One weekend, Brooke & Papa went outside for an adventure and came back with a bucket full of ears of corn. They shelled all the corn off the ears and had a huge pile to feed the deer and other animals who might enjoy it. Papa told Brooke many stories and gave her educational information about producing corn for so many things. I know she enjoyed it because she told this story of "the adventure with Papa" on a writing assignment for school. Fun!

Papa wrote out Brooke's name with the corn and also gave her examples of what the corn is used for, like cornmeal (in the background).

Birthday Pictures

Brooke's Birthday...Seven Years Old!

I can't believe Brooke is 7! The time has flown by. Brooke was very happy to turn 7 finally - although the day of her birthday she announced she doesn't feel any older! Ha! When she got home from school we hid in the house and yelled 'surprise' (by Mom, Dad, Papa, Grandma & Grandpa)...so she was surprised! We opened up gifts and then went to eat out at a Mexican place (she wanted them to sing happy birthday to her in spanish). We all went to the Zoo later to see the pretty Christmas light display, see Santa and ride the carousel. It was all fun!

Brooke & classmates, and a neighbor baby, Liam.



Brooke with neighbors and some goofy monsters as well.

Halloween...Trick or Treats

We survived Halloween and yes, having many treats around. What are we going to do with 205 pieces of Halloween candy? Well, first Brooke took inventory and she then asked me to help her create a candy store. We sorted & counted each piece and put a price on it. The real idea is for us to know how much of each kind there is so we know if someone(uh-hum...Dad)is getting into the candy. Believe it or not the candy store is still pretty full.

Annual Pumpkin Patch

What in the world? (Brooke's idea to see what Dad used to look like with blond hair!)

Halloween

Well, what should Brooke be for Halloween? She tried on all these costumes the other day...I'm thinking she will go with Hannah Montana.

Brooke & Nicole at the 'American Idol' Concert.

Brooke really enjoyed having Papa, Uncle Rick and her cousin Evan around this weekend.

She entertained them at times with her crazy energy, we enjoyed a campfire, played 'mexican train' and they even sat and watched the Hannah Montana movie with Brooke which she thought was really cool. (I didn't think they would watch the entire movie with her but they did - to funny!) Rick now knows about the entire Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus world - 'best of both worlds'! :) We lost Evan 10 minutes into the movie to watching more football games in the basement. Ha!

OSU vs. NAVY season opener 2009

Rick & Evan (my brother and nephew from Georgia) came to Columbus for the OSU football opener this past weekend. They toured the OSU campus as Evan is a senior this year and he wanted to look at Ohio State University as a possibility along with other colleges in Georgia.

My Dad also went on the tour of the campus - so Rick said that was really cool to have three generations walking around on the beautiful OSU campus.

Sure glad OSU hung in there and won the game against Navy!!!

BACK TO SCHOOL - 1st Grade

Brooke on the first day of school and in her room displaying the items she bought on her 'before school shopping day'. As far as school, there are a lot of adjustments going on with all new kids in her class, new teacher, new roles...she is not favorable so far - but am sure that will change - hopefully soon.

Brooke helping Papa pick green beans.
Beets are next.

A few years ago Keith
'planted the seed' to have my Dad possibly start a vegetable garden again so that Brooke could participate in the growing of vegetables....well, my Dad ended up planting all the seeds and has harvested so many vegetables and I think the only participating we are doing is in eating all of them. Brooke did help plant some seeds one year and we have all helped make strawberry jam too! Nothing like fresh veggies and home-made food!

Ohio State Fair

We first took Brooke to the fair when she was two and she has looked forward going in the summer ever since. She loves the rides, games, animals and, of course, the 'fair' food. Her absolute favorite thing to do is the Giant Yellow Slide...she probably climbed up those many steps 15 times. Wow, Keith & I were tired after just a few trips and we were taking turns going with her and she went up by herself too. Whew...that was a long, hot day!

Summer coming to a close...Brooke had lots of fun!

Brooke and her friends: Abigail, Daniel & Mark.

Brooke and Nicole posing in the sun.

One morning Brooke announced we were all going to a 'Luau' - in the living room. Mom & Dad's partici-

pation a must!

I love this picture!

'Two peas in a pod'.

Yeah....Brooke riding her bike!

In my own time.....

Brooke got over two fears this summer - 'swimming' and 'riding a bike'. One thing I know for sure is that she is very strong-willed and doesn't like to be pushed into anything until she is ready. It didn't matter how much Mom or Dad pushed, begged, pleaded for her to at least try....she wasn't going to do it until she was good and ready. Now at 6 years old she took off on both this summer and really enjoying both....she really likes her razor scooter as well. I have included some videos of these events.

