The Brock Family

2008-07-16T11:59:00.002-04:00

Well we made it through Alyssa’s third birthday party without a single problem (well, it did rain a little but the kids seemed to enjoy it). We had her party at the Chattanooga Zoo on Sunday, since her actual birthday was on a Monday. I really recommend this zoo for birthday parties. It was the best party we’ve had so far. The staff set up and cleaned up the party room. They even served the cake. The party room walls were lined with animals for the kids to see. There were turtles, snakes, rabbits, ferrets, lizards, etc. They even got the snake and rabbit out for the kids to hold and pet. Then they took us on a tour of the zoo where the let us watch them feed and pet the hyena and had the snow leopards to tricks for us. It ended with a treasure hunt for the kids, with goody bags filled with stuff from the gift shop as the prize. Alyssa had a girly Thomas the Train cake and plenty of presents. She had a really good time and has been asking to go to the zoo for her birthday everyday since.

On another good note, we took Alyssa’s pacifier away from her four days ago. We told her the monkeys from the zoo came and stole them while we were out getting groceries and that giving up her pacifier was the only way she could have her party at the zoo. She cried for about 30 minutes the first night and has only asked for it a couple of times since.

I have a few pictures from her party and a few other pictures from Papa and Nana Curtis’ visit to Chattanooga this past weekend. We went out to eat Cracker Barrel and then we also went up to Grandma and Grandpa Curtis’ farm in Dayton. Alyssa got to feed a baby pig and the ducks and geese. She also got to pet a baby chicken. The farm was a lot of fun for her! I’ll be back with more pictures this weekend and some news on our move! Love to everyone.

2008-06-25T09:54:00.002-04:00

Well there isn't anything too thrilling going on in our lives right now...oh wait...maybe this counts: we are moving to Texas! We've been going back and forth with this idea for a few months. I think we've finally settled on moving. There's a lot to get done and take care of before we go, but if everything goes as planned we will be out of Chattanooga by August 31, 2008.

Riverbend was a week ago. We took Alyssa to see the fireworks and she was terribly scared. But then again she is scared of everything! We are trying to get her over a lot of her irrational fears. Her birthday is only a couple of weeks away and she is getting very excited. Yesterday she was walking all around the house singing the Happy Birthday song.

We spend most of our time at the pool and Alyssa is doing good about getting in the water. She mostly sits on the steps. Last weekend I was holding her and she told me she wanted to swim by herself. So, I let go of her (she was wearing a life jacket) and she tread water for a couple of minutes. She was very proud of herself!

2008-06-08T19:46:00.003-04:00

Not too much going on these days. It's getting up into the 90's here so we are spending as much time as possible either inside or at the pool. We took Alyssa to see Kung Fu Panda last night and I have to say I thought it was hilarious. Alyssa got a little antsy towards the end but was well behaved the rest of the time.

Riverbend is going on this week, so we've been spending a little time downtown. Tomorrow we're going to watch our cousin Kendal in the Riverbend pageant. We are hoping to be able to get out to Houston sometime before the summer is over.

Alyssa's birthday is coming up soon and we've reserved the Chattanooga Zooon July 13 for her birthday party. We are pretty excited. We plan to buy her a bike and a kids digital camera as she has been begging for both lately. Here are a few pics from our pool fun. Oh and I dyed my hair brown!

2008-05-26T10:48:00.004-04:00

Woops! Sorry it's been a whole month since I've updated with any news or pictures. As for news, we haven't been up to too much. We're working alot: Amy got a second job at Yankee Candle. And then spending the rest of our time with Alyssa. Actually, Alyssa is spending this week with her family in Memphis. She loves spending time with them and vice versa. Plus it's a nice little break for Mom and Dad.

Our three year marriage anniversary is coming up on May 28 so we spent last Friday night in Nashville and went out to Dave and Buster's. It was a lot of fun. Since then we've just been spending the past few days at the pool.

Now for the pictures...

