Baby Shower of Love

My sister Tammy and baby Hartley

We decided on a "vintage" farmhouse

baby shower theme that was held at my house

(I still need to get all the pix of the shower details from

my cousin. I forgot to take some!)

Hosted by myself and sister Tara

Of course Mom is always helping out!

She received lots of nice stuff from all the wonderful guests!

My mom refinished the 40 year old highchair we

all used growing up for Tammy!

Brooks just loved eating all the M & M's.

The shower inspired me to paint some more of the house

Dining room BEFORE

Dining Room: AFTER (half decorated for party)

Bathroom: BEFORE

Bathroom: AFTER (with Brooks cheesing at bottom)

-This past weekend my sister Tara and myself hosted a baby shower for our sister Tammy. It was held at my house and turned out very nicely. We used a vintage farmhouse theme for the shower since Tammy is using neutral colors in the baby's room and that happened to be the style of my house. I handmade all the decorations (signs, banner, tissue pom-poms, burlap runner, etc) and Tara made most of the yummy food. We had strawberry spinach salad with poppyseed dressing, fruit salad with caramel dip, cheesy potatoes, pork and beef tenderloin, chips/dip, soda, water, lemonade, cranrasberry sparkling punch and of course cake. We used Mason jars tied with twine and pink/blue name tags as glasses. We gave them as favors to the guests. We labeled all the yummy food with chalkboard signs that I painted. We hung baby pix of Tammy and Brian on twine around the house and placed vintage alphabet letters on the fridge. We wrapped the silverware in gray napkins and tied with twine. We had flowers throughout the house in burlap or twine wrapped vases. My mom refinished an old window frame and made it into a picture frame....too cute! Tara came up with an idea to make a scrapbook for the baby filled with letters from friends/family. The letters were about Tammy or Brian and things that maybe the baby would never know about them or maybe things others loved about them. That way the baby would know more about his/her parents from the eyes of loved ones. All in all...I think the shower went great! Tammy really enjoyed herself and all the hard work did not go unnoticed. It was so much fun throwing Tammy a baby shower and we can not wait to meet Baby Hartley in April!

Happy Birthday Grammy!

I liked to show Grammy my favorite train videos

Grammy gives great hugs!

-A few weekends ago Brooks got a visit from his Grammy Videmschek. They played all weekend long! We had a nice relaxing weekend of going out to eat, watching movies, playing with toys, and hanging out at the house. She keep Brooks busy all weekend long! He was sad to see her go. Happy Birthday to Grammy!

Happy Birthday Cassidy!

Hanging out with my buddy

I got to help Cousin Cassidy open her presents since I'm a pro!

I got to hang out with Cousin Cameron since

he was home visiting from school

-My niece Cassidy turned 12 years old and we had a birthday dinner at Grandma and Papa McCarroll's house for her. It was so nice to hang out and catch up with everyone. Cousin Cameron is going to school now in Bradenton, FL while training with the U-17 National Soccer team. We were so excited to see him. He is missed so much! Cassidy had her friend birthday party at the Sky Zone. It was a blast!!! I'll post pix and videos below of Brooks jumping on the trampolines. The whole floor was a big trampoline. He LOVED it and keeps saying, "I love jumping!"

-Brooks also had a blast this weekend with Pops Blackmore and Kap'em. He loves playing with him and just hanging out. They played ball, legos, went on walks, and read books to name a few. It is always special to see them together. This is part of a video we captured during our dance party with Pops. He got a kick out of Brooks's silly dancing....what fun!

Ski Tahoe 2012

Heavenly Ski Resort

Check out these views!

Mandy and Toby

Our cute little cabin with amazing views

Another beautiful view

One of my favorite ski resorts....Northstar

I love skiing with my hubby ;)

-Josh and I took a much needed vacation to Lake Tahoe with our good friends, Mandy and Toby. We had a blast! That is once I got over being sick. I got either food poisoning or 12 hour flu the night we got there. I was permanently stuck by the toilet for the whole night and early morning. Needless to say....I missed the first day of skiing. It sucked! Oh well, I guess if I was to get sick, then being in a cabin with a beautiful view was the place to be! After that...I was good to go! We went to Kirkwood and Northstar (two of my favorite places to ski) and ended up in Heavenly with beautiful views! Weather was all blue skies 3/4 days we were there. Snow conditions were not the best because they had a record low snow fall this season, but we were at least able to ski. We couldn't complain. Mandy and Toby were great travel buddies and we can't wait to ski again next year! We are even more excited to bring Brooksy in a few more years. I love seeing all the little kidos flying past me on the slopes...fearless!!

