The Brooker Family: December 2011

12/31/2011

New Years Eve

Tonight we celebrated New Years Eve with our good friends Matt, Summer, and Emerson. We cooked out and enjoyed a quiet evening at their house. Emerson and Marlee had a blast playing together and it was so good to catch up with Summer. Matt and Bear enjoyed guy time as well. We celebrated New Years Eve with them last year and now are making it our tradition to celebrate this special day together. We could tell we were all getting old when at 10:30, we were all tired. We headed home and Marlee fell asleep about 11:00 p.m., but Bear and I stayed awake to watch the ball drop and kiss at midnight! We also kissed our sweet sleeping baby at midnight! :) 2011 was a fantastic year for us...we were so blessed throughout the year and we made lots of memories that we will cherish forever! We are now looking forward to 2012!

My sweet family :)

Marlee riding Emerson's cool bike :)

Sweet girls :)

Marlee doing a little grocery shopping :)

These girls were having so much fun together!

Tea Party time!

Bath time fun! :)

SURPRISE!!! Happy 5th Birthday Rylie!

Our precious niece, Rylie will turn 5 on January 8th but today we celebrated a little early with a "SURPRISE" party! Rylie loves surprise parties and couldn't wait to one day have one of her own. Well, her sweet Mommy planned it all out and we were all at the their lake house today to surprise Ry Ry when she walked through the door. When we all yelled "SURPRISE", she started waving and smiling and then passing out hugs to everyone. It was so sweet :) Rylie is really into Barbie right now, so every little detail was perfect for the perfect Barbie party as well. We all had so much fun celebrating sweet Rylie Jean!

Rylie as she walked in the door :) Her face is so precious!

Ry Ry in her adraoble Barbie outfit Aunt Bonny made her and her Barbie cake made by the Cake Diva Mandy!

Mammy and Marlee (Marlee wore her bright pink outfit in honor of Barbie) :)

Marlee hanging out with her Uncle Bo :)

Rylie with her Barbie Puppy Water Park that Marlee gave her :)

Rylie giving Marlee a hug :)

Bonny and I with our sweet girls dressed in their "pink" for the Barbie party :)

12/30/2011

Highlands Hammock Cousin Play Date

This morning Leslie, Bonny, and I took our sweet babies to Highlands Hammock for a cousin play date! The weather was beautiful and a perfect day to be at the Hammock. Mary Kate and Marlee had a fun time swinging together while Brooker, Rylie, and Baxlee had fun playing on the slides. Lunchtime came around and we had a picnic. Marlee's first picnic! :) We then let the kids go for a bike and car ride (meaning the big kids rode their bikes and the babies rode in their cool pink cars). Baxlee did not want to ride her bike, she wanted to push Marlee in her car. It was so sweet. :) Lastly, we took the kids to the CatWalk! This was Marlee's first time on the Cat Walk! We had a lot of fun telling stories of how Uncle Bo fell off the CatWalk when he was little and spotting a cute little turtle. The old, giant trees made for great picture opportunities as well! We had a fun time playing together in the outdoors. We are blessed to have this park so close to us to all enjoy together. :)

Mary Kate and Marlee swinging together (literally) :)

Baxlee pushing Marlee :)

Sweet cousins :)

Marlee and I on the CatWalk!

My little dare devil hanging her feet over the ledge wanting so bad to get in the water!

Chillin' in the tree :)

Marlee loved this tree :)

Walking the trails in highlands Hammock was so much fun!

SIL'S and our sweet babies :)

12/29/2011

Christmas with Aunt Shari and SIS :)

This afternoon, we celebrated Christmas with Aunt Shari and SIS (Kaleigh). We have all been so close since Kaleigh was a little baby. I babysat her and her twin brother when they were little. Kaleigh is now 22 and in college down in Fort Myers so we don't see her as much as we would like to :(, so we treasure the time we do get to spend with her and sweet Aunt Shari. We had so much fun exchanging gifts and catching up. We love you two so much!!! :)

12/25/2011

Marlee is officially walking...EVERYWHERE!!!

Marlee has been taking steps since November 27th, but today she has put all those steps together to become a full fledged WALKER!!! She is walking everywhere now! Let the race begin!!! :)

