Toilet Paper Tales

So with Brooklyn's ongoing potty training we've learned to expect the unexpected. Brookie is slowly making progress with her toilet training and is even using "the potty" by herself without wanting us to help her. As we continue to try and help, one of the things we're currently working on is getting her to use toilet paper after she uses the bathroom. Today after finishing her "buisness" she came running up to us really excited to show us she had used the toilet all by herself. When we came in the bathroom to look at her great success we found that she had not only used toilet paper like she was supposed to, but had proceeded to empty a BRAND NEW ENTIRE ROLL of toilet paper into the toilet. She was so proud at what she had done!! Needless to say it was not necessarily the outcome we wanted, but hey, Rome wasn't built in a day. Congrats to our little Brookie for finally using toilet paper!:-)

Halloween Extravaganza!!

So Halloween is finally upon us and we've been having a lot of fun getting into the ghoulish spirit of things. Brooke decided she wanted to be Ariel this year and a cute little Ariel she is! We went to a party at Kenny's dental school where Brooke had a great time meeting up with all her other fellow princesses including Snow White and Belle. Little Ariel started dancing by herself in the middle of the dance floor and before we knew it all the other little kids had joined in with her. She danced with her friends for an hour straight, stopped for some food, and danced for another half an hour until it was time to go home. That girl sure does love to dance! (see video at end of blog.)

We also went to a little Halloween fair that we drove by awhile ago and decided to give it a try. It had a little "pumpkin patch" area to play in as well as a bunch of kiddie carnival rides (all of which Brooke was anxious to try). She got to ride her first pony which she loved and she had a blast riding all the other rides, some of which were a little scary but she braved her way through. We're still getting ready for the actual Halloween night where we'll be going to the ward trunk or treat, but so far this halloween been "terror" - ific. Happy Halloween everyone!!!

"Part of your world"


Kickin it with Snow and the Homies


"Let's get this party started!"





The unknown romance between Ariel and Flounder emerges.


Ride 'em Cowboy!


Two pretty ladies!


"Am I actually in a giant banana?"


"You gotta JUMP!! JUMP!!"

"Shhhhhh!!! The pumpkins are sleeping

Sometimes you just gotta dance!

13 weeks and counting:-)

Pumpkin Patch Boogie !

Birthdays, Weddings, and lots of driving

Well its been quite awhile since our last post so sorry to those who have been anxiously awaiting more news from the Webster clan. This past month and a half has been very hectic with lots to do and places to go. We have been on some type of trip almost every week for the past month or so and we can all say with absolute certainty that its nice to have a weekend where we're not in the car for at least a four hour stretch. Shan and Brooke got to travel out to Georgia for a week to see our new niece in the middle of September which was really fun. Brookie had a lot of fun trying to take care of her new little cousin which was actually pretty good practice for the new addition we'll be expecting this April. Shan also had the honor of being the matron of honor at the wedding of her best friend Jessie Davis (now Boyne) on October 13th. It was a great wedding with all of us dressed to the nine's and I (Kenny) even made an attempt at dancing (or as the people at the wedding like to call it; rigid awkward convulsions.). But it was a great time and we got to meet lots of new people and make lots of new friends. Amidst all these new nieces and weddings Shan and I both celebrated our birthdays (Oct.2 and 7th respectively) and had a great time getting older. We had a lot of fun having birthday celebrations and Brookie was ever so generous wishing us happy birthdays randomly shouting out "Happy Birthday Mommy/Daddy!" throughout the whole week. Anyway we hope everyone's doing well and here are some pics to enjoy

A happy trio!



Baby's are great!


Wait a minute! You mean she cries too?


Brooke pretending Alyssa is her own personal jungle gym.


Shan and Brookie grabbing some quiet time.



Happy Birthday Kenny and Shannon!!


Brooke utilizing my birthday dinner to make her first Halloween costume:
Taco Face!


Brookie's birthday present and card to Daddy!


Brooke's preferred conference watching activity? Watching Peter Pan on the portable DVD player.


Three is always better than one!


Shannon at a bachelorette party for her best friend Jessie (in the black dress).


Happy family at Jessie's wedding


Brookie happy to be back playing with "Grandpa O"


Brookie's first puzzle she completed without help (despite the fact three of the pieces are misssing)


Shan's baby bump is slowly growing:-) Stay tuned for updates!!

