Merry Christmas!!

Wow!!! What a day!!! We have actually had a series of great mini-Christmases in the past few weeks with 3 of the 4 sets of grandparents, and we still have one to go! Let's catch up...

Two weeks ago we went to Nani's house and had an evening with Darren's mom, grandmother, and aunt. Brooklyn had an exciting evening of gifts and hit a major milestone - pulling to stand at the couch for the first time!!

The next day we had dinner and did a little shopping with Darren's dad at the Partridge Creek mall. We had dinner at Brio after watching the Imagine Christmas play at church. Grandpa gave Brooke a super sweet rocking chair, but we did a video of her first sitting in it and I haven't taken any actual digital pictures yet ... those will come as soon as we get home. (I was a total picture slacker that night...sorry!!)

And then there was today.... lots of family, lots of gifts, and lots of excitement for a little girl! Brooklyn did well today, despite a few periods of fussiness because (as we found out the other day), she is cutting 4 teeth on the top!! (Sorry, Ella!) At any rate, she had fun with all the family, and I think overall she had a fairly prosperous day!!

That may be just a bit of an understatement! :) I don't know if you can tell, but this is the first grandbaby/great-grandbaby and this family is excited about having a little one around again!!

This was first thing this morning. We had to get up and see what Santa brought....

Opening her stocking...

She got her first apron so she can start cooking with Mimi.

Who needs a rocking horse when you can have a rocking butterfly?

Brutus getting in on the action.

Brooklyn and her great-Mamaw.

Some of the grandkids - we don't look related at all!!

My mom and lovely sister!

Brooklyn and Mimi

Brooklyn and her cool shades that her Aunt Katie got her.

My sister is very talented and this is a picture that she painted for Brooklyn. Awesome!!

THE SPOILS!!!!! Good thing we brought a U-Haul!!

Oh...happy day!

9 months old!!

Brooklyn Marie is 9 months old today!! This has been a big week for her so far! She has started crawling on her hands and knees, instead of "army-crawling" everywhere, and she is starting to use toys and furniture to pull herself up on her knees. She is clapping her hands and sticking her tongue out on cue. She has started eating Cheerios and bits and pieces of crackers, bread, and turkey lunch meat. Poor Darren is in California this week and is so bummed that he is missing everything - but we'll have plenty of new tricks to show him when he gets home!

I had to give her a book to look at so she would sit still enough to get a good picture comparison to the bear.

See what I mean?

She sneezed right in the middle of this picture!! :)

Here are a few more pictures of her playing.

Santa and the Henry Ford Museum

Yesterday we went to the Henry Ford Museum to see Santa Claus for the first time. Afterwards, we wondered around the museum to various exhibits. We had lunch at the Weinermobile Cafe and went to an exhibit that had costumes from different movies, such as Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Batman, and Ghostbusters. That is where we made her superhero mask and had her picture taken in front of the green screen! While Darren and I enjoyed the museum, at the end of the day, Brooke's favorite part was the plastic bag from the gift shop! :)

Catch up!!

Sorry I've been such a lazy blogger lately. Here are a few of my favorite pics from the last few weeks.

Brooklyn watching out the front door at one of the first snowfalls of the season and then trying on one of her new winter hats.

Brooklyn with her daddy in front of some of the Christmas decorations at Somerset mall. We're going to see Santa this weekend so look for pictures to follow.

Brooklyn with her Nani (great-grandmother) at Thanksgiving.

"No more kisses, please...thank you!"

Some cute bath pics from Nana's house.

Brooklyn met her cousin, Logan, for the first time, the day after Thanksgiving. We are so excited to have Darren's cousin, Chad, and his wife, Darnell, living in Michigan now!

I sat Brooklyn down on the floor tonight with her sippy cup, and she just looked so big, I couldn't help but take a few quick pictures. I can't believe how fast she's growing. Part of me can't wait to see the next thing she can do, and the other half of me wishes she would stay the way she is now forever! We sure do love this little munchkin!!