Happy Halloween!

(More pics coming after tonight!)

Bryleigh - 3 months old

On Saturday, Bryleigh turned 3 months old. She shared this special birthday with her Mawmaw this month, which was very exciting. She has changed a lot in the past month. She is holding up her head much better and enjoying tummy time more and more. She is also LOVING "talking" to everyone around her with all of her coos, squeals, and moans. She laughed out loud for the first time a few weeks ago and when she catches someones eyes, she smiles with the biggest grin ever! She has experienced a lot of firsts during this month as well. She went to her first state fair, her first movies, and sat in her bumbo for the first time. (Thank you LAOK-V!) The doctor said that she is still showing signs of sensitive skin and that she is growing and changing appropriately for her age. At her appointment this week she weighed 10 lbs. 12oz (she was 9 lbs. and 5 1/2 oz. at her last check-up). We're very excited about everything that she has done recently and we can't wait to see how she continues to grow and change each day! We are still so in-love with our little "Tinkerbell"!!!

LOV

If you get the chance, look at the blogs of "My Peeps" listed on the right hand side of this screen and click on Leigh Anna's blog. If you read her most recent blog you will learn about her stalking problems and also see why I call her "friend"! She's the greatest and I love her to death!
~Brooke

MawMaw and PawPaw

We all got to enjoy another great visit in Plymouth over the weekend. We all went down on Friday and celebrated MawMaw's birthday on Saturday. We spent some time at the house and playing with cousins. On Saturday Brenden stayed at MawMaw's house while the rest of us headed back to Durham. Brenden is staying with MawMaw until Wednesday and is very excited about the stay. He LOVES to spend time with Foster and Devon, visit with Granddaddy and Mema, and play with MawMaw and PawPaw. We're so thankful for great family!

Our Little Einstein

Friday morning Brenden was laying in the floor of the nursery as he tried to wake up while Brooke fed Bryleigh. He was reading and then decided he wanted Daddy to join in on the events. The rest of the conversation went something like this...

"Mommy, call Daddy."
"Daddy."
"Louder Mommy!"
"Daddy!"
"No, louder Mommy!"
"DADDY!"
"FORTISSIMO Mommy!!!!"

Ha! Genius, right?!

Yee-Haw!!!!!

Okay, so for those of you that don't know, Brenden has recently become very interested in cowboys. He started this interest at Nana's and Papa's house when he would dress up in a hat and ride around saying "yee-haw" on all of the cars, riding toys, or anything that would move. When we went to Tweetsie he continued to show an interest in all of the cowboys that were walking around and shooting each other. He's a brave boy so he's not about to be intimidated by some guy with boots and a hat yelling and shooting across the train! ;) On Saturday (as you can see from the pictures below) he wore his "cowboy" hat around the fair all day and would only take it off for the rides or to relax in the stroller. WELL...we thought that we had seen and heard it all until tonight.

Wylie and Scout were in the backyard playing and running around earlier this evening and Brenden was really enjoying watching them both. Finally, he decided to pull one of his chairs over to the sliding glass door to sit down and watch them play. When Nana came over to the house Brenden took her to the door and showed her his doggies in the yard. Wylie has always been a "friendly" and "frisky" dog since day one and this has not changed a bit over the years. Even after being outside all day together the dogs were still constantly checking out each other's "backsides" in the yard while they were playing. Nana pointed out how funny it was and how at one point Wylie was actually riding on Scouts back as Scout was walking around the yard. A few seconds later Brenden looked out the door and yelled for Nana.

"Nana, look! They funny! Wylie is a cowboy! Yee-Haw!!!!!"

Ahahahahaha!

The Fair, the Fair, the Unforgettable Fair!

Uncle Greg came into town this weekend to visit with everyone and go to the fair. Bobby was out of town for a boys weekend of football and fun so he missed out on most of the festivities. On Saturday Nana, Papa, KK, Steve, Greg, Brooke, Hope, Hailey, Brenden, and Bryleigh all went to the fair for the day. It was cold and windy but still a lot of fun. The kids all enjoyed the rides and the animals. The adults enjoyed the strange people and yummy food. :) Even though we were all a little numb and exhausted by the end of the evening, the day was definitely a success. Below are a few of the pictures from our time at the fair.

(Hope, Hailey, and Brenden posing in a tree.)

(Brenden by himself in the tree. )

(Brooke and Greg with their funnel cake...YUM! )

(Uncle Greg and Bryleigh trying to keep warm together.)

Meet Scout...

