Cousins!

Daniel and Adrienne came into town this weekend to meet Reid for the first time. I love the sweet picture of all the cousins together!

And I love this one especially because Graham and Brooklyn are holding hands. :)

Catching Up

We've been a bit MIA on the blog so before I get to the big news, I will update some happenings from the last month or so: Jack is still loving kindergarten at Crossings! He comes home every day with news of exciting things that he is doing and learning at school. He has made lots of new friends and is just thriving! I am amazed by how much he has already learned and not only by the content, but also the passion in which he relays the new information to us. He is obviously being taught by some very loving teachers who know how to inspire kids. Graham is equally thrilled about being in music school. He comes home and tells us of all the songs he has sung, what he ate for lunch, how he quacked like a duck, said the pledge of allegiance, etc. He is practicing lots of new songs when he is home and entertaining all of us with his dance moves and animated expressions while he sings. He loves taking a show and tell and so far has liked taking blankie, the ABC school bus, his new Thomas book, and his little BB car. We finally decorated for fall. The boys are so excited about the pumpkin decorations and Halloween toys! They think they want to be Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker for Halloween this year. We bought a minivan! It is not new or even close but will do the trick. I feel like such a mom driving it! The boys are extremely impressed by the size and the doors that open on their own. They think it is the coolest car in the entire world. That won't last long but I'm glad they are excited! Jack learned to ride his bike without training wheels! He is such a determined little guy. He just decided one day that he wanted to do it and by the next day, he was cruising! Daddy helped of course, but Jack likes to do things mostly on his own so after a bit of instruction, it was trial and error until it all came together. We are so proud of him. I am especially proud because even after taking a very big fall and busting his lip, he got back out there and isn't scared a bit. He is so big and brave! Daniel, Adrienne, and Brooklyn came to visit a couple of weeks ago! Brooklyn is getting so big and is even thinking about crawling. She got a kick out of watching her cousins play outside and they just love loving on her and teaching her new things. Here is a picture overload:

Cousin Brooklyn's Visit!!! (oh yeah, and Uncle Daniel and Aunt A...)

It was so nice to have Daniel and Adrienne come to town this past week and bring our sweet little Brooklyn to see us! After her health scare, we were all anxious to hug her and kiss her and give her tons of love and luckily that's pretty much all we did during the five days they were here! It was fun not having many plans but just hanging out at BB and Grandad's house swimming and letting the kids play. I don't know how we'll last another six months without seeing her so Jack is praying for Uncle Daniel to start a job search in OKC. :)

Brooklyn's Visit

Since most of Daniel and Adrienne's family and many friends live in Oklahoma and Texas, they decided that they needed to bring Brooklyn to meet everyone while she is still little. They came to Oklahoma first a couple of weeks ago and then drove down to Waco before heading back to Oregon. It was such a sweet visit! We loved watching our boys interact with her. They were in typical form- Jack was sweet, loving, and gentle, always wanting to hold her, feed her, fix anything that made her cry, etc. Graham was usually the thing making her cry, although he was also sweet, he sweetness came in the form of climbing on top of her in order to give her a big hug. We already knew but now have confirmed what we need to work on before our new baby arrives! :)Both boys were sweet though and really enjoyed being with Brooklyn and loving on her.

Brooklyn also enjoyed two Sip 'n Sees in her honor while she was in town, one for Dan and Adrienne's close friends and one for my mom and dad's friends/family. It was great to have everyone together as Toby and Jessica and Hayley and Nick came from Dallas. Also, Roger and Magen were there so we were able to see their sweet little one, Jacob, and introduce him to Brooklyn. They are only a week apart in age!

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend but we were super sad to see them go and really hate having to miss so many moments with her as they're so far away. :(

Here are some pics. My favorite is the one where Jack and Graham are both rubbing their heads. It was immediately after they bonked heads both trying to go in to kiss Brooklyn at the the same time!

Brooklyn Elizabeth

The ninth day of January has been an eventful date over the course of my lifetime, in good and bad days. It's my dad's birthday, the day my grandpa went to be with Jesus, and the day another dear family friend went to be with Jesus. Thankfully this year, January ninth was a joyous day!

I had just nodded off to sleep a couple of hours prior when at 1:30am my phone rang. It was my mom letting me know that Adrienne's water had broken and that we were going to head to Oregon to meet my first niece. What a crazy day! I was so excited that I could hardly sleep and probably only got another two hours in before getting up at 4:30 to pack. I woke Jack at 5:20 (couldn't leave that one behind!) and was on the road to the airport by 5:45. Brooklyn's timing couldn't have been better because the company jet was scheduled to head to Oregon that morning anyway! We crashed the flight, stopped in Arizona for a few hours, and then landed in Corvallis around 12:30 pacific time. Luckily Brooklyn waited for us through all of that and even let us have lunch and a nap before really getting serious about entering the world! She was born at 5:33pm and I am just so thankful that I was able to meet her only an hour later. She is perfect! Being an aunt seems like the best gig ever so I'm looking forward to the fun times ahead. Jack was in his typical big brother mode and held Brooklyn like a pro. He is just such a nurturer and will probably look after her from now on!

Daniel and Adrienne seemed so happy and I know that they will be wonderful parents! Congratulations to my awesome brother and his amazing wife! Thanks for bringing Brooklyn into our lives!