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!

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!

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!

DoDo

Hi friends!  We made it home safe and sound on Sunday night getting in around 11:00 pm.  Again, I’m so glad we had the chance to see my whole family and celebrate Dodo’s life together.  The service was lovely and I’m grateful that I could be there for it.

Just wanted to share a few of my favorite pics of Dodo from recent years today…

and my very favorite…

That’s Dodo and Susu with a 1 month old baby Maxwell.  I love that picture.

See you all tomorrow with a Thanksgiving recap!

Buttball in the backyard

Sunday was a beautiful fall day.  The kind of day where you simply HAVE to play outside, especially if you’re 2…or 36!  🙂  Robert and Maxwell ended up in the backyard throwing around the football – which totally sounds like “buttball” when Maxwell says it!  Yea, it’s pretty funny to hear him ask to watch “buttball” all weekend!  🙂  Anyway, they played, I snapped (and Robert snapped some too!) and got some great photos.  Tons of pictures below so I’ll just let them tell the story…

Future quarterback?  We’ll see!

See you tomorrow!