Lead up to Christmas

I just wanted to wrap up my year by downloading all of my important December photos and finishing up my Project Life. So I figured I'd share some of the shots with you here. This was how I did my Christmas shopping this year. I had no other option with little ones always with me and too over stimulated to take them to the stores in December. Thank you Amazon.com! There is nothing better than price matching with Free shipping. And when you get a pile like this one on your door step, there is nothing but giddy giggles coming from me as I run to hide them in the closet. We only had one problem when we ordered Tucker's Basketball hoop and it showed up in a marked box. And it was a Santa gift. Luckily, we came pulling up the street and I saw it from a ways down the street. So I panicked and practically jumped out of the car so Matt could take the kids and "go for a small drive" to look for Christmas inflatables. I had to drag that huge thing around the back of the house and into Matt's shop before anybody saw it. So for that, Amazon, I was a tad irked. But I guess you had no idea you were helping to play Santa.



Some sugar cookies that Cameron, Tucker, and her friend frosted and decorated. These cookies were AMAZING! You know the big round sugar cookies with all the frosting and all the calories that you can buy at Walmart or Albertsons? This is the homemade recipe for those. I should post it for you.....











And here is our visit to Santa. There is a house in Meridian that has done an absolutely amazing job with plywood cutouts of Disney characters. The entire yard is decorated, the windows of their house are full of moving characters, and Santa sits on the porch step. The real Santa. We're almost 90% sure. And so we took our neices and loaded up and headed over. And this is seriously the closest thing to Disneyland the kids have ever seen and if they love it this much, I just can't wait till we can actually take them to see the real deal. But for now, it's painted plywood cutouts each year for Christmas.
I love these shots of Santa and the kids. Brody was clinging to my arm, having none of the Santa business. And I can't say I blame him. The mean mom in me wanted to put him on his lap anyways just for the picture opportunity, but I guess I decided to now traumatize my kid this year. So Merry Christmas Brody. Next year....

Don't Blink

I was doing my routine cleanup of the kids' bedrooms the other day and I looked around my feet and noticed that there is getting to be less and less of this kind of mess on the floor and more and more "big girl" stuff and messes in Cameron's bedroom. And then I realized that I haven't actually seen her come flitting through the house with fairy wings and a princess dress in quite a while. *sigh*. When Cameron turned three she got her first dress up clothes box and it slowly took over her bedroom. She inherited all of the Disney Princess dresses along with shoes, high heels, wands, wings, and hats. And it has kind of been her trademark thing. In fact, for a long time, every single day she would greet her Dad at the door wearing some concoction of Princesses and Fairies. And Matt would always ask her jokingly, "Don't you ever wear real clothes?" To which she would respond with a twirl or a twist and she was off again to her world of imagination. And it's funny because I never realized it stopped until I came in and picked the mess up off the floor. And it has stopped. And she's getting so big. And it is true what they say, "Don't blink." Life happens when you're not looking.

And so me being psycho crazy mom, decided to stop for a minute and just document this mess. Because I don't keep things. And I will pass this box of dress up clothes on down the line of neices. But I don't want to ever forget what it looked like when Cameron was in the middle of one of her imaginary dream lands.

Princesses and Fairies
Glitter and lace
Gowns galore
Wings and hats and shoes and sequins
Feather boas and more purses than any one girl should own














All wrapped together with a little pink satin, some polka dots, and an American Girl doll hiding underneath.





















"Don't blink. Just like that you're six years old and you take a nap. And you wake up and youre twenty five......."

Elf on a Shelf 2011

Meet Bubba Jingle. I already posted once about our newest tradition in the Brown household, but I thought I would follow up with some daily shots of our own personal elf. This year we had to creatively find some higher up look out points for Bubba because Brody didn't understand the whole "Don't touch the elf" idea.

Needless to say, he spent a lot of time looking down instead of up or out.





Cameron was quick to use her new found writing and spelling skills to record in her journal or write note after note to Bubba or Santa.






One of my more creative days. Bubba took a shower. The kids looked and looked and were thrilled when they finally found him.









We have a bandaid problem in this house. We go through atleast a box a month. It's ridiculous, but we pick scabs and so one night Bubba also decided to partake in the fun of the bandaid idea.





He also writes notes.






