Christmas in Stanberry

We had a wonderful long weekend in Stanberry for Christmas. Brooke doesn't quite understand the meaning of Christmas yet, but she knows who Santa Claus is and she knows about getting presents. She also understands lighting the candles for Hanukkah and then getting presents. (She gets the present thing!) Here are a few highlights from her weekend....

Presents! She woke up Christmas morning and looked at them and said, "they're ALL mine!" The day after Christmas, after we ate breakfast, she said, "I open presents!"

Cows! Grandpa and Daddy took her on a ranger ride to go see the cows..she is still talking about it!

Running! She had a blast playing with all of her Boyer cousins and exclaimed, "I running, I running!" as they ran all over the house!

Jewelry! This was just one of many times trying on jewelry with Grandma and Aunt Arianne.

Biscuits! She had fun helping Grandma bake biscuits (and enjoyed eating them too!)

Flying! She went "flying" with Uncle Jordan many times (we didn't get a picture of it though)

Great Grandparents! Brooke enjoyed seeing both sets of Great Grandparents and even understood that she has multiple Grandmas and Grandpas!

She was done taking picutres by this one! (I hope that isn't foreshadowing to a future eye roller!)

As you can see, she had a great weekend! There are many more pictures on this link. Brooke started calling Jason, "Dad" this weekend, instead of Daddy. Its a little sad to hear her say, "Hi, Dad" or "I eating, Dad"...too grown up! There was snow on the ground when we got to Stanberry which melted while we were there. Brooke noticed that the snow was gone and asked where it went. Someone told her that Jay (Jordan's dog) ate it. She remembered that and on the way home tonight when she didn't see any snow in Manhattan, she exclaimed, "Jay ate all the snow!" I guess that's easier to understand than the concept of melting!

Dancing Queen

Brooke got a music set for Hanukkah tonight. (cymbals, tambourine, maracas, triangle, etc...She likes to play her music and dance. You can't see Jason accompanying her with the tambourine and maracas) but you can see her moves!

Happy Hanukkah

Brooke got a play kitchen for Hanukkah from here Grandma Barb and Grandpa Stuart . We set it up last night after Brooke went to sleep so she could be surprised with it this morning. She was very excited to see it and loved playing with it all day. She made Jason and I pretend meals all day today! We lit the candles for the first night of Hanukkah and gave Brooke her first present: her horse! She was unsure at first and immediately announced, "I no ride it." She warmed up pretty quick as you can see in the video. She named him, "Nay".

Playing with her Kitchen

St. Louis Visit/Hanukkah

This past weekend we went to St. Louis to visit friends, family and celebrate Hanukkah. Our visit was sadly cut short by pink eye at the beginning and bad weather at the end, but we were happy to still get to spend some time with our family and friends. Brooke had a great time playing with her Aunt and Uncles and of course Grandma and Grandpa. She was also very excited to meet Gabriel and see his parents, Stacey and Josh.
Here is a picture of Brooke with the majority of her gifts...a Georgetown Hoya's hat and Harvard Elmo from Uncle Jason, a scarf that Aunt Jen made her and a computer from Grandma and Grandpa! She was also very excited about her new books, her legos (from Uncle Dave of course), her little people house and her shopping cart.

Here is a slide show of some other pictures from the weekend.


Here are a few pictures from our visit with Stacey and Josh.

Weekend Fun

Hanging Christmas lights with Daddy

Playing with my friend, Olivia

My True Colors!

This doesn't really need explanation. Grandpa Stuart took these pictures and made this collage. As he said, it captures Brooke's personality perfectly!

Christmas Spirit

Brooke had fun helping us put up the Christmas tree this weekend. Every time she walks into the family room now, she points to it and says, "Whoa!" Today she started clapping when she was sitting in front of it playing. Last night when she was going to bed, I told her she got to stay home with Mommy tomorrow (I'm off work today) and I asked her what she wanted to play. She responded, "I go shopping!" I guess she thinks that's what we do on my days off! Daddy loved that! Today I was explaining to her about Hanukkah and Santa bringing her toys. I asked her what toys she wanted and she said, "I want fishy, pink." When I asked what else she said "purple one, too". So I guess she wants pink and purple fishys in case anyone needs a gift idea!

Helping to hang the ornaments

Checking out the work

Trying to get a posed picture in front of the tree! (easier said then done!)

