their cousin Brooks. They kept asking their mama when Brooks would be home. She would tell them and they'd reply "That's a long time!". (It was only 4 days!) Kennedy and Maggie came over on Tuesday and we ventured into the woods in our backyard to play "Pilgrims". We brought out corn and walnuts to mash and make into bread. It was great to visit with Auntie S'ers again and so fun to be with the girls again. Life is now getting back to normal. We are getting ready for Thanksgiving at our new house this year and look forward to spending time with our awesome families! Kennedy took this picture of Auntie S'ers and me playing "Pilgrims" in the woods. We put down our "weapons" and "fishing spears" to take this picture. Too fun.

Road Trip

On Monday Brooks and I (daddy) decided to take a road trip to visit Auntie Michele. She lives just a little over two hours away which makes for a pretty easy day trip. We called Grandma Johnson (are you used to being called that yet, Mom?) to see if she would like to join us and she jumped at the opportunity.

We picked up Grandma, filled up the tank, and we were off. Brooks loves to travel. He's a pretty vocal passenger. We often comment that there's a "party of one" going on in the back seat. Brooks entertained us with his squeals for quite some time until he fizzled out and took his morning nap.

It was nice to have some one-on-one time with my mom on the ride down. The conversation was good and the ride went quickly. Before you knew it, we were at Michele's doorstep.

Michele is pregnant with her first, and she looks great. We're all very excited for her and her husband Tom. They're going to make great parents and it was fun to see how prepared they are for their baby son Dylan to arrive. Dylan's room is pretty much all set and the car seat is already in place. It's very weird to think that Michele will be a Mom the next time I see her!

We spent a bunch of time just watching Brooks play and start to crawl. He's so close! He makes it about three steps forward on his knees before falling on his belly. After some playtime it was time for a nap. Brooks borrowed Dylan's Pack-N-Play and went down for a good nap while we had some lunch and visited. It was nice being able to spend time with both of them. It was a very relaxing day and a good opportunity to show Michele how much fun parenthood is.

Brooks was awesome during the entire visit. Full of smiles as usual. The day went by quickly and it was time to head back home. Once again we got to listen to the "party of one" going on in the back seat. It makes me laugh every time. The conversation was just as good on the return trip as it was on the trip down and we were back home in no time.

I'm so thankful to have such a great family. I have the best wife in the world and both of our families are very loving and get to be a big part of Brooks' life. We are blessed.

Who needs expensive toys?

When you have a wooden spoon?

Or a measuring cup?

Or Daddy's calculator?

We had a great weekend. Friday night, Brooks spent the night at his Great Auntie Lee-Lee's house. It was a cousin sleepover so Maggie and Kennedy joined Brooks. When we called to check on Brooks Saturday morning Auntie Lee Lee told us that Brooks got up at 6:30. We told her that Brooks would have fallen back to sleep if she would of ignored his "talking" at 6:30 (he does not get up at our house until at least 8 am). She thought that might be true BUT she then informed us that Kennedy had gotten into the pack and play with Brooks! Needless to say, there was NO chance that Brooks was going back to sleep with a little buddy in his bed with him! When we picked Brooks up, it was very obvious that Great Auntie Lee Lee was in need of some rest and relaxation. She is such a great Auntie and loves her nieces and nephew so much...they just wear her out a little bit!

While Brooks was at Great Auntie Lee Lee's house, Mama and Daddy got a chance to go on a much overdue date. We went out to dinner at the local golf club and ended the night with Dairy Queen and "Take 2" with Steph and Keven. It was so relaxing. The next morning we got to go on a trail run together. Since having Brooks we have not been able to do much of that because obviously Brooks is unable to come with us on the trails. We enjoyed the views of the Lake Superior Hiking Trail which is less than a half mile from our house.

Sunday was spent doing house projects to get ready for winter and going to church. We are trying to adjust to Daylight Savings Time. We didn't really know if we were supposed to keep Brooks up an extra hour tonight or if we should just put him down when he started to get sleepy. We opted for putting him down about a half hour early and we will ease him back into his normal routine.

