Big News for the Brinks II

So for those who don't already know I would like to officially announce that we are expecting baby #4! We've known for about 5 weeks, and I'm only 9 weeks along! (Thanks to great home pregnancy tests you can know pretty much right after conception) So, I'm due on July 17th and we are very excited to add to our family. 4 seems pretty daunting to me right now but Brady will almost be 3 and I think it'll be a great time to add another muchkin to the mix! Please excuse my terrible blogging. I feel absolutely wretched and will jump back on the wagon as soon as I feel up to it!

GIRLS WEEKEND!!!!

So this last weekend was our long awaited girls weekend in Phoenix. Before I continue let me just give a HUGE SHOUTOUT to Don and Janet (otherwise known as D&J or Dad and Mom to me) Anyways, being the "special" one that I am I totally forgot my camera. I'm waiting on a CD of pictures from Shannon, the official photographer of the weekend! If you'd like to see what we did please link to "Petersen Family Blog" Shannon has details there! I will post more when I receive my pictures!

Happy Halloween-er

FINALLY, after a long month of talking and waiting and anticipating the day arrived to go trick or treating! Everything went well, other then Jackson pulling some major pirate attitude and Brady crying for me as TJ walked down the street with his pirate and princess close behind. Jackson was unhappy about having to wear a red sweater underneath his pirate costume and Brady had been woken up from his nap to get ready, even though under normal cirucumstances it probably would've gone off the same way for him. He's turned into the biggest, and I mean BIGGEST mama's boy ever. Not to mention his serious 2 year old behavior. All I have to say about my little Brae-Brae is that its going to be a long year!

The kids went out with some neighbors and had a great time. They came back with a ton of loot! Poor TJ had to carry 35 lb Brady on his shoulders the whole time. I was pretty sure I was going to have a very cranky daddy on my hands when they returned but he was fine...just a little sore.

Anyways, here are the pics of Captain Jack Sparrow, Sleeping Beauty and Pablo.

By the way, Libby...the song is for you. Remember Young Women's camp?

Until next Halloween...oh yeah and Happy Birthday to me!

Photo and video editing at onetruemedia.com

Carving Pumpkins and Dance Class

So I combined the next 2 Halloween events into 1 video montage...first off, I put this to "Walk Like and Egyptian" because its the song that Natalie has been dancing to in her Jazz class. By the way, she enjoys Jazz much more then Ballet. I think its more her speed since she's rocking out to "Since You've Been Gone," "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," and "I Love Rock N Roll" instead of doing plie's (sp?) to twinkle piano music. (No offense to you ballerina's out there.) Anyways, we had a great time carving pumpkins. We did 3, one for each child. Brady's is just a typical Jack O Lantern face, that, as you can see, HE LOVED! Jack's was a pirate and Natalie chose an Owl in flight. That one was by far the most difficult to carve but it also was the coolest looking when it was lit. I hope you can tell from the pictures how cool the carved pumpkins looked. I can't figure out how to turn off the automatic flash on my camera so I couldn't get a picture of them lit. As far as the pictures of TJ go, he actually is gutting a pumpkin while posing like a spazz, but that didn't show up in the montage!

As for the pictures of Natalie's dance class they had such a fun time dancing in their costumes. This was the last week of Walk Like An Egyptian so it was so cute to see them all do their dance for the last time all dressed up. There are such cute little girls in her class and she just loves it. I personally think that seeing these little 4 and 5 year olds do Jazz is the most adorable thing I've ever seen. There's a part where they're supposed to shake their booties...hilarious! When I get the right cord for my camcorder I'll post the whole routine. For now, enjoy the still shots!

Make an online slide show at onetruemedia.com

Happy Birthday Jackson

So the celebrations for Jack's birthday were great! His birthday was on Friday and I had arranged with his Teacher to bring in cupcakes on Friday afternoon. It was so fun because he had NO IDEA that I was coming. He was so excited and after everyone had eaten their cupcakes he threw his arms around me and thanked me for the suprise. It was cute. Sorry though, no pictures of that.

When he got home from school we opened presents and then headed out to our ward party. That was a lot of fun and of course the kids had a blast!

Saturday morning we went to get family pictures. That could've gone better. It was SOOOOOO windy, and SOOOOOO cold but the kids were awesome! I'm not sure how they'll turn out, however, so to be continued!

Saturday afternoon we headed off to Brunswick Zone for Jack's bowling/laser tag birthday party. For anyone who lives by a Brunswick Zone I totally recommend having a birthday party there. It was AWESOME! The kids had a blast and you get so much for your money. Anyways, of course Jackson had a fun time with his friends and it was a great success.

