RIP Little Guy....

Our first Christmas together in 2000, Nick bought me three very cool red-eyed tree frogs. He also bought himself 3 too!

The frogs survived being hassled by my roommates in college from plastic Cowboys & Indians to....
our "pet" Pinchy. (Who was only with us for a few hours, until he made for a delicious little snack.)

Once Nick & I got married, we added all the frogs together, at which time we each had 2 left.

The four frogs lived very happily together over the years, even thought their numbers slowly began to decrease.

We were down to 2 frogs until this past fall...both of which made it to 10 years old! The normal life expectancy of a red-eyed tree frog is between 5-6 years!

Finally, today we lost our very last one :( They have been fun to watch...at night that is, as they are asleep all day long.

Rumor has it Nick has his eyes on some (non)poisonous dart frogs next! I don't even want to know how much money we spent on crickets over a 10 year period!

Two against One...Conference Call...

I wasn't quite sure what caption to give this post. If you ever come to our house you will normally notice we keep our bathroom doors shut. It first started with Shelly toilet-papering the house, and now has continued with Brooke. Brooke got booted from daycare this morning right from the beginning when Miss T saw her constantly running noise, and very deep cough. I wasn't feeling to great myself, so it was nice to have an excuse to work from home, and take a few naps. Brooke is actually on nap #3 right now, so hopefully she starts feeling better, and can go back to daycare tomorrow.

Brooke & Shelly decided to gang up together while I was listening to a conference call. Brooke actually started it this time, but Shelly was more than happy to join in on the fun. Me being the responsible mom, of course ran up stair right away to grab the camera :)

Lots of pictures, but gives you an idea of the fun they were having. I think Brooke was just trying to get a tissue to wipe her noise....and got a little carried away!

Oh no...its stuck to my foot!

Shelly taking it for a run through the livingroom.

Ah look what I found...another roll!!

Te he he he...what to do next...what to do next?

Wordless Wednesday

Feel better soon boo :(

Happy 31st Birthday Nick!

It was very nice celebrating Nick's 31st birthday...not nearly as stressful and crazy as last year, and throwing him a surprise party! The original plan was to meet at the house around 5, and then head over to Ann Arbor for dinner. It was going to be extra special as my neighbors graciously agreed to watch Brooke for the evening. They have 4 kids ranging in age from 6 years down to 6 months...so I am sure they probably didn't even notice the one more little person walking around the house! :)



Unfortunately, Nick was informed that he needed to be at Milford at 5:00, which is an hour from our house to sit through an hour meeting! So not only were we unable to meet at 5, he couldn't even leave work until 6! Bummer...and Brooke was only going to be at the neighbors until 8:30. I quickly found a new restaurant in Canton, which was halfway on his drive home. We meet in Canton for a nice, but quick dinner from 7:00 to 8:00, but still enjoyed our first evening out just the two of use since June! When I arrived at the restaurant where I had the 7:00 reservation, and the hostess asked if it would be ok if I waited 20 minutes, I think she was very startled when my response was quickly NO! Fortunately, the manager was standing right next to her, and I explained my situation of only having a sitter until 8:30, my husbands birthday...and the fact we hadn't been out since June...he quickly found me a nice table!! :)

We enjoyed wonderful appetizers of fried pickles and crab ragoon.



Brooke was cozily dressed in her pajamas when we picked her up, and very excited to give daddy the snowman she made for him at daycare that day!


A few more presents from his wonderful wife! :p

Due to the snow storm we had the day before Nick's birthday, I didn't have time to pick up Nick's birthday cake. Instead, I found a bakery that only did fancy cup cakes, so I though it would be fun trying 6 different flavors instead! Its been fun sampling, and splitting a new one each night!

Mmmm....

Happy birthday hubby!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

P.S. Happy 31st birthday dadda!!

Miss Brooke is 18 months old!

Brooke turned 18 months on Saturday!

She has really continued to amaze us these past few months. We love asking her lots of questions, and seeing how well she understands us, based on the actions and her feedback. She is great at telling you both yes and no! We will even ask the question in a different way to try to confuse her, and she can figure it out :). Ex. Are you all done eating? "No" Would you like some more to eat? "Yes" Some may think, of course she would respond this way, but it really is new, and its a great way to see how well she is understanding things!

I think her favorite food right now is ravioli and milk. She is still a great milk drinker! Also, she continues to be a great sleeper, which we are very, very fortunate about as her mommy also loves sleep. She goes to bed around 8:00 each night, and wakes around 7:00.

Here are her 18 month pictures. We still haven't gotten her off the binky yet, but also haven't tried. I am waiting on cold & flu season to be over, as her binky really helps her sleep great, and helps any time she gets a small cough. (Always wants one in her mouth + a spare!)
Still a little sleepy, and wondering why her mommy stole her binky.

Perking up a little!

She just loves her horsey that daddy brought back from Texas. She loves to snuggle, and give her kisses.

The best way to get her to smile is still a fun game of peak-a-boo!

P.S. Thanks grandma for my fun boots!

Happy New Years!

Whew...I now can say, I am finally caught up for the holidays! Which is good because next week will be a busy week with Brooke's 18 month birthday, and Nick's 372 month birthday!

We enjoyed a nice quiet, and relaxing New Year's celebration. We started the festivities, with a very yummy cheese fondue. Fortunately, Brooke decided to take a nap from 5-7, so this was the perfect time to enjoy our appetizer!

Do you like my party crown?

Brooke then went to bed around 9, and we enjoyed a nice relaxing meat fondue, of stake, chicken, and jumbo shrimp....mmmm...

We then ended the year with very yummy bowls of ice cream at mid-night as we watched the ball drop!

Trains...Trains...Trains

We visited the train display in down town Cincinnati, at the historic Duke Energy Building. It was a great excuse to go out and do something, and it was nice to still be inside and warm! Here are some of the pictures of our visit! Brooke liked watching the trains travel around the track, and all the bright lights!

Peak-a-boo!

Unfortunately, we forgot her shoes in the car, so someone had to be holding her the whole time. I think she would have like to have done some running around the place!