2008-04-24T18:54:00.002-04:00

Well, Alyssa got her ears pierced today. She went with her cousin Hayden to get her ears pierced about a week ago. Ever since she has been asking to get hers done. We would tell her it was going to hurt and she would change her mind. Today we were at the store and she said she wanted to do it and this time telling her it would hurt didn't change her mind. So she did it and it went really well. She only cried for a minute and once she saw them in the mirror she LOVED them!

2008-04-18T23:22:00.002-04:00

We went to the Zoo (yes again!) last weekend with Aunt Hillary, Lilly, Casey, Aunt Briana, Johnathan and Hayden. It was Hayden's first time at the zoo and she really liked it! It was a little cool but the sun was shining!

Hope everyone is well!

2008-04-13T21:47:00.003-04:00

I didn't realize it'd been so long since I had posted anything! Briana, Johnathan and Hayden have been staying with us and helping watch Alyssa. We've just been sitting around enjoying each other's company and getting to know Hayden since we don't usually see her too often. Here are some pictures from our trip to the park. Also some pictures of Alyssa trying sushi for the first time.

2008-03-25T19:19:00.002-04:00

Alyssa loved Easter this year! Saturday night we put fake grass in her basket and left it on the kitchen table so that the Easter bunny could come after she went to sleep and leave her goodies. Sunday morning she woke up and the first thing she said was "I'm awake mommy, is the Easter bunny awake?"

We went to the park and took some pictures in our Easter clothes then has breakfast at Cracker Barrel. After that we had Briana and her family over, plus my mom and my friend Misty and her family to hunt eggs and eat dinner with us. It was a lot of fun. Now for the pictures!

2008-03-22T10:16:00.002-04:00

Last night we went to color Easter eggs with Lilly and Casey. Just wanted to share our pictures from that. Be back tomorrow with Easter egg hunting pictures.

2008-03-06T17:40:00.001-05:00

Well we finally got a pet we could handle: a beta fish! Alyssa just loves him. We asked her what we should name him and she said "Red." So, we'd like everyone to meet Red...

2008-03-03T18:00:00.002-05:00

We've got some exciting news going on here. In the next few months Alex's boss will be leaving their store to become a regional manager. That means that Alex will be up for either the assistant manager or manager position. It just depends whether the current assistant manager wants to apply for manager or not. Either way Alex has a HUGE promotion coming up soon and we are VERY excited.

Alyssa had her pics made at Olan Mills a couple of weeks ago and we just got those back. I scanned them so I could post them on here, but if anyone wants the originals mailed to you to frame or what have you then just email me your mailing address.

I started my new job last Monday. I am constantly busy with a project there. I LOVE it. The company is full of people who are extremely nice and they all treat you like an adult (versus my other job, where they didn't). I am really enjoying it so far! And just for fun, here are a few more random pictures of Alyssa and baby Hayden...

(Alyssa fell asleep holding Hayden's bottle. Don't worry, Alyssa doesn't take bottles still.)

2008-02-23T21:03:00.001-05:00

Well I (Amy) got a new job. The other job was getting old, what with the boss who hated me and always gave me such a hard time. So Monday I start my new job at National Seating and Mobility. It seems like a really great place to work. Plus they will be starting me out only 50 cents less than what I was making at my other job. It's been fun staying home with Alyssa the last couple of weeks and I wish I could do that full time, just not possible right now.

We went to a big inflatable playground called "Buddy Bears Playhouse" with Alyssa's best friend Blake and it was a lot of fun. We're thinking of renting it for Alyssa's next birthday. It's between that and the Chattanooga Zoo.

2008-02-17T16:45:00.003-05:00

Grandad Brock came in town for a short weekend visit. We were all very excited to see him, since it has been so long since our last visit with him. Hopefully we can make it out to Houston by the end of the summer. We mostly hung out at his hotel, went for a swim and then had lunch at City Cafe before he had to head to Nashville to catch his plane.

