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.