Grandma Camp South

She's gone................waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
With 5 children and 10 grandchildren living in 5 different states, my mom has taken her grandma skills on tour this summer. Brooks and I got her first for 10 whole days. I had all these grand ideas of running errands and going on dates every night with Brandon while she was here but in reality, we did just about nothing and it was WONDERFUL!!

Nothing tops her homemade enchilada casserole, HGTV marathons, marriage dispute interventions, funny helicopter man voice, Cricket navigating skills, constant temperature monitoring, willingness to eat a cookie- or 4- with pregoville USA, infectious Ikea excitement and comforting being in our home. We love you Grandma/Mom!! See ya in again in a few weeks when the real fun begins.

Out on the patio for the daily "pop pop" routine


Brooks' new face. This is how he smiles at strangers.


A kiss from the outside and a kick from the inside.

wanna feel ultra lame?

invite your way too cool cousins, in their girls' jeans, over-

-take an atrocious picture with their gorgeous and brilliant wives-

-and then sit on the couch and listen to them talk about their trips to Morocco, Spain and Southeast Asia. "well this morning, elmo was all about bugs"

. sweet.

my brooks

we're here. toddlerness has taken over our home. mr. brooks has decided to grow up and we can't figure out how to stop it. as exhausting as it is, i've never been more entertained. so maybe he's perfecting his grumpy face, eating handfuls of dog food and sticking toxic markers up his nose- all within an hour. it's all perfectly normal. right? :)

the. yard. is. done.

say it ain't so?! what will brandon do with his saturdays? perhaps play with the fam?
after about a year of sketching, digging, bricking, planting, Spanish speaking, watering, unplanting, nailing, obsessing, degreening, insecting repelling and Gatorading- he's finished. it's gorgeous, i'm relieved and soooo happy to have our weekend dad back. way to go lew.

"am i allowed to actually go potty on this fake stuff?"

dave's banana trees. they must be hearing his prayers from Vermont because they are growing despite the harsh conditions.

31 Weeks and Growing!

If you sit beside me and listen very carefully, you can actually hear my body swelling. Like little agonizing cries for help from my skin. He may just rip out through my stomach one of these days and we can just skip that whole birthing mess.

Lesbians RULE!!

So. I finally got out of the house. As I scraped my bloated body off the couch and peeled away the layers of leisure wear, I realized how dearly I miss eyeliner and patent leather heals. On deciding where to go, the girls and I focused on the main source of attraction- cheeseburgers. We spent the evening at AZ 88- a hip and delicious place in Scottsdale known not only for it's amazing menu but also for it's 100% GAY-tastic crowd. We had a table in the corner- right next to the bar- so we had a perfect view of the muscle-y, gorgeous, tan men in tight shirts flirt with eachother over pink cosmos. Nearly as entertaining as the potato chips covered in hot sauce and melted blue cheese (so weird). And let's not forget the best part of the evening, never a line in the Lady's Room.


Priscilla, me and Tempa- pre Sausage Fest


3 pregnant women, a George Michael soundtrack and 1 giant nude bra

"Jonelle and I would like to thank our donor. When's the next softball game?"

#1 Dad!

I love this man!

The clouds have parted.........

and the Lord sent us this little angel. Brooks has become besties with our neighbor Breana. At this point in my pregnancy, I couldn't ask for a better gift. These 2 terrors keep each other entertained for hours- even when they're fighting. He walks around the house singing her name "naaanaa" and when we go over, they do this funny little happy dance and then run off to play together. It gives us some time to sit, eat Italian food and gain some strength for the next round of toddlerness. Hallelujah.


(little girl product of Dean and Jonelle).

Spotted............

.........in quite sexy places

A Brooks update purely for Gma & Gpa McCain

Life with Mr. Brooks couldn't be much more fun these days. He's the most entertaining person I've ever met. It's no wonder my adult social life is dehydrated these days- he's been keeping me so happy/busy/frustrated/in stitches/stained/exhausted/nap worthy at all times!


This is his "I'm trying so hard at something" face.


I guess this is what happens to your chin when you abandon veggies and eat a strict diet of cheese and popsicles.

Time for haircut #2. He hardly noticed the blonde hairball sucker.

Brandon was so excited to find out he could get a cheap haircut from the kid's barber too. He's been complaining about it eversince.

I finally had to put things from my own cart into his after I noticed he filled his up with 8 jars of grape jelly. mmmmmmmmm.

A little fuzzy but at least we caught one of his smiles.

This is his "Mom read me a story" face. (don't worry, that bed has been tossed)

A hug for little Jack.

He loooves his babysitters. Especially when they play "Beauty Salon".

His first up-do.