Monday, November 30, 2009

Thanksgiving Weekend Ranger Ride...

What better way to finish off Thanksgiving weekend than with a ranger ride with our friends, followed by a big campfire with smores! We packed everyone up in 3 rangers and cruised not too far from our house to a little sand dune area. The kids ran around and had a blast making smores, helping finding rocks for the ring around the fire, and playing in the sand! It was a beautiful night out, and we had a great time!

All packed in ready for a ride!

Austin and Kate helping out building the campfire ring!

They all had so much fun and Austin loved being the only boy surrounded by all those cuties!!

The big kids sure had fun too!

They even did a little stargazing! (Austin was just trying to put the moves on all the girls!)

Now that's a campfire!

Austin searching for more marsmallows, I think he ate the whole bag!

Um, excuse me sir, I don't think you're quite old enough to be driving that!! (Austin would do anything to drive his Daddy's ranger, he's always sneaking off jumping in the drivers seat!)

Austin wanted no part of me helping him with roasting his marshmallow...

...he had it all under control himself!!

He wasn't really a fan of the actual "smore," too messy for my OCD kid. He just preferred eating the marshmallow all by itself!

Marshmallow #135 of the evening!

Life is good!

Having a laugh over uncle JJ's campfire story!

Austin was all about putting the moves on the girls at the campfire!!

When he wasn't eating marshmallows or cozying up to the girls...he was playing in the dirt, what a perfect night!

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Turkey Day 2009

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. Brian's parents, his Aunt Kim and Uncle Jim and cousin Tim joined us for a great day and a delicious dinner! Brian's turkey turned out so good, we brined it a few days before Thanksgiving and it came out perfect! Austin was a party pooper and wouldn't join us for dinner, he didn't know what he was missing, but Brooke had her first taste of turkey mixed in with sweet potatoes and was a huge fan! And a major thank you to Jane for all your help preparing everything!!

I even attempted my first Black Friday shopping experience and joined some of my friends out at our mall at midnight to get in on some of the good deals. It ended up being a bust, the mall was packed with teenagers and the lines were so long, but it was fun, and I got a cute pair of socks for Brooke ;)

"The Bird" with his bird!

Brookie with Poppa and Grandma Nana :)

Brooke's tongue sticking out is rubbing off on everyone!

Brookie and Austin with their Great Auntie Kim, Great Uncle Jim, and first cousin once removed Tim :)

The Falky Girls!

Turkey Coma!

Eating seconnds to recharge from her nap!

Happy Thanksgiving 2009!

Our 22lb turkey

Sticking out your tongue must be the cool new thing to do!

So thankful for these two :)

Giving hugs...

...and kisses...

...and loving every minute of it!

Brookie and her Poppa!

I know it's blurry, but this was me at a red light at 1:16am on the way home from shopping at the mall on Black Friday. I know, we are crazy.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

We are so thankful...

...we get to wake up each day to smiles like these...



...and for our "woof woof" Hunter too!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Brooke at 7 months...

Dear Brooke,
Today you are 7 months old, we can hardly believe it! Would you please stop growing up so fast!! With each day that goes by, you continue to bring the biggest smiles to our faces. You are such a happy girl, and love to cuddle and get kisses which is a very good thing, because you sure get a lot! You giggle when we nuzzle your neck and tickle your tummy and then proceed to attack us with one of your big open mouth drooly kisses! Oh how we love those!

You love to "scoot" every where, you can get across the room no problem, and usually end up in weird places like between the couch and the side table stuck in some odd position! You are trying your absolute hardest to actually "crawl." You are up on all 4's, ready to go, rocking back and forth, it will be any day now that you take off and go!!

You are trying to pull yourself up on things now too! We catch you grunting and pulling up on your activity table, getting your little booty a few inches off the ground...you are so close!! You still love to bounce too, and love jumping on our laps when we hold you up! Hopefully this means you will have some sort of vertical, unlike your mommy!

You are still eating and sleeping like a champ. You absolutely love food...(a true Taurus...just like mommy!)...and are moving on to more table foods every day! Right now you love Ritz crackers! We haven't weighed you recently, but 3 weeks ago when we took you into the doctor for a cold, you were 22lbs. Yes, you are a "chunky chunk" as your daddy calls you!! We love it, your thighs and arm rolls are too darn cute! Because of your monster weight gain, we had to take you out of your infant car seat (my arms thank you!) and you are now in you big girl car seat!

You are just such a happy, smiley, tongue sticking out, exploring little girl, who we love so much!! It is the most amazing thing watching you learn and grow and do all sorts of new things and get so happy when you do it! We love you Brookie...here are all the things you have done over the past month...

Our happy, tongue sticking out 7 month old!

Scooting away with your army crawl...and so close to an actual real crawl!

Putting those big thighs to use and scootin' all over the place!

You clearly won the push up contest with your brother!!

Falky Boot Camp...when our kids our naughty, we make them drop and give us 50!

So close to crawling!!

Oh how we love those cheeks!!!

So happy when you are in your high chair, about to be fed!

This is how you wake up every morning...SO HAPPY!! It is the best thing in the world going to get you out of your crib and seeing that big smile in the morning!

Ok, now what?!! You are so close to crawling, you just have to go!!

You love feeding yourself!!

We just love that smile!

And that tongue is still always sticking out!

You are so mobile now, you can go from sitting to crawling, and back up again!

Trying to pull yourself up!!

You can do it!

We can't wait for Christmas!

Playing in the sand at the park, Brookie wasn't too sure what to make of the stuff!

I just love those arm rolls and droopy cheeks!! Brooke sat there forever touching the sand trying to figure out what to do with it!

One of the last times in your infant car seat...you have now switched over to a big girl seat!!! You are still a really good passenger in the car, we are very lucky!

You still love going for runs/walks with your brother and me in your stroller!

You are quite the bouncer!!

You love it when your brother helps feed you!

Your very first Halloween!

Bows in your hair...tongue sticking out...double chin...dimple...belly...we love it all!

You are just so precious!

You love that tongue of yours!

Our happy little girl!

Love that happiness!

You love the swing!!

You at 6 months old...it's amazing how much you've grown since then!!