Marlee's new bookcase

Marlee got a new bookcase for her room and she loves it!  She loves books (which makes my heart smile) and now when we play in her room...the first thing she does is head straight to the bookcase.  She looks at the books on the shelves, pulls books out, climbs on the bookcase, and we sit and read lots of books daily.  I can tell that this bookcase was a good investment and I am so excited that she loves it so much!

Baths and bubbles

Marlee took took her first bubble bath tonight and boy did she love it!  She loved playing with the bubbles and even put her face down in them trying to eat them.  She looked like Santa Claus with them all over her face...I wished I had gotten a picture of that.  I did get some cute pictures though.  Bath time is so much fun and I see lots of bubble baths in Marlee's future!

One Year Check-Up with Dr. LaRue

Marlee's Pediatrician is Dr. LaRue, which we love...she is not too fond of him right now but I know that will change once she gets bigger and realizes that he is helping her and loves her.  He is so sweet and really cares for his patients.  Marlee has seen him several times throughout this year for shots, ear infections, tonsillitis, and a sinus infection. So, when she hears his voice she starts screaming!  She does not stop screaming until we leave the building.  She gets so upset (big alligator tears and her whole head is wet from sweat) especially when he holds her down...I hate to see her so upset which makes me as much of a basket case as she is. I hope once she gets bigger, going to the doctor will get easier and not so tragic. 

Anyways, when Marlee was born she weighed 7 pounds, 1 ounce and was 20 inches long...at her 1 year check-up she weighs 19 pounds and 2 ounces and is 29 1/4 inches long.  She has grown perfectly and Dr. LaRue was very pleased with her overall health.  We are so blessed with such a sweet, happy, and healthy baby girl...God is Good! :)

Marlee with Dr. LaRue right after she was born.

Our precious one year old! :)

Guess who is taking steps???

On Sunday afternoon, GiGi came over to visit us.  She was playing with Marlee and just stood her up and said "walk to me"...well, to our amazement...she took about 3 steps towards her!  Bear, GiGi, and I all witnessed this!  We could not believe it!  We are all so excited!  I ran and got the video camera but Marlee didn't want to take steps then.  :(  She has continued to take steps (up to 4) and now will stand up on her own holding on to nothing and take some steps.  I think our sweet baby girl will be walking SOON!  I don't know if we are ready for her to walk...I want my baby to stay little and something about her walking makes her seems so grown up to me.  But, I know that she will always be "Mommy's Baby" no matter how big she is! :)

I caught this picture of Marlee in action taking steps towards GiGi :)

 

We got our Christmas Tree

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas :) Bear took us to pick out our Christmas tree down at Severts in Sebring today.  GiGi came with us too to get her tree as well.  We always get a real tree and it's so much fun to pick out, decorate, and smell throughout this special season. They had some beautiful trees and Bear had our Christmas tree picked out within just a few minutes of being there.  It is so pretty and we are so excited to have it in our home.  Marlee loved looking at all the trees and thought they were pretty neat to touch too.  I love Christmas time...so bring on the decorating, fun activities, and the reason for the season!

Our sweet family picking out our Christmas tree.

GiGi and Marlee picking out GiGi and Papa's tree.

Marlee with a tree just about her size.

Our beautiful tree...now it's time to decorate it :)  Let the fun begin!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today and everyday, we are so thankful for all the many blessings in our lives. Especially the blessing of Marlee, our family, friends, our health, home, and the list continues.  We are so blessed! We started our Thanksgiving morning out by watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. We then headed to Sebring to have lunch with Bear's family (Mammy, Pappy, Nene, Pepa, Aunt Mollie, and Uncle Steve :)...we missed having Bonny, Jared, Brooker, Mary Kate, Bo, Leslie, Rylie, and Baxlee with us this year :(.  We had a lovely lunch and really enjoyed just sitting around being together and talking.  Lastly,we joined my whole family and Mammy and Pappy at the pasture for Thanksgiving dinner.  Dinner was delicious and we had a fun evening of being outdoors around a beautiful fire with the ones we love so much!  We have had an awesome day of being with family and celebrating Marlee's 2nd Thanksgiving! 

Marlee watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade :)

Celebrating Marlee's 2nd Thanksgiving :)

Papa, GiGi, Marlee, Mammy, and Pappy...Marlee is a blessed little girl to have such wonderful grandparents!

