A Night with the Brookses

Almost the entire Brooks family was at our house last evening for a BBQ and to be introduced to the newest Brooks, Lucy. Lucy did great and didn't even have an accident! I think she was a bit overwhelmed by the Brooks girls and their numerous dance numbers, but she definitely held her own and even warmed up to Megan by the end of the evening. Lucy is still recovering from all the excitement. Here is a great picture of the West-side Brooks clan. We don't get together as much as we should, but we had a blast being all together. Courtney is sure a great addition to all the craziness! Lucy is loving the crazy chicken!

Yesterday it rained almost all day and she wasn't too keen on getting her paws wet, so today was much more pleasant due to warmer weather and being able to spend time outside with her. She is getting much quicker and loves exploring our large yard and is very fond of the hostas, which are the only plants in the backyard. A few leaves have been ripped out, but she isn't yet able to do much damage. That time will come...

Lucy is here!

We are proud to announce our newest arrival. Please welcome Lucy Brooks also known as Luz (light in Spanish), Lucy Lou, Lucinda, Lucille, and at times, Lucifer. Wednesday was the lucky day when we got to bring her home. This was also the day we were moving back into our house after having our hardwood floors redone, so it was quite the day!

So far, she is quite mellow and we're having a blast with her. We definitely understand why new parents can't seem to get anything done and are so forgetful. Since we haven't been sleeping much, we tend to be a bit single-minded. Hopefully that will pass in time!

She is usually awake for about 30 minutes at a time before she has to take another nap. Steve is quite proud that she is now sleeping in her crate with the door open. She's only had one accident today, which is another achievement for both of us.

Lucy has already learned to climb the stairs on the deck and fetch a few times. Her favorite toy so far is a papertowel roll- not the various toys we have bought her.

Lucy's first TV show: Oprah.

Lucy found a comfy little spot on my legs while I was setting up her baby gate. Pretty cute, eh?

One of Lucy's napping spots. She pretty much just passed out on the floor.

Lucy's first visitor...Aunt Courtney- Courtney made quite an impression because she brought Lucy a chicken that makes noises. Lucy is still not quite sure about it.

Puppy Update - Week 6

I have a feeling we are going to track the growth of our puppy in a way a new parent of a human might. That being said, we have more pictures of our puppies to post! We just got back from seeing them today and man are they cute. Five week old little bundles of fur and already full of personality.

We picked out our puppy and clipped her hair to make sure we can tell her apart. Our little Lucy is curious, playful, and not too agressive. She knawed on my finger like a good teething pup, and calmly snuggled in my lap and was perfectly content to cuddle in the warmth. As soon as the food came out, she made sure she got her fill and kept her head right in the middle of the pack as they filled their ever expanding bellies.

Bloomsday

We had a great weekend in Spokane! We had the chance to spend some much-needed quality time with our respective parents as well as some large group together time to celebrate Bill Sr.'s birthday with a steak dinner. Yum! I also got the chance to visit with Cari Morton and her family, which was a big blessing.

The weather in Spokane was gorgeous for Bloomsday. The bands and nuns were out to help us along in our quest for this year's shirt. Steve is quite proud that he "won" Bloomsday (and knocked over all the Kenyans) even though quite a few people finished before he did. He actually finished in 12, 989th place (1:30). He walked the first two miles with my dad and me and then ran the rest. He is a bit sore today to say the least. Bill Jr. was the quickest of the group at 1:07 and my dad and I were the slowest at 2:18. Not bad for walking and talking! For being among 40,000 people, we sure saw a lot of friendly faces! Shout outs to Pat and Colleen Casey, Don and Carol, Dorothy, Don, and Joan. For more info, visit www.bloomsday.org

Jenny and Wayne are in the bottom left corrner. Can you find them?

Happy Birthday Bill Sr.!

Steve drove over this morning and I'm flying over to Spokane tomorrow to help celebrate Bill Sr.'s 70th birthday. Steve's working on the boat with his dad and spending some good quality time in the 'Can. We'll also be partaking in Bloomsday on Sunday, which is (or used to be) the largest timed road race in the world. It's 12k and quite crazy with tons of people. Steve and Bill Jr. are running and my dad and I will be walking and talking. We're both looking forward to this weeked with our families!

We got to see the puppies!/ Crawl for a Cure

Malcolm called us this morning and it was a great surprise to be able to see the puppies. He just brought them home to his place yesterday. We were there for about an hour and got to hold them, play with them, and listen to their snorting. It's amazing to watch as they pile on top of each other, trying to get to the center of the warmth. They tried to climb up inside our pant legs and knawed a bit on our shoes and exposed skin. We are thrilled to bring our puppy home, which will be sometime after May 23rd. We have changed her name a few times, but the front-runner is Lucy or Luz (pronounced loose), which means "light" in Spanish. One of our favorite teachers in Mexico was named Luz and Steve won't let me name a child that, but he likes it for the puppy.

Can you find all 9 puppies in this picture??

We're in the process of doing a few remodeling projects on the house including getting our wood floors refinished, which means we have to move out for a week. Many of you are probably thinking that we're crazy for doing them before we get a dog, but we figure it will be pretty hard to move out for a week when we have a dog. We will most likely be staying with Craig and Courtney- thanks Craig and Courtney (and Hero!). We will also be gutting the kitchen in the near future and hope to sell the house and "move up" sometime by next spring. We've been busy in the yard and have been having fun watching our flowers and plants come up that we planted last year.

Yesterday, we participated in "Crawl for a Cure", which is a pub crawl in Fremont that benefits Cystic Fibrosis. We had a great time with Matt Cain, Soren, the Skippers, Delgadillos, Galloways, and a few other friends of the Skippers- inluding Senni, who is their friend from Italy. It's very funny to see a drunk Italian- he kept trying to woo girls along the way and was very honest. Some of the girls are pregnant, so it was a bit different than last year when the girls were the life of the party. They are now the designated drivers... I'm sure that will be me one of these years.

Jenny on Erik Skipper's shoulders, Eddie Delgadillo (mouth open) and Senni from Italy

Jeff (Skippers met him in Jamaica), Matt, Steve, and Skip with their brown bag 40's at Norms

Puppy Pics - 2 Weeks Old

We got a few more shots of the little pups. One more week and we can go and see them!