Everyone...meet Scout Farr! He's the one in black sitting beside Brenden! ;) Scout joined our family tonight and we'll see how things go when we have more time to really assess the situation and realize what we've done to the already crazy place we call home!

Waking up on the right side of the bed

This morning we were a little worried because it was getting close to the time to leave for work and Brenden was still not awake. He tends to do much better and be a little happier when he can wake up on his own and without us prompting him in the mornings. We were dreading being the alarm clock today and put off getting him up until the very last second. In preparation for waking up the bear, we turned on the hall light so we would could actually see into his room. After we turned on the light he started to yell - "Mommy, I'm awake! Mommy, I'm awake!" Brooke went into his room and was very surprised to see him smiling when she walked in. "Goooooood Morning Mommy! How's your nap?" came right out when she walked in. We could not believe it. He actually woke up in a GREAT mood! He let us dress him, talk to him, and get him ready to get out the door without fighting at all! He grabbed his backpack, drink, and turned off the lights before he walked out. He said hugged Bobby goodbye and then turned around to wave one last time he noticed that Bryleigh was still inside. "Daddy," he said. "I think baby sister want to go to Nana's house too. I think him (he always calls Bryleigh him) want to go...cuz...cuz...I will miss him!" It was the sweetest thing we think he has ever said about his baby sister and our hearts just melted at the idea of him actually missing her while he's gone! In that moment we realized that he is probably the best big brother in the world (yeah we're biased) and that there are definitely miracles to speak about when you wake up on the "right side of the bed"! If only we could find that side of the bed EVERY morning! ;)

10 Years...Seriously????

This weekend was Northern High School's 10 year reunion for the class of '98, which kept us very busy each day. They had a meet and greet event at Tyler's on Friday night, a brunch at Northern on Saturday morning, and then a party at Millennium hotel on Saturday night. After being married and having 2 babies, we're used to a life of minimal activities and early nights in bed so to say that we are pooped from everything that happened over the past 2 days, is definitely an understatement. However, regardless of how exhausted we may be, we really enjoyed everything. It was not only fun to hang out with 4 of our dearest friends during each event, it was also incredibly nice to get to reconnect with some old friends. We enjoyed yummy food, good drinks, great laughs, entertaining conversations, and priceless memories! It was definitely a successful weekend and even though we don't want another 10 years to come and go so quickly, we honestly can't wait for the next event!

Brown's Farm

On Tuesday Brenden went on his first field trip with his school. His class went to visit Brown's farm and we decided to tag along for the adventure. It was such a great day! Brenden had a blast going through the corn maze with Avery and enjoyed feeding all of the animals the crops that he picked. He also had fun on the hay ride (which takes forever) and enjoyed being outdoors while playing with his friends/classmates. We're so excited that we both were able to take some time off of work to join him not only on his first field trip, but also on his first visit to a pumpkin patch/farm! It is definitely something that we'll remember for a long time!

A Great Weekend!

This weekend we decided to head to Blowing Rock for a little vacation before intersession comes to an end. We normally go to Blowing Rock every fall as a couple, but this was our first time going and taking the kids. We were a little worried about what we would do with the Brenden and Bryleigh while we were there, but the weekend turned out to be great and our worries were unnecessary.

On Friday night we ate some dinner at the Mellow Mushroom in downtown Blowing Rock and then took Brenden to the park so he could play. The weather was very chilly so we couldn't stay out too long with Bryleigh. On Saturday morning we spent most of our day at Tweetsie Railroad. Honesty, we were not really looking forward to our visit here because we had never been and didn't know what to expect. However, Brenden LOVED his time at Tweetsie and rode all of the rides not once, but twice before we left. It was a blast! The weather was beautiful and Bryleigh did great the whole time we were there. It was the first time in awhile that we had the opportunity to pay attention to Brenden and allow him to do some of the daring things that he loves to do but doesn't have the chance to regularly. He was so brave on all of the rides and would either just giggle until he couldn't breathe or would hold his hands up saying "Weeeee". He enjoyed seeing the cowboys, riding on the train, and going on the chair lift. We're so glad that we decided to go ahead and try the events out during our visit this time.

The remainder of our time in Blowing Rock was spent eating and shopping which is really what we love to do there every time we go. We had beautiful weather - Bobby got to see the leaves changing colors as they were beginning to fall and Brooke didn't have to bundle up too much to go outside each day. It was definitely a GREAT way to spend our last weekend before returning back to our normal schedule and routine today! Now if we could just figure out a time to go back by ourselves.......