First day of Pre-School - Brooke

After having a fantastic year of joy school last year with another group of Moms, we all decided not to continue another year and to send each of our kids to preschool. We decided on a place called "Rainbow Station" and this was our topic of conversation all summer with Brookie. This girl loves, needs, and craves learning and structure so this was the perfect thing. We picked out her outfit the night before, made her lunch and were ready to go. When I dropped her off, there was no looking back for her so I got a good picture of how it would be next year dropping her off for Kindergarten. She has loved school so far and can't wait to go every Tuesday and Thursday. Hard to believe I have one more year until my baby starts school and our lives and schedules change forever!!

Brooke and Brayden - May 2011

Alrighty... time to play catch up on the blog! Anybody still out there? This blog serves such a different purpose for me now than when I started it. It actually has become my journal and scrapbook. Plus, in the words of my friend, "Blogging is to 2007 as pinterest is to 2011." haha. So, if you're on pinterest, let me know!

A photographer in our ward was doing some mini-sessions at the end of the school year, so we took full advantage. Brayden was exactly 5 months here. I love how she captured all of the little features that I love in his face. He truly looks just as angelic as he is. And I can't believe how grown up my Brooke is. We just finished with her 4th birthday festivities, of which more posts will follow.

I'm just glad I have these pictures because it helps me feel like I am freezing time since they grow much too quickly.

Brayden James - 4 Months

-12.7 lbs. and 23 inches - both slightly under average
-started laughing and rolling from stomach to back around 3.5 months
-still not sleeping through the night - ack!
-loves showers and hates baths
-ticklish on his tummy
-keeps his fists clenched tight and held over his chest at all times!
-nicknames are: Muncha-luncha, B-ray, Bray, Brady (Brooke's nickname)
-won't start solids for a few more months since he came early
-beautiful crystal blue eyes and blond (ish) hair
-has the most heart-melting (is that a word?) smile I've ever seen...

Brooke Elen - THREE years old

LOOK at this big 3 year old Brookie!

Our girl turned 3 on July 23rd and this Momma had plans for a "Pinkalicious" birthday party. That didn't happen, but we had family in town to help us celebrate. For now, we'll be doing every-other-year-birthday-parties and she's already talking about it for next year.

She was pleased as punch with her new little swingset.


But, truth be told, all this girl really wanted were some pink cupcakes. Now that, I could do!

G & G Guerisoli in town for the blessed day.

While we sang Happy Birthday...

When asked where she wanted to go for her birthday dinner, of course the reply was, "pizza." So we took it up a notch and went to our favorite place, Grimaldi's.

I am in awe when I see this picture but this completely embodies who Brooke is as a three year old. Loves to match her clothes, shoes and accessories perfectly, and takes her purse and sunglasses everywhere we go. 3 going on 13?

Straight outta bed to open presents.... happy with her first barbie and pink car for barbie!

Even happier with pancakes for breakfast... yes we are sorely out of order on this post

A great highlight to the day... our best girl, Olivia comes to give her a present! Naturally, a dress that they both have and can match in at church.

Daddy let her stay up past 10:00 to watch a movie with the adults on the big day in which she also indulged in THREE cupcakes. I'd say she made out very well.

Things about Brooke at three years old:

-37.5 lbs and 38 inches

-Loves ALL THINGS PINK. Everything MUST be pink. Example: When I tell her what we're having for lunch that day, she asks if it can be pink... whatever it is.

-She has a strong personality with big emotions but always makes transitions very smooth. Easy to potty train, easy to transfer to a big-girl bed, etc. I am grateful for this.

-Gives a kiss and a "wud" (love, or a hug) multiple times a day, and is very affectionate. Always wants us to cuddle her before bed and in the morning and is very particular about being in between Brent and I.

-Can be heard every time she goes #2 on the potty saying, "hey you wanna come see the poop?" This is hilarious and is a result of us having celebrations earlier on when she was learning. She just can't give the party up.
-Loves shopping and especially loves trying things on in the dressing room. I suppose I started her a little young on this.

-Loves all things "girly" and I love this, too. We went and had our toenails done at the nail salon and it just felt so natural to do! Something I will continue to take her to do until she's too embarrassed to go with me.

-She's very particular about what clothes she wears and that they match well.

She loves having her hair done, and almost every day says to me when getting dressed, "I want to look so cute." Along with this, she loves packing her purse full of her sunglasses, fake phone and wallet, and her 6 princess lipglosses that she loves to apply all at once.

-She's been known to tell us to change because we don't match or she doesn't like our outfit.

-She also loves balls and does very well at playing basketball with her little hoop, kicking the soccerball, and throwing the frisbee. This summer, she became a natural at swimming. She can swim on her own for about 20 feet! Naturally, Brent is very proud of this.

