Brooke's Birthday Part 2

Another week capped off with Brooke's birthday.  What a lucky girl!  My birthday has always been a single day so long as I can remember, but she got to celebrate for a full week!  Various gifts streamed in throughout the week, and we finished things off on Saturday with her birthday party!  We headed to Frozen 2 with some of her friends, and then they came to our house after for cupcakes and presents!  It was a lot of fun.

Going back to last Sunday, which was Brooke's actual birthday, we finished off the day with some playing in the back yard.  I gave Brooke a camera for her birthday, and she was crazy about it.  She took over 500 pictures the first day!  In fact, while we were in the back yard, she was taking pictures of everything!  Winry joined us outside and had a blast on the trampoline!  The swing and trampoline both got some good use this last week as the weather was pretty warm through the first half of the week.

On Sunday night after dinner we sang happy birthday and had cake and ice cream of course!  Brooke picked a strawberry banana cake!  I really like that she is willing to pick creatively (last year we had strawberry lemonade!).  Monica made banana and strawberry bread, and we layered the breads in the cake.  It was very good!

And here we are looking cute and chillin on a curb outside the church!

And Winry was just nom-ing a Belvita cracker and having a wonderful time!  What a cutie!  Also, when did she get SO BIG!?

We ended up playing in the backyard until pretty late one night.  We turned on the lights in the backyard, which cover the yard pretty well, but our fireplace sticks out on the side of our house and blocks the light from getting to the trampoline.  So we brought out a flashlight to keep jumping until dinner was ready.

On Tuesday we finally raked up and bagged all our leaves!  Brooke was really excited to sit on the bag of leaves.  She remembers that very well from last year!  Fortunately we had enough time before gymnastics to clean up and sit on the bag!

Last week Brooke had a hard time at gymnastics, so this week we made sure she took a nap before we headed over.  In fact, she woke up not much before.  Basically just long enough to sit on the bag (Winry and I cleaned up the leaves).  We thought that would help gymnastics go better.  She had a great time during warm ups, and even did this high balance beam!  However, when she finished she came over crying.  I held her for a little and she decided she wanted to go do stuff again.  I told her she could skip the balance beam if she didn't want to do it.  She worked her way through a bunch of things, and when she got to the balance beam she did it again, and then came over again.  She said she really wanted to do it, so not exactly sure what was wrong, but she decided at that point she was ready to head home.  Not 100% sure what's going on with gymnastics because she loves it half the time and cries half the time, but it doesn't seem like it's for her.

On Wednesday morning, the girls opened Brooke's gift from Eden (her friend that moved to AZ a couple months ago), and in it Brooke got a flamingo and a bunch of cute hair clips.  The girls have been wild about these all week!  I mean, just look!  Winry has like 5 in her hair.

And Brooke just stuck as many into her dolls hair as she could fit!  They've had to have one every day, and usually their stuffed animals and dolls have had to have some too!

Brooke is definitely a gift giver, and gifts is probably her biggest love language.  So with her birthday happening she got REALLY into the gift giving, and while I was at work she made AND wrapped (on her own) a gift for me!  It was a wonderful picture she colored.

Winry has been working on her dance moves this past week.  She got out the laptop and was having a great time.  Monica said she was doing a different dance for each song, and you can see several of them in the videos!  There was also some silly tickle time while getting into the car. Monica was trying to get Winry to turn around the right way in her car seat so the tickling began, and Winry was just laughing SO hard! And as soon as it stopped, she'd throw her head back to get tickled again!

There's a little horse you can ride at King Soopers, and Winry rode it for the first time this past week!

It snowed on Friday and so we HAD to play in the back yard that night.  We threw a bunch of snow balls, and the snow was actually really good for snow balls this time!  We also did some circle sledding, and Brooke even pulled Winry for a loop or two!  There were a few snow angels as well, and Jelly even escaped outside!  She wouldn't go in the snow though, and was trying to avoid me and Monica catching her, so she kept running back and forth next to the house.  We got her though.

On Saturday morning, we headed to the theater to watch Frozen 2!  It was both Brooke and Winry's first movie in a theater, and they both loved it!  All of the kids did!  Here's everyone dressed up as either Anna or Elsa before we headed in.

Winry was maybe a little small for her seat, but she didn't really seem to mind being folded in half that much and sat in her seat for at least half of the movie.  That was also the half of the movie she had snacks to eat.

After the movie, everyone came over to our house for presents, sang happy birthday and then had cupcakes as was shown in the first picture.  Look at that!  Getting happy birthday and cake a full 6 days apart!  What a lucky little girl.

