Brooke Turns 9 and Breaks Her Mother's Heart

Brooke had her 9th birthday a week ago. Daniel and I can't get over how big she's getting. It's completely destroying me. But on the other hand, I love watching her grow up and become her own person with her own likes and dislikes and dreams and interests. She is such a delight to be with and is becoming more delightful every day. I decided this last year that I love 8-year-olds, and it seems I'll be loving 9-year-olds just as much. 

Some things I love about Brooke: 

• She is kind. She helps her siblings when they need help and she's conscious of helping her friends feel loved and included. When her brothers and sister feel sad, she helps them to feel better. She plays with them and makes them laugh. 
• She is helpful. When I ask the kids for help, it's almost NEVER Brooke who complains about having to do stuff. She's very willing to help me with something. 
• She is developing a sense of humor. I love this part of her growing up. I can make jokes or funny comments, and she oftentimes understands and laughs with me. It's truly delightful. 
• She loves to read. This has always been her thing. She loves books. Even the books that I read the girls that Camille and I aren't too keen on, she still loves them. I think she just loves books. Reading Harry Potter to her this last year (we've read the first 3 books, and are taking a long break before reading the 4th one ... because it's more intense) has been so fun. She LOVES the Harry Potter story and she's read those first 3 books a handful of times already.
• She loves to craft. This year for her birthday, all she asked for was crafting supplies: yarn and crochet hook, bracelet making kits, a paint set. So, literally, crafting stuff was all she got! We got her a bracelet weaving book, an origami book (she's been so into origami the last few months, watching videos on YouTube and even memorizing how to fold a few things), a few skeins of yarn and a couple of crochet hooks. Camille bought her little bands to make those bands bracelets. Mom bought her a "design your own water bottle" kit and a birdhouse wind chime kit. Mom Holbrook got her some other crafting kit, I can't remember what it was. She was beyond thrilled with all of it. It's just her thing right now, creating things. She's very much into the bracelet thing. 
• She's a happy girl. But for the few exceptions when she gets frustrated with something or hasn't had enough sleep, she's a very happy little lady. She's hardly ever a "Debbie downer", and she just loves life and gets enthusiastic about just about everything. It's not hard to please Brooke. 

Her birthday fell on a Sunday this year, so we couldn't do too much with it. I got up early and decorated the house a little bit, putting up her picture banner and streamers. And I wrapped presents. We did our usual Sunday things, but let her open up presents all throughout the day, so she just played with the stuff she got all day. 

For her birthday dinner, she wanted noodles with cheese, mixed veggies and pickles. 🤷🏽‍♀️ I added pesto for anyone who wanted sauce, and made brownies for her birthday dessert. Just boxed brownies, because those are really good. She was the easiest ever to please this year for her birthday. Just with these little things I did, what presents I bought her, and her birthday dinner, I basically made all her birthday wishes come true. 

We had her friend birthday party yesterday. We did her party in 2 parts, so that we could do everything we wanted. For the first part, we invited a few girls (Swayze, Denon, Morgan and Claire) to come do some service activities. We made up some busy books to take to the children's hospital for kids to use while they wait. And then we decorated posters with "free ice cream" written in the top, and went around the neighborhood delivering free ice cream to people who happened to be outside. We played loud music in the car and rode slowly down the streets looking for people to give ice cream to. It was actually so fun! The girls yelled out the windows, "Free ice cream! Free ice cream!" And people came up to the car and chose what kind of ice cream they wanted. Everyone loved it. 

The little girls that came first helped Brooke decorate her cake. 😂😍 That's an oreo flower on top of the cake. 

The second part of our party included more people (Lily, Harvey, Luke and Jack, Brooklyn and Bailey, Anna, Lydia, Maggie), and we had pizza and cake, watched "Spirit: Untamed", and opened presents. Brooke got at least 3 more bracelet making kits from her friends, which I found hilarious. It must be the 8-9 year old girl thing to do. 😂 I think everyone had fun. It was a super long party, and my intention with the 2 parts was to be able to do the service party (which I wanted to try), but also be able to include more friends and avoid people feeling left out. (As a side note, this did not prevent people from feeling left out and sad, as I'd hoped. 🤷🏽‍♀️ I did my best.) I don't think I would do it this way again. It was too long for me and the girls who stayed for the whole thing. But it was still fun. I enjoyed it as well. It was a good, if rowdy, group of kids. Brooke was so excited to see some of the friends she hasn't seen for a while. 