7 Years Ago Today...

So 7 years ago today I was in the beginning stages labor with my first born child Jackson McBride Brinkerhoff. Of course at the time we didn't know that was going to be his name, but we did know he was a boy. I get very nostolgic on Jack's birthday for some reason, and even though its not until tomorrow, 12:18 a.m. to be exact, I decided to post his birthday montage today.

Happy Birthday Jackson! We Love you and are Proud of You!

Photo and video editing at onetruemedia.com

Training Wheels? What training wheels?

I'm excited today as I blog because my posting is about Natalie. I feel bad for Natalie sometimes as she kind of gets lost in the shuffle of life...you know the middle child syndrome. Anyways, today's post is all about my Rae because she learned how to ride her bike without training wheels today.

We got her a real bike with training wheels back in the spring and after she'd had it for like a week Jackson's friend sat on it and bent one of the training wheels. Then a couple weeks after that Jackson sat on it and bent the other one! That made it so the training wheels were still on, but not very functional as far as stabilizing her as she rode. They helped on corners and if she lost her balance but she was pretty much riding it as a two-wheeler all summer long.

Well today she wanted to go to her friend's house up the street but she wasn't sure which house it was so I told her I'd walk her up there. She hopped on her bike and away she went without wobbling or anything. As soon as I saw how balanced she was I told her to wait and I got TJ to come and watch her. I wish I had a picture/video of what it looked like but TJ came out and saw her riding her bike with training wheels and started laughing so hard because it was so funny that they were bent all weird and she wasn't even using them. So he took them off, she nervously hopped on again and off she went--no problem--on a 2 wheeler! She's so proud of herself and I'm so proud of her! I got video that I'd like to post but I don't have the right cord to hook it up to my computer so here are a few pictures instead!

Here are the kids waiting while Daddy took the training wheels off.

Her first ride around the cul-de-sac

And here she is after riding around the cul-de-sac a few times!

Costco ROCKS!

All I have to say is Costco is the best! I was there today getting Chicken Dino's for my kids and getting some pictures developed and I decided to nob around in the Christmas stuff. Well I found a GIANT wreath for $33.99! Its is so giant it will be PERFECT for above my fireplace and I'm so excited about it because it was only $33.99! You all need to go to Costco and get your GIANT wreaths whilst they are still available!

More of Brady the Big Boy

In the life of a toddler it seems that once the major milestones start coming, they don't stop and they come faster and faster. I didn't think that Brady would hit another major milestone so soon after giving up his soo-soo's, but I was wrong. Another BIG milestone has been reached in my baby's life...one that I was so worried about and one that I wasn't ready for. Before I get into it, let me rewind...

A couple of months ago as I was sitting in the office, which is directly below Brady's room, I realized that Brady's crib was very close to collapsing. He had woken up from his nap and was jumping around in it and from below it sounded like it would break any minute. So TJ and I started to consider putting him in a big boy bed. I have been so reluctant to do it, even though it had been a really smooth transition with Jackson and Natalie, but Brady is more inclined to be a troublemaker then the older 2 ever were so I just figured it would be a total nightmare. The other thing that I couldn't figure out was if we should move one of Jackson's beds into Brady's room or if we should just put Brady in with Jackson. Well, one night when TJ was putting the kids to bed Brady decided he wanted to sleep in the bed in Jack's room so TJ let him. He did pretty good as far as staying in bed and when he finally fell asleep he ended up in Jackson's bed but he woke up at about 5:45 a.m. and woke Jackson up too. So we waited about a week and tried again. He stayed in bed better when it was time to go to sleep but he woke up really early again and woke Jackson up. So we thought we'd wait another month or so and try again until this last Friday when the crib finally broke! I wasn't upset about the crib because I was totally expecting it to happen but I was still fighting the whole big boy bed thing so instead of putting him in with Jackson I set up the pack n' play, which was a good idea until he figured out how to climb in and out. So I figured I had no choice and I needed to bite the bullet and get him transitioned into the big boy bed, but with the bed in Brady's own room so Jackson could get his full night's sleep. On Sunday afternoon TJ and I made the change and Sunday night Brady slept in his own room in his own big boy bed! He did so good and stayed in bed and even slept in until 8:00. Then last night he did great again!

