Looking for Us?

Due to a combination of internet problems and being extremely busy, this blog has been lying (laying? I always get them confused) in neglect.

I promise to get to it...at least updated to mid-July...before we go out of town AGAIN.

In the meantime, check out these cuties.

My Girl

We are trying SO HARD to instill manners into her. When do "please" and "thank you" become habit???

I'm losing hope that she'll ever be able to look at the camera, smile a normal smile, and say, "cheese!"

She loves her little brother. And her whole family for that matter. She's informed us that she's going to marry Lexi.

She's been really into our wedding photos lately, but doesn't seem to get that she wasn't around for our wedding. Her most recent theory is that she was with Grandma when we got married (I think she's comparing it to when I had Miles and my parents watched her for a couple of days). I told her not to start any rumors.

Her memory for and interest in music is pretty amazing to me. I'm hoping to get her in some kind of music class in the fall.

I don't know when it happened, but I feel like she's become a little girl. It's so fun to have conversations with her and to see her working through things in her head. Of course we also get the occasional stubborn-streak, but I know that's just her asserting her independence, right?

She's super-observant. She's aware of the directions to the places that we go most often.

She saw a picture recently and said, "There's the mommy koala and the baby koala. The daddy koala is playing golf."

A recent conversation with Matt:
Brooke: "When I'm a Daddy I can drink beer."
Matt: "You won't be a Daddy, you'll be a Mommy."
Brooke: "When I'm a Mommy, I'll drink wine."
Hmmm...judge us if you must.

She and Miles make our lives infinitely more fun!

3 Months

Miles was 3 months old yesterday (and 13 weeks on Friday, but I think we're going to be talking in months from here on out). We finally got up the nerve to put him in his own room a couple of nights ago and he did great. He's also been napping in there. He's starting to develop a morning and afternoon nap, which is a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing when we're home, but when we're out and about, it's not great. Now I remember why I was so psycho about Brooke's schedule.

He still gets after his thumb.

He's also developed what is apparently an Alley-kid trademark, the wind-up frown. I'm hoping to do a blog post soon comparing photos of the two of them. It's kind of crazy how much they look alike to me sometimes.

 

He's getting better at tummy time and controlling his head, although we still have the occasional head flop. He's a pretty big boy. He's officially out of his 0-3 month clothes and at least weekly I'll have a stranger guess that he's a couple of months older than he is. He's a special little guy and we're so blessed to have him as part of our family.

Cham-bana

So, after we'd been home from Culver for about 36 hours, we got back on the road and headed down to meet my family in Champaign, IL (or Cham-bana, as my Dad likes to call it). It's a good midway point and we were only there for a few days so we found plenty for the kids to do. Brooke was very excited to go to a hotel with her "friend" Lexi. Tim and Krissi let Brooke sleep over in their room both nights which was a highlight of the trip for her. Of course she also got plenty of junk food, too.

 

Luke ADORES Miles. He will do anything to get to him if he's nearby. Miles is a little freaked out by it now, but I'm sure they'll be best friends, too.

 

We checked out a few of Champaign's parks. One of them has a pretty great little water park in it. There were some tears shed over the fact that the girls were too short to ride the enclosed slides by themselves, but they got over it.  

  

Miles chilled in the shade all day with either Grandma or Papa T (permission was obtained for this bathing suit shot).

 

We went to a putt-putt place on the last day (naturally, the day that it was over 100 degrees). The girls were into it for about 2 holes, then they quit and it became a battle of pride for Tim and Matt. Tim won.

 

They had a trampoline basketball game that they had fun playing...or at least jumping on the trampoline.

We had a lot of fun and as always, it was over too soon. As Brooke says, "We very love our family!"

I'm on a Boat

This has been a really fun, but hectic, last few weeks. The weekend after we ran the 5K and celebrated Father's Day, our church had Vacation Bible School (VBS). Brooke was able to attend this year (technically it was for 3 and up) and I was the teacher in her class. It was a little challenging getting our acts together to be at church by 8:30 each morning, and Miles gave the nursery workers a run for their money the first couple days, but we had a lot of fun. Brooke's favorite part was "the show" as she called it, when everyone got together at the beginning and end of the day to sing the songs and practice the motions to them. And I was reminded how much I love working with that age group. I wish I'd have gotten some pictures, but I was busy making sure I didn't lose any preschoolers.

I also wish that we'd have been at church that Sunday for the performances, but we were busy having fun at our friends, the Clousings', place in Culver, IN. I don't know how/why I didn't get a photo of all the families that were there. We had 8 adults and 6 kids under 3 in one house. We spent our days at the beach with people trading off boating and childcare. Quite a different experience from 4 years ago when there were no kids, but everyone still  had a really good time. Thanks for having us, Jeff and Michelle!

I DID have my camera out for the girls' first tubing experience and Miles' first time on a boat. He was initially not a fan of the life jacket.

He was much happier when the boat was moving.

Brooke was super-excited.

The lovely Westra family. I don't think Blake was prepared for this one, hence the creeper pose in the background.

Beck was ready to drive. He would sneak behind the wheel anytime Jeff got out of his seat.

Brooke LOVED the tube. She kept asking to go faster. As Amy pointed out, she's pretty much up for anything as long as Matt or I am right there with her.

We also watched Jeff's brother's kids water-skiing and Brooke decided she wanted to try. She wasn't quite ready for the boat to pull her, but had fun having Matt and Scott pull her around on the beach. Thanks, Scott! (FYI - I cropped you out of the photo as I don't like to "publish" bathing suit shots of anyone without their permission. Not that it wasn't impressive.)

Hopefully next year she'll be able to do it. Let's be honest, she doesn't have genetics on her side. Regardless, I can just about guarantee that one of the infants or toddlers with us last weekend will get up on skis before I do.

Day at the Races

A couple of weeks ago, our church held a 5K to raise funds for Africa New Life, an organization that we're partnering with (the same organization that Matt's football clinic raised funds for). Brooke had fun hanging out with some of her besties, Haley and Emily. They're looking so much more like little girls than toddlers!

 

We ended up having a great turnout, which was exciting for the fund-raising, but not for Matt's hopes of winning the race (he says he wasn't serious about this, but I think deep down he was - if you know Matt you'd probably agree with me). He did still get a medal, finishing 2nd in the 30-39 category. And I kind of think that I deserve a medal for running the whole race pushing both kids in a stroller.

 

Brooke loved the face paint. She got balloons and a football - legitimately her choices. She got this snow cone later in the day at Matt's alumni baseball game...which was about as exciting as it sounds.

 

Road Trip

A couple of weeks ago, Krissi, Amy and I were wanting to see each other and get the kids together. We decided to meet at Amy's place in the booming metropolis of Mattoon, IL, for the day.

It was a beautiful day and the kids had so much fun playing together. It was naptime by the time I took this picture so I didn't quite capture their enthusiasm.

Our ride home, however, was hell-ish. The kids were OVER being in the car by the time we turned around that afternoon for our second 3-hour drive of the day (still not really sure why I thought that would be a good idea...). They aren't good car sleepers. We were literally all in tears by the time we got home. Miles actually cried anytime we got in the car for about 2 days after that. It was a great visit, but not one that I'll cram into one day (by choice) anytime soon.

Here's Brooke and Uncle Tim. She loved that he pushed her "higher, faster" on the swing for about 30 minutes that day. She was talking about it for the next several days.