What a Christmas!

We had so much fun today with Natalie. She received so many special gifts and honestly loved all of them.
Her two big gifts were a baby doll (and, of course, all the necessary dolly paraphernalia including the stroller, high chair and cradle... at one point it looked like we'd had a miniature baby shower at our house) and a very special tricycle.

About the tricycle...Corey went to Michigan a few weeks ago for the funeral of a very dear family friend and when he was there he found the Brooks family tricycle sitting in the barn covered in rust and missing both pedals. Well, while he was there, he decided to give it a new look and a new life so he sanded, scraped, painted and polished until it looked like new again. Thanks to Uncle John, it even has two new wood pedals! Corey put the refurbished parts in boxes, Grandma Betty shipped it to Phoenix, and Corey had the timeless Daddy experience of putting together a tricycle and discovering he was missing one critical bolt. A few trips to the hardware store and the project was complete!


I think that tricycle must feel proud and excited to have another little Brooks enjoy it!

Natalie loves her new baby doll, but at first she struggled with not being the baby that got to sit in the little high chair, ride in the little stroller and rest in the little cradle. Goldilocks had to try all of it and realize for herself that everything was just a bit too small. We were able to get a picture of her trying out the cradle...luckily the kink in her neck convinced her it was okay to just let her doll enjoy it from now on.

And a special thanks to our Christmas visitors this week. Aunt Ashley came up and spent Sunday and Monday with us and Grandma and Grandpa "C" came to town for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. Grandpa "C" is now officially "Papa", according to Natalie, and Grandma "C" is praying for a "Natalie Nickname" very soon!

Love you all so much. And thank you, everyone in Reno (and Greenville, SC), for your special gifts that arrived in the mail this week. What a lucky little girl we have!