The most important event of the day was when Brooks took at least one "real" crawl. He has been scooting for quite some time, but today he stayed up on his knees for at least one full rotation. Our little man is getting so old. He is going to be 8 months old in just two short days! We wish Brooks would stay little forever.

Cousins Maggie and Kennedy "borrowed" this to Brooks. They didn't "give" it to him because Cousin Maggie was having a very hard time saying good-bye to her toy she has not used in over a year! Too cute! Brooks loves his new toys and loves all the hand-me-downs he gets from his cousins.

Tomorrow while Mama works, Brooks and Daddy will get to see Auntie Michele and Grandma Johnson. He is so excited. Auntie Michele is going to have a baby any day now and Brooks is excited to meet him!

Halloween

Trick or Treat! Brooks had a great first Halloween. He made a perfect chicken! His two cousins (Kennedy and Maggie) had matching costumes which made for quite a sight as they made the rounds trick-or-treating.

First stop was the office. How can anyone deny candy to three little chickens walking around just looking for a sugar fix? Luckily, co-workers Kelley and Sara were prepared with candy. They got the kids started with their quest to fill their trick or treat bags. After a brief visit at the office it was time to move on.

The next stops included suprise visits to all of the Great Grandparents houses (Grandma Elsie, Grandma Carol and Grandpa Gordy, and Grandpa Russ and Garnett). The kids had fun at each house and it was just as much of a treat for the great-grandparents!

With all of the excitement, Brooks forgot that he's supposed to take a couple of naps during the day. It was definitely an "on the go" kind of day and Mama and Brooks stopped home after visiting the great-grandparents to give Brooks a chance to rest up and get ready for the evening festivities. Brooks had other plans though and refused to sleep. Amazingly, he was still his happy go lucky little self and would remain so for the remainder of the evening.

The last stop of the day was a trip to church for the Halloween carnival. There were kids everywhere! It's pretty neat to see so many people choose to spend their Halloween at church. In addition to all sorts of games and contests, everyone got to walk across the stage to show off their costumes. Brooks can't really walk yet, so his Opa was more than willing to carry him across the stage. He must have done okay because he was awarded best costume in his age category! He received a goody bag filled with toys and candy!

The Johnson family returned home after the church carnival. It was now well over an hour past Brooks' bed-time. Still not quite ready to sleep, Brooks wanted a little help sorting through all of his loot. Mama let him suck on a tootsie roll and he seemed to like it. After a few minutes, the candy was replaced with a bottle and before you knew it the little guy was out like a light.

All in all, a great 1st Halloween!

Pheasant Hunting

A few years ago I was invited to join my dad on a pheasant hunting trip in South Dakota. It's an annual trip that my uncle puts together and I always look forward to it. This year the group consisted of my uncle Gordy, my dad, their cousin Jeff, Jeff's son Mark, and myself. We also had four dogs to help us chase the birds around.


I decided to only do a half-trip this time around in order to spend less time away from Heather and Brooks. I left Duluth on Thursday afternoon, spent the night in Sioux Falls, SD and arrived at our hunting area on Friday morning.
The weather was perfect. Upper 50's and not much wind. That not only made it more enjoyable from a comfort standpoint, but also made for ideal bird hunting conditions.

I'm not much of a sharp-shooter, but I did manage to do alright this year. I typically don't care if I shoot any pheasants or not. For me, it's more about spending time with my dad and watching Scout (our black lab) have fun running all over the countryside. With that said, I have to admit that it was a bit more fun to be able to contribute to the bird count this trip.





Since this is the only time that Scout and I go hunting, I place even less expectations on her than I do on myself. She had some good canine hunting campanions to learn from though, and I was pleasantly surprised when she retreived several pheasants for me on Saturday. She's far from a perfect hunting dog, but that's more my fault than hers. She's a high energy dog, that's for sure. After eight hours in the field, Scout is more interested in a good game of fetch than taking a well-deserved nap.


This trip is always fun and this year was no exception. Good company, good food, and we got our limit of birds every day with the exception of Sunday when we left early to head back home.

I had a great trip and truly enjoyed spending some quality time with my dad, but I sure missed Heather and our little buddy Brooks. It was my first time away from our new family and it was nice come home to them.