Happy Pumpkin Day

Saturday morning Chris decided he was going to make pancakes for breakfast, one of his favorites. But these ones had a festive flair! Happy Pumpkin Day.

Look mom!

Looks like somebody found his toes!!

Like puppy like son??

Ok, so for as long as I can remember our dog Charlie has had this strange habit of sucking on blankets. No really, sucking on them. He doesn't chew on them (because he gets in trouble for that), just sucks on them. He gathers the blanket between his paws, wraps his mouth around it and goes to town. It's so weird, but I guess if it makes him happy, who am I to stop him?

Well, being that Brooks is 4 months old and likes to put everything in his mouth, I knew this was bound to happen. Both my little guys sucking on their blankets at the same time. ::sigh:: Only in our house!

Butterflies!

This weekend Chris, Brooks and I had planned an outing to the corn maze on the north side of town. We packed the snowsuit, boots, hats and of course the camera. We hit the road and about 10 minutes away from home we realized we forgot the baby carrier ... crud. Well, I certainly didn't want to push a stroller through a muddy corn maze and carrying him would have been too much, especially for our wiggly little boy. So we opted for Plan B: the Butterfly House.

Right here in Sioux Falls, there's an Outdoor Campus run by the Fish & Game Dept and part of that is the Butterfly House. So we decided to check it out. I think Brooks was a bit overwhelmed by it. My poor South Dakota baby has hardly ever seen a tree before! So it was fun to see him explore. He touched the leaves, listened to the little waterfall and did the best he could to keep up with all the butterflies floating around. I think he had fun ... we sure did. Here's some pictures from the day. You can see more here.

my boys

I am impressed more and more everyday at how wonderful of a father my husband is. Yesterday he spent quite a bit of time with Brooks while I took my much needed Sunday nap and then went grocery shopping. Chris' project for the day was to put plastic on our drafty windows, and he decided that the boy should help. What a team!

I also found some other (older) pictures of Chris and Brooks. I am blessed with a wonderful family.

Chris' first fathers day. Brooks - 5 days old.

Brooks - 1 month old.

What a good snuggler.

Tummy time with Daddy! Brooks - 3 months old

Football Season

I love fall. The cooler weather, the changing leaves and of course ... football season. Chris and I really enjoy our Sunday afternoons relaxing, eating good food and watching the game. In fact, it's such a big event that this year we even ordered cable, just so we could catch all the games. There is a bit of tension being that I'm a Packer fan (born & raised in GB) and Chris is a Viking fan. So there's some ribbing and teasing and a lot of channel flipping to try and catch both games. I swear it makes me dizzy. But still, it's fun. I even caught my two boys watching the game together. Aren't they cute? Now the question is ... will Brooks cheer for green and gold or for those other guys??

Vacations

Wow, it's been a while since my last post. Here's some pictures from our first family road trip to the twin cities in August. We went to my cousin's wedding in St. Paul and Brooks was a hit with the whole family ... even though Grandpa Dave hardly let anyone else hold him. I realized later I didn't actually take pictures of the wedding, but here's some shots from our afternoon at the Sculpture Garden the next day.

Uncle John, my mom, Aunt Betty

sleepy baby

Chris & I at the Garden

Then over Labor Day weekend Brooks and I hit the road by ourselves to visit some friends in Minnesota. We spend a few days with the Blanchards (Kris, Kellie & the kids), but we also spent time with my college friend Krista, the Green's from our former church and Chris' family who lives in the area. His Grandma was even in town from ND, which was a special treat for her to see Brooks for the first time.

Brooks with his Great Grandma Ardis

Kris enjoyed playing with Brooks.

"Aunt" Kellie

To see all the pictures from these weekends plus some other misc. pictures of Brooks, click here.