Brooks loves to help me water my plants. He actually does really well holding the hose pointed in the right direction. Once in a while he accidentally has the hose pointed towards him and gets a nice blast of cold water. I think it scares him more than anything. Yesterday, we had the chance to get outside and enjoy the awesome weather. Brooks was such a helper to me...not to mention he was pretty much the cutest little kid I've ever seen with his birthday suit on! As the school bus went down our road he turned and waved to all the kids. I wonder what the elementary kids were thinking of the naked two year old watering the garden. Funny.

Last night we went to the DSSO Symphony Ball. It was a nice time with some pretty good food. It was fun to be with Greg and not so fun to try to dress formal when you are about to have a baby! I did what I could and overall and glad we went. It was fun to get some pictures of the two of us. Thanks Laura!

Mom and Dad can do Brooks' "funny" face too!

Belly Shot--30 weeks or so

I can't believe I am posting this. First off, the baby is not in my arms or thighs although you might think so based on this picture. Just concentrate on the beautiful little girl who is in the belly section of my body. She will make this all worth it. Yikes! Only 58 more days to go! I can't wait!

Opa!

If it were Wednesday and if I participated in "Wordless Wednesday" this would be my picture for the week. But, since it isn't Wednesday and I barely remember to participate in "Wordless Wednesday" I will post it today.

This has got to be one of the best pictures ever. Saturday morning at the lake, all the kids in bed with Opa and lots of fun to look forward to. It is obvious that Opa is very special to these three!

Going back in time

I guess I am trading spaces with my friend Natalie since she never used to blog and now she does almost every day. I am so sorry for the lack up updates but life has been so busy. Greg went camping for 4 days last weekend with his buddies. Boo for me, and yeah for him. It was a very long weekend filled with LOTS of pregnant emotions. I don't think I have ever felt so happy to see someone when he walked in the door on Monday night. I had tons of support from my family (Oma, Opa, Aunt Bean, Uncle Keven and Ti-Ti) but it just isn't the same. I know I have mentioned before, but Greg isn't really the "typical" guy and does SO much for our family. I knew I needed him, but last weekend confirmed that I would be very lost without him.

We made the best of the weekend alone and went to the park out by my parent's cabin. Auntie Bean came with us. I am amazed how much easier it is this year to watch Brooks play on equipment. Last year I had to walk with him everywhere he went and I had many heart attacks thinking he was going to hurt himself. This year he is so much more able to play on his own. I still get anxious when he is hanging off of something that a 7 year old should be hanging off of, but I remember he is a boy and protect him without squelching his athleticism and energy.

Brooks had a sucker at the park. He had to leave it on the bench while he played, but could come back to get "licks" from it. As the time at the park went on he ended up with a pretty dirty face. At first, I was cleaning his face each time, but then I came to the realization that it wasn't hurting anything and sometimes it is fun to just be a boy. He was wiped out after our adventure (we must have been there over two hours!) and had a great nap in the afternoon.

He makes some of the cutest faces, but this picture above has to be one of my favorites. I could just eat those lips!

I have posted many pictures of Brooks and his "funny" face, but none of Brooks and Auntie with their "funny" faces!

Brooks loved his sucker and the fact that I let him be dirty.

It is hard to get Brooks to kiss you unless you have something to offer. I know his loves his Auntie, but I am sure he was trying to get another lick of his sucker from her. He must know that a kiss will do the trick!

Blowing Bubbles

We got to go to the playground tonight and are really enjoying the nice weather. It is supposed to get rainy and cold the next couple of days, so it was fun to get outside while we could. Brooks got to blow bubbles and seemed to enjoy it. He didn't really make any bubbles and I am sure he ended up with lots of soap in his mouth. He didn't seem to mind though. I guess that is what being a boy is all about.

Right now Brooks is in his bed for the night. It is almost 8:00 pm and he is having a hard time falling asleep. This has been the trend for the last couple of weeks. No matter what we try, he seems to be in his bed talking, laughing and hanging out AWAKE until around 9:00 or sometimes even 10:00. It is a bummer because it doesn't make him sleep longer in the morning and he gets so tired. We never used to struggle with bedtime (and I wouldn't call him staying in his bed singing and playing a REAL struggle) but lately it has been hard for our little guy to settle down for the night. I think it might be because it is still so light outside, BUT at the same time his room is super dark and he can't tell it is light outside. I am sure it is just a phase, but we would both love to figure out how to help him fall asleep a little bit faster.

