God's Artwork

We had a snowfall just a few days ago that left amazing scenery for us to enjoy. Mike went out early one of the mornings and captured these beautiful photographs. They were taken at Rotary Park (about 1/2 mile from our home.)

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Merry Christmas! We have been truly blessed with wonderful family to spend Christmas and Christmas Eve with. On Christmas Eve we went to the 4 p.m. service at church (Brooke did a great job sitting through the program), and then we headed off to Grandma Denyse and Grandpa Mark's to open presents. Uncle Chris & Aunt Alicia joined us for their 1st Christmas as a married couple.

On Christmas morning, Santa came to bring us presents for Jesus' birthday. We opened gifts with the Kostanski's, had our traditional Christmas dinner, and of course birthday cake for Jesus. We're especially grateful that Uncle Eric and Aunt Laura could come from Texas to celebrate with us.

And...although we aren't the Partridge family...here is our rendition of Happy Birthday to Jesus. We have Kenny on the tambourine, Mike on the cymbals, Grandpa Ken on the harmonica, Uncle Eric on the maracas and Brooke (lead singer) on the drums. We're hopeful that our Lord and Savior finds this to be "joyful noise!"

Breakfast with Santa & Singing at Church

Earlier this month we went with Grandma Denyse & Grandpa Mark to have breakfast with Santa. Brooke got to decorate cupcakes and talk with Santa and Mrs. Claus.






Brooke also sang during the Children's Program at Church this year. Click on this link to view the service - Brooke sings towards the very beginning, but the whole program was very nicely done and very cute.
http://www.springcreekonline.org/site/cpage.asp?sec_id=1992&cpage_id=10399&time=6:05:19%20AM

Let it Snow!

Yesterday we had a great time with our friends, the Seiler's on "Killer Hill" (a sledding hill right by our house.) Brooke and Tommy went down the hill this year all by themselves and were very proud to do so. After our excursion, the Stanley's took a trip to the sporting goods store to load me up with the proper clothing...as it looks like we'll be spending quite a bit of our time at the hill. (Who needs to workout at the Y? Just climb the hill a few times!!)

Going SOLO!!


Mr. Tom, Samantha, and Tommy

Eventually she'll grow hair...

Brooke finally has "enough" hair to sport a pony tail - or our version of a pony tail anyhow. She's so proud of it! Slowly but surely she is growing some hair...I still think Clayton may beat her to it though.

And of course...more stories...

• *Grandma Nancy was watching Brooke on an afternoon that Brooke was having a "rough" day with lots of meltdowns. (She wasn't feeling well and lacking sleep.) Brooke asked Grandma Nancy for a cup of cranberry juice with some apple juice in it. So Grandma poured the two juices and the proceeded to stir the two together...oops! Apparently, according to Brooke they shouldn't have been stirred and the meltdown began; however, a very quick thinking grandma quickly "unstirred" the glass by stirring the spoon in the opposite direction and all was well.

*This afternoon Brooke was put down for nap and after about 30 minutes was still playing with her stuffed animals. I went up to tell her that she needed to go to sleep now. Her response, "Just a minute mommy - the animals are all lined up to sing Happy Birthday." I asked who they were singing to. "Baby Jesus!" - How could I not let her finish?!

Walking footage...

Clayton gets a little bit better every day - here is footage from last Thursday morning (12/6).

Happy Birthday Great Grandma Millie!

Great Grandma Millie turns 83 today. Happy Birthday - we love you and hope you had a very special day!

We shouldn't be surprised...

..by the things that Brooke says, but we are. She definitely makes me laugh. Here's our latest stories:

• I was "yelling" at Brooke to do something (who knows what, but I had told her several times and she wasn't doing it) She finally looks at me and says "HEY! Settle down." Exact tone that Mike and I use when she's out of line.
• We were picking up toys today and I was just randomly putting all the Lego's into the box rather than lining them all up as Brooke does. So Brooke comes over and says, "HEY! You know better than that, mommy."
• Courtesy of Grandpa Ken, we have huge blow up snowman as part of our lawn decor this year. Brooke loves it, but we only inflate him after nap time. She'll come down in the morning and he'll be deflated, so she yells out the front window - "HEY, wake up!"
• Tonight we asked Brooke what song they are singing for the Christmas program at church. She rushes to her closet to pull out this horse made of an old wrapping paper tube and construction paper. She started galloping around singing, "This little horse eats apples and hay, apples and hay, apples and hay." (Tune of wheels on the bus) Apparently her zoo class and Sunday school class are taking notes from each other =)
• I was finishing up my quiet time/Bible study when Brooke woke up from nap (Clayton was still sleeping) She wanted to come do her Bible study too - so she brought down her Bible. I told her she needed to read quietly while mommy finished. She flipped through a few pages and then looks up, "Mommy, I don't know the words." I told her to just read the pictures then....here's what I heard. "A friend falls down, you help them up... Jesus loves the little children... Mary had a baby."
• Last night when we were praying: I always say thank you Jesus for... and Brooke will finish the sentence. She says, "thank you Jesus for Jesus." I said, "yes, thank you Jesus that you came to save us." And her response was "mommy, Jesus lives in my heart." Oh...I wanted to cry - I know she doesn't understand what she's saying, but I hope that even if I mess up everything else as a mother that she clings to that as her truth.

