Christmastime Memories 2010

Starting a Facebook account at long last ... and liking it
Auburn's undefeated season - National Championship bound!
Anna's Lego "Wossy Noman"
Josh and Noah's Lionel Trains in two rooms
Noah getting Baby Moses stuck in his brain instead of Baby Jesus
Getting crafty making holiday wreaths and Jesse Tree ornaments
Watching a lot of Polar Express 
Watching a lot of Beauty and the Beast
Josh sews Anna's play oven mitts
1st time doing a Jesse Tree
1st time putting up Christmas lights on the house
2 snows in December, 1st school closing to match
Josh's "I want a Hippopatomus for Christmas" fettish
Noah singing to Santa at Chad's Winter Wonderland
Noah singing with Santa at The Streets of Indian Lake
Noah starting breathing treatments again after 2 years off
Noah's ornament: A dachshund with Santa hat
Anna's ornament:  A tu-tu dress on a hanger
Lowe's Gift-a-Thon (memo to me: don't bother next time)
Four shifts of gifts: My family, Us, Josh's family, Santa
Noah sings: Santa Cwas is Coming to Town, Away in a Manger
Anna sings Jingle Bells: "Jingle... Bell... Fun...Hey."
Anna sings Santa Claus is Coming to Town: "Cwy. Town."
Leaving Chewie home alone for the first extended amount of time
Spending Christmas Eve and after at Josh's parents
Seeing Johnmark and Amy again after a long, long time
Hayride to drop reindeer food around Ft. Green
1st FL trip that we didn't see Tania
Meeting Elizabeth and Shannon at last
Anna getting sick on the drive home
Disney World trip #3
Noah's favorite gifts: Bucket of knights, Light Saber, Dragon
Anna's favorite gifts: Tu-tu, "ummy (oven) mitts", Zhu-zhu pet
This year's Christmas card

Noah and Anna: The Musical

Taa Daa: Noah's Full Chart

It started in October with a clean, though crooked, empty fresh start of a 2nd chart.

This week, Noah completed it just in time to mark the end of this year.  We are well on our way to a fully nighttime potty trained preschooler!  Over the past two months he has managed to stay dry all by himself all night long about 4 times a week - sometimes more, sometimes less.  Good and steady progress, still.

Noah cashes in his hard work today and gets to pick out a new toy as his reward, as if we don't have enough new toys around here from Christmas.  Nevermind that - He has his options whittled down to three - a Jedi helmet, a light saber for Daddy, or a Yoda.  Though I try to sway him to choose the second light saber, at last check he was leaning toward the Yoda.  The heart wants what it wants.

Starting tomorrow (and don't I love how it perfectly matches with the New Year), he upgrades to a big bad, big boy calendar and stickers.  :)  Crossing my fingers that the calendars will be the last we need in the nighttime potty training department.  My goal is that he's a sure thing by his birthday May 2.

FL: Festivities, Family, Fun

After our Disney day and half, we packed back up and headed south again.  We landed at Memaw and Papa John's house way, way out, in between an orange grove and a cow pasture.  Lucky for us, Santa knew our exact location and Christmas carried on all around us.  Here's a rundown of what all we GOT.

We got in touch with our stylish sides - Papa in his bright orange hunting hat, Anna in her oven mitts.

We got to enjoy some adult conversation while the cousins occupied each other the whole week!



We got to go on a hayride dropping reindeer food all over Ft. Green. We also got to spot Santa's sleigh way, way up in the sky.

We got silly.

We got to open family gifts on Christmas Eve.

We got to make cookies for Santa.

We got lots of good Memaw snuggles.

We got surprises from Santa.

We got into some stamps.

We got to play with Bill.

While we did not get to see Tania, we surely got to visit with her grandmother, Noah's Grandma Elba.

We got to cook hot dogs over a campfire.

We got to cross paths with some long, lost friends who were home from the Czech for the holidays. 

We got to pick oranges.

We got to play, play, play with cousins.

 

 

We got to fellowship around the table some more with family we haven't seen in years.

We got to stay up way past our bedtimes.

We got to laughing and laughing.

We got to mark the visit with an official "All the Brown Grandkids Together at Last" shot.

We got to debating Replacement Theology, Dispensationalism, and Prophecy late into the night.

And we got to ride the kubota and Aaron's 4-wheeler.

Anna got a bit of a stomach bug on the way home, but I opted not to photograph those memories.  And we even got to visit with my sister's family in GA for a few hours as well.  Overall, we got more than we deserved.  Our cheeks still hurt from all the smiling we got to enjoy during the fun, festivities, family and friendly visits in FL this Christmas.

Disney this December

There is really just no way to narrate all the good stuff packed into a day at Disney, so I will just let some pictures do the talking.  This trip, we stayed two nights, spending one day at Magic Kingdom and our extra time at Downtown Disney.  It was just the right in-and-out visit.  We had a blast!

In this collage, my favorites are Noah rocking the castle shot, Noah and Anna with the quartet, the palm trees, the Mickey and Minnie shot I took that was WAY better than the Photopass shot, and the self portrait I took of all 4 of us at the show in front of the castle.  I also really love how Noah flashing his belly in front of the hotel's tree really captures my boy at this age.  Silly, showy, and spunky.  

Now that I think about it, there were a few talking points...

1.  Anna developed a new coping mechanism.  When she got scared, she squeezed her eyes shut real right and just sort of hunkered down in her seat (Rainforest Cafe, Snow White ride, Tigger and Pooh ride).  Didn't cling to us, didn't cry, didn't anything.  Just went with the, "If I can't see it, it's not there" line of thinking.  :)  She was mostly wide-eyed this visit, not quite knowing how to take it all in.  She also had a bit of a grimace every now and then.  She was a real hoot.

