My little socialite

In the past few days we've entertained not one, but two of Brooks' friends.  First Ollie came over.  His mom informed me that they hadn't been on a grown-up date since December.  Um, what????  Really!?  That's not ok!!  So Friday she brought her little man over and she and her hubby enjoyed a nice child-free dinner.  Hooray!

Poor Olls wasn't quite sure what to think.  It took him about 1/2 hour to realize that mom and dad had actually left.  And then he was sad.  But what trooper, he only cried for a minute or two then went right back to playing!

He and Brooks got along pretty well.

This was the one time Brooks shared his toys.

I'm pretty sure the rest of the time he was ripping toys out of Ollie's hands.  (sigh) I guess that's expected of a one year old, right?  Then Brooks decided Ollie needed a hat.

Goofy kids.

Then today Brooks' friend Matthew came over.  His mama went to see our friend Bethany and her tiny new baby in the hospital.

The balls seemed to be a big hit!  And look at that fishy face! hehe.

Check out that free-throw form.

"Ok Matthew, here's how it's done.  Bend at the elbows, then flick with the wrist."

Ok ok, he was actually winding up to throw it at his head, but it looks good right?  (I stopped him, by the way)

Cute!!

So we're all learning together what it means to play with friends.  No, you can't throw the ball at Matthew's head.  No, you can't take the toys away from Ollie.  And yes, I know you don't understand any of that.  But I'm happy my kiddo has the opportunity to play with other kids his age.  Soon he will learn how to get along.  But for now, I'll continue to play referee.

Apple Pickin'

Last Sunday we ventured out with our friends Ben, Amy and their adorable son Ollie to the apple orchard.  I absolutely LOVE fall and picking apples is a must!!  We didn't go last year since it was such a lousy fall and too cold.  So this year I inisisted we go.

Since my little man isn't walking yet and I didn't want him crawling through rotten, half-smashed apples, we pulled out the good ol' sling.

It worked pretty good, although I don't think this mama's back was meant for carrying a 19lb baby around.  But we managed.  We got our apple bag (1/2 price thanks to http://www.groupon.com/), hopped on the horse drawn wagon and headed out to pick apples!!

on the hay wagon

We rode past rows and rows of apples.  Some of them I knew, others names were completely foreign to me.  And in that moment I felt kinda like an apple idiot.  I mean, my classification of apples includes red, green and yellow.  But most often the apples I buy at the store are of the "on sale" variety.  So wherever the wagon stopped, that where we picked. 

We ended up with Regent apples I believe.  Not sure if they're good for baking, but we're gonna give it a try!  I've got plans for apple sauce, apple butter, pie filling and so much more.  I may not know much about the fruit, but I LOVE to eat it!!  And speaking of eating apples, we did a bit of that too.

Some were a litte sour for Brooks' taste.

But that didn't stop him from chewing an apple down to the core.  He put all those teeth to good use.

How 'bout dem apples??

We picked about 10lbs of apples, but we may be going back for more.  Depends on how ambitious I become with all my apple baking.  And since we have such limited freezer space, I may even try my hand at canning this year.  We'll see.

15 months

It's official.  I've been a mother for 15 months now!  I can't believe how big Brooks is getting and how fast the time flies (I know I know everyone says that, but it's true is it not??)  He is such a joy in our lives and I love love love staying home with him.  I love knowing everything about him.  Like when he's really concentrating on something, he sticks out his tongue (like his mama :)  And that when he's all done he says "ah dah" - along with signing it.  Or how he throws back his head and flashes this big goofy grin with all his crooked teeth when he's really really hapy.  I love my Brooks baby.

Here's what else he's doing at 15 months:

• He's crawling really well now.  It only took him 13 months to figure it out.  sheesh.
• standing up on furntiture and walking along it - but still not walking independently yet
• eating everything.  And a lot of it.  A typical breakfast includes a whole banana, 2 pieces of toast (or graham crackers), 6+ oz. milk and maybe a handful of cereal.  Whew, this kid can eat.  Plus a morning snack, lunch, an afternoon snack, supper and a quick snack or glass of milk before bed.  Good grief, I can hardly wait until he's a teenager.  We're gonna go broke!
• We're all done nursing now.  That actually happened a month ago, but he's fully adjusted to it now.  And it's working out well for everyone. 
• He LOVES puppies.  And cats.  And fish.  And any animal that moves really.  He squeals and claps his hands.  And God bless our dog who tolerates all the smacking, er, I mean "petting" Brooks does to him.
• Books.  He abosutely loves books!  That's the first toy he pulls off his shelf.  And I can proudly say that I now have "Brown Bear Brown Bear", "Strawberries are Red", "Buzz Buzz Busy Bees", "Goodnight Moon" and countless other books memorized!
• He's signing really well now.  He uses the signs "more", "eat", "all done", "puppy", "daddy", and "brush teeth" regularly.
• The separation anxiety has been lessening.  He cries when we leave him in the nursery at church, but usually only for a minute.  Then he has a great time playing and reading books of course!
• He loves sand and dirt.  He's definitely a boy.  Sandboxes are his favorite at the playground!  He likes to swing too.
• And Brooks is becoming more and more attached to his Daddy. And I love watching the two of them play and laugh together.  It's a special relationship between a father and son and Brooks is blessed to have the BEST daddy ever!!

happenings

Over Labor Day weekend Chris and I ventured out to the annual Lifelight Christian music festival here in town.  A friend gave us some backstage passes and although I was ready to call it a day at 4pm, we decided to try and act "not like parents" and stay out past our bedtime.  Crazy, I know.  So we found a sitter, dropped off the boy and went back for the John Rueben concert.  Woot woot!  And I have to say, it was sooooo worth it!

