Playing Outside

We've been trying to play outside as much as possible in this nice spring weather before summer heat gets us! Here are a few pics of Brooklyn in the back yard, she was cracking us up! Enjoy!

13 and 14 Months...Late of Course

Did I give up blogging for lent? Um no...our computer crashed and so did blogging for a while. We thankfully got it repaired and are up and running again (after a three week no-computer stint). Anyway...here's a post to document what B's doing around 14 months then tons of pictures below it of our trip to Nashville the week before Easter.

Brooklyn is more fun everyday, exploring new things, and learning new things. She is usually very happy (unless she's sick) and has fun playing. Here's some things about Brooklyn at 14 months (and 13 months since I never made that post)...

- she loves to crawl - on EVERYTHING. we find her on top of most of her toys, inside her toy box, on our couch, on our ottoman, on top of her kitchen, on top of her play table, on top of her sand and water table. its crazy how the first thing she thinks of when she sees an item is...how could i get on top of that??? its fun to watch but sometimes a little scary. she pushed her choo choo train over to the coffee table and used it to stand on top of the wooden chest (not really a coffee table) before I could stop her.

- she is a good eater. she loves green beans, potatos, fruit, squash, turkey, cheese...i hope it lasts. she does good with milk and loves juice and water in her sippy cup. she likes to give Elle bites while she eats!

- she probably weighs around 25-26 pounds, doesn't seem to have gained much since her b'day.

- her hair is getting longer and we can get a bow in it but she usually pulls it out quickly.

- she can say "ma-ma", "da-da", "juice" (sounds like oooosh), "baby", "Be-be", "Nanny", "cheese" (sounds like eeeze)

- she knows how to brush her hair if you had her the baby brush

- she loves it when daddy comes home, laughs and usually runs to the door when she hears the garage door go up.

- she is taking one nap in the afternoon, usually 2 hours but sometimes we get lucky and get a 3 hour nap.

- she loves to sit in someone's lap and she backs her little rearend up to you if you are on the floor and plops down with a book in your lap. She has even tried to sit in Elle's lap which was hilarious!

- she is obsessed with books and turning the pages - she could look at books for 30 minutes to an hour straight!

- she is sleeping later in the mornings due to dropping the morning nap (I guess anyway), therefore mommy is sleeping later :)

We couldn't be more blessed with a fun and healthy baby girl, we are so humbly thankful for her!

Here are some pics from Nashville...Bebe wanted to have an egg hunt and my best friend from high school, Michelle was going to be in town the same weekend, so we made the trip up for a few days. It was great seeing Michelle and Chris. They are expecting their first baby in September and Michelle looks great! She is starting to show and its so cute! They are having a baby girl and we can't wait to meet her!

Here's Jesse in the back yard after the egg hunt (these pics are going to be in reverse boo blogger upload).

Levi is chasing a rabit through the yard!

Brooklyn with her basket, she isn't sure what the point is just yet.



All the kids after the hunt (from left to right - Caroline (5), Jesse (3), Christian (7), Levi (3), Brooklyn (1), Avie (8 mos), Peyton (2) and you can't see Benjamin (2) but he's behind someone's leg.

The cute Collins family - minus Uncle Wade, Brad, and Elena

Brookie and me

Brooklyn and Avery

This is a pic of Brookie sleeping, she was knocked out this day - the flash barly woke her up!

Avie came to visit us the weekend before we went to Nashville because Em was throwing a bridal shower in B'ham. Brooklyn decided to show Avie how to ride in the wagon, they had a fun time!

This was fun...

Matt was getting home from a day - moonlighting shift and I thought it would be fun to enjoy the pretty weather on Sunday night. I got the ka-bobs ready for grilling and got Brookie fed so she could play while we ate dinner outside...I think I see many more nights like this coming up this summer. It was too fun! B's new sand and water table...so far just a water table...but we'll get her some sand this weekend. Our dinner get up

YUM

Water is fun!!!!

B got interested in our food so she got wrapped up in the towel (she was soaked) and got a few bites of dad's food.

She loved the water...but she also loves to eat!!!

One Year Pictures

Well, back in February we had some one year pictures taken of Brookie. We had a great time checking out railroad park and Margaret did a great job for us! Thanks a million! Here are a few of my favs...

Not Awesome

Thanks to my sis in law, Rochelle, I've had this to ring this week... She gave me this really need vintage bell from Mexico for my 30th b'day in February. I thought it would come in handy, but I didn't realize how quickly. I started coming down with "something" on Saturday Night. I woke up after about 1 hour of sleep and tossed and turned for about three hours. I had a fever and muscle cramps but didn't realize I needed to take something until three hours had passed. Finally I started myself on these...

