My Brooke

Last night my Brooke was just so adorable! She had on such a cute dress, ruffly socks (which she hasn't worn all summer!), a flower in her hair, etc. . and she just looked so girly. On top of all that she was just being so sweet and lovely! I couldn't get enough of her.

Here she is with her nursery buddy, Alyssa.

David and I both got a little worried this week when we had gone out to dinner with the family. A lady walked past and commented on the fact that we finally had a little girl after three boys. (This kind of thing happens to us all the time.) She mentioned that she had also had three boys and a girl. Then with a rather dour expression on her face she said, "The girl's the one that'll give ya trouble!"

At this moment, I don't believe her! Look at this cute little thing! I sure hope that my Brooke can prove her wrong. :)

On The Go!

In this video you can see Brooke taking some wobbly steps. She might've gotten farther if she had both shoes on! :) (And if I'd cleared the toys out of the way.) She's such fun to watch and the boys get SO VERY EXCITED when they see her stepping around the house.

Enjoy!

More Cute Pictures

I love reading blogs. You can do some serious blog-hopping these days, and it is so much fun!

There are so many different types of blogs. Some are informative, others are thought-provoking, and some are there to give you good ideas. I use my blog as a journal. It's an easy way to record memories and keep family up-to-date with our children.

Thanks to my good friend Amy I discovered a new blog called 365 Days of TV-Free Toddler Time. Wow! I had fun glancing at this lady's blog the other day! That's where I got this idea for Logan. He had a great time stringing the cereal onto pipe cleaners.

Of course the best part of this project is getting to eat the Fruit Loops!

Logan was so excited to finish his Fruit Loop pipe cleaner.

He took it next door to show Dad, then came back home,

sat at the table, and started chomping away.

My Cole is undoubtedly the "class clown" of our family.

He has quite a sense of style, don't you think?

Stay tuned. Sunday is Trevor's ninth birthday. I'm sure we'll have plenty of fun pictures to post of our birthday boy. Since his birthday is on a Sunday we'll probably do most of our partying on Saturday. That'll give him a two-day celebration this year!

Not a bad deal, don't you think?

A Common Sight

This is now a common sight in our house:

Brooke is loving the stairs. I've been tempted to gate the stairs off to keep her safe. But since we live in a house with stairs - 16 of them, to be exact! - I figure she might as well learn how to use them! She is doing a great job, and so far we haven't had any spills. Can you tell that she is pretty proud of her accomplishment?

Fabulous Fun

Last night we loaded into David's truck and did some driving over the mountain behind our house. David kicked it into 4-wheel drive and we had a good time, bouncing all over the gravel and holes. These are actually state game lands in that mountain with a gravel road to drive. But it is clearly not maintained by PenDot! LOL

Brooke was ready for Daddy to load her into the truck.

Our church can be seen through that small hole in the trees. (on the left)
The pretty German house in our neighborhood. You can see it from any location in our town.

You can see our brick house and our church in the middle of this photo. In the grand scheme of things they seem so small.

Martinsburg

Here's Brooke with her Nikes. :)

We stopped on the road and the boys had fun climbing this rocky hill. When they got to the top they threw rocks and discovered that they would spark when they hit each other! That was so much fun for them!

A Mish-Mash of Pictures - DC Trip

This post is just a compilation of various photos of our trip. They're in chronological order, and represent many of the things we saw that day.

Potomac

A building dedicated to the women of the Civil War

Double Decker Tour Bus

Bathroom near the Washington Monument - You can see the Capitol Building in the background.

There were quite a few kites flying on the National Mall.

Peek-a-boo!

Weeee!

Part of the Smithsonian

Yep - there's even a carousel on the National Mall.

Only the Smithsonian people would consider this art!

U.S. Botanic Gardens

Leaving the Capitol Building behind, the boys had to climb up on the stonework.

Near Grant's Memorial

Capitol Reflecting Pool

White House

I asked the boys what their favorite parts of Washington D.C. were. Cole replied, "I liked all of it. Except the walking!"

Such a beautiful picture. We think that maybe our next overnight trip will be to Washington D.C. I'd love to be there at night to see the reflectings pools, and the pretty lights of the city.

Worn Out!

Washington Monument - DC

The first thing you can see when you approach our capital city is the Washington Monument. It's amazing. It's spectacular. It's really cool! We parked as close as we could, (which was not very close at all!) and walked straight for that monument. Whoever designed that monument probably didn't think of how handy it would be for future visitors. You can just look up into the sky, find the monument, and easily get your bearings!

We all really enjoyed the Washington Monument. You can get tickets to go inside, but we are saving that for another time. I tried to teach the boys about the Washington Monument that day. Now they can recognize it by sight.

This was my first glimpse.

I never knew there were flags at the bottom like that. I love it! So patriotic!

Finally! We were getting close to it.

This is the Commerce Building.

Glancing back I saw the World War II Memorial. We never made it to that one.

I saw the Capitol Building and had to get a creative picture. I love seeing the building between the American flag.

Trevor David

Trevor (in the background), Logan Joseph, & Cole Patrick

Somebody offered to take a picture of our whole family. Yes, I worried if they would run off with our camera! (hee-hee!)

I just love all the flags circling the Washington Monument.

It's just beautiful, isn't it?

After this, we headed down the National Mall towards the Capitol Building. Brooke quickly tired of the stroller so Daddy obliged her and put her on his shoulders. Nah! She doesn't have him wrapped around her finger at all!