Naps, on the other hand, are a totally different story. Yesterday he was in and out of his bed for about 2 hours, which really didn't bother me since he was staying in his room. Today was shaping up to be about the same until after an hour and a half I realized all was quiet. I went up to check on him and couldn't find him anywhere! He wasn't in bed, he wasn't behind the door, he wasn't in the closet. I could hear him breathing but couldn't see him until I crouched down and looked under his bed. There was my sweet baby boy asleep under his bed with his stuffed doggy and his train track toys. It was so cute and so funny so of course I grabbed the camera!

So that's the story of Brady the Big Boy. I'm so proud of him and can't believe my tiny man is old enough to be in a regular bed. He looks so little in it and he's so proud of himself for being a big boy! Enjoy the pictures! Of course I think they're adorable!

DVD photo slide show at onetruemedia.com

Jackson-O-Lantern

For those who haven't heard Jackson lost his first top tooth this past Sunday at church. He had been wiggling it so hard and it was so ready to fall out that the Primary President brought him into me in Nursery so I could help him out. The nursery kids found it fascinating, and it was a very welcome distraction for all of them. He wouldn't let me touch it but tried a couple of times to pull it out himself but he wasn't pulling hard enough, and he was kind of on the spot because all 16 nursery kids were staring at him, mouths open, fascinated that the big boy's tooth was going to fall out. So I went and found Urlene, my friend who has 2 grown daughters and was the neighborhood tooth puller when she lived in AZ. So we all went into the kitchen, she got a hold of it and yanked it out! I told Jackson he's lucky because he looks like a Jack-o-lantern just in time for Halloween.

The Kiddo's

When I saw this little video on Heather's Blog I totally had to copy. Its so cute and I LOVE this version of "Over the Rainbow". Sorry to Heather for copying and using the same song but it worked the best! Enjoy the pictures.

Edit video online at onetruemedia.com

Brady's Bedhead

Here are some pictures of Brady after he's woken up from his nap. He seriously has THE BEST bedhead ever. Its pretty long right now so that makes it even better!

These 2 were taken back in August when Angie was here visiting. Obviously it was before we got rid of the soose.

These next ones are a little more recent.

I think you can get the idea but the pictures really don't do it justice!

My Most Hilarious Dream (at least to me)

So the other night I had the funniest dream about TJ. Before I get into that though, it is crucial that you're familiar with Fantasy Football in order to understand why my dream was so funny. If you know how it works skip the next paragraph. If you don't, read on...

Fantasy Football works like this...you get in a league, usually with guys you know, and you make up a team name and draft players and stuff like that. So obviously you want the best players on your team, because each week your fantasy players get points that are dependent on how well that same guy played in real life. For example, if Jake Plummer plays really crappy in real life, and TJ has him starting in his fantasy game, then TJ doesn't get a lot of points for him. But if Jake plays AWESOME then TJ gets lots of points. So the point is to make the BEST fantasy teams out of the BEST players in the league so you can win!

Okay, so TJ is in a fantasy league and last week he decided that he was going to pull Jake Plummer from his starting line-up because he was SUCKING so bad and put in Rex Grossman (who is QB for the Chicago Bears) as quarterback for Sunday's fantasy game. So he told me this when he did because he loves the Broncos so much and it was a painful for him to have to pull Jake out of his starting line-up for fantasy. Anyways, so that night I have a dream that TJ's back-up QB for the Bears and its game-day. So everything is going well until Rex Grossman gets hurt and TJ has to go in for him. We're all in the stands freaking out and so excited and he plays really well and the Bears win and blah blah blah. So after the game we go and see him and I'm screaming and his mom's screaming and we're all excited and he's totally bummed out. So I'm like, "What is WRONG with you?" and he's all, "Nothing." And I say, "Dude, you just played the game of your life! You might be the starter now. You freakin won the game! This is your dream come true. Why aren't you happier?" And he says to me, all pissed off, "I'm pissed because I had Rex starting today in my fantasy league and now I won't get any points!" So we're all like WTH? You just played the game of your life, THAT YOU WON IN REAL LIFE, and you're pissed because you're fantasy team isn't gonna win?
And that was it. That was my dream. I think its quite funny but maybe because it was my dream!

Natalie-isms

I thought I'd write today about my Natalie. She is cute and funny and animated so I'll share some "Natalie-isms" with you.

Crash = Trash

Mackin = Napkin

But-cept = except

werember = remember

The other day she was running up the stairs and when she got to the top she said, "Mommy! I can feel my heart beeping!"

Last winter when they would play in the snow she would tell me to make sure to put her puppets on her hands...meaning of course her mittens.

