Snow in Greenville?

We got our first snow of the year this past Wednesday and Brooklynn woke up ready to go out and play in it. She loved it and was especially fascinated with her footprints. It stuck around for about a day. Now it's all gone.

Christmas at home!

We really enjoyed being able to wake up on Christmas morning and celebrate with our family. Joy made a really awesome Christmas breakfast, and watching our kids open up their presents was a really special moment. Brooklynn asked for a big shark for weeks, so you can imagine the level of excitement that rang through our house when she opened it up.

Christmas at Mimi and Papa's

Being able to stay in Greenville this year for Christmas was really awesome, and we had such a great time over at Mimi and Papa's apartment on Christmas Eve.

It's time for that Christmas card again.

Instead of braving the eventful trip to the photography place this year, we decided to try and take our Christmas card picture ourselves. Out of many shots, we finally got a decent one.

Downtown Carriage Ride

This Christmas we started a new tradition of taking a carriage ride through our downtown. Mimi and Papa joined us and Brooklynn waved and said hello to everyone passing by. It was a perfect night!

Yes, they play together sometimes...

For the most part, Brooklynn sees Blake as quite a little nuisance as he's always getting into her business and grabbing and throwing her toys. So, when they actually do play nicely together for a couple minutes, you have to capture that moment quickly and save it forever. They are few and far between.

Decorating for Christmas

As Thanksgiving came to a close, we jumped right into getting our Christmas tree and putting up all the lights. Brooklynn thought it was so neat that we had a real tree inside our house, and she really got into helping put up all the ornaments. It was pretty hilarious to watch her hang the ornaments onto the actual Christmas light bulbs. She finally got the hang of it.

A Cutter Thanksgiving

With my parents now living in Greenville, we were able to celebrate Thanksgiving with them this year at their apartment. Brooklynn loves going to Mimi and Papa's house as they have a huge toy room where she spends most of her time. That toy room gets expecially crazy when all the kids are together...let's just say that tornados make less of a mess.

Pilgrim and Indian Day

Brooklynn had a special day at her school where everyone got to dress up as either a pilgrim or an indian. Anna Kate let her borrow her Pocahontas costume and it was great. What a cute little indian!

Cooking with Mommy!

Whenever Joy cooks in the kitchen, Brooklynn is quick to pull up a chair and lend a helping hand. Of course, all the hard work also brings great reward and a chocolate mess!

Trick or Treat!

Brooklynn dressed up as her favorite animal this year for Halloween (a leopard) and participated in her first real trick or treat experience. He cousins Anna Kate and Lauren came over and they all hit our neighborhood pretty good. It took Brooklynn a couple houses to learn that you should stay by the door until you get a piece of candy, but once she got it she had a ball.

More picnic fun.

At my company's annual fall picnic, Brooklynn got to roast marshmallows for the first time. I had to teach her to wait until they were "toasty brown" before she ate them. At the end of the night we got to take a little hay ride, which Brooklynn had remembered from last time. It was all she could talk about the entire morning and on the way to the picnic.

One brave little girl!

While we were at my company's fall picnic, they were giving horse rides to the little kids that were there. I took Brooklynn over to see the horse and the guy with the horse asked if Brooklynn wanted to ride. To my amazement she said she did, and she hopped right up on the saddle and took off. I have to admit. I was a little nervous since she was so high up. She did awesome and absolutely loved it.

She sure does love her little brother!

Brooklynn really loves that little brother of hers, even if at times it's at Blake's expense.

The RedS...ox?!?!

Our good friends Bill and Sabina thought it would be a great thing to get Brooklynn her first Boston Red Sox shirt to honor their favorite team. For those that don't know, this does not sit well in our house. Brooklynn knows that her daddy's favorite team is the Cincinnati Reds and shouts their name anytime she sees me wear their logo. You can imagine her confusion when we let her wear this blue shirt with an odd looking logo made up of a couple of ratty, old socks. So there ya go, Bill, proof that she's wearing your gear. Now can we throw it in the trash?

ZOO TOTS!

Because we're members of the Greenville Zoo, Brooklynn gets to attend "Zoo Tots" once a month where she gets to learn about and even touch some real live animals. Of course we have to go see the rest of the zoo after her class, especially the two elephants which are her favorites!

It's football season again!

We had to break out all of our jerseys and cheer on the Carolina Panthers to their first win this past Sunday. Brooklynn's getting really good at yelling out "Go Panthers!" whenever she sees football on TV. It's good to make sure that our children are raised the right way! :)

It's cousin time!

It's always a scene when all the girls get together. Brooklynn's cousins Anna Kate and Lauren just love to get together with her and have a bunch of fun.

Brooklynn's favorite place!

Today I took Brooklynn to her absolute favorite place in all the world, the Greenville Zoo. She had to take HER leopard everywhere throughout the zoo to show him all the animals, especially the BIG leopard. I can't wait to take her to a "real" zoo.

An end to a great beach trip

Our last night at the beach we decided to get dressed up a bit and attempt to get a family shot down on the beach. The camera was fogging up because of the heat, but we managed to finally get some good shots.