Webster California Adventures

Well, the time keeps passing us by and this past month has been quite exciting for our little brood. After finding out we were expecting another little Webster we naturally did what any family (or NFL quarterback) would do: We went to Disneyland!! Over my one week break I had off from school Brookie, Shan, and I decided to jaunt down to the California coast and just spend some time having fun going to Disneyland, the LA Zoo, and Mission Viejo Lake. Brooke loved seeing all the cool animals at the zoo and riding her favorite animal rides at Disneyland which include the Dumbo ride (we rode it 4 times) and the Merry-go-round (6 times). It was so great that we were able to get away for a little bit and a special thanks to Lisa for hooking us up with the D-land passes. Unfortunately Mom and Dad O'Bryant were not able to come with us as they were in Georgia visiting the newest O'Bryant grandchild, Olivia, but luckily we did get to spend some time with them as they came home Saturday night and we didn't leave until late Sunday. Anyway, here are some pics of all the fun! Enjoy!!
















Three "Ze-brothers" (Okay they might be sisters but then the pun wouldn't have worked)
















Giraffe head


















Dumbo's not so animated father


















Shannon spending some quality time with the Cullens as she finishes the 3rd book in the Twilight series "Eclipse." She's already looking into the process of having my name permanently changed to Edward. (The main vampire in the book)


















Brooke's so happy she gets to ride the sea lion......for the sixth time:-)


















Shan and Brooke happy to be back in the flying elephant























Brookie having fun on Mission Viejo Lake!


















Brookie and Grandma O. playing dress-up with some of their favorite friends

Baby Number TWO!!!!!!

That's right all you Webster Adventures blog readers! Our little family is now officially expecting a new addition to arrive sometime in May of 2008 and we couldn't be happier about the news! And while we're on the topic we also have got to give this new little kid props for his/her timing on letting us know he/she exists seeing as we found out about this over the weekend of our 5th anniversary(August 24th). What an awesome present for both of us!!
The current predictions from all of us are as follows:

Shannon - Thinks it is a boy even though she previously wanted a girl
Kenny - Sticking with his prediction of twins even though it's a bit of a long shot. (Gotta have faith baby!!)
Brooklyn - Currently still trying to comprehend the meaning of being a "sister", but she knows Mommy has a baby in her tummy and one day it's going to come out.

Anyway, we're ecstatic that we can finally say we're expecting another baby, and stay tuned for continual "Shannon updates" as we all know that any pregnancy provides great stories to put in a blog.


Current picture of what our new addition would look like if we could see him/her.






In other news, we did reach the 5 years of marriage milestone this week and we had a great time celebrating by taking an extended weekend and basically just having fun from Thursday to Saturday. We ate out at nice restaurants, stayed a night at a suite in the Venetian hotel (VERY nice!), and even went to see Phantom of the Opera which was an amazing production. Needless to say (cue sweet romantic violin music in the background) we're just as much in love with each other, if not more so, as we were when we first got married. I feel so lucky to have found my Shan and I'm forever grateful for our family and the happiness it has brought us all. (End music)



As for all you gluttons for news about Brookie, you will be glad to know (or maybe not) that we are still entrenched in the mires of potty training. She is good at actually using the toilet; she just happens to be lazy some of the time and decides she doesn't want to. She always has had a mind of her own. In this past month she has also increased her knowledge and technical prowess in her ballet studies. Shan has been teaching Brookie various moves that she likes to perform for people, and she is well on her way in following her mommy's lovely feather-light footsteps to becoming a ballerina. In other news, at her last doctor's appointment we discovered Brooke is about in the 90th percentile for height of kids her age, so my dreams of having a volleyball player daughter are still alive and well. Her continued vertical uprising has also proven quite the advantage for her to reach things she really shouldn't get to, so Shan and I are continually adapting to the challenge to keep her curious mind and hands away from things she ought not get. But she continues to be her generally pleasant and happy self and is a great joy to have in our lives.



Anyway, that's about it for us right now. Thanks for all you readers who have had to wait so long for an update and hopefully it won't be too long before we get on again.

Love ya all,

Kenny, Shan, and Brookie

Passing, Potty, and Potter

Hello All,

Well its been a hectic past month with lots happening in our small little Webster clan. So after putting it off for a while, I'm finally back at the laptop to update everyone on what's been happening with our lives. First of all, for those of you who haven't heard, I had to take the 1st part of my national board test on July 2nd. After 8 hours of test taking and guessing on what seemed like every other question my brain had turned into tapioca and I was sure I had failed and would have to retake it. But it turned out my fears were unfounded as I found out I passed the test and would not have to worry about retaking anything. It feels great for all of us to finally have that test over with, and we're finally getting to spend time together again as a family without Daddy having to study all the time.

