A Day in the Life of Brooke

Alright, you asked for it and here it is. A day in the life of Brooke...
7:30am - Drag myself out of bed. The first thing I do every morning is get my workout clothes on, open the blinds around the house (no sign of sunshine today), and write up my to-do list for the day.

As I am writing my list, I here knocking on the door down the hall.



Allary helps me make the beds.

Then we sit at the table and I read the scriptures out loud while Allary listens and colors. I used to get up early enough to read with Jason, but he leaves too early and I am just not a morning person.

Then I get Allary her breakfast: yogurt and milk.

While she is busy eating, I do my workout video.

After my workout, I shower and get dressed. Then I eat breakfast and watch a little of Regis and Kelly. Sad? Maybe, but I love them.

Frosted Flakes.
There is a talk show here called "Good Things Utah." I don't always watch it, but I happened to see one of the "stars" of the show at the Cheesecake Factory over the weekend. It's silly, I know, but I wanted to see if she would mention it. She talked briefly about a guy she's been dating and I felt special for having seen her with him. I saw the girl in blue.

Then I go finish getting ready, hair and makeup. Allary watches Word World.


Time to get dressed. She loves to do it herself.




Brushing her teeth with her pink pony toothbrush and pink Dora toothpaste.

A quick hair-do and she's ready for anything.

I put the dirty laundry in the washing machine.


I am putting my shoes on to go run our errands and Allary comes in the room. She pats my arm and says, "Mom, I love you so much." Ahhhh, melts my heart.

It's now 10:30am and we are finally ready to go out. Oh but wait, just as I am buckling Allary in the car in the garage, our neighbor walks up the driveway and begins talking to me. He is a sweet old man who walks up and down the street on Mondays and moves everyone's garbage cans off the street and back up next to their house. We found out when we first moved into the ward that we were distantly related to him through Jason's side. Well, he of course wanted to talk about this and even dragged me and Allary over to his house to meet his wife and see pictures of his ancestors. Anyway, that was just a little side-track.

First stop, Chevron. Not for gas though...
Allary gets to pick out a sucker but only when she hasn't had any potty accidents.

And for me.... ahhh, Diet Coke.
Next stop, switch out movies at Blockbuster.

Our choices.
Come home...put the laundry in the dryer with the help of Allary.

Unload the dishwasher, with the help of Allary.

Time for lunch. We put in her movie from Blockbuster and have a picnic in the family room.

Storytime.
Quiet time. If I call it nap time or try to put her in her bed, she just cries for as long as I leave her in there. But, if I lay out a blanket and some books on the floor and call it quiet time, she will gladly stay in her bedroom and usually falls asleep anyway.

Before she falls asleep, I quickly vacuum the family room.

I clean a different area of the house every day as my routine. Monday is scrub-down-the-kitchen day.

I turn on Ellen (love her!) while I clean.

I check on Allary. Success! She is asleep.

Must sweep and mop. Can I just say I love my Swiffer?

Time to fold the laundry and enjoy the rest of Ellen.

And my reward for all that housework...

Allary wakes up, a little grumpy.

Apples and juice for a snack.

I steal away for a few minutes to check blogs and email.

Then we have what we call "learning time." We pick a theme for the day and read stories, sing songs, etc. Today's theme is bunnies!




Then Allary colors while I start dinner.

On the menu tonight, paprika chicken with rice and gravy.


Daddy's home! Allary loves to run to the door to greet him.

Let's eat!
After dinner is Family Home Evening. I've done this lesson before, but Allary liked it so much, I decided to do it again. We tell the story of Noah's ark and we build an ark out of blocks. Then Allary has to find the animals I've placed around the room and put them in the ark.


Then it's time to watch my favorite show, "Dancing With the Stars!" Allary loves to dance along.



...or cuddle up on the couch with me.

Family Home Evening treat, ice cream!

Oh man! We almost made it a whole day with no accidents. What's the white stuff you ask? Salt, it absorbs the tinkles and the odors. (a fabulous trick I learned from my sister-in-law).

Time for a bath.

Then jammies, princess jammies of course.

We say prayers with Allary at her bed, then I say goodnight with cuddles and kisses.

Tonight is Daddy's turn to read a story.

Allary is in bed, Jason is working in his office. Ahhhh, now it's just me and "The Bachelor." By the way, I am so happy he chose Shayne. I've liked her all along.

Before going to bed, I peek in on Allary.

Then I crawl into bed with my book and read until my eyes are heavy.

So there you have it. Well, I did leave out the countless trips to the bathroom with Allary, oh and the big ouchie of the day when she was climbing up on the toilet to see in the mirror and fell off sideways, bonking her head on the cupboard.
Whew! That's a lot of pictures and a very long post!
Now it's everyone else's turn!