She used to tell us, "I don't love it" when she didn't like something, usually it was some sort of food that she did not love. That is now a family saying.

So here's to you Nanny! We LOVE you!

Embarrassing Moments and Classic Playground Games

So not much has been going on this last week. Just the usual routine things that we all do on a daily basis...waking up, getting kids off to school, laundry, cleaning...you know what I'm talking about. But there were 2 things that happened to Jack this last week that I thought I'd share.

On Tuesday he and Natalie were playing outside with neighborhood kids when he comes running in the house crying. I ask him what's wrong and he says that Josh and Cory are making fun of him. I ask what they're saying and he tells me its not what they're saying but what they're doing. So I ask what they're doing and he tells me that they pulled his pants down in front of the girls who live next door. SO I'M PISSED! That's embarrassing as it is but for you all to fully understand the emotions that were attached to this moment for me, please rewind and flashback 19 years to the playground of W.O. Mitchell Elementary school. (If we were on last night's Grey's Anatomy the we would hear the clock ticking)

I was in grade 3 and it was recess. I was wearing a purple Esprit sweat suit, very stylish for 1986, and I was on the monkey bars when the bell to go in rang. I was hanging from the bars, ready to drop down to the ground and run inside when Shane Sutherland ran up to me and pulled my pants down. My silky blue panties were on display for all to see. I was so humiliated because I was STILL hanging from the monkey bars. I dropped to the ground and pulled up my pants and was bawling! I think this memory is still so vivid for me because it was the first really embarrassing moment of my life and I never wore sweat pants to school again after that.

So (clock ticking again) back to present day. My sweet, precious Jack had his pants pulled down by his "friends" and I use that term very loosely! So I go outside and Cory, the younger of the 2 boys is getting ready to ride his bike home and to make a long story short I get to the bottom of what happened and tell the boys that if they treat Jackson that way ever ever again they won't be welcome at our house anymore. Then the next day on the bus they act like little s*#t heads and won't let Jackson sit by them. It didn't bug Jack though because he's a cool kat and there are plenty of kids who want to sit with him on the bus! Turns out the joke is on Josh and Cory though because all the neighborhood kids play down at our house and the house next door so for the past 2 days they've been at home while everyone is playing down at our house. We'll see how today goes and if they're back on speaking terms.

Now for the Classic Playground Game. Jackson says to me after school yesterday, "Mom! ALL the girls were trying to KILL me at school today." I say, "WHAT? ALL the girls were trying to KILL you?" He says, "Seriously mom, they were. They were chasing me and grabbing my sweater and everything." Well, this is all sounding too familiar so I say, "Was it at recess?" And he says, "Yep!" And I say, "were they trying to kiss you?" And he says, "YEAH! How'd you know?" And I say, "Aaaaaahhhhhh! A classic game of kissy-tag!" So his eyes get really really big and he says, "How do you know about Kissy tag? Did you play it when you were little." And I say, "Of course I did! Its a CLASSIC!" It was so funny! I guess some things, like kissy-tag, don't ever die! And apparantly, to Jackson, getting kissed by a girl is the equivilent of getting killed by a girl!

GO CHIEFS!

WHAAAAAAT? WHAAAAAT? I know you're all very shocked to read the "Go Chiefs", especially on the eve of the Broncos-Chiefs game but never fear. I DO NOT mean the Kansas City Chiefs. I mean Jackson's flag football team the Chiefs! Today was his 6th game I think and was by far the best game the team has had. The kids finally figured out how to block and we even completed a pass for a touchdown.
Now, for those who don't know, Jackson's been playing Center because he was the only one who could snap the ball, but today he was moved around a bit and had the chance to do some other things. He does pretty good but he gets really pouty if things don't go his way...like the QB tried to complete a pass to him and it was too short so Jack couldn't figure out why they couldn't try again, and again, and again. Ummmm, its called 2nd and 10 dude! Come on!
There was a great moment in the game though that the kids had been practicing all week. It's called the "Center Special" and what it is is the QB does the snap count and pretends to take the ball and hand it off, but really the center keeps it and runs for a touchdown. Well, they did it today with Jack at center and he totally ran for a touchdown. The other team was so confused--they had no idea what was going on, which of course was the point, but it ended up that it didn't count because apparantly the rules state that there has to be some sort of "exchange" with the ball. I'm actually gonna check on that because I think that's a bunch of crap and the ref was just making stuff up!
Anyways, as far as Jack's football career goes he's doing well. He's learning the game and figuring out what it means to be on a team and play as a team. It’s a hard lesson to learn for the kid who wants to be a star, but hey, that's life. I figure he'll get it eventually and maybe someday he will be a star. "You're a star, you're a star. Buy a suit and a new guitar..." That one's for you Twee! I couldn't resist.