Reality #2 - 'Things are not always what they seem'.

Brooke was invited (by our neighbor) to go to the Zoo to be in a 'show taping' with Jack Hanna. They needed a few kids in the background for this taping and so it sounded like a fun opportunity for the kids to meet and interact with Jack while at their favorite place, the Columbus Zoo. They were all excited the morning of this adventure. The group met at the executive offices and all the kids got to ride on a special golf cart through the zoo grounds over to the 'petting zoo animal barn'. The kids were asked/coached to be good, listen, 'don't look at the camera', and have fun with Jack. They all waited in a holding area for all the camera crew and Jack to get there and get set up for the shooting. A director told the kids where to stand and that they would be playing/petting some small animals. About an hour later, the taping was about to start - of course, by now the kids were restless, hot, tired and thirsty (what do you expect with 5 and 6 year olds?) When they said "o.k. - get ready" - the zoo employees started throwing food out into the courtyard (where the kids were placed) about 20 goats came running towards the kids to eat all the food...some of the boys had food in their hands. Well, Brooke didn't want any part of the rather large goats eating out of her hands or even touching her at all. She quickly stepped backward into the fence as fear set in. Brooke tried to hang in there, but 5 minutes later with the goats in a huge, continuous feeding frenzy, she and her friend, Abigail ended up in tears and wanted out. The boys, on the other hand, were competing who could get and give the most food to the goats. Where was Jack Hanna during all of this? He was on the 'outside' of the fence, taping his show - repeating many 'takes' and never interacting with the kids. We did have an opportunity to get a picture of Jack Hanna with the kids when it was all over.
Epilogue: As the kids made their way back to the golf cart, it was pulling away with Jack and his crew...the kids were devastated, saying "hey, that's our cart" - they were 'bummed' they couldn't ride in it again as we walked back. So, yes, things aren't always as they seem. When we got home, Brooke said that was the worst trip to the Zoo ever!

Reality #1 - 'Things are not always what they seem'

Brooke has been talking about 'sleepovers' for a year now and when she got an invite for a sleepover the other day - she was thrilled! With much anticipation, she planned and talked about it for a week. We talked about what it might be like and she had packed what she would take many days ahead. The night had come and I was looking forward to some quiet solitude (Keith was away as well) - I had just started to watch a movie when I got a call around 10:00 p.m. and the other Mom said Brooke was having a hard time...but just 'hearing my voice' wasn't going to work. A half hour later, she was safely back in her own bed, with her Mom nearby. She announced to me sleepily, "I'm just to young for sleepovers - I'll have to wait until I'm 7..... or 8.

Brooke's Dance Recital

Brooke has taken Ballet/tap for a few years now and at the end of the year they always have a Dance Recital. Well, this year she was able to be in the 'Big Show' which was based on 'The Wizard of Oz' and 'the Wicked'. Her group were the 'bluebirds' in the show as Dorothy sang...'Somewhere over the Rainbow'. It was really cute, HOWEVER, it lasted almost 3 hours long and Brooke's dance number lasted about 3 minutes. There were 100 girls of all age groups 5 to 25 in this production. I heard rumblings about mom's not being happy about the length (me included) and even more complaining from the Dad's who had missed out on a beautiful, sunny afternoon of being at the final round of the Muirfield Golf tournament taking place in Dublin, Ohio. We saw Dad's in agony, grandparents nodding off etc. It was a very long day....but the kids had a great time up on stage and they did a good job. Brooke had fun so yes, it was worth the wait, the money, and the time spent on dance classes all year long....even though she complained about going to class every Monday at 10:00 a.m. It is up to Brooke whether she wants to do it all again next year...time will tell.

Wow! Brooke graduated from Kindergarten in June.

Getting started on a Blog

I wish I started this long ago.....looking forward to updating this for family and friends to see what we are up to from time to time.

Creating a family 'Blog' finally.

I don't know why I didn't start doing doing a Blog a while ago...time, I guess. I'm hoping this will actually save some time as I send so many individual emails and pictures to many...so should be fun and will keep all informed.

We recently got back from a family reunion in Dover the July 4th weekend. We had fun and Brooke had a great weekend and didn't want it to end.

Now the start of a new week. Brooke had a few play dates with friends, swim lessons and has become more confident on her bike (without training wheels...which was a real breakthrough for her...she was/is very cautious and fearful.)