Brookes big birthday bash! -session 2

We had Brooke's big family birthday party today! She is one lucky little girl to have so many people to love her and share her special day with her. I made a little lady bug cake for my littlest lady. It was a lot of fun to make and she loved digging in to it.

Brooke eagerly waiting to dig in to her cake!

Trying so hard to be patient

Finally.......yummy!

Ready for presents

She can stand but not quite walking yet!

Present time

Happy Birthday Brooke! -session 1

Happy Birthday to our sweet little Brookie! One whole year has gone by and she has brought so much joy to our family. I can't believe how fast time goes by. We celebrated on her actual birthday, September 23rd with just our family at home with cake and presents. It was so much fun watching Brooke eat her cake. She absolutely loved it! What a mess she made as well. I am so glad we are recording these memories on the blog.

Cutie Kami

Kami is all smiles as she poses in her purple get up. Is she not a little cutie! Man, I love this girl. Oh how she make me smile!

Graco Picnic

The company Mike works for "Graco" had their company picnic last week. It turned out to be a really enjoyable day. They served grilled burgers, brats, hot dogs, and chicken. Along with that they served potato salad, chips, beans and other sides. It was really good. After eating, they had lots of carnival games for the kids to play along with plenty inflatable play things for the kids as well. We were there for over three hours while Ethan and Kamryn had a blast. They had fair food as well free of charge including caramel apples, pop corn, ice cream, icies and much much more! We also got to go on hay rides and listen to music.

Ethan and Kamryn climing the giant bouncy slide

Kamryn playing in on of the bouncy centers

Brooke and Daddy got their faces painted. Brooke's is a pink heart!

On the hayride

The big "30"

I can't believe I am 30 years old! I certainly don't feel the way I have always expected to feel at this age. So many people are unhappy when they turn 30. I am at a great point in my life. I have been blessed with a beautiful, loving family, good health, place to live, and the most rewarding job as a stay at home mommy! We celebrated with my side of the family at my sister Donna's house in combination with my niece Alexa's birthday. My mom also made me a special dinner of all the foods I like best including fried corn bread, fried okra, butter beans, turnips and greens! On my actual birthday Mike bought me a really cute cake and my mother in law, Julie, brought over dinner so I did not have to cook or clean up. What a wonderful birthday!

Brooke at 11 months

Ethan goes to Preschool!

Ethan officially had his first day of Preschool today! It was quite an emotional day for both of us. We had been preparing Ethan for this day for quite sometime seeing that he is pretty shy and has not been in any situations where he has been left with someone he does not know. Last week he had his open house at preschool and he really enjoyed himself playing with all of the toys and out on the playground. Mike and I were with him so it was not so intimidating to him and still he refused to even say hi to his teacher. When we left he had a positive attitude about going the following Monday. Yesterday night while visiting with family, Auntie Donna told him to have a good day tomorrow at preschool and he happily replied "I will try to be brave" I had also prepared myself for a rough drop off this morning. I am not sure you can prepare yourself for the heartbreak I felt as I was holding Kamryn's hand, Brooke in one arm and telling Mrs. Libby to please peel Ethan off of my legs as he was crying, screaming and begging me "Please Mommy don't leave me here" I calmly told him that I would be back before he knew it and did not look back as I rushed out the door and let Mrs. Libby, who I had prayed would have the patience and loving heart to deal with my overly upset child. I let an hour go by before I called to see how he was doing and was comforted to know that he was now doing fine. Mrs. Libby informed me that she had tried everything to calm him down from reading books with him to playing with toys and finally she just had to let him be as he huddled in the corner and cried by himself. After sitting alone for a while, Jonah( my hero), a little boy from Ethan's Sunday school class, who happened to be in his preschool class as well, went over to say hi to Ethan and talked to him. Mrs. Libby said that after Johah did that, Ethan joined in with the other kids and participated and had a great time! When it was time to pick him up from preschool, he looked really happy and had a huge smile on his face when he saw me. This was not the kind of face that was just relieved to see me but more of a proud, I did it Mom kind of happy face. I gave him a big hug and we went out to lunch and to Cold Stone for ice cream. All in all, I would say his first day of preschool was a positive one and I am a very proud happy Momma! My little Ethan is growing up but he will always be my baby.

Ethan before preschool

He doesn't appear the slightest bit nervous

Going down the slide at the open house

driving the van

Down the slide

Brooke playing

Our sweet little Brooke at 11 months old playing!

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Sleeping Sweeties!

Although our little sweetie pie Brooke is adorable and melts our hearts, she is very stubborn when it comes to sleeping. Apparently, she does not like to sleep. She has been keeping us up at night lately and we have not been getting our fair share of sleep. One morning Brooke decided that it was time to get up at 6 a.m. after keeping me up all night the night before. Mike was a real sweetheart and took her downstairs to play so I could go back to bed and get some much needed sleep. I went down stairs a couple hours later and found them like this..............MY SLEEPING SWEETIES! I love my family!

Our sealing in the St Paul Temple!

What a joyous day for our family! Mike and I along with our children were sealed in the St. Paul Temple of The Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for all time and eternity. It was an amazing experience that I will never forget!