Sunday get together at Great-Aunt Kelly's house

My Aunt Kelly had a Birthday/after Thanksgiving get together at her house. Her husband Bill was turning "30" so I made a Birthday cake for him. The guys went up earlier that morning for a "bragging rights" golf tournament. The women were told the get-together started at 2pm and that the guys should be done golfing by then. Apparently the guys had a tie when they got to the last hole so they played tie breaker holes (which took forever!!!). Meanwhile us girls took advantage of the beautiful weather to go outside and play ball.

Brooke and Mommy

All the kids running around in the backyard. Brooke and I were outside kicking the ball too. She loved it!!!

Kalyn and her Mommy.

Angela and Shaan

Shelby showing off her cookie.

Gavin sneaking a bite from his cookie.

Apparently the kids were happy to show off their cookies...lol

Beautiful girls...Kalyn and Shelby

My sister's clan...Kalyn, Gavin and Shelby

Brooke and Grandma

Bill and his birthday cake.

Grandma, Brooke and Shelby playing ball in Great-Aunt Kelly's backyard.

LOL...had to post this picture...it cracks me up!!

Brooke and Shelby...sweet picture!!

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Kalyn's action picture...she's trying to get in the picture..fast!!!

All 4 of us girls!!

Shelby was taking a picture of us and was aiming off to our left. We were trying to figure out what she was looking at!

Shelby, Brooke and I.

Brooke and her Papa.

Gavin and his "Gama"

Brooke playing with Papa.

Papa, Brooke and of course, her blue pillow!

A visit from Brooke's twin cousin

Thanksgiving night, my cousin Jeffrey and his wife Amanda came to stay with us along with their son, Braden. Braden was born the same day as Brooke, only Brooke is about 7 hours older. What a cute thing he is. He is way ahead of Brooke as far as movement goes. He's crawling and pulling up on everything and boy is he FAST!!!!! Here are some pictures and a video of the kids.

Braden loved to watch Dutch.

Brooke's 1st Christmas lights...

After days of begging Jeff, he finally gave in and moved the recliner so I could put up Brooke's 1st Christmas tree. She was soooo cute with the Christmas lights. I was actually surprised at how long it took her to put them in her mouth. She was and still is fascinated with the lights. I wish I could keep the tree up the whole year!!

Guess what Brooke said tonight??!!?!?!?!

Shortly after we finished dinner tonight, Jeff headed to bed (he has to be up at 4:30am) while I cleaned the kitchen and made banana bread. Brooke was in her walker getting into anything she could find and then she started babbling ALOT!!! All of a sudden it sounded like she said DADA!! I wasn't 100% sure if she was saying GAGA or DADA. I popped my head into our bedroom to see if Jeff was awake. He babbled something (like father like daughter) and I told him what I thought she was saying. He came out of the bedroom to listen but he was so tired I don't think he knew what he was hearing!!! I took this video right after Jeff went back to bed. You can hear her talking as she runs around the kitchen!

I still wasn't 100% sure after I filmed this, but a few minutes after the camera stopped rolling she starting talking again. I am now 100% sure she said DADA!!!!! My little girl said her first word!!!!! I guess when she talks she says DADA and when she cries, she cries MAMA (although it's more a crying MAMA then a word MAMA so I don't count it as words)!!!

Jeff's arrival this morning

Jeff told me his plane would arrive "a few minutes after midnight" so I arrived at the base around 11:30pm. There was no one in site!! The only moving creature I saw in an hour and a half was a raccoon that ran out in front of me. The poor possum hadn't made it. I drove around to the J-Star parking area but there is absolutely no way I could see the flight line from there, so I moved to a fuel station just along the flight line. I got excited when the blue taxi lights came on!!! This must be it!!! They stayed on about 30 minutes and went back off :( About 10 minutes later they came back on. Another 2o minutes or so after that, this is what I saw...

This was approximately 1:10am.

After Jeff landed I realized that since they flew straight from Greece into the base, they would have to clear customs before they could be released. Needless to say, we got home after 2am and in the bed a little after 3am. Our sweet little alarm clock sounded around 7:10am. Jeff is passed out on the couch as I finish this blog. He's been asleep for a few hours. Poor guy!!! His girls sure did miss him!!!

Monday with Mommy

Showing off my new $9 Robeez

She's addicted to shoes like her Mommy.

Brooke and I like to sit in the "touchy feel" book isle at Book's-A-Million and read/touch. She loves it!!

Brooke playing/reading her books.

Jeff's squadron had a wife's get together at a Pottery Place in town. We had to bring a dessert. I saw these cupcake's on a stick and wanted to make them. After a huge mess in my kitchen, they were done.

The birthday plate I made for Brooke. We'll see how it comes out after it's fired.

Brooke on Tuesday morning reading in her robe.