Brooke's a BIG Girl!

Brooke went potty on the toilet for the first time tonight!!! YAY Brooke!! :) She followed me into the bathroom and stood in front of the potty training toilet trying to pull down her pants. I helped her take them off, then 2 seconds later tinkle tinkle!!! :) I am so proud of her!! She got a tootsie roll as a reward :) I cant believe that at only 19 months SHE is interested in the potty already!! We are excited!

Made with Love

So now that I am staying at home I have been trying to find things to keep me occupied (other than cleaning or shopping online) while the kids are napping... So believe it of not, I saw this on a show and thought I would try it. They are handmade Recipe books. I made a few, but only put this one on here. I put 3 tabs- Sides and Salads, Main Dishes, and Desserts. There are blank pages in between for you to put your recipes on. What do you think? I dont pretend to be good at scrapbooking. I always try, but I am one of those that Iwant to see the finished product too quickly, so it never turns out the way I hope that it would. Do you have any ideas on how I could make this better? Or know of any other fun projects or websites that can occupy some of my time? :) Let me know!

Wellness Check ups

The kids got their wellness checkups yesterday... Good news! They are both very healthy! :) Brooke is 32 5/8 in, 25 lbs 15 oz and in the 74% for her age. (Yes she has always been a big girl!)

Brayden is 38 6/8 in, 34lbs. 11 oz, and in the
51% for his age. He has always been around "average," if not a little small for his age :) Just thought I would share with you all!

Yay for Madagascar II!!

Last night we took the kids to see Madagascar II- Return to Africa. We took them on a Monday night because in the past when we have gone to movies, one of us is getting up with them taking them out of the theater because of their fussing and it was just a nightmare! We thought a Monday night would not be so busy, so it wouldnt be as bad. Well, the kids did GREAT! They both sat there eating their popcorn, graham crackers, etc. They sat through the entire movie with no fuss!! Brayden especially enjoyed the movie :) He said he wants to go do that again. It was funny because awhile back my dad, me, and my brother took the kids to see WallE at the theater and Brayden kept saying "like when pappa took me to see WallE mom!" He remembers EVERYTHING! Anyway, I was just so excited that this is something we can do as a family now :)

Deck the Halls

I know what you are thinking... it isnt even Thanksgiving yet. But Nathan and I truly LOVE the holidays! One of our favorite thing is decorating, so this weekend we decided to put up our tree, lights, stockings and other decorations. I just love this time of year. The baking, family, scent of yummy food in the kitchen. Its all so wonderful. We thought this way, it could last just a little longer :) We even got Mojo a little holiday sweater. Hopefully we will be taking our family photos soon and get those out to you all :)

Super heros

Brayden and Brooke were playing "super heros" this week... it was so funny to see them running around the house in their masks pretending they were on a "mission" as Brayden told me. Brayden was Batman and Brooke was Spiderman. Brayden would go outside on his scooter and say he was going on his motorcycle to his mission... it is so funny the things his little imagination comes up with! Brooke would just run around following Brayden. I love how they are pals and can play together like this! :)

Playin at the Park with Pappa

On Sunday we went to my dad's house and we took the kids to the park by his house. The kids had a great time!! Brooke really enjoyed these bouncy animals! She would bounce back and forth and bob her head. Brayden loved the swings! He said he was Spiderman! He was going really high! I was proud of him because normally he is pretty scared to do that kind of stuff. We saw this huge Great Dane at the park. The kids really got a kick out of it! I dont think they quite knew what to think of this big dog. The weather was beautiful, although a little overcaste. It ended up raining a little bit later in the day. All in all it was a great day :)

The kids have been growing and developing so much every day! I guess since I have been at home I get to notice all the little things now and I LOVE it! Brayden is curious about EVERYTHING! He really wants to know what everything is and how it works. He likes to take things apart and put them back together. He really has a creative little mind. Brooke is quite the little girl. She is really into baby dolls now. She rocks them and shh's us if she is trying to "put them to sleep." Its really funny. Other than that I have had a chance to work with Brayden on his numbers, letters, shapes, colors etc. He is doing pretty well. I got some cool stuff from a teacher supply store to help him. He knows his colors really well and he can count to ten perfect, but beyond that he has a little trouble. He bounces around in numbers... "12345678910....11 13 4.." haha Shapes we have been using our sidewalk chalk for, so that is a work in progress and letters he is doing pretty well. We have flash cards and workbooks that we focus on one letter each day.

Other than that, we are just baking yummy stuff for dad and spending some quality time playing and having fun. I am LOVING being a stay at home mom! I couldnt imagine spending my days doing anything else now.

Maggie Elizabeth Lake

My neice Maggie was born November 6th at about 8:00 am. She gets to share a birthday with her uncle Nathan! :) She was 7 lbs 2 oz and 20 in long (I believe...) :) She has beautiful brown hair and blue eyes... for now :) She really seems to be a good little baby. I got to go and visit her yesterday for a little bit. Of course she was sleeping most the time, but when she was awake she was a pretty happy little girl. Abby is a great big sister! She was holding Maggie and telling me how beautiful she is! I am so excited to be an aunt again! Congrats Greg and Chelsea! You have a wonderful family!

MMM Goulash!

I made Goulash the other night and the kids dug into it!! They made a mess, but really enjoyed sitting outside in the cool weather eating their dinner. :)

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

The kids put their Mickey ears on the other day & I thought it was so cute so I thought I would put a few pics on here :)

Halloween Party

Last night Nate and I went to our friends Jason and Jacquline's Halloween party. It was a lot of fun! There were some hillarious costumes... Nate and I went as Rock Stars. I was Avril Lavigne and he was of course Kid Rock :) Here are some pictures... (some are kind of rough...haha)

Trick or Treat

The kids had so much fun trick or treating last night. We went with my brother and his wife Chelsea and our neice Abby :) Abby was Cinderella. A very pretty one! Brayden was Spiderman, and Brooke was a lady bug. The kids did really well saying "trick or treat" and their thank-you's. I was surprised at how outgoing Brayden was, talking to all the neighbors. He is usually really shy around strangers. (It probably had to do something with the fact they were giving him candy!!)

My last day at Wells Fargo

Yesterday was my last day at Wells Fargo. We had a really fun day since it was Halloween and everyone dressed up. We had a doctor, an army boy, a convict, batman (his "little brother" attached to him haha) Batgirl, and I was Dorothy. It was so nice everyone brought their favorite dish for a pot luck (I ate way too much) and they all chipped in and got me some flowers, balloons, a nice card and some awesome gift cards so Nate and I can actually go out! :) I have really enjoyed working at Wells and I am going to miss each and every one of them!