Marlee checking out the cows

The centerpieces GiGi made for Thanksgiving dinner :)

November BUNCO...GO GATORS!!!

Tonight, Bonny and I hosted the November BUNCO and our theme was team spirit.  Well, it was definitely a house divided between the Gators and the Seminoles and in my opinion the Gator Girls were dressed much prettier in their blue and orange colors tonight. :) We had a very fun night of playing BUNCO, snacked on some yummy tailgating food, and laughed lots!  Marlee stayed with Mammy, Pappy, and Uncle Jared and played with Brooker and Mary Kate and joined us girls later in the evening!  She loves getting to play with her sweet cousins while Mommy plays BUNCO with her girlfriends. GO GATORS...beat those Seminoles this weekend in the big game!

Marlee's Birthday Present from Aunt Bonny, Uncle Jared, Brooker, and Mary Kate

Marlee was so excited this afternoon when Aunt Bonny, Uncle Jared, Brooker, and Mary Kate surprised her with her fun birthday present from them.  They got her a pink and purple push around buggie!  She loves it and smiles from ear to ear when I push her around in it! 
Thanks Aunt Bonny, Uncle Jared, Brooker, and Mary Kate...I couldn't be happier with my present :) Love, Mar Mar

Anniversary Trip

Bear and I celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary today on November 22, 2011 and we just arrived back from a fun anniversary getaway!  Each year we go on a trip to celebrate our anniversary and we alternate who plans the trip.  Well, this year it was my turn to plan the getaway.  I decided we would go down to Captiva Island to South Seas Resort. We had never been there before, so we were both excited to go.  It was special to take Marlee with us to celebrate our anniversary too.  We stayed busy the whole time on this trip because South Seas Resort has so many activities to offer. I would definitely recommend it, especially for people with kids.  We played in the fun pools, spent lots of time at the beach, went bike riding, shopping, walked around looking at all the big yachts, ate very good, and enjoyed just being together as our special family of three.  I have lots of pictures from our trip...enjoy :)  Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband...it has been an amazing 3 years and cheers to many more years together!

When we arrived in Captiva, we had lunch at RC Otter's...it was very yummy!

Marlee loved cooling off in the pool!

Daddy and Marlee swimming together :)

What Marlee thought of the helmet she had to wear on the bike :(

Marlee figured out quickly how to take her helmet off and once it was off, she enjoyed her bike ride. :)

Marlee loved sliding down the slide :)

Marlee loved playing with the beach sand.

My loves watching the sunset! I love this picture of them! :)

I caught her...eating sand!!!

Our Anniversary dinner at The Bubble Room...YUMMY!!! :)

Marlee always sits in a restaurant high chair like this...one leg in and one leg out :) 

Marlee is like her Mommy and Daddy and likes red velvet cake!

Marlee loved crawling on the beach!

We had lunch at The Island Cow before heading home :)

Sunday afternoon with Papa

This afternoon Bear and I took Marlee out to my parents pasture to spend some time with Papa (my Dad).  Marlee loves being outside, riding the buggy, and looking at the cows out at the pasture.  Papa and Marlee have so much fun together and she always leaves with dirt from head to toe, but I wouldn't have it any other way! :)

We love you Papa! :)

Emerson's 2nd Birthday Party

This afternoon we attended Emerson's 2nd birthday party!  It was a carnival theme and her Mommy did a great job with incorporating that theme into everything!  It was precious!  There were tons of games for the kids to play with tickets and prizes, a bounce house, a guessing game, face painting, popcorn, cotton candy, corn dogs, hot dogs, chips, and cupcakes decorated with yellow and white marshmallows on top to look like popcorn!  It was all just too cute!  Marlee enjoyed playing some of the games...but most of all enjoyed crawling around, watching all the kids, and playing in the sand box.  Thanks for inviting us Emerson to your fun birthday party, we had a blast! We love you sweet girl!

Playing the ping pong toss :)

Emerson and Marlee eating cheetos...their favorite! :)

 Playing the football toss with Daddy :)

Heagan and Marlee sporting their new cool glasses :)

Marlee having fun playing with the Mega Blocks!

Marlee loved the sand box!

Happy Birthday Emerson!  Your party was so much fun!

