Christmas 2011

This year it was short, but sweet!

We briefly stopped by my parents on the way to see Eddie's family to drop off presents and stretch our legs.  Brooklyn is all about being a "special good helper" this year so she helped me add the bows while we were there.

And if you are wondering about Chandler...she just LOVES her Mommy!

If you ever need to find her...just look in a 3 foot radius around me and you are sure to see her if she is not actually ON me.

Eddie's brother, Chuck and his family were in town from Tampa. 

We don't get to see them enough, but Brooklyn and their son Henry have fun playing together when we do get to see them!

They had the most fun taking turns: one on the tricycle-thing and the other in Big Birds lap...they did this forever!!

And when they were on his lap, there just might have been some tickling involved.

The biggest shocker of the day for me, though, was that Chandler LOVES Uncle Chuck!!

Chandler is happy to smile and wave at anyone...from a distance, but she's really not a big fan of new people.  Except for Uncle Chuck!!  She kept going and laying down by him.  I didn't catch it on camera, but at one point she went and sat in his lap for like 15 minutes!!  That's a long time for a 1-year-old to even sit still!!

Then we did our gift exchange with the Nalley crew.  These pictures totally crack me up because they are just SO typical of my kids.  B is my wild and crazy rockstar.

And Chandler (holding her baby in the carrier and carrying the diaper bag on her back) is my sweet girly, girl.  This are the gifts that they immediately migrated towards.

After that, we headed back to my parents because that's where Santa would be dropping off these toys for Christmas morning!!

Time to see what he brought them!!

Brooklyn's loot.

  This was her first year to actually have a request for Santa and she really wanted drums!

Santa did not disappoint!

Chandler's Loot.

Chandler wasn't very interested in her stuff from Santa because she was so mesmerized by their joint gift...

The Kitchen!!

Isn't it so cute???  Granite countertops and stainless steel appliances and all!!

Then we got all dressed and ready for the day

Before having our little lunch

Then all of their cousins came over!

One cousin is hiding and yes, Brooklyn is throwing a fit.  =)

She "couldn't want" to take a picture with her cousins.

Everyone was here this year except Brady.  =(

Missed you, Brade!

Gift exchange

I think they adults enjoyed the toys as much as the kids did!

Maybe even more!

Chandler and her girly, girl cousin Cannon had a big-time playing together in the new kitchen.

And it's just not Christmas without some yummy treats!

Lawson and Brooklyn did a little snuggling just before bed.

The next morning, Lawson and Hudson joined me and my early-rising baby for some more snuggling to start the day off right!

And then, of course, they had to have their daily dose of "God Made Music" with their breakfast.

Last, but not least, we had a little dance party before heading back home.

My sister and her family have caught a bad case of the Beiber Fever so they all rocked out to a little Justin!

It was a very quick, but VERY MERRY Christmas!

Santa and Spaghetti 2011

Our good friend, Koli, and her family hosted their annual Santa and Spaghetti at their house this year.

Brooklyn, of course, loved Santa.  (That's a smile behind her hands.)

And Chandler?

Did NOT!!  

But he made it up to her by giving her the biggest sucker EVER!

And yes, it was as funny-looking in real life as it is in the picture!!

Life with Chandler @ 16 months

Oh, our sweet little Chan-Chan!!

Chandler is a total cuddle-bug!!  She wakes up pretty early every morning, but will come cuddle with me in bed for like 2 hours until it's REALLY time to get up.  And honestly?  It's SO STINKING SWEET I don't even mind it!!  She will lay nose to nose or cheek to cheek...no concept of personal space whatsoever.  Love. Her.

She is very verbal for a 16 month old.  She will try her best to repeat any word you say and I'd just have to guess, but probably has between 100-150 words of her own.  She also seems to understand anything I tell her and follows complex instructions.  

Ex:  Go the the playroom and get your blanket, tell Daddy goodnight, then we'll brush your teeth.

Maybe that's normal, but it seems really crazy to me!!

She is a total Mommy's girl!!  If I'm home, she wants to be WHEREVER I am.  If I'm not home, she's pretty much just happy to be anywhere doing anything.  She's starting to develop some opinions and willfulness, but is still pretty laid-back.

Favorites:

Food - Raisins

Drink - Orange juice

Toy - Baby Doll

Show - Mickey Mouse

She answers yes or no questions by very emphatically shaking her head.  You'd have to see it to understand, but it's quite comical.

She loves to dance!

She's very ticklish.

And she still doesn't sleep very much.

And, oh, those eyes!!

She has completely STOLEN our hearts!!

Thanksgiving 2011

Life with Brooklyn at age 3

Life with Brooklyn right now is hilarious!! 

I've always described her as a bit of a Tomboy, but in the month of October, that has changed.  She is all about dressing up and wearing costumes.



The other night while we were eating dinner, she said, "Look, Mom, a Rainbow!"

(Actually she said "maimbow", then corrected herself =(...maimbow is much cuter.)

Pretty impressive, huh?  She is very meticulous and will take a long time working on a project or craft like this to get it perfect.  I wasn't watching, but I gaurantee you that every blueberry was carefully placed, one at a time because that is just SO her!

A couple of nights ago, I walked in and she was eating cheerios off the table without using her hands.

She looked up at me very seriously and said, "I'm like a pony." and then went right back to eating off the table like this was perfectly normal.  I don't think it would have been nearly as funny if she thought she was funny, but she has no idea!!

This year at school, her teachers have been a little concerned because Brooklyn won't talk.  Like not a single word all day long (except they said she is REALLY loud on the playground and will occasionally talk to a friend...but only outside.)  She's gone 2 days a week from 9am-2pm since the beginning of September.  She finally had a breakthrough last week, though...started talking on Tuesday and they said she hasn't stopped talking since.  It just took her 17 classes to come out of her shell.  So bizzarre!

They say that she can work a puzzle like nobody's business, though.  They are impressed because she will pick hard ones and keep working until she figures them out...of course she does...again, very meticulous about things like that.  Because she likes a tedious project, we've been working on writing her name...I make the dots and she will trace them. 

So proud of her!!

Because of her extreme personality, when she is helpful...she is extremely helpful (for example:  when I'm folding clothes, I'm not allowed to grab something out of the basket to fold because she wants to carefully select each item and hand it to me in a particular order), when she is upset...she is extremely upset, when she is rowdy...she is extremely wild, when she is working on a project...she will do it perfect and when she is happy and having fun...she is having THE MOST FUN EVER!!

Life with Brooklyn is never dull for a minute.  She does something hilarious every day and I'm going to try to do better at recording it so she look back and laugh at herself one day.