Star of the Day

Brooke's class has a program called "Star of the Day" in which each student has a special day in which they bring in a posterboard of pictures of themselves, the snack, a book, and their parents can come and spend the day. Brooke had been so excited about her turn that for about 5 days leading up to that day, she would ask when it was going to be Monday.

She chose double-stuffed, half-vanilla, half-chocolate Oreos as her snack. During snack, one kid asked what an Oreo was and at least two told me they weren't allowed to have them at their house. We like to set the bar high. Another huge perk of being "Star for the Day" is that you get to be the weather and calendar helper for the WHOLE WEEK. Exciting stuff.

Going into the project, I knew there was potential to be overwhelmed by which pictures to choose (you're allowed a maximum of 10), so I asked Brooke what things she wanted to show pictures of. She chose: her as a baby, a picture of her in the Two's class at preschool, a picture of her and Kali, her and Lexi, her and Zach, a picture from St. Louis, a picture of our family, a picture of her meeting Paige, a picture of when she got her "boo boo" (forehead cut), and a picture of her at Disney.

 

Quick sidenote: I'd printed out the picture of her and Matt on the roller coaster (below) and she pointed to the guy behind her and Matt and said, "Is that Uncle Tim...or no?" Still cracks me up every time I think about it.

She did a great job explaining each of the pictures (with her teacher's help) and it was so sweet to see her classmates genuinely interested in her presentation.

Afterward, the kids could ask her questions and got to tell what they learned about Brooke. She called on all girls (and Kali first) each time.

After her presentation, Matt read the book she had chosen to the class. She chose "The Book with No Pictures" and it was a huge hit. The kids were rolling. I know it's not a competition, but between that and the Oreos, I have to think her Day was one of the more successful ones.

Matt left for work after the book, but I spent the rest of the day with her. It was a really great one!

Baby Grace is Here!

{I'm still working on the ridiculous photo dump that will be our Florida update, but in the meantime, I we've been busy and I don't want to get too far behind.}

While we were in Florida over break, Krissi had sweet baby Grace. Grace Joyce-Marie Timmerman was born on December 29 at 12:37 pm. She was 6 lb, 11 oz and 20 in. She's beautiful and perfect. We knew that she'd be arriving that week and were so sad we couldn't be there to meet her in the hospital like Tim and Krissi had done for all of our kids. So instead, we flew from Florida to St. Louis. (In case you're keeping track, that was 6 days in St. Louis before Christmas, 3 days home for Christmas, 9 days in Florida, then another 2 days in St. Louis. All great stuff, but we were all pretty thrilled to be home.)

As soon as we got there, everyone commented on how big Paige was. She doesn't look quite so little with these new baby cousins!

We all had fun cuddling with her, but I think Matt is the only one that I got a picture of holding her. There will be plenty more cousin cuddles in her future, I'm sure.

All six cousins together for the first time.

The girls. There's potential for a whole lot of drama in our future with these four sweet girls.

We were only in town for less than 48 hours, but we made the most of it. The weather was super-cold so we just hung out at the house around Luke and Lexi's school schedules.

Grandma and Papa T with all the grandkids.

Welcome to the world, Baby Grace! We love you so much already!

Christmas

 We got back from St. Louis the night before Christmas Eve. We had a low key (and much-needed) Christmas Eve day. We went to the 4 o'clock service at church. We kept the kids in the service with us and Miles spent the whole time eying the cookies on the back tables. Afterward, we drove by a really awesome light display in Wheaton. When we got home, we lit a fire (Brooke was really worried it would make the chimney too hot for Santa), had dinner, Matt's parents stopped by, and the kids opened one last gift from Grandma and Papa T.

 

They were Christmas story books that had my parents' voices recorded on them. (They'd done a similar one for Brooke a few years back and it's about to bite the dust.) The kids loved them. It was really sweet.

 

Naturally, Brooke had a hard time sleeping the night before. She got to sleep so late that all three kids ended up sleeping until 8.

 

Brooke's at such a great age for this stuff. She continued to impress me with how thankful she seemed for every little thing she got.

 

Her enthusiasm was contagious - at least initially.

 

He's at the stage where he just wants to open each thing that he gets and doesn't care to see what else there is to open.

 

I didn't get any action shots of the "big" gifts, and based on these pictures it would appear that I waited too long to take a picture of all the kids. Paige was ready for nap.

 

 

 

After gifts and breakfast at our house, we headed over to Matt's parents' and started with the annual stocking picture. The mantel has gotten quite a bit fuller since we first started taking these.

 

 

 

Everyone enjoyed Brooke's "Frozen" book.

  

 

Sisters! I love these shots so much.

 

 

After a couple of minutes of opening gifts, Miles said he wanted to go over and eat cinnamon rolls. We made him wait till everyone was done with gifts, but he threw back a couple as soon as he got to the table. It's like he has the attention span of a two-year-old or something.

 

Just chilling.

 

Paige and Bri got to hang out for the first time.

 

Selfie!

 

After gifts there, we headed over to Matt's Grandma's to open MORE gifts. Paige and Grandma Audie spent some time together during brunch.

 

 

Debbie cooked brunch and dinner for everyone that day. It was no small feat. Thank you again!

 

Sweet Bri slept through most of the excitement.

 

Miles tried on his new dress-up outfit. Insert your own "velcro police costume" joke here.

 

 Brooke got a waitress costume that was perfect for her. She proceeded to take everyone's orders.

 

After eating, we headed home for a quick nap time, then got dressed for dinner at Matt's parents'. Matt and Miles wore their matching socks - one of my favorite gifts that I got them.

 

This is one of a handful of times each year that we get out our nice camera, so here comes the photo dump. Miles with the awkward smile.

 

Matt with the awkward smile.

Isabelle had to get in on the action.

I think I was bribing Miles with dessert at this point.

First family Christmas.

The boys and their kids.

Hanging out with Bri again. Neither baby looks too impressed.

Having fun with Uncle Dave.

All the guys.

Outtake. Love Miles and Kevin in this one.

The ladies.

Hanging out with Uncle Dave after dinner.

I love this shot, too.

At the end of the night, the guys decided they wanted to play pool in the basement, so Isabelle got to meet all of Jamie's American Girl dolls. Brooke had fun.

Paige was not so sure. (In her defense, we had woken her up for a photo op. Poor baby.)

It was a great day. Merry Christmas!