And he brought us breakfast. Straight from the North Pole. The kids thought it was delicious.









And some days it was literally an Elf. On a shelf. Period.












And other days he got quite creative.




Bubba was a great tradion to start with the kiddos and I look forward to it again next year. Gut I am relieved that he has gone back to the North Pole for now as the kids would get up even earlier than usual just to find where he had hid. We are back to sleeping in a little bit. I highly recommend getting The Elf on the Shelf if you haven't already started it with your family.

Merry Christmas 2011

I would like to think that tomorrow and the next day I am going to have time to add all of the photos of all of the activities that we have been participating in over the past month or so, but realistically, I still have some small stocking stuffers to grab, I still have some presents to wrap, I have neighborhood gifts to deliver, I have wine bottles to decorate, beer bottles to turn into reindeer, laundry, dresses and shirts to iron for Christmas eve Mass, fingernails to trim, hair to cut, eyebrows to pluck, ornaments to rehang on the tree, glitter to sweep up, cards to sign and mail, and kids to spend time with.

This week my best friend from high school is here visiting her family and friends all the way from Nashville, Tennessee. It is always a good time when she is home. We love to get togehter and reminisce. It's always a good reminder of the fun we had back in the day. And it's truly a blessing to have "old friends" who have known me since I was fifteen. What a journey we have led together!

My kids get to go to my other best friend's house, also a friend from high school, but closer now than then because of our tie of teaching third grade together and having kids the exact same age who are also good friends. What a blessing to have another Mommy to dig through the trenches of motherhood together! Anyways, she is such a brave soul, she's having 10 little girls and 2 boys for as long as they have interest over to make gingerbread houses tomorrow afternoon and we are very much looking forward to that!

And while they are creating, I will be home busily wrapping and finishing up some loose ends and getting even more excited for the up and coming visit from the North Pole.

This is going to be such a year full of magic! It's so hard not to just go crazy over board for the kids because I have such fond memories of the Christmas's that we had in our house when we were little and my Mom and Dad always went all out. It's something that I will never forget. And I want the same for my kids. So while 364 days of the year I try my best to establish a lifestyle of hard work and gratitude, on Christmas it's all about the presents and the spoiling! Matt and I are more excited than the kids!

Matt is especially excited that he has a Barbie house, a Razor Rip Rider, and a basketball hoop to build out in his shop. So glad I get to do the easy part of shopping and ordering and he gets to do the dirty work of being Santa's construction elf.

And so, again, I appreciate each and every one of you reading this blog and look forward to getting back on track with even more posts in 2012.

May your family experience the same love and gratitude that we have for our life and the blessings that God has given us. Have a wonderful, fantastic, and truly magical Christmas.

Brody's First Snow

They say a picture is worth a thousand words and in this case, I definately agree. I LOVE the look on Brody's face while trying to figure out the snowflakes coming down.

Of course he had been in snow last year, but was way too little to remember so this was the best thing he'd ever seen.

Can you even imagine the wonder?

Hoping to make a snowman, but of course, the first snow never lasts long.









I'm not a snow person. At all. But this did get me excited enough to bundle the kiddos up and head outdoors to experience it. I even busted out the video camera to get Brody's excitement on film.

The countdown is on to Christmas. I have been making homemade cinnamon rolls all day, the neighbor girls and Cameron has been busy making toilet paper roll snowflakes. The patio is covered in paint and glitter but it kept them busy and that makes me happy.

First Haircut

You can see in this photo that Brody had the perfect soft baby curls that kind of just lay all over his forehead. But, we were getting family photos so everybody in the family was getting cleaned up and ready to smile. And so, while I was kind of wanting to keep the baby look a little longer, we gave him his first hair cut. I lucked out because I had a friend there in the beauty shop that was willing to snap photos through the whole thing. And so you can kind of get a run by run experience of what went on.


I was expecting some tears but Brody just watched Tucker get his hair cut like a pro and he decided, like everything else, that if Tucker does it, then Brody will also do it.
It's so funny that even with the first swipe of baby hair, I knew that all I was going to have left was one more dirty rotten little boy. And it's true. We shaved off his angel hair, exposed those horns just a little more....

Sweet boy.

















Such a handsome little thing! Oh parents, lock up your girls! Actually, Brody is never going to date at all. He will live with me forever....and be little forever.