Brooklyns First Haircut

Before: she just loved being in the salon and was ready to "look pretty"

 

During: she was locked down in serious mode and shriveled down with caution and uncertainty

 

After: she loved it and kept twirling her hair around!

 

July 14, 2014- 2 1/2 years old

Lake Charles, Ritz Hair Salon, Melinda Tilley

Our summer in Borger

For our time in Borger this summer we stayed busy.  However, we also spent a lot of days at home playing, goofing off, and just being together!  I loved this season of life and the kids ages.  They really do great together and enjoy being with one another!  The little ones loved having Gavin home from school.  

Here's some highlights of our time in Borger:

- 4th of July fun (see other post all about our fun day)

- We bought a blow up pool to have on hot summer days, which was a HUGE hit with the kids!  

- The kids found a turtle wandering the neighborhood so he came and lived in our backyard for a week or two, until one day we came home and he was gone.  They loved looking for "Foxy" and generally found him walking the fence daily. 

-  Naptime meant alone time with Gavin, which I realized how much I've missed that while he was in school!

- Lazy mornings meant fixing your own breakfast.. check out Brooklyn's willingness to pour her own bowl of cereal.

- MILES spent time teaching Brooklyn the ends and outs of timeout and the need to obey mommy's words (I think he's had lots of practice)

- The kids took swimming lessons and did an amazing job learning important skills.  Besides the water being freezing-- they loved it!

Our church had VBX and we had an awesome turn out.  It was held in the evenings and an absolute blast.  Brooks signed he and I up to be in charge of and work the games portion of VBX!  That meant we saw ALL the kids and got to play with each one of them!  The best part was that Brooks didn't realize he had business meetings in Houston that week and unfortunately he missed out on a few evenings!  This picture describes me after one of those nights... I sent this to him via phone without a caption!  While I was exhausted and it was hard word, it was a BLAST and we loved living our old camp days together playing with all the kids!

A few times we needed to go to Amarillo so I made sure to let the kids have some fun!  I'd bring a baby sitter with us and we'd go to Chucky Cheese in between running errands.  The kids would have a blast and would be exhausted on our way home!  

We potty trained Brooklyn, which wasn't THAT hard, except trying to teach her only boys teetee outside standing up!  She still hasn't figured that out!

The weather was gorgeous and Brooks had a few weekends opened for us to work on our landscaping.  I'll be completely honest... other then going and picking out plants and buying the soil and mulch, Brooks did it ALL!  He has a better vision and idea for it all and gardening has NEVER been my thing so I let him have at it!  It all looks awesome!

Something I did do was unpack our LAST box from our shipment from August 2013.  We've had our shed out back full of junk and odds and ends that had no where to go and didn't need any immediate attention.  I pretty much neglected it all since it was out of sight out of mind, but Brooks was ready to build cabinets in the garage and we needed to move some of that stuff into the shed, which required it to get some attention.  It felt GREAT getting that taken care of and to feel like we were officially moved in... after a year of living here!

Over all, it was a great summer in Borger.  

Easter Parties

Miles and Brooklyn's mothers day out program had an Easter celebration, which I had the privilege of heading it up and it was so much fun!   We made each child their own personalized bucket and did a MASSIVE Easter Egg Hunt at the church.  The kids were ecstatic and had a blast running around to get as many eggs as they could!  After the egg hunt, several parents made sweet treats and fixed up a big table for the kids and it was perfect for the kids.    

Miles' other school had a smaller Easter Party that parents were invited to.  They searched for eggs, had snacks, and played special games.  It was really cute to watch all of them together!

News we've been waiting for

I've been trying to keep my posts in order, but I can't let another day go by where I don't put my feelings and emotions into words on this blog.  As I write this I'm still in shock.  I'm in awe.  I'm humbled.  I'm grateful.  I'm amazed.  I'm happy.  I'm relieved.

For the past two years, before our Brooklyn was born, we were made aware of a kidney condition she had called hydronephrosis.  If you want to read more about her story check out these posts:

Diagnosis

Texas Children's Check Up

Update

Another Update

Summer 2013


Fast forward 9 months and I took Brooklyn back to TCH this March for another ultrasound to finally see what her kidneys were doing.  Our urologist thought that her Hydronephrosis was gone last summer, but with the deterioration and dehydration, we just weren't sure.

After a 30 minute ultrasound and meeting with the doctor the next day... she was amazed and shocked! The first thing the urologist asked me was if Brooklyn had surgery?!?!  What?  No mam, she didn't!  Why?  Then she spoke the next words... "BROOKLYN'S HYDRONEPHROSIS IS COMPLETELY GONE!"  I just sat there with my jaw dropped.  I wasn't sure if I wanted to laugh or cry.  All I remember saying was Thank you Jesus!!  She talked a little more about her dilation looking normal and her kidney growth was inline with what it should be (although one kidney is still larger then the other one).

