A beautiful fall day in Richmond

Yesterday was a reallybeautiful day - 75 degrees and sunny - and we all spent the afternoon outside. Brooke is such a big girl now that she wants to help with everything, so we put her to work! She helped wash the car and rake the leaves in the yard - here's a couple of shots of her "doing her chores".















After we finished raking the leaves into a pile, Brooke had a great time jumping into the pile!

Happy Halloween!

Brooke really enjoyed the Halloween season this year. Some of the highlights of her Halloween are:

* Picking out pumpkins and helping carve them. Brooke liked scooping out the guts and helping her Mom design the faces.

* A trip to Nona and Grandpa's house where she got to go to a pumpkin patch and go on a hay ride - and get spoiled by her grandparents!



* Dressing up and Trick or Treating. Brooke was a kitty cat this year, and loved walking around and saying "MEOW!" She went trick-or-treating to about 10 houses this year, and really had a fun time. After each house, Leslie would ask her if she was ready to go home and help me hand out the candy, and Brooke would say "No Mommy, I need more chocolate."

Apple Picking

A couple of weekends ago, we took Brooke to Carter Mt. Orchard just outside of Charlottesville. She really liked hiking around the orchard and picking apples. We had a lot of fun watching Brooke explore and really enjoyed seeing the beautiful fall scenery.

10/1 - It is fall here now, and the mums in front of our house are blooming. They grew huge this year and are taller than Brooke!

Daddy's Birthday

Brooke and Leslie surprised me with a trip to Charlottesville for my Birthday to visit UVA. They took me to lunch at Michie Tavern, which is right next to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. Brooke loved drinking from the pewter cups and thought all of the ladies dressed up in colonial dresses were pretty neat.

Brooke in her pajamas

Lately Brooke has been really loving her pajamas that she has. This picture is one of her favorite pairs - her "cars jammies". We also liked this picture of her since it shows Brooke with her hair down - it is getting really long even though Leslie has cut it a couple of times.

Brooke's new raincoat

This is just a random shot of Brooke. She was really excited to go to school in her new raincoat.

Seattle Summer Trip!

We made our annual summer trip out to Seattle again this August. We had beautiful weather and Brooke enjoyed seeing everyone. She was able to go to the zoo, Edmonds Beach, Pike Place Market, swimming, for a boat ride, to Great Grandma's Birthday party, and had a great time doing it all.

We had great rocking chairs on the front deck of our place in the Outerbanks and Brooke loved to "rocka-rocka" in them.

Here we are at Jockey's Ridge - a huge sand dune in the Kitty Hawk, NC (on the Outer Banks). The dunes were incredible and we had a fun time hiking around.

Brooke loved looking for shells on the beach and splashing around in the tide pools.

Beach Vacation!

Brooke loved the Outer Banks and had a great time playing in the sand and water. Here are several pictures of our trip.

Here is Brooke with her cool shades!

summertime!

Summer is here and Brooke is enjoying her pool on the back deck. She also helps me water the plants with her lady bug watering can. She is quite the helper!

Easter 2006

Hunting for eggs!!

Easter 2006

Here is Brooke in her Easter dress.

Easter 2006

Brooke had lots of fun helping Nona in the kitchen. She helped decorate a bunny cake.

Wheelbarrow!!!

Corey likes to give Brooke rides in the wheelbarrow and she has a ball!

Helping in the yard

Brooke loves to play outside and help out with the yard work!

Husky Fever!

Brooke wore this Husky outfit (compliments of Auntie Angie and Auntie Kristi) while rooting for the Dawgs during March madness. Too cute!

We got Brooke a tricycle and she is anxious to learn how to ride it. Her legs are *almost* long enough to make pedaling a reality. Until then, she likes to be pushed around on it.

Here Brooke is with her UVA shirt on, sitting on the couch reading a book.

Brooke likes to try on her pink cowboy boots (they almost fit!), but gets frustrated when they won't stay on.