Brannan's Baby Shower

My best friend, Brannan is having a sweet baby girl (Auburn), due January 3rd and today her sisters hosted a baby shower for her.  Marlee, GiGi (my mom), and I attended  and showered Brannan and Auburn with lots of love and a few special gifts :)  Her sisters did a really good job on all the PINK decorations and yummy food.  We had a fun morning visiting with friends and Marlee can't wait to meet her new friend Auburn!

Daddy's Home

Daddy's home from his seven day hunting trip and we are happy girls!  We missed him. :( Marlee was very excited when Daddy got home and reached straight out for him.  Daddy's girl :)...I am sure in a couple of years she will be going on one of those hunting trips with Daddy.

Dinner with Big Granny

When Bear is out of town, Marlee and I usually catch up with my grandma one evening, Marlee's Great Grandmother, who we call Big Granny (she is really big...haha...you will see this in the picture...we have just always called her that because my great grandmother, her mother, was Little Granny) and go out to dinner with her. Marlee loves Big Granny and Big Granny is very fond of Marlee too! Sweet memories :)

Butter Baby

Marlee and I were in the kitchen and I was cooking dinner..she was playing with some toys.  I went and opened the refrigerator to get some sour cream out and left it open since I would be putting it right back.  Well, Miss Marlee decided that she would crawl over to the refrigerator and help herself to the butter.  She got the container out, opened it all by herself and went to eating it!  I knew that she liked butter because in restaurants she likes it on bread that I will give her to chew on...but I didn't know how much she liked butter.  Paula Deen would be so proud of this butter baby!

Gator Girl

Our sweet Marlee is a TRUE Gator Girl...she still thinks they are # 1 even though they are having a tough football season!  We bleed blue and orange in the Brooker household!  :)

Going for a ride on Grandma's John Deere buggy

I take Marlee over to my Grandparents house about once a week to visit to with them.  Marlee loves going to Grandma's and playing with her toys and I love the yummy lunch she always fixes me :)  Most of all though, Marlee loves going for a ride with Grandma on her John Deere Gator.  Grandma even bought Marlee some boots to wear on the buggy.  Marlee's cousin Easton is usually there when we go and he loves buggy riding too.  We usually ride through the groves, visit the pecan tree, and check the train track for Thomas the Train.  Such fun times and fun memories...thank you Grandma for always being such a fun Grandma!!! :)

TAYLOR SWIFT

Marlee LOVES and I mean LOVES Taylor Swift!  Whenever she hears her voice, she stops anything she is doing and crawls to the TV to watch her.  It really is amazing...I started picking up on it about six months ago and couldn't believe it!  I would tell people and not that they didn't believe me...but you know...maybe didn't fully believe me...until they saw it with their own eyes.  She just hears Taylor's voice and is captivated!  Well, for Marlee's birthday...her GiGi surprised her with Taylor Swift concert tickets!!!  Who would have thought that Taylor Swift would be coming to Tampa to the St, Pete Times Forum to preform on Marlee's birthday weekend!  We were so excited!!!  We knew Marlee would love the concert but we didn't know how long we would stay...you know a 1 year old can get bored with stuff pretty quickly. We hung out inside by the food vendors while the warm up acts were on and let Marlee crawl around.  My friend, Cristy was at the concert too and brought her daughter and visited with us while we were all waiting for Taylor to preform.  Well, at 8:31 p.m. we went to our seats and got ready for Taylor!  We had amazing seats!!!  We were so close...and Marlee could really see everything, which was perfect!  Taylor sang from 8:31 p.m. - 10:45 p.m. and Marlee was engaged the whole entire time!  We never left our seats!  She would dance and clap and watch...everyone around us was commenting on how they couldn't believe how into the concert she was. Taylor just won "Entertainer of the Year" and I can see why...she puts on a fabulous show!  Thank you GiGi for such a wonderful birthday present!

Marlee in her DIVA Taylor outfit!

Watching the concert!

We were so close...it was awesome!

There was a big screen right to the side of us and Marlee would watch it from time to time!

Marlee dancing!

Taylor preforming Marlee's favorite song...Mean

Still dancing!

Marlee had her first taste of pizza at the concert!

Clapping for Taylor!

Her stage was beautiful!

Taylor flying over the audience!