Hodgepodge

Brooke has learned her first ever Bible verse. I just love it!

Translation: "God loves us and sent his Son. 1 John 4:10."

In other news, fall is coming! The weather is starting to cool down, and we can now leave the house in the middle of the day without bursting into flame. Our little dogwood tree has one tiny red leaf.

Isn't it cute??

What are you looking forward to most this fall? For me, it's pumpkin spice lattes, tomato soup, chili, and football. I should confess that I forced myself to come up with something non-food-related.

Oh! And I also can't wait to take the little guys to the pumpkin patch. They'll get a kick out of that. And hello, photo op!

Down South

We loaded 'er up again this weekend and headed down south to see my husband's family.

Scot's brother and his family drove a long way to come meet up with us. We don't get to see them very often, so it was a real treat. They have three sweet little boys. Sweet, energetic, wrestly boys. Is wrestling a "boys only" thing? Because we never get to wrestle at my house.

Anyway, they're lots of fun and really cute.



This is their youngest. He's two. Very two. He knows what he wants and how to get it. But I like a man who knows what he wants.

We made some more delicious ice cream. I know I've referenced homemade ice cream about 345 times on my blog, but I'm going to do it again because this picture is too cute. And because it's my blog and because homemade ice cream is awesome.


We hit the best kid joints in town: the park and the petting zoo. We had a great time.







It was a great time. Hope you're having a good one, too.

Learning Stuff

It's been a big week so far.

Nathan is learning to walk. Sunday afternoon he decided crawling is so last month. He's been walking almost nonstop since.



And I'm learning to take pictures.


So, naturally, I've taken billions of pictures of Nate walking.





Here's a blurry shot of Nathan falling.

We're both still learning.

Third Birthday Party!

Brooke's third birthday party was this weekend!

We loaded up the car up with balloons until we couldn't see out the back window.


And we added the must-have ingredient for a third birthday party: grandparents.

I'm not sure who had more fun with the Tinkerbell fairies and that scares me.





Grandma and Papa got us hooked on the homemade ice cream, and it's now a key part of just about any gathering. Brooke licked the paddle and made a huge mess.

The aftermath.


And then, of course, presents. Brooke hit the motherload.




Brooke tried on some of her cute new clothes and played and played with the new toys. The Tinkerbell dolls were a big hit--a big change from the trucks and cars she's always loved. That makes mama happy.


Thanks to Nina, we had a purple Tinkerbell cake with three little candles. Brooke knew to blow out the candles and did it like she'd done it a hundred times before.

She had some help from Snow White and the fairies.



Here she is, Little Miss Three. Happy birthday, Brooke!


Love, me

Pictures

I got my camera! Woo hoo!

I really, really love it, but I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm having a lot of fun trying, though.

It was gorgeous out today so I took my subject for a photo shoot. Uh...I took my son to the park. He, he.







Brooke was in no mood for my picture-taking today. Too bad for her. :-)

Three!

A few days after Brooke was born, I remember sitting with her in her room and rocking her. She was absolutely tiny, weighing less than six pounds. Her little pinky finger was as long as my pinky is wide. She was so delicate and fragile, swimming even in her little pink preemie clothes.

Outside her window I could hear kids at the bus stop. I remember looking at her and thinking that kindergarten seemed a million years away. I pictured a little girl with long, dark hair and brown eyes that looked just like her daddy waiting at the bus stop.

I was wrong about two things: 1) my blue-eyed blond girl looks nothing like her daddy and 2) kindergarten is most certainly not a million years away. We're more than halfway there already. Brooke started preschool yesterday.



And she turns three next week!

Don't worry, I won't get all teary-eyed on you. This is such a sweet, happy time. Brooke visibly lights up any time we mention her party. She knows the drill: cake, ice cream, presents and grandparents. We're doing a simple little Tinkerbell party with just the grandparents. I can't wait to watch her have an amazing day!

I love that little girl to pieces and I can't believe three years have gone by since God let us have her.

Blessed, we are.

My Very Fun Weekend

This weekend we packed up everything we own and headed to my parents' house so the kids could have some Nina and Pop-pop time. And so we could meet our new little niece and cousin. And so Scot and I could run off to the lake and meet up with some friends. Fun!

First, we met our sweet new niece. Here she is with her mama.


She showed us her little baby tricks.

So much cuteness!! I just love her already.

My brother reminded me that he is the artist in the family and showed me that I do not, in fact, have "mad Play-doh skills." He does. (Click here to see what I'm talking about.)


Nemo and Flounder. Brooke may never ask me to play Play-doh again.

And then we took off to the lake and met some really good friends that we've been close with since college. We shopped, ate, played mini-golf, and laughed and laughed and laughed.


Me and my man at dinner.

I distinctly remember that I did not play mini-golf well the last time I played, about 20 years ago. Still true. Everyone kept saying things like "you made par that time, Amy!" or "I think the green must be slanted." I was the overall loser, but I had a lot of fun trying.


Our friends on the golf course.

When we got home I put Nathan in some of the clothes I bought him at the lake.

Fall forecast: overalls. And lots of 'em.

It was a really, really good time, made possible by my parents. (Thanks, again!)