Just Because

Today I was in the mood to play with my camera. So I decided to invite Luke over and take them down to the park for some camera practice. We had a great time. They got to run around and play, oblivious to the fact that they were my "project."
I may be biased but I think these are a couple of cute kids!

Brooklyn's 3rd Birthday Party

This year, per Brooklyn's request, we had her party at Grammy & Papa's house. It was the perfect setting for a kids birthday party! Grammy did a great job with the decorations. She definitely has a gift.

Since Brooklyn LOVES ice cream I decided to do an ice cream bar. It set the theme for the party. I used my cupcake stand for some ice cream toppings.


Brooklyn came to the party with Nana & Grampa. I wanted her to see everything after it was set up. She had been talking about her birthday party for months and was so excited when the day actually came.

We had lots of things for the kids to play with. Including this cute little house that Grammy had just got.

So excited!!



I found these cute ice cream cups and thought they'd be the perfect replacement for a goodie bag. Each kid got their own with their name on it.

Thanks to Noelle we got to borrow this amazing water slide. Brookie went on it once. She had fun but once was enough for her.

Check out the determination in her face:)



Luke was not having it. But he gave it a good try. Uncle Curt to the rescue.

Kate and Eli had a blast together!



We had a little pool set up for some of the younger kiddos.

The youngest 2, Sydney and Teagan, seemed to have a great time also.


Taking a break to warm up and eat lunch.

Entertaining everyone is exhausting...

My little birthday girl!!



After a lot of fun in the sun it was time for an ice cream break. Grammy made this adorable cake for Brookie made out of only ice cream. She loved it!


The kids enjoyed "building" their own ice cream sundaes.




She loves getting presents. You wouldn't have known that from how she acted though. She was excited about a few, but really just wanted to go back to the water. Featured below is the tutu that she pretty much hasn't taken off since she got it.

Nothing better than eating a hot dog and watching a movie nudey-cutey while the grown-ups clean up after your party...

The next day was her "actual" birthday. We celebrated with a family tradition...

Happy 3rd Birthday Brooklyn!!!

Brooklyn is 3!!!

Brooklyn has now been 3 for 5 whole days. I hate to think about how fast time is flying. I've done my best to cherish every moment alone with her before her baby brother comes. I guess it's time for my list of Brookie facts....

• She is still a social butterfly. Loves to be around people and usually hates going home.
• She has been potty trained for over a month now which she did on her own. One day just decided "no more diapers and go potty on the toilet." She was more ready than I was!
• She is still in love with Wyatt Van Duyn and talks about him daily.
• Her best friend is Kate.
• When she wants to be held she says, "Hold you me." I LOVE IT!!
• Still calls her bathing suit "baby soup." I will be sad when she corrects that one.
• She sleeps in a "big girl bed" now and loves it. Although she sleeps with her head where her feet should go and refuses to be under the covers.
• She has all her teeth.
• She weighs 26lbs 2 oz and his 35.5 inches tall. That's 8th percentile for weight and 11th for height.
  
• She'll dance to her favorite CD with her tutu on for over 30 minutes.
• She has an imaginary tiger and bear that she is terrified of.
• She still has a pacifier at night time. Hard to admit that I've let it go this long, but I have.
• She has two blankies that she loves.
• She's the most cautious little kid I've ever seen.
• She's terrified of any dog that she doesn't know.
• She HATES bugs.
• She's silly. Does really "odd" things all the time. Makes me laugh hard multiple times throughout the day.
• She has a major sweet tooth.
• She's always pretending that random things around the house are instruments that she's learned about on Little Einsteins.
• She's received so many hand-me-downs from Kate that she thinks everything she wears used to be Kate's.
• She plays really well by herself.
• She thinks that every "owie" needs a band-aid and that she can only get them from "Grammy's house."
• She asks for cinnamon toast for breakfast every morning.
• She only naps 1-2 times a week, maybe. And hasn't napped consistently for a year now. If we're home she still gets quiet time from 2-4.
• She goes to bed at 7:30or 8 and wakes up at 7:30 or 8. She'll stay in bed for a couple hours playing in the morning. One time I had to go get her out at 11:30 and she was happy as could be.
• She still says she is "Mommy's baby & Daddy's girl."
• The "like a big girl" trick doesn't work on her. If I tell her she's a big girl now she says, "No! I'm a baby!" Fine by me!
• She talks to my tummy and says, "baby brother! Come out right now! You wanna go ni-night with me??"

My baby....

Palm Desert May 2010

I'm a little behind in blogging about our trip to Palm Desert a couple of weeks ago. Better late than never!
We had a great time! We spent a glorious long weekend at the Jacobs' condo. Our friends Steven and Noelle Vanden Bosch came down and spent a couple nights with us. We had a great time hanging out by the pool during the day and playing cards at night. Brooklyn had so much fun and even made up some special names for Steven. He was either "other daddy" or "daddy dolphin." Noelle was "No-wow." Curt wasn't happy about getting the new name "daddy whale" but we all thought it was pretty funny.
As you can see she was nothing but smiles pretty much the whole time.


Brooklyn proved to be quite the chicken in the pool. She only wanted to sit on the steps and when we'd force her in she'd just say, "don't throw me in the water!"

Brooklyn's favorite game was throwing the ball for Curt and having him act like a doggie or dolphin. She still cracks up just by watching the video.


She loved teaching her baby how to swim.

Shaking her booty. One of her favorite things to do.

Can't wait for our next trip out there!!