First Set Of Wheels

Courtesy of freecycle.com, Teagan got her first set of wheels....a tricycle! She loves riding her "new" bike (it's the first things she asks for when we go in the garage)! The fact that it has a little bucket attached to the back is even better since she loves to collect things and put them in it. She's not a big fan of the pedals yet but this doesn't stop her from scooting along with her feet (at a pretty good clip too!). :) Our lil' girl is getting so big!!

6 years

Tim and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary on August 8th! I am so grateful to be forever united in Christ to the love of my life! Over the past 6 years, we have learned so much about what marriage means and we continue to strive, through both the ups and downs, to make it glorifying to the ONE who gave us to each other!

We celebrated by having a day/night away in Grand Rapids. It was actually the first time that we were both away from Teagan for the night. She was in great hands with Opa and Oma and joined a houseful of people, including my sister, Andrea, and my sister (Tara) and her family (Mark, Myles, and Ezra) who were still in town from Jess' wedding. Tim and I had a great time and found it refreshing to just be "Tim and Brooke" and not "Daddy and Mommy" for a short while. :)


In a time when nothing is more certain than change, the commitment of two people to one another has become difficult and rare. Yet, by its scarcity, the beauty and value of this exchange have only been enhanced. ~Robert Sexton

my wm's wedding

As many of you know, my twin sister (aka "wm" or "wombmate"), Jessica, was married to the love of her life, Mike, on August 1st. This was such a special day for our family! Despite it not turning out exactly as planned (they had hoped for a beach wedding but the rain changed their plans), it was truly an incredible day and a beautiful reminder of God's faithfulness.

Tim, Teagan, and I (and baby boy!) were all blessed to stand up for Jess and Mike. Teagan walked down the aisle with our nephew, Myles, while holding our brother-in-law, Mark's, hand. It was pretty adorable. I hope to post more pictures later, but for now, I'll just direct you to Jess and Mike's blog since they did a great job of posting a few pictures that some friends took and writing about their big day.

We love you, Jess and Mike!

The Storm

Sunday night we were about to leave my (Brooke's) parent's house in Fruitport after picking up Teagan (they had babysat her that day while we were at a wedding shower for Tim's sister). We decided to give Teagan a bath before we left so she would be all ready for bed when we arrived home. Prior to starting her bath, we noticed that the weather was becoming overcast and the sky was getting really dark. We decided to move our van inside the garage so that we wouldn't have to load up things in the rain. Very soon after doing this, it began to rain really hard and the wind became unbelievably strong. We decided to go down to the basement since it felt like a tornado was brewing. We could barely see out of the windows since rain and tree limbs/branches were hitting them so hard. The power had also gone out. After 10 minutes, the storm died down and we peered outside to see the damage. It was really unbelievable...and devastating...how much wreckage happened in such a short amount of time. There were so many trees down around their house and in their driveway. There was no way to get out. Many of the trees were completely uprooted. There were also power lines down across their driveway. A large tree had fallen on a portion of their neighbor's house. Just incredible....and sad....and totally unexpected. Because there was no way for us to leave, Tim and my dad spent most of the night hooking up the generator and using the chainsaw to cut up and move fallen trees so that they could get out for work in the morning.

We are very grateful for God's protection and for the providential decision to stay to give Teagan a bath since we would have been on the road when all of this happened (one man from Grand Haven was killed while driving b/c of a fallen tree). Please keep Mom and Dad O in your prayers as they continue to do clean-up and find their way back to normalcy!

Their front yard will never be the same!

Their neighbor, Laura, after arriving home (she had to park over a half mile away b/c the roads and her driveway were blocked) and seeing the damage to her house and property for the first time.

Tim and my dad hard at work trying to make some progress on such an overwhelming task.

Some Of My (Teagan's) Favorite Things

Dancing! I LOVE to dance by myself, with Mommy or Daddy, or with my baby dolls. I know how to turn on the CD player and sometimes will even create my own lil' stage to dance on. I especially like to watch myself in the mirror when I dance. I think I'm pretty good. :)





Cuddling with Bailey:



Helping Mommy unload the groceries:



Giving kisses!


Doing my "silly face"



Doing "pop-a-wheelies" with my car!


Dressing up (okay, this is really Mommy's doing, not so much mine). :)



Doing art projects!

(Mommy lets me paint bare naked so I don't make too big of a mess. I think it's pretty fun!). :)

Climbing on EVERYTHING. There is almost nothing too challenging for me...on the dining room table, into my high chair, out of my pack n' play. I'm really strong! :)


Planes: pretending to be one or pointing to them in the sky (we live right by a lil' airport so I am constantly hearing them and get so excited when they go over our house!).

