Alley Oops

Around Here

We took the kids to a local pumpkin patch a couple of weekends ago. It ended up being much colder than we'd expected so we just stayed long enough to get these awesome shots. I'm thinking Christmas card.

Brooke had fun on the pony ride. She thought it was hilarious that her pony's name was Strawberry. She told me every time they came around. Those poor carnival animals...

She wanted to ride in the back of the roller coaster. She does not get that from me. And yes, I know I'm really good at action shots.

With all the birthdays lately, Miles has discovered the joy of wrapping paper.

Enjoying a few more nice days outside with neighborhood friends.

Miles and Jill. I cannot WAIT until that girl can babysit. We love her!

This was from St. Louis, but I'm worried if I save it, I'll forget to post it. I could eat him alive.

Brooke with her new, purple, Princess helmet. No, she can't yet propel herself on her tricycle but she will be safe if a gust of wind knocks her off while she's sitting on it.

Princess camera, bike and helmet. She's ready to roll.

Now, to get ready for her birthday parties here...

Party Pooper

I'll be honest - this past weekend was one of my more trying weekends as a mom. I don't know if it was that she hurt her leg, was fighting being sick (I currently have a pretty gross cold), was adjusting to traveling, or what, but Brooke was very whiny and not very nice. (*I should mention that the kids both did phenomenally on both drives there and back. No stops! It's the small things.*)

My grandma went to a lot of trouble to decorate her house and get a cake for Brooke's birthday party. We all had fun, but it took Brooke a couple of hours to warm up. Memories, right?

The presents improved her mood. It was a Minnie Mouse/Princess/Girly explosion. She genuinely loved everything she got.

This guy was ready to party the whole time, though!

St. Louis, part 352

While Matt was in Florida with his dad and brother, I took the kids down to St. Louis for a little early birthday celebration for Brooke.

On Friday, Amy and her kids also came down. We were planning to go somewhere outside but the morning weather was a little crummy so we just did breakfast and Monkey Joe's.

You could have picked my jaw up off the floor when I saw Brooke (yellow shirt) climbing ALL of the climbers. I was so proud - and so was she. Ironically, when we got home she hurt her knee getting off the potty. She still wasn't walking on it the next day so I sucked it up and took her to urgent care for the first time. Their diagnosis? She "tweaked" it. Give her pain meds (ibuprofen) and have her rest it. I should've gone with my gut and waited another day...or at least gotten a photo of it! What kind of blogging mom am I?!? It took a couple of (very long) days, but she finally got over it. It was another reminder of how blessed and grateful I am to have healthy kids.

What? You don't take your family fall photos in the parking lot of an Ace Hardware? I thought we were being pretty creative. The cars in the background do ruin the ambiance a bit.

We also visited Uncle Joel at school. The girls gave a rousing rendition of "Call Me Maybe" to his 4th graders.

The kids photo-bombed Tim and Krissi's family photo shoot.

Hanging out at Grandma and Papa T's. Luke spent more time playing with Brooke's new doll house than she did.

Not staged. So sweet.

It was sunny and in the 80's the day we left. Ahhh!

Brooke's obsessed with Grandma's Kindle.

Lexi was very sweet to Brooke when her leg was hurt. Although she did ask a couple of times, "Why is Brooke so crabby?"

We went to the park to feed the ducks and play on the playground our last evening there.

This was kind of how Brooke's face looked most of the trip. What happened to my angel?

Did I just put a picture of myself in back-to-back posts? Sorry, it won't happen again.

Pumpkin Pics

My friend Michelle had the great idea to take our kids to Cosley for some cute Halloween/pumpkin pictures. The day that we went was beautiful and I had my nice camera, so bear with me on the million photos.

Here are some cute ones of the three boys. If you're not one of my 3 avid readers, I'll remind you that Cam, Kellen and Miles were all born within 6 weeks of each other to guys who were best friends in high school and are therefore destined to a life of photo shoots like this one, whether they like each other or not.

We decided to let Brooke in on the action and she got so caught up with trying to get the boys to smile and look like the moms were that it took a few tries to get a good shot.