Brookie turns THREE!

WARNING: LONG!

My little girl turned three years old last Tuesday. I was heart broken to say the least. Excited that she's learning new things, exploring a new little world of sentences that make us crack up every day, but sad that the past 3 years have flown by. Everyone tells me it goes too fast. I'm finding it to be true!

My sisters and I planned a pool party to celebrate. The weather is nice and hot and we are blessed with a huge pool in our subdivision along with a huge kiddie splash area. We invited her little friends and started the decorating plans.

It began with a recipe for a pool cake. Looked great on paper--wasn't sure if we could pull it off! But we went for it!

Brookie:

After the strawberry cakes that you requested were baked and cooled, Anna started frosting them. Of course we let you sneak a little yummy frosting!

Mommy felt like she spent about a hundred dollars on candy for the cake, but it was really "only" about 8-9 bucks.

After Anna frosted the cake, Mommy started with the ladder, made out of pull and peel licorice. Or whatever it's called. Not sure. Sounded good though!

Your cake had starbursts, licorice, now and laters, peach rings, jello, gummie octopus, smarties and gum on it. Every kids dream birthday cake!

Amazingly, it turned out incredibly! The jello was all jiggly and looked like real water. We were all very excited!

Of course, Mommy took about 127 pictures of your cake. You know your Mother!

Next we decorated the table. The macaroni salad went in a bucket. Which you now love to use in the pool. I love the dollar store and I love practical decorating!

We hung the orange and yellow balloons for "sun" and the blue on the table was for the pool. WE put flip-flops and sunglasses on the table. We also put little containers of fishies for you and your friends to eat while we were getting ready for lunch. Everything was fun and colorful!

Remember what I said about the dollar store...practical decorating.....

This is you right before the party started! You were all ready to go swimming and looked so cute! I couldn't believe that you were turning three!!!

You had so much fun swimming with your friends! You love the water and the sun (good girl) so this was a great theme for you!

Of course, Trinity, Charity and you couldn't last long without a snack! Char and Trin are the only girls your age, and they are 6 months younger than you!

After a few hours of tons of fun, we got this picture of you and your little friends. I love it because it's so chaotic. :)

Paton, Greg and Joe were ready to go by then!

You look like such a big girl! I had to get one last picture of the cake...and you of course!

Blowing out your candles like such a big girl.

Mommy with her sister-in-law, her sisters, her sister-in-laws sisters, her mother-in-law and her sister-in-laws Mom.

Are you confused yet?

You had so much fun with the boys bouncing and tipping over in your castle!

Mommy and Daddy bought you a pretty pretty princess dress. At the end of the day you were tired from so much fun and ready for a nap. Mary held you while I captured this absolutely precious picture of my sweet 3 year old princess.

I love you my Brooklynne. It didn't take you long to become one of my best buds. I love that I can be home all day with you! You are my biggest helper with dishes, cooking and helping with your little brother. I love hearing everything you have to say to me. I love reading to you and listen to the things you come up with. Yesterday you found a random object and said, "Dear Jesus, I like this." Mommy heard you and laughed pretty hard! You bring me so much joy and you are such a sweet spirited little girl! I love you so much!

(And now, if you made it through this entire thing, smiley face for you! :) Thanks for reading...I like to record my memories so I don't forget!)

Alive?

Hello!!

Just a quick update to let everyone know that, YES, I AM alive! Things have been busy--so much fun, but busy! My sister Mary had been here for half of her stay when my other sister suprised me for the next 2 weeks! It was more of a blessing than I would have ever thought to have 2 helpers here. My room and the kids rooms are organized, my children were taken care of (and spoiled) every day, and daily chores were mostly done by them. Amazingly, my back feels MUCH better! Praise Jesus! I was able to rest it so much this past month and allow it to get stronger. 3 weeks ago I was meeting with a surgeon to discuss options. Tomorrow I meet with him again and I think he will be happy with what he sees. :)
I have lots of posts coming up, but especially Brookie's 3rd birthday! (Sob...where does the time go?) Hope you are all doing well! I'll be back soon!

Blessing from Above

As most of you know, I have had serious back trouble since December of last year. After several attempts to work it out through chiropractic and massage, I finally went to a spine rehabilitation center where they discovered a herniated disk. If anyone has had any type of back trouble, you know how much it can hinder normal life. My house was looking horrible because I couldn't keep up with it. I had to lay down for almost the whole afternoon when it would get so bad. Since cartilage is actually sitting on my nerves all the time, it cause excruciating pain almost 100 % of the time. Now I have other symptoms that my Dr. is concerned about, leading him to send me for an MRI yesterday.

Anyway!! My dad allowed my sister, Mary, to come live with us for a month to help me out and what a TREASURE she has been! She's already done SO much around the house, with the kids--changing, dressing, bathing, playing and feeding. She is my angel from above--literally! :) Of course the kids are having a blast with Aunt Mary and loving her! It's going to be hard to see her leave. At least we have a while before that happens!

Here she is with Joey before a walk the other night. Most say she's my twin :). I even had braces at that age too! Thanks, Mar, for all your hard work so far!! I am indebted to you! Love you!