Sweet and Sad

Here's a scene from the kids dancing at the wedding last weekend. I could've watched them all night. And yes, I stopped filming to get Brooke away from the beer.

And Matt, under the influence of nothing but his own self-confidence, decided to get the karaoke ball rolling for the night. Needless to say, he gave EVERYONE courage to get up and sing. It's a short clip, but you get the idea.

Sweet Home Alabama

We took another break from packing/cleaning/party planning to head to Huntsville for my cousin Erica's wedding last weekend. It was a little hectic to get there, but completely worth it to see all of my family. Plus, we were able to squeeze one more free flight out of Brooke being under 2. Man, that's going to hurt. It's the first time she's been on a plane since she really "got" what they are and she was adequately impressed. She was also really great on both flights. She spent some of the time filing her and her doll's nails.


Here's a scene from the wedding ceremony. I didn't get any shots of the actual ceremony as I was trying to keep Brooke from singing, "Old MacDonald" at the top of her lungs. It was beautiful, though.


Aubrey, my cousin's (beautiful) little girl (who will be famous someday), was a great helper with Brooke and of course Brooke was a huge fan of hers. I'm pretty sure she was calling her "Audie" - probably confusing her name with Grandma Audie's.



Family shot at the reception. This one won't make it on to the Christmas card thanks to my great parenting skills. It was really fun explaining to my family who've maybe met Brooke once how the gash across her nose happened. Poor thing! (Sidenote: it was gone when she woke up this morning and I don't think there'll be scarring - aside from the emotional ones.)

The lovely bride and groom cutting the cake. Congratulations again, Erica and Dave!


Little girls dancing. Melt my heart.


There was karaoke at the reception (more on THAT later). The girls had fun watching the performances.


And Brooke was Aubrey's backup dancer when she sang.

We had such a great time and it went much too quickly!

Mother of the Year

Last Friday, I decided to take a break from packing/cleaning/party planning to head to Brookfield Zoo with my good friends Joy and Jen (who got us in for free - bonus!) and their little ones, Tye and Grace and Baby Dylan who Joy was watching. The weather was a little chilly and overcast - perfect for keeping vanloads of people away.


We had a fun time. The ladies got to talk, the kids got to look at animals...



...and the exotic water fountain...


...and gravel.


We were able to get a kind of decent shot of all three of the mobile kids by - what else? - plopping them in front of a t.v.



Baby Dylan. Such a sweetie.


And here's where the title of the post comes in: As we were heading out of the park, I sat Brooke in her stroller. The thought went through my head, "I should probably buckle her in, but we're almost to the parking lot. Eh, she never tries to get out, anyway." TWO seconds later, she leans forward and I'm pretty sure that in slow-motion she fell out of her stroller. On to her poor little face. It keeps flashing through my mind. Lesson learned, I just feel horrible that she's the one who had to pay.

Where We've Been...

...and will continue to be for the weeks to come is knee-deep in packing and unpacking boxes. We (knock on wood) close on both houses a week from Friday, so we're trying to get the packing completed at a reasonable rate. I felt pretty good about our progress in the basement, until I went downstairs to take a picture.


We're really not hoarders; it's kind of ridiculous the amount of "things" that come with having a child - and a husband who likes to relish the Glory Days.


We've also had some beautiful weather lately and have had fun playing outside. Brooke's become totally independent on her playset in the last month or so. She is also quite the chatterbox. She wakes up either talking or singing and goes to sleep talking or singing. It's fun to listen to. I joke (not really) that I'm going to keep the monitor in her room until she's a teenager. And by then I'll want it in there for other reasons.


Her favorite new phrase is, "Wha happen?" followed by "Why?" She's used it in multiple situations that she doesn't quite understand (stubbed my toe, caught in traffic, etc) and it's pretty cute to see her wheels turning when I try to explain what's going on. Not so cute when she asks "Why?" for the 8th time in a row.


A quick disclaimer that between now and the end of next month, life's pretty hectic for us. I'll try to update as much as possible and apologize in advance for any delays.

Decisions, Decisions

Yesterday I was going through Brooke's shoes and trying to pack up the ones that were too small. Rather than complaining like I thought she would, she thought this was a really fun game and was upset when I got tired of pulling the shoes on and off of her. I compromised by letting her wear a pair around the house. She decided that she wanted the best of both worlds - hanging on to summer while welcoming the cooler weather.


And no, she didn't have pants on. That's how we roll after nap time. Besides, I'm kind of obsessed with her chubby little legs.

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."