Bathroom Antics

Brooke's love for standing in drawers doesn't end (and it needs to as I think the drawer tracks are bending...)She's quite proud of her ability to put all the washcloths in the sink I guess!

Visiting Friends in MI & Chicago

We ventured out for another long roadtrip, with Brooke stopping in 3 states to see friends. First up, visiting Giovana, Cecilia and her new brother Nico in Bristol, IN!

Cecilia enjoyed showing her toys to Brooke. For anyone that knows Giovana, this picture confirms Cecilia clearly has her mom's infectious enthusiasm for life!
Next up, we headed into Michigan for Debi's wedding reception. It was great to see her as it's been a few years. After Debi's we stopped by Aunt Lindy's and Uncle John's for a fantastic dinner and good time spent with family. Over the next week we visited a couple friends in Chicago, visiting Charlie, his dad Ross and his expecting mom Erin.

We also saw Jake and his mom Suzanne, and his new sister Emily.

Fun is always to be had when Evan and Brooke get together, since they're only 3 weeks apart! We enjoyed meeting Evan's new sister, Nora, even if she DID sleep the whole time...
Then Brooke spent the weekend with Grandma Karen and Chief Steeves while Mom and Dad headed to Iowa for Chad & Molly's wedding.

The big milestone of the trip was that Brooke has begun walking! What started at the beginning of the week as crawling with a few tentative steps, evolved to full fledge walking with an occasional fall down by the end of the week. So much fun!!! Batten down the hatches, she's everywhere now!

1st Guests to 'Burgh

Jen's parents were our first guests to Pittsburgh (aka Mimi and Grandpa). Everyone openly admits that they're not coming to see Jen & Scott, rather it's Brooke and the new house! Oh well, that's okay!

Some cuddle time between Mimi and Brooke. We ventured upon a popular tourist site, the Duquesne Incline. It is old cable cars that go up the side of a big hill downtown, providing excellent views of the city. Here's a shot of the incline.
Scott and Brooke riding up in the cable car.Yea, a pretty good view of the city! (and the clouds due to my wonderful photography skills)Mimi, Brooke and Grandpa standing on the platform at the top of the Incline. We had a great visit with them and look forward to their return in September!

14 Months

Brooke turned 14 Months and has teased us with a few steps here and there, but always resorts back to her super fast crawling to get everywhere. I guess she spends so much time with Maddie that perhaps she thinks all four's is normal?!We're okay with either her crawling or walking, as she is so much fun to be around. Always smiling and laughing! Maddie must've walked in the room here as she happily distracted, laughing at the dog.

Lots of Painting

Much of settling into the new house means making our mark on the house. Literally. Translation: lots of painting. Pretty much the whole house could use a new coat of paint and we want to make it "home" with our own colors.

The Painting Station has been set-up in a spare bedroom, as we started with upstairs rooms.First up, Brooke's room. Melted Butter is back. (note through the windows it is dark out...because painting takes 3 continous hours, we must do it after the Munchkin's in bed, meaning we've had some later than normal nights)While the painting ensued, Brooke took up residence in the guest bedroom (as did Maddie during nap times).Ta Da! Here she is admiring her freshly painted, wallpapered, decorated room. And the border is back up too. When Brooke crawled in her room the day after the border went up, she sat pointing at her animal friends on the wallpaper border (daily we talk to the zebras, elephants, alligators, etc. that are on the border).

Deer, and Turkeys, and Snakes, Oh My!!!

Deer sightings are quite common in our new area. Weekly, Scott reports seeing a deer during his drive to and from work, and saw one the other day between our house and the neighbors. Luckily Maddie hasn't seen one yet -- what will happen then?! Twice in the past week I've also seen wild turkeys in our neighborhood. They're like 4 feet tall! Maddie saw them once, but I don't think she quite knew what it was...

And the snakes! Within a week of moving in, while chatting with the friendly neighbors, we learned that snakes are common in the area. Uh, snakes?!?!?! Yep!

A few days later, our neighbor reported she saw a 4 1/2 foot snake in her bushes. Then a couple more days later, the snake was in the tree right outside our kitchen window. Fearing Maddie might get in a tangle with it, or Brooke crawling in the grass would cross its path, Mom ran out with a yard rake and killed it. (that's me with my "mean snake-killing face")

The deceased snake...

Minneapolis - it's chilly up there!

Brooke, Dad and I made a trip up to Minneapolis for Zach & Dana's wedding (actually in St. Paul). We had a great time and enjoyed seeing the "Iowa" gang. Brooke was reasonably good on the flights (no screaming child...just a very very squirmy child). For mid-July, it was pretty chilly, but I guess what do you expect when you head towards Canada?!

While in Minneapolis we visited Brooke's Great Aunt Caryl and Great Grandma Mary.

Scott and Jen at the wedding.The happily married couple: Dana and Zach.

and with friends.

Happy 4th of July, and New Toys!

We've been busy here in the first part of July getting settled in the new house. However, we did have a nice 4th of July, cooking out in our new backyard and enjoying the neighborhood. Here's Brooke in her 4th of July outfit -- this is also her 13 Months Old picture.

Dad's been busy putting Brooke's toys together. First up was the traditional red Radio Flyer wagon.Brooke's been rolling around on the ground a lot, laughing and smiling. I guess it is a fun new skill she is perfecting.
Cracks me up! ;-) Lastly, after Dad did the wagon, he also put together her kitchen, which she got for Christmas (we waited to unbox it until we moved). She's been having a lot of fun with it!

New House!

We've arrived at our new house! Getting in Sunday night, 2 days before the furniture arrived, resulted in some floor dining. Brooke was propped up in her travel highchair (with Maddie nearby to catch any morsels), while Dad and Mom squatted with our Chinese food containers and chopsticks. The great thing about the new house: low windows in all the rooms! Brooke can see out with no trouble. Here she's checking out the front yard.There was a lively game of cul de sac street hockey going on with the neighborhood kids -- whom Maddie will need to get used to as there's been a bit of barking. I think I heard it was a reenactment of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals, with the Red Wings winning. Hmm, I think we're going to like it here!

Brooke's First White Sox Game!

Brooke went to her first White Sox game. Here is she is trying out her baseball hat.Dad and Brooke. We took turns inning by inning entertaining her. One inning Dad walked around the whole ballpark with her to provide some distractions.Otherwise, she ate a lot! (raisins, grapes, crackers, cheese, you name it!) Overall, she did great!