Alyssa blowing out the candle on my late b-day cake from Grandad:

Alyssa and Grandad at City Cafe:

Marlys and Lilly being goofy:

Alyssa and Justin at Grandad's hotel:

Alyssa, Lilly and Grandad:

2008-02-10T09:15:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a beautiful day here in Chattanooga. It wasn't too cold out so we decided to head out to the Chattanooga Zoo. It was VERY fun because most of the animals that aren't usually out in the summer were out yesterday. Alyssa LOVES the zoo, especially the monkeys and snow leopards. Although when the gorilla came right up to the glass it scared her a little and she didn't want to see the monkeys any more after that. After the zoo we met up with Hillary and family to play arcade games at Sir Gooneys and then got a bite to eat at Hooters. What a great day!

2008-02-03T18:44:00.000-05:00

We went downtown today and visited the Tennessee Aquarium. It's the first time we've been since September and it was a BLAST! Alyssa loved all of the fish, the butterfly garden and especially the penguins. We took about 100 pictures but here are just a few (okay really about 1/4th of them) for everyone to enjoy. Now we're off to watch the Super Bowl!

2008-01-23T22:26:00.000-05:00

We have some very exciting news! Today when Alyssa got home she said she wanted to go pee in the potty...so she took off her own pants and diaper, sat on the grownup potty and went pee ALL BY HERSELF! She didn't need any help from mom or dad! We are so excited and so proud! Of course now she has to "go" every 5 minutes, but at least she is interested.

2008-01-13T17:25:00.000-05:00

Just checking in to let everyone know our new year is going pretty good so far. My birthday was the 4th. We went to Provino's and then to a friends house afterwards.

Alex playing my boss' wife in air hockey at the bday after party...

Alyssa has started staying with her Aunt Brandy while we're at work which means she gets to play with her cousins all day every day. She just loves it!

I start back school tomorrow...should be fun. I'm taking Art Appreciation and Physics (yuck)! Alex had one of his wisdom teeth out on Thursday so he's been feeling a little yucky. He goes back in a few weeks to get the rest out. His face was pretty swollen. Here he is the night he got them out...

2008-01-02T21:39:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year everyone! We celebrated at April and Anthony's house with family.

2007-12-28T08:12:00.000-05:00

We had a really great Christmas this year at the Brock home! Alyssa got so many great gifts...her favorite of which are her four-wheeler and her "Cars" race track. We can't forget all of her new movies as well. We spent Christmas day with Alex's family on Signal Mountain. It was a nice relaxing day with some great food! Hope everyone got everything they wanted for Christmas! We are looking forward to a great New Year!

2007-12-17T21:25:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we had the first of our many family Christmas dinners. It was a lot of fun to see everyone together and enjoying themselves. We are so excited about the next couple of weeks. Alyssa is really enjoying Christmas this year. Every time we go to the mall she has to go sit in Santa's lap and tell him what she wants fo Christmas. The last time we went was the first time we were able to get her to take a decent picture with him. We hope everyone is having a great Christmas holiday!

2007-12-06T17:42:00.000-05:00

I just realized that I forgot to post pictures from Lilly's birthday party last Sunday. Lilly turned 3 and had a Tinkerbell party. It was lots of fun!

2007-12-03T02:43:00.000-05:00

Alyssa had an early visit from Santa...Dad wanted to leave the gift under the tree til Christmas but mom and Alyssa were way too excited and talked Dad into letting Alyssa open it. (It was really from our friend John who came to visit.) It was a Pony that she can color on with markers.

2007-11-24T11:29:00.000-05:00

We just got back from our short trip to visit our family in Memphis for Thanksgiving. Alyssa did really well on the drive there and back. In fact, she slept 4 of the 5 1/2 hour drive home. We had lots of fun just getting to hang out and relax. Alyssa just loves her Papa and was so sad to leave him. They'll be coming to visit us in December, so she will see him again soon. Here are a few shots from Turkey Day.

2007-11-16T17:53:00.000-05:00

Last night Alyssa and I had a little fun and made some cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and sprinkles! YUM!

Aunt Briana and Hayden were here too so we got a few pictures of the baby. She is getting so big!

