Brooklyn turned 3...a week ago

So, I'm a little behind.....

Brooklyn turned 3 last Wed on October 24th!

It is SO hard to believe she is 3!!!!!





We had a really fun day. We went to the Denver Zoo. My grandma had sent some money for her birthday so we decided to buy a family annual pass to the Zoo. We had a great time. McKenna was obsessive about the map...and hardly looked at animals as she was so busy scanning the map for the next thing. (It was quite humorous...and sometimes annoying!)

Brooklyn was very anxious to see the elephants. Unfortunately, we walked the OTHER way and the elephants were last on the map.

Josiah just loved walking everywhere. He had fun chasing geese and running through the crunchy leaves. (Well, everyone loved running through the leaves....even me!)

It is a beautiful zoo, especially in fall.

That night, we had the Teague's over for dinner. Ally & Heather made a very special pink ice cream cake which everyone loved.

John and I were talking recently about all the growth Brooklyn has experienced in the last few months. Her language is finally coming together. People, besides us and McKenna, can actually understand what Brooklyn is saying. This is huge! She is very artistic and loves to draw pictures and color. She especially loves beading...her fine motor skills are quite impressive.

Brooklyn has a great energy about her and is just excited by everything. She loves to play dress up...esecially "Singuella" (Cinderalla) and enjoys playing with babies and dolls and playing "shopping" with McKenna & Ally. She is a great climber and somersaulter! She is definitely showing more signs of independence as she likes to pick out her clothes and pajamas and what she wants to do in her playtime. But, she also desires to be like McKenna. Brooklyn is always watching McKenna and imitating her actions AND words. Its cute. She loves the people around her which is evident when she wants to pray for her "friends" every night.

We are grateful for our precious Brooklyn. I am blessed and honored to be her mother. I look back 3 years ago to that bizarre pregnancy and all the stresses that were in my life and I am so thankful that God brought us through that and to such a place of peace.

The Scarecrow

Josiah's costume just arrived in the mail. It has a few more accessories, but here's the basic look:







ADORABLE!!! Shiralyn is sooo talented and I am so grateful she uses her skills on my kids! :)

Snow!!!

We woke up to snow flurries today!!! He, he. We all just sat by the window and stared at them.

I asked Brooklyn what she saw and she said, "snow!" When I asked her what color it was, she said, "white, like my milk." :)

When we came out of church at about 11:20, it was definitely snowing and the parking lot was covered in about 1 inch of snow. We were in awe the whole way home. (All 3 minutes of our drive.)

As soon as we got home we got our gloves on and headed out front to play in our first day of snow. We had a blast. By the time we came in, everyone had snotty noses and wet patches on our pants from snowball residue.










We had so much fun! Its hard to believe it was 83 here yesterday and today we are playing in SNOW. Crazy, but oh so fun.


Oh...and a shout out to Mary Bouma for making my very cool head wrap. I can't believe how warm it keeps my ears!!

Funny Things Kids Say

A couple humorous encounters with my kiddos.

Just now, I was sitting on the couch watching morning cartoons with Josiah and Brooklyn. We all just woke up like 20 minutes ago so we're all still a little foggy. Josiah was trying to "love" on Brooklyn which is intense body slamming at best. Brooklyn started in on a wild whine and cry. I comforted Josiah, telling him that Brooklyn was a little grumpy for not wanting his precious hugs.

Brooklyn piped in with, "I'm not grumpy."

Me: "Yeah, you're being a little grumpy."

B: "That's from Snow White."

It took me a minute to realize what she was saying. She thought I was calling her Grumpy, as in one of the seven "doors".

Me: "You're right. Grumpy is from Snow White, but you are being grumpy and grouchy this morning."

B: "No, I'm being Dorothy!"

I cracked up....yes, she is being Dorothy for Halloween, lest anyone forget.

THEN....

(this portion involves bathroom humor, so if you can't handle it....leave now)


Last night, after I put the kids to bed, I was downstairs doing this and that. I hear the toilet seat go up and I hear grunting. I go to the bottom of the stairs and see the light on in the bathroom. I think, this had better be for real, as Kenna often comes up with unique reasons to be out of bed. I have my gruff "go to bed" voice ready.

Me: "McKenna? Are you ok?"

McKenna: "Yeah. I just have to go p.u. (a.k.a. bowel movement}

I climb up the stairs, awaiting the inevitable question of "mom, can you wipe?"

Me: "Do you need me to wipe?"

McKenna: "Its still making its way."

Me: "Making its way?!"

At this point, I'm doubled over in laughter that my daughter refers to her bowel movement as "making its way" I stand in the doorway laughing for a couple minutes. I go back downstairs and tell her to let me know when it has made its way.

So funny, these kids.

Denver

Ok, I tell you, we have more fun living here! For the visitors alone, this has been great!

John has a friend from the hospital in San Pedro who's in town and coming to dinner on Sunday. Then, we have friends (Dan, April & Faith Diniakos) from Long Beach out visiting next week. They are coming over for a playdate and dinner on Friday. The following weekend my childhood best friend (April Spicer) and her son, Wesley, will be in town visiting.

