The Brown Brick Road

Capturing our adventures one photo at a time...

Christmas recap, part 2

Continuing on with the week…

Robert arrived into Naples very late Tuesday night so Wednesday morning meant lots of fun play time with Dad for Maxwell…

We also had a chance to take in all of my parent’s FANTASTIC Christmas decorations…including the HUGE and beautiful tree!  Yes, that’s a real tree!  It was so good it looked fake!

We then took some time to play with GJ….

and take a little family photo…

That afternoon, Robert’s cousin Julie stopped by with her husband, Kyle and their cute kids, JD and Evie.

Evie stood around looking adorable…

While JD explored.

Evie was so sweet with Maxwell and kept waving hello…

While JD was more interested in playing with his toys with dad than with the baby.

We are so glad it worked out to see them and Maxwell loved getting to meet everyone.

Thursday brought even more fun visitors!!  Andee, one of my very best friends forever, drove over from Boynton Beach with her hubby, Steve.  This was Maxwell’s first time getting to meet them and he was a big fan!!

Andee is due with Maxwell’s future girlfriend, Ellis, on April 1.  We can’t wait to meet her!

Steve is going to be a great dad!

We had a fun time getting to catch up…

and Maxwell was such a happy camper for all of it!

Whew…that was a lot of pictures!  and I’ve got even more tomorrow so stay tuned!!  Tornado Delaney arrives!  🙂

Christmas recap, part 1

Well, Maxwell’s first Christmas has come and gone and I don’t think it could have been any better!!  I was down in Naples, FL visiting my parents with the baby for the past week while Robert flew down to join us on Tuesday.  Maxwell’s great grandmother, Susu, and great-great aunt, Dodo were there all week as well.  My brother, Keath, and his wife, Jen, drove over on Thursday with their 19 month old cutey chatterbox, Delaney.  While I really missed seeing my family in Searcy, we had a house full down in Naples and I loved it!!  I took over 700 pictures and it’s going to take me a while to go through them all.  I guess I’ll just start at the beginning of the week and give you all the rundown of events.  Sound good?  good.  Here we go….

Last Sunday, Maxwell and I hopped on a plane and took a direct flight into Tampa.  Thankfully he slept almost the entire flight.  GJ was waiting for us at the airport and Maxwell was super excited to see her…

We had a few hours to kill in Tampa before Susu and Dodo’s plane got in so we loaded into the car and headed to the mall for some last minute shopping…

Shopping wears you out though and we soon had to head back to the car for a little nap…

We finally made it to Naples pretty late Sunday night.  Early Monday morning, GJ and I took Maxwell down to the beach to meet all of his exercise buddies!  These are all my mom’s great friends from her fun dance aerobics class.  They loved getting to see Maxwell…and I loved getting to take the class!

Maxwell with GJ and 2 of her best buds, Judy and Becky…

I love this picture because it’s exactly how things were all week…everyone wanting to get their face in close to my little chubbo!

That afternoon, Maxwell got to play with Susu…

and Daddo…

He was such a happy little guy with everyone!  The next morning brought a little more playtime with Susu….

My cute little guy was definitely getting ready for Christmas to arrive…

Ok, that’s two days of pictures done!  I’ll be back tomorrow with LOTS more!!  Have a great day!

A big birthday!

Today is an important day.  My dad, Maxwell’s Daddo, turns 60!  What a BIG birthday!  For those of you that don’t know Daddo, he’s basically the best…at everything.  The smartest, nicest, most talented and all around greatest dad ever.  When I was growing up, despite working so hard, he was always home for dinner around the table with me, my mom and my brother.  He never missed a family vacation and always made them more fun.  Zip a dee doo da!  The older I get, and especially now that I’m a parent, I appreciate these things so much more than ever before.  Everyone always says I’m just like my dad…I couldn’t think of a better compliment.  Daddo, let’s hope that Maxwell has got more of you in him than just your name!

Now, Maxwell has something he’d like to say…

We had quite the conversation while taking these pictures and it went a little something like this…

Mom: Maxwell, did you know that it’s Daddo’s 60th birthday?