And on Saturday night Monica and I went to see GENTRI at the PACE center, which is the local theater here in Parker.  The show was great, and it was Christmas music.  They were starting off their Christmas tour in Parker this year.  We had a great time, and Winry slept in until close to 7 this morning, so it was even OK that we were out late! (You may not think this is much of a miracle, but for the last few weeks, she has been waking up before 5 almost every day!!)

That's everything for this week.  Have a wonderful week ahead, and a Happy Thanksgiving!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROOKE!

Brooke turns 4 today!  I can't believe she's already growing up so much!!  She has been a delight her whole life, and I love her so much!  I am so grateful for Brooke!  She's a wonderful big sister, and a great example to Winry.  She was even an amazing share-er all day so far and has let Winry play with her new toys!  Here she is this morning getting ready to tear in!

Last Sunday I pulled out some of my Legos for the girls to play with.  Brooke had been really interested in them lateley.  The blocks were a little much for the girls.  They were too hard to push together and pull apart.  However, the bag of animals and minifigures was a HUGE hit!  Brooke and Winry had a great time playing with them all and did a wonderful job sharing together.

But for now we'll rewind back to the start of the week.  Brooke's got a new book memorized.  Shocking, I know.  This time it's Dinner at the Panda Palace, and Winry loves to hear it too!

On Tuesday Brooke had gymnastics.  I could be wrong, but it seemed like she was doing better this week and more comfortable trying things.  Just look at her on these beams!  She did end up coming home early though because she was really tired and started crying a few times and running over to Monica.  So eventually Monica asked if she just wanted to go home, and Brooke said yes.  She still had a great time, and we're definitely doing a nap this upcoming Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Jessica came over to go ministering with Monica and brought Brooke a birthday present!  Brooke was beyond excited when she found her Santa flamingo!  She also got a cool rainbow kitty book bag and some books, including a cool one with flashlight things that you move around to illuminate the page and find things.  Really cool gifts!  Thanks Jessica!  You're the best.

On Wednesday, Monica had to jump her car in the evening to get around, but it seemed to work fine for the rest of the night.  However, the next morning it was dead again...  I guess it's not too surprising since Luna is just hitting 10 years old and very possibly has it's original battery.  We've had the car for 4 years and never replaced the battery.  Anyway, after another jump on Thursday afternoon we headed to Advanced Auto Parts and bought a new battery which came with free installation! 

It would have been like a 10 minute process, but one of our battery terminals was completely corroded to the connector... so it took a little longer to get everything back up and running.  The girls came and sat in the front with Monica and they all had a wonderful time listening to music while dad stood out in the cold wind...

On Friday morning, Brooke asked if she could change Winry's diaper, and did a perfect job!  That means Brooke changed her first diaper just 24 years younger than I did!  Basically the same.  She's changed it at least one more time since then, and Winry loves it too.  Winry is perfectly behaved for Brooke, whereas for Monica and I she'll sometimes be rolling all around and trying to get up and run away.  This is definitely much better!

Friday was also the SEAKR craft fair, and Monica was going to have a Norwex booth, so I worked from home in the morning before I took over watching the kids while she went in.  Turns out snack time is now an under the table experience.  This was the first I'd seen of it, but Monica made it seem old hat.

I took the girls to Brooke's dance class, and Winry just wanted to go around and meet everyone.  She came over to this family in the class after Brooke's and helped the girl sitting on the floor with her shoes!  She was being super social, which is a quite different experience than we've had with Brooke so far.  I got a video of Brooke doing some tumbling stuff in class, and also got to see her practice for her winter showcase.  I didn't take a video of the dance because I want to keep the anticipation building!

After dance class, we went to see how Monica was doing, and things went well for her!  She had 4 or 5 people sign up saying they were interested to learn more, and also had 5 sales!  So the fair was pretty great!  After saying "hi" we went to Noodles and Company for lunch, and then to the park near my work to play.  The girls had a great time.  Winry hung from a bar all by herself, which I didn't know she could do.  She also climbed up this rock climbing wall like thing.  We had a great time until it was time to leave.  Monica let me know when she was ready to meet us and swap so I could go back to work.  We were well past Winry's nap time (like... 2 hours past) and Winry had just walked into a rope and fallen over and started crying, so I picked her up and we were heading to meet Monica.  Brooke tried to run away, so I had to hold her hand, and then she kept trying to run away while I was holding on and saying her arm hurt.  This quickly turned into two crying/screaming children which made for a fun walk back to the car.  Everyone took a nap when they got home!!

