Three Years Old!

Three years old...I can't believe it. She's not a baby...or even a toddler...but a preschooler!





Bubbly, friendly, giggling, talking nonstop...

Tender-hearted and sensitive to the feelings of others...

Striving to be helpful and a "big girl"...

Hilarious, charming, and entirely too smart...

A fabulous, protective, sweet big sister...

...a challenging, patience-testing, bossy...

...beautiful blessing and delight...a gift from God!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Babycakes! We love you to the moon and back.

Celebratin'

This weekend, we started some celebratin' for our little big three year old.



We went to eat at "Cracker Jacks" (her choice) with her grandparents.



Of course, there were presents to open while we waited!



We are a little mixed up with our allegiances in this house... she says, "Roll Hokies!"

When she saw the waitresses coming with ice cream (at breakfast!) and singing Happy Birthday, she was all smiles!

We had a good time partying, and we are looking forward to much more of that this week!

My Two Favorites

Date Ten: Roses are Red...

For date ten, I tried to come up with another free activity.
So, I present our theme... a RED date...



We ate dinner at RED Robin, with a giftcard that we had... and then I presented Darren with a RED challenge... to find 15 specific RED things in the mall in 30 minutes...



The deal? If he was under 30 minutes, he gets to pick the next REDbox movie. If he went over the time limit, it was the wife's choice. I purposely made it really hard because... well... I wanted to win. Haha. Here are just a few of the red things he found...

You can imagine my surprise when he finished with five minutes to spare. I guess he gets to choose the next movie, although you can be sure that I will try to swing the vote.

Even though our night had a RED theme, as we were leaving the mall, we saw this beautiful rainbow.

What a fun, colorful night!

Toe Jam

When I was making dinner, Brooklyn was super quiet. I looked out there to find her studying her toes intently. It was so cute that I had to take a picture, of course.

Whatcha hunting for, baby B?

Date Nine : Cheap Date

Are you a cheap date? We are!

We have a lot of life changes going on right now (Darren got a new job, causing a paycheck delay, we had to switch health insurances, and ended up paying double for a month, Lauren started grad school, Savannah has a birthday and is starting preschool... just to name a few!) and consequently, we don't have a lot of spare change!

We had no babysitter, and no cash. So, I told Darren that I didn't think date night was going to work out this week. He said... I bet we have some change! and I laughed and said, so? He proclaimed that we could do a cheap date night at home... for $5.00.

So, while I put the babies to bed, he went to the store, and came back with date night supplies for under $5.00. He has such a good sense of humor. He walked in the door and said, "Keep the change? I think not!"

We ate frozen pizza, drank cheap soda, and watched a movie. It reminded us of when we lived in our tiny apartment and I was in school. Good times! We both enjoyed being cheap dates.

Six Months Old

I can't believe my little Brooklyn is six months old. I thought the time flew with Savannah, but it really goes twice as fast when you have two kids!

Brooklyn is such a joy. I know I say that every month, but I am just enjoying her so much. She is a content, happy, sweet little baby, and I just love my time with her.



(Ignore the "Sears" logo on the pictures... I was too cheap to buy the picture CD every time and thus copied these off of the website.)

Brooklyn can now roll over both directions any time she wants. She is quite the little roley-poley. I can put her on a blanket with toys and leave the room for a minute, and when I come back, she isn't on the blanket at all. She has just started doing the "swimming" motion on her tummy, and you know what that means... crawling will be happening soon. I am so not ready for TWO mobile kids! Things that her "case manager" for early intervention wants her to work on this month are waving, sitting up without support, and reaching for familiar people.



Brooklyn eats her solids really well. The only food she doesn't like is squash. (She takes after her daddy in just about every way!) She is still nursing and does so well with that... I've decided to continue for now. My original goal was six months, and we made it, and it really wasn't bad at all (unlike my nursing experience with Savannah), so I want to keep going and get her through the fall flu season on my antibodies. I'll probably try to wean her around December, if she doesn't wean herself before then.

