More Weekend

We had a fun time celebrating Griffin's birthday in New Bern!

Painting wooden animals was fun.  Griffin painted a dog, of course.




Water play was a huge hit (of course).




We all tried out Peggy's Trike.



The playground brought lots of smiles. 




Really, just spending time together was great.   Family spells love t-i-m-e, right?  :)



Doing the race was icing on the cake.



Here's a little montage of our weekend. And, yes, I know its probably way to long for anyone that isn't featured in it. :)  The boys LOVE them (so do I, really) and I have visions of watching all of our little videos from the year as a family each Christmas holiday (this is my dinner-club friend Peggy's family's Christmas Eve tradition and I love it).

New Bern, May 2010 (Tri & Griff's 3rd bday) from Brooke Brown on Vimeo.

Race/Birthday Weekend

We had a great weekend in New Bern at Mike's parent's house. It will take me a few days to sort through the photos/videos, but in the meantime, here are a few photos/highlights.

Mike, Shannon and I did a sprint triathlon on Saturday morning (Shannon's 1st, my 2nd, and Mike's 4th).  Mike was sick and did it anyway (slow & steady on the bike and run...which of course is my every-race pace :) - what a rock star.  Peggy and Bob brought all 4 kids (our boys and our niece, Mason). We loved having a cheering section! Here we are with the kids after the race.

Me and the big birthday boy. :)


We also celebrated Griffin's 3rd birthday (which is today). I can't begin to explain how excited he is to be turning three. He's got his "I'm 3!" fingers figured out and he's been wearing a HUGE grin everywhere.


Peggy made him an AWESOME dog cake and Grandma Peggy and Grandpa Bob gave him a super fun soccer net for this birthday (we'll be practicing a lot, preparing him to start playing at the Y in September).



More glimpses of the weekend to come soon!

Making My Virtual Friends Real Friends: The Nester Edition

Favorite Blogger: The Nester
I discovered The Nester's blog a couple of months ago and LOVE her. Feel like we are kindred spirits as we both like to rearrange furniture (full rooms of furniture) incessantly. She rearranges, she repaints, she re-uses (likes to shop at thrift stores, etc..), re-purposes, she re-finishes. She has three boys. She does all these things and she has three boys. I am inspired by her. I love her. When she posted on her site that she was hosting a party at her house and 'no-way-I-can't-believe-it, she-lives-just-outside-of-Charlotte?!?!', I knew I had to meet her.  I sent her an email telling her how amazing she is and asked her if I could please, please come and bring a friend. She said YES!  So I grabbed Trish, my trusty traveling companion, and we sped off to her house. I loved her even more in person than I do online. Her home is amazing. She is amazing. She is generous. She is funny. And she's cute! Check her post about her Blessings Unlimited party here.

She mentioned possibly hosting a future swap meet at her house (everyone brings items from home that you don't want anymore and then you swap with what others have brought) and we (Trish/I) told her how fun it would be to go on a shopping trip with her (to Metrolina Expo or somewhere -- I mean, let's face it, I'd tag along to Harris Teeter just to hang out with her).  

(Trish, The Nester, me)

As an extra, crazy bonus, as we were saying goodbye, The Nester and the Blessings Unlimited host let us know that we could take ANYTHING off of the table display of their items home with us.  I honestly did not believe them and literally asked them 5 or 6 times if the were serious.  They were, and I scooped up this super cheery, super cute platter.  I still can't believe it. I got to hang out with the Nester and I got a parting gift?! Wowza. Can't wait to use it this spring/summer!

Bonus Blogger #1: Emily of Chatting at the Sky
As we were leaving the party, we started chatting with Emily. Turns out she is The Nester's sister and has her own blog. When she shared that her blog is called "Chatting at the Sky", I was so surprised as I'd read her blog/love her blog. She is super cute, super sweet and super talented. Wish she was my neighbor/wish we went to church together/wish we did anything together. She rocks. She is coming out with two Christian books soon (one geared toward teen girls, one geared toward adult women). They are working on titles for the books now. Can't wait to read them.

Bonus Blogger #2: Bye Bye Pie
Also in our midst was June, the author of the blog Bye Bye Pie. I had not read her blog before - but believe me, she brought out squeals in several women.  Felt like I was in the midst of Elvis or the Beatles.  Finally checked out her blog today. She is funny. Really, really funny.

Making My Virtual Friends Real Friends: Auburn Soul Edition

I am making it my 2010 mission to meet as many of my favorite bloggers as I can.

Favorite Blogger: Stephanie from Auburn Soul Photography
Stephanie is based in TX and I absolutely love her work. Our BFF relationship started after she posted a lens for sale on her site. We emailed back-and-forth about it (even though she'd sold it by the time I contacted her) and she was happy to answer a bunch of my questions. Soon after she sent me an email letting me know about Mamarazzi Boot Camp. Within hours I had my ticket booked and had recruited Trish and Tracy to join me. It was a phenomenal class that covered both technical and creative aspects of photography (and with two professional photographers teaching 5 students, could you ask for a better classroom ratio?). Each participant received a questionnaire a couple of days before the session and we were able to post any/all questions that we had. By the end of the session, I had ALL of my questions answered and then some. And, I got to spend all that fun time with this super cute, fun girl -- who is also short like me! I mean, seriously, how did we not meet sooner?! Here is Stephanie's post about the day. Love that she included a shot of us on her blog. :)

Bonus Blogger: Emily from Emily Murdock Photography
Emily and Stephanie launched Mamarazzi Boot Camp together and I was so excited to get to learn from/spend time with Emily too. She is an amazing photographer as well and I've loved following her blog since our session. Emily is one of those people that you just want to be around....someone I'd like to text and say, "meet me at the playground in 30 minutes?" Love her.  Oh, and I triple love her because she sold me her 17-55 2.8 lens, as it doesn't work on her new full-frame camera. Its my current all-time favorite lens, and has not come off of my camera since I put it on in February. Love it.

