The Brown Brick Road

Capturing our adventures one photo at a time...

MGM Christmas

After seeing what all Santa brought and filling our bellies with pancakes and bacon, we loaded up and drove in the rain down to Montgomery to spend the day with Robert’s family.  Maxwell had a bad cold and was definitely not feeling 100% so the distraction of playing with his cousins was nice!

Spencer was a trooper all day and loved finally getting to meet his Aunt Jenny…

Lulu got plenty of love from all her grand babies…

and I had plenty of time to love on mine…

even if one of them didn’t want to sit still!

We all had fun opening presents!

Maxwell even got this GIANT puppy from Katie and Anna!

whoa!  that puppy is bigger than Maxwell!

Maxwell did pretty good all day but, by late afternoon, he was done and melting down.

After our late lunch, we said our goodbyes and gave out some “tackle hugs”…

and headed back to Birmingham just in time to beat the thunderstorm too!  It was a fun day and I’m so grateful that we live so close to Robert’s family and get to see them so often!

ps – I made the desserts for lunch and made a Triple Chocolate Bundt Cake that my friend’s mom always used to make (happy to share the recipe, let me know if you want it!) and I also made this Apple Cranberry Cake from Barefoot Contessa (Ina never fails!).  Both were EXCELLENT if I do say so myself!  Will be making both again for sure!

pps – I hope you all have a great weekend.  I’m going to be taking the next week off to enjoy a little vacation but I’ve got some fun posts lined up.  Wanna see our house and Spencer’s room?  tune in next week!

More family!

On Saturday, after Robert’s family had all left and Brownfest was over, my mom and Susu stopped by on their way from Arkansas to Florida.  We were so glad to see them!

Susu got some quality time in with Mr. Spencer…

They had quite the conversation!  Spencer was just coo-ing up a storm with his great grandmother!

I love how he’s just looking and smiling at her!

I think Susu’s pretty smitten with my little guy!

GJ then had to take her turn squeezing on Spencer too!  LOVE this picture…

He has such strong little legs!  and he clearly likes GJ just as much as he likes Susu!

Sweet, sweet boy…

We all had fun playing with some new toys…

and then, before they had to leave, I snapped this picture…

New most favorite picture ever!  GJ and her babies!  Doesn’t get much better than that!!

See you again soon GJ and Susu!

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!

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!

Doc update

I took Spencer to see Dr. Walley for his 6 week checkup.  Robert and I had a bet on what he was going to weigh – Robert guessed 9.5 lbs, I said 10.  We were both wrong!  My little chubbo is 11 lbs, 4 oz (75th-95th%)!  chunk!  He’s also 22.5 inches long (85th-95th%) and has a head circumference of 15 inches (75th-95th%).  I looked back to compare with Maxwell and, at 5 weeks, Maxwell was 10 lbs, 1 oz and 22 and 1/4 inches long.  Spencer’s a week older and almost a pound heavier!  We’ll see how they compare as they grow.

Spencer did great at the doc again.  Happy and chubby…

I mean, could he be any cuter?!

Nope, he couldn’t.  and being that cute is exhausting!

Getting checked out by Dr. Walley…

Post-shot in thigh…not happy!

Overall, Dr. Walley said Spencer looks just great!  Hooray for good doctor reports!

Just a few other things to wrap up the week around here.

Maxwell has enjoyed being back home around all of his toys again…

GJ and Daddo stopped by on their way back to FL…

and Maxwell gave us all hats to wear as usual…

GJ and Daddo are good sports!

And last but not least, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here!

Ho ho ho!  I LOOOOVE Christmas time!  My decorations will be mainly the same as last year, but, with Susan’s help, I am doing something new to the outside.  Will share pics next week.

Have a great weekend!