As for Clayton - happy as a clam....as always. He laughs so much and it's infectious. Still a great eater, sleeper, etc. And walking a few more steps every day - he can do about half of a room. We just had his one year picture taken (a little delinquent on my part.)

It's officially a tradition

For the second year now we made a trip to Riehle's Tree Farm in Dousman to cut down our Christmas Tree. Brooke picked out a good one...

First words...and more stories

Clayton has a few words - up, da-da, hi and uh-oh. You'd be amazed at the amount that he can get accomplished from us with just those few words! He's still only taking a few steps, but able to balance much longer in one place. Balls have become the best toy ever and are a constant source of entertainment. He's gotten pretty good at "throwing" them in our general direction to play - definitely a boy.

And Brooke's recent stories...

• We were driving to Grandma Denyse's for a visit this morning and Clayton decided to pull of his socks. Brooke yells, "Clayton, no taking off socks - you making me nervous!"
• When Mike and I are working with Clayton on standing and walking, we'll say "good job balancing Clayton." Brooke will stand next to us and say "I'm balancing good too!"
• New rule - We've decided that Brooke is now old enough to be negotiated with what she will and will not eat. (She's a VERY picky eater and always has been.) Most of this was able to come about because Clayton is an awesome eater and doesn't care what you put in front of him - he'll eat it. So most of the time we only have to say, "Your brother ate it" and that's plenty of encouragement (or competition?) to eat it! Whatever works...
• Brooke tends to require a bit of "prepping" before we change activities so that she can have time to finish up what she's doing and to know what to expect. So she and Mike were driving home the other night and Brooke takes her index finger and shakes it at Mike, "Daddy, when get home, first we will put on pajamas" She then holds two fingers up. "THEN, we will say our prayers and read our Bible." Three fingers go up. "Then, brush teeth, then night music on and go to bed." (she's always listening...)

Enjoy the fall picture!

Clayton's First Birthday

My baby isn't so much of a baby any more! He took his first steps this past Thursday (2 days before his birthday) and today we went to the Dr for his checkup. He weighs 21 lbs 7 oz (30th percentile)and is 31.5 inches tall (95th percentile) - and yes, his head circumference is still in the 95th percentile. He's healthy and developmentally right where he should be.

On Saturday, we had some family over to help him celebrate his big day. I don't think he knew what to think of 20 people singing Happy Birthday to him! He swiped a big chunk of frosting off the top of the cupcake before I could even get the candle in it, but then was a little shy to dig in - he eventually did.

Happy Halloween!

My dinosaurs had a great time tonight. Brooke is really getting the hang of this whole trick-or-treat thing! We went out right away while it was fairly warm and still light. After every house Brooke would ask, "more candy?" There was one house with a man dressed up in a skeleton type costume standing on the porch (I didn't realize he was real at first and neither did Brooke.) Then all of a sudden he knocked on the door to let his wife know we were there. I thought Brooke might be afraid of him, given his costume. Instead she looked up at him and says, "You doing a good job!"

So after that we went home to hand out candy. Brooke kept announcing "More friends coming, more friends coming!" (That's what they call any other "little person" at preschool.) She'd greet them with a big "Happy Halloween" and then make random comments about their costume. As I put her to bed tonight she tried to stall in letting me know that more friends might be coming - I finally convinced her that they all went to bed too.

Clayton was content to shuffle around the candy in the bowl and stand at the window. But he looked darn cute!!

Enjoy the pictures!

Special message for Daddy!

Mike's traveling this week and sometimes he'll make a video with a special message for the kids for them to watch while he's gone. This time, Brooke made her daddy a video. It was too big to e-mail, so we'll post it here.