Everything else is pretty normal around our household. I go to the doctor on Monday for a check-up and things seem to be progressing pretty normal so far. The birth of our little girl is not too far away! Yeah!

Fun with Food!

Brooks had pasta for lunch on Sunday. His daddy had him eat it with a white polo shirt on. Here is the result. At least he enjoyed it!

Here is a question and answer session with Brooks as of late:
Q: "Brooks, what do you want for breakfast?"
A: "Meatloaf"

Q: "Brooks, what do you want for lunch?"
A: "Meatloaf"

Q: "Brooks, what do you want for dinner?"
A: "Meatloaf"

It is too funny. I have made meatloaf ONE time, but he has it lots when he goes to his Auntie Linda's house. Last weekend we were at a local restaurant and we ordered Brooks the meatloaf. The waitress said to us, "The kids meatloaf?" We were pumped and said "Oh, you have kids meatloaf?" She replied with "No we don't have kids meatloaf, but I am confused!"

I guess she didn't know what to think when a two year old was ordering meatloaf with green beans and broccoli!

Zoo!

We went to the zoo today with Oma! It was so nice outside (60 degrees or so) and we were all very overdressed! It was fun to be able to run around and see all of the animals. Brooks loved the Polar Bear the most, but I think it was mostly because the bear had a red ball that Brooks really wished he had. Our zoo is falling apart and it is so sad to see some of the exhibits that they have had to let go. We were all wishing we had 5 million dollars to give to the zoo so that they could fix it up.

It is so hard to get a good picture of the three cuties all looking at the camera. This is about as good as it gets.

The animals were really active today. We decided that 10:00 am is a great time to go because most if not ALL of the animals were awake. Some were even being fed (like a bullfrog that was getting fed a baby mouse!).

The kids were fascinated by the underwater viewing area.

This little boy expresses his emotions so well. I am talking EVERY emotion, not just the good ones! Ha!

Thrill on the Hill

On Saturday Greg and Brooks both took part in a local running race. Greg raced a 10K and Brooks raced a big huge lap around the lawn at the college! It was so cute. He got his first race t-shirt and especially enjoyed the "treat bag" he got to take home with him (it was full of candy!).

Brooks adores his daddy! He rang the cowbell and said "Go, Daddy, Go".

Maggie and Kennedy did the race as well. They actually stayed on the course and didn't try to take down the orange flags that were marking the course! :)

As always, (well most of the time) happy as can be!

Go, Brooks, GO!

More from the circus!

Fun times riding the elephant. I remember taking Kennedy on the elephant when she was two. She was so scared that she cried. I was SURE that Brooks would start crying, but NOPE! He just wanted to go "again and again"!

Loving on Opa or "Ops" as Brooks calls him.

Brooks two best buddies in the whole world.

Making his funny face while waiting to ride the pony.

It's CIRCUS time!

This morning we took Brooks to his first circus. It was wonderful. I can't believe how much fun it is to see something like the circus through a little person's eyes! I think we all watched Brooks more than we watched the actual circus. It was a blast. Brooks did great and amazed me that he wasn't afraid of riding on the elephant, he wasn't afraid of the noise and did great with the clowns. He clapped when everyone else clapped, ate popcorn like a big kid and even got to have his own Sprite! Thanks Oma and Opa for buying us the tickets and coming with us. It was fun!

Brooks' first encounter with clowns. The one on the right gave him a sucker so Brooks was pumped and after that, I don't even know if he noticed the clowns (he was too into his sucker)!

Brooks has an Elmo book that has Grover at the circus eating popcorn. For a couple of weeks now Brooks has been asking to "Go to the circus with Opa and get popcorn", both of which finally happened today! He loved it.

Like I said, Brooks clapped when everyone else did. He also danced in his seat with joy and talked to us throughout the entire show.

He felt pretty "big boy" having his own Sprite! I am surprised he is down for nap right now with all the sugar. I wonder what he is dreaming about? :)