 I'm so grateful to have a nice husband. When we discussed homeschooling, he wasn't a huge fan of the idea. But I told him I wanted to do it, and he accepted it. I was a little nervous that he wouldn't be supportive of this new endeavor of mine, but he has been the absolute cutest about it, talking to the kids about me being their teacher and how they were going to have the best teacher ever this year (because it was going to be mom!). 

On Monday, our first day of school, he gathered the kids while I was getting ready and had them help him tidy up a little bit downstairs so it would be ready for us to do school. Then he got one of our little white boards and wrote on it: Mrs Leslie Holbrook's preschool, 1st and 3rd grade classes. We took pictures in front of the house. 😍

A few days ago, I caught Jack and Sawyer playing so well together, and it just melted my heart. Jack was pretending to be a baker, and using some of the kids baking supplies we have in a box in the kitchen. Sawyer climbed up on the bench with him and Jack let him watch and hold some of the tools. I love how much these cute siblings take care of their baby brother. 

• Today as I was making dinner, I felt extremely grateful for technology that allows me to listen to whatever music I want to whenever I want to. Good music makes me feel so good. Today's selection: the High Kings. 
•  Homeschooling went better today. We had a boss rhythm of me working with a kid while another kid did independent work, and then switching half a dozen times over. We finished in 2 hours, and no one had a melt down. I was also surprised at how much time I had with the rest of my day! I vacuumed and dusted upstairs, put laundry away, gave Brooke a piano lesson, played with the boys for half an hour, put dishes away, fed all the people, tidied up the house, wrote up my calendar for the week, did a video chat with mom and Marco Polos with Julie, looked up some more homeschooling stuff, made dinner and ate dinner with Brooke and Sawyer (Jack rarely eats dinner with us anymore), and picked up 2 little girls from soccer practice. All in the 6 hours (from noon to 6pm) after we finished school. And there were a number of minutes in that time when I just sat and rested and thought about what I should do next. I was astonished! 

• I feel very grateful to have a body that does what I want it to do without too much trouble. I ran 8 miles on Saturday in preparation for a half marathon, and, though it was hard, I love that I could get outside and be active and that my body could do it. 

• Today, the bigger kids were going outside in the front to play, and Sawyer wanted to go out so badly. I asked the kids if they could keep an eye on him so I could work on dinner, and they said sure. When I went out a few minutes later to check on them, I found that Camille had buckled Sawyer into the stroller and was playing with him, strolling him around the little cul-de-sac across from our house. It was just about the cutest thing I've ever seen, seeing her take care of her baby brother like that and having a great time with him. 
• We started homeschool today. It wasn't the smoothest of days, and I wasn't wholly prepared. But it wasn't awful, and there was a moment with Camille, working on her language arts, that I felt right where I needed to be and right where I wanted to be. It felt like it could really work and be wonderful. Brooke had a little bit of a breakdown, but we worked through it. We just need to find ourselves a rhythm. 

• We did our back to school dinner with a new school year theme: "establish a house of learning". I didn't get any pictures of it because I was so busy doing things. But it was a simple dinner with very simple decorations because life ebbs and flows. And this year, I didn't have time to make it grand. I love our theme, though, and exclaimed to the kids that we're turning our own house into a house of learning, that we should be grateful and excited to learn, because we are incredibly blessed to have opportunities to learn. 

Utah Family Reunion

A week after our reunion in Oregon, we had a Holbrook reunion in Park City. Because of Daniel's (and other family's) work schedules, it was really only half of the week. The kids and I went up on Tuesday, just for the day, to be with the cousins and Gramma and go swimming. Then we had dinner with the family at Cafe Rio before we went home for the night. 

We packed our stuff for the week and drove up on Wednesday morning. There was the most adorable princess tea party for lunch right when we got there, and Grampa took Jack with him on a boys hike

We had an afternoon at the lake. It was so low and dried up because of the drought this summer, and so muddy right in the shore. I didn't go in at all, and Sawyer and Jack didn't last long either. But Brooke had fun. 

