First Movie!

Took the kids to their first movie! They were really excited ... For the popcorn.

After being asked at least 20x for popcorn, Dad finally went. The kids polished off a bag in minutes, and Ryan started hunting for more on the theater floor (he may or may not have eaten some).

Overall they did pretty well. Ryan asked to go home about 1/2 way through and licked the back of two seats, but that's pretty good for him. Brooke watched the whole movie, but I'm not sure she actually liked it (about 1/2 way she did ask Dad if we had the movie at home ... which was her way of verifying that it was actually necessary to stay).  She has requested a princess movie next time ;)

A Birthday Celebration

Started the day greeted by streamers and a banner ... And the presentation of chocolate covered strawberries the kids made.  They then ate my strawberries, which is pretty much how things work around here.

I let Brooke decide what the celebration plans were (since the kids were the most excited about having a birthday to celebrate) and she suggested ...

The Rainforest Cafe

I had a sub-par meal and an overpriced volcano cake for dessert.  Everyone kept wishing Ryan happy birthday.  Te kids had a blast and thought it was the best night ever ... And because of that, it was a pretty great birthday ;)

Santa Wish List

Brooke is already prepping for Christmas and has just asked Santa (via song) for the following:

A rose
A butterfly
And a real fishy pet

Ryan's Dentist Visit

Ryan was really nervous about his 6mo checkup at the dentist ... But it was a quick and painless visit and his confidence has been boosted.

He said "I did a good job!" and proudly showed off his clean teeth :)

Strawberry Picking

This year we were excited to go strawberry picking for the first time.  Both of the kids were sure they knew where the very best berries were.  Of course, they were in total opposite directions.

 It turned out to be perfect for the kids - strawberry bushes are really low to the ground.  It's a bit more challenging for the taller people though, for the exact same reason :)

Everyone found a big, juicy berry and did a taste test.  The berries passed with flying colors.  Ryan wasnt positive - so he did about 100 taste tests and averaged his results to finally agree ... YUM!

 The kids were very proud, it seemed as if we had picked quite a bit.  However, after making a crisp at night, we actually were pretty much out of berries!  Lucky we did so much tasting during our outing...

Big Sis Influence