It helped that John Rueben was cool when I was a teenager so I actually knew some of the songs.  And of course the show was great!  Did I mention that he came on stage wrapped in tinfoil?

Or that he started his own encore? 

It was awesome.  We did eventually get kicked out because apparently our passes were't good for much.  But hey, one security guard's mistake was our gain.  And how cool is it to be kicked out anyway?  It's like we snuck in .... but we didn't.  It was fun.

......................................

I mentioned earlier that we were in the twin cities last weekend for a friend's wedding.  We stayed with family, saw lots of friends and had a great time.  And of course we made a little trip here.

We didn't actually need anything, but that has never stopped me from shopping before :)  We found a few treasures, but mostly just enjoyed the experience.  Brooks was quite enamored as well.

Ok ok, it wasn't really the reasonably priced furniture that caught his eye.  It was the largest, most awesomely huge ceiling fan he'd ever seen.

.......................

I think this is the last of our travels for a while.  At least until the holidays.  Besides that we've just been having fun around here!  There's lots of exploring to be done ...

...and chocolate chip granola bars to be eaten ...

...and new rooms to be played in.

Brooks even helped wash the couch cushions.

It's hard work as you can see.

Good thing Charlie helpd too.

Oh, and we've done a little shopping too.

We've been busy around here.  But we're having a blast!!

settled

well between unpacking boxes, finding my clothes and turning a house into a home, I really haven't had much time to write about it.  But the boys are occupied with their new "library" toys and and I have a few free moments to myself.

I'm happy to say that my panic has lessened and my moving anxieties have calmed.  This place really is starting to feel like home.  We drove to the twin cities this weekend for a friend's wedding and for the first time in all of our travels this summer, I was anxious to go home.  Perhaps it's because I absolutely abhor city traffic ... but perhaps it's because Sioux Falls isn't simply a place where we live.  This is home.

Through all of our recent transitions I'm learning, more than anything else, to be content.  It's easy to think life would be better somewhere else.  The grass is always greener in your neighbor's yard, right?  But then I look in my yard and find this! 

A tree!  And proof that God cares about the little things in our lives.  The one thing I've missed the most about Minnesota and Wisconsin are the trees.  South Dakota is flat.  Flat flat flat.  Few trees.  No water.  And did I mention that it's flat?  But we moved to this cute litte house in the center part of town, in an established neighborhood with mature trees.  And every morning I look out our window and find this wonderful reminder of my most favorite season ... fall!  And I remember that life is good.  Life was good without my tree mind you, but it's better now.  I'm thankful for my family.  I'm thankful for my house.  And I'm thankful for my tree.

moved

Well we did it.  We moved.  Chris and I had been looking for a new place to live for the past 6 months.  We discovered that living in an apartment wasn't the ideal place for us with a dog and a baby.  So after a long search, we finally found a little house to rent in Sioux Falls.  So we gathered boxes, packed them up and moved. 

And in all my naivity I thought "this won't be so bad.  We've done this plenty of times."  Which in fact we have.  This is the sixth place we've lived in our little over 5 years of marriage.  I'm really good at moving.  But to my suprise, this was a really hard move.  I mean really hard.  It was hard packing, trying to decide what to leave out until the very end and what could go in a box.  It was hard moving the stuff.  We acquired a lot of heavy furniture over the last few years.  And unpacking has been the worst.  Finding a new home for every cookie sheet, mixing bowl, bath towel... and where do you put your coats when there's isn't a front door closet?

Chris kept asking "Are you okay?"  And I said yes.  I really wanted everything to be ok.  But for part of me it wasn't ok.  I don't know if it's getting older or being a mama or something else ... but I want so bad just to be settled.  To have a place to call home .... permanently.  Where I can paint rooms and fix up the basement and mark my child's growth on the wall.  Where I can settle down for 15+ years like my parents did, and their parents did.  And probably the hardest part of this move was knowing that we will move again.  We're only renting this house, and although it is a wonderful blessing to our family, it is not the home I want to buy.  And so I'm sad knowing this will have to happen all over again.

(sigh) But it's getting better day by day.  The upstairs is mostly unpacked, leaving only the basement to be organized.  And we are allowed to paint, so once we're a bit more settled I'll tackle re-painting the kitchen (because that seafoam green just will not do).  Soon it will be "home" instead of just a house with our stuff in it.  I can't wait.