Pumpkins

Natalie had a field trip to a pumpkin patch one day last week.  She talked about it endlessly beforehand. It was her very first field trip ever.  And her first trip on a school bus ever.  And she was going to get to come home with her very own pumpkin.  She was so excited!  Well, Audrey was totally bummed.  She wanted so much to go to the "bunkin batch" on a "cool bus". So after we picked Natalie up from school the day of the field trip, we stopped by a nearby pumpkin patch on the way home so Audrey could have a pumpkin patch experience, too.  Audrey's visit was a bit pricier than Natalie's.  I won't even put in print what we paid for a pumpkin at the patch around the corner.  Is is the PERFECT pumpkin, but still.  And Audrey got a little pumpkin of her own, too.

So, it's Halloween Eve and we sort of forgot to carve them.  How does a family forget to carve 3 pumpkins?  Oh well, now our front porch can transition right into Thanksgiving!

It's Official

Ash and Paul tied the knot last weekend in Sedona and it was a lovely event.  The creek side setting was beautiful, the bride and groom looked great (and happy) and the food/cake/wine/dinner conversation/dancing was awesome.  The only thing missing was Corey!  He wasn't able to take the time off to go so the girls and I travelled on our own.  That left me, the maid of honor, a bit frazzled (aka grumpy with dark circles under my eyes) but, nonetheless, excited to be a part of a special celebration.  Now I just want to make it back to this lodge WITH Corey and WITHOUT the girls.  It was so peaceful...or could have been had I not had my squealing, flower girl roomies!

The trip started with a slumber party Friday night in Phoenix with our good friends we miss so much, Patty, Alan, Ryan and Natalie.  The "Natalies" have been friends since they were Audrey's age and now they seem so grown up!  It was hard to leave them on Saturday morning but we had our wedding duties to attend to!

Saturday night was a rehearsal dinner with the whole crew...friends and families.  We were one loud bunch.

 This was the view from our hike up from our room each day to the restaurant up the hill.  Not a bad view first thing in the morning.  And not a bad workout, either.  143 steps up to breakfast, lunch and dinner!

On Sunday morning, we explored the resort a little more and went down to the creek where the wedding would take place later that evening.  The girls could have played down there all day.  Mud, water, dirt, critters, sticks, rocks, boulders and more mud.  Pretty much all you need to make little Brooks girls happy.

The wedding was really lovely.  Natalie was a very thorough flower girl (she collected her dropped petals and put them back in her basket!) but Audrey was a bit of a handful.  My mom did her best to keep her quiet and content during the ceremony but she was a bit of a distraction.  At one point I was holding my bouquet, Ashley's bouquet AND Audrey while wearing very dainty high heels.  Mercy.

And the reception was a great party.  Natalie had a great time dancing and eating and dancing some more.  After a LOT of hors d'oeuvres and running around like crazy, Audrey joined the other littlest guests in a nearby cabin with a babysitter for pizza and playing.  A very nice treat to those of us with toddlers who wanted to enjoy a nice dinner!

 

It was a beautiful wedding!

Congratulations, Ashley and Paul!

First Haircut

Well, once again, we've been too busy to blog about it.  Ashley got married in Sedona last weekend (a post or two about that trip later) and we were spinning around like tops before the trip and have been in whirlwind trip recovery since returning home last Monday night.  While I'm organizing those pictures, I thought I'd post a few pictures from Audrey's first haircut. 

We've never cut her hair. I've trimmed her bangs (a lot and not well) but never have we trimmed the rest of her lovely locks. Once, after a real bang botch job I took her to a hair salon to fix the damage and she screamed so loudly it was pure misery...for everyone in the building. Hence the reason we put off a formal hair cut for another year. But it had to happen and the upcoming wedding was the perfect catalyst.

Even though I think the kiddie haircut places are waaaaayyyyy overpriced, I knew I had to take her somewhere used to screaming kids. So, off we went to Cool Cuts for Kids where the girls had the choice of sitting on a motorcycle, a rocking horse or inside a Mercedes convertible while they watched a video and got their hair cut. Because my children are direct descendants of Papa Rod, they both chose the Mercedes chair!

Well, she didn't cry at all. Not a bit. She loved it. She sat there like a little chubby cheeked cherub statue and everyone in the salon wanted to squeeze her to bits.

 I could honestly eat this kid up!  She's scrumptious.

The girls got their hair braided and topped with gold sprinkle dust (which is still clinging to Audrey's scalp more than a week later and after countless washings!) so they're totally sold on this place.  I think a big part of Audrey being so comfortable was the fact that Natalie went first and was in HEAVEN.  This girl will make beauty treatments and pampering a part of her average week some day, for sure.

Natalie said, "Mommy, this is the princess hair I've always wanted that I've been asking you to do!"

I'm not good at braiding so this hasn't happened since and Natalie is not happy about it.

Thankfully we had a BBQ later that night with our entire cul-de-sac so they were able to get a lot of mileage out of their princess hair dos!