Happy 5th Birthday Brookie Doodle

This year we decided that rather than having a BIG birthday bash for Brooke, we would focus on doing something special and spending time with family. We took a family vacation to Disney where she was treated like ROYALTY and basked in the glory of being able to wear her Happy Birthday pin to the theme parks and having all of the employees and characters wish her a Happy Birthday.

For her actual birthday, Jeff had to work, so we decided to celebrate the night before at Mom & Dad's house. We ordered pizzas and Jeff bought her a Gator themed decorated cake. Monique, Lyce, Kayt, and Mimi also joined us for the celebration. It was a nice little family gathering and Brooke, as usual, LOVED being the center of attention!

I took her, Austin, and Addi to Sun Country on her actual day to celebrate while Jeff was at baseball. She got to wear her new "Birthday Outfit" which she looked adorable in! Danielle and Collin met us there and we spent about an hour or so playing and having a great time. It was topped off with Danielle letting her pick out a new bear to stuff and dress.

Its hard to believe and grasp on to the fact that our 1st born is already 5 and in a few short months will be starting Kindergarten! Time has flown by, but not fast enough to miss the enjoyment of watching our little angels take in the experiences of each and every day, milestone, and achievement as if it were their 1st!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRINCESS BROOKE!

Getting ready to blow out the candles

The loot

Brooke, Mimi, and her new Mimi doll

Her "Birthday Outfit"

Crazy Legs

Well, she finally did it! Tonight while at Mom & Dad's celebrating Brooke's birthday Addi stood on her own for about a minute. Jeff was holding her hands and let them go and she just stood there in the middle of the kitchen floor. We all just watched her with mouths wide open in amazement until she fell on her bum :) It was such a joy to see! She then proceeded to push a little bench all around the house while walking behind it. Geesh! We have several stand behind and walk toys at our house and she's never done anything with them. I guess she just didn't want Brooke to have all of the attention.....even though it was HER birthday celebration....LOL!

Let the Male Chauvenism begin

I'm documenting this so that I can show all of Austin's future girlfriends how he used to refer to his poor Mama :(

My loving and adoring husband has taught Austin how to refer to me as "Jo Mama"
Jeff of course thinks this is funny.......I on the other hand do not!

Just within the past week whenever Austin wants my attention NOW, he refers to me as "Hey Babe"

I mean.......he's only 3! Seriously.....what do I have to look forward to being called in the years to come?

Dog bites, scratches, and scars oh my!

So, yesterday was a typical crazy day in the Cardozo household. My Mom and Dad were heading down to Orlando for the weekend and we were watching their dag, Kramer, for them. Kramer is a little Miniature Pinscher and has the typical demeanor of a SMALL dog. He gets scared and will then defend himself by biting. When we left my parent's house on Thursday night, my parent's BEGGED Brooke and Austin to leave Kramer alone and "NOT GET IN HIS FACE!" We got home from school yesterday around 12:15 and I had to repeatedly remind the kids of Granpi's request to LEAVE KRAMER ALONE. I had to call my sister for a few minutes, so I sat at the barstool to chat and Kramer came over and sat at my feet. The kids were playing on the floor near us and all was quiet. The next thing I knew Brooke was screaming.....and not just your typical scream.....it was BLOODY MURDER......TOE CURLING......screams! I looked at her and her nose was bleeding. Of course she didn't listen to the warnings and got in Kramer's face and he clamped down on her nose. I quickly hung up the phone and rushed her to the Pediatrician's office.....in the POURING rain! We were told she was fine and it would heal on its own, but she needed to get a Tetanus shot to be safe and be put on an antibiotic. If you know my daughter, you know that she is the BIGGEST Drama Queen there is. When the nurses came in to give her the shot it took all 3 of us to hold her down, restrain her arms & legs which she was flailing like Mike Tyson, and hold her still. As soon as the shot was done, she of course was fine! At 4 years old Brooke officially has her first piercing as one of the teeth went completely from one side of her nostril to the other. OUCH!!!! So, here's her mug shot:


Later in the evening the kids were playing in Addi's room until we heard screaming and crying. Brooke was crying that Austin threw a block at her head and Austin was crying that Brooke hit him in the face. Turns out she didn't just hit him, but took her claws and scratched his eye....thank goodness it wasn't any higher.


I of course cut all of their nails right after the incident!

Oh the joys of sibling rivalry :(