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? :)

Laughter!

I wish these pictures had sound to go with them. Here is a laughing progression that Brooks had last night. Greg was dancing like a goof-ball and Brooks was laughing hysterically. It was awesome. I had to choose between the video camera and the still camera. I think these pictures do it justice even without the sound!

It's been a while...

I can't believe how fast the last week or so has gone by. This is a good thing. The quicker the days go the quicker our little princess will arrive! :) Things around here have been very "normal" lately.

Greg attended a triathlon camp all weekend and had a good time with his cousin/brother-in-law, Keven. Brooks and I had lots of quality time together and also got to see lots of Oma and Opa which was a blessing! I can't imagine not having Greg around. I would hate to be a single mom and I really respect all single moms. I don't know how they do it.


Here are some pictures of our last week or so. Brooks continues to grow in his language. He uses full sentences now and is very easy to understand. It is really fun that he is able to tell us what he wants/needs. We continue to work on hitting and he has done much better at the YMCA and the church nursery. He has not, however, stopped hitting his two favorite people, Kennedy and Maggie. I think he just gets so excited that he doesn't know what to do and he hits them and pulls their hair to show his emotions. So, we will keep working on it and Brooks will continue to have time-outs as long as he is hitting. Overall though, he is a very sweet boy who is very sensitive (just like his daddy)!

He loves his alligator and his Mickey Mouse that he got at Disney from his Oma and Opa!

Greg took out the canoe last week while I was at work. I asked Greg, "Why was the canoe in the front yard?" He replies, "Because Brooks wanted to paddle it!" I should have known. I was thinking he had to out preparing for his upcoming camping trip, but NO, he took it out just to let Brooks play with it. He is such a good daddy.

I was telling my mom today that it is going to be so neat when Brooks and his daddy go camping together. I am all for our little girl going too, but I think there will always be something very special between Brooks and his daddy. It will be neat to send them off for the weekend knowing they are building great memories.

He looks pretty natural for a two year old! We have really enjoyed when we have sunny days. It is so nice to be outside without a million layers on. Today we took a run and Brooks does so great in the Chariot. I am thankful he is patient with me because it takes me much longer lately on my runs. I can't imagine what people think when they see my big pregnant belly, pushing a stroller, running (shuffling!) down the street. I just keep telling myself that it would be much worse to stay inside and not exercise even though it is a ridiculous sight to see me try to run! We made it 4 miles today and I think I will pass on telling everyone how long it took us!

I was asked to post a belly picture. Maybe I will do that soon. I don't have any yet. I will have to get Greg to take one for me. It isn't my favorite look but I'll try to get one and post it soon!

A new Go-Go

Brooks got a new "Go-Go" last night from his daddy. He was so excited this morning when he came up the stairs and saw it sitting there waiting for him. The only bummer is that his legs are about a half inch too short for him to pedal. (The whole reason we got the Big Wheel was because he has not caught onto his Like-A-Bike quite yet). He likes it a lot anyway, even if he can't really ride it.

I went to a luncheon at my sister's church this morning and when I got back I found two really cute boys (men) outside playing. Greg taped some wooden blocks on the Big Wheel to make it easier for Brooks to pedal. He still doesn't really get it, but he loves to scoot around the driveway on it. Brooks was dirty from head to toe and had pure joy all over his face. It was adorable.

Greg also got out the sidewalk chalk. Our drive way had lots of writing on it when I got home. Some of the things that "they" wrote were:
THROW ROCKS (which is all Brooks wants to do now that we have brought him to the lake to throw rocks)
BROOKS HOUSE (which is what Brooks says as soon as we turn onto our street--every time!)
FORT AWESOME (which is what Brooks calls his forts)
HI MA MA! (which is what Brooks says every morning when he comes up from his bath)

I love when his whole body is joyful. He is just a buddy.

Greg is out on a 20 mile run right now as the marathon is getting pretty close. I can't wait for it to be here because that means I am just over a month away from having this little girl. She is moving like crazy and growing a ton. I go to the doctor tomorrow so pray that everything is just the way it is supposed to be. I am so excited to meet her. I hope these last three months just fly by!

Fun with Opa!

I have mentioned before how excited Brooks gets when his Opa comes to visit. Earlier this week, my dad (Opa), stopped by to see his grand kids who were ALL in one place. Brooks loves to stand on his hands and I was able to get some pictures of it.

Watching Brooks stand on his hands or be silly with Opa brings back super good childhood memories. We had (and still have, of course) a close family. I was just telling Greg about how "back in the day" (all the way through elementary school) my parents flipped houses (bought them, fixed them up, and sold them) just so we could go on family vacations. We never knew that until recently when my parents were telling us about the different houses they have owned. My mom was telling me how they would have discussions about ways to save money on trips and would do things like pack sandwiches instead of eating out while on trips and finding any type of free entertainment that they thought we might enjoy.

The memories I have of our annual family trips are awesome and I never would have known they were on a very tight budget. I am so glad that having a close family who loves each other and has fun together is what I remember instead of that each trip was a financial hardship and was on a very tight budget. Oh, and thanks Mom and Dad for investing in good family fun. It was really important to us and is some of my best memories.

Fun.

Steph showed up at my doorstep on Easter Sunday riding her pink scooter. She told me to get a jacket on and get my scooter so we could take a spin! It was pretty cold, but she promised I would be invigorated when we were done. It was pretty fun to ride my scooter, but Steph couldn't get her's started again once she had turned it off to come to the door! Bummer. So, I put my scooter in the driveway and we took out our bikes. By then, Laura showed up and we all had fun riding up and down our dirt road. We know that we have motorcycle helmets on, but there was no sense in changing. I am sure that the neighbors just wonder what in the world we are thinking!

Steph, Laura, Me

My dad showed up for dinner and got Steph's scooter to work! Yeah! So, it was us on our bikes and my dad on his PINK scooter riding up and down the road. One of our neighbors was unloading his truck during our ride and kept looking at us like we were crazy. I guess we kind of are.

As Greg would say, "We have created a monster with forts!" I could not agree more. Greg taught Brooks all about forts and has been inventing cool forts for the last week or so. Now, when we put Brooks to bed at night he tries to make a fort out of his ONE blanket he sleeps with. We look at our monitor and just laugh because Brooks is trying to get himself, his water, BaBa and his Thomas stuffed animal all into the fort without it coming apart. Here is one of his daddy's latest.

Brooks was thrilled that his Ti-Ti wanted to dance with him today. Here they are slow dancing to Sade--Lover's Rock. It was pretty cute while it lasted!