First Train Ride

There's a park close to our house where we go play tennis. There's a jogging path, a small lake, a playground, and tons of playing fields for sports. There is also a small kiddie train. I've been wanting to take Brooks on the train, and what better time than with Gammy. My Mom and I were like contestants on the Amazing Race trying to run and catch the train. We were the last ones on before hearing "All Aboard!" I don't really think Brooks knew what to do on the train. He wasn't upset, but as you'll see in the pictures, he wasn't really excited either. He just kind of sat there with a blank look on his face. Not really sure what was going through his head.

Bobo and Brooks

Brodie is Brooks' cousin. Brodie sounds a lot like Birdie (Brooks' Grandma). So, since we are getting to spend so much time with our family now, we wanted Brooks to be able to communicate without being confused. So - we nicknamed Brodie: Bobo. Brooks caught on instantly! Brooks and Bobo had so much fun over Halloween. They are really good buddies, and I know that their bond is only going to grow with time. When Jill (Brodie's mom/my sister-in-law) tells Brodie they are coming to visit us, she said that that's all he talks about for the week. This time, on his way down, he told his mom, "Mom - I'm going to put my arm around Brooks and smile real good for pictures." How cute is he? He is so sweet to Brooks. He pushed him around in the small car...He got him extra candy while trick-or-treating...And he did put his arm around him and smile "real good" for pictures.



This last one is my favorite! Jill and I got the afternoon to go shopping at the Round Rock outlets while the boys stayed home with Chad. Children's Place was having a MAJOR sale! We got these shirts for $1.99 each. I also got Brooks a pair of shoes for $.99 and a bunch of other shirts and stuff. Jill got some girls hats for birthday presents for $.19!!! Ridiculous! We had so much fun shopping and couldn't resist the matching shirts.


Since Bobo and Aunt Jill's last visit, Brooks finds Brodie's picture all over the house and says, "Bobo!". Being away from the mountains and cool, crisp air of Colorado is hard...but it's times like these past weekends that make living in Texas THE BEST!

THE FIREMAN

Brooks was a fireman for Halloween...so I can't resist...

"Well they call me the fireman, that's my name.
Making my rounds all over town, putting out old flames.
Well everybody'd like to have a what I got.
I can cool 'em down when they're smold'ring hot.
I'm the fireman, that's my name."
- George Strait

"First" Halloween

Aunt Jill and Brodie came down to spend Halloween weekend with us. We had a birthday party on Saturday morning: My vice-principal lives behind us, and her daughter was having a birthday party. The party was so adorable! The kids all dressed up and there were tons of games, food, and fun. There was a cookie decorating station with bowls of sprinkles and frosting. Brooks kept trying to eat the spoonfuls of sprinkles. He needed a little bit of help.

There was a bowl of water and spider rings. The kids used straws to "fish" out the spider rings. Brodie did really well. Brooks just kept dipping in his straw and taking it out and putting it in his mouth. He needed a bit of help. But did I mention that Brodie did really well?

Since it was Halloween, they thought they would let the kids practice trick-or-treating. They built houses out of cardboard boxes: There was Dora's Casa, Bevo's Barn, and Stripe's Den. The kids went around knocking on the doors and getting prizes. Brooks just kind of followed the crowd. He needed a bit of help.

After lots of treats, we took the boys home for some lunch and a nap.

After nap time it was hot dog time at the Halloweenie Roast that our neighborhood hosted. The neighbors all got together for a cook-out. The kids ran around and played and had a blast!

We also took some time to knock on some doors for trick-or-treating. Brooks and Brodie made sure to collect lots of candy (starting with the bucket outside of our house).


Last Halloween didn't really count since Brooks didn't really know what was going...so I'd like to consider this his "first" Halloween.

16 months

Another month has gone by, and this is the first one with no chair picture. Remember...I decided to just do that every 3 months since he doesn't sit still any more and he doesn't change as much by the month anymore. Although, I do think he has matured a lot this past month. He is saying more words and more responsive to everything that we say. The only time he seems to have a hard time understanding is when we're telling him not to do something...imagine that?! He is having a great time at Ms.Kelly's. He comes home with artwork and all kinds of fun stuff. She said that he eats more than any other kid (and he is the youngest). He has a snack there around 3:30, and we usually pick him up between 4:00-4:30. After walking in the door at home, he looks for daddy and then he goes straight to the pantry and bangs on the door and says, "NAC! NAC! NAC!" So, yes...he gets another snack when he gets home. The other night for dinner he ate a hamburger patty, fries, green beans, a string cheese, a clementine, and a cookie. When we think he can't possibly eat anymore we'll say, "All done, Brooks?" And he'll put his hands together and say, "Mur. Mur." (for more). Some times we just cut him off because I can't think of anything else to feed him. He sure is a good eater! His favorites right now are asparagus, green beans, peas, berries, clementines, peaches, chicken, meatballs, veggie burgers, fries, feeding himself yogurt, and cookies of course. He's down to one 2.5-3 hour nap in the afternoon and still sleeps great at night. He loves playing peek-a-boo and wrestling around with daddy. He pretty much is head-over-heels in love with his daddy. It's so cute! He is also getting pretty good at singing "Old McDonald"...take a listen...

On a family walk the other night I turned to Chad and mentioned how much I love this age, and I can only imagine how much better it's going to get from here. Here are a couple of cute pictures of Brooks at the age:

Taking a swim in the hot tub at Birdie and Scoops':

Brooks and Daddy playing:

Sniffing the flowers:

Driving around:

Fall is in the Air...

Well, the fall air in Austin is slightly different than the fall air in Denver. But we are having fun enjoying fall activities with friends and family. We had a great time in Corpus at the pumpkin patch with Birdie, Scoops, and Mimi:






There was also an octoBOOerfest in our neighborhood, so we joined the fun. Jess came along and we had a great time. Brooks was the cutest skeleton there. He tasted his first bite of cotton candy and met some new friends. One thing we love about our neighborhood is that it is such a family friendly place to be.

Let me backtrack a minute...

I got so excited about posting again, that I missed a couple of things, so I'm going to need to backtrack a minute. My parents came to visit a couple of weekends ago. It's so nice being back in Texas and being able to see family so often. We went to a pumpkin patch on a drizzly fall day, and we took some great pictures. Unfortunately, the resolution was set low on the camera, and the pictures are all pixelated. I was so bummed! We seriously took some REALLY cute pictures. Good thing there are pumpkin patches everywhere for us to visit and take some more pictures. Anyways, we had a great time with Gammy and Pops. Brooks practiced saying, "Paaa" all weekend...it was so cute! And Brooks totally loves his Gammy. He learned real quick that she was always there to pick him up when mom wouldn't. Gammy spoils Brooks just a little bit. She also brought him a new Halloween outfit..so cute!


Brooks loves talking on the phone:


Chad and I also took advantage of the grandparents being here, and we scored some tickets to the UT v. CU game. It's the third time we've seen these two teams play eachother, but the first time that we've seen it on Texas soil. It was so much fun being surrounded by so many Longhorn fans - Just another benefit of living in Texas!