Halloween On Parade: 2015

Veronica was a cat this year. (She did her own whiskers, too!)

The Halloween costume parade at Jefferson Elementary is a nice tradition. Especially when the weather cooperates. This year, it was pretty nice, with temperatures in the low 50s. It did rain – but only as the parade was making its way back into the building.

You can see past versions of the parade here: 2013, 2012, and 2011. (In 2014, Sean was on a plane to North Carolina.)

I'm not sure which teacher was the princess from "Frozen" but she looked the part.

Here comes Veronica. Simple costume, but looking good.

This is Veronica's "Hey Dad, take my photo!" look.

Look closely and you will see Veronica on the "back side" of the school.

Veronica was awfully proud of this piece of artwork.

I had little cat as a passenger after school.

If you couldn't tell, Veronica was taking these photos of herself.

Um, scary.

Here is Sean's annual photo with Mrs. Free. She was Maleficent.

Only one more photo like this to come next year.

Be sure your volume is turned down before watching this video.

Happy 15th Birthday Julia!

From left: Julia's first day of school this year, her fifth birthday and her photo at birth.

Julia turns 15 today. That means she can start driving with a learner's permit. Three days ago, she got that permit. Do you think she's a bit excited to be behind the wheel?

Who can forget Julia's "eyeball cake" on her fifth birthday (pictured above)? She certainly has her own way about things, her own style. There is only one Julia!

We have some big plans for her birthday, which will be celebrated on Tuesday). So stay tuned!

Home Attendance Streak (and Julia) on KMTV

Look who made a surprise cameo appearance with Aunt Bridget in KMTV's story tonight.

KMTV reported on Bridget and Jon's home attendance streak for UNO hockey.

Here are a few highlights. (Watch entire story here.)

Not even the couple’s wedding could stop their streak.  Of course UNO hockey played a part in the Brooks’ special day. 

“Here we are with our bride and groom jerseys and I had my veil still on, because of course my hair was still done,” said Bridget Brooks.

Friday's 11th wedding anniversary will be an extra special one for the Brooks.

“How can they not open Baxter Arena on our wedding anniversary?” asked Bridget Brooks. 
 
For the Brooks, Friday’s home opener at Baxter Arena may mean new seats, but they’ll continue the same streak. 

“I’m going to continue the streak until the day that I die,” said Jon Brooks.

Like The Photos? You'll Love The Video!

Behind the scenes at the photo shoot.

Re-enacting the post-game fight song.

They Love Their UNO Hockey

After Lauren bailed on our "Back to the Future at Baxter" shoot, we took a few more photos.

UNO hockey means a lot to the girls. Several of them are season ticket holders, in fact. So when a special salute to the Mavericks' program went up recently at Aksarben Village, we knew we had to get some photos with it.

Celebrating a victory. Well, kind of.

Ready for the face off.

I am not sure what was happening in this photo. Feel free to comment.

Geez, Julia. Talk about strength!

The girls posed in homage to the photos behind them.

Back to the Future: Baxter Arena

Our first "Back to the Future" photo of Baxter Arena, shot more than two years ago.

We are quite proud of our "Back to the Future" series photos, which document the "before" and "after" of buildings in and around the Omaha area. But the Baxter Arena photo project was our most ambitious one yet.

For more than two years, we have been shooting photos from the same spot on the wall across the street from Baxter Arena. Never mind that there is a sign (just out of frame) that says to "keep off this wall." In addition to documenting the building of the arena, we also tried to include a white car in each photo. That's because there was a white car in the first photo we took.

And the final photo, shot a few days before the building's opening.

Time Lapse By Julia

Julia made another nice time lapse last night.

She's Still Cute!

Veronica hasn't changed one bit, has she? She is still a cutie!

Julia On The Video Crew

Central ended up winning, 2-1, against Lincoln High.

Julia took a big step today, becoming part of the Omaha Central video crew for home sporting events.

This all started last year when Sean mentioned to Ms. Brown, the varsity volleyball coach, that Julia might be a good one to recruit to help out this season. He reminded Ms. Brown about this during open house earlier in September. But what Julia did not immediately realize was that the assistant athletic director had sent her an email about it back in September. It was not until today, Oct. 1, that she discovered the message.

But like Julia does, she moved quickly and made all the arrangements to be part of the volleyball match tonight. She's a quick learner and picked up on what needs to be done, even learning how the commercials are inserted into the broadcast. ("You can put one right in the middle of the action if you want, dad," she said.)

Now she has a full schedule of volleyball matches to attend later this month. It sounds exciting.