Everybody shout what's the big idea!

HEY!  WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA!

Can anyone guess where Hunter and I went yesterday afternoon?  Take a shot at it...there's no bad ideas when you're brainstormin'.

Did you guess it?  No?  Well, that sounds like an idea emergency? 

Too far?  I took it too far didn't I? 

I can't help it.  After the excitement of yesterday's Imagination Movers concert, I'm a little bit cheesier.  Hunter loves the Movers y'all.  Loves.  Them.  Loves them.  There really are no other words.  We've had many jam sessions dancing around his room to his Movers cd.  You really haven't partied until you've danced to the Movers with your 3 year old.  Just sayin'.

Hunter had never been to any sort of concert or show before, so when we got there, he said, "I'm so excited about the movie!"  I kept trying to explain that it wasn't a movie, but right after we took our seats, he saw the big screens and said, "When are they going to turn on the tvs?"  Clearly the concept wasn't going to sink in until they stepped on the stage, so I gave up on explaining and we took some pictures while we waited...

As you can see it was a little distracting in there.  And that big red mark on his lip is from wiping his nose so much from his cold.  It's raw, and that makes me very sad:(.

But by the time the show started, he had completely forgotten about his dried out lip....actually he had completely forgotten about it from the  minute we got into the car to leave.  Choo-Choo Soul opened up for the Movers. Here's Hunter's face the minute Genevieve stepped out onto the stage...

He kept that look on his face throughout most of their performance.

Here's Genevieve...

Pretty soon after she came out, DC joined her...

I thought Genevieve and DC were really entertaining.  They kept trying to get the kids to get up and dance and sing along.  Not my sweet Hunter, though.  He stood like this...

...only breaking his stance to look up at me every few seconds to ask where the Movers were.  Poor Choo-Choo Soul....no love from my little H.  I don't think it would've mattered if Barney himself were there, all H cared about seeing yesterday was his Movers!

Here's his face when they stepped out...

He's starstruck.

Here's Mover Rich...

...and Mover Dave and Mover Smitty whom I somehow got no good pictures of.

Hunter was a dancing fool all through their concert, y'all..  He stood up, jumped around, freestyled, and even did a little headbanging.  It was priceless.  I felt giddy having the opportunity to watch him having so much fun.  Here are some dance moves I caught on camera...

In awe of the Movers...

(Be prepared for about 80 more pictures like that.  It's really hard to get a good variety from that small camera angle.)

Here's mover Scott...

And here he is again with Mover Rich...

And a close up just in case you haven't seen enough of him...

Dave and Smitty were really neglected by us.  My camera really had no love for them...every picture that had a close up of them turned out blurry.

The Movers were also really good about getting the crowd involved, here's Hunter rolling his arms with them...

Did I mention he was really into it?  I just can't help myself...it's so unlike him.

After a couple of songs, Nina came out...

Yay Nina!  About 1.4 seconds after we saw her, Hunter started asking for Knit Knots, and I kept telling him that Knit Knots would be here soon.  Apparently though, he's been booted from the show, because he never came.  Can you tell we don't have Disney Channel anymore?  We're so last season.

All the Movers together with some weird new monster...

I think his name's Eddy.

More dancing...

 H is flexing his muscles here.

Rich came up into our section...

Just 2 rows behind us!  It was so exciting!

It was such a great concert!  Thanks so much Thayers for buying us tickets!  Can't wait for our next show!

Valentine's Party

After the kids woke up from nap on Friday, we had a little family Valentine's party.  First, Charlotte made Valentine cards for family and her BFF, Evelyn...

Hunter has had a cold this week, so he was a little grumpy after nap...

We had promised Hunter that we would make peppermint ice cream...

James and I received that ice cream maker as a wedding present, and shockingly we've never used it (us Brooks love ice cream!).  So after James put all of the ingredients in, I asked if he had to put ice in it.  He said no and walked over to re-read the directions, which told him that the inside canister needed to be frozen before starting...aaaaand the freezing process would take anywhere between 6 and 22 hours. 

Awesome.

So we had to scoop everything out and begin the freezing process.  Hunter was completely understanding.  We're talking angel child here.  No whining or fit throwing whatsoever.  No, he didn't throw himself on the floor in protest.  And there was no need to shower him with promises that we'd make the ice cream as soon as the container was ready.

By bedtime the canister still wasn't completely frozen, so James and H made the ice cream first thing Saturday morning, and y'all, it is good.  Gooooood.

After H calmed down from the ice cream disappointment, I coaxed him into making Valentine cards...

Hunter had many more cards to make than Charlotte did.  He made them for family, his preschool class, and his Sunday school class.  We broke the card making up into several different sessions because there were so many (he made over 25!).  I was really proud of his persistance...

 After working up an appetite with all of the card-making, we decided to make some Valentine cookies...

 ...which as you can see, cheered everyone up!

Grandee and Poppy came over yesterday and brought us all Valentine goodies, and my mom came to bring some more today.  I can't wait to give the kids their gifts tomorrow.  We are blessed to have so much love around!  Happy Valentine's Day y'all!

And Then There Was Snow

Because of Ice Storm 2011, my kids haven't left the house since Monday.  Seriously.  Haven't.  Left.  Once.  So when I woke up this morning and saw all of the snow, I told James he should take them out while I was at work.  This is the view we had from our front door first thing this morning...

Notice there's no separation between our front yard and the street...crazy!

Hunter was giddy to get to leave the prison that has been our home.  And even though you can't tell it here, Charlotte was thrilled too...

Her new thing is to give that ghetto chin lift whenever we tell her to smile or say cheese.  I know.  Terrible.

Hunter on the other hand, has become the perfect model...

James said our street was completely deserted while they were outside, so he let Hunter wander out into it for a second...

It's always safety first at the Brooks house!

Poor Charlotte doesn't have any sort of boot, so she had to just wear shoes and socks and was soaked within seconds.  It didn't seem to phase her at all though...she was just thankful to breathe fresh air.

Nothing like wet pieces of cloth to protect your hands from the freezing temperatures...

Clearly we live in Texas.

Or maybe it's not so clear...

 The snow was so deep!

Of course Charlotte ate the snow again...

And Hunter had to check the mail...

It's always one of the highlights of his day.

Even though the thought of snow ice cream is completely disgusting to me, James is a fan of it, so he made some for the kids after they came inside...

Apparently they loved it too!

When I got home this afternoon, we went out again...

And Char ate the snow again...

We decided to forgo the conventional snowman this time around, and just "make tracks" through the yard at Hunter's request...

And since little sister does everything Hunter does, she followed closely behind...

After a while we decided to walk to the backyard, and Charlotte fell on the way back there:(...

You never would've known though...

...not even a whimper from our little snow bunny.

After prying the frozen gate handle apart, we made it into the backyard where Charlotte immediately ran for the fire pit...

...obviously thankful to find something that was just the right height to play with.

And H went for the playscape...

He was really excited that there was snow on the slide...

It didn't take long for Charlotte to join him...

Even in the snow she's a climber.  (Look at her pants!  Poor freezing baby!)

I went inside to make some hot chocolate, and when I went to tell them it was ready, I saw Charlotte pick up this pail like it was a cup and attempt to drink snow from it...

Look at her little snow mustache!

The kids had a great time playing, but I pray that it all melts soon.  As lovely as it's been to lose control of my car multiple times on my drive to and from work each day, I'm longing for dry streets.  Texas and week-long ice and snow don't mix well!