Happy Halloween

Halloween 2010 - A Penguin

Brooks with his buddy, Elliott.  Brooks also carried this book around the whole night.

Getting in a little extra reading before trick or treating begins. 

on a mission with his basketball-looking candy basket. 

Brooks and his friends after the first house.

Politely taking candy from strangers - what a great lesson!

Halloween 2010 was a huge success.  Brooks kept his costume on for 4 hours and i think would have even lasted longer.  He loved going up to the houses and was very polite in taking candy and "saying" thank you with his sign language.  Only one man thought he was a girl.

congratulations amy!

Congratulations to Amy & John!

we had a wonderful time celebrating this wedding with atlanta friends in columbus, ohio two weekends ago.  it was Brooks's first wedding ceremony and reception, and he had a great time!  i didn't take many shots from the weekend - i guess we were too busy having fun!

Fun at Steak & Shake with nana and grandpa phil

Breakfast in bed at the hotel

our favorite!  moving brooks from one hotel room to another after the reception in this metal "hospital-style" crib.  we even ran into friends in the elevator and brooks slept through it all.

the picture of the weekend - my mom had no idea her former self was running for congress in ohio! 

congrats again to amy & john - the wedding was fabulous and we know your new life together will be a thousand times greater!  we love you!

pumpkins

while we haven't yet found a pumpkin of our own, we have had two fun outings where brooks has had the chance to play with pumpkins.  wow - he loves them!  he thinks they are balls (#1) and this weekend in dallas was trying to throw and kick them around the arboretum!

at the fall festival in our neighborhood a few weeks ago - horses, pumpkins, blacksmith, etc

Brooks in a teepee

pumpkin patch

Brooks also likes to sit on the pumpkins - his way of trying them out

this weekend at the arboretum in dallas - about 40,000 pumpkins to choose from

kicking the pumpkins like a soccer ball

maybe my favorite!  carrying pumpkins from one patch to another

cutest little pumpkin man - pardon the random pieces of hair sticking out by his ears - the weather in dallas was more humid than we are used to and brooks had curly hair all weekend!

Can't wait for halloween this weekend and Brooks's first real trick or treating...stay tuned

Words

so, as with crawling and walking, Brooks has been a little behind the train in acquiring in his words.  he has been saying "Yeah" to just about everything for a few months with the occaisional mama and more often, dada, thrown in.  But since he started his little pre-pre-preschool one day a week he has starting showing an interest in talking a lot more! 

and in addition to "yeah," Brooks has finally learned to say the word "No."  What a joy!

Wild Wild West

End of summer brought us on another great road trip with Nana & Grandpa Phil - this time to Nevada, Utah & Arizona.  Who knew you could get between those three states so many times in just 5 days!?! 
We started in Las Vegas and went to the Hoover Dam & drove around beautiful Lake Mead. 

Day 2:  Zion National Park and a great drive through Utah's rugged terrain.  Richard & I would love to go back to Zion and do some real hiking, but for this trip we just did the scenic drive.  The drive took us through a great tunnel that was the longest in the US at the time it was built in the early 1920s (i think).

    

  Day 3:  Grand Canyon - the North Rim (much less visited than the South Rim).  This was my first trip to the Grand Canyon and it was even more spectacular than I expected.  We walked a few of the rim trails and enjoyed the amazing views from the Grand Canyon Lodge, built in 1927. 

 Day 4:  Richard was only able to join us for the long weekend and we toured the South Rim out of Flagstaff, Arizona on Saturday on our way to Lake Powell.

 Day 5:  Lake Powell, Page, Arizona.  We rented a ski boat on Lake Powell and had an awesome day!  Lake Powell is like nowhere else I have ever seen - it's desert but beautiful and the boys were even able to waterski. 

Brooks, the superstar traveler, even took a 2 hour nap while we were speeding around the lake. 

The Rainbow Bridge - the largest natural bridge in the world.  Richard & Phil took the hike up close, but it was a little far for Brooks! 

We had such a fun time exploring this new part of the country.  Thanks Nana & Grandpa Phil for a great adventure and all of Brooks's new patches for his bag.  

"First" first day of school

Yesterday, Brooks went to his first day of Parents Day Out!  what a big boy!

He really seemed to have a good time and didn't cry when we got there.  After an open house involving lots of tears and clinging to mommy's leg, I wasn't sure what to expect.  The teachers prepare us that sometimes week two can be harder than week one so i'll hold back any confidence just yet!

Brooks was most excited about taking his snack with him to school and started eating it before we left the house!