Brooklyn loves her sister. She laughs and smiles at Savannah more than anyone. It is so much fun to watch them together. I don't want little B to get bigger, but I am looking forward to when the girls can play together. Brooklyn loves her Daddy too, but overall is a Momma's girl, which is fine with me. I always get a good feeling when she is fussing and I take her and she stops, or when she smiles when I walk in the room... it just doesn't get much better than that!

We are enjoying the way that Brooklyn is getting more interactive. She laughs a lot more than she used to, and a baby giggle is so adorable. She also raises her eyebrows a lot, which is funny to watch as we are talking to her. She looks around for her sister when she hears Savannah's voice (which is pretty much a constant, haha!) and smiles when she spots her. It is so fun!

We are so thankful for this sweet six-month-old girl!

Not Me Monday

These aren't all mine. For part time classes. Online.

And I'm not really excited about starting classes.

Not me!

Scrub-a-Dub-Dub...

Two girlies in the tub!

We broke out the ducky bathtub for Miss B yesterday, but she was so interested in looking at the water that I couldn't get a decent picture.



I know, it looks like she is about to drown. But I wouldn't let that happen.



Since I didn't get many good bath shots, I decided to snap a few while she was wrapped up all cute in her towel...

But that didn't last long... this girl is on the move! So here is a sweet, mildly inappropriate, but super cute picture.

And then Big Sister was a little jealous. You know, because she is usually the one in front of the camera. So she had to show me how much fun she was having in the tub.

Oh, my. That was funny.

Savannah has this adorable habit of covering her mouth with her hands when she gets the giggles. I love it.

This next photograph should be titled, "eyelashes."

I wish I had some!

Can you believe this girl is getting ready to turn 3?!

This was her reaction when I asked her if she could stay little forever.

"Silly Momma! That would be crazy!"

I sure do love my little bathing booties beauties!

Wordless Wednesday

Back to School Surprise

In honor of starting grad school next week, my hubby "made" me a back-to-school surprise. He got some corkboard and a pink dry-erase board and mounted them on the back wall of my desk.

Aw. :)

Date Eight

(That rhymes.)

For date eight, we were going to go to the river and float down on inner tubes, but Saturday dawned dark and rainy. So, we had to go with plan B, a tasty alternative.

We ate dinner at Fork in the Alley, a cute little patio restaurant.



It was super yummy, although poor Darren doesn't enjoy patio dining in August. He was a bit sweaty. Sorry, charlie.



And every good date includes dessert. One of the perks of Fork in the Alley is that it is conveniently located next door to my. favorite. place. Bubblecake!



I mean seriously. Look at these cupcakes!

After dinner and dessert, we did some more birthday shopping for our favorite toddler, and then headed home and played Scrabble. I won't even brag about who won. Okay, okay, you twisted my arm. I won, but it was a very close game!

Date eight was great!

I couldn't resist.

Darren the Grillmaster

One of the many reasons I love summer...

...is that the hubby cooks dinner!

(And he is good at it, too!)

Happy Girl

We got the exersaucer out of the attic this week...

...and I think its a hit!

Overheard at My House

I had a frappacino from Starbucks in my hand and a little boy at the mall playplace tried to take a drink. I smiled and said, "You better not drink this... You don't need the caffeine and I don't want you to get my germs." His mom shooed him away with an apologetic smile. Savannah came skipping up and declared, "I want some germs!"


After a particularly trying day, I shut the bathroom door, only to be greeted by a knock at the door. "Savannah, you need to go away and give Momma just a few minutes of peace." A puzzled Savannah replied, "Silly Momma! You're on the potty... you can't have peas right now!"

Sisterhood

Children of the same family, the same blood, with the same first associations and habits, have some means of enjoyment in their power, which no subsequent connections can supply...
~Jane Austen



A sister is a forever friend. ~Author Unknown



Sisters annoy, interfere, criticize. Indulge in monumental sulks, in huffs, in snide remarks. Borrow. Break. Monopolize the bathroom. Are always underfoot. But if catastrophe should strike, sisters are there. Defending you against all comers.
~Pam Brown



Sister to sister we will always be,
A couple of nuts off the family tree.
~Author Unknown