-She is very concerned about equality among those she is with. If we don't all have the same thing on our dinner plates, or if only she and I get an ice cream cone, she's always concerned that Brent doesn't have one.

-She has a budding testimony of the Savior and loves to have Family Home Evening. She loves to talk about Jesus and Prophet Monson.

-Her speech and vocabulary has drastically improved from even six months ago. We are still working on the k and g sound as well as the f and sh sound.

-She's very tech-savvy and can navigate our iphones as well as get to Sesamestreet.com on the laptop on her own.

-Her favorite song is "circus" by Britney Spears, much to Brent's chagrin. She loves rockin' out to it.

-She is very shy around strangers and people she doesn't know.

-She can be a big big TEASE. Especially her bff, Olivia which makes me feel bad. She loves to test people to their limit just to get a reaction out of them. A trait she inherited from her father. :)

-She is an extremely good eater and especially loves her sugar, just like her Mama.

-Her nicknames are: Bub, Bubby, Boppy, Boppenheimer Schmidt (her personal favorite that Brent made up), Brookie-Nookie, Bop.

-Can recognize and name all of her Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles and cousins. Pretty good for not living close to any of them!

-She still loves playing in water and makes me crazy when doing it.

-Loves puzzles, Sleeping Beauty, the movie "Pollyanna", the book Pinkalicious and talks about her new baby brother that is on the way to everyone.

Did I mention that we're having a BOY? Hooray?

Love you so much, Brooke Elen.

February-ness

Are you ready for the mother-load of posts?

We had a busy and fun February.

And most of all, I'm glad it's over and March is here... lots and lots and lots to look forward to in the coming months.

So, let's break it down--

1. New Beginnings

Have I mentioned I was called in November to be the Young Women's secretary?

It is fun and a new challenge and change of scenery from what I'm used to and I LOVE IT.

It is a privilege to work with the other leaders and we have a great group of about 17 girls who come regularly.

Our president is particularly talented and I love how she does things.. I don't remember New Beginnings being this cool.

The theme was "It's a jungle out there."

My assignment was the refreshments and we made jungle animal cupcakes.

They were a labor of love and Alyssa-friend came over and helped me for 4 hours!

The leaders minus Natalie - Shanna, Patsy, Kendee, Jana, Bethany

Can you tell what each one is? Hopefully they are recognizable.. A zebra, monkey, lion and tiger.

Sign-in table with the guides for the Personal Progress Scavenger hunt... brilliant idea.

The stage before the night began.

Next up...

2. Lovely Lover's Day...

Much of our Valentine's day and every other holiday surrounds food. Whenever we go to the store before a holiday, we always end up getting way more food than we can handle but end up justifying it by saying, "we can have this for Valentine's breakfast," or whatever it is... What can we say? We are lovers of foodness.

Brooke opening her Valentine

Chocolate-covered strawberry yumminess

Brent was in charge of the yummy Belgian waffle+strawberries+whipped cream+bacon+scrambled eggs+orange juice

Let me tell you... this guy can make a mean breakfast.

Happy to be eating Daddy's food-iness.

I also want to remember that for dinner we had Tuscan chicken cakes with tomato-basil relish... if you don't know what these are, you should look in my recipe label, because they will surely make your life complete.
Of course, after stuffing ourselves with great food and candy all day, we had to make our annual heart cake.
Dark chocolate cake with ganache on top really brought the day to a blissful close.
Full bellies + full hearts = lots 'o love.

Brent decorating the LOVE cake.

Are you still with me?

3. Bedroom change

This is trivial and less-than-important to the blogging world, but fun for me. And we blog for ourselves, right?
Ha. Yeah, right.
So... we switched our bed to the other wall...
I like the change... it opens up the traffic flow, but the accent wall does stand out maybe in a bad way.

Thoughts?

Yes, I know the picture is not centered..

4. B-rookie: Our Potty-star!

Happy to report total success in the potty department!

She is in a diaper for naps and at night-time but we haven't had an accident in over two weeks and she's done great the last two weeks while in nursery at church.

We're all very happy and can constantly be seen doing a celebration potty dance in her honor.
Thank you for all of your advice, everyone!

Everyone's comments were so valuable.

I do have to say that I don't think it was really anything I did with Brooke.

She is so smart and caught on so fast and really did most of it herself.

Brooke with her big potty prize after going #2 for the first time.

Happy lady

I can't imagine you are still reading but just in case, here's #5

5. Brent's job change

Brent will be starting his third rotation with the AT&T leadership development program next Monday.
This is wonderful as can be because his 2ND rotation was maybe one of the hardest 8 months of my life.... (probably an exaggeration, but still very hard)

It was normal for him to work for 14 hour days and in this next job, the schedule will be much better and much more realistic.

