Christmas at Cassandra's

On Christmas Eve, we spent the afternoon and evening at my older sister Cassandra's house in North Dallas celebrating their Christmas traditions with their family, which included a fondu dinner, re-enacting the Christmas story, and taking LOTS of pictures with all the cousins.

Christmas at Melissa's

On the Tuesday before Christmas, we spent most of the day at Matt's sister Melissa's house in Azle where we ate another wonderful Christmas dinner and enjoyed each other's company. We also had a gift exchange, and we made out pretty well - that's our dart board Logan is holding in the background. :)










(Yes, Patrick, that is a pink horse Ian is riding... but don't worry, the toy gun in his hand kinda makes up for it.)

Christmas at Michelle's

We spent the Monday before Christmas at my little sister's new house in Garland celebrating their Christmas traditions, which included a wonderful Christmas dinner and making gingerbread houses. Brooklyn also enjoyed playing with her cousin Brynn. They even enjoyed their bath together.



(My house is the one in the back left corner - don't laugh... I had to use the leftovers)

Crawling the wrong way.

Well, she's crawling... but the wrong way. That's right; she crawls - on her hands and knees - backwards. She's happy and excited that she's finally mobile and can go places now. But, unfortunately, she can't see where she's going, so she usually ends up running into a wall or under the couch!





But obviously she doesn't care. She's mobile!!

When I walked in...

I walked into Brooklyn's room after her nap the other day, and, mind you, she had only been awake for approximately 5 minutes before I walked in, I found her like this. Not only was she facing the other way when I layed her down asleep, she definitely had the other half of her body showing.


I thought, "why isn't she crying???" Apparently, she thought it was pretty funny to be hiding behind the bumpers.

I guess it might be time to take the bumpers down. :)

Just for you...

Thought a few of our readers would enjoy this video of some silly nephews of ours at Thanksgiving...

Thanksgiving 2008

This was Brooklyn's first Thanksgiving, first road trip, fist trip in general, first time meeting all the cousins, and first time sleeping away from home. We were all very anxious as to how it would all go. Well, it was perfect! She had a great time on the road. We sang songs, played with toys, slept, ate, and slept some more.

She slept well at her grandma's house, too, despite all the noise from all the other grandkids running around. And, I guess her cousins just wore her out during the day, cause she slept well at night, too.

We had a GREAT time spending our days with family. We've missed them all so much.

The meal itself could only have been served at a church building as there were too many people to fit in a house. The food was FANTASTIC and we enjoyed it immensely!

Thanks Grandpa and Grandma for letting us spend Thanksgiving with you. You've made Brooklyn's first Thanksgiving perfect!

7 Months Old and Rockin'

To celebrate her 7 month birthday, we bought her some warm sweaters and jackets.

This one is a favorite. I know it's not pink, but brown does go with everything... plus we get to call her Fuzzy Wuzzy.

Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear.

Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair.

We also let her clean her face after eating now. This is how she cleans her face - she puts the towel in her mouth and smiles.

She can also say another very important word now.

And of course she rocks!!

The things she can do...

Oh the wonderful things Brooklyn can do.

She can sit up now (for only a few seconds before tipping over) without assistance.

She can pull the blanket over her head while on her tummy! I personally thought this was a pretty cute trick.

And, while we did not get a picture of the event (too traumatizing... for us) Brooklyn can jump, yes JUMP... literally... out of her Bumbo. She was sitting on the table (yes, we know it is NOT meant to be placed on raised surfaces) and while I was making her breakfast, Matt was standing next to the table. She was sitting perfectly in her little Bumbo, but just as Matt turned away from the table, we heard a "THUD". We both turned back and she was crumpled over on the side of the Bumbo on the table face down. It was not as traumatizing for her as it was for us (mainly Matt as he felt personally responsible since he was closest). Luckily, there was no bump or bruising, and she holds her grudge against the table instead of us.

Kiss the Cook!

Thanks to the encouragement of my wonderfully talented mother-in-law and my own incredibly gifted mother I have given cooking another try. Those of you who know me well know that the kitchen is the last place you want me when it's dinnertime. I have never been much of a cook. Now I have, on occasion, successfully followed a recipe or two (mainly the sweet ones) and made out pretty well, but even following a recipe, for me, was daunting. It would take me hours and I would have to re-read it over and over again for fear that I would mess it up (which I'd done before and, to this day, hadn't heard the end of it from my husband).

Now that I am a stay-at-home mother, I find it very necessary to be able to cook well. Not only for my child's sake, but for my husband's as well. I have tried several recipes and have even ventured out from my coveted book of recipes and "winged" a few things. I have met with success quite a few times, now, and even have had the courage to try and cook some of Matt's favorites that his mom cooked for him growing up. Here is a picture of one of his favorites, chicken broccoli and pasta casserole (it was sooo good and I was soooo proud of myself that I had to take a picture - and yes, Matt laughed at me taking a picture of our dinner).

