Brody Lee Turns 3!!!

On October 15th, Brody turned the big 3!! I can't believe it! He is turning into such an amazing person and brings our family so much love and excitement!
Brody is so glad to be 3. For the first week after his birthday, he would say random things like, "I love being 3!", "Now that I'm 3 I can go on that huge pumpkin slide at the pumpkin patch!" I asked him if he feels older now and he said, "Yes, and stronger!"

Whenever he sees the number 3, he says, "Hey, that's how old I am now!" He's so proud!

Some Of The Many Things I Love About Brody:

• his love for Chase - seriously, the sweetest thing I've EVER seen!
• his kindness - he always shares and cares about others
• his dance moves - he's always had really good rhythm
• his baseball skills - can no longer play baseball in the house
• his memory - like Jared, he remembers EVERYTHING
• his laugh - from the belly and so contagious
• his love of music - has so many favorite songs
• his tricks - he's always jumping off things and running and jumping onto stuff
• his nighttime routines - everything has to be done just so
• his smarts - he just gets things so easily (we do kindergarten workbooks together!)
• his expressions - you can tell exactly what he's thinking just by looking at him
• his helpfulness - he wants to be a part of everything
• his curiosity - constantly asking questions (and won't let it go until he gets an answer!)
• and so, so much more...

We had Brody's birthday party with the family at Mission Hills Park. It was a Monster Truck theme and we all had lots of fun! It was complete with pizza, cupcakes, presents and a Grave Digger Monster Truck pinata!!

On the night of his actual birthday, Brody got to pick were he wanted to go for dinner. He chose Mimi's Cafe and had a delicious cheeseburger and fruit!

Then he got to grub on his birthday dirt cup! Mmmmmmmm!!!!

A Late Summer Vacation

We took our first vacation as a family of 4 September 25th-28th. We drove down to Laguna and stayed in a condo right on the beach! It was so beautiful and amazing!! While we were there, we also drove to San Diego for a Padres game and the San Diego Zoo. It was lots of fun and quite the experience, traveling with a 2 1/2 year old and a 6 month old! Lucky for us, my sister Brittany came with to help out and spend some quality time with her nephews!

The Beach

We got to Laguna late Thursday afternoon and the weather was perfect, so we had to hit the beach! All the other days were foggy, which hadn't happened to us in all the times we have stayed in Laguna, so the picture quality wasn't that great :(

This one is taken from our balcony....we were literally staying on the beach!!

I was so surprised that Brody let Jared bury him in the sand!

Brody's favorite part of Laguna was just hanging out, digging and building sand castles on the beach. If Jared and I didn't want to live on the beach bad enough already, seeing Brody having so much fun and loving it made us want to live there even more!

Chase's first beach experience!

I couldn't put him directly in the sand because he kept eating it!!

Every time Chase was on the beach, he fell asleep! It was sooo cute!

Jared tried skim boarding for the first time. Of course, he picked it up right away, although he did have a nice foot injury when he was done!

The handsome men of my life!

The Condo

The best view ever!

Chase, studying the waves

Anytime I couldn't find Brody, he was on the balcony, watching the waves and people below. He's a true beach bum!

The Padres Game

Waiting for the trolley to pick us up for the game, the Coaster pulled into the station and was pretty loud!

Brody loves his Aunt Britt!

I absolutely love this picture! Brody was so excited to be at a Padres game, since we watch it pretty much every night at home on tv. This is such a cool spot of the field because it's like you are actually on the field yourself. Brody was very stoked!!

I'm usually not a baby wearer but this carrier worked perfectly for riding the trolley and getting to the game!

The Padres catcher rolled this ball to Brody right after we had sat down! I think he was like, "Can I really have this?" Our seats were awesome, right at the Padres dugout!!

Going to a Padres game is seriously one of our favorite things to do!

The Zoo

Snakes are so gross, but Brody was excited to see them, as long as they were behind the glass!!

Riding a hippo!

Brody has the sweetest expressions!

Riding a polar bear!

We had such a great vacation and can't wait to go back and make more memories!!

Book Swap

I got involved in this book sharing club and it's pretty cool. I'm in need of 6 people who would like to join with me!

