Thanksgiving 2011

For Thanksgiving this year, we traveled to Washington state to visit my in-laws. It was an important trip for us to make since some of Jaime's family had never even met Maddie, let alone Brooklyn. So on Monday, we headed to Dallas and stayed at the Embassy Suites. We would be able to leave our car there for the week and take a free shuttle over to the airport the next morning so it was the perfect hotel for us. That night, we braved a torential downpour and went to the Rainforest cafe! It is such a fun atmosphere and I had not been there since after my wedding, almost 5 years ago! At first, Maddie thought it was "too loud" but then loved it!

The next morning, we got up extremely early and headed to the airport. It took a little more patience and a little extra time lugging all our stuff around (luggage, carry ons, kids, car seats, etc...) but luckily the process of getting through security and making it to our gate was relatively smooth! Now it was just time to wait on our flight. We ate breakfast, then I took Maddie to the restroom and made sure Brooklyn had a fresh diaper on. We finally boarded the plane. Now one thing you must know, is I absolutely HATE to fly. I don't enjoy it at all and usually feel bad due to me being so nervous. I was even more nervous this time since I would be traveling with my little girls. But as always, they did great! I nursed Brooklyn on take-off to help with her ears and she fell asleep instantly. Maddie also took a nap. Once the girls woke up, Maddie colored and Brooklyn played and talked. Luckily, we were surrounded by great people and a wonderful flight attendant. Jaime and I were very pleased! After about 4 hours, we landed in Seattle!!!

After landing, we rented a car and drove to Sumas (a town right on the Canadian border) where Jaime's sister and other family members live. We headed straight to his grandmother's house and met some family, while we waited on the rest of them to get off work. We stayed for several hours, then headed to a mountain lodge where we would be staying for the week. We were all exhausted, and even though Washington is 2 hours behind us, we still tried to get to bed at what would have been a "regular" time for us since we had been traveling all day.

Meeting our nephew for the first time!

We spent the next several days, cramming in as much family time as possible from both sides of the family. Jaime was able to get 2 different generation pictures in (his mom and dad's side) amongst many other pictures. We played games, took Maddie to see some horses (which she fed an apple to) and enjoyed each other's company. On Friday, we drove back to Seattle and stayed at a hotel across the street from the airport. We flew out Saturday morning and after a very bumpy flight, landed safely in Texas sometime Saturday afternoon. We had a great time, got some great pictures, and are now enjoying being home! Next up: Christmas!!!



Sweet 7 Month Old

Our Brooklyn is 7 months old today and such a joy! I can hardly believe how quickly the time is passing and wish some days that I could just freeze time. I can not even begin to describe how much I love this baby girl of mine. She is such an easy baby and I am just so blessed with her in my life!

At 7 months, you are:

-sitting up all by yourself
-eating 3 meals a day and still nursing as well
-sleeping from about 8-6
-taking 2 to 3 naps during the day
-wearing 6-9 month clothing
-wearing size 3 diaper
-becoming more interested in toys and sometimes, I'll catch you watching a cartoon on tv
-still no teeth but you have started messing around with your ear some. Maybe a sign of things to come.
-loves to cuddle and really enjoys bath time
-very ticklish still and you have the cutest little side-to-side rock when you hear music

I bought a new outfit last night that I thought was so cute. So along with our usual monthly photo, I decided to do a little mini photo shoot too!

I love you baby girl! :)

Cookie Makin'

I often forget to spend a little time with my big girl. I stay so busy with Brooklyn, and Maddie is older and so independent, that I usually send her off to entertain herself. While I don't think this is necessarily bad, I need to do a better job at splitting my time and having some one-on-one time with my oldest daughter when I can get a moment! So, today while Brooklyn slept, I pulled out some cookie play-dough that was given to me a while back. We had played with it once before and I decided it was high-time to make some cookies once again! We washed our hands really well and got to work! Maddie loved it and we now have some yummy (and shall I say....interesting!) cookies to munch on!

Excuse my very old cookie sheet! But how about those cookies? I think they turned out great! I so enjoyed spending some quality time with my Maddie girl today!

Happy Halloween

In an effort to reach our communities, Trinity hosted it's 2nd annual Light the Night. Host homes, across the area, are used in an effort to get to "know your neighbor" a litle bit better. Just like last year, we hosted a home, and several families joined us in lighting the night! We have games set up for trick-or-treaters, glow sticks and candy to pass out, and information about our church available. There are always plenty of people to help the host home so we were still able to take our own kids trick or treating in our neighborhood too!
I really wanted to do a theme for our family this year. Since Maddie is our little blondie and Brooklyn is often referred to as our little bear; I decided on none other than Goldilocks and the Three Bears! I ordered costumes for the girls and just made t-shirts for Jaime and I. Maddie was so excited. Brooklyn's costume was huge and she only wore it long enough for pictures, but I thought the idea turned out really cute! This was Maddie's first year to trick or treat and she was SO excited. She kept saying trick or treat" over and over again until they acknowledged her in some way. And once she got candy, she didn't quite understand that she was then suppose to back up and let the next child go. Nope, not my child! She proceeded to talk  with each person, often asking them if they had any doggies and what there names were. Crazy girl!! Needless to say, she crashed by the end of the night!

Halloween Morning!

Goldilocks

Baby Bear

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