Sweet baby B

This is my daughter Brooklyn.

She has such a strong sense of morality and empathy.

She loves school and soccer and adores her little brother.

I am so blessed by her.

I woke up this morning to find this on my bathroom counter:

She made me a necklace and a bracelet!

Isn't that note so sweet? And maybe a little strange? But mostly sweet:)

Thank you sweet Baby B!

She has been hugging me all morning and telling me what a great mom I am. **Melt** She said that I am the best mom ever because I give her surprises and make her skirts and let her stay up late with me the other night. I am thinking that her love languages are gifts, quality time and touch(She loves to snuggle).

This is my life and I love it.

Beanie Baby Birthday Bash

 Brooklyn came home from school on Monday and told me that her beanie baby Herald, who she adopted for a class project, had a birthday coming up on January 7th.

We decided to have a little birthday party for her(Brooklyn decided that Herald was a her). When she checked the birth dates of her other two beanies she saw that they both had birthdays in December, so we made it a triple birthday party!

Meet the Birthday Beanies: SnoCap, Scoops and Herald.

I made a birthday garland for the beanies' party.

I call it the Confetti Garland and it will be making appearances at all our family parties from now on.

Here is Brooklyn with the birthday beanies and their friends from Toy Story.

It was quite a crowd!

Yep. We lit the candles...and sang.

Brooklyn helped them blow out the candles.

She was the happiest girl in the world that night.

She kept saying how it was the "Best day EVER!"

Oh, the things we do for our children;)

Birdhouse

Jon left this morning to go camping and Travis was down for his morning nap, leaving just me and Brooklyn to occupy ourselves. Brooklyn is on a No TV day today because of a poor attitude yesterday, so we had to come up with something fun for her to do that did not involve a television.

We had bought this birdhouse awhile back at Joannes. It was 50% off and we thought it was so cute. I pulled out paint and newspaper and she let her creativity loose.

I just love the way the paints look in this old muffin tin that I bought at a garage sale for a quarter!

This is Brooklyn painting her birdhouse. She had so much fun!

While she was painting I went through my e-mails and then got to blog surf while drinking coffee.

 I found so many great crafty blogs and am feeling so inspired! I found an adorable book bag at Mmmcrafts that I plan to make for Brooklyn for 2nd grade. She likes them so much better than a backpack and at this age all she really needs it for is homework and library books, so it doesn't have to be super large. Here is the tutorial for The Basic Messenger Bag that I am going to use. Brooklyn wants her bag to be all purple with stars and a "B" appliqued on the front. I am so excited to get started on it!

Here is the finished birdhouse:

9 months and a sunburn

Today Travis is nine months old. This morning we had his check up with the Dr and found out that he has dropped from the 10th percentile of weight to the 3rd. Yikes! I knew he was little, but really? He weighs 15.1 pounds. They weighed him twice just to make sure. So now I have to add a scoop of formula to his meals for extra calories. We have an appointment in one month to see how he is doing...she wants him to have gained 2 pounds by then. Other than that he is a strong, healthy and active little boy! Now I just have to fatten him up a bit:)

After his appointment I met some friends at the lake for some mommy/kid fun time. There is so much crap you have to take with you when you take kids to the lake. I pretty much take everything I can ever imagine needing because on the rare occasion that I did not pack a certain thing it was the one thing that was needed. I think a wagon would be a handy thing to have for the next time I do this so that Brooklyn can pull all the stuff in it while I push the boy in the stroller.

Now I am sunburned and exhausted...it was worth it. The kids had a blast. Travis ate dirt and put every rock he could get his grubby little hands on into his mouth, and Brooklyn swam and made sand castles with friends while I talked with my mommy friends.

We had a great time and can't wait to do it all again!

Culp Family Photos 2010

We had not had family portraits done in over 3 years...so it was time. Enter the amazing Kara Stewart of www.karastewartphotography.com. She made us feel so comfortable and was able to capture who we are.

1.2.10

This is our first family picture of the new year.

We need to work on getting Travis to look at the camera...it freaks him out a little.

I love my kids...and my new hat.

I realized this evening that Travis is three months old today! Um, where did the time go?!? Here's a picture of him in his new Bumbo.

