Wordless Wednesday

Anniversary Celebration...and great food!

Nick & I celebrated our anniversary with dinner at Carrabba's Italian Grill on Saturday (the day before the actual anniversary)! We spent most of the day just hanging outside with the neigbors, and watching the kids play. When our neigbhors found out we were heading out to dinner that night for our anniversary, they very quickly offered to watch Brooke. Since I knew she would have much more fun playing outside, and it would make for a more romantic evening, I quickly took them up on the offer!

It was very nice to sneak away for an hour, and have a nice peaceful dinner. It was nice to just talk about the last 7 years, and more specifically our actual wedding day! I think if someone would have asked me 7 years ago where I saw myself in 7 years...I wouldn't have changed a thing! I have no idea where the next 7 years will take me though, but I am sure it will be a fun adventure.

Our actual anniversary, we decided to stay in and cook a very yummy meal. Yes, Brooke had whipcream, strawberries & cheerios! (She finished her ravioli earlier.)

Mmmm...now doesn't that look good. Plus the weather couldn't have been any nicer for eating outside!

Beautiful flowers from my hunny.

7 Years ago!

Seven years ago today was one of the most magic days of my life!

The whole adventure started in college, where Nick & I had many of our classes together. Nick and I officially started dating my third year in college Veteran's weekend in 2000. I was down in Dayton after having my wisdom teeth pulled, and Nick drove all the way down from Toledo to give me flowers, and see how I was doing. (I blame it on all the pain meds I was on, but who could resist that gesture? We have been together ever since!)

Then for my 23rd birthday, Nick took me out for a fancy dinner, gave me a very nice diamond neckless (to throw me off), and took me on a nice evening walk though the Toledo campus. He took me to the Toledo seal, which is at the center of campus where all the sidewalks meet, and got down on one knee! All I kept saying was "REALLY!?!? REALLY?!?, and then of course said yes. This is also the same place he took me back in 2000 for our first real kiss :)

Here are some of our pictures from that wonderful wedding day 7 years ago. These are the pictures from Cox Arboretum, where we spent some time just having fun!


My two favorite sisters!

All my silly bride's maids.

Groom's men and their flowers....

Yellow callalilies are still one of my favorite flowers!

It was a beautiful & magic day!

Wordless Wednesday

Happy...Happy Father's Day!!

Brooke was just so excited for Father's day that she decided to wake up at 6:30 this morning to celebrate!! She gave dadda a fun card with lots of pictures, and a magnet she made at daycare which said "#1 dad" of course. We then had plenty of time for a nice breakfast of French toast, and still make it to the 9:00 service this morning at Church.

Here is Brooke & dadda all dress up and ready to celebrate the day!
Looks like Brooke needs to do a little bit of growing to fit her shirt better, but you never know...maybe it will fit next year too!

After church, a quick trip to target, coffee from Star Bucks, and nap, it was time to wash cars with daddy!

Daddy gave Brooke a few tips on how to make it sparkle!

Boy are they both doing a nice job! Hope they decided to wash my car next! :)

Can you think of a more fun way to celebrate the day than getting to hang out with your daddy?

After car washing & dinner we all headed to the nearby ice cream shop for the free daddy sundae! We were able to get Brooke to try about two bites of ice cream, but she decided she would much rather eat her cup of ice instead. (We really need to get a video of her continous "No, No, No" to ice cream!)

However, one of the best parts of the ice cream shop is all the fun kiddo toys in the front! She was a pro at the motorcycle. Now don't go getting any ideas Brooke!

Happy Father's day to my wonderful dad & father-in-law too!! Sorry we weren't able to celebrate the day with you, but we thought of you often. We are looking forward to seeing you soon when Baby B get here!!

Our Big Girl!!

Brooke decided tonight's the night! We asked her if she wanted to sleep in her new big girl bed & she very excitely said "YES!". I think Nick was right about making sure she had some very cute sheets, and she was crazy excited about her monkey sheets.

