love birds...

Every so often we have some morning visitors...

they hop around and chirp, but one morning it was really cute.

They snuggled up to each other and just cuddled for a while...

so Brooks pulled up a chair, grabbed some food

and watched the love birds love each other.

his new wheels...

Brooks was all grins after getting his new bike...

 He kept saying, "Woah, a new bike..."

 and then he'd say, "I can't believe I got a new bicycle."

The funny thing was that he wasn't really saying it to us; he said it more to himself.  He would walk over to the bike and just stare at it smiling.  He's gotten better at pedaling and I would imagine it's only a matter of time before those training wheels come off. 

school birthday party...

Here are some pictures of Brooks' birthday celebration at school...

We had lunch with the birthday boy...

 and watched him blow out his candles...

actually Patrick blew out the candles but don't tell...

Brooks had first pick of the cookies so he chose the orange one, of course...

and clearly he's super excited about his birthday crown.

Apparently hazing starts early in Australia, but he seems to like it.

Happy School Birthday Party, Brooks!

the perfect present...

The "Birthday Fairy" went to different houses across the United States yesterday to collect presents for Brooks before dropping them off in our family room in the middle of the night.  When Brooks woke up he saw all of these great gifts waiting to be opened...

and you know which one was his favorite?

The telescope...

that was also a flute...

and a dog swatter that quickly changed into a...

dog tickler when he was told it was mean to hit his dog.

 It wasn't long until the inevitable happened...

and the tickler turned into the sword that it was destined to become.

But even that changed once he saw his orange car that must really be a ball...

because the ball turned his sword into a golf club.

And who gave this wonderful all-encompassing magical gift?  I did.  As I unrolled our last big black garbage bag this thick, skinny tube dropped out and wouldn't you know that this is the item that has captured his attention.  I know that babies often like the boxes their toys come in more than the actual toys, but that's because they don't know any better.  Brooks is sharp; he knows better...and he's not a baby.  However, this is proof that the imagination is a powerful thing and this boy sure has an imagination!   

a pre-birthday celebration...

Patrick and I went up to Brooks' school today to have lunch with him for his birthday.  We brought cookies - I mean biscuits - and his class sang to him.  It was really cute.

peanut butter jelly time...

seriously...

Knock, knock...

Who's there?

The world's largest stalk of celery.  

He could barely hold it.  I've never really bought celery so is this normal?

Poor kid.  My favorite picture is the next one.

He doesn't say it yet but I know it's just around the corner:  

Really, Mom?  Are you serious?

And to that I'll have to answer that yes, I am serious.
Then I might just make him pose with the sweet potato I bought.

no espanol...

Well this is a first.  The directions are translated into several different languages...

and not one of them is Spanish.  

That's when you know you're far away from home.

the super awesome park...

Driving has opened up a TON of new opportunities for us and I am so super excited about our new Wednesday routine.  Last Wednesday I took Brooks to the library by our house for a story time event that takes place every other Wednesday for three to five year olds.  Last weekend Patrick went surfing in Broadbeach (which is about a ten minute drive) and came across a park that he described as the "super awesome" park.  You see, there are so many parks here that we've had to come up with names for them.  Brooks calls the park across the street from us "his" park while the next park up is the "good" park and the park up from that one is the "awesome" park.   When Patrick saw the super awesome park he couldn't wait to take Brooks there so the next day they loaded up and headed out.  I'm not sure who loved it more, but here are the two pictures Patrick took...

They came home and Patrick told me I HAD to take Brooks back there because it was amazing.  The public libraries here only offer the story time event at particular locations and wouldn't you know it, they have one in Broadbeach and it's not just every other week, it's EVERY Wednesday.  Not only that, but it's right across from the super awesome park.

We took Patrick to work this morning and headed up to Broadbeach for our library/park date and it was fantastic.  The library is awesome and we both loved it.

Brooks didn't even want to wait until we got home to start reading his books.

We left the library and headed across the street to the beach...

 where he MIGHT'VE been persuaded to throw his guns up...

and then we walked over to the super awesome park.  

It seriously is awesome; I've never seen anything like it.  I'll have to snap some pictures of everything next week because it's incredible.  Until then, I only have one of this creepy mermaid:

We wrapped it up at the park just in time to pick Patrick up to bring him home for lunch.  

Wednesdays might just become my new favorite day.

naps...

Brooks has never been a good sleeper.  This has been an ongoing issue but one where Patrick and I have seen progress.  The progress is greater on some days rather than others, but he's headed in the right direction. 

 Oh, you assumed he's sleeping in a bed?

 Nope.  He prefers the floor.

Patrick was home for lunch earlier and on his way out he looked down the hall to check on our little monkey.  When he looked down at the ground rather than down the hall I knew something was off.  

He walked back to his room by himself, got his gear situated and fell asleep.

He's not even partial to carpet.  Today he said he wanted to sleep on the tile.

It may not be typical, but it's progress.  He went back for his nap by himself (which is something he never did before moving to Australia) and fell asleep alone (another thing to celebrate) and he's still there now.  I'll save his nighttime routine for another time.  I'll need to snap a picture of it for you to believe it.