Oh yeah...GO BRONCOS!!!!!

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"bye-bye, soo-soo"

We have hit a milestone at our house this past weekend. A very important milestone I might add. For those who don't know, at our house we call a pacifier a soo-soo or a soose. That stems from the fact that Canadians call pacifiers, soothers, and somewhere along the line, whether with us or my sisters kids it became a soo-soo, a soose, or a see-soo. Anyways, all my babies have been major "soo-soo" kids, with Natalie being the worst and Brady coming in at a very very close second. A mere 2 weeks ago he could hardly function without it in his mouth all day, but on his birthday I decided that he was a big boy and he could only have it during night-night (nap and bedtime). So I got a little box and every time he woke up from night-night he said bye to his soose and it was forgotten until the next night-night. Well, the first few days of that was pretty rough and emotional but as the days went on it got easier and easier for him to part with his soo-soo's.

So this past Friday night TJ put him to bed and he didn't ask for it. He slept all night long, even though he did wake up earlier then normal. So on Saturday I wasn't sure what to do since I had a babysitter, but finally decided that I wouldn't make her deal with that whole issue and told her to go ahead and give him one for his nap and bedtime. Then yesterday he asked for one at his nap so I gave him on but then he didn't ask for one at bedtime and again, slept a full 12 hours without it. Since he was doing so well we decided that we didn't want to watch this very small window of opportunity to ditch the soo-soos to close so he didn't get one at nap time today. When he woke up from his nap, (he did sleep shorter then he normally does, but that is to be expected) I asked him if he was ready to throw his soose's away, and he said, "unkay". We took his box downstairs to the kitchen trash and he picked up each soother and one by one threw them in the trash and said, "bye-bye, soo-soo". Then tonight when I put him to bed he didn't ask for one again, but after about 5 minutes of being in his crib he started calling for me. I went in and asked him what he needed and he said, "soo-soo?" And I said, "Brady, you threw your soo-soo's away in the trash, remember?" And he responded simply by saying, "Oh No!" It was so funny! That was it...no crying, no fussing, just "oh no!" How freakin' cute is that?

When I told Heather about it later she said that he was actually probably thinking, "aaaaahhhhhh sssshhhheeeeee!" but since he can't say that he just said, "Oh no!" (for those who don't know the aaaaahhhhh sssshhhhhheeee story, let me know and I'll tell ya)

So there it is! One more milestone down, hundreds more to go. I'll tell you though, its sad that my baby is a big boy now. All he needs now to be an official big boy is to be in a big boy bed, which he's getting ready for and we actually tried last week, but he was way too distracted by Jackson being in the same room. We'll probably try that again soon, but for now I'll keep him in his crib to try to preserve what little is left of his baby-hood.

$0.98 per Gallon

So I must share the most awesome experience I had today at the gas station. These days there aren't many of those so this one needs to go down in the record books!
Okay, last week I went grocery shopping and received a coupon for $2 off my next gas purchase at the grocery store's gas station so today when I filled up I thought I'd better use it. Now, at the risk of exposing what a tight wad I can be I'll tell you that in order to get my $2 off I could only fill up 10 gallons of my gas tank. I was thinking that maybe I could fill up the whole thing and still get the attendent to honor my coupon because, as I reasoned, 10 gallons or 14 gallons, $2 bucks off is $2 bucks off. But then I remembered that I'm in 'Cago' and people generally aren't accomodating here so I stuck with filling up ONLY 10 gallons and reasoned that I could fill up the rest after I got my discount. (That is where my tight wad-ness comes in. Who just does 2 seperate transactions for $2? Apparantly I do! But keep in mind that I LOVE to get a discount and I spent enough money at the freakin grocery store to warrant such a discount. Also, I prefer to refer to myself in these types of situations as thrifty, not cheap!) Okay, back to the story...I fill up exactly 10 gallons and go into the store to pay. The lady tells me the total comes to $29.87 so I give the her my coupon and she tells me that it will be $9.98 or something. I'm acting all cool like okay, and I slide my card through but I'm thinking that there's gotta be some mistake and start debating if I should be honest and speak up. Well, the honesty won over since there are some minor dishonest things that I've done lately that need to be made up for like lying to the lady at the Plainfield Police Department, another story in and of itself (I know life doesn't work that way but I can still try right?) so I ask the lady why my gas is only $9. She says, "Well you had the coupon." and I say, "Yeah but it was only for $2 off." and she says, "Yeah...$2 off PER GALLON!" WTH!!!! I was so excited I could hardly contain myself. I started to laugh with glee and told the lady that she totally made my day and thanked her profusely. I think I even said, "What a GREAT suprise!" I then went out and filled up my van the rest of the way and made out like a bandit, spending a WHOPPING $16 and some change for an entire tank of gas! Seriously, it made me happier then when I get a surprise $5 mark down at Old Navy at the register and those who know me know that that makes me really really really happy! It was a great start to a great day, to say the least!

