Uniqueley Me

We thought we were all finished with Brookie as the National American Miss National Princess Queen but as the national office told us, "Once your a national winner, you will never really be finished."

The girl scouts of America put on a program called Uniqueley Me a few weekends ago. They contacted the NAM office and requested that Brooke be a guest of honor. So we squeezed it into our weekend and I am so glad we did. It was a great experience for Brookie. The other two guest of honors were Miss United States and Miss Reno/Tahoe. They took over the mall for a day and it was all about how every girl is unique and special in her own way and can accomplish anything. There were about 35 different booths and vendors set up for the girls to walk around to and learn how to do different things, try out new stuff, get lessons ect. About 1500 girls, ages 5-20 from the Reno area attended. Brooke and the two other queens were in their regular clothes and talked about the process and preparation to participate in a pageant. Then at the end of the day they "transformed" into their formal dresses and walked a runway. It was a great day and a super neat event for girls. Brooke was even on the news. I totally missed it because they came when I had gone to change Kaylee Nicole! But I did see it on the news that night and it was cute.They didn't tell us she was going to have to be prepared for an interview or to speak to the entire group or anything but Brooke obviously didn't need any prep. She did an awesome job. She's a pro!

Lot's of posing for pictures!

During her 1/2 hour lunch break we walked around to some of the different booths. Here she is learning to do the Irish river dance.

Learning the cha cha

Answereing questions from the audience...I would have been scared to death but like I said...Brookie is a pro!

Jessie's Got Talent!

Capital Christian School had their annual talent show and Jessie decided she wanted to play the piano. She played Yankee Doddle and did a fabulous job! She got a month of piano lessons in her stocking from Santa and has decided she really likes it! Here is a video. The quality isn't very good. I left our good video camera in Idaho with Cody because he used it to do a video for Christine of her wedding. This is taken with an old camera and I was trying to juggle Kaylee Nicole while videoing. Just imagine it in focus and with no static noises. She was SUPER CUTE! I love her little curtsy at the end. Everyone is laughing in the beginning because the seat was really high and Jessie was trying hard to climb up into it and so the MC came over and lifted her up into the seat. We are so proud of our talented Jessie Pie!

Brent was on camera duty and he did a great job. He is starting to really impress me with his picture taking.

This is Jessie being helped into her seat.
Flawless! She could actually play it without the book but insisted she needed it.

They served ice cream sundaes at "halftime" (as Brookie referred to it).

Jessie is giving Kaylee Nicole a taste.

Kaylee Nicole REALLY liked her taste. This is her yelling at Brent for another taste. Yes, she was YELLING! Notice her little fists.
Jessie with some of her friends. This is her "hurry up and take the picture" smile. They set up a bouncehouse with a huge slide for before and after the show and Jessie was sure she was going to miss a turn.

Jessie

Brookie

Braden

Even Kaylee Nicole had a little turn.

Kaylee Nicole loves her daddy!

Brooke's Art Project

Pinion Hills had their reading and art night and I went...with 6 kids! (Melissa had her tonsils taken out and Brent had a golf tournament.) It was a crazy night but the kids were really good and we had a great time. Good job Brookie. We are very proud of you.

Brookie's art project. A sloth!Savanna, Brookie, Braden, Jessie, MakennaThey had a kareoke machine set up in the library. The girls loved it and sang their hearts out!Singing to HSM2

4 babies in our bed...

One of our favorite things each day is when the kids pile into our bed for morning snuggling! (Yes, that is a bump on Kaylee Nicole's head...more on that later.) Jessie, Braden, Kaylee Nicole and Brookie

Easter Day

What a wonderful Easter weekend with family we don't see very often. Silly Easter bunny totally forgot all the Easter goodies, including baskets! Good thing for Aunt Toni and RiteAid. The Easter bunny did manage to find us at Burns, OR, and hid those Easter baskets really well. Good thing we had some really good lookers!

Jessie's basketBrookie's basketBraden's basket...a new racecarKaylee Nicole's basket with a yummy chew bracelet!

Braden "helping" Austin fix the PS2.
Brookie helping shovel dog poop. What a big helper!

Carli was such a big helper with Kaylee Nicole all weekend! She is going to make an excellent babysitter.

Brookie and Jessie opening all their eggs.

All the cousins from Vale, OR, drove down for Easter dinner and another Easter egg hunt.

Kaylee Nicole and Grandpa

Frosting cupcakes

Toni kept the kids busy all Easter weekend and they LOVED it! Here are some pics from the cupcake making and decorating.

Jessie and Kaylee Nicole putting in the liners for the cupcakes.

Kaylee Nicole was SOOO much help!
Brookie, Carli, Jessie and Kaylee Nicole filling the liners.

Braden frosting a blue cupcake.

The frosting part was just taking way to long for Braden.Brookie and Carli

The finished product! Yummy!!

Dyeing Easter Eggs

We had a great time dyeing Easter eggs. I've never really understood the tradition but I sure enjoy it.

Grandpa and Braden dyeing a blue egg! He only wanted blue and black eggs and I said no to a black egg so they only dyed blue ones.
Brent was too busy showing Austin card tricks to dye Easter eggs.

Good thing Grandpa was so willing!

Jessie, Brookie and Carli dyeing eggs.

Burns Baseball

We went to Burns, Oregon, for Easter weekend to visit Brent's Uncle Kevin and Aunt Toni Feist. It was a fun filled weekend. On Saturday we watched Brent's cousin, Caleb, play baseball. It was lots of fun and they won both games.

Caleb is an amazing baseball player. This is him and his dad in the background.
It was a cold and windy day. Kaylee Nicole snuggling with daddy and watching some baseball.
Braden climbing the fence. The same fence that a few minutes later he peed on and then let us know that he was peeing on the fence "just like daddy does". An embarrassing moment for mom and a proud one for dad!

Carli is the Burns baseball team bat girl. She and Brooke had such a fun weekend.

There was a huge hill that the kids had a blast rolling down and cartwheeling down. This is Jessie getting ready to roll.

My three wonderful kids all in blue.

Snuggling with Kaylee Nicole

Me and Kaylee Nicole trying to keep warm.