2007-11-12T00:00:00.000-05:00

Just a quick little post here, we went to the park today and played for a little while. It wasn't very cold; about 65 degrees. I snapped a few shots of Alyssa and Alex while they were playing. Hope everyone is well!

2007-11-02T20:12:00.000-04:00

We had a really good Halloween! Alyssa dressed up as a butterfly and we went trick or treating on Signal Mountain with Aunt Briana and Hayden. We had dinner with Aunt Hillary and Marlys and their kids before we went trick or treating, so we got to see Lilly, Casey and Justin in their costumes. Mimi Brock went trick or treating with us, too. Alyssa had lots of fun walkimg up to houses and saying "Trick or Treat!" She did really well and said "Thank You" at every house.

2007-10-27T17:06:00.000-04:00

This morning we had a special family breakfast at Cracker Barrel and then took Alyssa out for ice cream for dessert afterwards. (Don't worry it was a late breakfast.) It was lots of fun. We wanted to make sure and get some Alyssa time in since she'll be spending the night with her Mimi tonight.

This last picture is of Alyssa trying to cover her face and saying "NO MORE PICTURES MAMA!"

2007-10-21T20:00:00.001-04:00

Today was a fun day...Mommy and Alyssa went to the park for a baby shower while Daddy stayed home and watched football. After that, we did meet up for some family fun. We decided we had waited as long as we could before carving our Halloween pumpkin. So, we went over to Alyssa's cousins house and all the kids carved a pumpkin! Here are some pictures from the pumpkin carving!

2007-10-13T20:42:00.000-04:00

We have been very busy around here lately! With the summer coming to an end and cooler weather starting to appear, we've been trying to cram in as many outdoor activities as we can! And of course I've been there with my camera to capture as many moments as I could! We start off with Aunt Marlys' birthday dinner...she turned the big 30 and we made sure to help her celebrate!

Then we had cousin Kendal's pool party for her birthday:

Alyssa's Uncle Courtney (which is Alex's brother-in-law) is currently the lead guitarist in a band. They are really good and we try to go to as many of their shows as possible. Here are some pictures from their show on Labor Day at Camp Columbus...

The next major event (and the most important) was the birth of our newest family member, Hayden Serenity. My sister (Alyssa's aunt) had her daughter on September 12, 2007. It was an exciting event for all of us and we're all so glad she's finally here. We love her very much!

Our next fun activity involved the Bowman's. We had Lilly and Casey over to spend the night with us while their parents went and spent the day at Six Flags. We took all the kids to drive GoKarts and to the Chattanooga Zoo.

When Hayden was about 2 1/2 weeks old we took her family and our family to the Tennessee Aquarium. It was lots of fun. We hadn't seen the new penguin exhibit yet. Alyssa is obsessed with the movie Surf's Up currently so she was in heaven with all the penguins!

Our most recent outing was today. We took Alyssa to the Enchanted Maze (a large corn maze that is a part of Rock City) along with her friend Blake. The weather was perfect and we had a lot of fun. Although as you can tell, Alyssa was more interested in playing in the dirt than the actual maze.

Wow! I hadn't realized all the stuff we've been up to. On top of all the fun, I've started back school and Alex has been working lots of extra hours. Thanks to Grandad Brock's help Alex will be going back to school in the spring. We're very excited about that! Another celebration was Alex's 23rd birthday on October 3. We went to Provino's (a local Italian restaurant) with some friends and family. We also had a cookout at Mimi Brock's house the weekend after to help celebrate with the ones who couldn't make it to Provino's. We're looking forward to a fun fall season. There's a Halloween party in the works and we plan to visit the Curtis' in Memphis for Thanksgiving! Love to everyone!

2007-08-29T08:48:00.000-04:00

We had a trip to the Chattanooga Zoo yesterday and it was a lot of fun! Daddy took the day off to spend with Alyssa and Mom met them at the zoo on her lunch break since she works next door to it. It wasn't too hot and most of the animals were out for us to see. This time Alyssa was very excited about the monkeys and kept wanting to go back to see them. It was very hard to get any good pictures of Alyssa at first, but right before we left she kept asking mommy to take her picture with her new stuffed penguin she got in the gift shop. Hope everyone is well!

