Happy 2nd Birthday Brody!

Happy 2nd Birthday to my Brody Bears!
My Dearest Bo,
I cannot believe you are 2! It seems like yesterday you were born, my darling little 8 pound 1 ounce baby boy with the enormous cheeks that I nibbled on all day..I still do. You are quite the active little boy. You adore your big sister Brooke so much and she has taught you many fun things. You speak so well for a two year old and I contribute that to Brooke. Brooke has also taught you how to do a somersault and how to dance and twirl. You love all kinds of foods but your favorites include pizza, hot dogs, grapes, apples, fishy crackers and your beloved popcorn! You don't care much for ice-cream and when we go out as a family for an ice-cream treat we have now learned just to order you the cone because that's all you like! Silly boy!
You bring me such great joy everyday. You love to play with your cars and trains. You also love to run around and pretend to be a monster and growl. You love music and you love to dance to it. As your birthday was approaching all you could talk about was wanting a bicycle and your birthday wish came true. Along with the bicycle, you got a new Batman helmet, sunglasses, travel magna doodle and a Little Tikes T-ball set.
Daddy and I love you so much Brody and we are so happy and blessed to have you as our son. Thank you for choosing me to be your mama. Happy 2nd Birthday my Bo Bears!!
Love,
Mommy

The Birthday Activities

I could not have imagined a more perfect birthday day today for my little birthday boy. Brody woke up to a yummy donut breakfast tower and Brooke was more than thrilled to have donuts for breakfast with her brother. We took Brookie to school and came home and I started making Brody his requested "green" and "cars" cake while Brody colored. Bryan, Brody and I then went with daddy to lunch at In and Out, YUM! We came home and Bo went down for his nap and woke up to find Brooke had come home from school and it was presents time!! Yay! After presents I went out for a quick meeting at Brooke's school while Bryan fed the kiddos. I came home and we tried out Brody's new bike!! He was in heaven!! This little boy of mine had been asking for a "bicycle" for months and his birthday wish came true. We then came home and had cake and it was off to the tub for bedtime. As I said goodnight to my birthday boy he whispered back " Night night Mama, I so happy" and it brought me to tears of joy that my sweet little boy had such a wonderful happy day today. Happy 2nd Birthday to my sweet little boy Brody!

Brooke's First Day of Kindergarten

My Dearest Brooke,
Today was your very first day of Kindergarten. All summer long Kindergarten was all you ever talked about and as the first day of school grew near you became even more excited, so much so, that you had trouble falling asleep last night. You woke up bright and early this morning, had breakfast and you were eager to get dressed and go to school. When we got there we met your teacher and you took off running to play ground to try to make friends and you sure did. You are such an outgoing little girl and making new friends comes quite easily for you. As the bell rang and you walked with your new girlfriends to line up you motioned for me to go away which was fine I knew you were ready for school. It was very hard for me to hold back my tears as I kissed and hugged you good-bye. You told me I could go home now and I was not surprised at all. I want you to know how proud your dad and I are of you. You are an amazing little girl with such a beautiful, fun and outgoing personality. I know you will lead an incredible life someday and I'm so blessed to be apart of it.
I did my very best not to cry as we said good-bye and I did a good job hiding my heartache with smiles. I cried the entire drive home and a little bit this afternoon. I'm so anxious to pick you up in a few hours and hear all about your first day.
I love you my sweet Brooke Claire and I wish you nothing but great success and a super happy and fun school year.

Love,
Mommy

Mommy and Brooke Lunch Date

Yesterday I took this sweet little girl out to lunch, just the two of us. (Bryan had his daddy /daughter lunch date today) Brooke picked McDonald's (big surprise) and we had such a great lunch together. We talked about many things, mostly about Kindergarten. Brooke is SO thrilled to start Kindergarten and that makes me so happy to see her so excited even though I'm not quite ready to let her go. I'm sure I'll be a sobbing wreck on the drive home that morning but I'll definitely put on my brave face as we say our good-bye's.
I'm so proud of my Brookie, I'm so blessed to have her as my daughter. I asked her if she had any concerns about Kindergarten and this is what she said..."Mommy, how do I make friends with the boys?"
I LOVE that girl SO much.

Our Summer Trip Home

We had an awesome vacation at home in California. We were able to spend so much time with family and friends and we were able to do so many fun activities. Bryan and I were able to go out on a handful of dates,( Thank you Mom and Dad!!!) and spend one on one time together, it was wonderful.
Enjoy some of the many fun things were were able to do below. The picture above is my favorite from our vacation...Brody eating sand and I know he was thinking his mama had no idea. Fun fun!!! Enjoy~

A Perfect Day at Zuma

Zuma Beach. I love thee. Zuma has always been our go to beach. It was the fist beach we took Brooke too, the first we took Bo too, my best friend was married there, we always see dolphins, there is just so many wonderful sentimental things about this beach. We had a perfect day and I was surprised how busy the beach was. The day was wonderful and the kids had a great time as did mama and daddy.

A Day in Ventura

After our visit at the Fish Hatchery we spent the day in Ventura. Bryan planned the day out and we rented this...four person bike, ( I have no idea what the technical name is for it). It was crazy fun, fun, FUN! The kids absolutly LOVED it.I think they loved sitting in the front and ringing the bike bell every 30 seconds. We biked around the beach for a few hours and then went for lunch. I love the very last photo of Brody trying to take his helmet off, he was ready for lunch at Subway!

The Fish Hatchery

Our little summer trip home would not be complete without a trip to the Fish Hatchery. We have been going ever since Brooke was about 18 months old. It's this tiny little smelly place off of the 126 freeway on your way to Ventura. The Fish Hatchery raises the fish that eventually are placed into the surrounding lakes in that area, that's the best and I hope most correct way to describe it. We brought our dimes and our cups and filled them with fish food pellets and fed the fish. This was Brody's very first time and he loved it.

Swimming Fun

We love swimming! (at least Brooke, Bryan and I do. Brody...not so much but after a while he did learn to enjoy it, kind of.