Melt Me...

Last week, we got some family pictures taken with Kristin. She is awesome! She took some time off when she had a baby last May, but now she is back in the swing of things and I am so glad! Brooke is two, so that means busy, busy and I had to give Kristin a lot of credit--chasing around after our crazy daughter to get a good shot. It also means that our pics aren't necessarily the traditional, posed pics either. Brooke has dirt on her arm in one of them, her eyes might be a little squinty, or her dress is hiked up. Ah, but that's life with a toddler, right?Love this one...Brooke has started understanding "I love you" and wanting to give bigs hugs or squeezes. On Sunday Brooke came up to me in the kitchen, hugged my leg and said "Yedoo Mommy" I love you, Mommy. Oh melt me!! How could I not stop and pick her up and just squeeze the heck out of her?
This probably my favorite picture of Brooke:She kept on trying to pull this door open, certain that it was unlocked and she could go inside.On of the great things about Kristin is that she gives you full copyrights to all the pictures. So, Blake does not really like his face in this picture (i think it's cute) so ...Presto! I cropped him out and now it's a cute pic of just B. and I. It's not very often we get some family pics of all three of us together...usually it's just one parent with Brooke while the other parent takes the pic. Thanks Kristin!! We love them!

Easter Crafts, Balloons, and Snuggles

Some Easter crafts Brooke made: Her egge used to say her name, but she peeled off the other stickers. We got the idea for the bird cupcakes from the "Our Best Bites" website.
So a few weeks ago we went over to this lady's house that I do scouts with. She just turned 50 and had all these balloons. Of course, Brooke loved them so the lady kindly gave some to Brooke to take home. Well, they stayed inflated for weeks! At first, every morning Brooke would wake up and want to know where her balloons were. Then, the novelty started to wear off and they were just floating up on the ceiling for days. Finally, I decided we needed to let the balloons go oustide. We weren't sure how Brooke would react to letting them go, but she loved it! She told the balloons "bye" and off they went!Sunday snuggles with daddySome other things Brooke has been doing lately: She's been really into pretending and being a little mommy to Blake and I. She recently spoon fed Blake some "soup" she'd made and then told him to go get his shoes on. She came up to me and put one hand on my cheek and held her other hand out in front and said "Spit it out mommy" So I pretended to spit something out and she said "thank-you mommy" and wiped her hand off.
She also loves to chew/suck on the corner of her blanky. The other night before bed, I was singing to her and she kept trying to get me to take a bite of her nasty, chewed on corner. I kept telling her no, that I didn't need any. But I think she thought she was being nice by sharing. The same goes with her sippy. She is always trying to share a drink from it with Blake and I. Sometimes I'll pretend to take a drink from it, but this time I told her no, thank you (we're working on teaching Brooke that) so Brooke said, "then smell it!" so I did.

On Sunday we don't have church until 11am so we usually keep Brooke in her PJs until then. Well, all of a sudden she comes out of her room totally naked and says "We go swimmy?" Brooke loves, loves going to church. If we tell her we are going to church she gets so excited and runs upstairs to find her tights. Putting her tights on for church is the highlight of her day.

Oh words cannot describe what it is like to be the mother of this little one. She brings us so much joy and happiness (as well as exhaustion, frustration, and the occassional curse word) BUT, aside from that, we are so proud and amazied at what a sweet little girl she is turning out to be!

Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail...

We had a whirlwind weekend. Thursday, Friday, and Monday was my (much needed) spring break from school. So far, the weather hasn't been very cooperative, which makes me even more glad that Blake and I were able to get away on our cruise in March--we definitely aren't enjoying very warm temps here! That aside, we were able to cram some fun activities into our days. And like always, I have way too many pictures and not enough sense to cut some of them out:

Thursday: We dyed Easter eggs. This was my first attempt to do this B. and she loved it. She wasn't too patient with waiting for the eggs to turn colors and wanted to make sure all the eggs got a turn in each color.

Friday: We drove to northern Utah for Baby Animal Days. Again, we had never been, even after living in this part of the state for almost 5 years. Brooke liked it, but wasn't so sure about holding the animals and did not like the baby cows mooing at her and trying to lick her.

Holding baby bunnies

On the train ride (which she LOVED), holding a baby duck, petting baby goats, and an albino peacock

With dad petting a donkey, pony, and sitting on some old farm equipment

After the baby animals, we went to see our good friends Reggie and Ryanne and use their house to get ready for our pictures with Kristin. She took Brooke's six month pictures and it was fun to do some family pics with her. She was awesome with Brooke--getting her to laugh and doing a lot of candid family shots, which I love.

