9 months old...

As of April 13, our sweet little Brooke is officially 9 months old! She is crawling EVERYWHERE, climbing all the way up the stairs (and even comes down stairs in a fairly controlled manner). She is a Momma's girl through and through and I'm hoping we're reaching the peak of stranger anxiety (especially since "strangers" apparently include anyone other than me). She takes 2 naps most days and one of them is usually 3 hours (heaven!) and she sleeps great from 7 pm to 6 am! She is so happy to be able to keep up better with Megan and loves to pull herself up to standing on just about anything.

9 Month Stats:
Length--28 in.
Weight--19 lbs, 3 oz

What a cutie...
4/25/10


4/18/10 (She LOVES to feed herself, and I LOVE how she braces herself w/her feet when she's in the high chair)

Camping...

On April 9-10, we went camping with our neighbors, Ashley and Beckett and their girls. It was Brooke's first campout, Megan's second, and Dan's first with the kids. Dan and I hadn't camped together since moving to Houston!
We had a great time watching the kids play, enjoying the fire and conversation, hiking around, and just being outside together. It was great weather too--just cool enough to appreciate a fire and a sleeping bag, but warm enough during the day to wear short sleeves. Brooke went to bed at her normal time, but we let Megan stay up until almost 9 pm (that's 2 hours later than usual!). She was OUT like a light and both kids slept pretty well. We stayed up until 11 or so but of course, the girls were up at their normal time of 6 am on the dot (sorry Ashley and Beckett). We hiked around the little lake in the morning before heading home. Megan even walked almost the whole hike. All in all, it was a great time and now that I've finally finished the extra loads of laundry, I'm up for doing it again! (Hopefully we won't wait so long before next time.)
Thanks Ashley and Beckett for the invite!

The campsite (can you see Brooke in her favorite spot just inside the tent?)


Getting unpacked...


Brooke in NOT her favorite spot :)--good thing she didn't like it--Megan was pretty possessive of her new chair


The Megans sitting on their favorite jumping step


A short hike in the misty morning hours


Pretty place


Dan and Brooke snuggling before breakfast


The Megans awaiting some grub


Ready to hike!


Our little group...


Don't hold my hand Mom! (fine by me, just stay AWAY from the lake!)


Enjoying the sunshine :)

Get your garden on...

Nearly 2 years ago, my sister Jamie left me an aloe vera plant when she moved to CT. It's a cactus. And I stuck it under an eave so it would get dripped on when it rained. And it's dead. So, so dead. How do you kill a cactus?
And yet, even with that green-thumb history, Dan agreed to let me embark on a garden. My mom brought her van and we went and picked up wood and then Dan made me 2 garden boxes. They are 3 feet by 10 feet. Dan then filled them with 3 cubic yards of dirt (that's a lot of trips from the driveway to the boxes!) and I planted 3 varieties of tomatoes, butternut squash, jalapeno, cilantro, lettuce, zuchinni, cucumber, snow peas, and carrots. So far, things are growing. Not necessarily thriving, but surviving. And I treated them with miraclo-gro, so that should help, right? Hopefully we'll get at least a few tomatoes.
Wish me luck!

Bike!

We've been saving up for bikes for a while and finally took the plunge! I got a bike Easter weekend and a trailer the day after Easter. The girls and I have enjoyed it immensely. I love riding it to the park in the mornings while it's so nice outside. Dan's bike should arrive sometime next week. He is taking over his Dad's old, really nice roadbike (it's getting a few repairs and then getting shipped). I'm excited for his to arrive so we can ALL get out together. The last time I got a new bike was when I was 14--and it was just as exciting now as it was then. Hurray for bikes!

Megan was pretty psyched about her new "hat".


She's still grinning in there...


I like my new hat too :)


Brooke was NOT too thrilled with her new hat...or she was really tired--her usual bike routine is to fall asleep in about 2 minutes.

Playgroup at the arboretum

For playgroup on April 6, we headed to the Mercer Arboretum--a beautiful place with huge gardens, walking trails, bike trails, a park, and even a canoe launch. We spent most of our time walking around the blooming gardens before heading to the park for lunch. I went at the end of January when nothing was in bloom and was blown away with how gorgeous this place was! Flowers everywhere! I'm already planning on doing our next family portrait there.

Don't worry--this is the first time I got the camera out and Megan immediately hid her face and yelled "All done camera!". Great. But I managed to get a few cute pictures despite Megan refusing to ham it up for the camera.


Megan, Kate, and the bluebonnets (the Texas state flower--they are in bloom all over right now)


Megan's favorite game--CHASE!


Megan, Kate, and Megan




I love that Kate is flying in this one!






Almost all the kids (minus a few babies)




Brooke and her ward twin, Hayze (born the same day)--they were troopers hanging out in the strollers while the big kids ran around


Megan, 29 months and Brooke, almost 9 months

Easter...

Decorating eggs on 4/2/10 with the cousins at Shad's house (my brother)



All the eggs lined up on April 3, waiting for the Easter Bunny to say "go!" so the kids can run around like crazy for 2 minutes til all the eggs are gone




Brooke was supervising nearby


Ready to go watch some conference...


The Easter Bunny came (April 4, 2010)!



First egg--do you think she's excited?



She's really good at recognizing capital "M"--she knows that basket is for her!


Enjoying candy


Enjoying new toys


Enjoying naps before lunch


But not all of us were sleeping...


Between sessions on Easter Sunday, my family came over for a little Easter Egg hunting.


Brooke was thrilled to see everyone (as usual--how can I have 2 Momma's girls?)


Sweet Momma's girls...


Megan was good at finding the eggs this time...



We had a great conference weekend and enjoyed celebrating Easter with family and friends. We are so thankful for the hope we feel from the resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ and hope you got to enjoy the peace of the Easter season as well.