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!

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!

More Thanksgiving

While in Arkansas, we also stopped by to see my Dad’s side of the family.  My cousin Amy had her little girl Savannah with her and, although she’ll be 1 year old next week, this is the first time we’ve gotten to meet her in person!  She is even more precious in person than in her pictures…

I mean, look at that sweet little girl!

We had a great time visiting and I’m so glad that Spencer got to meet my cousin Anna…

and my cousin Amy…

Maxwell loved going over there because they have swings!

It was a beautiful fall day to be outside!  Love this pic of me and my dad…

We then got a few good shots of Savannah and Maxwell on John and Cara’s great front porch…

Cuties.

Maxwell loved that porch and would have stayed there all day if I let him…

Another great Thanksgiving in the books!  See you all next year family!

 

Thanksgiving via iphone

As I said, we had a great Thanksgiving because we got to see my entire family on both my mom’s and dad’s side.  I can’t remember the last time my mom’s entire side of the family was together but it’s been too long.  It was so good to catch up with my cousins, introduce Spencer to everyone and let Maxwell play with his cousins.  We spent 5 days in Arkansas and the boys did fantastic the whole time.  It’s a 6 hour drive each way and between that and the numerous trips back and forth to Searcy, Augusta and LR, they logged a lot of hours in the car.  I think we all might have Finding Nemo memorized by now!  🙂  Most importantly, Maxwell slept GREAT in the pack n play in the hotel, hallelujah! It was a successful trip all around!

I took a few photos with my big camera which I’ll share tomorrow but today I thought I would walk through the trip based on my (numerous!) iphone pics because that’s how my life is documented these days!

Maxwell debating whether or not all of our stuff is actually going to fit in the car…

On the road…

Sleeping baby 1…

Sleeping baby 2…

Pit stop at Wendy’s…

Spencer meeting Susu…

Spencer hanging with Jeanette…

Maxwell entertaining himself in the hotel…

Robert entertaining Maxwell in the hotel…

Maxwell with “nate n laney”…

Fun with Daddo…

3 little ones attempting to eat Thanksgiving dinner…

Maxwell making GJ laugh…

GJ making Maxwell laugh…

An early Christmas present from Susu…

Yellow truck!!

Pie and baby…

Showing his new truck to Daddo…

Maxwell experiencing his first taste of Buffalo Grill in Little Rock.  yum.

Catching up with great friends…

Love these girls…

Too cool for school…

Catching up with another great, forever friend…

and Maxwell making new friends.  The cuteness of this kills me!

Susu loving on Spencer…

Susu and the boys and me…

Story time…

Cousin chaos…

Cousin tackle…

Cousin love…

Keath and fam…

Me and fussy baby…

Running off some energy outside…

Spencer and Susu…

and one more for good measure.

Phew!  and after that we hopped in the car and drove 6 hours back to Birmingham. What a trip!

I just want to end with a special THANK YOU to Robert.  It wasn’t an easy weekend and Robert was, as always, a lifesaver willing to do whatever we needed.  He puts up with my crazy family (love you family!) and does it all with a smile constantly going above and beyond.  I don’t know what we would do without him.  Robert, you’re the best!