STORMS

We have had quite the week of watching the radar and LOTS of red!! But we have been VERY lucky! Wednesday night/Thursday morning about 5:00am we were woken by falling trees, wind, and lots of RAIN! Once the big branch fell on our house and woke us up, the power went out, and tornado sirens went on. So out to the hallway we went as we had no idea what was going on since we had no power. So with blankets and pillows we hung out in the hallway until we felt it was clear to go back to bed-yeah right, who can go to sleep after something like that!

Come to find out though, we are very fortunate! There was a lot of damage done to trees, homes, fences, and cars in our neighborhood. Just a few blocks away trees were uprooted! They say that an F2 tornado came through our neighborhood. Luckily all we experienced were some pretty big limbs down, but no damage to house, cars, fence, OR the swingset! There were about 20,000 without power! We are very lucky!! We did have to have someone come fix the powerlines that tore off the house and had to pay someone to remove all the limbs. But that is minor!! Main problem was THREE days with NO POWER!!! But thanks to Grandma and Papa Nerio, they provided us with a couple of good meals and beds to sleep in with lights!!

(Not a great picture, but this limb took Chris and his dad to move it was so big!)

I would have to say I have came a long way though, as I DO NOT LIKE STORMS!! END OF STORY! When I was little I remember getting sick to my stomach and crying anytime there was bad weather. Guess when you have two kids I would have looked pretty silly with my head in my pillow crying....

Post party party!

Once all the presents were open it was to the backyard for the real fun to start!!

Cousin Katherine was all pooped out at the end of the day!

What a fun fun day!

More party pics

Jamison getting involved in present opening.

Aunt Angela and Brooklyn Cousin Katherine

Jamison wanting some photo shoot time as well!

Princess PARTAY!!!

Due to popular demand, and by request, our little princess wanted a princess party.

Here is our princess. Cinderella dress, a princess crown, earrings, makeup and all!

Here is our princess' Princess Cake.

Homemade by mom! And it was well worth all the work!!
She had practiced blowing out her candles many times!

Brooklyn was so excited about her cake, she asked to have cake BEFORE opening presents.

(Another time when I asked if she was my child!)

She once again, "was beautiful"! And she really was princess for the day!

Birthday girl

Brooklyn is now 3! Brooklyn started off celebrating by taking cupcakes to school. Then she got a special "Birthday Pizza"-a personal pan with Olives only! She even got to blow out the candle in her pizza!!


After dinner she got to open a quick present. A princess doll that was on her wish list! Cinderella!!

We then made a special trip to the ice cream place where we got to make our own concoctions and enjoyed our treats outside.

I think Brooklyn had a great birthday!!

After ice cream we made it back to the house for a short play on the swing set, and then a few more presents. Happy 3rd Birthday Brooklyn!!! We love you!

Can we play outside?

Money spent for new swing set: Too Much!

Hours spent putting new swing set together: Too Many!

Seeing the kids reactions, hearing how excited they were, watching them play for hours with smiles on their faces: PRICELESS!!!

Brooklyn in action....she asks to go outside on the swingset EVERYnight, and could swing for hours!

I see many hours and hours on this swingset in our future!! So much fun!

TOO FUNNY!

This was way too cute not to share!! He was laughing harder than I had ever seen him....

....all just becuase Brooklyn was bouncing a ball! He sure thought it was funny!

And it sure was fun to watch!!

B-R-O-O-K-L-Y-N

We worked on this for all of one day before she got it down. There is also a "fast version" where she cheers, but we will have to re-shoot that footage-Mommy accidentally deleted it!

So proud of her for learning how to spell her name!!

Boy oh BOY!

This guy is into everything! But he is too cute to get mad at!

This is the same little guy sporting his Yankee T-shirt that Grandpa Iowa gave him. Although baseball season is just starting, and the shirt doesn't mean much to him- His Great Grandpa Schnepel is smiling down on him seeing him where it. Actually he has probably gotten quite a few laughs watching this little guy....as well as all the others that watch down on us!

This is what our house is looking like these days.... CHILD-PROOFED!!!! Thanks to little guy!

Aunt JULIE!

Aunt Julie came to visit for a weekend. We LOVE having her come visit!

Notice in each picture that Jamison has socks in his hands. He LOVES carrying socks around! He crawls around with them, sometimes puts them in his mouth, they are just the right size for him to carry around! So much for toys, hand over the socks!!!