september iphone gems

Since I am several months behind on blogging, these pictures feel ancient!  We spent a lot of time outside in September, despite the heat that Texas summers bring.  No matter the time of day, it is always hot during the summer months. This didn't stop Brooke from taking her wagon for a walk. 

Yes, she is in her pajamas, so I figured we might as well play in the sprinklers since she needed to change her clothes for the day anyways, haha.

I kept spraying her with the hose, and she started saying "it's raining pouring".  That led to her wanting my umbrella for the "rain".  The simple pleasures of being a kid :)

We took several trips to the pet store, which is still one of Brooke's favorite things to do.  On this particular occasion, she had her binoculars with her, which helped her really get a good look at those fish.

We took "aqua baby", which was one of my childhood dolls, to the park to experience the slide.

We met up with Kevin's uncle Roy and family one evening for dinner, and the girls had fun feeding the Koi fish in the pond. Roy's daughter Kaitlyn now lives in Oklahoma, so we met at a half-way point for dinner.

I braided Brooke's hair for the first time into two little braids, and I think she felt pretty cute. I cannot believe how quickly she is growing up though.  I love having a little girl and I love her girly tendencies (i.e.: needing a purse for church).

This Sunday evening bike ride was perfection.  I felt kinda silly riding a bike with my big pregnant belly, but it was such a nice evening to be out enjoying the sunset and feeding the ducks.

Auntie Mel Mel bought Brooke some Minnie sunglasses, which Brooke LOVES.  It must have been a pretty bright day because she needed TWO pairs of sunglasses.  This picture cracks me up because it looks like she is shielding her face from the paparazzi.  Maybe that's how she feels, haha!

We went with our play group to Lego Land, which was a complete disappointment in my opinion.  Brooke's favorite thing about the whole place was the karaoke stage, haha!  She was too little for the play place and for the lego cars.  I was pretty irritated that they wouldn't let her ride the cars because not a single person was in that area...and she is as tall as most 4 year olds (which was the requirement).  But I did get some pretty cute videos of her singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" to her audience.

That evening, we had our ward beach bash at Joe Pool Lake, which Kevin was in charge of.  It was a pretty low-key evening with hot dogs, chips, sides, and desserts.  We didn't have any boats this year, so the kids just played on the shore and in the lake.

I let Brooke splash in the water, and when she got out, I realized that I hadn't put a swim diaper on her!  Her diaper was beyond heavy and totally falling off, thus the exposed bum crack. I had to take a picture though because I was laughing my head off.

We went shopping one morning and Brooke was totally into these "boys" at Gap.  She held their hands and wanted me to take a picture :)

This is what it looks like when your little girl wants to help you bake.  She likes to measure out the dry ingredients, which equals a huge mess.  But not as messy as when she wants to crack the eggs :)

And she discovered a love of corn on the cob.  She ate two ears, and was requesting more!

My girl is pretty silly sometimes, and is always doing goofy poses and such at the park.  Maybe I need to put her in gymnastics or something.

And her all time favorite thing might be riding the carousel.  Several malls in the area have carousels, and we get a monthly Ad-pages that has a coupon for a free ride at the Parks in Arlington.  Each carousel ride is $2, so the coupon is awesome!  Brooke always talks about buying tickets though, so when I informed her that we had a coupon, she was not happy.  She wanted a ticket, not a coupon, haha.  I need to teach her about saving money and being a smart consumer.

And there we are again at the pet store.  This time she insisted on holding that pet carrier as we wandered through the store.  The month seemed busy, and I remember that I was just trying to savor the last few months of one-on-one time with my girl.  She really has such a fun personality and I cherish the adorable conversations I have with her every day. She truly makes my heart so so happy.