I went back to the hotel with Camille, Jack, Sawyer, Wendy, Evan and David and Wendy's baby. Our van was packed super tight, but we were all ready to go back. Brooke stayed back with her cousins. 

And this is the end of the pictures I took. 

We had family pictures one night, we swam a lot, we ate together and hung out. Daniel and I had a short little swimming date while Gramma stayed with our kids. The kids loved playing with their cousins, aunts and uncles and Gramma and Grampa. 

I did a long run on Saturday that was hard, but fun to run in a new place. Most of the family left earlier on Saturday. We stayed until the evening. We went swimming one last time with Gramma and Grampa. 

It was a good week, but somehow not as good as usual. Part of it was that Daniel was working the whole week. He hung out on Saturday, but he worked a full week because work was so busy. I think it was also because, since everyone now lives in Utah, it wasn't as much of a vacation. Everyone with jobs still worked at least part of the week. Daniel and Michael worked like normal, and the others just took a couple days off. It wasn't like before when we were all there together for the whole week doing things together. It wasn't as good, and I missed the past reunions. It's important for my kids to make memories and build relationships with their family members. 

Oregon Family Reunion

The last week of July we went to Oregon for a Fernandez family reunion. Mom and dad planned the whole week (with help and input from the rest of us).

• Sunday: girls nights/ boys game night. We went to Diane's house and watched a movie while doing our nails. And we chatted and ate yummy things. It was fun, and we stayed up way too late. 
• Monday: play games at the park (bocce ball, catch, pickle ball, playing on the playground, tag). We had a blast playing at the park. I left Sawyer napping at home while we all went to play. It was a hot day, but we played and had fun. The kids mostly played on the playground. We took a picnic lunch to the park as well. 
• Tuesday: rafting down the Rogue River -- it was the one day of the entire week that was chilly and rainy. Of course. We were all freezing as we floated down the river. The fog and most hanging above the water was super cool, though. Camille and some of the other kids were huddled together at the front of one of the rafts trying to stay warm. She didn't love it. Brooke enjoyed it, though. And I left the boys at home with a babysitter, which was definitely the right move. Both of them would've hated it and made themselves and me miserable. Diane and I took a turn in one of the small kayaks that dad got, and had quite an experience getting attacked by tree branches on the side of the river and losing our paddle. We weren't pleased. After rafting, we went to a shake shack to get milkshakes and ice cream. 
• Wednesday: family pictures in the morning, water slide bounce house in the afternoon. Okay, this bounce house was epic and such a good idea for a family reunion. After we got our pictures done and the bounce house was set up, the kids just played on it all day long. Well, most of the kids. Brooke was my only kid that loved it. Jack wouldn't even go near it, and Camille wouldn't try it until about the end of the day. I played in it for a bit, when I could. I had to take breaks to take care of fussy kids, and Sawyer in particular. But it was so fun. That night we had girls/ boys nights again. We did face masks and watched "north" (which is one of Melanie and Sammy's favorite movies from their childhood... we were not impressed).
• Thursday: day 2 of bounce house and baseball game in the evening. I was sick for all of Thursday with some stomach thing. It started Wednesday night and continued through Thursday. I didn't ever throw up, but my stomach was super crampy and I had chills and body aches. I spent the day on the couch, and my kids just played with their cousins. Mom and dad took the kids to the baseball game. 
• Friday: dance party, movie night. I cannot even remember what we did during the day. Just played and relaxed, I guess. Julie and I worked out together in the morning, and my kids played at her house. But in the evening, after dinner, we had a dance party and set up an outdoor movie to watch "Jungle Cruise". It was very much fun. We had a ton of unhealthy snacks (and cherries, because that's what I requested), and we just ate and watched the movie.
• Saturday: Harry Potter party!! The kids had a water fight outside with the men while the women got the party ready. We decorated the house and made all kinds of delicious food. It was a great party! There was a sorting game, picking out our wands (courtesy of uncle Houston), and defeating dementors. Some of the kids dressed up as characters from the books, and we all had a great time! 
• Sunday: drive home to Utah. It was a long day, and the boys made it especially difficult. But we made it home safe and sound. 

There were QUITE a lot of pictures taken. Most of them taken by other people. Sammy and Brian put together such a cute book of the family reunion, which I will likely order for our own family, so that we can have those memories.