We still have a lot of work to finish the room before I am ready to show the final product. The real test will be how tonight goes, and the fact this is the first time she can get out of her bed on her own.

I am sure if this goes well, we will have to give lots & lots of credit to Miss T, as she has been sleeping on a cot at daycare for quite some time now.

Also, this will definitely be a lot of stress off my shoulders if it goes well, because I won't have to worry about her being upset about the new baby taking "her bed". We will keep you posted!!

Wordless Wednesday

A Day at Daycare

Its day's like today, that I realize Brooke would be very sad if I was a stay at home mommy. Below are some pictures from "sprinkler time" at daycare. Its very, very hard to compete with this type of fun! It's always fun to see pictures of how Brooke's day went, and see how much fun she is having.
Crazy sprinkler...where's Brooke?
Brooke's buddy Madi having a blast.

Oh there is Brooke...sitting nicely in the cars watching the other kids get wet. Even though she decided to not join in the craziness, I am sure she had a blast watching. Also, its reassuring that she acts the same at daycare, as with us! Besides bath time, Brooke so far isn't a fan of water.

Miss T, even stated she tried getting her a little wet, and she pouted...that's our Brooke! :)

Miss Melissa having fun with the kids!

Wow!! Now that is crazy!!

Team huddle...GO!

And Brooke again nice and comfy in her car hanging out with her buddy :) Looks like they must be getting something fixed....

Brooke is 23 months old!!

Wow...our little Brooke (aka Boo as we like to call her) turned 23 months old today! Hard to believe she is almost 2 yrs old! Our big tasks over the next few weeks are finishing up her big girl room, and moving her in, so Baby B can move into her current room with the crib. I am not very thrilled about the idea of moving her down the hall, however I do think it will be best to have the baby in the room closest to ours.

Brooke still continues to be a very happy kiddo. She doesn't talk a ton, but has some of her very favorite sayings which include "Right There", "Ba Bye", "No Shewly (Shelly)" and of course "Mamma", "Dawda", "No, No, No", "YES!", "Tank You" and "Bink". Originally, we were planning on trying to break her of the binky before the new baby, however have decided not to worry too much about it now, especially as we are planning on moving her to a twin bed, and crossing our fingers she sleeps as good!

Here are some of her morning pictures. She loves to eat cereal off the stools, as I finish packing my lunch in the morning. Plus this is the best way to keep Shelly from stealing the food from her!

Apparently, this is one of Brooke's typical poses....

Here it is again!!

She once again tried to avoid the sign pictures, but eventually gave in after kicking it out of the way about 50 times.

She is also turning into a little monkey, and getting really good at climbing on chairs, couches & jungle gyms!

One of her favorite games continues to be hiding, and running to try to get you to catch her. This is of course my favorite picture of the evening!! RUN BROOKE RUN!

Race for Recovery Half Ironman!!

Nick participated for the 4th time in the Race for Recovery Half Ironman (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run) this past weekend!

Brooke and I enjoyed watching all the fun and excitement. I still don't have any motivation to try it myself, but very proud of Nick!

Here is a pre-race picture! All ready to jump in Lake Erie. And they are off!! Nick is the one with the black wet suit & blue swim hat....

Brooke making sure to not touch the sand or water, but enjoying looking for daddy.

She also decided to master this skill while waiting for daddy to finish his swim.

Look how happy he is to be out of the water! We were very excited to see him as well!

Next it was on to the bike! I must say I was very proud of my picture taking skills! You only have about 1 second to say hi, and take a picture!!

Brooke decided to take a short nap as Nick transitioned from the bike to the run. Unfortunately, it was only like 20 minutes, so she was still pretty tired after her 5:00 a.m. wake up this morning.

Running, and looking strong! Here is a picture about 6 miles into the run.

I was all lined up to take a great picture as Nick crossed the finish line, but alas the camera kept focusing, and didn't snap the picture :( So instead here is a picture right after he finished. (I don't think he looks as tired as he should!!...I probably looked more tired.)

Brooke was so excited to put on daddy's new metal! She was just so proud of him!