Warm Weather Fun

The last few days have been unseasonably warm and perfect for playing outside.  As soon as we came in from school on Monday we headed straight to the back yard.  The girls had a blast with side walk chalk and bubbles and I loved every second of watching them have so much fun together. 

The artist trying to finish at least one picture before her sister added to it!

Maggie watched very closely for her chance to steal chalk...yet another thing the dog will eat!

Looks like she finally got away with some!

Emerson has been working on handwriting and letter recognition.  She is doing awesome, especially with "her letter, Braelyn's letter, and...

Momma and Daddy's letter!"

She is getting TOO big!!!

Aww man!  I got chalk on my clothes!

She loves to climb so this was the perfect place for her art project!

Emerson's drawing of Maggie

Time for bubbles!

Emerson was blowing bubbles and Braelyn was trying to catch them!

The wind was blowing pretty hard so they chased those bubbles all over the yard!

Total Relaxation

Shawn and I have always said that we wished we could take pictures of the girls with the monitor.  This particular night we had to find a way!  When I looked at the monitor right before we went to bed the other night, this is how Braelyn was sleeping.  Shawn and I both laughed so hard and he said he had to at least try to get a picture with his cell phone.  HILARIOUS!

My Girls

Emerson:  Daddy, me and Momma are going to get my invitations!
Shawn:  Awesome!  Who are you going to invite?
Emerson:  My girls.

Benders Landing Estates

Despite the fact that it is still January, the forecast for today was sunny and 80 degrees so we decided to pack up and head to the neighborhood where our lot is and take advantage of the beautiful day.  We played at the playground, did some fishing, and had a picnic.  We can't wait to be official residents of Benders Landing Estates! 

Our lot is on Blue Cedar Court...a nice, quiet cul-de-sac.

It doesn't look like much now but hopefully in the not to distant future you will see the Brooks' new home!

Momma, watch me!

She LOVES being outside and has NO FEAR of any of the playground equipment!

Yee...ha!

The princess in her castle!

Daddy and David spent some time fishing while the girls and I were at the playground.  David, Shawn's cousin is staying with us while he is in town for work.

Daddy, can I try?

She did great reeling it in.  Too bad there was nothing "reeled in" all day!

Is it time for the picnic yet?!

Braelyn, Em, David, and Daddy all ready to chow down on hot dogs!

Happy Birthday Eden!

Emerson was invited to a birthday party by one of her little friends from school on Saturday at Chuck E. Cheese.  Em has been so excited ever since we got the invitation.  On Friday she said, "You do remember that I want to go to Eden's birthday, right Mom?"  When we pulled in the parking lot, we couldn't get out of the car fast enough!  We were very glad we went because other than us, Page was the only other one that came from The Academy. 

We're here!  Let's go find Eden!

She didn't waste any time making a run for the games when Eden's Mamaw handed her a cup of tokens!

Emerson and Page riding what appeared to possibly be a cup of hot chocolate.

I love that smile!

Skee ball was a team effort for the two of us.  Bless her heart, she got so frustrated when the ball would roll back to her when she did it by herself!

They revamped Whack-a-Mole to Whack-a-Shark!

Is Chuck E. Cheese coming now?!

Time for pizza!

Happy Birthday Eden!

Chuck E. Cheese singing Happy Birthday

She couldn't wait to go up and sing and dance with Chuck E. Cheese.

Yummy cake!

She wasn't scared at all!

The Blame Game

Braelyn and I went in to wake Emerson up the other morning and she was holding up two fingers mumbling something about 2 drinks.  She finally woke up enough to say:  "You gave me two drinks so now my sheets are wet."  I cracked up laughing.  She was still pretty much asleep but had already thought out how she was going to shift the blame of the wet sheets off of herself!  She has done amazing since we were home over the holidays keeping her sheets dry all night.  She fully understands the importance of not drinking close to bed, to the point it is hard to get her to drink anything.  The night before this particular incident I had given her a cup of milk with dinner that hardly had any in it because it was some that she had left over from her snack that I had put in the fridge.  When she finished it she still had a lot of food left so I asked her if she would like some water.  She quickly replied: "I'm not thirsty" clearly already thinking about her goal of dry sheets.  I tried to assure her that it was awhile til bed and that she was going to need something to wash down her dinner.  After the blame was quickly placed on me the next morning I realized that maybe I should listen to her when she tells me "no"!