After pictures, Blake dropped me off at my "nerd event". It just happened that the day we were in town, there was also an author's night featuring 5 talented YA authors:

James Dashner, Brandon Mull, Ally Condie, Jessica Day George, and Shannon Hale They talked, answered questions from the audience, and were really funny and fun to listen to. Afterwards, I braved standing in 30-45 minute lines (or 2 hours for Brandon Mull) to have the authors sign some of my books. . They were so nice and took time to talk to everyone and personalize your book. It.was.awesome Or like Blake said before dropping me off, "So is this like a big deal? Like, if you're a nerd, this is a big deal, huh?" UM YEAH IT IS!!

We stayed with Blake's sister and had tons of fun with her girls before heading home Saturday morning.

Sunday: We had an Easter Egg hunt before church and B. got her Easter basket where the most exciting things by far was the sucker and the bubbles!

Video of Brooke looking for eggs:

getting her basket

Playing with bubbles with daddy

wow, if you made it to the end of this post, I congratulate you! I hope you all had a fun, safe Easter weekend!

It's Spring!!

I guess an advantage to being tucked away in the corner of the state is that some of the springs storms that have hit everywhere else haven't made it out our way. We have all been enjoying the (relatively) warm weather... especially Brooke and Blake who want to be outside all the time. This weekend we did some work in our garden: getting it tilled, planted a row of peas and Blake constructed a lattice for us to grow our own grapes. Last week, Brooke helped me cook dinner. She loves to help out. Afterwards, I had all these guilty thoughts like "what if that pot tipped over and she was burned?!" I made sure to watch her really closely, so does that count? On Thursday Jack and Isabel came to play--we love getting all this cousin time. This was also a good day for J. and B.--they had lots of fun together. Please ignore Brooke's outfit. Her purple jacket was the only one I could find!

The dog from across the street, Toby, decided to come jump on the tramp too. Brooke kept saying "go away Toby! Go away! No, no, no"Friday we celebrated Uncle Zac's birthday & B. got to help blow out the candles.Saturday was a great day to go to the park in the morning. And I was reminded just how much Brooke has grown up since this time last year. Brooke was so much more independent--playing on a lot of the big kid toys and had a lot more fun, I think. I set our stuff down while Brooke played and all of a sudden Brooke decided she was tired and needed a break.We set up our picnic spot and Brooke drank 3 capri suns and ate tons of snacks. She really wore herself out. It also made for a nice nap later on!

Saturday night Brooke had her first Easter Egg hunt at grams and pinch's house with the cousins. It didn't take her long to catch on what it was all about!Daddy helping her get an egg that was up highBrooke didn't like the pokey branches, so she pointed to the egg and we got it for herThis was a learning moment for B. The other cousins all found frisbees and B. was feeling sad that she didn't have oneThen it was all good when she got a frisbee of her own.

She found lots of eggs! Everytime she saw one she'd yell "I see it! Egg!"

Because I have nothing better to blog about...

So I'm sitting here staring at a stack of essays I'm hoping will decided to just grade themselves. I'm also thinking about the fieldtrip I have to help chaperone tomorrow and how I can get my students excited about the poetry unit I'm planning. But instead of focusing on any of these things, I decided to do an internet search to see the faces of who was cast to play Katniss, Peeta, and Gale in the Hunger Games movie. I read the names, but didn't recognize any of them. I have to say I am pleasently surprised. So far, so good. What do you think?

