Thanksgiving and a Birthday!

We had a blast on Thanksgiving. We got to celebrate with our immediate families. Greg's parents came to my parent's cabin. They had a very short drive since they actually live on the same lake that my parents cabin is on. Small world. Who knew that in a Land of 10,000 Lakes, we would all end up on the same little lake? Funny.

We stuffed our faces (okay, I did, I don't know about everyone else) and I thought I was going to throw up. So, we decided to ice skate on the lake to try to make some more room. It was a blast. We cleared off a pretty decent sized "rink" and had relays, passed the pucks and tried to do turns. Greg had not skated since 4th grade and he did great. He seems to be a natural at whatever he does. It was nice to come inside to a steamy hot sauna. I tried to take pictures in the sauna, but DUH...they just turned out foggy. Smart girl.

In honor of the grand kids my mom and dad dressed up for Thanksgiving. It was so cute to be greeted by these two. Do you think they love being grandparents?

We went to the Cities today to celebrate our nephew Dylan's one year birthday. It was fun to see him and spend time with the Greg's side of the family. I think Dylan waved today for the first time as we left. He is growing up so quickly! He got his own slice of ice cream cake but just analyzed it and didn't really know what to do with it. It was pretty cute.

It is amazing we were able to get a good picture of Dylan and his Uncle Greg!

Brooks likes to give kisses and enjoyed giving kisses to his cousin. S0 cute.

Thankful.

I always think that the current Thanksgiving is the one that I feel the most thankful. This year is no different. I have thought in the past that I could "never be more thankful than I am this year", but each year I am proven to be wrong. I am so thankful this year for so many things. I will list some, but not all since there are so many.

First and foremost I am thankful that I was raised to love the Lord. I am thankful for this because now I have an awesome husband who loves the Lord and an awesome responsibility to teach my child to love the Lord.

I am secondly thankful for my beautiful baby boy and my wonderful husband. This blog is all about both of them, so if you read this frequently, you know how awesome they are. They are my two best buddies and I am glad that I have two main men in my life.

I am also so thankful that I am able to live near all of my family. It is such a blessing to work for a family business and such a blessing to have two sets of Grandparents who are so involved in Brooks' life as well as a Great Auntie Linda who loves Brooks like her own.

I am ultra thankful for the friendships I have with my sisters. I have two built in friends and to be honest that is all I really need. We have so much fun together and share so much.

I am thankful for my church, my trainer at the gym, my house, my athletic ability, my great chiropractor, my co-workers, the YMCA, my I-Pod, my bikes, my scooter, my jogging stroller, my hairdresser and so many other people and things.

Okay, so don't be offended if I mentioned something like an I-Pod and forgot to mention you or something you think should be much more important to me. I am thankful for so much that I can't even scratch the surface on this blog. I thought I would give you an idea of what I am thankful for.

If Brooks could tell me what he was thankful for some things would be:
His Mommy
His Daddy
His Soose
His Bow-Wow
Ka-ka and Jo-Jo
Treats
TB
Praying
Juice

Again, I am sure he is thankful for more than this, but these are his obsessions right now.

I am sure Brooks is thankful for his toys. He has enough of them to supply a day care center.

Kennedy told me that tonight at church she is going to talk into the microphone and tell the people that she is thankful for her little boy Brooks. How sweet. She loves him so much.

No Wonder...

It is no wonder that Brooks likes his Daddy so much. Greg has so much fun with Brooks and never seems to get tired, annoyed, worn out or lazy (all things that happen to me every so often). Don't get me wrong, I know I am a good Mommy, but I really think that Greg has most parents beat. Any Mommy would be happy to come home to these pictures on the camera. Once again, don't get sick of me saying this, I am BLESSED.

Brooks likes to wear Mama's new helmet. We both have super big heads. I bet this helmet will fit him perfectly some day (it is an XL). Not that I will encourage him to wear flowers or anything.

Brooks likes small spaces lately. Right now he really likes to "party" in this little nook outside our bedroom. We chant "party in the nook, party in the nook" and he laughs and claps. Today, while I was at work it looks like Greg and Brooks had a super fun "party in the nook". It was so much fun, I can't even find Brooks!

Brooks loves playing with his play food. He got a kitchen in the mail this week but it didn't have all the parts. (BTW: If you want my opinion on The Company Store, I would say DON'T DO IT! They are slow to deliver their products and the items are not worth the price. We've have two or three bad experiences now.) So, Brooks climbs up to the table with his food and wants to pray lots and lots of times a day for his play food.