Of course the really big news this last month has been all the changes Brooklyn's been going through as she is making her official transition to becoming a "big girl". Yes folks, potty training has begun in the Webster household and it's not for the faint of heart. Shan decided if we were going to do this, she was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice and go 100% which meant switching right over to underpants from diapers with no intermediate. After about a week of just underpants, Brooke still hadn't learned how to "use the potty" entirely (she currently about 3/4 of the time) so we switched to using Pull-ups and she does well with those. Probably more than you actually wanted to know, but there it is.
Brooke also wants you to know that she has finally made the transition to a big girl bed. A few weeks ago Brookie decided she had had enough of sleeping in a glorified cage so she started doing Evil Kenevil Kamakazi death drops over the side of her crib during the night which almost always ended with a crying little girl. Needless to say Shan and I finally caught on to the very subtle hint Brooke was giving us and we converted her crib into a daybed so she can get in and out as she pleases. She generally does pretty well with the new arrangement although we have had a few am bedside wakeup calls as she has discovered she now has the freedom to actually come and see Mommy and Daddy whenever she wants.
And then last but not least, Pottermania has flicked and swished its way into the Webster household full force and is still thriving. It started out with the 5th Harry Potter movie for which Kenny dragged Meg to the midnight showing so he'd have a Potter buddy. Shan actually wanted to go too, but the with a 2 year old who's been known to wake up at 5:00 am in the morning she felt she needed some sleep so Brooke wouldn't wake up to 2 zombie parents. Then of course came the release of the final Harry Potter book. Shan thought we should go to a midnight release party at one of the bookstores and being stylish girl that she is, decided she wanted to dress up like a witch to get in the full Potter mood. It was a really fun night and wouldn't you know it our emotional little Shannon even shed a tear or two during the final countdown to midnight. So we finally got our book at about 12:45am and went home and immediately started reading it. Unsurprisingly Kenny had finished it by about 7:30 pm the next day and Shan (having had to wait for Kenny to read it. Isn't she great:-) is already pushing page 200 only 2 days after the release of the book. For those of you not interested in reading the book, but still want to know what happens highlight below.

Anyway, hope everyone's well and enjoying their summer. Life down here in Vegas is still blazing hot but survivable, and we're all healthy and happy and loving life. Love you all and we'll check in again in a few weeks.

Love,

Shan, Kenny, and Brooklyn


Harry Potter Quick Spoiler Summary
(Only highlight below if you want to know who dies and what happens)

Hedwig, Mad-eye Moody, Fred Weasly, Lupin, Tonks, Snape and Voldemort die
Harry dies but comes back to life to finally Vanquish Voldemort in the end
Snape actually was a good guy and killed Dumbledore on Dumbledore's orders since Dumbledore was actually going to die anyway due to the curse in Dumbledore's withered hand from Book 6
Harry marries Ginny and they have three kids named James, Albus, and Lily
Ron marries Hermione and they have two kids, Rose and Hugo

Basically everyone lives happily ever after `

Happy Father's Day!!

Hey Everyone,
Hope everyone had a good Father's day and that all is going well. Down here in Vegas we had a good week ending with a great Father's day. I (Kenny) have spent pretty much every waking moment of this week studying for National Boards (which I take in two weeks), while Shan and Brookie have been having a lot of quality time to themselves swimming, learning letters (she can now identify 10-15), and belting out primary and Disney songs in the middle of crowded public places. Father's day has been great with Shan letting me sleep in this morning and surprising me with my favorite breakfast when I got up. We had a Father's day program in sacrament meeting (including Brookie getting away from us during the closing prayer and nearly making it up to the pulpit), and a great Father's day dinner made by Shan and Mom Webster which consisted of ribs, salad, and corn on the cob among other things. Brookie had fun helping Dad Webster learn how to use his crutches (which he is still using from his knee surgery early this week) while Rich took first place in the quarterly Mariokart tournament although Nate did get his respect with his first place in the last race. As far as Meg goes, well, some say she's lost a step or two. Anyway, here are some fun pics from the week and Father's day.
Love you all!
Kenny, Shan, and Brookie

"No Papa, you use them like this:-)"


Brooke setting up a Tea Party with her friends. Unfortunately it eventually got so wild the cops had to come and break it up.

Daughter and Daddy for a Father's day snapshot


Brookie's first experience eating corn right off the cob. She definitely wasn't shy about it and ended up finishing the whole thing!


Getting some help opening Father's Day presents.


Brooke, Mom, and Rich (who came down for a surprise visit Saturday Morning for Father's Day weekend)