-Brooks was in good hands with my mom. They are best buddies and he loves going over there. So much that he did not want to come home! The whole week we were back from vacation he would ask to go to Gamma's house when we left to go anywhere. He was even calling me "Gamma". Oh well....at least he was taken care of and loved;) He ended up getting sick while we were gone, but Gamma took great care of him. It was SO hard to be away from him, but I knew he was in good hands....Thanks to Gamma McCarroll for taking care of Brooks and also to Tara and Tammy for helping out with the dogs!!! We appreciate it so much.

Our little.....actor?

I've been working on my emotions...as well as my

acting skills!

I like to "ham" it up for the camera at times

Disclaimer: No child was hurt when filming this video ;)

-Our little Brooksy is quite the animated one these days. He loves to sing, dance, and be silly. He will do the funniest faces that crack us up! He definitely has his dad's sense of humor with my love of music and dance. It is so fun to watch him grow up and display his awesome personality right before our eyes. I want to capture and remember every moment. Just about every day I hear Josh say, "Is it possible that you got cuter over night?" or "Can you get any cuter?". What can we say....we love this little man.

2012: A new "view" on life

Wow Mommy!

Digging my new view!

-Sorry I'm been missing from the blogging world....life just gets a hold of you sometimes. Brooks is enjoying going back to school and hanging out with Grandma McCarroll again. He even started calling her "gamma". For some reason, she was pretty much the only person he would not call by name. He now has her wrapped around his little finger when he looks at her with those big brown eyes and says, "Pease Gamma".....ok...like she wasn't already wrapped around his finger (who am I kidding?). Ha. The other day he gave me a kiss, took my hand and WALKED me to the door and said, "Bye Mommy". Oh well...at least I know he is happy at Gamma's.

-The videos above are from when we recently turned Brooks's car seat around. He was so cute. He kept saying, "wow, mommy, pretty, tank you". He LOVED seeing all the houses, trees, etc. I think he most of all liked seeing me driving. For the first week he would say, "mommy...hi" then laugh. He cracks me up with his singing and dancing in the car. He tries to sing along to most all songs...more like humming the words. He really has a good memory when it comes to music (at least I think he does). I will post some videos another time of him singing his money song and also his "acting". For some reason my videos are not wanting to upload. Technology always gets the best of me.

-Anyways....Happy 2012 everyone....let's hope it is a good one

2 Year Pix

-Here are a few of Brooks's 24 mo pix he got taken at Portrait Innovations. We had a gift card from his Great Aunt and Uncle that we finally got to use for the pictures. What a ham he was during the shoot!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

X-Mas Morning

Wonder why Mommy and Daddy are making me sit here?

They seem so excited.

Hanging out with my "Pops"

Daddy had to keep me on task with my present opening

Then we were off to Grandma and Papa McCarroll's

house with the rest of the family

I liked sitting in everyone's lap to open presents

-Merry Christmas! We hope everyone had a blessed holiday. It was such a nice Christmas at home with our family. Brooks got to wake up in his home to see what Santa brought him. He was super excited to see a choo-choo train! Josh and I refurbished an old lego table (my mom has kept through the years) and made it into a duplo table. I then purchased some Thomas the Train duplo sets on Ebay to finish it off. Brooks LOVED it and plays with it all the time. He can flip the top over to color or play. His favorite thing to do it actually climb on TOP of it to play. Oh well.

-He was a pro at unwrapping presents by the end of the morning. He then wanted to help everyone else open their presents. I think he was a little confused at first because he kept saying, "Happy Birthday"! I had to then say..."Yes, Happy Birthday Baby Jesus". He now says, "bye bye Santa, Elf" so I think he knows the festivities are over. It is kind of sad. You spend so much time decorating, shopping, cooking, baking, wrapping, and stressing.....and it's over in a blink of an eye. Josh and I really got into the spirit of the season this year. Having a toddler in the house adds SO much excitement to the holidays. I look forward to continuing our family Christmas traditions and adding to them each year. Can't you just feel the love during the holidays? Childhood memories of story times, Santa pix, Christmas pjs, trains, sleep overs in my older sister's room, Santa's cookies, turkey/stuffing, surprises, songs, etc came rushing back. I can't wait for Brooks to enjoy Christmas for years to come.

Happy Birthday "TWO" Me! (and Uncle Ty-Ty)

It's my birthday!

December Babies

I have been saying Happy Birthday ALL day long!

I think I can get used to all the presents and cake.