These are my boots. This picture speaks for itself. Do you think Brooks likes it when his Daddy stays home with him?

Girls Weekend...Thank you Keven!

Keven, who is Steph's husband, planned a getaway weekend for the girls in honor of Steph's birthday! It was a blast. We started by shopping all day on Saturday at a place called Arbor Lakes. It is an outdoor mall with great stores, all of which we don't have in our hometown. We shopped until we literally dropped and ate dinner at Buca de Beppo's. It was a really nice chance to be together, enjoy the company of each other, laugh and get some fun clothing! Yeah for shopping! Greg gave me a "pillow present" as we call it and put a bunch of cash under my pillow the night before. He told me to spend it however I wanted. I can always spend whatever I want (within our budget of course!) but it was really fun having cash and knowing that I got to spend it all on things I wanted. We had so much fun.

The next day we hit the spa! We started Sunday with a trip to the workout room to sweat out some of our garlic from the night before! Once we were done exercising, we sat in the hot tub and talked about everything for a very long time. It was fun to have our mom all to ourselves with no Blackberry, no kids and no interruption. I liked the whole trip, but this was one of my favorite moments. I think my mom would agree. The hot tub was outside which made it even more fun.

At the spa, Keven lined up massages and facials for us. It was super relaxing and a great way to end the mini-vacation.

Heather, Laura and Steph at Buca's waiting for our table. We were starving. By the time we got our food it was already 9:00 pm. Eating just isn't important when there is shopping to be done.

Steph got this cake for FREE! Happy Birthday to her!

At the spa. It was so relaxing.

These are just the bags that didn't fit in our overhead carrier on the van. Yep, 5 girls and lots and lots of bags. We had so much fun.

Happy Birthday, Sissie!

Today is my older sister's birthday. Happy birthday, Steph (a.k.a. Auntie S'ers, Ti-Ti, Sissie or Obsessalee...)! We love you. You are such a blessing to our family. It is so cool that you had kids first, so you could teach us how to be better parents. It is the BEST that we both get to stay home (well...3 days a week) and be together. Maggie and Kennedy have such a passion for life and it is a direct result of your enthusiastic parenting and love you give them. It seems like you "do it all"! I admire you, respect you, and want to be you most of the time! I am so thankful that we are buddies. What would we do without each other?

Burrito Union 10-hour triathlon. So fun. Remember that we had enough food for around 50 people and there were only 11 of us? Funny.

Brewhouse Tri. I remember being soooooo sad when you were just finishing your run and I was just starting my bike. Of course, you cheered me on, but to be honest I was really jealous of you. We look happy in this picture. Probably because we were done.

Got to love Body for Life. We've been on so many journeys together, but this one was the best! Too bad we don't fit those dresses anymore. A lifetime battle, right? At least we are in it together!

Oh yeah, not to be left out is Brooks. He loves you dearly. He asks for Ti-Ti EVERY SINGLE DAY! I am so glad that you know him, love him, pray for him, and treat him like one of your own.

Steph: Happy Birthday! You are an amazing friend. I love you.

Just being really cute

We had the whole family home today. Greg is sick. Super sick. Yuck. We feel so bad for him. Get better soon!
Brooks and I went outside today (it is COLD) and played. Brooks was so helpful. He brought me Scout's (our lab) water dish. He also took off the top part and put his whole mouth around the opening. Gross!

Bringing Mama Scout's dish.

He was so happy in this picture. Don't tell Daddy, but I had just given him some Sprite in his cup. I don't think he's ever had his own Sprite, but I snuck it to him while Daddy was sleeping. Hee, hee!

So happy! Saying "cheese" to the camera! Okay, I admit I had also given him a sucker from Halloween. I am the worst mama but at the same time I am the best mama in Brooks' eyes! (That really is all that matters, right?)

I love this little boy.

My Praying Child...

Brooks has been praying for a few months now. This means that he folds his hands and looks around the room while someone else says a prayer. Lately though, he has been praying with his eyes shut. He sneaks some peeks, but for the most part he folds his hands and closes his eyes while we pray. He knows that when we say "in Jesus name" the next thing he should say is "AMEN!" It is adorable. Here is a picture of him praying (As you can see, we are still working on the part about praying before you start eating) and a video of him praying. Sorry about the shaky footage at the beginning. I just didn't want to miss it so I obviously got a little crazy with the camera!

