"Besties"

We were able to get down to St. Louis last weekend to visit my family. We spent a lot of time with my brother and sister-in-law, Tim and Krissi, and my cousin and her husband, Amy and Blake. Even better than those four, we got to spend time with my nieces, Alexis and Mati (Mati is probably technically my 2nd or 3rd cousin, but saying "niece" takes a lot less explanation). Alexis is arguably the cutest and smartest 19 month-old around and Mati is also ridiculously cute, as well as sweet and easygoing. Alexis is about 15 months older than Brooke and Mati is about 2 months older than her, so if we have anything to say about it, these two are bound to be Brooke's "besties". They've been around since the day she came home from the hospital:



And here's a picture from last weekend:


They're all getting so big, so fast! We really love spending time with our family and are blessed that they're also some of our closest friends.

Finally, here's a picture of Brooke waking up from a nap. The girl must have some great dreams, because she wakes up happier than anyone I know. She definitely does not get that from her Daddy!


But remember that post about her "frowny face"? Apparently she DOES get that from her Daddy: