our ghost

so, when my sister started watching brooke for us during the day at our house, it was only a month or so before she declared that we had a ghost in our house.  i thought this was a pretty funny comment and told her that old houses tend to make a lot of weird noises.  she was insistent it was a ghost.  then one night kevin and i were downstairs, and brooke's music table started playing on it's own.  there was literally nothing around it that could have been triggering the music.  we just looked at each other and laughed.  shortly after that i was out in the cul-de-sac talking to our neighbors when i decided to bring it up to our "psychic" neighbor.  (i'm not kidding... she does readings and everything).  i told her a couple of quick things about our "ghost" and she very nonchalantly told me it was my maternal grandmother.  i wondered aloud why my maternal grandmother would be in my house given i was never very close to her.  she said it didn't matter; she was there to look over brooke.  chills!  i immediately called my mom and sister to tell them what my neighbor said, but i don't think i told anyone else.  i think i even forgot about our ghost.  she either left because she no longer felt she was needed, or she just got very quiet.  but, the other night kevin came home late... brooke was asleep, and i was already in bed.  right as he pulled up to the house i heard a loud noise in brooke's room.  i instinctively thought her crib rail fell, so i went in to check on her.  she was still sound asleep, but sure enough her crib rail was down.  i just thought i hadn't secured it well enough when i put her to bed.  BUT, then kevin came in, and we were both in the bathroom getting ready for bed when my cell phone rang.  i went into the bedroom to see who was calling so late, and it was kevin.  thing was, his phone was sitting face up on our bed, and kevin was in the OTHER ROOM!  weird.  if anyone can come up with an explanation for that, i'd love to hear it!

brooke's first icee at the zoo

we took brooke to the zoo on sunday to see the giraffes.  brooke loves giraffes - her lovey is a giraffe, so we wanted her to see the real deal.  i think she really liked them.  what she liked more, however, was the cherry icee i bought :)  what i didn't know is that the zoo doesn't allow lids or straws, so here i was with this big cup of icee and a little girl who couldn't keep her hands off it!  needless to say, it ended up down the front of her.  that was after she spilled half of it on the ground :)  check out her joker-like grin in this picture - compliments of the icee.

history made

it's been amazing to watch... on night one i said to kevin, "come on, he has to win every single time he swims???  who could do that?"  and then with each passing night, it started to seem possible.  it was amazing... exhilarating... hard to believe my eyes... jumping up and down... unforgettable... and then some.

water monkies

happy birthday to you

happy birthday, mercedes!  we hope you had a great weekend.  ever since we had dinner at your house to celebrate kaye's birthday, brooke has been saying "happy birthday" non stop.  the funny thing is that she says "happy birthday carl" about 5 times a day.  she must be putting together us singing happy birthday and being at uncle carl's house.  it's pretty funny to hear her randomly say it during the day.  i've been trying to get her to say "happy birthday mercedes" so a few times she's said "happy birthday carl, ces."

happy birthday to you

happy birthday, grandma!  it was great to see you on friday night.  we hope you had a wonderful birthday.  love you!

the more things change, the more they stay the same

my 15 year high school reunion was today.  my expectations were low.  as far as turnout goes, it's a good thing they were.  we had 169 in our graduating class and only 10 showed up.  we didn't have a 10 year reunion, so a few of these people i haven't seen in a decade or longer.  it's hard to believe that much time has gone by.  most of my classmates are exactly the same as they were in high school, which has a way of making you feel very young.  wonder if we'll feel that way in another 5 years.