T-Ball

Miles and Noah are in the midst of their first team sport experience -- T-BALL!  They are doing a clinic at one of our local YMCA's and are learning all aspects of the game (hitting, catching, throwing, running bases).  Its pretty basic, definitely a beginner level -- but you gotta start somewhere, right?

We have clinics every Saturday morning.  I LOVE being outside with the family, doing something active (well, at least the kids are doing something active :), first thing on Saturday morning.   I'm so excited that they really like it!

Here is a little video of them playing.  Miles and Noah are in red shirts and Ella and Jack are in yellow shirts.  I positioned still photos of them just before their video clips so you'd know who you are looking at.  :)  Take note of the way Noah hangs onto his batting helmet as he runs.  He sticks his fingers in the little holes on the sides to be sure that the hat doesn't fall off.  :)  Also, notice one of the dads in the green golf shirt, running around the field with a sense of urgency, hurrying the kids through the bases (I have a lot more clips of him doing this than are in this video).  He kills me.  :)

T-Ball from Brooke Brown on Vimeo.

Pioneer Woman

To know the PW is to love the PW. She has an amazing blog where she writes about a million things, including (but not limited to) photography, cooking, home schooling, and a city girl's experience living life on a ranch. I am astonished daily by her photography - my main drive to check out her site - and the amount that this powerhouse accomplishes each day. Holy moly. She also has a generous heart and a share-the-wealth attitude toward learning. If you want guidance on how to get to know your camera/take better pictures, cook amazing meals, teach your kids lots of cool new things, she's your girl. Well, she's our girl. We can share her. :)

PW was in town to sign her cookbook. My mother-in-law gave me this awesome book for Christmas and I was so excited to have her sign it. A group of us, (Kate, Anne, Dao, Trish) went to meet her.

We met in the bookstore cafe so that we could settle down/get ourselves under control. I was definitely giddy. (photo by Dao)

(kate, anne, trish, me)

PW gave a 20 minute question and answer session for the crowd and then we were IN. (Here's a shot of the crowd during the signing itself.) (Photo by Dao)


The tickets were free, but you had to get them ahead of time. Of course, we assumed they were be gone IMMEDIATELY, so we sped over to the bookstore months ago to pick them up on the first day. We were in the first group of 20 to meet her - and we were in a 'pack of 5' so I felt like we got to hang out with her longer (during all 5 of our signings, we were gathered around talking to her, laughing)

(kate, anne, dao, me - top row; trish and PW - the twins - second row)

When I sat down, I told her how much I loved her Favorite Salad e.v.e.r (served it to my dinner club last year) and she said it was her favorite too. We laughed about how it makes so much it can feed an entire ranch. We laughed. We bonded. It rocked. (Photo by Kate)



Afterward, we all went out for dinner at M5. I fully expected to be home by 8:45pm and instead Trish dropped me off after 11pm. Loved the company of all these girls. Lots of stories to swap. Lots of laughter in the mix. I can tell our little photography club is going to be much fun. :) PS Shouldn't Dao be a food photographer? Look how great this appetizer looks.


See the inscription? "Love to Brooke!" Seriously, we bonded. She meant it. :)

Countdown

The countdown to summer is on and we're ready at the Brown house. Now, don't get me wrong, I have this faint recollection of summers past: of 1 trillion degree days we could hardly stand to be outside -- but at this point, we just want to toss away our alarm clocks and schedules and just hang out.

The weather has been so nice that its fun just to run around in the backyard. Miles typically leads the others in some sort of costume/pretend play.



And there is always the jumpy.



And just general fooling around.


Miles. Sweet Miles. He was so tired the other day. He sat down for a minute and just fell asleep. He's ready for the end of spelling tests, AR (reading) tests, journal entries, and having to be up-and-at-em at 7am. His last day is June 10th. Definitely on the horizon.





PS Still working with this little guy on potty training and still hoping we'll be over this hump by swimming pool season. He is a slow work in progress (knows how, but is so laid back he sometimes can't be bothered with it all). Ah, Griffy...

Dan Nicholas Park

We took our second adventure to Dan Nicholas Park.  We had such a fun group -- including our favorite neighbors: the Bass/Marler families (and the Reece family came down for the day on Saturday), some fun family: Shannon and Mason (and Dana came down for the day on Saturday), some familiar faces: the Burkes/Patrizios, and some new faces: the Mandells.  I'm already excited for next time.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the weekend, mostly because they remind me of fun/funny parts of the trip. 




Love the way Noah is looking at Aunt Dana here (those middle kids...). Something about silly Aunt Dana being afraid of a dinosaur on the train ride...

Dana came down for the day on Saturday. It rocked having her there.

For about 20 minutes on Saturday we were convinced that all 10 kids had raging cases of lice. Thank goodness someone suggested we give the kids showers "just to be sure." It was dirt & ash from the fire.

Bikes (and scooters) were the hit of the weekend. You couldn't leave a bike idle without it being stolen.


Isn't our niece breathtaking? The boys LOVED hanging out with her for the weekend.

So glad Griffin's BFF, Jack, and his parents joined us for the day on Saturday!

I still remember why we were laughing in the picture. Blake, Shannon, Mike - remember? hehe


I made a little video for the kids with some clips from the weekend. Ignore the abrupt song change mid-way through. Sir Mix-A-Lot I am not. I'm working on it though. :) (Also, just decided that I want one of my mother-son wedding dances to be to the Tom Petty song "Wildflowers". Seriously. Love that song.)

Dan Nicholas Park May 2010 from Brooke Brown on Vimeo.