The Brown Brick Road

Capturing our adventures one photo at a time...

Xmas Brownfest 2012

What a jam packed weekend we had!  We had vists from family, parties with friends and even a visit with Santa!  The fun started on Saturday morning with Christmas Brownfest 2012.  What started as a small gathering of 4 visitors quickly turned into a party with 16 guests and lots of fun!  Almost all of Robert’s family from Montgomery came up (we missed you Jenny, Katie and Holland!) and all of his family from Huntsville came down for a mini holiday family reunion.  It was a such a good chance to see how much all the cousins have grown and catch up with everyone.  I hope we can do it every year!

Before everyone got there, I really wanted a picture of me with my two babies…easier said than done!

One crying and one not paying attention…

One “smiling” and one fussing…

Ditched one got a decent one of the other…

ha!  I’ll keep trying!

Once everyone got there, I took lots of pictures and I’m just going to let them tell the story of the day…

What a fun day!  Ya’ll come back next year!

things of interest

1. Shatterproof ornaments are a great invention.

2. After several 70 degree days in December, a cold front finally moved in and it feels much more like Christmas.  Cold weather also means we had to bust out the super cute sweater and cap that Susu knitted for my boys…

Adorable!

3. Obviously, Spencer is a very good eater!  🙂

4. Maxwell is finally saying his name.  After almost 28 months of being called “Maxwell” every day, he finally decided to answer the question, “What is your name?” by actually saying “Maxwell!”  He’s SO proud of himself when he says it too.  Couldn’t be cuter if he tried.

5. It’s the weekend and I’m glad.  As if we haven’t already terrified Maxwell enough, we’re going to visit jolly old St. Nick one more time on Saturday!  Maxwell’s gotta tell him he wants a train track…wish us luck!

See you Monday!

The North Pole

On Sunday, we all took a little trip to North Pole to visit someone very special! Luckily, we had tickets for an express train ride so we were able to get back home in time for dinner!

Maxwell was SO excited to ride the train and see Santa. I’m not sure how much he fully understands about the whole Santa thing, but he knows he really wants a fire truck and, as he’s been told, Santa will bring him one so he’s all in! He also loves trains so the whole night was a win-win!

Spencer was ready to meet the jolly man too…

Me and my boys ready to go!

Handing over his ticket to get on the North Pole Express!

We were all pretty excited to be on the train…

and Maxwell even got a glowstick! oooh!

There were all sorts of fun lights and decorations to look at on our trip and we listened to a story over the loudspeaker. When we arrived at the North Pole, Santa and Mrs. Claus were outside waving to everyone!

Maxwell had to go on the other side of the train to see them but this nice lady let him sit in her lap. I really can’t believe he sat in her lap for as long as he did! She said she could feel his little heart just beating a mile a minute when he saw Santa out there!

While waiting for Santa, some elves came on board and gave everyone a special present…

and Maxwell visited with some of the other kids on the train.

Then Santa and Mrs. Claus were on our train car and stopped to visit each kid! When Santa got to our seat, Maxwell pinned himself so tight against Robert…

He was TERRIFIED! Robert said he could literally feel Maxwell shaking!

Despite being scared to death, he still managed to eek out that he wanted a fire truck for Christmas! sweet, sweet boy! He just watched Santa with big eyes the whole time…

But, once Santa was past us, he was happy again and happily waved Bye-Bye to Santa when he left!

After Santa’s visit, the elves came back and gave everyone hot chocolate and chocolate muffins (why not cookies? who knows?!)

Maxwell didn’t care if it was muffins or cookies, as long as it was “choc!”

It was a great night! Can’t wait to visit the North Pole again next year!!

ps – today is 12.12.12! Cool!

Candy House

Growing up, one of my favorite Christmas traditions was the candy house that my brother and I would decorate every year.  It’s sort of like a gingerbread house but it is a house made of wood that we would cover in icing and candy.  I always loved doing it!  Here’s me and my brother with our candy house circa 1986…

Oh yea!  We still have that original wooden candy house but it’s staying at GJ and Daddo’s.  But, over Thanksgiving, my mom surprised me and my brother with our own candy houses hand-made by my dad and Marc!  Best gift ever!!  I am SO excited to start the candy house tradition with my boys!!

On Friday, Maxwell, Spencer and I set out to decorate it.  We had plenty of icing and candy…

First we covered it in icing.  Maxwell was a big help…

A really big help…

Yep, such a big help.

See that side of the roof?  That’s about all the icing he actually got on the house!  🙂

Unfortunately, my other helper was feeling a little bah humbug during the decorating process…

I think he was just sad he wasn’t getting to “help” the way Maxwell was!

We then put all the candy on and, again, my assistant was really helpful…

How did I get so lucky to have such a good helper?!  🙂

In the end, we ended up with a fantastic looking candy house (that Maxwell actually really did help decorate)…

and two happy boys!

Can’t wait to continue this tradition every year!  Ho ho ho!

Friday!

First, happy birthday to cousin Laura today!  Hope it’s a great one!

Second, I haven’t forgotten about the pics of the outdoor decorations…coming asap I promise!

Third, some pics of sweet Spencer from this week…

love this little crooked smile!

Sleeping babies are the best…

He’s really starting to interact more, smile lots and coo a little. I love him more and more every day!  The fact that he’s been a GREAT sleeper is helping that too!  🙂

Fourth, some iphone pics from the last two weeks…

Finally, 2 more iphone pics because I like them.  Chubby legs…

and happy boys!

Hope you guys have a great weekend.  We’re planning to enjoy it with some Christmas light viewing, candy house making and plenty of Christmas music listening (including my fave Christmas CD)!  See you Monday!