Friday I headed straight to Kurosawa "on the way home" (it's 10 minutes past home) to pick up dinner.  It was our house-iversary!!  We've been in our house for 5 years!  And every year we get Japanese food.  The night we moved in we drove out in a snowstorm and got Japanese food to bring back home, so now it's a tradition! (Also, both of the kids were really grumpy about this picture happening!)

Since Brooke's birthday is on a Sunday we let her pick a place for dinner for Saturday night, which took us all to Panera!

Here's the soon to be Birthday girl with her mom!

This morning Brooke got straight into present opening while her requested breakfast, pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes) was being cooked!  I gave her a camera of her very own.  Monica gave her a "pink guitar" which she's been asking for for several months and immediately started to play!  And Winry gave her a Polly Pocket house!  She and Winry have been playing and having a great time all day!

Today for church, Brooke picked to wear their new matching Christmas dresses!  They looked SO cute, and lots of people at church commented how wonderful they looked.

Brooke took cupcakes to church for her primary class, and they were Cookies and Cream and SUPER yummy!  Also, good news for next week, we haven't had cake or anything yet, so expect more birthday to come!  Brooke has requested a strawberry banana cake, so Monica has been trying to figure that out.  That's probably a little easier than last years strawberry lemonade cake at least.

Also, Brooke has been enjoying talking with family and has had a lot of fun talking on the phone with everyone.  Thanks for your calls!!

Have a wonderful week, and we'll have some wonderful cake!

Fresh Coat of Paint

Winry got her nails painted for the first time this past week!  She was very excited about it, and, most importantly, was willing to sit still and let her nails dry!  I got home somewhere around halfway through the process and Winry was VERY excited to show me her pretty nails!  She even kept blowing on them to make sure they were dry.  Don't worry, she blew on them for the rest of the day, you know, just in case.  She also picked the color for each nail separately, and she got one of every color she could choose!  It's starting to come off now, and she's a little dismayed about that.

In Halloween closeout, the girls happened to find this flamingo costume for 90% off!  Will it fit and will someone want to be a flamingo next year?  Who knows, but they loved it!

We even let Winry have a turn, though it was a little large for her. Obviously she loved it too!

On Tuesday Brooke had her first gymnastics class.  She has been wanting to do one for quite a while, we saw classes going when we'd leave swim lessons, and finally got to start hers.  It was supposed to start last week, but got delayed a week because of all of the snow.  They set up a course throughout the gym and then the kids can walk through and try all of the various things.  I'll be honest, I didn't go, so I don't know the exact structure.  Obviously they also did the most essential of gymnastics, ribbon dancing!!

They also had a bouncy "balance" beam and the kids got to lay on it while it inflated.  Brooke was a little worried as it filled around her, but in the end enjoyed it and is now ready for next time.

While Brooke and Monica were at gymnasitcs, Winry and I finished up my run, and then went to pay homage to the turkey again.

After Winry finished her dinner she decided to share.  She found Cookie Monster and put him in her seat and fed him some of the rest of her dinner!  We were pretty careful not to let Brooke see as she was really tired after gymnastics and we were pretty sure she'd cry.  I think she'd laugh now though.  Winry also showed off her impressive vocals and sang "Away in a Manger" to me!

The next morning there was TERRIBLE news!! Violet was sick.  Fortunately Brooke and Winry knew exactly how to take care of her.  Winry even rocked her and sang "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"  Winry is starting to learn the songs we sing to her and sing them a whole lot!  It's really fun and cute.

Jelly came by after dinner one night and sat down to join us after Brooke finished eating.  I almost helped her get a bite... almost Jelly, almost.

Monica also showed Brooke how to hang a spoon from her nose!  Brooke has a book where one of the characters can do that, and after we read it she wanted to try, and since this is one of Monica's hidden talents, she taught her how.

Winry continues to be more independent every day.  This past week she wanted to open markers on her own.  Monica said the face she was making at first was better, but of course she stopped doing that once the camera came out.

On Friday, at dance class, Monica said it looked like the kids were starting to work on something for their Winter Showcase!!  I forgot they had one until she said that, and I'm so excited to go again!!  It's basically a dance lesson where families are invited to come and watch, and during the class they'll do some dances that they prepared to show you.  I'm excited!

And lastly, we've got Jelly again.  This morning she was getting a drink out of the sink, and decided that the easiest way to do that was to go over the top of the faucet!  Never seen that before, so I grabbed a picture.

And I think that's everything from our neck of the woods!  Have a wonderful week!