2007-08-04T21:23:00.000-04:00

We've been pretty lazy around here since Alyssa's birthday. First things first, Alex got recognized in the nationwide newspaper that his company sends out! Here is a copy of it:

Aunt Briana got married and had her baby shower over the past few weeks. The Curtis' came into town and Alyssa got to spend time with them. She just loves her Aunt Bethany to pieces! We've spent some time at parks and just enjoying the rest of our summer. School starts back in a few weeks so we have been getting ready for that, too. We love everyone and hope you're all well!

Alyssa Turns Two

2007-07-15T04:27:00.000-04:00

Saturday the 14th of July was Alyssa's second birthday. She had a Dora themed birthday party at her house with lots of family and friends. A few grandparents were unable to attend and we missed them lots!

Alyssa had so much fun playing with all of her cousins and friends. She ran around all day racing Lilly and having balloon fights with everyone. Since it was her birthday, Alyssa was allowed all the cupcakes she wanted to eat, which came to a grand total of four cupcakes!

2007-06-24T21:14:00.000-04:00

Alyssa just got back from spending a whole week with her Grandparents in Memphis. She had so much fun getting to spend time with her family since she only sees them a few times a year. She tried lots of new foods and learned some new words. Alyssa also discovered her new passion: singing. Here is a picture of Alyssa and Daddy at the Rainforest Cafe at Opry Mills.

We are so excited to have Alyssa back. We missed her very much while she was gone. Today we just spent the day together at home, some of which we spent outside blowing bubbles.

Alyssa's 2nd birthday is coming up soon (July 14). We have decided on a Backyardigans themed pizza party at our house. It should be fun.

2007-06-10T10:32:00.001-04:00

Well we finally decided to get a dog! He is an eight month old dauschand/iltalian greyhound named Bentley. He is very sweet but also very hyper. He is teething and so we have already had a few things go missing, but nothing of value or importance. Alyssa loves him very much. When it is time for Bentley to eat she will follow him around with handfuls of his food saying "eat doggy!" Here is a picture of Bentley and also a few of Alyssa playing in his cage that he stays in when we have to go somewhere.

The Pink Dress

2007-06-03T22:12:00.000-04:00

Alyssa looked so cute today in her pink dress that I just had to take some pictures of it! Also, it was the first day she let me put a hairbow in and she didn't take it out!

2007-05-28T00:32:00.000-04:00

We visited the Brock family in Houston, TX this past week. We drove down from Chattanooga and stayed the night in Louisiana then finished the drive to Houston the next morning. Alyssa got a stomach virus and was sick the whole drive! It turned out to just be a 24 hour bug, thank goodness.

We spent 3 of our days in Galveston, TX enjoying the beach and the good food. As it turns out, Alyssa gave mom her stomach bug because mom spent half of the time in Galveston sick in the hotel room! Alyssa really enjoyed being at the beach. She loved playing in the sand and being able to run around freely. However, she would not go near the ocean water. She made a few attempts, but each time a wave got close she would turn and run away screaming!

Thank you so much Grandad Brock for bringing us down, we had a wonderful time!

2007-05-20T16:37:00.000-04:00

We had a trip to the Chattanooga Zoo today since we haven't been in a while. It was a very nice day. Alyssa had fun running around seeing all the monkeys, tigers (which are actually Snow Leopards) and birds. We leave for Houston/Galveston in 2 days and are very excited to go relax on the beach for a few days!

2007-04-08T20:13:00.000-04:00

Happy Easter to all of our family members! We traveled to Memphis, TN to spend Easter weekend with the Curtis family. We visited the Children's Museum of Memphis while we were there, which was lots of fun! We spent most of our time just visiting with the family, since it isn't often we get to see them. Here are a couple of pictures of Alyssa in her Easter dress and then quite a few pictures from the Easter egg hunt. Hope everyone else had a great Easter!