Loves

What our family is lovin' right now:
Blake: *Yard Work: no serioulsy he does! We moved into our house at the end of October and haven't been able to enjoy our yard at all. It's been burried under snow and leaves. We have so many projects and things we want to do that it's been fun to get out and get our hands dirty. Blake even bought a fancy new weed-eater that has all these attachments you can put on it like a tiller for the garden and leaf blower. Brooke even got to help dad do some yard work. She loved being his little helper.Blake gave B. some wood to carry to put on the woodpile*Mountain Biking--it's getting to be that time of year when Blake is riding the trails again *Spending more time with the family (his schedule has its rotation, and I couldn't be happier!) and getting to be a part of Brooke's bedtime routine again.
Courtney: *Zumba!! Oh I am a bad, bad dancer. But I LOVE the workout I get from going twice a week to this class. The music is fun, the moves are fun (even if I can't quite get my arms and legs to move at the same time) and I think eventually I'll get it down.
*Stock Up Sales: my favorite grocery store had a case lot sale and we went crazy! But it's so nice to have food tucked away in our storage room (I guess that means I don't have an excuse not to cook anymore!) In case you are wondering about my lovely shirt, it's my work polo we wear on Fridays.
Brooke: Being Silly & having her picture taken (best if both are happening at the same time!) At dinner the other night, she picked up her turkey off her dinner plate, held it close to her face and told me her turkey was scared. Then when I laughed she said "Coatnee, go take a nap!"
As I posted earlier, she also loves her chocolate milk and I just got her these yogurt smoothie things that are sugar free (I'm pretty big into that) and are awesome for an on the go, quick snack.And finally, Hooray for being outdoors! Everyday when we get home, Brooke gets out of the car and tells me "sit down!" on the front step so she can play.

3,6,9,10,Yellow!!!

Wondering where the title comes from? That is how Brooke counts.Relaxing on the deck and after getting undressed & Brooke decided that she didn't actually want to take a bath, she just wanted to be naked

Brooke is our little sweetheart with a spicy side. We came home one day to find Blake laying on the couch downstairs. Brooke goes up to him and says "Daddy, are you okay? Do you need a hug? Do you need some scissors?" I think she was hoping that we'd say, "Yes, Brooke go upstairs and get the scissors for us. While you're up there, cut something up, won't you?"She loves scissors and stickers. We have to hide both. Sunday morning Brooke was running around without her shirt. I told her to go get it. She brings me her shirt, only to find she has stickers all over her belly! She also loves to color and read books. She has the book "Mr. Brown Can Moo" memorized. If you ask her what does the rain say she replies "dibble-dibble, dibble-dop". She also has one of those "Fur Real" animals she got for Christmas. It's a kitty. It meowed once and Brooke goes "Oh, Kitty, why you crying? Do you need a momma?" She said it like she was so concerned about it. Brooke will also call Blake and I by our first names. We always hear calls for "Bwake" Or "Coatnee" and have to remind her, "no I'm mommy/daddy"
Other loves *yogen (yogurt)
* chocit noke (chocolate milk) "hot" means she wants it heated in the microwave. Nestle makes a no sugar addes chocolate milk mix, and whenever I get it out of the cupboard Brooke points and exclaims "Bunny drink it!" At first I didn't know what she was talking about, but on the front there is a picture of bunny with a glass of chocolate milk and B. thinks that is hilarious.
*loves the cat that is still hanging around our house. Everyday she has to go ouside and try to find it. When she does, Brooke shouts "Kitty! Kitty!"
*birdy (the movie Up) I think it's the combination of the ballons and the bird that make it so exciting for her.
*shoes. Brooke has to be wearing shoes at all times! She loves new shoes. I just got some summer flipflops for her and she is in heaven wearing them. Notice the burned pot holders? That pretty much summarizes the quality of my cooking.

*singing songs. She learned a circle song at daycare and sings it all the time. She can sing along with me to "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" and "Twinkle, Twinkle"

*being a mommy to her baby. She puts it to bed, rocks it, changes it's diaper, takes it potty, hears it crying and picks it up. It's so cute to watch!
*saying prayers. Brooke always prays right along with us. She's even mastered "Dear Heavenly Father..." sometimes she prays about her movies, or about grams and pinch or mommy and daddy.
*wady (Lady, grams and pinches dog) Right now, Brooke is standing at the back door yelling for "Wady" to "Come here!" She also took a pie crust off the counter and informed me it was cookie for Lady and wanted to bring it out to her.

Oh, but she can throw a nasty temper tantrum. She purposefully bangs her head on the wall or floor until she cries, she scratches at her head, rips her hair bows out, screams at the top of her lungs, tries to take off her clothes.... it's a real show.

I'm still delaying potty training. Brooke wears pull-ups and goes in the potty a few times a day, but is only good about it if we remind her. If we forget, she doesn't use the potty. I think changing her over to big girl underwear would fix that, but that is a hurdle I'm not mentally ready to deal with. The plan is to do it as soon as I get out of school for the summer. That way it will be warm enough for Brooke to run around in just her undies and I can devote all my attention to her.

And Finally, some conversations with Brooke: She is so cute and funny once you get her talking!