July 26, 2009

Visit to Stanberry

We had a very enjoyable weekend in Stanberry this weekend. Brooke got to see her Aunt Arianne and Uncle Jordan as well as her grandparents and all of her great grandparents. She can keep everyone straight and had fun entertaining them all. I usually end up after a weekend like this with a bunch of pictures of Brooke and you can't even tell who we visited. This weekend I tried to get some pictures of Brooke with other people. Sorry, Grandpa Nickell and Jordan, I missed you, but I think I caught everyone else! She also had so much fun this weekend I decided to seperate my posts, so keep scrolling down, because there are 2 more!
She didn't want to pose for this picture but I like it anyway!


She walked around these rocks barefoot like it was nothing...and then collected rocks to deliver to everyone inside..see below!



Making Lemonade with Grandma

When we first got to their house on Friday, Brooke got to help Grandma make fresh-squeezed lemonade and cookies. She loved drinking the "wemonade" too!


























Even though she doesn't look like she likes it here, she actually just didn't want me to take her picture!

Fishing

Brooke has been talking about going fishing at Grandma and Grandpa's for weeks. We got her a fishing pole and she was very excited about it all....until she started fishing! Then it lasted about 2 minutes and she said, "I ready to go home!" She did enjoy the Ranger ride and seeing the cows before fishing, though! Maybe next summer!

Daddy teaching Brooke to fish

It looks like she's having fun! But it didn't last long!

July 19, 2009

Splash Park

We had beautiful weather this weekend (85 and sunny, no humidity!) so we went to Manhattan's new splash park yesterday and enjoyed swimming in our pool today. Brooke was a little apprehensive about the splash park at first but after Jason went in first and she found her friend from daycare to play with, she had a blast!




July 12, 2009

Playing Doctor


Here is a short video of Brooke playing veterinarian. At the very beginning I think she is explaining what she is; something about a doctor for when animals are sick! As you can see from this and the baby play, Brooke is becoming very good at pretend play and using her imagination! All I have to say is Allie is one VERY patient cat!



July 10, 2009

Daycare Welcome Wagon!


We have found out from Brooke's daycare teachers that apparently she is the welcoming committee for the new kids in her class. A while back, a new friend joined Brooke's class (Sadie). Apparently, Brooke took Sadie all around the classroom and showed her where everything was. She then took her up to Trinity and said, "This is our new friend, Sadie!" Her teachers had told me about this when I picked her up one day. This week she got another new friend in her class, who she was very excited to tell Jason and I about. When I asked her teacher about her, she told me that Brooke again, took her new friend around and told her all about the class room and told her everyone's name in the class. Her teacher called her their "little teacher." She is quite the social butterfly! I wish I could see her introducing her friend to everyone in the class and showing her the ropes, I'm sure it was quite a sight! (the picture has no relation to the story, just a cute outfit and I needed a picture to post.)

Baby Time

Brooke has been very "mothering" lately to her babies. She has 2 baby dolls..the one with no hair is named Brooke. The one with longer hair is named Trinity. (Trinity is her daycare friend with long blond hair). A few nights ago and then again tonight she decided she needed to read to her baby and rock her and put her to sleep. She also thought her baby needed to sleep on a pillow like she does. She has a crib in her room where she likes to put them to bed, but tonight the baby got to sleep on the pillow in the family room.
"Trinity" on her pillow and Brooke reading to her

Brooke rocking "Brooke" (above) and reading to "Trinity"(below)

July 07, 2009

Some of you may have heard me talk about Jason's cousin's daughter, Claire, before. Below is an email Jason sent to some friends and colleagues regarding Claire. His words were much more eloquent than mine would be, so I have copied them here to share with you.

"I have a 2 year old cousin who was diagnosed over a year ago with a yolk-sac tumor. She underwent a minimally invasive surgery and chemotherapy and was deemed to be in remission. In January of this year, she relapsed and went thru several months of chemo. In May, she was again deemed to be in remission. However, we learned this evening that the tumor marker used to monitor this condition was elevated indicating the cancer has returned once again. This time, she is to have her uterus and vagina removed and then undergo very extensive chemotherapy. As you can imagine, her parents are devastated (while awaiting the arrival of their second child due in ~ 1 week). The reality that she will never be able to have children herself is overshadowed by the possibility that she may not make it through this.

I am asking you all to keep them all in your thoughts and if you feel compelled please offer a prayer that they will have the strength to get through this, that the surgeons will be precise, and that this will be successful. Our own daughter is 2 years old and I cannot imagine what they all must be going through. Thanks in advance for listening."

I cannot imagine what this would be like to go through. We realize that we are so lucky and blessed to have our healthy daughter. After I read about Claire, I almost felt guilty looking at Brooke's blog with all of its light-heartedness, funny stories and joy. Brooke gives us nothing but joy and we are so thankful for that, but realize that it is precious and are grateful for every minute with her. I ask the same as Jason did above, to please keep Claire's family in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.

July 05, 2009

Happy 4th of July!



We had a nice relaxing July 4th weekend. On Friday we decided to buy some kid fireworks. (Fireworks are legal in Manhattan, therefore the neighborhoods are VERY loud the entire week!) It was fun because Jason and I had the exact same memories of childhood fireworks: snakes, poppers, sparklers and those little tanks that don't do much! Now they have turtles and chickens in addition to the tanks and the sparklers are much more fancy (and dangerous) then they used to be, but it was still fun sharing these with Brooke. She sat very obediently on the step and watched intently!

Saturday we went to a friends house for a barbecue. Brooke had a very exciting day! She had fun riding on their toy car and 4-wheeler, eating her first corn-on-the-cob, watching the big kids do fireworks, jumping in the bounce house and swimming! Needless to say, after all that we didn't make it to fireworks but it was a fun day! I'm pretty sure the only time Brooke was not talking was when she fell asleep in the car on the way home...REALLY...she was saying something every second of the day, even when no one was listening!

July 03, 2009

I need a Pillow!

Thursday when I got home from work, Brooke told me, "I'm going to sleep with a pillow tonight!" I asked Jason where this came from and he said he didn't know but she told him the same thing and took the pillow from the couch into her crib to sleep with. Later, I asked Brooke if any of her friends at day care had pillows they napped with. She got a sheepish smile and said, "Sadie has a pillow!" (Sadie is a new friend at day care who just started in Brooke's class). So, last night she slept with our couch pillow, but today Brooke and I went to Target to get her her own pillow. She is very excited about her new pillow! She is posing in the picture below pretending to be asleep!

Water Fun!

Brooke got a water/sand table for her birthday but we haven't played with it much yet. The sand got all wet and messy so we turned it into a water table for now and she had fun playing for hours the other day. In the second pic Bo is "kissing" her all over because he likes the sunscreen!