Colton, 2 Years Old

Our little boy is 2 years old! He is such a joy. He is growing so much in personality and communicates so well. He makes us laugh and amazes us with all the things he understands and says. Here are some things about Colton at this age.

He has a love for all things transportation related. He loves cars, trucks, airplanes, and especially trains. He spent 90% of his time at the Children's museum for his birthday playing with the train table. He will hold little cars or trains in his hands and bring them everywhere and even sleep with them. He loves books about trucks and trains too so I always make sure to get a few from the library each time.

He has about 5 trains in his hands

He likes to point out bugs and lizards and frogs and tries to touch them. If there is a dead bug he will saw 'ewww gose!'. If there is one in the house he wants to be the one to try and kill it.

He is very determined to try things himself. He wants to get in his own car seat, always wants to push the close door button, wants to lock the car, push the garage button, turn lights off, put lids on, buckle up, etc. He is constantly saying 'yemme do it!' or 'yemme try!'.

He is not a big eater and is pretty picky. Dairy is his favorite food group - milk, cheese, and yogurt. He always seems to like mommy's drinks. He likes my coffee, la Croix, and protein drinks. Yemme have some!

He is like Cambry in that he likes clean hands when eating or playing.  It seems he does not mind a messy face though. One is a chocolate larabar and one is mud. Take a guess on which is which.

He likes to play outside and always wants to get into daddy's fishing lures. He carries lures around (without hooks obviously) for long periods of time. Greg took him fishing recently and he had a good time.

I am so glad I get to have him home with me during the day. He is a trooper riding along to all the places - school drop offs and pick ups, errands, and all the therapies. When Lainey does therapy on Tuesday/Thursday we play at the park and he loves seeing the turtles. He will spend 20 minutes finding tiny pebbles and dropping them off the bridge into the water to watch the turtles and fish swim around them.

He has the best run! I don't know if we have fully captured it on video but it makes us both smile so big. He kind of does this cute little bounce and runs with high knees up and his arms out. It is adorable.

He likes songs but has very specific requests. He loves the Sing soundtrack like his sisters, but also loves You Are Loved, Thunder, and some other random songs. He will sing along to You Are My Sunshine at bedtime.

This boy loves to wrestle. Greg has taught him to say 'You want a piece of this?'. He will also say 'let's wrestle!' and come charging at you.

He takes a nap each day and goes to bed between 7:30 and 8. He is a pretty good sleeper but occasionally wakes up requesting you to rock him. He still lays his head on my shoulder most times after getting him up in the morning or from nap. He has done this since he was a baby and I love it.

Happy birthday, Colton Brooks! We love you so much!

Lainey, 4 Years Old

This sweet girl is 4 years old! Our cuddly girl with long lashes and little ringlets at the end of her long hair is getting so big. We had a fun day celebrating her (and Colton!), which I'll post about separately.

Lainey's favorite thing to play with is probably (still) dolls. She loves to take care of baby dolls and feed them or dress them. She loves dollhouse dolls too and makes conversations although we can't always understand them. She likes animals, especially dogs, and really all stuffed animals. She loves Peppa Pig and Minnie and Anna and Elsa. She likes dressing up and putting on accessories.

Lainey loves to sing and listen to music. She loves the Sing soundtrack, especially Shake it Off. She will often request songs and likes to get silly and dance. She loves it when we all hold hands and do ring around the rosies super fast.

Lainey enjoys playing outside, jumping on the trampoline, and riding her scooter. She can't ride a tricycle by herself yet, but she is working on it. She loves water and would gladly play in any pool, splash pad, hose, fountain, or sink when given the chance. She loves going to the park and is really good at climbing.

Lainey likes watching shows and is not too picky, unlike her brother and sister. Basically she likes most any kid show we put on.

She has really loved preschool this year. She goes to the sweetest little church preschool Monday, Wednesday, Friday 9-2, but will even ask to go on her days off. Her teachers are so very sweet and give her lots of love and attention. I love seeing pictures of her throughout her school day and the little notes from her teachers each time. She also does 3 speech therapies a week, 1 OT, and gymnastics for PT, so she is a busy girl!

Lainey has been doing gymnastics for a number of months now and is doing well with that. She has some days where she is more easily distracted or just wants to do her own thing, but she also has many great days where she follows her coach's instructions and works on her balance, strength, and coordination. 

Lainey is talking more and more and we are so proud of all the progress she has made. Her words are becoming more clear and she uses lots of phrases and short sentences.

She is still very affectionate, which we love. When she watches TV she will usually snuggle right up next to Colton. She frequently gives great hugs and snuggles, and loves to wrestle too. 

Vegetables are still not on Lainey's favorite foods list, but I guess that is true of all our kids. (Where did we go wrong??) She is decent eater otherwise, and can sometimes be found finishing left overs off her siblings' plates.  