Christmas Day

After church, we headed out to Martie and Lukey's house to celebrate Christmas with all the Mosiers. We all gathered and visited, ate, laughed, and ate more. Next, it was time to open presents. The kids all got a gift from Nene and Pepa as well as Aunt Mollie. They all had fun opening up their presents. The bigger kids get Hess trucks and cars from Nene and Pepa and Marlee really liked those trucks and cars. Her sweet cousin, Brooker shared his with her for a little while and she had so much fun playing with it. Marlee, Mary Kate, and Margaret Nell all got a cute stuffed Santa Claus from Nene and Pepa. Aunt Mollie got Marlee an adorable purse with treasures inside. She loved it! Now, it was time for the boys to do their gift exchange. They got to choose their gift this year according to the last letter in their name...a little tricky to see who picked their gift when. The gift was to be a $25.00 gift. Bear decided he would wrap $26.00 cash up in a shirt box as his gift. It was a hit and stolen 3 times among the guys until it was finally frozen. :) Bear received a gift from Jared which was fish batter, hush puppy batter, and a better breader from Bass Pro. A perfect gift for us because we do eat fried fish a lot. Thank you Jared! :) Lastly, it was the girls turn to exchange gifts. We were to bring a $25.00 gift of something that started with our initials. So, my "LB" gift was "Lovely Brighton" earrings in a "little box". Heidi first chose my gift but Leslie stole them from her and ended up with them. They were very pretty in Leslie's ears and I hope she enjoys them. I received a "Metal Bucket" to hang on the wall from Biltmore Inspirations from Martie Brooker (my MIL). I love it...it will go perfectly in my house. Thanks MIL for the wonderful present! Once all the Mosier family left, it was time for the Brooker family to do our Christmas. The boys (Bear, Bo, and Jared) all got pistols for Christmas this year from Lukey...boy were they excited!!! The girls were all spoiled by Martie with an adorable clutch purse, Brighton earrings and bracelet, Moroccan oil for our hair, air fresheners for our cars, a book, etc... Marlee received an adorable book called "Tickel Monster"and a sock money as well as some money for her savings account from Mammy and Pappy. Rylie and Baxlee gave to Marlee this year and they got her a musical toy with a storybook to go along with it, which she loves! Leslie gave to me and she gave me one of the most special gifts ever...a Jewel Kade charm with a picture of Marlee and I on it on the front and a picture of Marlee on the back of it. I LOVE IT and will treasure it! Thank you so much Leslie! Bear received a Bass Pro gift card from Jared which was perfect! Mammy and Pappy loved their gifts from us and again we are all so blessed to be a part of this special family! After presents, we all went for a ride on Jared's new ranger to look for deer. Marlee loves riding in the outdoors so she was loving the ride. She was so tired from all the excitement though that she fell asleep on the ride. Martie and Lukey prepared a yummy meal for us and it was so nice to all sit around the dinner table and enjoy a family dinner. This is what family is all about! Christmas 2011 was amazing and we are truly blessed!

The Mosier cousins with Nene (their Great-Grandmother)

Marlee loved the HESS truck and car

Marlee with her beautiful cousin Rylie

The Brooker Family

My loves :)

The Brooker Cousins :)

Baxlee and Rylie singing "Jingle Bells" :)

A tired baby after a fun Christmas day. She is sleeping just like I do with her hand over her face :)

Merry Christmas Mary Kate

I love this picture of Mary Kate and Marlee at church when they first saw each other. It looks like they are saying "Merry Christmas", "I love your pretty Christmas dress!". :) Sweet Cousins!!!

Christmas morning...Santa stopped by our house!

Merry Christmas!!! This morning we woke up to find that Santa had indeed stopped by our house! We knew he would because Marlee has been so good this year! :) He ate most of the cookies that we left for him and drank all his milk. Marlee was so excited to see all the toys that the elves had made for her. She received a puzzle, ball pit, wooden blocks, basketball/cheerleader game, bath books, hairbows, etc... Her big Santa present she already had since Santa brought her the golf cart early this year. Bear and I had so much fun opening presents with our sweet baby girl this morning. Now, its time to get ready for church and celebrate Jesus' Birthday!!! :)

Marlee checking out what Santa had eaten while at our house last night!

Marlee reading her new Peekaboo book! :)

Marlee loves to make a basket and hear the cheerleaders cheer for her!!! GO MARLEE!!!

Marlee getting her goodies out of her stocking :)

Marlee helping Gracie open up her presents :)

Marlee playing on her new "Woodland Climber"! She loves it and has so much fun sliding down the slide! :)

12/24/2011

All ready for Santa

Santa, Santa Marlee is all ready for you to come to our house. Your cookies are made, milk is ready, and the fireplace is all clean for you to slide down. Please STOP at our house! :)

Santa please STOP at my house!

Marlee checking out the yummy cookies and milk we left for Santa! :)

Christmas Eve

My family celebrated Christmas this year on Christmas Eve because my mom has to work on Christmas Day this year. We all gathered at my house for a delicious dinner that my mom made. Filet Mignon, stuffed potatoes, bacon wrapped green beans, fresh hot rolls, and pecan pie. A tradition that we started 3 years ago was to each write a special message on the family tablecloth and we eat our Christmas dinner on it afterwards. Throughout the year, my mom goes over where we have written in pencil our message and embroiderers it. The tablecloth is so neat and an amazing tradition. I love looking at what everyone has written in the past years. This tablecloth is going to be so neat to see in about 10 years :) After dinner, we all loaded up and headed to my parents house to open presents! I wished I had a picture of what my parents living room looked like with all the presents. Easton and Marlee were so excited to say the least! Easton opened up his presents first and I loved his comments about each gift. He would say "Oh my goodness", "so cool", "aww man", "I love it!", etc... Precious to say the least. Marlee had fun opening her presents as well, but really just enjoyed playing with Easton's new light up noise making car! My parents and grandparents spoiled us this year as always with lots of awesome presents. Marlee got an "Anywhere Chair", DVD players for the car, a sandbox, a climber, her first Cabbage Patch doll, a baby doll stroller, a shopping cart, lots of DVD's (including Taylor Swift's concert DVD), clothes, musical toys, frige phonics, and a Taylor Swift ornament! Bear and I got new luggage, new cookware, some beautiful canvas family photos for the house, clothes, I got jewelry and a new wallet, etc... My parents, brother, nephew, and grandparents all liked their gifts as well that we gave them, so everyone had a fabulous Christmas. We are all so blessed beyond measure and thankful for this wonderful family time.