I decided to bite the bullet and buy it new after searching every second hand baby store in town as well as craigslist with no luck. One second hand baby store had a used blue Bumbo with a tray, but it was priced at $44.00! Brand new at Target I got the chair for $35.00, and the tray for $10.00. I think it was worth it though because the boy LOVES it. I love to say the name...BUMBO! Try it, it's fun:) He's not very strong in the sitting position yet, so we will have to ease him into it a few minutes at a time while he gets stronger.

1.1.10

Travis:13 weeks old

We started Travis on the Baby Wise eating/sleeping schedule five days ago and he is thriving! He eats full meals now instead of snacking, and he sleeps for full sleep cycles instead of cat napping all day. He is happier and more content now, and during his wake times he is all smiles!

He has grown so much this past week and I think it may have something to do with the new schedule. On day two I noticed that he was feeling much heavier and I had to pull out his six month clothes because his three month clothes were too small. I am curious to see how much weight he has gained.

He is quite the talker and we have many wonderful conversations consisting of ridiculous made up words and sounds. Brooklyn thinks he is a genius...that he knows all of his colors and can already say her name along with other random words.

His favorite place in the world is his changing table. He LOVES to have his diaper changed. He laughs and talks while I change him and then we stay there and chat for a bit. If it were safe I would let him hang out there all day, that's how much he loves it.

I am so Blessed

These three are my love and my heart.

Brooklyn, Jon and Travis

My boys.

Brooklyn Elizabeth

Yesterday was gorgeous so we walked out to our pond to take a few pictures.

Here are a few of my favorites:

I love this girl! She loves the camera, which is great because I love to take pictures.

Merry Christmas

Travis and Brooklyn with Santa

Glitter shoes and Christmas songs

Last night was Brooklyn's school Christmas program and it was just me and the kids. Jon went to a concert with friends(a Christmas present), so I was left to fend for myself.

I, of course, underestimated the time it would take to get ready and ended up running out the door frazzled, thinking to myself "Am I dressed? Did I put on deodorant? Is the baby changed? Does the kid have underwear on? Where are my keys? Is the camera charged?" As you can see, it's pretty stressful and crazy in my brain.

We got to the theater and it took me awhile to wrestle the baby into the baby carrier which I was so thankful that I remembered, or truthfully, had left in the car from the last time I had used it. Then I slung the camera bag and diaper bag over my shoulder, grabbed the girls hand, locked the car and then weaved my way through the busy parking lot to get into the warm theater.

Once we got inside I went to our section and took pictures of all the kids in their holiday best, looking so adorable in ties and dresses. Brooklyn wore her white flower girl dress from my sisters wedding along with silver glittery shoes; it made her feel like a princess and it showed. Next year she said she wants to wear a red dress and the year after that, a green one. She decided that she would rotate the Christmas colors each year. I love her:)

When it was time for the first grade class to go up on stage I pulled out the video camera. Of course it is at that time that Travis decides to cry. So there I am, bouncing the screaming baby and trying to record my first born singing with her class. Every time I would look down at the baby to try to hush him I would look back up only to find that I was filming the floor. I will have to remember to hand out barf bags when we view the tape later.

Thankful

I am thankful for:

• My husband Jon. I would not trade him for anything, except maybe coffee, but probably not.
• My daughter Brooklyn. She is hilarious! I laugh everyday with her around.
• My son Travis. When he smiles my heart explodes. That's a good thing.
• My huge family. They have made me the crazy person I am.
• My husbands family. They are amazing.
• Coffee! Without which nothing would get done.
• Digital Cameras. Without pictures I have no memories.
• Facebook and Blogs. Don't judge me, you are too!

...and so much more.

I am so blessed.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Sick and cozy...

This is what we have been doing for the past three days. Brooklyn came down with a crazy cough and sore throat on Thursday night, so we have been laying around watching movies. I'm just thankful that she has this next week off of school so she can rest.

Sunny Saturday

Today was gorgeous. This afternoon we loaded up the family in the car and headed out to a local walking trail. Brooklyn rode her bike while Jon and I walked with Travis in the stroller. It was so nice to get out in the fresh fall air and get a little exercise with the family. I hope to do this more often...it felt amazing.

Jon, Brooklyn, Amy and Travis getting ready for the walk.

Take 2: I'm not used to taking family of 4 self portraits

She loves to ride her bike.

Me and my girl...

Oops! How did this one get in here?