It goes like this:

• Send a paperback book that you have already read and enjoyed to the person listed on the back of a letter that you will receive in the mail from me.
• There is no need to use a box, a mailing envelope is fine.
• You should then receive 36 books if everyone participates!
• Then, you make 6 copies of the letter you get from me and put my address label on the back of each copy.
• Put 6 of your address labels with each copy of the letter.
• Your friends will then have your address label to just stick on the back of their letters.
• Mail the letters to 6 different people, but do not send them a book!
• You only have to send a book to ONE person, the one on the back of the letter I send to you!

It sounds a little complicated at first, but really all you have to do is mail out one book (you get 36 back in return), and send out your own letters with my address labels to 6 of your friends. It will be interesting to see where the books come from and the variety of books you receive!

I hope that I get some takers because I really want to get some free reading!! So send me your address and lets start swapping some books!

Who is Who??

We brought out Brody's bouncer for Chase right before he turned 6 months old and I couldn't remember when we first put Brody in it. I consulted old pictures to check the date and found that we first put Brody in it at the same age, so these pictures are taken right at about the same age.

I don't think they look exactly alike, but many people think they do.

Can you figure out who is who?

Future So You Think You Can Dancers!

Brody LOVES music and has always had good rhythm. Jared always says, "We may not have a girl, but you have your dancer."

So tonight, Jared was listening to some music on the computer and both the boys were dancing! It was sooo cute!!! Chase was boogy-ing on the first one and then Brody totally goes crazy on the second one! He even busts out the worm!!! We have never seen him do this before but I bet he saw it one time on tv and now he can do it! It's hilarious!!

(They get a little lengthy but you have to see his worm on the second one at the very beginning!)

Happy Birthday Jared!

Jared's birthday was on Monday, July 28th. Brody loves helping me in the kitchen so we were excited to make Jared's cake. Brody helped make it every step of the way and it was the best birthday cake ever!!

Good thing Jared likes sprinkles!

Concentrating so hard on getting all 28 candles on the cake!

So proud and ready to eat!

Helping Dad blow out the candles!

Sweeter by the Day

We were shopping at Costco when Brody found the flowers. I watched him as he smelled each bunch. Then, he looked up at me with the most sincere smile and asked, "Mommy, which flowers would you like?" He wanted to buy me flowers and my heart just melted!! I asked him to pick out the ones that he thought I would like the most and he picked these purple daisies. Brody was so proud of himself and carried them to the register all by himself. I picked him up to thank him for my flowers and he says to me, "I got you these flowers because I love you so much!" I immediately got teary-eyed! Brody is such an amazing person! He shows me everyday how truly blessed I am to be his mother!

I love you Brody!!!!!

Soakin' Wet

For the last few weeks, rain has been in our forecast. But since this is Vegas, the weathermen only get it right about 30% of the time! I had been telling Brody that when it rains he can play in it. After a week of no rain, he was very disappointed. Then, last Saturday, I awoke to the sounds of thunder and was hoping that Brody would finally get to play in the rain. A little while later, I hear Brody and Jared laughing and running around outside. FINALLY RAIN!! They were so cute, splashing in the puddles and sliding down the "water slide!"

Yummy!!

Chase is now eating real food! I cannot believe he is 4 months old and already at this messy milestone! Here he is with his first delicious bites! I forgot how awkward it is for them at first, not knowing how to eat from a spoon, but he is getting the hang of it.

Along with rolling over (back to belly), teething, babbling and making all kinds of noises, Chase is seriously growing up way too fast! Now if I could only get him to sleep through the night.....

I love his expression here, like, "What am I supposed to do with this!"

Bubbles & Grape Gatorade

This is one of my all-time favorite pictures so far of Chase!! I love how you can see all the cute little bubbles as he foams at the mouth from teething! And those irresistible cheeks...

I think the blue mustache really brings out Brody's eyes!!!!!!

A bit of advice...don't let your kid drink bright blue Gatorade straight from the bottle if you have to leave the house in the next 24 hours!!

Just Because

Here are some of my favorite recent pictures.
No special occasions, just our family, everyday!!

I love Brody's smile! This is when he is really laughing and just really happy!!

Our little man finally loves his bath!

Our rocker son with his tattoo!! He made this face all on his own for this one!

I cannot believe that Chase is 3 months old already and growing soo fast!

I love how Chase is so asleep right here, with his mouth wide open!

Poor Chase is teething, so this is what he looks like all the time! He already cut his first bottom tooth!!!

Brody is ready for summer in his flip flops, boardies, and backwards hat! What a stylish guy! He's growing up way too fast, too!!

Chase, zonked out and snuggly with his Daddy!