Dana B

Oh how I miss my sister Dana (she lives in China with her amazing hub). I love her spirit, her joy and her love. She inspires me and fills my heart. I loved seeing her in action in this video. May we all touch hearts like this in 2011. http://thewee1andme2.blogspot.com/2011/01/nike-kind-of-guy.html

SNOW!

We missed the bulk of the snow while we were in SC, but we did come home to a snowy blanket in our yard.  Miles ran outside to play IMMEDIATELY.




He threw snowballs on the playroom windows until Noah and Griffin came out to join him.


They made snow angels.  I pulled them around in the sled.  They ate snow.  They thew snowballs.  So glad we made it back before it all melted.  :)

Christmas Vacation

The first part of our Christmas vacation was spent in Summerville, SC with my parents, my sister Lindsey and her hub Jason and my sweet niece Adelaide.  We REALLY missed Dana and Brad and were thankful for skype and our Christmas hangout session.

We had a great getaway and I can't wait to go through the pictures/video clips.  I won't even start that process until the boys go back to school next week.  Until then, I leave you with this:

(the glasses were my contribution to everyone's stockings this year.  i totally forgot to get addie a pair, so lindsey is making her glasses with her hands.  hehe)

Merry Christmas!

Merry CHRISTmas from our family to yours!

Card design by Sarah Pay Designs. Family picture by Tricia Williams.

Miles

My guy Miles is changing/growing up so much this year. When I brought home this flannel shirt (from a shopping trip in New Bern with Peggy) I was surprised how much he liked it (it has a collar after all, so I was sure he'd consider it a "fancy church shirt" and hate it). Instead, he ended up loving it -- and also ended up coming back with wet/spiked hair. He hasn't worn his hair like this since -- but I love knowing that this side of him is in there. :)




Miles came home with a little gift for Mike & me a couple of weeks ago: a little calendar. He decorated the outside and wrote us a note inside. He's not our big 'emotional guy' -- much more of a thinker than a feeler -- which made this gift even sweeter.
(excuse the terrible photos)




He also came home with this letter to Santa. I love that he believes. I also love that he mentions "people that don't have any toys". Glad to know that some of Mike/my parental yakking is sinking in. :)

Jack's a Winner

Our sweet godson, Jack, won "best picture" from our local Mint Museum, and his picture was placed on the cover of the museum's holiday card. We are so proud of him and super excited -- especially because his sister, Ella won last year.

Here are Jack, Trish, and Jon with Jack's artwork.


They presented him with an award during the annual Christmas celebration. You can see Griffin and Jack on "stage" dancing with (emmy award winning) Farmer Jason.


Here are all the Williams/Browns kids w/ the Mint's mascot.


After the festivities, we played around uptown a little and then had lunch at Mellow Mushroom. The kids sat in one booth, the adults sat in the other. We adults were too excited about our independence to take any pictures (haha).
(jack)

(ella and griff...she is so sweet with him/such a big sister, nurturing type)

(jack, noah, griff)

(ella and miles)


Brown boys -- you're up next! One of you needs to win the card design next year!! :)

Super Cuties

This picture epitomizes each of their personalities to me. I love it.

Feeding the Ducks in New Bern

One of the kids' favorite things to do in New Bern is feed the ducks.  We try to head down to the water every time we visit Mike's parents. Peggy and I took the boys -- as expected, they loved it.




(throw a little, eat a little)

Panther Game

We took the kids to their first Panther game in November.  It was f-r-e-e-z-i-n-g.  They lost.  We were about 8 rows from the top.  We were surrounded by Atlanta fans.  And our row was filled with kids that LOVED it.  Every minute of it.

We took the lightrail there and back.  Had to make it a huge all-around experience.


It cracked me up the way Noah studied his program.  You can see our neighbor Sydney next to him doing the same thing.


See how close we were to the top? I'm pretty sure that if we hadn't purchased our tickets 6 weeks in advance, we could have gotten them that day for free. 



We were all super-bundled.



The Bass Fam.  So cute.


Heading home for hot chocolate and cookies.  Perfect end to a fun day!


Another cool part of the day, is that my (new/bible study) friend Jenny's adopted son, Adam, was granted a wish during the game. Its an amazing story that you can read about here and here.

Blood, Sweat and Tears

and lots, and lots of love.

www.brookebrownphotography.com


I have kinks to work out. Right now, I have so many pics in the gallery section that it might take up to several minutes to load. Would love your feedback - how long did it take? It took my MAC 5 seconds (which is too long) and Mike's PC several minutes (which is insanely too long).

Merry Christmas Everyone!! One of these days I'll post all our personal happenings. Until then....

The BFF Hook-Up

We hung out the Williams and Hulls on Sunday night. We took turns taking each others' Christmas card pictures. The kids ran around in a big pack in between shots and then came in close to make each other laugh during the photos. Pretty genius actually. :)



love jack's arm around noah and ryan's arm around ella


love these three pics from trish's camera, too




mike's already mentioned that we should plan on the same set-up for next year.