Happy Birthday Brookie Girl!!!

Today my oldest "little girl" is 6 years old! How does that happen? She is the light in our family and we are so lucky to have her in our family. She is so excited to be turning 6 and asked me last night if she was going to be able to even wear her clothes today because she was probably going to grow so much while she was sleeping and turned 6. We had a good laugh about that and had to spend the next little bit explaining that she would only feel different on the inside and that the outside doesn't change that fast. Happy Birthday Brookie girl, we love you so much and are so glad you were sent to our crazy little family!!!!

Brookie and Daddy

Brooke has a ongoing love affair with her daddy. She has him wrapped around her finger and vice-versa. Tom left for a short work trip today and Brooke decided to draw a picture for him. I love that she even drew his goatee and that they are holding hands.

She also is learning how to write her last name. I had written it on top of a sheet of paper and had her copy it over and over. Then I gave her a new sheet of paper and told her to write it without looking at the name. Next thing I know she is giggling and had her eyes closed trying to write her name, yeah I needed to clarify. She was however able to write her name with her eyes closed. Silly girl. I love that her and her daddy have such a close relationship and hope they always will.

Back to school!

So we are back in the swing of things. My little Brookie is in Kindergarten and I am just trying to figure out were all the time went!!! She is in full day Kindergarten and loves it. We are all slowly adjusting to the early bedtime and even early mornings but we are getting there. I was so proud of myself that I didn't cry when I dropped her off. She is adjusting to all of it in stride minus the automatic flushing toilets. I forgot to take her potty one morning last week before she went to school, as soon as she was gone I realized it and was worried but figured she would go at school. Yeah, not so much. She came running in the door from school and barely made it to the bathroom. When I asked her if she had gone at school she said, "No, the toilets flush by themselves and scare me." AHHHHHH! I felt so bad, she had not gone to the bathroom since 8pm the night before, yep 19 hours of holding it. That girls got one tough bladder. After a lot of discussions and bribing (yep not below me) she came home triumphant today and informed me she used the toilet and it only got her tush a little wet. What a silly girl!!!

Riley started 3rd grade and though back to school night was a rocky start he seems to be doing great. Tom and I realized that he has finally reached the age that this move was a little harder on him. He makes friends so easily that any fears I had about him adjusting to school have disappeared. It is weird to think about Riley being in 3rd grade. I remember a lot about 3rd grade, and it is weird to think that all the parenting mistakes I make now he just might remember. Let's hope he remembers the good parts too.

Elle is adjusting to being home with Mom all by herself but she is kind of like a lost puppy. She follows me around and I hate to admit it but has watched Shrek 2, at least 4 x in the past 3 days. Yep awesome mom here. She is back to taking naps (she stopped during the summer) and that has made a world of difference. The house stays so much cleaner with 2 less kiddies but I miss like crazy and am happy that they are walking back in the door by 3:15pm. Now if I could just get use to the waking up early part!

Goodbye old friend....

So life has been crazy as usual but I am learning that will probably never change so we are just rolling with it, or trying too. As many of you know we had tried to sell the Blazer several years ago to no avail. We had it listed on KSL for months and barely even a call. We since we have moved out here Chris has been "babysitting" our truck and trying to sell it. No bites...suprise, suprise...who wouldn't want a 3/4 ton gas guzzler in this economy. Well after several discussions we decided that we would keep the truck, and sell the blazer. That way Tom gets his manly vehicle that can haul stuff and we can downsize to 2 vehicles...what a concept. We decided we should probably list it soon so that we could hopefully have it sold by the time we went home for the holidays. Tom spent all Saturday morning getting it ready and then on the way to see Brookies movie (Igor...stupid, but were we really expecting anything more?) we dropped it off. We dropped it off about 1:00pm and didn't really think much more about it. Well that night I took Brookie with me on a long Walmart trip to pick out a toy with her birthday money. I took Tom's phone with me but conviently left it in the car...nice but typical right? Well after 1 1/2 hours we pulled up home and Tom called me. I told him I was outside and to come and help me get the groceries. Well the problem was Tom wasn't home, he had to take the kids over to our friends, and luckily neighbors, house and go meet someone about the blazer. OOPS!! Luckily the kids were good, and Tom sold the blazer. The problem now is that we are down to one vehicle so Tom is going to make a trip "Home" sometime in the next 2 weeks to pick up the truck. So we had to say goodbye to our little blazer, we got it when Riley was a baby and it had a good run minus the transmission issue while on vacation in California. It will be missed, Riley was actually kind of sad that we were selling it. Oh, and Brookie wanted me to tell Jennie, and Cassie, and Erik that she used her birthday money to get the Mommy and Baby doggy with the carrier from Costco...she loves it and it has red hair like her daddy. Thanks again.