My next question was in regards to the deterioration that showed up in her last ultrasound.  It was my understanding that once damage was done to the kidney it couldn't be fixed and that's how it would be from that point on.  So you can imagine the shock that came when the doctor said Brooklyn's cortex was thick, inline, and exactly the size it should be!  Wait... I'm sorry.. Can you say that again?  Basically.... the deterioration that was on Brooklyn's kidney in the last ultrasound wasn't anywhere!!  Her kidney was completely healed!!  What an answer to prayer!!  This was not at all what I was expecting but I'm praising God for it and know without a shadow of a doubt it was his healing hand that touched our little girl.

It's so surreal that we were told no more appointments, no more ultrasounds, and the urologist hoped she never had to see Brooklyn again!  It's also crazy to look at Brooklyn and realize she doesn't have this condition anymore.  We learned of her kidney issue while she was in utero, before she was born, so this has always been a part of her!  Thank you Jesus for this blessing!

Mickey and Minnie Mouse Party

Miles and Brooklyns' birthdays are 3 weeks apart and since they each aren't at the age of having their own set of friends, I decided to have a joint birthday party.  Let me start off by saying that I absolutely LOVED doing this.  It meant... one invitation, one cake, one set of decorations, one week to prepare, one set of party favors, one meal, one weekend for party, etc, etc.  It was AWESOME.  I successfully was able to do everything for their party under $200.  There's no way I would have been able to do that having 2 parties.  Not to mention, had we had two separate parties... we would have invited the same exact people-- no one less, no one more so it really only seemed like the right thing to do!!  

I had been brainstorming themes, for months, that coordinated but wasn't in love with them because I didn't feel like it was things either one of them were into.  I really wanted to have a Pancake and Pajama party but Brooks thought that was too girly and not boyish enough for Miles.  Then one day, I was walking by the play room and saw both Miles and Brooklyn were dancing and jumping around to Mickey and Minnie Mouse on the Clubhouse show.  That's when it hit me!  Duh!  What a perfect age for them to be at where they both like Mickey and Minnie and that theme would go GREAT together!  

I opted to use Minnie's red and white color scheme so that I didn't have to buy or tie in pink polka dotted things with Mickey's red, yellow, and black colors.  After throwing enough birthday parties the past few years and killing myself over all the details, spending tons of time, energy, and money into all the aspects of the party... only to throw it away or it sit in a box when the party's over... I went smart, functional, and minimal all while making a statement and I think it worked... not to mention my pocket book and time schedule appreciated it!  I felt like I was able to enjoy this party soooo much more!  The kids had a blast, I got the theme across, and everyone left with a little something that I thought they could use in the future!  

So we had all our friends come over around lunch time.... a) so that our entire weekend wouldn't be occupied with getting the house ready for the party b) we'd be finish by nap time (still a necessity around our house) c) gave the kids plenty of time to enjoy their gifts that evening

Brooks grilled "Hot Diggity Dogs" and I fixed "Minnie" Pizzas for our guests to eat.  I made the kids' cake- which we were all sick the week leading up to the party, so I was grateful for a sweet friend who came and helped me the day before.  Thankfully, the weather was beautiful for party day so we spent a majority of it outside.  The kids played on the swing set, jumped in the jump house, and just ran around riding on bikes and scooters.  We let the kids open their gifts, which was pure mayhem.  That was the only downfall of having the joint party-- I stayed next to Miles opening his presents and Brooks was helping Brooklyn, but neither one of us were able to see what the other one was getting/opening.  On top of that we had lots of little kids helping open presents adding to more of the chaos.  Our little ones still enjoyed that time though!

After presents, we sang Happy Birthday to the kids and had all the kids eat their cake outside!  We gave our guests homemade Mickey and Minnie Mouse ears, which they graciously wore for the singing time and they all looked precious in them!  

I didn't plan on any games except for the pinata my mom sent for the kids party!  The kids loved taking turns swinging at the pinata, but unforunately the bottom came out of it by the 3rd kid so it was fast lived.  After all the candy got picked up, a few kids took turns wacking the pinata just for fun!  Overall, it was such a fun and relaxed party.  The kids had a blast and we had minimal clean up/pick up and enjoyed celebrating our kids special day!  I think I just might do as many joint parties as I can get away with until their older and have their own set of friends!!  

Happy 3rd birthday Miles and Happy 2nd Birthday Brooklyn!

 

Did I mention Grammy was here with us? She drove in late Thursday night and was a HUGE help all day Friday and Saturday with the preparations and the party!  Couldn't have pulled off half of it without her!  So glad she was able to celebrate with us since the last three years we haven't been home to celebrate our kids bdays with family.