Princess Brooke

Brooke is in a MAJOR princess phase right now, so we were not surprised when she requested a princess cake. If you don't know, this is Belle.....

My mom has been waiting for the day to make this cake!!! She just knew she would have a granddaughter somehow....it was beautiful and tasted great. Most of all, Brooke LOVED it! 

3 Generations! 

Auntie A jumping in to pose with the birthday girl

All the girls wore princess dresses and waited for the arrival of Princess Belle...

She's here!!! The girls were instantly mesmerized by her and she did a wonderful job entertaining everyone for an hour! 

Brooke called her by her name and the girls only wanted her to help them put their crowns on.....the moms were no longer existent!

Belle did face painting or hand painting and Brooke chose a rainbow...of course, she added glitter to get the full princess effect!

Sitting on Belle's lap was almost like sitting on Santa's lap.....Brooke was so overwhelmed with awe that she just couldn't look at the camera or hear what people were saying to her! 

Heres' the group....and yes, we had 3 boys in attendance and they were the brave knights! 

Digging in to the cake and ice cream!

This was Brooke's fist real bday party because she was sick last year, so we canceled and the year before, we kept in simple. It was so fun and just the beginning of many more to come! 

Skating Celebration!

We had a whirlwind weekend of birthday celebrations a few weeks ago! First off.....Drew turning 8!!!
We had Gma, Gpa, Nana, Papa, Auntie A, and Cooper all here to help celebrate. Here are the two breakfast chefs who brought their waffle maker and made us belgian waffles every morning!!

Drew wanted to have a skating party which sounded really fun! Gotta tighten up those laces to get ready to roll!

A little silly game before the cake....who can keep the ice cream balanced on their head the longest? If you lose, you have to stand up and do the chicken dance. Once the kids heard that, quite a few ice creams slid off heads....it seems there are a few clowns in the group!

Jackson brought Will....they are concentrating, but Jackson managed a smile.

Nana was on Cooper duty so Auntie A could skate....Drew would stop in every once and a while to check in on Coops.

Of my three kids, my sister was there when Drew was born and stayed with me in the hospital one night. We even had a scare with him where Amanda had to grab the emergency cord because we thought he was choking. Look at him now.....we love him so much!

My mom would stand with Cooper sitting on the wall and he would just watch all the kids skate by and loved it!

Brooke wanted to get out there and try to skate so we got one of these walker things....they are awesome! The only problem is her skates were so heavy, she could barely keep them upright! I was sweating trying to get her around the rink just one time!

Drew wanted an ice cream cake...yum!

Partial family pic.....

We are so proud of Drew and cannot believe he is 8! He makes us laugh constantly and charms the socks off anyone he meets. What a special boy God created!
Happy Birthday Drew!

Thanksgiving on the high sea!

My dad surprised the boys and took them out on the ocean for some fishing on Thanksgiving morning. It was one they will never forget and I got to tag along!

Jackson caught the first one of the day....here he his fighting for it!

And what did he catch?? I can't remember, but it was beautiful!

Drew had some luck...

Both the boys with their twin fish!

And here are all of them. The fish were so unlike the ones we catch in Florida. They were so much prettier and the colors were amazing!

For Thanksgiving dinner, we headed to the waterfront and ate a traditional turkey dinner. It was all the same foods, you're just eating it with the ocean breezes in your hair!

Some Thanksgiving family shots.....

Nana and Papa with the grands....

The next day, we ran into A LOT of the basketball players that were there for the tournament. Drew had his program and his pen ready to get some autographs!

Don't know who this is, but Drew does...

Here, Drew spotted the whole Tennessee team. He makes his moves slowly and plans his attack while following them for a bit.

Success!!! The whole team signs his program and get a kick out of him being a KU fan! He loved it!

A Hawaiian Thanksgiving!

This Thanksgiving was a little different for us because we spent it in Hawaii! We spent the first part at the house in Hana and then the second part at a resort in Maui. The best of both worlds!!! Much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving and when you are in the the middle of the beauty that God created, well....it's a pretty wonderful place to give thanks!

Arriving in Hana...in our backyard!

Off to our favorite roadside stand for lunch....then on to our favorite banana bread stand. 

Just chillin'

We love to find the fruits that drop from the trees on the property. There are lemons, limes, avocados, and the big one that Brooke is holding.....we think it is called bread fruit. We cut into it and it was a citrus, but not ripe! It's so cool to see the food that God provides! 

We took a walk and the boys had to jump on these vines......Tarzan! 

We walked thru our friend, Moses', garden....

Another day.....we didn't intend to go to the beach, but we ended up there and the boys started a foot race....pretty soon, they were throwing sand at each other and were in the ocean. 

Then, we turn around and see Miss Brooke doing "angels in the sand. She had little granules of sand all over her  body for days!! 

It's a tough life....

The boys love to go down to the rocks and see if a wave will drench them. They missed their partner, Uncle Ben this year....

Our friend Moses. He was the world record holder for the most dead weight lifted...just until a few years ago. He showed the boys his gym and his equipment is all rusty, there's dogs and cats everywhere.....it's really old school!

We arrived at the Westin in Maui for the Maui Classic, which our favorite team, the Jayhawks were playing in!! 

We ran into the coach for Kansas in the lobby....Bill Self and Drew! 

Another day, we snorkeled Molokini Island...it was a snorkel cruise, so they had all the gear for you. It was so cool and Jackson really took to it. We saw manta rays, sea turtles, and tons of amazing fish! 

Getting ready to jump in! 

Brooke stayed on the boat and looked cute :)

We rotated who went to the games because we only had 2 tickets to each game. Jason and Drew got the first round.....they are pumped up! 

This day was the championship game that Kansas was in. The boys and Jason got to go to this one and here are all the kids decked out in their gear. 

We are their #1 fans!!!! 

Nana got the boys tattoos for their faces and RockChalk beads! 

Jason and the boys....the cool thing about this tournament was that it was so small.  The gym was like a high school sized gym and you could just see everything because you were so close. Unfortunately, KU lost to Duke, but what an experience! Stay tuned for Hawaii, part 2.