Natalie's First Day of School--sort of

So I am a terrible mother! Natalie had her first day of school on August 28th and I took my camera to take pictures but the battery was dead so these pictures are from today even though it wasn't the first day of school. It was actually the fourth. Oh well, I do the best I can, most of the time, and I didn't remember until today to take my camera again. She'll never know the difference and in 5 years she probably won't remember that these pictures weren't taken on her very very very first day of pre-school.

So, on to how the first day went. I think she was excited, and nervous and she did have a great day but there are only 2 other little girls in her class, which kind of bugs. They usually try to even out the classes so I might say something to the director and be like "hey what's up with this?" If anyone needs girlfriends its Natalie...especially right now since she's totally having "I have no friends" complex. She does have friends, but they all, and I mean ALL started kindergarten. The other hard thing for her is that Jackson is constantly going over to play at friend's houses and she's never invited over anywhere so she perceives that as nobody likes me! Its sad really, and it makes me feel really bad for her. I think she's lonely and bored so hopefully one or both of the little girls in her pre-school class can be her friends.

Now, the other day something happened to make her feel even worse about her friend situation. She had a little girl, we'll call her 'Pam'* from up the street over and they'd been playing for about an hour when the doorbell rang. Well it was the little girl who lives next to 'Pam' (we'll call her 'Jane') Anyways, I said to 'Jane', "Hi Jane, the girls are up in Natalie's room. You're welcome to go on up." So 'Jane' ran upstairs to join them and not 2 minutes later 'Pam' and 'Jane' came running downstairs without Natalie. I asked where they were going and they told me they were going to 'Jane's' house and out they ran. Well, I go over to the stairs and here comes Natalie with tears streaming down her face because she had just totally been ditched. It broke my heart to see her so upset and so we had a good snuggle but after that she really felt like nobody liked her. I ended up calling 'Pam's' mom because a week earlier she had been telling me about 2 girls who live next door to me who had come to her house looking for 'Jane'. That day 'Jane' and the girls who live next to me ended up ditching 'Pam' so I wanted her to know that 'Pam' had ditched Natalie. She was very apologetic and she had 'Pam' come over and apologize to Natalie and she even had a talk with 'Jane's' mom and the mother of the girls next door. Hopefully there will be no more ditching!

Anyways, that's the deal with Natalie these days. Even though she thinks she has no friends I know that people love her. How can you not? She's funny, fun, friendly, kind, cute, sweet, giving and loving...among other things. I love her to bits and pieces and hope things start shaping up for her socially in the next few weeks. Just so you know, I'm trying my best to help out by inviting little girls over to play with her and she starts a jazz class with her friend Brooke on Tuesday so she'll have that to look forward to also.

*-names have been changed to protect privacy :)

The outside of her school

Beautiful girl posing for the camera in her classroom

This is her with her hat she made standing by her cubby (number 2)

PGA Championship

When Mom and Dad were here we went to the PGA Championship. It was a lot of fun and we were able to see Tiger, Phil, Davis, Sergio, Ernie...

It was so cool to see them close up and to see and hear Tiger hit the ball. It is for sure something I would love to do again and hopefully will be able to.

Because cameras weren't allowed at the tournament this is the only shot we have of the four of us.

Happy Birthday Brady

So it turns out that yesterday was a big day at our house. Jack started school, Brady turned 2...

Since it was Brady's second birthday I decided to do an "Ode to Brady" and post some of his baby pictures. He was such a little bird and was so cute. I remember one night sitting on my bed with him wrapped up like a burrito in my arms and thinking that he looked like a little angel. I don't really think that anymore, okay well MAYBE when he's sleeping, but he's still as cute as can be...if I do say so myself.

1 day old

snuggling mommy--yes that is my arm

This is one of my favorites. He looks so precious here and his tongue sticking out is so funny. See what I mean? Isn't that the face of an angel?