(Disclaimer: I usually wear a diaper but I was recovering from a bad diaper rash and needed to dry out). :)

Watching Daddy mow our lawn (sometimes Mommy will even sit me out on the deck in my high chair so I can eat and watch Daddy at the same time). I can even say "lawn mower" and get really excited whenever I see one when we're out and about (I usually think it's Daddy on the mower but Mommy tells me it's not and then I get sad). Daddy is happy about this since he hopes that one day I can work for him or take over the business. :)



Playing with my friends!

Me and my cousin, Myles.

Having a pool party/picnic with my friends from church.


Going out for ice cream with my twin friends, Jennalyn and Lydia.



At the beach with my "boyfriend," Evan.



Drawing pretty pictures with sidewalk chalk!



Saying "hi" (in a very high pitched, sweet voice) to the bugs on our deck.




Wearing my cool sunglasses.



The Toilet: I'm already showing many signs of getting ready to potty train. I am fascinated with the toilet and love to help lift the lid and flush (while saying "bye bye pee pee!"). I've even tried climbing in it but Mommy stopped me just in time. Mommy also walked into the bathroom one day to find that I had put Elmo in the toilet. I told her that he had to go potty. :)


Having picnics at the beach and then playing with Mommy and Daddy.





Looking at photo albums and reading books (my favorite books right now are "Merry Christmas, Curious George" and "A Pocket For Corduroy." I can even say "George" and "Corduroy" and often refuse to be read any other books but these two)!



Playing in the sprinkler and in my lil' pool in our backyard (it's a monkey)!





Boycotting naps. For some reason, this isn't one of Mommy and Daddy's favorite things though and they really hope that it's just a phase! I thought it was funny when I took off all of my clothes and my diaper and jumped around in my crib for an hour instead of sleeping the other day. I could tell that Mommy thought it was funny too when she walked in on me but she made me get dressed and go back to sleep (which I eventually did). :)



Mommy and Daddy say that they are really enjoying the "stage" that I am in right now and that I light up their lives! I am definitely keeping them on their toes and teaching them new things about how to parent an active and sometimes testing toddler! They think I am growing up really fast. I am talking up a storm, can run really fast, love to hide myself or things and say "where'd go?!" (Mommy and Daddy are good at playing along...even when the thing I think I'm hiding is in plain site), :) am good at helping feed Bailey his food every morning, and love to take care of my baby doll (I'm going to be a great big sister)! They think that I am quite the lil' ham (I love to tickle them and make faces at them and make the laugh!), a great helper, a loving cuddler, and definitely a lil' sweetheart!

Summer Fun

We've had a great summer so far although it's going by too quickly!! Here's a lil' roundup of some good times we've had so far:

Petoskey Soccer Tournament:

We've been going up to Petoskey for the past 8 years for an annual soccer tournament. We always enjoy our time up in beautiful northern Michigan and this year was no exception! It was, however, a bit more challenging than years past as staying in a small hotel room with an active 18 month old who doesn't sleep well away from home wasn't ideal. On top of that, most of Tim's games were later at night or during Teagan's nap time so she and I were only able to watch a couple of games (only one of which Tim actually played since he hurt his leg and sat out the last game). Nonetheless, we made the most of it and created some fun memories as a family. I think in the future, Tim and I will enjoy this weekend, kid-free....at least until the kids are at the age where they can participate and hold more interest in it all.

Teagan enjoyed cheering Daddy's team on! Now whenever she sees someone running, she yells,"Go...Go!" :)

Much to her Daddy's delight, Teagan is actually pretty good at kicking a ball already. She can also differentiate between a soccer ball and other balls and will say "soccer" (although others may not recognize that this is what she is saying...we're getting pretty good at understanding her language). :)

We had a great time celebrating Father's Day while up there. Here, Tim is opening the gift that Teagan made for him. I'm so grateful for what an INCREDIBLE Daddy that Tim is to Teagan!

Tim's Father's Day gift from Teagan (a stone plaque with her handprint in it as well as some things she collected in our backyard). :)

I love my lil' sweetie pateetie!

Boating:

We've enjoyed going out on our boat....ONLY ONE TIME....so far this summer. Pretty sad, eh? Goes to show just another way that having a lil' one changes your life! :) Teagan loves to be outside and enjoys being on the boat but admittedly, it's not very relaxing to take her with us because she's not one to sit still and keeping her from not falling or climbing out of the boat is exhausting! Besides that, we just don't have the same kind of "free" time that we had before. Nonetheless, we did enjoy this one outing and hope to at least make it out at least one more time before summer is over!

She loves to yell, "Wheee!"
Classic. If this picture had sound, you'd most likely hear her singing the "clean-up song." Most of the time, she does seem to have a knack for helping pick up or wash things and always accompanies her tasks with her version of the song: "mean up, mean up!" :)


STAY TUNED....more Summer Fun pics will be posted soon!