Brooke's 7th Birthday

Yeah! I am 7!

The boys wishing Brooke a happy birthday gangsta style!

3rd year in a row at Steak N Shake

All of the orhanage donations

Al dressed up!

Even Matt can hold his pinky out!

The boys stayed at Brooke's party for approximately 3 minutes before I kicked them out!

I can't believe my little Brookie is 7!! She loves her birthday as all of my kids do, which makes the day so fun. Lucky for me she did not choose doughnuts as the other two always do so I didn't have to go to Krispy Kreme at the crack of dawn! She wanted, instead, Matt to make her pancakes in the shape of a cake and the number 7. He is the pancake master and was able to do it! She chose Steak N Shake for the third year in a row for her dinner and she chose for me to bring her McDonalds for luch at school. I don't even remember the last time my kids had fast food and Brooke got a double dose in one day!! Her party was at a party place called The Glass Slipper which hosts birthday tea parties. She chose a Fancy Nancy theme - surprise, surprise! and the girls got to dress up, make butterfly wings, listen to a Fancy Nancy story, play games, and of course have mini sandwiches, fruit, tea, and cake. Instead of gifts this year Brooke and I requested that the guests bring a donation to Hannah's Hope which is the orphanage that our daughter will come from. We received lots of diapers, formula, and clothes. I can't wait to send it over there! The best thing about doing that was not only will the children at the orphanage benefit, but it was so wonderful to see Brooke's giving heart and how excited she was about doing this and never once said a word about not receiving presents.

Our 13th anniversary

A couple of months ago Matt made a bid at a silent auction for a night at the Renaissance Hotel downtown, dinner at a nearby restaurant and tickets to the art museum. With my parents in town for our anniversary we were able to use it to celebrate our anniversary while they took care of the kids. Instead of the art museum Matt got us a couples massage at a spa downtown. It was very relaxing and Matt was able to fully relax before he spent the rest of the evening tense as he tracked the Baylor/Texas game on his phone. The game wasn't shown on tv which was lucky for me since then I didn't have to find out which Matt would have chosen, the Baylor game or a night out with me. I think I already know the answer! He was able to track it on his phone while we were at a movie! and luckily the movie ended before Baylor won or Matt would have gotten kicked out of the theater. It was pretty cool they won since the last time Baylor beat Texas at home was the night of our wedding in 1997. At our wedding when we found out we had won all of our Baylor guests and family sang The Baylor Line at the reception. Matt also had the hotel send chocolate covered strawberries to our room. Just like he did when we celebrated our engagement in Vail! It was nice to have 24 hours together and we ended the next day shopping for Brooke's birthday. Somehow we always end dates with shopping!

Halloween and football

We had a great night for trick or treat in our new neighborhood. We didn't think that too many kids would make the walk back to our cul de sac so we just left the bowl of candy on the porch so we could all go out walking. I was right as more than half the bowl was still left. Matt and I decided to dress up this year which was a lot of fun. I chose my costume based simply on the fact that it was one of three costumes in the store that didn't make me look like a- hmmm - how do I say this - in any case, I wanted to be covered! Lucky for me I was Wonder Woman two years in a row as a child so it was the perfect costume for me. There were actually a lot of parents dressed up so that made it even more fun.Matt looked dashing as a night and the kids were Fancy Nancy, a football player, and I am still not sure what Andrew was - a zombie motorcycle dude? It took him three stores, and an hour and a half to pick out his costume. This has been the case since he was three years old! The boys played there last football game (they lost)that afternoon and then we dashed home to change for a beautiful ( a little chilly!) fall night for trick or treating.

Mom's Birthday

It isn't often that we are able to celebrate birthdays together so we were very excited that Mom and Dad arrived in Columbus on Mom's birthday so we could celebrate with her. In fact, the last time we celebrated Mom's birthday with her she had just turned 60 and I was due any day with Brooke. I had the flu and couldn't even go out to dinner with them as they took her to Papasitos for a birthday celebration. She stills remembers wearing the sombrero while they serenaded her in Spanish. Then I gave her the flu for her birthday! This one 7 years later was a little more enjoyable. We had a great meal, enjoyed cake, gave her gifts, and Brooke made sure she had a crown to wear!The next night Matt and I were able to take my parents out to dinner downtown. Columbus has lots of good restaurants and we are trying to try experience them all. Happy 67th Birthday Mom!

Brooke meeting Jane O' Connor

I found out that Jane O' Connor was coming to Borders to read her latest Fancy Nancy book so I, of course, decided to take Brooke. She wore her Fancy Nancy clothes and listened Jane talk about how she was Fancy Nancy as a child. This was actually our second time to meet Jane. We met her three years ago at the bookstore in Copley. I was a little starstruck this time around. Maybe it was knowing how much Brooke has loved the books. I picture her reading them to her children someday and maybe even her grandchildren. Hats off to Jane O' Connor for writing such awesome books and giving girls a vocabulary lesson as well.