Also, to go along with this, we almost had to move to Dallas for this rotation.

Prayers were answered and we're obviously staying here, but there is a good possibility we will be moving when he is out of the program in October, but I'm still crossing my fingers.

I really really REALLY love San Antonio.

Alrighty...

I think that about covers it... the hip happenings from US lately...!

TWO Years? What?

What a doll this little lady is... so much I've thought about surrounding Brooke's birthday, being her Mother, having the opportunity to raise such a bright, strong, darling, and animated girl...

WOW.

Her birthday was almost 3 weeks ago but a journaling post is necessary. For pictures of her 1st birthday and a few when she was born see here. If you click, you'll see... she looks SO DIFFERENT!

The morning of her birthday, blowing out two candles at breakfast. She knew it was all about her and loved it.

I hesitated posting this next picture......

but I always want to take pictures the morning of birthdays and who doesn't wanna see the bedhead that results from a head full of luscious curls?

In all her glory, having just woken up on her 2nd birthday.

Her two year old stats:

Height: 35 inches - 75th percentile

Weight: 28.6 pounds - also 75th percentile

Can't believe she weighs 4 times as much as when she was born. And one more inch and she can ride the rides at Seaworld (ha!) , some of them at least.

This is such a classic face for Brooke. When we're trying to take her picture, we tell her to laugh. Works every time, although we usually are going for a more toned-down smile than this one.

My Mom sent matching dresses for her and for a doll to wear. Soooo pretty for church today.
Checking to see if the baby needs her diaper changed.

One of the things we love about Brooke is that she can be very loving and affectionate. I am constantly asking her to "give loves" all day because I simply can't get enough hugs from her! She loves to give kisses before nap and bedtime and we go through almost every noteable body part. Except when we started doing that months ago, I would say, "kiss my nose," and she would touch nose to nose and do that with eyes, ears, forehead... everything on the face. Now it is in the routine before bedtime. So very sweet.

You all don't mind if I comment on this last picture that she's the most beautiful girl in the world, do you? Ok, good. Thanks. Really, though... look at those eyes, and that expression!


Some things to note:


Things she inherited from Brent: awesome skin complexion, problem-solving skills, mostly his looks, cautiousness
Things she inherited from Bethany: mouth, persistence, being outgoing
Most entertained by: WATER! water... water! Water! playing in it, pouring it, drinking it All. Day. Long.
Loves to: be busy busy busy, playing with friends Olivia and Maile, bossing Daddy around, doing her own thing, sitting back and observing, going to nursery, LAUGHING!

What we love about her: her sensitivity to others, her wittiness and sharp mind, her many facial expressions, she has always been an amazing sleeper, keeps us on our toes, how she has both of us wrapped around her finger!


Nothing can replace the joy of being a mother and I'm just grateful to even experience that in my life. Happy happy two years to our Brooke Elen.

Brought to You by the Letter 'B' and the Number '2'

Hello 3bg's blog readers.... all three of you. Just kidding. No, but seriously!

Crazy news here... the little lady who has been the STAR of our blog since we started it over two years ago has turned TWO years old. Can you believe it?!?! A party was in order for this little girl especially since we didn't get to do one for her first birthday seeing as how we had just moved here. And who better to center our celebration around other than our favorite red, furry friend...

ELMO!

She just adores him. And to be honest, so do we. If it is bedtime, you may sometimes find the three of us cuddled up on the couch winding down to a few minutes of Elmo. He sort of intrigues Brent and I. His ability to reach out to these kids and love them, and all from the television screen. K. Please don't think we're weird.

On to party pics...!

The Queen herself, sitting on her throne..

front of invitation


inside of invitation

Cute kiddos eating Elmo's favorite food... pizza!

Daddy love during the party

Banner with actual scrapbook paper that I actually bought myself. No, I do not scrapbook and yes, I am proud.

Mom and the new 2 year old


Elmo pull-string pinata


Pin the nose on Elmo

Randi, Brooke, Grandma during the party

K, you guys. Here is the real reason I took that cake decorating class in April. So I wouldn't be a complete failure for birthday cakes. 6 hours start to finish. Awesome.

Oh and party favors with "Elmo's favorite things" that had goldfish and crayons in the sack... like Elmos's song... "lalalala... Elmo loves his goldfish, his crayon, too...that's Elmo's world.."

You've heard the song, right?

Blowing out the candles

Attempting a picture of the kids. Quite unsuccessful.

This is what Brent gave her for her birthday. I like to say Brent gave it to her because I don't really want to admit that I had part in giving my little girl a basketball stand for her birthday. But... she does really love it. The best part is that she got these darling princess shoes with a crown and earrings at the party and she'll put them on and then go and shoot a basket. At least she can take on both roles in her play, right?

Happy Birthday to our Brookie-Bear!!!!!