Jan-Feb

It's that time again for a little blogging and catching up. Time is flying by so fast...somebody make it stop!!! Brooks is growing up way too quickly for my liking...I swear it is a new word or a new fancy every single day! This week it is trucks and tractors! He is obsessed! He has a few books about trucks and machines and we have looked at and read one of them so much that it is already falling apart! I just had to tape it back together! He loves to ride in the car now because it is like a big game to him to see how many trucks and tractors he can point out in one trip! He gets so excited when he spots one! It makes driving on I-4 much more plesant these days!

His vocabulary is growing leaps and bounds too. I need to take the time and list out all the words he can say or repeat. It would take up WAY too much room here! Some of his more recent words are "please" which sounds a lot like "peas", "thank you Mama" (which was his first real phrase!), "bacon" (his favorite meat by far!), "tractor", and my personal favorite "na-na" which is his was of saying aligator and here is why. Back during football season I was trying to get him to do the gator chomp and I would do all the Gator cheers I knew including the "Na-na-na-na-na, Go Gators!" and so I guess he associates all aligators with the University of Florida because anytime he see one he says "Na-na!" Go figure!
Brooks is growing like a weed! He went in a few weeks ago for his 15 month well-check and he is 32 inches tall and weighs 28 pounds! He is in the 94% for height and 90% for weight! The doctor said that if he continues to grow like he is that he will be well over 6 feet tall! Mark was thrilled to hear that news! Brooks also got four new teeth over the past few weeks. I though he just had another cold but sure enough I happened to looked in his mouth and he had cut two of his big molars! He cut the other two this past week. It makes for some tough days but at least I know what it is this time! We just stay on top of the pain with Tylenol and his irritability with lots of diversions including Elmo, playing outside and visits with friends!

Look at our little Tim Tebow in the making!!! Can you say Florida Football 2027?


Back in January we drove down to Fort Myers to help Alex and Brady Hart celebrate their birthdays. Brady turned 2 and Alex turned the big 3-0! We had a great time seeing everyone and hanging out with all the kiddies! It was a zoo but we would have had it no other way!

Here we all are celebrating Brady's second birthday at the park...it was a beautiful day!



All the kidos playing in the giant sand box!

Brooks smuggling footballs...can you see the third one?

He couldn't get enought of the sand...it was EVERYWHERE!!!! But it was SO worth it!

Here we all are celebrating Alex's big day. It was a table full of great food and even better company! Good times!

Here are two little naked boys...sometimes it's just too much fun to run around in your diaper!

And here are all three boys in the bath tub after a hard day of playing!

Back in December we decided to go ahead and have our hall bathroom and office renovated into a nicer bathroom with a tub and a laundry room! It was a long process but we finally have two beautiful rooms!

Here's the bathroom...

And the laundry room! Yay...I can do laundry inside now!!!

Back in November we had that little tree problem in our front yard and on top of our car...just this past month the City of Orlando decided it was time to take down the rest of the tree. It was little piece of little boy heaven! I think Brooks thought he had died and gone to heaven when the trucks rolled up and the guys started working!

And of course he had to get all geared up for the big event! He even had his safety goggles on! So cute! My dad would be so proud...a little logger in training!

He seriously could not get enough of the action! We were out there watching the better part of the morning!

One of the workers took our camera up in the bucket and took a picture of our house from the air...very cool! If you look really close you can see Brooks and me on the front porch!

And here is a picture of the end product. Well we still have a stump in our front yard...I am sure it will be another couple of months until they come out and grind it down!

Back mid-January we had some amazingly cold weather come through Central Florida. Needless to say it kept us inside more than we would have liked. We made the best of it and found some fun inside things to do! Here we are on our way home from having breakfast with Trish and Diane...they gave Brooks a basketball goal and balls for Christmas that he LOVES! He thinks he is SO big because he can slam dunk! Good thing we can play basketball inside!!!

We also made a visit to an indoor bounce house...it was SO much fun!! They had huge ball pits and a giant slide that Brooks could not get enough of! Mama even got in on the fun! Check it out!!!

A short video of the giant slide! Like I said...Brooks couldn't get enough!

Here's a cute pic of Brooks and Ella sharing Brooks' comfy chair...they are watching Elmo I am sure!

It finally started to warm up to the 60's so we decided to venture out with the kids again...here are Brooks and Ella taking a wagon ride together...Ella is even sharing her sippy cup with Brooks even though he has his own in his hand! What a sweet girl!

Here we all are enjoy the sunshine in our backyard...one of Brooks' favorite places to be these days!

And Brooks LOVES his slide...he can even navigate it himself! It still makes me a nervous wreck so don't worry...someone is always close by!

Up...

Up...

And down!!! Weee!!!

I'm not sure if this see-saw was made for two adults and one toddler!

Brooks and Daddy enjoying an ice cold one together....ahhhh...father and son bonding!

We took a drive over to GJ's house to have dinner and play around on all the fun tractors! It was another little piece of heaven for Brooks! Here he is on the mini-loader with daddy!

And riding the lawn mower with GJ! So much fun!!!

Brooks also loves spending time with his PG. I am teaching again this semester at UCF and so my mom comes over every Tuesday to hang out with Brooks and play! Here they are reading a new book...about tractors of course!!!

And here they are sword fighting...it's another one of Brooks' favorite things!!! Don't worry...they are foam swords!

Mark is trying to teach Brooks how to cast his little fishing pole. He tied a stick to the end so that it was weighted enough to cast...Brooks loves it!

Here he is learned to reel it in!

But don't think that it's just Brooks getting to have all the fun! Oh no! Mark and I have had our share of fun the past couple of weeks too!

I went on a "girls night out" last week to a local chocolate shop where we got to make all sorts of yummy chocolate confections...in fact we got to take home a whole pound of chocolate!!!! Delish!!!

Mark and I also got to go see Johm Mayer in Tampa the night before Mark's birthday! It was so much fun and such a great concert!!!!

Mark, Chris, Ny and me...we had such a great time together!

And of course John Mayer!!!! He rocked!

This past week Brooks and I hosted his second annual Valentine's party at our house. It was a huge success mainly because Brooks didn't nap the entire time this year!!! We had a lot of fun making homemade Valentines, playing with toys, and eating lots of yummy chocolate! It was a great Valentine's party!

Don't tell Ella's daddy but I think Brooks just stole his first Valentine's kiss!!!! If that's not a look of "guilt" I don't know what is!!!