Brooklyn's Birthday

Yesterday was Miss Brooklyn's 7th Birthday!! I can't believe our little girl is 7. CRAZY!! For her party she was back and forth between Chuck-E-Cheese and The Fun Park and opted for The Fun Park- we were all glad to stay in the Valley. Chels had told her she would rollerskate with her and was so excited. She started the morning off by opening her presents from us. Grandma and Karen checked her out during lunch and took her to Burger King and she was thrilled. After school, we picked up Sean and went to The Fun Park. (So the funny thing about this is that Brooklyn had decided that she wanted a surprise party and told my mom that everyone could be there waiting and when she walked in they would yell "SURPRISE" even though she would know that they were all there.) So we decided that we would give her a real surprise. The family that came to The Fun Park left early and headed to Fredrico's and the rest were there waiting. We walked in the back room and everyone yelled "SURPRISE!" It was classic- she was so surprised and loved every second of it and loved her pink cake! It was such a great day for her and we are so blessed to have such great family that love and support us and our little gals. I don't know what we would do without our little Missy! She brings so much joy and happiness into our home and we love her so much!

Brooklyn's new birthday outfit- she insisted on wearing even though it was chilly.

Her and Chels and her first time rollerskating

The big SURPRISE- I love the look on her face!!

Her birthday loot- spoiled girl!!

Happy Easter!!

We had a fantastic Easter this year! We started our Easter festivities on Monday when we dyed Easter eggs. Wednesday we had an egg hunt- the gals LOVED this! Sean was flying out on Thursday to go to his brother Brent's wedding near Nauvoo. So we got a hold of the Easter Bunny and he came on Wednesday night so when the gals woke up on Thursday he had hidden their baskets. They were both excited to get a pillow pet and some bubbles. The gals and I went and stayed at my parents house for the weekend. They were thrilled to dye eggs again with grandma on Friday. They waited patiently on Saturday night for Pops to get home to have an egg hunt and get their present from grams and pops. On Saturday they got all dolled up in the their Easter dresses and looked so cute! (We were glad to get Sean home on Sunday. He was flying out of St. Louis and a tornado had ripped through the airport. We weren't sure when he would be able to fly out. But was able to come on Sunday just later than he had wanted.)

I love how hard they are both concentrating on their egg

Egg hunt between the rain storms

The gals coming in looking for their baskets. (Brooklyn does have shorts on they are just really short.)

Egg hunt at grandma and pops'

I have had a few people ask for a pregnancy update- I don't like to take pictures of myself pregnant, but here are a few. I went to the doctor today and she is measuring big. Gracie was 8 lbs. 10 oz. so we will see how big she is. I have 31/2 weeks left, but most likely will be induced a week early.

Brooklyn's Program

Brooklyn had her school program last week. Her and 2 other kids had speaking parts right at the start to introduce the theme. She had 3 different parts and worked hard to memorize them. She nailed it and did a great job. We were so proud of her!

She was excited to get all dressed up for the program

And these 2 cuties loved climbing up and down the bleachers

The Gals

Last Wednesday, my mom was on her lunch and called me and said that they had called her from the school and that Brooklyn had fallen on the playground and hit her face. Gracie had been running a fever all week and her I were just hanging out so I told my mom to check things out when she got back to school. When she got back she called me and said she was bringing Brooklyn home. So at that point I knew it probably wasn't good. At recess Brooklyn and some others were chasing a boy when one of the 4th grade girls ran smack into Brooklyn. She fell down and her face bounced off the blacktop. She was pretty banged up, but was fine. She healed better than I thought she would and has just a little bruising left around her eye.

This picture was taken shortly after she got home

This picture was taken yesterday it doesn't show the full extent of the bruising

And this little cutie (or stinker) has gone from being the best sleeper to not wanting to sleep at all! I guess it is getting me used to getting woken up multiple times a night. I don't know if she senses the changes coming or what. With that smile and those dimples how can I not melt when she smiles at me?

I Looked Out the Window and what did I See...

A HUGE mess!! We have had sewer problems since we bought this house 6 years ago. We have had to call Roto-Rooter out 5 or 6 times. Last year we replaced the sewer line from our sidewalk to our house hoping that would take care of the problem. Last Friday we realized we were having the same problem- Roto-Rooter came and couldn't get their camera in. So we called the guys that did the job last year to come and see what they thought. After digging into things they decided that we should replace the line from the sidewalk to the mailbox. We have had a few delays in the process because the Blue Stake people didn't stake a spot where some fiber optic telephone wire were- so Qwest had to come out and fix them. When they got the old pipes out they found that in part of one of them was a huge tree root! We are cautiously optimistic that this will solve the problem and we won't have to deal with this mess again. However, the gals have quite enjoyed the process and talking to Perry and Tom- the 2 taking care of the problem.

What do You do in the Wintertime?

The gals were so excited last Saturday when they woke up to a Winter Wonderland and about 12 inches of snow. We had to put snow clothes on and get outside- fast! They had a blast! I knew we weren't done with winter and we were just being teased with Springlike weather. But we made the best of it and had fun in the snow.

The snow day was also my mom's birthday. We had a fun party on Sunday- the gals LOVE to blow out candles. And they sure adore their grandma!

Yesterday was Dr. Suess's birthday. Brooklyn's school was having a weird dress-up day. She chose to dress up as one of her favorite storybook characters, Fancy Nancy. She sure looked fancy and played the part well!

Evening of Art

Several weeks ago, Brooklyn came home from school with a note explaining that there was going to be an "Evening of Art" (our school changed from a PTA to a PTO this year and this is to replace the Reflections contest.) Brooklyn told me that she wanted to draw a picture and enter it in. The theme for the event was "Treasure" we talked about what different types of treasures were and I told her to think about what she wanted to draw. She immediately told me that her best treasure was her family. Sniff Sniff. She came up with that by herself and I am so proud of her for realizing that over her toys, her DS, her scooter, etc. her family is her greatest treasure. She sat down to draw the picture- she started over once- and came up with her piece titled, "My Family is my Greatest Treasure." Thursday night was the event it started at 6:30 and at 5:30 she tells me that she is going in to get dressed in her Christmas dress because she needed to look really nice. I told her that I thought that what she wore to school would be just fine, but she insisted on her dress. She got all dolled up and then patiently waited for her daddy to get home from work so we could head up to the school. She found Grandma and was beyond thrilled when we found her picture and she noticed that she had purple ribbon- she has ALWAYS wanted one. Her other incentive for entering was that every child that entered received a free meal from Texas Road House- she was ecstatic to get that also. Texas Road House was there serving a lite meal. It was such a great event and I am so proud of Brooklyn for wanting to take part in it!

I love this picture- it shows the pure joy on her face

Her purple ribbon

"Family is my Greatest Treasure"

2 of my greatest treasures