The Brown Brick Road

Capturing our adventures one photo at a time...

Birthday party!

This past weekend we got to go to a birthday party at the McWane Science Center!  Sam Brown (no relation) was turning 6 and we went to help him celebrate.  Robert and Sam’s dad, Keith, grew up together and Sam’s little brother, Luke, is Maxwell’s age.  It was a great place for a party!

Maxwell all ready to go…

Spencer with the birthday boy, Sam…

Holding on tight to the present!

We first went to a room where the kids got to see and touch all kinds of animals.

I let Robert handle the animals with Maxwell while I hung back with Spencie Wencie…

All the kids loved getting to see a tortoise…

a hedgehog…spiky!

a snake…

Luke had NO FEAR about any of the animals…especially the snake!  He was so funny trying to grab at all of the animals!

And, finally, a super soft chinchilla.  cool!

Afterward, Maxwell filled up on sugar…

and then we got to explore McWane for a bit…

Spencer wasn’t that impressed!  🙂

We then headed out to lunch where Maxwell tried to use his party favor – a train whistle…we’re still working on it!

It was a fun party!

Birthday Birthday Birthday!

Today is a very special day!  There are TWO fun birthdays to celebrate.  First, Maxwell’s cousin Savannah turns ONE!  Happy, happy birthday Savannah!

Second, Daddo’s birthday is today!  Hooray!  We are so glad we’ve gotten to see Daddo so much lately on his trips back and forth to Arkansas and can’t wait to see him even more over the Christmas holiday.  Daddo, we hope it’s a zip-a-dee-doo-da kind of day!  Enjoy the cookies that are coming your way!  🙂

Maxwell and Spencer wanted to send Daddo some Happy Birthday wishes of their own so I made a sign for them to hold and things went a little something like this…

Hmmm…what does this sign say?  I see a D and a B and two P’s…

What are you laughing at ya-ya?  You can’t read it either you know!

Oh, that’s ok ya-ya.  I know you’re just laughing because you’re excited it’s Daddo’s birthday.  

I’m excited too and hope Daddo has a great birthday!

Here, why don’t you hold the sign yourself…

Perfect!

Maxwell then thought it would be a good idea to take his brother outside with him to pose for more pictures…

But then realized that almost 12 lbs of baby is pretty heavy…

So instead he covered him up with burp cloths and told him to “stay!” (Maxwell can be a little bossy).

Maxwell then went outside and decided to pose with the next best thing…

A fire truck! Doesn’t get much better than that!  (like that face?  that’s his new “say cheese!” face…goodness!)

Happy Birthday Daddo!  We hope your day is as fun two firetrucks!  We love you!

A Very Special Birthday!

Today is Maxwell’s great-grandmother Susu’s birthday!  It’s not just any birthday though, it’s her 90th!  Fantastic!  What a milestone!

Susu – we wish we could be with you in person today to give you a big hug, but know that we are thinking about you and sending you lots of love and wishes for a great day!  We’ll give you that big hug at Thanksgiving!

To make up for not being able to see you in person, here are some pictures taken especially for you!

Maxwell wanted to include the “pump-choos” in your birthday pictures…

and he worked hard to get them positioned juuuuust right….

He finally got them right where he wanted them…

But those pumpkins are heavy and it kind of wore him out!

and he just didn’t have much energy left for smiling…

But, don’t worry, he’ll be full of smiles for you when he sees you at Thanksgiving!

We love you, Susu!!  Happy Birthday!

 

Birthday recap

We’ve had some fun birthday celebrations around here the past several days.  It all started on Thursday with Robert’s birthday.  As I  mentioned, I made him a special from-scratch yellow cake with chocolate icing.  We’re trying to recreate his grandmother’s beloved recipe and, while I don’t think we quite did that, this one was pretty good!

The recipe came from Smitten Kitchen – a favorite of mine.  Yellow cake recipe here and frosting recipe here.

I was pretty proud of how it turned out!

The afternoon of Robert’s birthday, Maxwell acted as my sous chef and helped me get everything ready…

He also practiced blowing out unlit candles all afternoon.

We had everything ready when Robert got home – and were particularly festive thanks to a “Dada’s Juice” balloon from Susan!

We had a great little party for 3 and ate our favorite pizza.  Maxwell was doing great…until it came time to light the candles and sing Happy Birthday.  Just like on his birthday, he didn’t like the lit candles one bit and definitely didn’t want to blow them out the way he had been practicing all day!  These 3 pictures that I took while we were singing “Happy Birthday” might by my favorite ever…

ha!  poor guy!  Totally makes me think of Robert’s birthday 2 years ago…

After Robert blew out the candles (please look at Maxwell’s pitiful face!)…

Maxwell got over his fear of fire quickly and devoured some cake!

I think it was a great 36th for Robert!

and just some proof that I was there too!  🙂

On Friday night, Robert and I went out to dinner to Highlands Grill to celebrate our birthdays.  We hadn’t been there in years and it was delicious!  We should definitely go there more often!  (which I’m sure will be happening with a new baby coming in 2 weeks!  ha!).  And, just because I was pretty proud of myself, here’s a pic of me actually dressed up in heels (well, wedge heels!) at 38 weeks pregnant ready for a night out!

Too bad I didn’t get a picture of me and Robert together because he was looking sharp!

On Sunday we celebrated my 34th!  First, a BIG thank you to everyone that made it special!  I loved all the calls, emails, texts, Facebook posts, etc.  Birthdays sure do make a girl feel good!  Susan – the “cu-cake” was delicious and the scissors are so “me”!  I love them!

The day started off right with this post from my brother and sister-in-law.  Please check it out because it is awesome!!  They were at Disney recently and…well…let’s just say I felt the princess love!!  The day also brought some gloriously cool cool fall temps – I love having an October birthday!  We didn’t do anything special, but getting to spend the day with Robert and Maxwell made it the best birthday ever.

Robert and Maxwell gave me some rose gold star earrings – perfection!  And this awesome, pink vest came from Susu and Dodo!  I loooove it!

Maxwell liked it too!  🙂

I also got a great necklace from the Browns and lots of Starbucks cards from others. score!  You all clearly know me well because there is nothing I’d rather have!  thank you!  I think 34 is going to be a banner year.  How can it not when I get to get loved every day by Robert, Maxwell and this new little baby on the way?!

Here’s to a new year for me and Robert!!

birthday!

Today is my birthday!  whoo-hoo!  Welcome 34…I look forward to seeing what adventures you bring!

I’m off to eat some cake!  See you Monday!