Its amazing when you just have extra room to help others out. And a place to sit down to dinner together. We enjoyed having people over in Long Beach, but we just didn't really have the room. During summer months it was easy to be outside, but once it got cold it was just down right difficult.

Mark and Jaclyn will be here for Thanksgiving and I can't wait to host a holiday in our new home. It's going to be great!!!

And then, Jennifer & Jessica Brueckner will be here in December for a few days. (Those are our babysitters from Long Beach!) They wanted to see the kids in the snow!! Finally, someone wants to visit in the snow. :)

Anyway, we love having guests!!!! So if any of you are EVER in the Denver area, you had better make plans to come by.

My Brooklyn

Isn't she adorable? She is in Dorothy mode all the way!

Grandma Shiralyn made McKenna and Brooklyn Dorothy dresses for Halloween. But, since the girls are looking for reasons to wear their dresses, we decided to do a Wizard of Oz party for Brooklyn's upcoming 3rd birthday.

So I had Brooklyn put her dress on the other day to go pass out invitations to her party. Boy, was she excited.

Here are few pictures of my angel.





So cute!

Early Risers

I love my kids....but they get up WAY too early!

Josiah starts calling for "mama" around 5:45 A.M.! I finally pull myself out of bed between 6 and 6:15 with him. We tiptoe downstairs and cuddle on the couch in the dark for 15 minutes before I begin the morning routine.

No matter how quiet we are, something wakes Brooklyn up! She typically makes her way down the stairs, with all her "friends" in tow, by 6:45.

McKenna stays hard asleep until 7:15 or 7:30. Way to go, kid!

These are a couple of pictures I took the other morning when it was way TOO dark to be awake. (Obviously, the flash was too bright for such a dark morning...)





Good thing they're so darn cute, huh? Its hard to stay grumpy when you look at those adorable faces.

Pray for me and the upcoming time change...Nov 4. I think I will be going crazy when I have to get out bed before 5. It pains me to just think about it.

Church, Part 3

There is good news!

We have found a church.

After a couple months of grieving and frustration, John found it! It was a church that was meeting on Sunday nights in a local school auditorium. He went one Sunday night and loved it. He came home and asked if he could go to the pasta party at the pastor's house. Ok....I said. The pastor lives about 3 blocks away. John went and got to meet lots of people and ask lots of questions. He came home pretty pumped up.

I went the following Sunday night and wept as I felt the Spirit of the Lord just surrounding this body of believers.

The church is called Crossroads Community Church.

We've been attending for nearly 2 months now and have had confirmation after confirmation that this is where God wants us.

I will continue to share what God is doing here, but realized I had left everyone hanging with a sad story. So here is the happy ending! (Or really, the happy beginning.....)

We are making friends and connecting deeply with other believers. We are being challenged to find a place to serve. We are being called into a deeper and more loving relationship with our Father. We are being loved and cared for.

It is good.

This last Sunday, Crossroads had the opportunity to move to another location. They are now meeting in the school just across the street from us on Sunday mornings. The attendance DOUBLED (at least) on this opening Sunday. My soul was ecstatic! I get such joy in watching God draw people to Him and His church.

We are blessed.

Whoever said baseball is boring...

....is SO WRONG!

Last night John and I got to go to the Wildcard Tiebreaker game between the Padres and Rockies. Oh my gosh! It was so much fun!

Now, I grew up in a "baseball" family. But my enjoyment of the game basically involved Dodger dogs, salty peanuts and going home after the 7th inning stretch and singing the "baseball song." I liked hanging out at the stadium and I was lucky if I saw a hit or 2 and occasionally glanced down to see a guy in a uniform run from base to base. My brother , Mark, on the other hand, lived and breathed baseball as a kid. He liked everything....especially the stats and all the math...and the baseball cards. (Very weird.) So I kind of tolerated his passion for the sport and tried not to act totally bored when he recounted everything any player had ever done and what would happen if he hit this run or stole that base or made 2 more catches. Yada, yada, yada.....

But, last night all of that changed. John and I watched THE BEST game of baseball.

I was on the edge of my seat...if not standing on my seat for the majority of the game. I was cheering, and yelling, and booing & taunting the opposing team. I was high-fiveing the fans around me. I was actually reading the board and finding out things about the players that made me change the way I looked at them. I learned about batting averages. I began to expect different things from players. I watched the pitches and began to see the difference between a fast ball, a curve ball and a slider. I got mad when the umpire called strikes that were obviously balls. I paid attention to the batting line-up and knew when to expect greatness and when to hope that they put in a PH. :)

And throughout the whole game, I kept thinking of my little brother, Mark, and how proud he would be of me. I was also bummed John didn't have his number programmed in his cell (what?) because I had lots of questions for him. I was constantly quizzing John and every now and then, John would say, "that's something only Mark would know."

I watched every single second of the game with absolute intensity. I loved it! It was fantastic. I was so excited....the energy in the stadium was out of control. I refused to leave my seat to go to the bathroom, afraid I would miss something. (Yes, it was that good.)

So, I'm now officially a baseball fan. I"m beginning to "get" the game and why so many people love it.

GO ROCKIES!!!!!