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a very nice Thanksgiving with Grandma Barb and Grandpa Stuart. Even though mom had to work most of the weekend, Brooke had a great time playing with her grandparents. Here are a few pictures from the weekend.



As you can see Brooke had lots of fun!















Here are some pictures Grandpa took with his remote on his camera.

Coloring

Mom took these pictures a few days ago and hadn't gotten them posted yet. Coloring is one of my favorite activities. My new thing is to lay on my belly and color. The other one is just my pretty smile!

Young Politician

Brooke went with me to vote on election day because I was off work that day. She enjoyed wearing her "I voted" sticker that day. She has quickly learned the name of our new President and loves to say it! I think its pretty funny to hear a 19 month old saying, "Obama"!

Just Like Daddy

Brooke had to try out Daddy's shaving cream today. Who says you have to be a boy to shave with Daddy?

The Case of the Disappearing Rake

We have A LOT of big trees in our current house. This is new for us, as all of our previous homes have not had many trees, therefore not many leaves to rake in the fall. This year our entire yard was covered in leaves. Last weekend Jason raked the yard and ended up with way to many leaves to bag. His solution was to load them all in the bed of his truck to take the dumping ground. (I really wish I would have gotten a picture of this..it was quite impressive.) To help unload, he placed our rake on top of the leaves. The next day, he told me the rake was missing..must have blown out or someone stole it?? (This was Monday). Yesterday, it was nice out, so Brooke and I took a walk in her wagon to the park around the corner from our house. We got about 2 houses down and Brooke points and says, "DADDY'S!!!" I looked and there was a rake laying on the edge of the neighbors lawn. I said, "yeah, that's like daddy's rake"...and then I thought, oh wait...maybe it is Daddy's rake! When Jason got home, he investigated, and low and behold...there was our rake, and Brooke had found it! We are very proud of our little detective!

On a side note, it rained all week, so Jason hadn't made it to the dump to get rid of the leaves. Yesterday, he had to drive to Hutchinson, KS (about 2 hours from Manhattan) and by the time he got home, there were no leaves left in the truck! He said he didn't have a single tail-gater the entire trip...I guess that's one way to get rid of leaves!

....the picture has nothing to do with the story. Brooke was very excited about finding her pink cowboy boots and I couldn't not share this picture!

Singing in the shower

Friday night when I was giving Brooke a bath, I was telling her Aunt Arianne how she has started singing her ABC's. We asked her to sing them and she went through the entire song, right down to "now I know my ABC's..." Of course, my camera was no where around and I could never get her to do it again as clear as that time. I did get one though and if you listen closely you can here a few letters in there! The other video is of her counting. She gets to 10, she just doesn't always get all the numbers in between! I'm not sure why these videos have to take place in the bath tub, but it seems to be the place where she is most willing to "perform"...good acoustics, I suppose!

"ABC"


1,2,3,6,9,10...


(here's your videos, Emily :)

Emily and Henning's Wedding

This past weekend we went to Chicago for Emily and Henning's wedding. It was a wonderful weekend. Brooke got to see Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Jen and Uncle Dave and Aunt Clarissa and Uncle Jason, as well as many other family members. She was very excited to see everyone. She had a very fun weekend playing in the hotel, shopping on Michigan Ave. and especially dancing at the wedding! Congratulations, Emily and Henning! In addition to the slideshow below, There are many other pictures from the weekend, click on this link to see them!

Carving Pumpkins

Today we carved our pumpkin. I wasn't sure how Brooke would enjoy it since she hates getting messy, but she actually loved putting her hands in and playing with the pumpkin mess. Here are a few pictures.













































Below is Brooke saying, "NO, I won't smile for the camera!"

Field Trip

Today I had my first field trip with day care. We went to the pumpkin patch (again). Mom got to go too! I had a ton of fun with my friends!

A little bribery goes a long way...

I finally got Brooke to try on her clown costume...and without and tears! She was actually quite excited with it (once I bribed her with fruit snacks and cookies :) This is the clown costume that my mom made for Jen and I when we were 2. It got worn for many years after that by other family members and friends. I am glad to at least get a picture of Brooke wearing it, although I think she may actually be willing to wear it again!

We love Fall!

As promised....here are a lot of pictures from the weekend! Scroll down, because there are about 4 new posts! Yesterday was a nice cool day and Brooke got to help Daddy rake leaves while Mommy worked all day.

