Shoes, Shoes, Shoes!!

Brooke loves shoes. It's a new-ish obsession. But she's been doing some funny things with shoes lately. And I had to share.

She will insist that we open the closet door so that she can gather up all of her shoes. She has me put a pair on her. She proceeds to walk around in said pair of shoes for a given amount of time (I think she's modeling...). She comes back to where I am sitting and asks for another pair of shoes. Which I put on her. And on it goes. It's pretty funny.

Brooke, wearing Mama's shoes. And getting in the trash. Another of her favorite activities.

The other day, she was again insisting that we try on shoes. But she was still in her little footsie pajamas, and I was not wanting to get her dressed yet. So, this was our solution:

La Fashionista!

And another pair of shoes.

...And another pair of shoes.

Tonight she had noodles for dinner. And she was wearing white. So I stripped her before dinner, which was a brilliant move, because it was quite messy. But, she was, of course, wearing some shoes. So, after dinner, this was her look. 

...And another pair. :)

It kills me! Cute little, chubby baby body with her nice Sunday shoes! I think we have a little fashion girl on our hands.

I Have Bragging Rights

So. I have the best husband IN THE WORLD! And I know I brag about him a lot, but seriously! Check it out:

The other day, Daniel decided that I needed a break, so he arranged for me to have the afternoon off. He got me a babysitter for Brooke and planned out the afternoon with some fun activities, which he kept a secret, of course, until just moments before I was supposed to do each of them. It was so fun!

First, after I picked up the babysitter and got her and Brooke all set up, I had an hour to do whatever. So I went to Barnes and Noble and bought a book, using a gift card he gave me.

Then, I went to my full body massage appointment. Yes, that's right. He made an appointment for me to get a massage. And I'll tell you. It was the first one I'd gotten like it. It was interesting. Yet relaxing.

I next enjoyed myself a little Jamba Juice and a side of Panda Express Chow Mein (which I crave), and I delivered him his own cup of Jamba Juice.

And to cap it all off, I went back to our townhouse complex and hung out by the pool, reading my book, getting tan, jumping in on occasion. 

What a wonderful, relaxing day it was! Daniel is the greatest ever! All you husbands out there, take notes. :)

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Days are fairly low-key for us, since V-day tends to fall right at the beginning of Busy Season. However, Daniel is always really good about making time for us on the Day of Love!

This year, I started our special day with some pink, heart-shaped waffles for breakfast. Brooke loved them! Waffles are her favorite.

Daniel and I both surprised each other with home-made gifts:

From Leslie to Daniel

From Daniel to Leslie

From Leslie to Daniel

This is a photo mosaic that I did using a website. I collected hundreds of pictures of us and the adventures we've taken together, uploaded them to the website with this picture, and it popped this out. We really love how it turned out!

And in the evening, I left Brooke with a babysitter, and Daniel took me out to a fancy fun dinner at Buca Di Beppo. We love Valentine's Day!

Brooke 18 month update

Here is what Brooke has been doing a lot of . . .

Reading . . .

. . . and more reading (particularly cookbooks; not sure if this is a sign of anything)

Making messes . . .

Her mess making skills are improving daily.

And now some pictures of the cutie . . .

 

 We had a picnic on the grass today . . .

We love making her laugh!

  We're having a bad hair day...

Holbrook Update

I have been working like crazy!  Which is not unexpected during this time of year, but it's never easy.  The workload usually picks up between the middle and end of January and doesn't stop until April 15th.  I'm working 10-12 hours a day and then I work on Saturdays as well.  Sundays become even more important because it's my only real day to spend with Brooke and Leslie.

I'm thankful that I work with people that share and/or understand my values so I'm not expected to work on Sundays.  Despite my employers having the expectation of me working long hours during parts of the year, they are very family friendly and are considerate of family needs.  I even work with the Elder Quorum president and the Executive Secretary so it's not uncommon to get church assignments while I'm at work. 

Leslie has made it an annual tradition to take a trip to visit her family in Oregon/Washington while I'm working the long hours.  It's good for each of us; Leslie really enjoys seeing her family and I don't have to feel guilty about working late, but by the end of the trip we are missing each other desperately. 

Our garden has been progressing nicely  . .  .

Our first harvest!

Fruits of the harvest.

This was a delicious salad with green from the garden. Unfortunately Leslie was gone, so I enjoyed it all by myself.

When we went to the nursery to buy plants for our little yard, I asked them if tulips actually grow here, because it doesn't get cold.  The lady at the nursery suggested I put the tulip bulbs in the fridge for a while to trick them into thinking it's winter .  . .

These tulips were officially tricked!

Our Current Project

This is what we've been working on this month (and when I say "we", I mostly mean "Daniel". He's felt really motivated to get our backyard done, now that all the big projects in the house are done):

 

Before this month, our backyard was pretty much completely dead. The tree was there and the few bushes in the opposite corner of the yard were already there. But there was no grass, no flowers, and there were a number of ugly and overgrown bushes.

 

So, Daniel heard of a guy who does landscaping for a living. We hired him to take out the ugly bushes, to put the grass in, and to make sure the sprinkler system was doing okay.

My personal favorite: a dwarf peach tree! It's coming to life! Maybe this summer we'll have fresh peaches!

Then, we went shopping. And bought a whole bunch of bushes, flowers and tree.

 

Oh, and some vegetable plants. A few weeks ago, Daniel made this box for our little vegetable garden. How exciting is that???

Brooke Update -- 16 Months

Here is an update about Brooke as well as lots of pictures.  We sure love this little girl!  Sorry if there aren't many pictures of us; we don't seem to take any.

Brooke has been improving at her communication skills.  Her new cute thing is to nod her head to say yes, and she does it all day long.  When she's eating something she likes, she nods her head to show her approval.  When we ask her questions, she nods her head to say yes. It's amazing how often she does it when it's appropriate. Although I'm not sure how often she really is understanding us because the last couple days I've asked her some questions to test it out.  I asked her if she will wait until 21 to start dating and if she would like to go skydiving.  She nodded to both questions.

She has been learning lots of words.  Some of her words are apple, shoes, hungry, bath, ball, tree, seeds, socks, laundry, doggy, and banana.

I call her the hooligan baby.

 Brooke learned how to put olives on her fingers while in Utah.  Daddy hates them, but Brooke seems to love them.

Sometimes she's like this . . .

Brooke has been a bit more fussy lately.  She has been sick about 4 times since November; which has been the main culprit.  Ever since Brooke was born she has never liked to cuddle.  In the past year she has probably only fallen asleep once when I've been holding her.  Leslie and I are amazed when we see parents with babies that are asleep in their arms.  Even as a newborn she would arch her back if we held her with her face against us.  So it amazed us when she came down with her most recent sickness last Sunday, and suddenly wanted to cuddle all the time.  She must have been feeling very sick because she normally refuses to cuddle with us.  She is almost better from being sick so we're hoping the cuddling lasts.

. . .  and sometimes she's like this.

I'm really hoping she gets ugly as a teenager because she is way too good looking!

Brooke gets compliments on her eyes all the time.

 They say that children are either talkers or walkers, and Brooke is very much a talker and not a walker.  She will be 17 months old in a few days and this past week she started standing on her own for the first time. And yesterday she took a couple small baby steps for the first time!  She is a very cautious baby.  We never worry about her hurting herself, because she is way too careful. 

Pretty girl

"These boots are made for walkin'..."

Eating brownie batter

...with Mamma.