2007-03-25T21:59:00.000-04:00

We took a trip downtown over the weekend. Aunt Hillary and cousin Lily came with us. We walked around, had some ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery and then let the girls play in the water outside of the Tennessee Aquarium.

2007-03-17T19:14:00.000-04:00

Exciting news...we got a new car today! It is a 2003 Honda Accord. It is dark grey with a sunroof and 6 disc cd changer. We are so excited to finally have a new car. We are keeping the older Honda for Alex to drive to work. Here are a couple of pictures:

2007-03-10T13:15:00.000-05:00

Alyssa went to the Chattanooga Zoo yesterday with her friend Blake. They had a wonderful time because they got to run around all by themselves and look at all of the animals. Alyssa was amazed by everything and ran up to every exhibit and pointed and said "Oh! Wow!" Her special favorites were the monkeys and Snow Leopards.

Here are a few shots of the animals...

2007-02-25T20:54:00.000-05:00

We made a trip to the park today since it was so warm and were joined by our photographer friend and his wife. He followed Alyssa around and took some great action shots of her. She even posed for him a couple of times. Here are some of the great shots he got. (Some have been edited by me.)

The Many Faces of Alyssa

2007-02-24T11:05:00.000-05:00

2007-02-22T20:10:00.000-05:00

Alyssa just wanted to show off her pretty pink purse.

2007-02-18T10:17:00.000-05:00

We have had a busy weekend here at the Brock home! Alyssa has made a new friend, a little boy named Blake who is a couple of months older than her. They hit it off right away! She got to hang out with him on Friday and Saturday.

On Saturday night mom and dad got to get dressed up and go out with Aunt Hilary for her wedding anniversary. We had a great dinner at Ichiban, where they cook your food in front of you.

Valentine's Day

2007-02-16T18:22:00.000-05:00

Alyssa came home today to a lovely surprise...a Valentine's present from Nanny and Papa. She is very excited about it because she loves the Backyardigans. When we put it in for her to watch, she jumped up and down shouting "Pablo! Pablo!" which is the name of her favorite character from the show. Here are some pics of Alyssa showing off her present. Alyssa says please excuse her bad hair day, she just woke up from a nap.

2007-02-13T09:39:00.000-05:00

Alyssa has been a very good girl lately and is learning so many new words. Some new additions to her vocab are: pop tart, banana and shoe. She is also learning how to help clean up her toys when she is done playing with them. Another trick she has learned, much to our delight, is to put something in the garbage can when we ask her to. Alyssa is also doing a very good job of going to sleep at night in her own bed without mom or dad staying with her. Her cousin Lily came over to play recently and here are a few pictures of the girls together...

Snow Day!

2007-02-01T20:23:00.001-05:00

We had a couple of inches of snow today. So, after work mom and dad took Alyssa out to play in it. She had fun, even though she didn't want to touch the snow with her hands.

Alyssa Laughing

2007-01-28T19:02:00.000-05:00

Alyssa is a Rock Star!

2007-01-27T16:05:00.000-05:00

Alyssa just loves to dance anytime she hears music. Here is a quick video of her jammin' to Blink 182:

Also, we are currently planning a trip to Disney World for late September. If any family members are interested we would love the company!

Trip to Cincinatti!

2007-01-21T20:51:00.000-05:00

The three of us, plus Alyssa's grandmother Jill, just got back from our quick trip to Cincinatti, Ohio. The reason for the trip was to see a concert of Dad's favorite band, O.A.R. We decided to see the concert in Cincinatti 1. Because that was the closest they were coming to Chattanooga and 2. We have never been to Cincinatti. The concert was a Christmas present from Mom to Dad. It was a really great show, even though it's not really Mom's kind of music.

We also visited the Cincinatti Children's Museum and walked around the Fountain Square. We ate some really good food while we were there. Something new and different was Skyline Chili - it was good, but their chili was different - almost sweet tasting.

You can see all of the pictures from our trip in this album: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AbOGLNi2cNGLqY¬ag=1