Pumpkin Patch

We had a fun trip to the pumpkin patch today. Brooke loves seeing pumpkins and Halloween decorations at the store, so she was thrilled with all the pumpkins. Here is a short video of her excitement. If you listen closely, you can her her say "pupin" but it was a very windy day. Every nice fall day is ruined in Manhattan with wind! There is also a sideshow of our day.

See How I've Changed in 1 year!

Halloween Costumes

Brooke has a Halloween costume. It is the clown costume that I wore when I was 2. Ever since we got it out at Grandma and Grandpa's house, she has wanted nothing to do with it. She won't try it on, she doesn't even like to look at it. She says "no want this" every time she sees it! We were telling this our friends tonight while over at their house, so they brought out one of their daughter's old Halloween costumes...Winnie the Pooh. Brooke, of course loved it and had no problem trying it on! Here she is with Olivia (the tiger) who she kept calling "Truman the tiger!" I'm determined to get the clown costume on her at least once, so you may see a picture soon, but she may not be very happy!

18 Months!

I apologize, I've been bad about pictures lately..hopefully we'll get some good ones this weekend. Brooke had her 18 month doctor's visit yesterday. Here are her new stats:
32.5 inches (75%), almost 24 lbs (27%)
The doctor said she's on the supermodel plan! We still can't get over her height, given her short parents! The doctor thought she was doing great developmentally, too. Somehow, she remembered about the cookies in their cabinet and asked for cookies the entire visit!

Here are some other things she has been up to lately:
- counting: she's up to 6..we discovered tonight!
- naming people: she can name all of her family members and friends at day care
- pumpkins: she loves seeing pumpkin decorations everywhere we go!
- Truman the tiger: she talks about him whenever she sees the picture on our MU calendar and then proceeds to say Mizzou tigers and touchdown! (hopefully she's right this weekend!)
- the potty: she sits on the potty sometimes at home, but is very interested in day care because her friends are doing it. She even peed on her shoe the other day because she asked to go potty and before her teacher could get her on the toilet, she went. Supposedly, she was very excited and kept saying: "I potty, I potty!" So, apparently she understands the concept. Jason and I commented that most people don't get as excited about a wet shoe as we did!
As you can tell, she is getting more personality and smarter each day. Its amazing to see what she will do or say next!

Making the best of Kansas

Since we don't have mountains or oceans, we had to settle for Prairie. We took Brooke to the Konza Prairie, just outside of Manhattan, today and had a very nice hike. It was actually quite pretty and not entirely flat! She rode in a backpack on Jason's back which she thoroughly enjoyed and even wanted to walk some on her own. Below are some pictures from the day.

Ms. Fix-It

So, not only do I like to clean, but I like to help daddy build too! I had to help hammer all of the nails as daddy was putting together my new shelf yesterday. I even got to use the real hammer. Here is a picture of the finished product in room as well!

Grown Up

Mom thought I looked so grown up in my jeans and new shoes today. She said I look like a little girl, not a baby anymore! I am acting very grown up these days too. I talk ALL the time and love to express my opinion. I am constantly saying, "No want this" or in some cases, "No watch that" (when daddy was watching football and I had Elmo in mind). I tell mommy, "one more" after my books at night and can name all the animals on my puzzle (even rhino, giraffe and zebra).

Cleaning Lady

Brooke loves to "help" around the house. When I am unloading the dishwasher she is constantly saying, "I hep, too". She will pick up spoons and various utensils and put them in which ever drawer she likes. She also likes to dust and fold laundry. Yesterday when Jason got back in town she picked up every single clothing item out of his suitcase and placed it into a laundry basket, reciting, "I heping" the entire time. Here are some pictures of her helping me clean yesterday. I'm not getting my hopes up that this will carry into the teenage years!

Sweeping the kitchen floor

Vacuuming the furniture

Carrying the sheets to the laundry room

Saturday Fun

Yesterday Brooke and I went to a first birthday party. She had fun playing with the other kids. They had a rocking horse there that I remember from when we were little. I think this one was a ' 75 model or so. She loved riding on it! I'm pretty sure it wouldn't meet safety standards these days! We then met Jason for dinner. The other picture is Brooke playing with the rocks while we waited. Luckily rocks are her favorite thing so she didn't mind the wait. When I went in to change her diaper I found three rocks tucked into her little hands. I guess she was saving them for later!