Brookelyn's Ballet Recital

Last night was Brookelyn's FIRST ballet recital. The girls performed at Scottish Rite Hospital, a Children's Hospital in downtown Dallas. Keep in mind that I am filming her using the little camera (so I can post the video), the regular video camera, and holding Braedyn in the Hotsling (while also trying to wrestle the camera away from him) all at once. So, no commments about the poor videography! She did pretty well for her first try--at least she didn't cry or run off the stage!

DADA

Braedyn is getting TOO big!

Dance Party!

Here are Brookelyn and Braedyn dancing to Brookelyn's favorite singer, Beyonce!

Jenna's Visit!

Auntie Jenna came to visit (sorry this post is a little belated, but worth the wait)! On the way to pick her up, Brookelyn decided she HAD to potty immediately--and we knew she was serious as she had an accident at the photo place the day before (much to Uncle David's amazement) right on their entryway carpet. So, Daddy pulled over off the highway and Uncle David was the watchman while Brookelyn "took care of business". She couldn't beieve Daddy let her potty in the grass. Wow, we have come a long way--David didn't know the kind of crazy fun he was going to have with an old married couple and two young kids! But all was well as we drove away to pick up Auntie J.

Brookelyn and Braedyn had a great time with Jenna! Brookelyn is still talking about playing with all of Jenna's fun make-up and purse goodies, and Braedyn misses her snuggly shoulder (he apologizes for the slobber)! We hope she can come back again soon. Maybe we will have mastered the art of caring for two kids a little better by then!

Too Cute!

So maybe only Honey and Aunt Barby Gayle will truly appreciate this, but here is Brookelyn saying a little poem that my mom taught me when I was about Brookelyn's age.

And, not to be outdone, here is Braedyn just loving the fact that he is not wearing that stinky helmet anymore (actually, he could probably care less, but I sure am glad)!

As you can see, he has recently found his tounge and just LOVES sticking it out. Actually, it has been a good thing--tonight he said, DADA a couple of times. We aren't counting it just yet, but Allen is proud nonetheless!

The Helmet is OFF!

Today Braedyn got his helmet OFF! Here he is at the doctor in his LAST helmet photo:

And here is big sis watching over her "spikey" before the doctor came in.We went to see the doctor this morning at 9:30 and got to see our technition, Lisa, pretty quickly. After stripping Braedyn down, they did another set of the 3-D photos. Braedyn put the cute little panty hose back on-Brookelyn could not stop laughing at how funny he looked-and posed on the podium. Here are the before and after pictures:

In the picture above you can see how flat the back of his head was before, and how much more filled out he is now. Look especially from his neck up the back. You can also see how much more head he has straight back from his ear in the second picture.In this picture you can see how much more he has filled out on the back right side. He is much more symmetrical back there. Also look how much more oval his head is on the right, where on the left he is much more round. This helps show how much his forehead has filled out too.

Then, we waited a little longer before going in for the "mug shot" pictures. The doctor will be emailing those to me in the next two weeks, so once I have them I will post them. But, she did share Braedyn's "numbers" with me. The short story is that they measure the ratio of three different places on his head. A normal measurement is between 1-2. Braedyn's first measurement was initially 11, but now is 1. That is an incredible change! His second measurement was initially 8, but now is 1. And, his final measurement was initially 3, but now is 1. So, bottom line, the helmet did what is was supposed to and he is even more perfect than before! Here is Braedyn's first helmet free picture--he wanted to rock the hoodie!

Uncle David Comes to Visit

Uncle David came for a visit, and I think Brookelyn has found a life long playmate! He was totally amazing with her! David played Legos with her after the babies got their Christmas pictures taken (read the funny story below about that), cooked in her Dora kitchen, took her in and out of her carseat (at her request), held her hand across the streets, and yes, even WIPED HER NOSE! I laughed and told him when he first arrived that Allen and I were going to leave the kids with him and go to dinner, but by the time he left I think that he would have been fine if we left! Here are a couple of pictures from Uncle David's visit:

Isn't he a natural? All you single ladies out there or married ladies with single friends, TAKE NOTE!

*Funny Christmas Picture Story:

Allen was carrying Braedyn as we walked into the studio to begin taking Braedyn and Brookelyn's Christmas pictures. The photographer turned to Allen and asked him if Braedyn was sitting up yet, and he looked at her, pointed at me, and said, "You will have to ask her; I am not sure." The photographer looked at Allen and said, "Oh. Are you the friend?" Poor Daddy!

Black Friday!

On Friday morning Allen and I woke up at 4 am (actually Braedyn already had woken us up at 3:30 am), got the kids in the car, and headed to Walmart. We were on a mission! However, we did not realize what we were in for. When we got to Walmart the lot was PACKED. Allen dropped me off, so I could run in and claim our list of goodies. I grabbed a cart and rushed inside. It was literally insane. People were running with their carts, grabbing stuff off the shelves, pushing, hitting my heels with the wheels of the carts, yelling, and just acting like crazed animals. However, we were able to get everything we wanted and make it out of the store with both kids in good moods.

Here is Brookelyn and Allen standing in line. Both babies were still in their PJs. What you cannot see are all the people in line both behind and in front of us!

This was just the beginning though. We stayed out until 1:30 in the afternoon! And, Brookelyn and Braedyn were angels! Neither fussed or complained. We think this might become a Bates Family tradition!

Brookelyn's Thanksgiving Music Program

Brookelyn's school put on a music program before Thanksgiving Break. It was absolutely adorable! Here's Braedyn and I waiting to see our little star perform.

And, here is Brookelyn performing "Miss Suzie". I know the quality isn't very good (sorry), but she is the fourth from the left.

Her next big performance is her ballet recital on December 11th. Stay tuned...

2 going on 20

Brookelyn has been quite the little stinker lately! The other day she asked me to throw something in the trash for her. I looked at her, told her no, and made the mistake of asking if her arm was broken. Well, since then, almost every time I ask her to do something (regardless of whether it actually involves her arm) she will look at me and tell me no, her arm is broken. Of course she has the cutest little look on her michevious face as she says it. However, after the fifteenth time, it has begun to lose its cuteness! Case in point, this morning (after yet another sleepless night) Braedyn was wailing in his crib, so I asked Brookelyn to sing to him. She started in on the ABC's, the Brookelyn rendition that usually lasts at least 10 minutes, but after only 30 seconds, she stopped and turned to me and said, "Mommy I am out of gas." Now, I know Allen and I have never said that before, so who knows where she heard that? When I gave her a crazy look, she proceeded to then tell me that her arm was broken. Now why that prevents her from singing I am not exactly sure, but if I have learned anything over the past couple of months, I have learned to pick my battles, so I didn't push her. Later on this morning we were having our daily dance-a-thon before taking her to school. Yes, Brookelyn loves to dance and will even request a certain artist. Her current favorites are Beyonce, Pink, and Rhianna. And yes, she can tell you who is singing when their songs come on! Anyway, while we were dancing, I told her, "Look, mommy can do a pase (a ballet move)." She flipped her little blown out hair around, looked and me, and told me, "No mommy! We only do pases on Thursday at ballet!" Well, who knew she what days of the week her activities were on?!