Big Girls

Brooke is a big girl. After talking to my sister Amy, I found out that Brooke has not been eating in a high chair or off of a tray for quite some time now over at their house. I was unaware of this and had been continuing to feed her off of her high chair tray. She had been beginning to throw a fit about this and I had no clue why. Well now I know-she is a big girl.

When we went over to my parents house two weekends ago, she sat at the little kids table in her own chair and ate her dinner off of her plate only getting up when she was finished. Well, we don't have a little kids table at our house-Grandma and Grandpa Johnson totally spoil their grand kids with their little kiddo table that Grandma got by dumpster diving..no joke here..as she would say, "her neighbors have good trash!" We do have a booster seat, though, that fits up against the table and for the last week or so Brooke has been eating at our table and she LOVES it! The little things in life right? She is so mature :)

Yes, that is still a bottle, but it does have a sippy cup top ok!! I am having a hard time saying no to the bottle at night...and in the mornng..

Brooke is soooo into politics. It was all I could do to pull her away from NBC this mornign while watchign the Presidential Inaguration. Gary and I are so proud-future senator? Maybe-she gets it all from her mother...I did go to Girls State you know :)

New Shoes

Brooke got new shoes today. She loves her Uggs, but I think that she needs a tennis shoe option as well. She had been wearing the coolest Pumas (care of Aunt Bethany), however, when I went to put them on her the other day, I literally had to shove her foot in (and I did). The Pumas were a size 4. When we went to Lauries today, they measured her foot a size 5.5! Poor Brooke must have been in some pain! Who knew feet could grow so fast on such a small girl!

The first thing that you do when you get a new pair of shoes (and a killer hot pink bow) is pretend to eat a large turkey leg. If Brooke thinks that this is good, wait until I take her to Six Flags! The next thing that you do in those new shoes and Fab Bow is play the drums-Dad would be so proud. She totally kills it in Rock Band.

Then you get mad at your mom for taking so many pictures-it is like living with a paparazzi! Lay off Mom...I know that your obsessed with the bow and if it was socially appropriate you would wear one yourself, but get a life and put the camera away..

New shoes always make Brooke pick her nose. Don't they make you want to pick your nose?? Think about it...

Seriously, think about it...Brooke totally goes for it! She cannot stop laughing while picking her nose-it is hysterical after all :)

See the shoes-cute right?

Happy Birthday SheShe Baby Talk

Happy, Happy Birthday to ONE of Brooke's favorite Aunt Katie's! Hope you have a great day!!!

Still under the weather

Does this look like the face of a girl that is feeling 100%?
We are still fighting off illness and Brooke is working her way through a cold right now (along with Mom). At least she still looks 100% cute-even when she is feeling sick :)

Gold Digger

A new favorite activity leads to a picture perfect moment that I will share with Brooke's first date when she is 16...!!!!

Brooke's Audience

Brooke has really been into her stuffed animals lately. So much so that she likes to take every single on out (one at a time) and pose them as her audience on the floor. I mean, who doesn't want an audience right?? Future star? Future Tracie?

New Years Eve & Holiday Fun

Can I begin by saying that Gary and I don't go on trips, vacations, etc. I know, I know, we should travel as a couple right? Well, we don't. Some may even be surprised to learn that we didn't go on a Honeymoon. We instead purchased our first house (we are so, so responsible right?). We figured that on our one year anniversary, we would go on that much desired Honeymoon. Well, one year came and I was well on my way to St. John's Hospital to have Brooke-so much for that trip huh?? We have tried a few times, though, over the last 14 months to occasionally try to slip away for the night or weekend-9 times out of 10 this doesn't go well, bad luck I guess. This New Years Eve was no different.

Gary and I were total totally excited to go to my friend Marci's lake house in Springfield, IL for New Years Eve. My sister Tracie was so nice and offered to watch Brooke for us over at my sister Amy's house. About 2 hours before we were to head out, Gary wasn't feeling on his "A" game. He fought past it, though, and we headed to the lake for an evening of fun. Poor Gary made it through about an hour of good times before he ended up in bed with the flu (it had been going around my family). I felt terrible for him!! I was feeling fine-that is until 1:30 a.m. Restroom bound I was for an evening of porcelain goddess hugging-I hate the stomach flu (and I was totally feeling for my friends in the adjoining bedroom...So Sorry Guys). Needless to say, we were out the door on our way back to STL by 9:00 a.m. My only hope was that Brooke didn't get the bug. I called Tracie to inform her of our 'status' and she informed me that Brooke did in fact catch the bug-and threw it up all over Tracie at a strong 5:00 a.m. What a trooper Tracie is-and what a story we will have to tell Brooke about her ROCKING God Mother :) After a good 24 hours we were all 99% better. So much for that fun get-away right??

We also did some new and fun activities over the Holidays including the Magic House and The Incredible Pizza Place. Brooke had a GREAT time at both!

Brooke riding the space ship at IPP (Incredible Pizza Place). It took her all the way up in the 'sky' and she was so pumped!!

Her favorite-the Merry-go-Round. We couldn't pull her off of this ride without a tantrum following! I guess we will buy one for our house....Anything to keep her happy...

Wait..maybe this was the favorite. The girls loved the car when it was stationary. As soon as it started to move, look out! If you look closely at their hands, you will see that Lily is driving, but Brooke is trying to get her hand in there-Lils is always in control. Brooke finally settled for pushing the horn. She does not fight the Lily.

To the Magic House! Brooke loved 'shopping' and picked out her own groceries to make us dinner with that night (of course). She chose a lime, potato, circle of meat (yumm!) pineapples and two Irish coffee creamers. Sounds delish right??

Brooke is pretty nervous around other kids still. This was the only activity (around older kids) that she wanted to try out. It was a bookshelf with a hidden tunnel underneath. She crawled all the way from one end to the other and loved it!

We cannot wait to try out other 'St. Louis' favorites soon!