Happy 4th Birthday Mia!

 I say it every year, but man, has it really been four years since she graced us with her presence??!

Our lives were forever changed the moment we met her. It will always be mind boggling the impact a tiny little human can have in such a short time. She did a lot of work while she was here and we know she is still at it. As most any one who may still be reading this blog knows, today kicks off our Mia Challenge and it will conclude November 21st. We feel it somewhat of our parental duty to never let her sweet memory fade, and this is how we like to do it:) There is no obligation to report back, but definately like hearing from you-we just encourage you spread a little love here or there in a simple manner, just as Mia did while she was here.

Happy joy spreading and we would especially like to wish our Mia May a happy happy birthday-we love with everything we have!!

this guy

rocks. he really does. he can def give you a run for your money, but man is he a good helper!

jake LOVES watching out for his sister and mommy and is well on his

way to being a "firefighter just like my daddy".

some fun pics i came across of the boy...

this is a clothespin game we got for a random white elephant gift...he loves it!

this guy's imagination+his love to create=some fun projects...

the robot. all him. has become a staple in our daily play. good job jake!

always a new tower, garage, castle, etc, etc or here-a light house...

notice there is actually a light in there!

early spring came the phenomenon of getting himself dressed. such a big help in the morning!

usually i just set him out clothes the night before but every now and again he will pick out his own attire and i must admit-he has pretty good taste.....

played his first season of soccer this spring. he was pretty"shy" to begin with, but what do yo expect for a kid whose first game he has ever seen or heard of was his own? (oops! little more prior exposure helps-note to self for lucy's first season:)) by the end of the season he was really getting into it! so fun to watch

 he could eat s'mores for breakfast, lunch and dinner and be a happy camper.

he loves them so much we started just roasting mallows over 

a candle so we wouldn't 

have to build a fire every time he had a hankerin:)

seriously has to be one of the hardest workers i know. mix that with his crafty imagination

and he can come up with any contraption to get the job done!

even if it is just a "castle for his princess(lucy)"

no matter is going on, you can always count on one thing for sure...

there is NEVER a dull moment when jake is 

around. and we sure love him for that!

what tha what tha.

it has been way too long. i cringe every time i think of all of the moments i may be forgetting about these insanely cute kids all because i am just too lazy to blog it. don't really know if i should try to back track all of it or just start fresh, dunno. either way, here goes nothin...

mia may

first of all, i haven't even announced the kick-off of the Mia Challenge 2012. Same thing, just a new year. just a few weeks left, so get ready to share!:)

next, halloween.

gotta love pumpkins. carving, painting, the smell of them lit up....mmm, 

or especially when lucy gets a hold of them....

she would go and gather all the little pumpkins from around the porch (good sized task for a wee one)

and line them up in a row.

we usually put them back around the porch (for the decor) just to find them back in a lucy row. 

or fancy design like this one....

i am so mad at myself for not taking a pic of every time it happened. easily half a dozen. 

 it was real fun to come out the front door to find a new 

(hard) work of art by the goose.

jake changed his mind about 14,000 times on what he wanted to be this year. that is, all the week of.

 at one point i had cut up some of my sheets because he was positive he just had to be a ghost. after much careful contiplating, he decided that for the ward party, he needed to be spiderman....

and lucy just had to be boo...

 for the day of, we went to slc to trick-or treat with the fam.

love trick-or-treating! these kids are sooo cute!!

i just can't help but gush over how cute it is to see little munchkins

toddling around from house to house and giggling over their loot...

pretty sure we stopped in between every other house so they could admire it.

12 days of christmas: day 4

my super cool helper and i passed around some of grandma's special recipe.  wishing people a merry christmas with this boy is so fun. what a guy. 

"helped take care of my in-laws sick dog while they were out of town."

egghhh. now that is kindness.

12 days of christmas: day 3

started wrapping some presents. thought i might have a helper, but ended up just having his moral support. :) i think he is watching cake boss. does anybody else just love that show?

"my hubby and i have planned not to give each other gifts this year, we also talked to our siblings and told them that we aren't going to be a part of the sibling exchange because we are going to be picking up a family for sub-for-santa this year."

so sweet! 

12 days of christmas: day 2

peppermint chip cookies! 

what is christmas without peppermint? 

we love it around here. 

these bad boys sadly didn't last long.

"i watched at recess as one (elementary) student made sure that another was not being left out. it made me think of mia and her challenge."

12 days of christmas: day 1

santa came to the wellsville fire station. jake had been just itching to let him know he really wants 

a rocket for christmas. he was so cute when he walked in- with the sweetest most excited voice ever said "hhhhi santa!" and gave him a huge hug. we were happy with the photo. no screaming. lucy was mesmorized my mrs claus' ....?? i don't know, but she sure liked her.

we love santa! (and mrs claus)

and for the mia challenge...

"an elderly neighbor brought us a bunch of tomatoes that she couldn't use.  we made spaghetti sauce with them for many meals and returned them to her for her freeze."

love it.

**disclaimer***we don't share these thoughts to exploit, brag, or even belittle other acts of kindness. we keep any personal details out, so unless it was you that did it, you likely don't know who did it. we purely post these because we are in awe of what our little mia has inspired. no matter the size, cost or effort that was put forth. please don't take this as anything other than a pure love and appreciation for your support.***

happy birthday lucy!

i just can't believe our goose is one! it seems like yesterday when we first met her,

smelled her and nibbled on her for the first time...

she has been a pure joy to have around. we all adore her to pieces. her sweetness, her gorilla walk, her cuddles, her climbing, her "hidad", her willingness to give up ANYthing for you, her giggles, even her obsession with the toilet,

her squaks, her pats on the back, her pretty little toes, her sweet voice, her sprout,

all of it. just irresistable.

we had a fun little party she thought the sparkler was crazy.

she ate the cake like a lady and didn't hardly even get dirty.

she of course loved all the wrapping paper, but probably loved trying to try on all her new

clothes all by herself even better. (she put shirts, pants and even shoes on her head.

she really thought she was accomplishing something:))

happy birthday goose,

we could not have dreamed up a more perfect addition to our little family.

we love you lucy girl!

thanks to court and her sweet app for whipping up the pics. :)

i saw my witch dr

and she told me what to do....no but she did totally agree

that a little bit

of this

is just what we would need for today. and that is just what we are doing!

right about here...

much better than being at home in the snow, reliving things we don't need to be.

instead we are soaking up some rays and reflecting

on all that we are grateful for.

one of which is our mia girl, not a minute goes by that we don't think about how

sweet she is and how much she means to us.

we pray everyday that she can get

all the work done that she needs to, that she knows how much she is

loved and cheered on from here, and then we kindly ask our

Father in Heaven to please give her a

hug and a kiss from

us.

we are so excited to hear how mia's birthday challenge affected your

neck of the woods.

you can email your simple acts of joy to:

blucero@hotmail.com

or

brookieandadam@gmail.com

we love you all...

thanks for your support:)

chopped

before

during

after

a good foot or so that will hopefully make

some sweet girl feel like a girl again....

thanks for the inspiration, mia!

just a few more days until our mia challenge is closed...are you ready?

dear halloween,

i sure do love you and all the fun you bring.

such as...

cute kids in costume,

one rocket man,

one baby bumble bee,

pumpkin carving,

glowing pumpkins,

the smell of glowing pumpkins (especially while trick-or-treating),

good game of whack-a-deacon (what good sports:)),

and some good witches brew

all so delightful. good while it lasted. but please, halloween, please give me my

child back. i will be returning the sugar monster

via broomstick. until next year.

thank you kindly,

brooke