11 Months Old

Wow hard to believe this is the last of my "true" monthly pictures!  The next picture for the kids will mark 3 years old for Brooke, and 1 year for Tyler!  Its been a great year learning the ins and outs on how to take care of two kids versus just 1.  Also, watching the way they interact, and have developed over the year.

Tyler stood up by himself for the first time this past weekend.  Both Nick and I were there as he stood in the sand box to get the "O'Look he is standing!!", and then of course he fell down with our reaction, and hasn't done it since.  He continues to be the happy go lucky little guy (assuming he has a fully belly, and it isn't close to nap/bed time).  He is getting better at sleeping at night, and has even gone a few night recently from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. Woo Hoo!!  He goes down to bed at 8:00, but we have been waking him right before we head to bed for one last bottle around 10:00.

We love you our little Tyler man!

Happy Father's Day!

We enjoyed a nice quiet, relaxing Father's Day at home this year. 

Nick went on a nice 2 hr run, while the kids and I enjoyed putting together puzzles.  Brooke is getting really good at them, and pulled out a 12 pcs puzzle, and put it all together quicker than I could change Tyler's diaper!  In the lower left picture you can see her trying to protect her newly put together puzzle from Tyler's destructive hands!

The weather was perfect for the day, and we also enjoyed blowing bubbles, and eating dinner outside on the deck.

Boy, oh boy did Shelly have fun chasing the bubbles!  Yes, she was getting quite some air!

Wordless Wednesday

Can't resist a pretty girl, a new dress, and summer flowers!

35 Months...only one more month til she is 3

I think some times Brooke cracks herself up as much as she makes us laugh.  She just took my shoes out of the closet and started walking around.  I guess its a good thing I don't wear heals too often.   Brooke is up to about 29 lbs, and its been a great healthy month!  We head to the Allergy & Asthma Doctor this Friday, but seeing as this is the longest she has gone without coughing, I am hoping for a very good report.  We also need to discuss our long term strategies.  Which inhalers we need to continue to use, and how often.  I don't like the idea of her on a daily inhaler, but I love that she finally sounds, and looks healthy.

Brooke is very talkative at home, and has no problem letting you know what she needs or wants.  However, it still takes her time to warm up around others including her favorite buddies that live next door.  Also, lately her morning drop off at daycare consists of me having to literally hand her off to Miss T.  She always talks about how much fun she has at daycare, but I guess she still has a hard time saying good bye to mommy each morning.

We have also started to "talk up" her third birthday with two exciting new accomplishments; 1) First Hair Cut. I guess its about time I let her get a little bit cut off.  2) Giving up her "B".  We will see if this one actually gets completed, but hey its worth trying!

The last few nights Brooke has insisted on sleeping on the floor instead of her bed.  Not really sure why, but I guess it looks cozy!

Mmmm...yummy...yummy

One of the great advantages of living "Downriver" is all the farms in the area and fresh produce!  We visited a farm in Ypsilanti Rowe's Produce Farm Saturday afternoon, where we picked just over 2 lbs of sugar snap peas, and just over 8 lbs of Strawberries!!  I think the kids (as well as myself & Nick), may have enjoyed eating the peas fresh as much as the strawberries.  It sounds like we made it to the Strawberry picking just in time, as the weather was around 90 deg, and they weren't going to be making it another day.

 

We froze about half the peas, and probably 6 lbs of the strawberry.  Boy are those strawberries going to make some yummy summer smoothies!

Racing for Recovery!

We have been watching the weather forecast all week to see how things looked for Nick's first race of the year.  The left side shows the hour by hour forecast when we went to bed Saturday night, and the right side shows the forecast Sunday morning!   Whew, were we all relieved!  There was no way the kids and I would make it to the race in the rain, and doing a race in the rain is no fun at all!

The gun when off this morning at 7:35 a.m.  The day ended with no rain, extra windy, but nice and warm. 

This is the 5th time Nick has done this race, and its so convent as its only 15 minutes from our house! Racing for Recovery In 2006 the race was in Toledo, OH, but since then it has been in Monroe, MI.

Despite the extra wind, Nick stated this was the fastest he has completed this race. (5:36:59).  Here are a few pictures from the previous years.  I must say, I think I have done pretty well with catching the action shots over the years!

Hi Emi!! This post is for you!!

More Summer Fun!

Our little Brooke for so long would freak out if she found out her feet were dirty.  For this reason, whenever we find her playing with dirty we sit back quietly and take out the camera. 

She decided to check out some of our plants we picked up for the garden...

We are so extermelly lucky to have such great neighbors!  It still takes Brooke a little while to warm up to them, but they are always so patient with her.  After about an hour, they were having a blast!!