And here he is now!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRADY!

Jack's FIRST Day of FIRST Grade

So yesterday, August 23, was my Jackson's first day of school! I can't believe that he's old enough to be in first grade and be gone ALL DAY! Its really sad that now until forever he'll be gone from me more then he's with me. Aside from my pity party throwing, however, he was so excited to go to school. He was acting goofy and talking weird and kind of giddy and jumpy.

Here he is in front of the house.

A better smile!

Getting on the bus. It just kills me! He's so big now.

I CRY!

Now for those who haven't heard, my mother bribed Jackson with $10 to cut his hair. He's been growing it out since March and even though we've trimmed it down a couple of times it was starting to drive me crazy! My mom could see it was going to turn into a HUGE battle so as the Nana she figured she had the authority to bribe him. She was right...we all ended up happy...I could see my son's face, he was $10 richer and Nana had a great idea that a mother could never get away with!

ps-I don't have pictures because they suprised me and so I'm waiting for Nana to email me the pictures from her camera. I'll blog that great event when I get them!

Take me out to the Ball Game

On Friday afternoon our we went to a Chicago Cubs game with my parents and Jackson and Natalie. It was a great time, even though the Cubbies lost. They were playing St. Louis and they kicked the Cubs' butts but we saw about 7 homeruns in 1 game so that was pretty cool. The other cool thing is that the Blue Angels were practicing for their show the next day right over Wrigley Field so we got to see some fighter jets doing their thing. It was great. The only bad part about the day was that Vince Vaughn wasn't there to lead us in a 7th inning rendition of "Take Me Out To The Ball Game." Maybe next time!

It was awesome to be at Wrigley and stand on this corner. Its pretty crazy because the its right in the middle of a neighborhood and it was built in like 1914 or something. The only other ball park that is older then Wrigley is Fenway Park.

Grandad was so excited to be there. He's always wanted to go to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field and was even more excited that he got to take his grandson. He kept referring to the Mastercard commercials...PRICELESS!

Here are the kids with Nana and Grandad. We were a little worried about Natalie dealing with a long boring baseball game but she did awesome! She didn't complain once and loved eating the ball park Hot Dogs, Peanuts and ice cream.

And here it is...PRICELESS!!!!

Silly Shots

Here are some random shots of all of us being silly at various times.

The Brookfield Zoo

We have a great little zoo here in Chicago that we took the kids to and had a great time! Its called the Brookfield Zoo and they have all the good animals plus an awesome Primate exhibit and Dolphin show. Attached are some pictures from that trip. P.S.--I want to keep my blog 'G' rated so if you want to see the photo of the "Gorilla Porn" let me know and I'll email you that picture. Eeeeeeewwwwwww! If you don't know about the "Gorilla Porn" email me and I'll tell you all about it.

Sorry...

Hey, I want to apologize for the many pictures of me in the next posting. I didn't realize I was in every single one. OOPS! Actually, I just really like myself. ;-)

Me and Ang

For those who don't know, my best friend Angie Jimenez, (many of you know her as Angie Glenn) came to Chicago to visit us this past week and we had a blast, even though we missed our girl Shannon. We haven't seen each other for almost 3 years so it was great to be together again. Other then having extra little bodies around, things haven't changed much. We still giggle like we're 15, still gossip, still eat like porkers and still have the most fun ever. We even did a grown up thing by going to the temple but even there we got in trouble for being to loud. And then we thought it was funny that we're almost 30 years old and still getting in trouble by stuffy old ladies (Sister Noel right girls?)

Ang has 2 kids...Marissa is 4 and Dylan is 14 months. The kids had a blast together...most of the time. One night when Angie was getting Mari out of the tub and in her jammies Mari announced, "Mom I don't want to wear panties and I like boys." Hmmmmm, 2 things you NEVER want to hear your daughter say in the same sentence.

So here are some pictures of us at the bowling alley...ENJOY!

Jack, Mari and Natalie. We were having a hard time getting all 3 of them to focus!

Here I am modeling my lovely bowling shoes!

This is of me and Dylan who is the sweetest little Angel boy!

Me and Marissa, my future daughter-in-law. Her and Jackson are betrothed for those who don't know. Won't this be a great picture for their wedding video?

And here we are. There was a cuter picture of us but it wouldn't upload for some reason. Whatevs.

Home, Sweet Home

So I'm finally home from all my summer excursions. Its crazy how fast its gone but that was sort of the point. I made a goal to spend as little time here as possible and wow...only 3 more weeks until school starts. I guess I acheived my goal hey?

