Brooke & Braden Recent Happenings

BRADEN:

It was cold and I didn't have any clean long sleeve shirts for Braden at bedtime so I put one of Brooke's on him. I was surprised how well it fit! If Braden had to decide if he would rather wear pink or freeze-judging by the picture I'd say he'd pick freeze!

Sorry to those who get offended easily. Maybe reading my blog isn't smart, but I had to post this poop picture! I've had some up the back poops but this one outdid them all!
Braden is playing with toys and really noticing the world around him now and it is a lot of fun to watch.

BROOKE:

My Dad crawled under the house (scary) to help us board up the gap under our doorway. Brooke had fun figuring out how he got down there!

My dad left his gloves and luckily I had the camera on when she found them. She put them on and said VERY loud, "Gampas gwoves!"

She helped me take down the tree and when it was all put away she stood in the place it had been and said, "Tree!" as she held out her arms pretending to be the tree!
Brooke put on daddy's hat, dug for her purse in the toy box, grabbed her doll, headed for the door, and said "bye bye! Nursery!" I guess she just wanted to go to nursery!
Brooke has been praying for a while now with our help and prompting. If we go slow she will say every word perfectly and it is cute. I decided to let her pray on her own today and it was 100 times cuter! These are the sweet words she said,
"Heavenly Father, (repeated about 5 times), babies, (slight pause), AMEN!"
Then the second prayer:
"Heavenly Father, (repeated about 5 times), thank you bless it, ALL DONE!"
It may not sound like much, but for a 17 month old and a first time mom I was thrilled! Her vocabulary has gone crazy this week! She is now speaking in sentances saying things like, "I want some water please" and she will say thank you, please, hello, goodbye, and I'm sorry without any help. It is amazing how fast she has grown. She is also recognizing the letter B and will exlaim "BBBB" really loud when she sees it or pretends to write it!

Christmas #2

Brooke couldn't handle the looong 30 minute drive to Duncan. Since we try not to give her the pacifier anymore she has to come up with substitutions.

Grandpa Merrell and Braden havin a good laugh.

Tony, Nicole, Braden and Brooke in the Nativity.

Brooke prepping for her role in the Nativity

Grandpa Lunt got a new chainsaw from Grandpa and Grandma Merrell!

Brooke loved it!

She even tried cutting some wood for the fire!

Uncle Travis playing a song for us.

The tradition of singing "In the Hollow of Thy Hand"

I think the Yawn says it all!

CHRISTMAS 2009

Christmas #1

Christmas came early when all our friends got together for lunch! Time flies-and it had been a long time since this many of us were together in one spot!

We had a good time eating and then visiting Amber.

Valerie and Brice showing off their nice gifts from the Lunt Family...

a little wallet size family picture! It was all they wanted! haha

Brooke was more interested in taking everyone's pictures than opening her presents!

If Braden could talk I think he would say..."Man! I gotta be my daddy's helper? I wanna play!"

I got a bucket of HONEY! Amazing!

SSNNOOWW!!!

It snowed quite a while yesterday but nothing stuck. This morning when we woke up the ground was covered! We rushed outside as the sun was coming up and we knew it would be melted in minutes! We then rushed back inside becuase Brooke just broke her fever last night and I didn't want her getting sick again. But who can resist some time in the snow?! I thought I'd post some pictures for those of you who slept in and it was melted when you woke up. I would've missed it except I had to get up with kids!

What is this stuff?!

COLD!

I went back outside to build a snowman but ran into some trouble.

1. It was COLD and I didn't have gloves. (Who buys snow gloves in Safford?)

2. The snow wasn't sticking together.

3. It was COLD and I didn't have gloves.

4. Brooke was jealous that I didn't take her outside so I had to hurry.

5. It was COLD!

So basically-it was too cold to spend time building a snowman, so instead I built a snow BLOB without a face and a leaf for a hat!

A Trip To The ZOOOOO

Brooke entertained herself on the way to the

Tucson Zoo with this Baby Magazine

Brooke didn't understand why she couldn't give the

animals a hug! Gosh-we are mean parents huh.

She grabs her stomach like this when she is scared

Aunt Sonya and Brooke. Brooke had to hold Sonya's hand
and know where she was at ALL times!


When I finally convinced her that this statue was fake,
she wouldn't stop petting it and even kissed it.

THE END!!! HAHA!!!

Peace, love, and binis

Brooke learned how to throw the

peace sign minus one finger.

This is her peace sign and she is saying it too.

Dancing on Daddy's lunch break! :)

You can never have too many pictures in a bini!

Love the kiddos

Brooke decided she needed to re-learn how to walk in the walker!

Just chillin in the walker

So Cute
Brooke is changing her baby doll's diaper.

Can you really have too many sunglasses?

All smiles

Brooke saw Santa in real life for the first time last week. Afterwards we were trying to get her to pose in front of these stuffed animals but she was too shaken up by the whole Santa experience.

Best Buds

A girl and her dolls

Hi Mom

Dimples?

Bathtime

Going to town on his toy!

Brooke learned how to chew gum the other day. I thought she did good not swallowing it or spitting it on the floor till Jarom took off his shoe and realized there was a piece on the inside of the shoe!!! oops...