Family Baby Shower #2

Hanging out with my Uncle Tyler

(us boys need to stick together)

Chilling with Daddy

Mommy and Grandma

Hanging out with Aunt Tammy's niece (Madeline)

on Uncle Brian's side of the family

Hey..what ya doing?

I don't think she's too sure about me yet.....

-My sister Tammy was given a family baby shower by her father and mother in law. It was so nice of them to include everyone. We had a great time hanging out and celebrating baby Hartley. The food was so yummy! Brooks enjoyed socializing with everyone and getting to know Madeline. He tends to be the life of the party in those situations.....wonder where he gets that from? (maybe his daddy?)

-Tammy is now officially overdue...poor thing! She was due 4/16 and will most likely be induced next week. Will Baby Hartley ever get here? I can't wait to find out if I have a new niece or nephew!!

(Thanks to my niece Cassidy for taking all the fun pictures!)

There's a First for Everything...

My first Lil' Kickers Soccer Class

Mommy put on my shinguards "no hurting" and soccer shoes

I couldn't wait to join the fun...check out the cool uniform I got!

Of course Mommy made sure I had #4...that was her number.

Meeting my new friends

We even got to play with a parachute!

-Brooks had his first soccer class last weekend. He was so excited to run around and kick the ball. He did pretty well and had so much fun. He looked so cute with his soccer uniform, shinguards, socks and shoes! He left right afterwards to drive to St. Louis with Daddy. This was the first time Josh has taken just Brooks out of town without me. I was a little sad and missing my boys. But, it was so good for them to spend that special time together. They drove in for Great Grandpa's Birthday....Happy Birthday! It was a nice birthday surprise for Grandpa. He also got to hang out with his Pops Blackmore and Great Aunt Marsha. He was a tired boy by the time he got home Sunday evening. I was glad to have them home ;) When he got home a found Brooks now has his first second year molar. Lots of firsts for little Brooksy this past weekend.

Great Grandpa, Daddy and me!

Acting silly with Aunt Marsha

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Brooks kicking ALL the balls.

(sorry about the poor video again)

Brooks kicking down cones

(I got a kick out out of the fact Brooks holds his

hand up to have the ball passed back to him. He did it several times

during the class. It's like he setting up a play. Too funny)

Shin guards

Grandma and Papa got me these indoor soccer shoes,

shin guards and socks. I could NOT wait to put them on.

Ready!

I woke early from my nap because I wanted to

put my shin guards back on....I love them!

Nice Shot!

-Grandma McCarroll stopped by before nap time with a surprise for Brooks. It was indoor soccer shoes, shin guards and socks! He loved them and wanted them on right away. It was like he has been wearing them all his life. He thought they were so cool. He refused to take off his shin guards before nap...so some compromising had to be done. He even woke early from his nap because he wanted them on...too funny! (but not for mommy). He enjoyed kicking the ball with them on. The reason for getting the "gear" is because we signed up Brooks for a toddler soccer class. It is for 2-3 year olds and is purely for FUN! So, don't start thinking we have gone crazy....nope...just want Brooks to have fun running around with kids his age. (of course doesn't bother me that soccer is the sport of choice!). There really are no other "organized" sports related activities for kids this young. Most start at 3-4 years of age. So...why not? It's in the genes :) It starts next Saturday....so more to come!

He also loves practicing his B-Ball skills (then watching himself)

in prep for some March Madness.

Sweet Side of Brooksy

It was quiet one morning while I was doing a few things

around the house. So I peeped into the living room....

and this was what I saw.

Close up shot of Brooksy hanging with his buddy, Brutus.

Just melts my heart :)

I also caught Brooksy doing his best at carrying a tune

to "twinkle twinkle". So precious...

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!