I returned home from Denver last night, actually early this morning (2 a.m.) with the kids and LouAnne. A HUGE shout out to Lou, by the way, who was totally willing to drive to and from Denver with me just so I could be there to hang out and help with the Open House for Matt and Erin. She totally did not have to agree to that and she did. THANKS LOU! Besides that, I hardly helped with the Open House. Turns out its tricky to get stuff done when you've got a 2 year old who wants to climb back into his mother's womb. (meaning Brady wanting to climb back into me)

So the road trip to and from Denver went great. The kids were AWESOME and I don't think we heard an 'are we there yet' from anyone going there or coming home. Amazing!

Okay, now for the rest of the summer I'm still going to keep myself busy because in one week Angie Jimenez (Glenn for those of you who don't know her married name) is coming with her darling kids to play for a week and then the day she leaves, my mom and dad come into town for a visit. We're very excited because we're going to go to a Cubs game and going to the Saturday round at the PGA Championship. It will be great fun. So even though I'm not sure how I feel about being back "home" to Illinois I have a lot to keep me busy for the next 3 weeks. Also, I'm very excited to see my husband who was dead asleep last night when we arrived home and who woke up at the butt crack of dawn to drive to Milwaukee.

Ode to Madison

I had to do an Ode to my neice Madison because I get such awesome pictures of her. If you're not familiar with Madison, she belongs to TJ's sister Lindsay and her husband Colton and she is a miracle baby. Lindsay was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma (a form of cancer) when she was pregnant with Madison and went through a number of tests, prodedures and finally chemo. All the while this little girl continued to grow in her mama's tummy and she was born healthy and strong 4 weeks early in March, 2004. She is now 2 and I think I'm safe to speak for everyone in TJ's family when I say that we all hold a special place in our hearts for this most adorable little girl!
ENJOY!

Here she is at the beach just chillin' with her chapstick!

At the Luau she had to have every lei on. It was so funny. I'm not sure if anyone counted but she had to have at least 20 leis on her person.

Here is the full view of what she looked like. I got the giggles everytime I looked at her. By the end of the evening she was hot and sweaty from wearing them and when she finally decided she didn't want to wear them anymore they were all tangled. With some assistance from Janelle, Erin's friend, all the lei's were untangled and taken off successfully.

I would just love to know what she's thinking in the picture. Her and Brady got along so well and became crazy babies together by running around in circles, racing and falling on the floor giggling. Very cute! By the way...ya gotta LOVE her piggytails.

Here she is watching the "beaufiful" fireworks at Disneyland. She was ooohing and aaahing the entire time and telling us how beaufiful they are!

Last but not least, here are Madison and Natalie together at the beach. Madison LOVES Nanny and Nanny LOVES Madison. Of course we had to get them matching swimsuits!

Our Favorite Aunt Mary

This is TJ's "Favorite Aunt Mary". I thought I'd devote a posting to her since I got some really good pictures of her being a spazz at the wedding! For some reason she has serious problems posing normally for a photo. Its okay though because we sure do get a lot of laughs out of it!

This picture was actully taken on our cruise in March. I thought I'd throw it in just to introduce you all to her!

This one's not so spazzy as far as Aunt Mary is concerned. The girl in the middle is Katie Craig, a friend of my sis-in-law's. She came to the wedding with Alison and was so much fun! Anyways, the funny thing about this picture was that Aunty Mary asked me after I took it if she was doing something idiotic. Its become such a reflex for her to do something silly when a camera is pointed in her general direction that she doesn't even have control anymore!

Here she is with LouAnne (TJ's mom) outside the temple.

I was trying to take a picture of some of the groomsmen

Here is what she really looks like. As you can tell, she didn't know I was taking a picture...otherwise I think some silly-ness would've occured.

THANKS FOR THE LAUGHS MARY. WE LOVE YOU!

The Reception!

The reception was held on Saturday night in the cultural hall at Erin's family's Stake Center. It was decorated so beautifully and it was such a fun party. There was a yummy dinner, yummy cake and lots of dancing! Again, Lindsay and I went crazy dancing to Footloose...Dare I say we were the funnest people there again? Hmmmmm...I'm not sure but we sure like to think that we were.

Introducing....Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Brinkerhoff

The First Dance

YUMMY CAKE.

Mama and MattB.

After eight years we're still in LOVE!

TJ's new favorite picture of me

My Little Glamour Girl