We love you daddy.

Turning THREE...

Oh, how the time has flown. I can't believe that my 4 lb little preemie baby has grown into such an independent little lady! Brooke is so excited to be turning 3 - enjoy the clip...



Inside her little head (more "Brookeisms")...

• Clayton was pulling of his socks and chewing on them. Mike says, "wow, Clayton, you're really going to town on your socks." Brooke replies, "Yeah - Clayton you go to town. Brooke stay home."
• Every meal is "dinner"
• Every night when we pray, Brooke usually starts with "Thank you Jesus for me." She's a good reminder of all there is to be thankful for..."playing with friends," "moon," "airplanes," "stickers," etc. We never quite know what will come out, but she's right - we're thankful for it all.
• Yesterday she wanted to go to "her hotel". Mike said she didn't have a hotel, she has a house - she said yes, "IN Milwaukee...Brooke has hotel!"
• We made a quick stop at a friend's duplex. Brooke was fascinated with the two doors on the front. I explained that 2 families lived there and they needed two doors - so it's called a duplex. She thought a moment..."Brooke has 2 doors. Live in duplex?"

Through Clayton's eyes...

As I put Clayton to bed tonight, I realized that his "world" is the best! If only we could all:

• Find hours of entertainment by pulling on a doorstop or opening and closing the laundry shoot.


• Put smiles on the faces of complete strangers by waving hello.


• Dance anytime we hear music - no matter where!


• Go to bed at 8 every night and sleep until 7 or 8 the next morning.

She's always listening...

It's so funny to hear the things that come out of Brooke's mouth that I know she's heard us say. Here are some of my recent favorites:

• We were in Target's checkout line and Brooke started coughing. I asked her if she was okay and her response was, "NO - I'm dying!" The woman behind us chuckled at how silly she sounded.
• Grandma Denyse was untwisting some birthday toys from their wrappers. Brooke gets inches from her face and asks, "Big pain, grandma?"
• I was talking with Aunt Laura on the phone and said something about, "well save it for a rainy day." Brooke runs over to the door and asks, "It's raining outside?"
• Brooke is insistant on opening Clayton's door after his nap. She runs up to his crib and says "have a good nap? good nap Tatyon?!"
• Mike was working on retrieving a washcloth that had gone down the drain. Brooke asked about 20 times "need help?" to which Mike responded no each time. She thought a moment and then asked, "Oh shoot daddy, oh shoot?"
• They just tore down the McDonald's by us and are working on building the new one. Everytime we drive by she says, "Mommy - they doing good job building!"
• When we're getting close to being done at a store she asks if it's time to "pay out" - I've corrected her 100 times that it's "check out", but it doesn't seem to matter.

Technology!

So after 3 trips to Best Buy for the correct cord...we have capability of showing you our home videos. Brooke is constantly singing - here's just a portion of what we got on tape.

Clayton is on the move. Saturday morning he climbed a full flight of stairs on his own and this morning he decided that he was done with his highchair as he's figured out how to wiggle out of the belt and stand up in his chair. Today he graduated to the booster seat.

Scarecrow Day at Preschool

Brooke's preschool had scarecrow day today and they were asked to dress the part. She's so proud of her outfit. At school they painted orange noses and freckles on the kids. (If you click on the picture, it will enlarge it.)

We had an open house at her school yesterday and got to see the projects they've been working on and learn about their room. Brooke's teachers said that they are very proud of her for the progress that she's made in being able to sit and focus on one activity at a time. There were so many things to do and see when she first started that she felt the need to play with everything all at one time!

Everybody's doing it...

It seems that everyone we know has their own BLOG and I was feeling a bit left out....so we'll give it a try. I'm told daily by someone that I really should be writing all of Brooke's stories, comments, etc. down and I just never seem to get to it - maybe this will help.

Too bad I don't have a big ta-da event to start off our official blog - it was a pretty normal Monday with chores, errands, melt-downs and comedy. Mike is traveling in New York and Boston today and tomorrow - Brooke asked if he could come home to say goodnight. She also made me laugh this morning when she was "helping" me fold laundry and pulled out a shirt - she looks at me so excited and says "Thanks mom for washing my shirt!" Can I tell you I've never had someone so glad that I did the laundry!

Clayton learned how to give high 5's yesterday - he's so proud of it and usually laughs hysterically when you give him 5. But he also laughs at just about everything.

So here's to hoping that someone may read my rambling...hopefully at some point I'll figure out how to post pictures, video, etc.