More Summerville Fun!

Old school fun....Griff playing with the same bus Dana, Lindsey & I did.
Love it!




Enjoying Gram & Pop's hammock on a 70-degree December day. Ahhh.....






Playing with Gram & Pop's bath toys is always super fun. I gave the boys some shower caps and they started wearing them over their eyes/nose too. Quite clever and very entertaining!



Missing that warm weather (and Gram & Pop) already!

Joyful in Summerville

We had a GREAT trip to Summerville!







It was great fun to have ANOTHER Christmas! :)




My dad wrapped Griffin's present in an amazing box this year. He painted it gold, wrapped the inside with fun paper, and glued tons of pictures on the outside. It was a huge hit!




Another HUGE hit? Mike's Wii. It was non-stop entertainment. We bowled, boxed, played tennis, golf, baseball...cross generational fun. Jason and Mike got sucked into a tank game. They played for 4 hours straight one night. Its safe to say that Mike's glad he brought the Wii!





The weather was AMAZING in SC! We played outside, hung out at the neighborhood playground and enjoyed meals and fun on the screened in porch. A white Christmas is beautiful....but the sunny Christmas was definitely a treat! We loved every minute of it. Thanks, mom & dad!

A Lotta Monkey Business

Our family gorilla made a showing over the holidays. We were expecting him and he still caused quite a stir. Be on the lookout the next time you're in the neighborhood...

Sisters Rock

Lindsey and Jason came to Charlotte a few days before Christmas. Its amazing how the first moment I see them, I want to hug them as tightly as I can - as if I haven't seen them in years. A few moments later, we settle into a familiar groove and I feel like they live next door (....ah, how amazing that would be....a sister cul-de-sac!).

We had a sister-dinner-out one night. Oh, how I love these girls...and oh, how I dig their guys! Being around them makes me thankful that Mike and I are raising 3 boys. My hope for them is that they share this same special bond.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

We wrapped up Christmas day with a birthday party for Jesus. As you can see in this picture, Griffin didn't have any patience for singing 'happy birthday' or for taking a quick picture. He wanted cake NOW!

We've been talking a lot about the true meaning of Christmas this month. I want to be sure that the boys understand what we're celebrating in the midst of all of the hoopla of Santa. One day we were playing 'school' and Miles told me that I had to teach them something. I grabbed the advent calendar and we put all of the ornaments on it while talking about the Christmas story. I asked the boys questions and they would race to answer. Miles answered most all of them first (questions like, who are Jesus' parents? what town was Jesus born in? what was he born in? etc..). I asked the question "why did God send Jesus to be born?" Neither had a quick answer for that one, so I gave them the answer. The next question (to see if they understood my answer) was "what do you have to do to go to heaven?" Noah was determined to answer this question first. He got a huge smile on his face, stood up, raised his hands in the air, and yelled, "DIE!" I burst out laughing...and decided I'll give him 1/2-credit. We'll keep working on it.

When I told the boys that we were going to have a birthday party on Christmas Day, they got really excited and started jumping around chanting, "cake, cake, cake!" I asked whose birthday it was and Miles said, "Jesus!" I said, "that's right. We're going to make a birthday cake for Jesus." Noah fell to the floor and started bawling. When I asked him what was wrong, he said, "I don't want Jesus to eat all the cake!" Now that would be a Christmas sight to see!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas morning was fun in the Brown house! Miles could barely sleep the night before and was ready to head downstairs at 6am. We held him off until 7am, when his brothers woke up. I had visions of them opening presents until dinnertime...spending time playing with each new gift before tearing into the next. What a fantasy that was! By 8:10am, the present unwrapping was complete!

They got lots of great loot this year -- and favorites gifts were: Miles/speed racer, Noah/ninja turtle, Griffin/Geo-tracks, Mike/ remote-controlled airplane, and Brooke/camera lens.





Griffin rotated positions between sitting up and laying down...depending upon where the train was on the tracks. This was the only gift he was interested in!



The boys loved watching Mike fly his new plane! At one point, Mike had to jump the fence to retrieve it from the neighbor's yard...glad I had my camera ready! :)


The weather was amazing -- a great day to play outside (and isn't a holiday a great excuse to play in your pjs all day?!)

Christmas Eve!

Christmas eve was full of traditions this year. We went to a 4 o'clock church service and stayed until the sermon (once the music stopped, we knew the noise from our boys would echoe through the sanctuary). Next, we drove through town, enjoying the Christmas lights. We proceeded to a true restaurant for dinner. When we got home, we put out cookies for Santa and threw "reindeer food" on the lawn. The boys jumped into their new Christmas jammies and we read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' and the Christmas story from Luke. It was a perfect night, indeed. There is nothing quite like family.

Daniel Stowe Gardens

One of my all-time-favorite holiday adventures is a trip to Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens. The light displays throughout the gardens are festive and kid-friendly. Inside, Christmas music is a-plenty, Santa's lap is a-waiting and magical Christmas trains are a-running.

We really missed Mike this year (home sick with a horrible 24-hour bug) and we missed our exit coming home -- but we still enjoyed the adventure and even ran into a few family friends. Looking forward to next year already!