Being Brave

So, I'm guessing the movie Brave slightly inspired our playtime today.  Here's the set up - direct from Olivia's mouth - so we are all three sisters and our mother got turned into a bear.  And we are in a tent in the woods surrounded by bear, and we don't know which one is our mother!  Yikes!

Super Summer Science - Blobs in a Bottle

Welcome to the first installment of a series I like to call "SUPER SUMMER SCIENCE"  It's really not all that scientific, it's more of just some fun "experiments for kiddos that I found on Pinterest (IheartPinterest)

So, safety first, you can't do any experiments without your official lab coat.  Trust me they look much cuter in person.

Then you got to get all your material ready.  For this experiment all you need is:

• Empty water bottles
• Water
• Cooking Oil
• Food coloring
• Alka-Seltzer tablets

Look at Juliana - she can't wait to get started!

 So you put in the water (about1/3 the bottle), then add the oil.  We talked about how water and oil will never mix.  Here is Liv testing that theory.  After she realized I was right we added the food coloring.  It sinks to the bottom with the water since it is water based.

 Juliana picked blue.  I think this is her new favorite color.

And here is Liv explaining the process.

Livi in Karate

Never did I think my little princess would like to join karate, but here we are.  Truth be know I think she was talked into it by her bff but either way, it's pretty entertaining.  Here she is sparring with Faith.  Watch out - she's got moves. She floats like a butterfly and stings like a . . . . well, here you go.

Science Museum

Just a fun afternoon at the Fort Worth Science Museum.  We were there about an hour before I realized that I hadn't taken any pictures.  So here we are exploring air and airplanes!

Here we are at the general store picking up a few items.

 I don't know what kind of natural catastrophe has just taken place, but the shelves look kind of bare:(

 Juliana did great taking steps while holding on to the shopping cart.

 Looks like Livi is ready to check out!

 Juliana wanted to do the self check out lane.

 Next stop the nursery.  Juliana was taking care of this little bundle of joy.

 She loves babies!

 and of course their is the Doc.

 Juju didn't want to give back the baby.  She got kind of attached to her.

 Livi and Faith taking off in the ambulance.

 And finally, Liv was brave enough to lay on the bed of nails!  The kid is so brave - she will try anything!

Playroom Org

I don't think it's out of the ordinary to say our playroom is a catastrophe.  I think that's what most people's playrooms are, right?  We try and try to keep things neat and tidy and well, just end up with this.

So with a little motivation from pinterest, Livi and I tackled the playroom.  We bought some cool bins and went on a sorting mission and ended up with this:

Then we tackled the book shelf - gross!

And ended up with this:

We sorted through everything and weeded out the things we had outgrown.  And we implemented a new rule.  It's the "One thing at a time" rule.  Meaning you take one thing out at a time and you can't take anything else out until the first thing is properly returned.  I know,  what a novel idea, right?  Who comes up with this stuff?  Well, I do!  And I'm happy to say that after 10 days, we are still looking good and organized!

Summer Do's

The girls decided together that they needed a new look for summer and I couldn't have agreed more.  They both had pretty long hair that was in my opinion starting to look kind of witchy. 

So we rushed over to Marta's for hair cuts! 

 Juliana is like me in that hair cuts make her sleepy, so I had to help hold her up.

 It looked so much fresher and healthier.

 Next was Livi's turn.  I couldn't believe how long her hair had gotten!

 She had her eagle eyes on Marta the whole time!

 She loved every second.

 And this is collectively how much hair was cut off!

 And the final product!

Check them out.  Juliana cut off about 3 inches to reveal this very mature little curly bob!

Liv cut off about 4 inches and at the last minute decided to go for bangs.

It looked awesome, but after more careful observation I noticed a resemblance.  What do you think?

Meet Ashley!

Meet our newest member of Team Brooks!  Ashley!!!  Here are some questions prepared by Juliana & Olivia (JO)

JO - What is your favorite color?
A - Depending on my mood, but mostly blue.