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween everyone!  We had a wonderful Halloween, and I believe in the end we came home with more candy than we bought to hand out... I'm not sure if that's a success or not...  But the kids had a great time.  Here we all are on Halloween night, right before we headed out!

Roll way back to Monday, and Brooke was very excited in the morning and wanted me to put on my BYU hoodie so that we could MATCH!!  I'm not sure where she got that jacket, but she really enjoyed matching!  There was also quite the snow storm this past week (more on that later), which kept many of my runs inside on the treadmill.  Most mornings once Brooke woke up she'd come sit/lay on the floor and watch me run until I finished.  On Monday when I finished she wanted to hop on the treadmill for a run of her own!!

As mentioned, it started snowing Monday night, and kept snowing until sometime Wednesday!  There was a lot of snow Tuesday morning, so I worked from home.  I came up to refill my water bottle just in time to see the kids doing a science project!  They were making colorful rain in a jar.

Monica also helped the kids make a fort in the front room!  They really liked playing in there.  However, they brought down their blankets and pillows from their beds for inside, so we had to try to remember to collect everything at bed time.  Let's just say I made a LOT of trips up and down the stairs at bed time.

And here's the trio of fort builders in their fort!

Of course, with so much snow falling we spent a lot of time playing in the snow.  Both Brooke and Winry love the snow and don't even seem to notice the cold.  There was a lot of sledding around the backyard, and in one session outside Brooke even face planted out of the sled 3 times!  She'd come up with a face covered in snow and never even seemed to mind.  I'd just blow it off and we'd keep playing.  While out, Winry decided to get out of the sled and "walk the rest of the way" and tried to follow us in our circle.  We of course had a snowball fight, in which I had to make all of the snow balls and then hand them to the kids who proceeded to throw them at me.  Winry is still working on the throwing aspect, and many times she'll just swat a snowball off my hand back into the snow.  We even spent some time with Winry in the swing while I zipped Brooke around the yard.  That was the most tiring.  Anyway, we had a great time playing on Tuesday and Thursday and did a good job of taking advantage of the snow while it was here.  In fact, we even played late into the night and had to turn on the lights in the back yard.  Winry stayed out later than Brooke as the cold just never seems to get to her, but eventually she helped clean up and we headed in (p.s. she doesn't get her thumbs in her mittens, so she wasn't really holding the sled, but the string had to be between her thumb and the rest of the mitten).

With all that time inside, we were always looking for something for the kids to do, and the girls started to do some kids yoga!  Also, on Wednesday morning I decided to check the traffic on maps after about 36 hours of snow.  Of course all of Denver was terrible, but I was surprised to see that the traffic extended down I-25 all the way to Santa Fe, NM!!  That's a pretty large storm!

Brooke drew a clouded leopard all by herself this past week!  I really like it.

On Halloween we went down to Main Street for some trick or treating before dinner.  It was pretty crazy when we got there, and we were only there like 15 minutes after it started.  There was a Winnie the Pooh there.  I'm not sure if he was actually there to take pictures with, or if people just were... but we joined in and got a picture too!

We had a few friends over for dinner and then all headed out to Trick or Treat together.  Here's Brooke with Emma and Libby before we left.

We had a great time out trick or treating, and Brooke made it the longest of anyone.  She just wanted to keep going, going, going.  Most of the other kids were getting pretty tired, so the other families headed home and Monica took Winry and left with them.  Brooke and I continued onward.  In fact, after we got home no other trick or treaters came by our house!  Brooke can trick or treat with the best of them!  Just look at her with all her candy!  Also, when Monica got home she checked in with Winry to see how her first trick or treat trip went!  Winry was very excited she got candy!

On Friday Brooke had dance class, and Monica got a great video of her practicing some tap dancing!

I never saw it on Friday, but on Saturday the turkey was back up for his big Thanksgiving party!  The kids were very excited to have the turkey back, and we made our inaugural trip to the turkey Saturday night after dinner.  When we first saw the turkey up two years ago, Brooke loved it and we had to go see it every night!  However, she was also a little scared of it because it was so big, so we reassured her that the turkey would never hurt her.  Then, whenever we'd go see it she'd say "turkey never hurt you!" We told her that story, which is why you hear it so much in the video.  Winry always seems to miss the negatives when she repeats things, so Winry has been saying "turkey hurt you!"

Today while we were getting ready for church Winry found her Violet dog toy, and it can sing "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands."  Turns out, she loves that.  Winry was sitting in her room playing it over and over and clapping along.  She didn't even notice me through the doorway!

I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween!