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Brooke

Bedtime

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Brooke is learning the art of stalling before bedtime.

The bedtime routine begins smoothly enough as Brooke drinks some milk while I read her books.  When she’s done with her milk, Brooke runs to her room to find Bear and Monkey.  These are two stuffed animals (of a bear and a monkey, wouldn’t you know) that Brooke insists on sleeping with.  Brooke holds Bear and Monkey while I pick up all three to put them in her crib.  Brooke sees where she’s headed and immediately throws Bear and Monkey down so that I have to put her down so she can retrieve them.  At first I thought this was happening accidentally.  However, after several days of “accidentally” dropping Bear and Monkey, I started to wise up.

Now it’s at the point where she brings me Bear and Monkey and I immediately throw them into the crib right then and there.  Ha! Point for Mom.

Next it was the pacifier.  I would give Brooke her pacifier and lift her into bed.  Since she no longer had Bear or Monkey to throw, she started chucking her pacifier.  Rascal.

Now I don’t give her her pacifier until she’s in her bed already.  Ha!  Another point for Mom.

But before Brooke gets in her crib, I point to the picture of Jesus above her bed.  She in turn points to the ceiling where the smoke detector is.  She’s fascinated with that.  Maybe it’s just another stall tactic.  Hmm.  I guess Brooke gets a point there.

Finally, I lay Brooke down.  She cuddles Monkey in one arm and Bear in the other.  I go to put her pacifier in her mouth, but at this point every night Brooke realizes she has so much to say.  Thus begins her babbling.  She talks and talks and talks.  I can’t bear to put the pacifier in her mouth because her babbling is so dang cute.  So I listen.  And talk back.  And listen some more.

And before I know it, I realize I’ve just gotten sucked into another stall tactic.

In the end, I finally leave Brooke to finish the conversation in her own due time.  As I leave, I turn around and see this:

And I realize I never want anything about this routine to change.

The Zoo

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Last week on Dallas’s day off, we took advantage of the great weather and went to the zoo.  We had a fun time looking at the animals.  However, I was not a very good photographer.  Most of the pictures I took are downright lame.  Don’t believe me?  Fine, I’ll post some…but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

This was the very first picture of the day.  This is actually a good one.  Dallas is smiling his dazzling smile, and Brooke is almost looking at the camera.  All in all, not bad.  Let’s try one with animals.

Here’s where it starts to go downhill.  There’s a nice shot of an elephant, and that dark blob in the foreground is Dallas and Brooke.

Here’s a good shot of Dallas and Brooke, and the dark blob in the background is a big gorilla.  Can you tell?

Brooke’s favorite animal to look at were the meerkats.  There was a little meerkat that was going crazy running all around in his enclosure.  Brooke was mesmorized.  I pulled out my camera to get a great shot of Brooke admiring the meerkat.  Instead I got Brooke’s backside and the meerkat is completely covered up by her body.

At the very end of the day I was able to get a shot of a couple of prairie dogs.  I think I’ll sell this picture to National Geographic:

Raspberry Picking

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A couple of weeks ago our friends invited us to go pick some raspberries on a family farm.  It was so much fun!  Brooke didn’t like being strapped in her stroller, but everyone else had a great time.

Here is a picture of Mandy striking a pose on the far left and Isaac and Rachael in the middle.

This is what Dallas was busy doing while the womenfolk were planning which day to make jam from our berries.  (The red light is a frame in case you couldn’t tell…)

And look at how domestic I am!  I made jam!  And I can balance it on my head!  It was my first time canning anything.  It was a little daunting, but luckily Rachael and Mandy knew what they were doing.

A Very Merry Unbirthday

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A couple of weeks ago, Brooke’s friend Emma had her first birthday.  Her parents threw quite the party.  Here is Brooke, sporting a homemade party hat, hanging out with her best friends Ava and Emma.

Brooke remembered exactly what to do with the cupcake.

Emma got some great toys.  Luckily she was kind enough to let Brooke try out her car.  Brooke loves this thing.  Every time she sees Emma outside playing with it, she shrieks with delight and runs over to her.

Is it bad that we took more pictures of Brooke on Emma’s birthday than we did on her own special day?

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