Maxwell:  Of course I know!  That’s why I made him this sign!

Maxwell:  It sure is going to be nice to give him a big hug for his birthday today!  I can’t wait!

Mom:  Unfortunately, we don’t get to see him today.

Maxwell:  (crestfallen) What?!

Maxwell:  No Daddo today?  boo hoo hoo.

Mom:  Don’t worry buddy, we get to see him in just 2 weeks for Christmas!

Maxwell:  Oh good!  I guess I’ll just pick up my sign and put it in my suitcase to take with me to Florida!

Maxwell:  Man, I can’t wait to get to Florida.  I’m going to have so much fun with Daddo!

Mom:  I know buddy, we are going to have fun with Daddo!

Maxwell:  One last question, can I bring my party hat too?

Happy Birthday Daddo!  We love you and can’t wait to see you – party hats and all!

Weekend festivities

After our great Thanksgiving in Montgomery, we had a fun-filled weekend in Birmingham!  Saturday morning we had a visit from my college roommate Kristin and her little boy Lucas.  Kristin and I lived together at Vandy freshman, sophomore and senior years.  All those years ago I never thought that we would end up having baby boys within days of each other!  Lucas was born 9/9/10, just 10 days after Maxwell!  I’m so glad our little guys got to meet and hope they become life long friends like their moms!

Me with Lucas and Kristin with Maxwell.  Can you believe SHE has the red headed baby?!  🙂

A handful!  Thank goodness I don’t have twins!

Kristin and sweet Lucas…

Later that day we had a birthday party to go to!  About 6 months ago, I reconnected on Facebook with one of my good friends from summer camp only to find out she was moving to Birmingham!  Bette and I spent about 7 summers together starting around age 9 and wrote countless letters back and forth.  I can’t believe we have ended up in the same city all these years later and am so thankful to have an old friend around!!  Bette has a super cute little boy, Sam, and threw the most fantastic party for his first birthday.  The theme was “Sam I Am” and everything was all about Green Eggs and Ham!

The birthday boy…

All the cute decorations, including green deviled eggs!

Me and Bette…

Maxwell did great at the party and I’m so happy we were able to help Sam celebrate turning 1!

On Sunday we had a quick visit from two little pig-tailed girls…

Katie, Anna, Jenny and Ronnie stopped by for a minute on their way back to Montgomery.  It was great to see them!

That day I also I put on my favorite Kenny and Dolly Christmas CD (yep, that’s right, as in Rogers and Parton) and got all the Christmas decorations up!  Can’t wait to get our tree next weekend!

Ho Ho Ho!  Let the Christmas season begin!

A great Thanksgiving

Maxwell had a very nice first Thanksgiving.  Robert and I packed up the car and the 3 of us headed down to Montgomery for the night.  Maxwell got to meet his Great Aunt Betty and Great Uncle Don for the first time as they drove down from Huntsville.  We had quite a feast and lots of good conversation.

Maxwell looking cute in his courdory Thanksgiving outfit…too bad it was 75 degrees that day!

I think he liked his little frog jumper despite the heat…

Hanging with Granddaddy…

and sitting with Lou Lou checking out his very favorite thing in the world, the ceiling fan!

Getting lots of attention as always…

Kicking it with Aunt Betty….

and Uncle Don.

Looking well fed just like we all were that day!  🙂

We stuck around Montgomery on Friday to watch the Iron Bowl – Alabama v. Auburn.  While the first half of the game was great, the second half was not so great with a disappointing AL loss by one point.  Oh well, there’s always next year!

Game day!

Lou Lou showing Maxwell how to say Roll Tide!

Good friends William and Garman came to watch the game…

and Aunt Mary Beth and Uncle Holland were there too.

I think this is how we all felt during the first half of the game…

and this is how we felt at the end.  blah.

Despite the AL loss, it was a great Thanksgiving.  We have so much to be thankful for, especially our happy, smiley, coo-ing little guy!!