Happy Fourth of July!

Brooklynn and Blake both got their red, white and blue outfits on for the occasion. We went out and ate some Mexican, made a Coldstone ice cream run, and headed back to our house to watch fireworks from our driveway. Let's just say that people in our subdivision aren't afraid to spend a little of their hard-earned cash on some neighborhood entertainment. Good times!

Playing at Anna Kate's and Lauren's

We went over to Anna Kate's and Lauren's to visit with everyone and Brooklynn loved playing on their slide. She also loves their inflatable animal pool toys, and drags them with her everywhere. I am not sure what has caused her obsession with animals, but she knows more animals than most adults. She now can tell you where her favorite animals live, what they eat, and what they do. Maybe she will be a veterinarian.

More Father's Day

Before we went out to dinner to celebrate Father's Day we stopped by my parents to wish my dad a Happy Father's Day. Brooklynn and Blake love time with their Grampy and it is so wonderful to see our kids bonding with both of their Grandpas. We are blessed to have such wonderful Godly male influences in their lives. Thank you Grampy for loving them and taking care of them every day, and thank you Papa for loving them from a distance and making all the time that you do for them. We love you!

Happy Father's Day

Rich is an amazing daddy! I could not be more thankful for the loving caring man that he is. Brooklynn and Blake love him so much. Every evening when he walks in the door you hear a scream of "daddy" and Brooklynn charges into his arms. I think that says it all. Thank you Rich for loving each of us and providing and caring for us. We love you very much!

Daddy's Birthday

Rich's birthday fell on Father's day this year. We celebrated his birthday that afternoon. Brooklynn was very excited about her daddy's cake and presents. I think they could be twins!

Mimi and Papa come to visit

Brooklynn loves when Mimi and Papa come to visit. They always plan fun things and of course they bring Izzie and Cimmon!

Ten in the Bed

Brooklynn loved her new book from Mimi, "Ten in the Bed." A perfect book for Brooklynn as you can see she was very excited. Thank you Mimi!

An Artist in the Making?

Brooklynn loves to draw and paint. When she is "creating" she blocks out the world. For those of you who have experienced Brooklynn you know that it is rare for her to sit for very long so it is exciting to see her enjoy something that doesn't require running! This is her picture of Blake-She said "Mommy I draw Blake, Here's his eyes, nose and mouth."

Bubbles...Bubbles...Bubbles

Brooklynn loves bubbles. Almost every day we blow bubbles. To save our breath and hers we got her an automatic bubble blower this weekend. She loves it and loves the bubbles. Apparently, she thinks they taste good.

Our Little Lady

Brooklynn is now starting to like to carry purses. Of course the ones that she likes best are animals and she usually only has animals in them. This time she had to carry her "chicky" purse and her cousin's.

Our blue-eyed babies.

It's so hard to capture a good picture of both Brooklynn and Blake I thought I'd better make sure to share this one. Brooklynn finally held still enough to get a great shot and you can really see her and Blake's blue eyes.

Strawberry Picking

This week Uncle Barry and I took Brooklynn strawberry picking. She loved it and was really quite good at picking the RED ones. She filled half of a basket, ate half of a basket, and sat on another basket.

Our morning ritual!

Brooklynn and I have a morning ritual...Every morning she usually wakes up listing all of the things she wants to do! I ask her what she wants for breakfast and she yells OATMEAL! She just loves her oatmeal and fruit and I love getting the chance to eat it with her.

Somebody is growing up so fast

Sometimes I'm just amazed at how fast Brooklynn is growing up. It seems like yesterday she was that roly-poly little baby without any hair. Pretty scary how fast time goes by.

Happy Easter!

Brooklynn really enjoyed Easter this year and just thought she was really big stuff with her bunny ears on. She's really starting to "ham it up" around us, especially when Blake is watching. We also had a little Easter Egg hunt in our living room and Brooklynn found every egg. She continues to want to have egg hunts...we may be doing them for the rest of the year.

Please take my picture.

Before there was Blake, Brooklynn didn't want to have anything to do with having her picture taken. Now that I'm taking photos of Blake all the time, someone feels left out. She's jealous for some camera time!

Those are my toys!

Now that Blake is part of the family, we've been dragging out all of Brooklynn's old toys that she loved when she was a baby. In doing so, Brooklynn's found a bunch of new things to play with, and she doesn't quite understand that Blake needs to use these toys now. I just had to chuckle when she crawled under the Baby Einstein play mat with all of her animals. But I wasn't chuckling when she got pretty upset when I laid Blake on the mat. Oh the struggles!

Brooklynn's Buddies

With Blake being born, we've had quite a few friends come by to meet him. They also bring their kids, which sometimes happen to be right around Brooklynn's age. She's enjoyed having the company! Above are Jordan Manning and Samantha Nixon.

I guess this little guy is sticking around!

Brooklynn wasn't so sure of little Blake when she saw him at the hospital, but now that he's home she's really starting to warm right up to him. You can see her turning into such a sweet big sister as several times she wanted to read "Baby Blake" a story or show him one of her animals. This is going to be a fun ride watching them grow up together.

My little brother Blake is here!!

William Blake Cutter was born yesterday! You can head on over to
Blake's blog for all the details.