Work Day in the SNOW!

We headed out to the lake yesterday to do some yard clean-up before it snowed. The joke is on us, I guess. It started to snow on our way out there and continued the entire time we were raking the yard. By the end of the day, we were raking up mostly snow with a few leaves. Finally, my mom declared that we were "done". I think the bags full of snow were a little too heavy and it didn't really make sense to rake snow. We were able to get tons accomplished before the snow got too bad and next spring will be much easier now. It was really nice to get outside in the crisp air.

Here I am with Steph before the snow got too bad. We had a really good system going and we worked really fast.

We love this picture because it really expresses who we are. We love being outside, we don't really like to dress up and we are just plain old in love! Cheesy I know, but it seems like snow makes us fall even more in love.

Kennedy worked really hard yesterday. She was working with a "servant heart" and didn't quit until we all were ready to go inside. She took a short break to make a snowman with Oma.

Maggie much preferred to stay inside and be warm (I don't blame her). She also enjoyed rides on the dolly.

The day was great. Thanks to Auntie Linda who watched Brooks so we could get lots of work accomplished. When we picked Brooks up he wasn't doing very well. He had a temp, was super sad and cuddly. He ended up falling asleep in my arms (miracle...never happens) and ended up throwing up all over Greg in the evening. He seems better today, but he broke our hearts last night. Thank the Lord for answering our prayers. We hate when Brooks is sick.

A Surprise Trip!

Brooks and I took a surprise trip to a resort to visit Oma and Opa this last few days. We left on Wednesday and just got back to town a little while ago. It was a weird feeling to be vacationing in the middle of the week, but it was also so wonderful. Of course, Maggie and Kennedy came with us too! Oma and Opa took all 3 kids overnight at their place so that Auntie S'ers and I could have some adult time. It was great. We woke up on Thursday morning, went on a run, had breakfast in silence and explored a really cool gift shop. It really felt like a mini-vacation! Thanks Oma and Opa!

Brooks did well on the trip. He slept in the car on the way down and took really good naps. He spent some quality time at a huge water park on Thursday and was worn out from it. Lately we have been working on not hitting. Brooks hits us when he is upset, tired or crabby. We hope this stage ends soon, but in the meantime we are doing the best we can to not let him get away with it. It is frustrating to say the least, but he did the best he could. He is such a buddy, but also so emotional. (He may get this from his Mommy!)

Brooks needed his goggles in order to go to the pool!

Opa and Brooks on the way to the pool.

Oma and Brooks in the pool.

A bath with his cousins this morning. The kids were so well behaved. We are blessed to have wonderful kids and family. Thanks, Oma and Opa for spoiling us!

Up next? Just a weekend of working in the yard and in the church nursery. We don't have any real plans, so it should be pretty relaxing. We are praying for snow so we can get out and ski! We would love to have a blizzard before Thanksgiving...doubtful, but fun to think about.

Mike TV

Let me introduce you to my very own "Mike TV", his name is Brooks. (I have never seen the show, but I guess it is about a kid named Mike who watches WAY to much TV and maybe starts to turn into a TV or something?? Kennedy and Maggie told me about him.) Brooks loves TV and asks to watch it about 20 times a day. Of course we don't let him, but he is obsessed. We mostly watch the Backyardagins or the Wiggles. I already know a lot of the songs by heart. It is just great when you are humming around the house about "W-Iowa, the Corniest station in the nation"...hee, hee.

Brooks likes to carry lots of remotes around with him. We have three or four that don't do anything, so he gets to hold those. He even says "remote". This is not good!

I am sure Brooks is telling me something very interesting about his show, but I am just loving that he is holding still and I can snuggle with him! Don't worry, we won't really let him turn into "Mike TV". There are way too many other activities we love!

Thank you, Auntie S'ers!

A long time ago, Auntie S'ers taught Brooks about his nose and how cool it is that you can pick it. Brooks has continued to be obsessed with his nose and putting things in it. I don't mean to be gross, but it is just too funny!

Animal Cracker. I think it is a buffalo.

Life Cereal.

Mac-n-Cheese. Wow, TWO nostrils at the same time!

A Fork. Doesn't really fit, though!