Yeah, that's better

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for sending the awesome Packer outfit!!!

And I'm happy to say that Brooks did NOT cheer for the Bears today.  But since "Grandma & Grandpa" Gale  and "Uncle" Joel were over, he didn't even watch the game, so I'm not sure if it counts.  Oh forget it.  Of course it counts!!!  Go Packers!!

Oh yeah, and did I mention??  The Packers are going to the SUPERBOWL!!!!!!!!  Ah, what a great day :)

Bears Fan??

Oh baby, please say it ain't so!  But sure enough, while watching the Bears/Seahawks game on Sunday my little Brooks cheered for the Bears.  The BEARS!!!  Ugh!  As the Bears defense made a big stop he clapped his hands over his head and started shouting "yeah yeah yeah"!  Then when they had the ball back he was yelling "go go go"!  Now, sometimes he cheers simply because we are cheering (we're kind of addicted to football in our house) but believe you me, we were certainly NOT cheering for the Bears.  These Chicago accolades were completely self-prompted.  And I'd like to say it was a fluke ... that it was a one time thing.  But sadly no.  The same thing happened earlier in the year when the Bears played the Packers no less!!! 

I'm not quite sure how this happened.  Chris is a Vikings fan and I'm for the Packers.  I guess it could be worse.  He could be cheering for the Lions.  But believe me, we're not letting this little problem go without intervention.  Oh no.  There will be some serious Green Bay indocrination happening on Sunday.  As we speak his Grandma (my mom) is searching the stores in Green Bay for a toddler sized Packer jersey for Sunday's game (agaisnt the Bears, if you weren't aware)  It's a good thing we caught this problem early before he did something crazy .... like singing the Bears fight song.

A New Bump

Well it's official.  Our second little blessing is in the process of growing growing growing inside my tummy right now. (well, "uterus" if you want to be specific, but for the sake of *trying* to explain it to a 18 month old, we'll stick with "tummy") 

Tuesday, December 21st was the day of the positive pregnancy test.  I was thrilled!!!  We'd been trying for a few months and after many disappointing negative tests, I was plesantly suprised by this one.  But now what do I do?  How do I tell Chris?  "oh hey, but the way.  We're pregnant".  Didn't really seem to cut it.  So I made a plan.

The next day I was planning on dropping of Charlie (the dog) to my good friend Edith Ellen's house while we were away for Christmas.  But then I also asked if she'd be willing to watch Brooks for a few hours while Chris and I went out.  And because she's like my second mom (therefore Brooks' extra Grandma) she was delighted.  Perfect.  So on Wednesday, after nap and snack I brought both the dog and the boy over to Grandma Gale's house.  I didn't leave the Gale's until a little after 5pm, so Chris arrived home before I did.  But it was ok.  He knew I was dropping off the dog so the suprise was still intact.  Hehehehehe.

Oh and I have mentioned that I had been aware of this new baby for over 24 hours and the suspense was killilng me!!  But I remained calm.  When I got home Chris (obviously) asked "Where's Brooks"?  I kept a straight face (mostly) and said "Grab your coat, let's go".  Oooooh, and my husband loves suprises so this was GREAT!!

From there we went to Olive Garden for dinner.  We made casual conversation about life and Brooks and Christmas and stuff.  Then right before our food arrived I asked if he wanted to see a picture.  I always have lovely little pics of our sweet boy on my phone from throughout the day.  When he said yes (what was he going to say ... no?), I slid my phone across the table with the picture of a very obvious positive pregnancy test showing on the screen. 

He looked at me.  I grinned.  He looked at the picture.  I giggled.  He looked at me again, this time he was grinning .... ear to ear folks.  "Really???"  "Really", I said.  "We're having a baby".  Oh and the moments from there were wonderful.  We smiled and giggled.  Then he hugged me.  Our family was growing!  And we couldn't be happier!!!!  We spent the rest of the evening talking about the future and the new baby and the little boy we're already blessed with (because it just doesn't seem like I can call him my baby anymore).  Then after dinner we drove to Falls Park and walked through the wonderland of Christmas lights.  It was fantastic.  It was quiet.  And suprisingly warm for December.  I love evenings where Chris and I can just stroll and talk and enjoy each other's company.  It's one of my favorite things in the whole world.  Except this time it wasn't just us.  This time, we were accompanied by our new little bump :)  And life is good.  So so good.

Mommy's helper .... in reverse

Brooks LOVES to help around the house.  He recently discovered garbage cans and has taken to throwing things away ... whether they need to be thrown away or not.  We now have to do a regular search through the garbages (pleasant, right??) before we take them out.  Who knows what treasures are hiding in them.  He's at the stage where he mimicks everything we do, because that's how he learns.  But sometimes he gets it a little backwards.  For instance ....

• while I am constantly trying to move shoes from the front door back into the closet, I find him pulling every shoe from the closet and putting it by the front door.
• He pulls my clean tupperwear out of the drawer and puts them in the sink.  'Cause, ya know, that's where the dishes go.
• He takes the sheets and blankets from his dirty clothes basket and puts them back in his crib.  Or tries anyway.
• He takes the clean, folded laundry and puts it in the dirty laundry basket.

He's a busy busy little boy and I love him.  I love his ambition and his desire to "help".  He's just doing what he sees :)  And I love watching him grow, learn, imitate.  I can't help but laugh when I watch him tackle the household chores with me ... in reverse.

Christmas 2010

Ok, so I know Christmas was over a week ago and with only having one kid in the house all week I should have found time to post Christmas pictures, right?  Right.  But I didn't.  So forgive my tardiness.

This year we drove to Minneapolis to spend the holiday with Chris' brother JD and his wife Pamela.  (Pamela posted pictures on their blog about the weekend too and since she is a very talented photographer and graphic designer - much more so than me - I am quite tempted to just say "to see pictures from our weekend click here" .... but that would be cheating so I won't)

Anyway, it was kinda strange since this was the first Christmas without either of our parents.  But we enjoyed a calm, relaxing weekend.  I mean ... it doesn't get much more relaxed than eating grilled cheese and tomato soup for Christmas Eve dinner (it was great, by the way :)

Their house was decorated beautifully for Christmas with three trees - much to Brooks' delight.

He walked around all weekend pointing to them and proclaiming "tweeeeeeee".

We took a trip to downtown Minneapolis to see the 8th floor Christmas display at Macy's.

Brooks loved opening all his presents.  Well, to be honest the wrapping paper and boxes were more appealing that most of the gifts but that's normal, right??

And the "big" boys enjoyed their nerf guns that Santa brought them.

Later on Christmas day we went outside and played in all the snow!!

This is called sledding without a sled ... and it was fun :)

Christmas with kids is so much fun!!!

well hello there blue eyes!

And from our family to yours, we pray you had a wonderful Christmas and have a blessed, happy new year!!