She may say "Da-da" but she laughs at Momma!

Shaved Head

Yesterday, Matt had gotten so sick of his hair that he asked me to shave it all off (again) (we went through this a year and a half ago, too). So I did. We were a little worried that there would be some balding spots that would now be noticeable. Luckily, he still has a full head of hair. Sometimes I wish I could just shave off all of mine, too. I don't think I would look as sexy, though. :)

Matt says the real reason for shaving his head was to make Brooklyn feel better about her bald head. What a great Dad!!

Happy Halloween!

Here is Brooklyn in her Halloween costume.

Isn't she just the most adorable little butterfly??!

Can you believe it??? 6 Months Old!

To celebrate being 6 months old, we took Brooklyn to a park and went for a long walk on one of their trails. She even got to ride Daddy's shoulders for a bit!

She was still too small for the baby swings, so we swang on the tire swing together.

Here are her monthly bathtime photo-ops. See how she barely fits in the bathtub now! In that last picture, right before her bath, she is actually in the action of peeing on me. Sufficed to say, Daddy ended up giving her the bath that night.

We also spent some time in our backyard this week enjoying the cooler but sunny weather. She got to experience grass for her first time and absolutely loved it! She didn't try to eat it, she just liked the noise it made when she grabbed it.

She's also learned to be loud like her momma. She yells for us when she wants our attention - usually when she's ready to get out of bed. She's also sqeaking. Yes, squeaking. It's rather adorable. I don't even care that it is really loud and you can hear her outside - as my neighbor pointed out one day.

She has also become an excellent eater! We started solids exactly 1 month ago and she is already and expert!

Brooklyn loves sitting up, but she's not yet strong enough to do it by herself. So, we have been doing some exercises like this to help her strengthen her muscles. She's gettin really strong!

Tagged - 8's

I was tagged to list some 8-favorites and some 7-favorites, but I don't have that many favorite things, so I am only doing the 8's.

8 favorite tv shows:
1. Lost... along with everyone else, right?
2. Heroes (but since I've missed one episode, I have to catch up on the internet now. We'll see if I still love it)
3. The Office
4. Southpark
5. Star Trek Voyager (guilty pleasure)
6. Angel (another guilty pleasure)
7. PTI (Pardon the Interruption)... thanks to Matt.
8. Scrubs

8 Favorite restaurants:
1. Cheesecake Factory (not here in Charleston, though)
2. PF Chang's (also not here in Charleston)
3. Smokey Bones (love love love their pulled pork!)
4. Magnolias (went there for our Anniversary last year and have wanted to go back since)
5. Zaxby's
6. On the Border
7. Sticky Fingers
8. McCalister's Deli

8 Things That Happened yesterday: (except I don't really remember yesterday, so I will post things that happened today instead)
1. Turned on the fire in the fireplace for the first time this season. But only for an hour.
2. Watched Wiggles with Brooklyn... surprisingly entertaining.
3. Made oatmeal with Bananas for me and for Brooklyn and ate together.
4. Took a nap when Brooklyn did (she woke up 4 times last night)
5. Took a shower during her 2nd nap... finally - it had been a few days. :/
6. Fed Brooklyn lunch and forgot to feed myself.
7. Finished getting ready to got out while during Brooklyn's 3rd nap
8. Went to Tanger Outlet Mall and bought Brooklyn a Halloween costume (will post pics soon) and some snuggly warm PJs and ate dinner there with Matt... like a date!

8 Things I Am Looking Forward To:
1. Having Matt home on the weekends now!!!
2. Brooklyn's six month well-baby check up (minus the shots she will have to get, though)
3. Dressing Brooklyn up in her butterfly costume.
4. Passing out candy for our first Halloween in a REAL neighborhood!
5. My doctor's appointment. I am hoping that it will be the last for a long time.
6. Thanksgiving in Alabama!
7. Christmas in TEXAS!
8. Having four new neices and nephews next Spring!

Fun pictures of Brooklyn

She loves to look at her reflection in this toy. She just stares at it for quite a while, then looks at us and stares at it some more.


This is her NEW toy! She already loves it! She doesn't quite know how to jump on her own yet, but she likes to bounce with our help. And she loves all the "bells and whistles".


She is already a really good eater. She started solids about a month ago and has now moved on to vegetables in addition to cereal... and she LOVES it! She eats cereal for lunch and then another bowl of cereal plus some vegetables for dinner.


She already demands to hold the remote... our little couch potato. Her favorite shows are the morning cartoons on HBO.


It was a little chilly one morning, so I dressed her in this adorably, snuggly, velvet outfit and couldn't stop taking pictures. She liked it, too.


She is so much fun!