Sunny Sunday

It was a beautiful Sunday, so we brought Brooke outside and, what else, snapped a bunch of pictures. She's such a ham for the camera!

Rainy August Sunday

It's a rainy Sunday in August. So while the whole family is napping (Brooke, Justin and our dog Cody) I figured what better way to spend a few minutes of free time than by uploading some pictures from yesterday to the blog. Austin, our godson & nephew, came by for a visit. He's growing up so much. He just turned one in July and is a great walker.

Brooke is always full of smiles for the camera.

Cousins. They both have the best blue eyes.

Austin & Cody

Austin Michael. He's become quite the busy little boy!

Brooke & Austin playing with the cell phone.

9 months

I've probably said it before, but I'll say it again. Time sure flies when you are having fun. I can't believe it's already August. And, not only is it August, but Brooke is already 9 months old. She's still a crawling fool and has been pulling herself up on everything. Now she is cruising around the room as much as she can. I'm pretty impressed with her. She does awfully well on hardwood floors. And, today, she started waving bye-bye. (Or even hello.) It's the cutest thing. We've even learned how to Skype and are able to talk with Grandma Wendy and Grandpa Kenny with video over the internet. I think she even knows what it is because she gets excited everytime I bring the laptop into the kitchen.

I don't know when she'll start taking her first steps. I'm not rushing her either. She's already fast enough on all fours. I can't imagine what it will be like when she walks, or should I say runs around the house.

I have to confess. I always give Justin a hard time for talking about Brooke being in hockey. Well, this weekend I caught myself looking up skates for toddlers (double runners). Geez, let the baby be a baby! HA!

We've got a busy next couple of months coming up. Grandma Wendy (and maybe Grandpa Kenny) is coming to stay with Brooke at the end of August while Justin, Terry and I go to a Twins game and the MN State Fair. Then, at the end of September, we go to Minneapolis again for my friend's wedding. Last, but not least, we go to Minneapolis one more time for a baby shower (hopefully it's a double if Marcie can make it). AND, hopefully in November or December Justin and I can find a Vikings game to go to. There we have it folks. The fall is planned and we are smack dab into Brooke's first birthday and Christmas. Did I tell you or what? Time flies when we're having fun!

Here are a couple fun pictures from the beginning of the month.

Justin & DeAnn taking a breather at the end of a long day of chasing Brooke around.

Brooke loves crawling on Cody.

I think he was happy that it was just Justin on the floor and Brooke was in bed.
When I wasn't paying attention, Brooke climbed up on the Luvs box to better reach her bears on the toy box.

Brooke loves bathtime. Especially when Mr. Bubble is involved.

Mop the Floor

With Brooke's help, we've discovered a new way to clean our floors.

July in the Magic City

At the end of July we celebrated my MHS 10-year class reunion. Even though we were home for four days, it went by way too fast. A majority of the great 8 were together and I got to see a lot of other friends that I haven't seen for so long. And, we didn't leave the reunion empty handed. Along with a lot of new memories, Justin also won a pair of MN Twins tickets. Right now we are planning a trip to MPLS at the end of August for a game and to go to the MN State Fair.

Here are a few pics from the weekend (of course, they are all mostly of Brooke Marie).

Whatchu talkin' bout willis?

Hanging outside at Grandma Wendy & Grandpa Kenny's house.

Swimming in the Magic City.

I was 3rd place winner at the beer pong tournament during the reunion.

(I sunk the winning shot.)

Erica, Amy, Rosy, Nicole, DeAnn, Tierney

six of the great eight

July 2009 - Swedish Institute, MPLS

We are finally spending a weekend at home. We've been quite busy the last few weeks....Las Vegas, Maple Lake, Minneapolis. Instead of having a relaxing weekend at home, Justin is busy hanging doors in the basement (our last step before it's totally finished) and I'm busy chasing around after Brooke. She's a crawling maniac and is pulling herself up on anything and everything possible (the walls, the front door, the dog, etc.). In fact, she's trying to pull herself over her baby gate right now....

Here are a few pictures from our recent trip to Minneapolis for Jesse & Tara Raub's wedding. It was absolutely beautiful. They had it at the Swedish Institute.

Summer Fun

Brooke has been having an exciting last couple of months. In June she started crawling and hasn't stopped for a break yet. She's been to the lake (Maple Lake) twice and absolutely loves it. Well, both she and Cody love it. (Cody swims and swims and swims. Over the 4th we think he swam for 6 hours straight.)

Brooke also spent her first extended weekend with Grandma Wendy and Grandpa Kenny. Justin and I went to Vegas with friends for a few days. We sure had a lot of fun but definitely missed our little princess.

This weekend we are taking our first road trip east. (Usually we only go as far as Minot west, but now we are going to Minneapolis.) Justin's cousin is having a wedding celebration so we'll spend some time with his family.

I promise I'll get better about posting pictures. We've got a lot that are from the 4th of July so I'll get those up here soon.

Watch out Michael Phelps. I'm a swimming fool.


Love those baby blues.


I love the lake dad!


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