-Today was Brooks's actual birthday. Yep...no more counting his age in months anymore! He is now 2 years old (not 24 months). Ugh....time keeps slipping away. Today was a wonderful day and he really understood that he is now "twoa". He shares his birthday with his Uncle Tyler and they had a blast hanging out today. Brooks continues to keep us laughing and smiling. He helps us remember that the simple things in life are what living is all about. One of his favorite things to do at our house is "hiding". He likes to put the blanket over his head and say, "I hiding". He pulls me underneath and drags Brutus in too! It is really something funny to see. He has gone pee 1x and poop 2x on potty! Of course he has not initiated it...but what a good start! He was so excited to flush it all away (again...the simple things in life...ha!). He loves to sing along to songs, dance, and be silly. He is also a great helper! He really enjoys helping me cook, clean, or do projects. He likes to do "big kid" things. Some of his favorite things to play with are balls, trains, play dough, books, blocks to name a few. He is putting 2-3 word phrases together....but still working on clarity. His favorite color is yellow. He is singing his ABC's and trying to count past 2 now...finally ;) He still eats a pretty good variety of food, but his favorites are mac and cheese, pizza, spaghetti, avocado, artichoke, and turkey. He can now go to 2 % milk and turn his car seat around (per doc). Yep...I'm one of those paranoid mom's when it comes to car safety. I still have him turned backwards! Precious cargo on board! It will be fun to see what he thinks of facing forward...a whole new world!

-Brooksy----you will always be our "baby" and can't believe that at 10:35 am, 2 years ago, you forever changed our lives for the better. We love you to the moon and back! Happy Birthday! luv, Mommy and Daddy xoxo

Happy Birthday Party to ME!

I loved my Thomas Cake...

Thanks Aunt Tara!!

What's a party without balloons?

I knew what to do with that candle!

Hanging out with my cousins

And my friends Reese and Jack!

I got to see Santa's Reindeer on Saturday!

And of course saw Santa himself

I did not cry...but did not smile either, however

could not stop talking about him afterwards!

-We had a fun filled birthday weekend. On Saturday we took Brooks to see Santa and his reindeer. I did not know how he would react since he cried last year. But...he did great! He talked a little to Santa, but preferred to just look forward (almost frozen-like) and not even smile for the pix. It was kind of funny.

-Sunday evening we had a little birthday party to celebrate our little man turning 2!!!! (actual birthday is the 20th). My family and best friend's family were able to make it. Brooks had a blast with everyone and really liked all the gifts. I think it is a good warm up for Christmas. All day he kept saying (in his own way), "Happy Birthday, Party, Balloons, Two". It was really cute. I think he actually understood that today was his special day.

Happy Birthday to Mommy!

-Today was my birthday....yep...turned 3-5!!! Ugh...doesnt' that sound old? I must admit this birthday was a little harder than years past. Not sure why....I still feel young, but I guess I am only getting closer to 4-0. Brooks greeted me with a smile this morning and was SO good all day long. I got to hang out with my little man on my birthday. Josh had to work, but was very sweet to leave me my present, card and sent an email all before I woke up. Brooks did NOT want me to wait to open the present. He kept saying (in his toddler way), "Mommy, Happy Birthday, Open". He said Happy Birthday all day and even tried to sing to me at bedtime. Brooks and I met Grandma for lunch....yummy Chick-fil-A. I went out to dinner with Brooks and Josh (after lots of pushing from Josh) and I am glad I did. I got out of my afternoon funk and had a nice birthday evening. Thanks to all you remembered my birthday this year. Things get crazy this time of year and December birthdays just seem to slip by. I have vowed to NEVER forget Brooks's birthday, to always make his day special, and to never wrap his birthday presents in Christmas paper!

-Brooks also had his 24 mo checkup today. He is in the 97th percentile for height and the 55th for weight. He is now 28.4 lbs. Doc was happy with everything and nothing exciting to report. I feel so very blessed to have a healthy little man.

(oh yeah....he has been calling me MOMMY now and not Mama. I love it! Such an easy thing to say, but for some reason he was stuck on mama. Those simple things just make my day)

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells....

Getting ready for a morning of tree hunting

I found one!

Need my help Daddy?

You sure you did not need my help?

Who are these guys then?

I'll just wait here...

Are we done yet?

This is what I found after waking up from my nap!

I loved helping hang ornaments...or trying to hang them!

-Yesterday we made the annual trip to the Millbrook Tree Farm. It was a beautiful day and the farm was packed! We quickly found the tree....but it had a big trunk and was more difficult to cut down than usual. It did not help that Josh had pulled a neck muscle before we left. So....we recruited some help. It took 3 guys to get that tree down! It was a 10 ft tree...but we cut it down to about 8.5 by the time it was all said and done. Brooks really enjoyed singing songs (he fills in the words to Jingle Bells) and the dogs loved getting out of the house.

-Today we finished decorating the tree, putting out decorations, and getting the train track together. Brooks got a big surprise after coming downstairs from his nap. A TRAIN! He played with the train all evening long! I just love his time of the year!

-On a side note....we started the Elf on the Shelf tradition this year. Brooks likes to search the house in the morning for him. We keep telling him he needs to be good because the Elf will report back to Santa if he has been bad. So...if he does something bad we say, "Elf, Brooks just hit BruBru and that is bad." Brooks is such a stinker....he now will do something he is not supposed to do and then look at us and say, "Elf...no no". Oh well.....it was worth a try!