And got about three hours of sleep before miss B woke up. I proceeded to pop them all day long on Sunday because I just didn't know what was going on with me. Fortunately Matt was post call so he was able to stay awake for a few hours until Brooklyn's nap. At that point he was in need of some sleep so he took a nap and after B's nap I was up with her for about two hours by myself. It was so hard! I have so much more compassion for single parents who don't have ANY help ever! Anyway...so I kept feeling fever-ish and just achy all over and then my throat started hurting so badly it felt like it was about to give birth.

Sunday night was not a great night of sleep and Monday morning, I could not talk. I went straight to CVS for some of this...

and some of these...

These saved my life! If you end up getting strep like me - go for these and Advil. That is all I've been able to take to make life bearable.

One look in my throat and Matt said strep so we got an antibiotic and its starting to help. I haven't had strep or this bad of a sore throat since I was in like 2nd grade. I will have more sympathy on B whenever she gets strep throat!

Thanks to Matt for helping as much as possible with Brooklyn. And thanks to God for getting me through the past two days. My throat is a little less swollen tonight and I can talk a little bit. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be healed!

Oh, and our computer crashed...so we are on our old "crusty" computer from when Matt started med school...so that is also not incredibly awesome.

Let me please add at the end of this pathetic blog post that I really sort of feel bad for even posting this in light of what the country of Japan is going through. My trials this week are NOTHING in comparison to what they are going through and I think God just gave me a wake up call - I need to quit complaining and be THANKFUL for my home and saftely this week. So there Ashley, snap!

Need a good, yummy, and healthy recipe??

I do! Email me with any that you may have! I'd like to share one that my good friend Michelle introduced me to about a year ago and we have worn it out! We absolutely love this dish - its easy, not too expensive, tastes amazing and is healthy! Thank you Michelle for a keeper!!! Enjoy!

Baked (or grilled) Chicken on top of Salad (yes I made the name up)

1/3 cup olive oil

1/3 seasoned rice vinegar

1/4 cup sugar

1 garlic clove minced

3/4 tsp dijon mustard

Mix all together - that is the dressing - so tasty!

Feta crumbles

dried cranberries

cut up granny smith apple

sliced almonds or walnuts

romaine lettuce or spinach

2 chicken breasts

For the chicken - Matt and I used two chicken breasts - we pounded them really thin, coated with olive oil and spices - garlic powder, salt, pepper, lemon pepper, and chicken season from Pensys Spices...(have you been there? its amazing) and baked them on 350 for 25 minutes covered and then another 10 uncovered. Slice thinly and top salads.

Brookie's B'day Party...a month late!

We had too much fun celebrating Brooklyn's birthday! So much fun that its taken me a month to blog about it! Here are WAY too many pictures of Brookie's party. Thanks so much to all our friends, family, and neighbors for making it such a special party!

Kimmie and Christina enjoying one of Auntie Em's cupcakes...
Aprahamian family came!

Please note me holding the #8 - its Brookie's favorite for some reason and she carried it around her party most of the time...she carries it around our house a lot too - we see the #8 in several surprising places.

Nanny and Pa-Pa

Yummy cupcakes by Auntie Em

Brooklyn was making her "don't you think I'm cute" face for her crowd!

Aunt JJ came and brought the most awesome train!

Levi was excited about some sugar!

And so was Jesse

Sweet Baby Corrie came and got some tips from B for her upcoming 1st birthday party!

Baby Blake came to support Brookie...I don't think he got a cupcake though :(

Isaac came and enjoyed the kid gyms we had set up!

So did Ethan!

Baby Penny and Baby Ellis were born only three days apart...this may have been their first birthday party! Oh wait, no, Ellis' big brother had their first b'day party.

My sweet Aunt Ellen brought my grandmother and my great aunt to Birmingham for Brooklyn's party. It was so special that they could be there - they are amazing ladies!

Spann Fam

Avie cakes was also getting ideas for her b'day in 5 months!!!!

Roch and the twins, Em and Avie, and me and the b'day girl

Ray Fam

Thank you so so so much for helping us get through the first year of parent-hood. It has been the best year of my life - Brooklyn brings us so much joy. Her smile and laughter light up our home and we couldn't make it without guidance from the Lord and the gift of friends and family helping us along the way! Much love and Many thanks!