So Long, Summer!

Given that Matt had 2 football games to coach and a golf tournament to play in last weekend, he "gently encouraged" me to take Brooke down to St. Louis for our last visit down there for a little while.

As usual, Brooke got to spend lots of time with her cousins, complete with an evening stop at Ted Drewes. I'm too lazy to check my previous posts, but if I haven't mentioned Ted Drewes before, shame on me. It's simply amazing. Matt and I lived about a mile from there when we lived in St. Louis and we'd walk there at least once a week. This is seriously life-changing frozen custard.


Tim got the girls baseball helmet strawberry sundaes. (Dad, once and for all, we're NOT Cubs fans.)


They had to try a couple of positions before finding the optimal spooning trajectory.


Brooke also got to spend some cuddle time with Baby Lukie (notice his Mizzou gear).


And got some quality Play-doh time in with Papa T.

On Saturday, we also got to spend some time with my great friend Cary and her sweet little ones. Brooke was pretty into Winnie, as she was unable to focus on anything but Winnie's smiling when I tried to take pictures. Brooke *allegedly* gave Rush RSV when they were babies, so I think there's still a little tension there.

Thanks again for the princess dress.

And feeding my starving child.


It was a fun visit! We'll be back for Brooke's (gasp, tear) second birthday party next month.

(Not So) Lucky Charm

We knew it was bound to happen, we were just hoping it wouldn't happen quite this soon. Brooke witnessed her first Wheaton Warrenville South football loss today and you can tell she couldn't believe her eyes (/she was about 2 hours overdue for a nap). We had thought that Brooke was the secret to the Tigers' success, but maybe Reilly deserves a little more credit than we wanted to give him. Hang in there, guys!


Here's a picture of Brooke and Matt from the first game of the season last year. As our friend Scott put it, "She's starting to look like an actual little person."

Simmin' Poo'

We went as a family to the swimming pool for what will probably be the last time this summer. Time to brace for 8 months of winter, I guess.


I don't know why I didn't have Brooke wear this bathing suit more this summer. It makes her tummy and thighs look pretty adorable. Here's to hoping that this time next year there's no diaper hanging out of her suit!


There are always random, half-broken cheap toys hanging around the pool and she finds them much more fascinating than the toys that we bring for her.



She's never done this before, but yesterday she started rolling around in the baby pool. It was pretty funny. No? Guess you had to be there - or be her parents.

Brooke and Mati

I mentioned in my last post how amazing my friends and family are. That includes my cousin Amy, who stayed after my party last weekend to watch Brooke (along with her 2 children under 2 and skunk-sprayed dog) while I went back to work.

Brooke and Mati had a really fun time playing with each other - when they weren't yelling, "Mine!" and pulling a toy from the other's hand.


"Cheese!"


We went to a BBQ at Scott and Kristina's and the girls had fun playing with balloons.



They also had a great time hiding behind our sheer curtain panels. I apologize for the nudity. We'd had pizza for dinner and took off shirts rather than dirtying bibs. And then I took pictures. Yep, that happened.


I say it all the time, but I love that Brooke loves her cousins and am excited to see them grow up together.

Surprise!

As I mentioned in my last post, last Saturday, Matt was going to take me to dinner at Medinah and a movie ("Crazy, Stupid, Love" - for the record, I still want to see that) for my birthday. I was actually pretty excited about it as meals out with Brooke can be less than relaxing and I LOVE seeing movies and don't get to nearly as much as I'd like.

Prior to dinner, we stopped at a park and took a little walk while Matt said some sweet things to me about being 30 and a cougar since I'm now married to a man in his 20's. On the way to dinner, Matt made a couple of wrong turns that I pointed out but went on talking. Then, we got to Medinah and rather than park in the lot or use the valet, Matt parked by the pool with the excuse of needing to look at a posting in the locker room. Again, didn't think anything about it. However, as we approached the dining room, Matt's hand got a little shaky and the hostess said something about "They're" being outside. I'd barely had time to process this before we got near the windows to the patio and I saw my brother's head towering over a group of people.

Surprise!


Matt had been planning my surprise 30th birthday party for months, complete with family and dear friends in from out of town. It was so wonderful and overwhelming to have so many people that I love all in the same place. I would compliment him on the amazing feat of keeping it a secret from me, but I'm incredibly gullible. I will say that the only person that I voiced any suspicions to, my friend Beth, did a great job of playing dumb, even when she saw me a few hours before.

Always awkward being the center of attention.



My friends Lindsay and Brandon came with their adorable brand new baby Evan.

I really can't say it enough, but thank you so much to my amazing and thoughtful husband for planning all this (the pressure's on for October!). Thanks so much to my great mother and father in law for all their help with the planning and coordination (and photography - all photos from this post and the last were courtesy of Debbie). And finally, thanks to all my friends and family for their love and support. I'm entering my 30's feeling very blessed.

My "Birthday Celebration"

In the weeks leading up to my birthday, Matt had said that on the actual day (a Wednesday), we'd have a quiet family dinner and the he and I would celebrate on the following Saturday. I got to choose, so of course I chose the restaurant with my most favorite menu ever, California Pizza Kitchen. I really could do a whole post about that place. I would be happy to eat 90% of what's on their menu. And that's saying something after I worked there for almost 3 years in college.


We were (supposedly) trying to work out a time to celebrate with Matt's family and they all happened to be free on my actual birthday, so they joined us out that night. I think it's safe to say that most of them do not share my fondness for CPK. Thanks for coming, anyway, everyone!

I think some of our family pictures about 10 years down the line might look like this. Brooke looks like she'd rather not be photographed with us.


And, anytime you're out to dinner with a 22-month-old, some bribery may take place. Exhibit A: "Whip" from Grammie Deb.


Exhibit B: "Caillou" on the iPhone. Yep, we were those parents.

Happy Birthday To Me

I was serenaded by my almost 22-month-old this morning. (Matt also made me breakfast in bed - for I think the first time ever.) What more could I ask for? She also came up with the idea of the pegs and pegboard as a "cake" herself. It's so fun to see her imagination at work.

This is her singing the Sprout version of "Happy Birthday". They sing it everyday so I'm sure they had to make up their own version to avoid daily royalties.