JO - What is your favorite food?
A - Chicken Nuggets

JO - What is your favorite movie?
A - Dirty Dancing

JO - What is your favorite tv show?
A - Dexter

JO - What do you like to do on the weekends?
A - Take naps
O - Ooooh.  Not me!

JO - When is your birthday?
A - January 14

JO - What secret talents do you possess?
A - I'm a good dancer

JO - What impersonations can you do?
A - I do a great impersonation of the German pigs on Shrek, also Ms. Swan and Stewart from Mad TV

JO - What is your favorite thing to play?
A - Mermaids in the pool

O - What garage do you have?
A - I don't have one

JO - What kind of doggies do you have?
A - a white Lab/Border Collie mix and a German Shepard Huskie mix

JO - What kind of cat do you have?
A - A giant one

Summer Time!

Well, summer is in full swing at the Brooks Hacienda.  And our number one favorite thing to do is . . . . . SWIMMING!  We love it.  If you remember last year Olivia officially became a swimmer!  She was swimming with no problem.  No assistance needed and she loved it.  So you can imagine my shock when this year starts and she's not that excited about swimming.  I got her to go in and she was ok with that as long as I wasn't asking her to submerge her face in the water.  Then she would freak out!  I tried the nice approach, I tried the tough love approach, I even tried bribery and NOTHING worked.  She refused to put her face in the water.  So fast forward another week and here were are.  She became ok with putting her face in the water but couldn't open her eyes under water.  No big deal right?  Well, actually kind of a big deal because it was all fine an dandy if things were where she thought they should be, but if the wall or stairs were not right where she thought they should be she'd freak out and nearly drown.  I finally got her to jump off the board, something she did last year with ease, but this year only with a floaty.  

 It was really bumming me out that she was so afraid of the water. I missed her being excited about swimming and being the brave little 3 year old she used to be. Well after weeks of praying, begging, punishing, and bribing, she finally did it!  She, on her own, decided that for Father's day she would swim with her head in the water and eyes open!  And it was that easy.  Her fears vanished! Hallelujah!  She is back to being a swimmer or rather mermaid as she likes to refer to herself as!

 

And for your viewing enjoyment, here is Liv modeling her and Juliana's new swim suits!

 

And thankfully Juju never lost her love of swimming.  This is her face after a nice afternoon in the water.

Happy Father's Day!

What can we say, Juliana and Liv pretty much have the best daddy in the whole wide world.  So the girls were more than excited to plan a special day for their dear old daddy!  We baked a cake for daddy.  This was a big deal because for those of you that know Juliana, she is in bed by 8pm and if she's not in bed, her eyes are shut wherever she is.  She will literally shut down when she is tired, no matter where she is or what she's doing.  Well, we got started on the cake a little late on Saturday.  It didn't come out of the oven until 9pm and then we had to let it cool down.  But take a look at this face.  She was wide awake and excited because she was doing it for daddy!

 Here is Juj smearing on the frosting.

 Of course Liv had to have a turn too.

 So much fun!

 And yes, check out the glasses on Liv.  Her future's so bright, she has to wear shades!  And take a look at Juliana.  This is where she is making her plan of action.

 And here is plan executed.  She really really wanted to try it!  She couldn't help it!  What was really funny is that by the time we got her hand out she had 3 fingers fully covered with cake and frosting.  So Olivia asks if she can clean of Juju's fingers.  I say sure only to look over and see her licking her fingers.  Not what I had in mind when she said "clean her fingers."

And now for the list of reasons why we love daddy so much. . . . .

1. Because we are daddy's girls!

 2. He is fun to go swimming with

3. He tickles us

4. He gives us lots of hugs and kisses

5. He reads great stories to us

 6. He carries us to bed at night

7. Sometimes he plays spooky monsters with me (from Olivia)

8. He shares his ice cream with us (from Juliana)

9. He takes us to Chuck E. Cheese sometimes

10.  He's good at playing babies with us

11.  He's always there to stand up and support us! 

12. And my favorite.  Olivia came up with this one all by herself.  She said, and I quote, "I like his smile when we do something that makes him proud of us!"

We love you daddy!