The Last Few Weeks

Well, it's been a busy last few weeks. Between work and planning for Brooke's birthday party and her actual birthday, I am surprised that I remembered to breathe.

Brooke's birthday party went off without a hitch. We were missing a few members of Jeremy's family, so we missed them, but were very that we had a great turnout. The cake was absolutely awesome. It looked just like I wanted it to, if not better, and it tasted great as well. Thanks to Aunt Paige for spending the day with me to help decorate the cake. It took about a total of three hours to ice the cake and cupcakes. My hands ended up being dyed purple from the black food coloring. I scrubbed with peroxide, bleach, and gasoline before it finally went away.

Brooke had a great time at her party. She loved seeing the family and being the center of attention. She especially loved that Lily was there. It's quite amazing how much Brooke looks up to Lily. I think it's so cute to watch them play together. They are just too sweet.

On Brooke's actual birthday, we spent the day as a family. Jeremy took the day off, and we went to my mom's work to visit. After that visit, we went to Huber's and ate lunch and picked pumpkins. We got a lot of great pictures. Check back soon for pictures of her birthday party and her actual birthday adventures. After Huber's, Brooke took a much needed nap. Later that evening, we went to GattiLand. We were torn between GattiLand and Chuck E Cheese. The final deciding factor came down to the pizza. Jeremy and I can not even tolerate the pizza at Chuck E Cheese. Not that the pizza is the best at GattiLand, but at least it's edible. Brooke had a great time at GattiLand. Between the pizza and the games, she was a tired little girl before it was all said and done. And to boot, she was a lucky little girl. The games we played at GattiLand were a little old for her, but were all about timing. We played games that when you press the button, it lands on a spot, and you get that amount of tickets. We played several different versions of that game, and she won more tickets then Jeremy and I did combined. It was hilarious.

Last week, Brooke and I went to the grocery together. She has always been really good about staying in the grocery cart until recently. I decided, after multiple arugments, to go ahead and give in to her, and let her get out of the cart. I had about two more aisles to go when I let her out. She got out of the cart, started walking backwards and waved her hands saying, "Follow Me, Mommy. Follow me". It melted my heart. Whenever Brooke says new things like this, I realize how much she is growing up and how much she is more like a little girl, rather than a baby.

Today, I was taking a bath before the UofL game, and Brooke was in the bathroom with me. She realized that I had a hair rubber band on my wrist, and looked at me and said "No, no, Mommy. No bracelets in the bath tub. No, no, no". Jeremy and I tell her that she is not allowed to bring bracelets in the bath tub. So, she was scolding me for taking a bracelet into the bath tub. Again, I thought this was adorable.

I have been teaching Brooke her last name and address this past week. Since she is old enough to remember things, I thought this would be a good time. I worry about her getting lost, or wandering off, so I wanted to make sure that she was able to tell someone where she lived and what her name was. So, when you ask her what her name is, she will say Brooke. Last name? (she tells me what her last name is, but for privacy purposes, I don't want to put it on here). Where she lives? (She tells me the name of the street she lives on, but not the house number, and again, for privacy purposes, I don't want to write it here). The way she says all of these things are just adorable. I am still working with her, and want her to know the house number and either Mommy or Daddy's cell phone number.

I also wanted to tell everyone thank you again. Thank you for everything you do. Thanks for just reading this blog and caring enough to want to know what's going on in our lives. Thanks for being a part of that. We are truly blessed to have such wonderful family and friends. Love you all!!

Shopping Adventure and Muffins Please

Brooke and I went to the Summit tonight in order to look for something for her to wear for her birthday party. We went to Old Navy first, and she was cracking me up! She would walk over to something, and say "I want this", she would pick it up and then carry it away. She would walk over to another item of clothing and say "It's pretty". After we walked out of Old Navy, she spotted the water fountain. Every time we go to the Summit or the mall, she has to throw pennies into the fountain. I gave her a few pennies to throw in...what a cheap thrill!

We hit a couple more stores before our shopping adventure was over. At baby Gap, she wanted to try on shoes. So, we took her shoes and socks off, and she put on a pair of flats. She walked around the store in amazement. This little girl has a shoe fetish already. Boy, Jeremy and I are sure in trouble!

We had a ton of fun shopping. I got a few things for her to wear on her birthday party day, but you will just have to wait to see them!

On another note, my child is not only obsessed with shoes, but also muffins. For whatever reason, Brooke becomes obsessed with a certain item of food for weeks at a time. The first food obsession was yogurt covered pretzels. I finall had to put her through a yogurt covered pretzel detox, to which she came out successful. The next obsession was bananas. Now, the obsession is muffins. She loves the blueberry mini muffins. She wakes up - wants muffins. She eats a little lunch, tells me all done, and then will look up at me with her big blue eyes, and ask in the sweetest little voice with a sweet little smile, "Muffins?". The other night we had pizza for dinner. She ate about half a slice and then asked for muffins. That's all she wants to eat right now. I am thinking about buying stock in the muffin company. Oh, and she also loves the song "Do you know the Muffin Man". LOL - she might just turn into a muffin!! I have called her muffin from the first few weeks she was born. I guess she just may live up to that name!!

Busy Month of October!!

October is so busy for me! I am starting to stress out a little...I know, it doesn't take much for me to stress out. I like to have all my little ducks in a row, and right now I feel like my ducks are straying a little bit. I have a ton of stuff going on at work - HUGE deadline October 15th. I only have 4 more state returns to prepare, but still have to clear review notes, process returns, and get them signed and out the door before the 15th.

I want Brooke's birthday party to be perfect, so I keep planning, and keep planning, and then plan some more. The trial run of her bumblebee cake turned out really great, so I am thankful for that. I can't wait to do the actual birthday cake with the icing. I will post more about the cake once it's actually done. I will take plenty of pictures, I promise! This is a task I have never taken on before, and am sort of looking forward to it - but, I just want it to BEEE perfect.

I keep thinking of more and more things I need to do before the party. Buy this, buy that, don't forget about this, clean the house, finish buying birthday presents, clean the house again, wrap the presents, make the food. And the list goes on and on and on.

I love Louisville football, but am wishing that they didn't have quite so many October games ;). There are two coming up...one this weekend, and one next weekend (the night before the birthday party).

At this point, I am just trying to keep my head above water. Between the party, work, house stuff, and Louisville football, I am sinking quickly. I always do this though - stress out, and then look back when it's all done and wonder why I stressed out about it. Hopefully I will do that again this year. I keep telling myself to take one step at a time and things will be fine. So, here's to another step!!