A couple months ago we moved Lainey out of her crib (finally!) and into a twin mattress on the floor. She has done wonderfully with her new big girl bed! She loves it and has been so good about staying in bed after we say goodnight. She doesn't take a nap at school so she usually falls asleep briefly in the car picking up Cambry. On Tuesdays and Thursdays after therapy I usually drive around a little extra until Lainey and Colton fall asleep for nap and then transfer them to their beds. On days Lainey doesn't nap at all, this sometimes happens at dinner time.

We are so thankful, proud, and in love with our sweet Lainey. She cracks us up when say "show us _____ (happy, sad, mad, surprised) and she makes all the best faces. We love her snuggles and hugs. Her chin dimple is the cutest. Her love of water is so fun to watch. We love hearing her try to sing songs especially when she gets super loud like when she attempts Hallelujah.  Happy birthday, Lainey Reese!

Lake Tahoe, Party of 2

Greg and I got a chance to go on a vacation to Lake Tahoe, just the 2 of us! Greg's family was so gracious to take care of our kids for several days while we were away. The kids had been counting down the days to go to Waco. They had an absolute blast and weren't even excited when we came back. They were ready to stay longer!

I was worried it would be way too cold for this Texas gal, but the weather was beautiful. Layering was key. The mornings were very cold but by the afternoon it was quite warm. There are so many beautiful hiking trails. We did several of them while we were there. The view of the mountains and the lake and all the trees is just amazing.

Our favorite part of the trip was horseback riding. I think the last time I rode a horse was probably when I was a kid or teenager. It was really neat and of course the scenery was beautiful. We also got to see a bunch of deer on our ride.

Our next favorite thing was renting bicycles and riding along the pretty trails. I can't even remember the last time I rode a bike, but after a few minutes it felt totally comfortable.

After we returned our bikes we were driving back to the hotel and stopped by the Baked Bear. Best decision ever. They sell custom ice cream cookie sandwiches. You pick your cookies and ice-cream. Wow. Someone please open one of these in the Woodlands.

We walked around a cute little town called Truckee one day. We had lunch and did some shopping. They were having wine festival that day so it was quite crowded but still a fun time.

Our hotel was great and had a pool and a hot tub. We enjoyed relaxing in the hot tub one night even though getting out in the cold was pretty brutal. But we followed it up with s'mores by the fire pit so that made it better.

We had such a wonderful and peaceful trip. Thanks Matterns and Bryants!!

Harvey and School

I wrote this a while back but I am just getting around to posting it.


Well things have been a little different around here lately. First of all Hurricane Harvey came through and devastated so many homes and areas in Houston and the surrounding areas. We had several good friends who had flooding and are in such hard situations right now. Thankfully our house did not flood and much of the Woodlands was fine. Although there are parts of the Woodlands that flooded and it is just so sad. We have been trying to help whenever and however we can. There are so many needs right now so it is really a great time for the church to show the love of God.

While we didn't get flooding, we did get tons and tons of rain (obviously) and were out of school for more than a week. School was cancelled Friday, then the entire next week, then the next Monday was Labor Day. So Cambry finally went back on Tuesday. Greg's office was closed as well so he worked from home during that time. Many of those days we were stuck inside while it poured non stop. We were painting, building a fort, making cookies from scratch, watching movies, going on walks in the rain, and trying not to go stir crazy. Lainey's first day of school got pushed back a week and pretty much everything else was cancelled too.

Things are pretty much back to normal for us. Although for a lot of people I know they are struggling and it will take a very long time to get back to normal.

Lainey's first day of preschool went well. She did not seem nervous at all. She just walked right in and started playing with all the toys. When I walked out the door I stopped and filled out a few sign-up papers the teacher had on the door, and when I peeked back in the classroom a few minutes later Lainey had already found the play dough scissors and the sink, haha! When I picked Lainey up they had changed her clothes because apparently she got very wet in the sink. Oops. Maybe I should have mentioned she LOVES water. That classroom sink cooooould be a problem. But overall her teachers said she had a great day. I should also mention that she wanted to listen to Shake It Off on repeat the whole way to school.

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Cambry has been enjoying Kindergarten, even though she might tell you otherwise. The first few weeks were an adjustment with the long hours and going to school everyday. But lately she has been telling me the days feel short! She is in a great mood when I pick her up from school and if I don't ask too many questions she will usually volunteer information about her day.

Colton gets to hang with me during the week. It is fun having him as my little buddy all to myself on the days Lainey is in school, although I know he misses his sisters. Poor guy has to spend a lot of time each week in the car with all the school drop offs, pick ups, therapies, and extra curricular activities. He is a champ though. I love this age. He is so funny and says so many things. He has lots of opinions and communicates really well.

Our schedule this year is so different than last year with 1 kid in elementary and 1 in preschool. Our mornings start early and I feel like we are rushing all over the city some days but I am enjoying it!