Basically Brooks

I am so happy to inform you that so far so good when it comes to our New Years Resolutions! I am really proud of ourselves! We have done excellent with not going out to eat. Since the beginning of the year we have actually gone out to eat 1 time. We went to Ruby Tuesdays with a great couple. We still ate pretty healthy, even though I splurged and ate some fries. I did not feel good after that so in the future, I may just stick to a salad or another healthier side item. When we were in TX a few weeks ago, Kyle's sister Karen's mother in law did bring dinner to us one night....Olive Garden and one other day while we were there we had another dinner from a cafe that we love down there. But I'd say that three dinners not made by us is pretty good for the first month, plus it's hard to not eat out when you are traveling. I've been taking salads to school every day and I truly love them! I try to make them exciting by using different toppings and low cal/fat free ...

The stomach virus entered the Brooks home for the first time in a very long time, and it took on the ladies of the house last weekend. I seriously do not know where I would have been without my husband! Let me give you a rundown of our sickly weekend. (Read with caution, I've tried not to give too many details!) It all started on Thursday. I picked Ava up from school, and her teacher let me know that she just didn't know if Ava felt very well. I knew she was snotty that morning and figured it was the start of another sinus infection. I took her home, we played, ate, gave her a bath, and we put her to bed at her normal time. We were all sleeping soundly til we heard her coughing and crying at around 3:30 Friday morning. We both ran to her room and saw her laying there, looking pitiful, with throw up all around her and on her. She's never thrown up before, so it made me really sad. I had one moment of gagging, and then Kyle reminded me that I can not do that, and we...

Weird title, huh? Well, last week we loaded up the van and went to Nashville for a day of fun! We started off our morning grabbing a quick breakfast at McDonald's (which I planned to get this.....) But ended up getting this... and this.... and because I gave up diet cokes last the week before.... I got this to drink instead... I know, I know.....heart attack in a sack! I love bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches and it was just begging me to order it, so I did. And I regretted it to the last crumb. And still do. After a short drive down I-65 we were in Nashville, and our first stop was my all time favorite store...Ross. I was super sad because everything was sooo picked over. However, as I was surveying the goodies in the kitchen aisle, I found this little treasure for only six bucks! Isn't it awesome?!? At the bottom you put your lettuce and toppings, then comes the ice pack to keep everything nice and cold. In the lid there is a special container that holds 4 tbsps of salad ...

Wow! I can not believe that 2010 has come and gone and we are now welcoming a brand new year! Time really does fly! We rang in the new year with some of our most special friends! Our small group! Boy, I don't know where we'd be without them! We had a great night! We had a potluck of Italian food, salad, and dessert! We finished off the night by playing games like Things, Scribblish, and your good old fashioned Charades! It was a blast, but I'm not gonna lie...I missed putting Ava to bed and it was terribly hard to stay up that late, but still....so much fun! Kyle and I are really excited about making some positive changes in our lives this year! He hates making resolutions and normally never does, but this year is the exception! Here are our resolutions! Rebecca's Resolutions 1. Say so long to diet cokes and any other type of soda. 2. Continue exercising a minimum of 3 times per week. Kyle' Resolutions 1. Be more honest (not that he lies or anything, but...

I love to send out personalized cards each year at Christmastime and this year there is no exception! This year, Shutterfly has given me 50 free cards because I am a blogger, and all I have to do is to tell you about all the great deals you can find on this awesome website, so here goes! I started using Shutterfly right after Ava was born. The pictures we had taken at the hospital gave us a gift card to use with Shutterfly, and when we ordered a second batch we got another gift card as well! On top of all that, we got a third gift card from registering at Target. Add it all up and that made $30 in gift cards! I used the gift cards to create and send out Ava’s birth announcements! You can do the same by clicking on this link: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/announcements/birth-announcements?c=60401 ! There are so many unique styles to choose from! Another purchase I have made from Shutterfly in the past year was a really BIG purchase. And when I say BIG, I don’t mean pricey…....

I can not believe that it is almost Christmas! It's pretty crazy to me that the year is coming to an end! It has been a crazy, exciting, and busy year! One thing that Kyle and I are planning to do is to sit down and make a list of all the big things that have happened this year. I hope we get around to do it so that we can reflect on all those memories! Perhaps we will share our list on our blog so you can get a glimpse of our lives this year! One thing that our family has committed to doing this Christmas season is to sit down as a family each night and do our Advent Family Devotion. This is a special time each night where we get together and light candles in our "Advent Wreath," (which is just a plate with five votive candles on it, next year we will do something more extravagant!), anyway, we get together, light a candle, and read scripture, a devotion, pray, and then sing a Christmas hymn. We have been faithful to complete our devotion each night, and I believe...

We are finally moved in to our new home! We are so happy and are loving every second so far. Except when you break the glass in a ginormous picture....and except when somehow your brand new white towels have mysterious pink splotches on them! But other than that, we are loving our new home! Monday morning we came and did the final walk through of the house and then we went and closed on it. Since then, we have been moving machines. My awesome dad helped us get all of our heavy furniture from our storage building and our super small group friends helped us get all the boxes from one house to the new house! We still have a garage full of boxes to unpack, but I think we are moving at a steady pace. In my mind I thought it could all get done in about a day, but reality hit me like a ton of bricks and I'm hoping we'll be all settled by next weekend. Ava loves her new house! She walks around from one room to another exploring. She especially loves our master bathroom and her...