  2.  In Minnie's house, a complete stranger asked me if she could take a picture with my baby.  I thought, "Sure, why not?" and loaned Anna out.  Josh was disturbed when I told him.  And I'll agree it was odd. But still, harmless.

3.  Noah was one inch too short to make it onto Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain.  I told Josh we don't need to come back until both of them are tall enough for the 40 inch height requirements at least. Josh disagrees, but I think we should be good on the Disney runs for a couple years at least.

4.  I just love these three random shots of us on the water taxi at Downtown Disney.  No reason.  They just make me smile. 

5.  We got to go to the park an hour earlier than the general public as part of the Extra Magic Hours offered to Disney Resort guests.  This turned out to be a real bonus as we got a lot of riding done with no waiting at all in that time frame, but it certainly hurt to get up before 6 to make it to the park by 7 am.  Nevertheless, here's Noah and Anna rolling out of the hotel lobby in all their precious cuteness at even that early hour.  Disney was a'callin'!

6.  And finally, this was by far the cutest thing we saw all day.  On our way out of the park, we stopped to take in a street concert by a happy little barber shop quartet.  Noah drank in the music and joined in as well.  Do you hear the slurping?  That's me eating him whole.  I love how happy his heart is when he is singing.

7.  Us just after entering the park.  We have lackluster grins on our faces, I know, but what we love about this shot is that we are all in it and that the sunrise coloring behind the castle really captured the moment.  It was nice to be there for that early morning ambiance.  On another note, it was not nice how we forgot the kids jackets in the stroller we rented and returned.  I was a bit bummed about it when we realized it later that night, and I threw myself face first onto the bed.  Noah rushed to my aid saying, "Don't cwy, Mommy. Don't cwy."

Thanks for another magical day, Disney!  We'll see you around.

Taa Daa: Christmas Trappings

I've had a hankering for a letter for our mantle since seeing a number of different examples on crafty blogs I follow.  So when I spotted the B on the left at Hobby Lobby at half off, I snatched it up, added our anniversary year, and liked how it turned out.  We liked it so much, we decided to give one to Josh's mom for Christmas, except better; we made hers.  Josh scroll sawed the shape from some remaining wood from a tree in our yard from way back in Gainesville, GA (about 3 homes ago for us).  I painted it, sanded the edges a bit, and added their anniversary year.  And Taa Daa, instant homemade gift!  Turns out, nowI like hers more than mine!

I ordered some play oven mitts for Anna off eBay ... I thought.  What I actually bought was the pattern for the mitts.  I was bummed to have wasted the money because I had no intention of learning to sew.  But Josh stepped in and made good on my purchase.  Using some fabric I had leftover from last year and some iron-on batting we got half price at JoAnn's, he created these precious oven mitts for our girl, sewing every single stitch.  I adore them.  I adore him for making them for her.  And Anna adores them, too.  She wears them at all odd hours of her day.

I fashioned a Christmas card wreath in late November, though I can't find a picture of it to show when it was empty.  I must have deleted it.  I'm bad about that.  Anyway, this is how lovely it is to behold all full of good cheer and tidings of joy from family and friends this season.  I do so love Christmas mail.

Last of my 2010 Words

• gimcrack
• smelter
• slake
• antiphonally 
• seining
• welter
• foment
• honeyed
• enervating
• miasmal
• tang
• watchword
• cannonade
• maw
• benumbed
• suffused
• beachhead
• electrified
• crescendo
• laggard

Last 2010 Fine Motor Pics

Stamping

Bean Mosaics

  

Hole Punching

And cookie decorating, of course!

Or in Anna's case, just plain dumping out sprinkles.

Got Boys on the Brain

I can't wipe the grin off my face today because Emily just found out that she is having a boy!

Seriously, grinning so big still.

And still grinning.  Yay for little boys! 

And then my little boy asked if Emily was going to keep the baby boy.  I said yes, of course!  Turns out he was thinking WE might get to keep the little boy ... "wike dat wittle boy Brandon we had. His mommy not keep him?"  I assured Noah that Aunt Emily was keeping her baby boy.

Just this morning, after Josh and I went over our FL travel dates and family/friends visiting plans, Noah asked who was coming over today.  "Today? No one, baby. What do you mean?" I asked.  He said "Dat wady dat was in my bewwy? She gonna come see me?"  Ohhhhh, he means Tania, whose belly HE was in.  Yeah, I guess he overheard Josh and me discussing whether or not she would get in touch with us this year. We're sort of always on guard for that FIRST time that she won't.  Crossing our fingers it doesn't have to ever come.

It's startling to watch how a little mind tries to makes sense of such big things.  Baby boys. Mothers. Birth mothers.  Us hoping for another child this year though it was not to be. Us going to see family in a few days -  family who're having a baby, family who grew him as a baby, but his family is us now, his family.  What a convoluted mess for a little boy to make sense of.  Nevermind the confusion he has with all the nativity scenes and deciding whether they contain baby Jesus or baby Moses right now.  ;)

I love that boy.  I love little boys.

Yay, my sister is having a boy!

Stuff My Girlie Says

At a little over 2 years old, Anna is emerging as quite a talker! If Anna is not speaking to us, she is probably talking to herself, her toys, or the dog.  She has something to say or identify all the time.

• With her quickly growing vocabulary, she has a lot of words to show for herself. However, they are often missing their first letters sounds. For example - oo (few), ish (fish), unny (funny), ome (home), oah (Noah), ot (hot), hide (inside), ood (food).
• She's started saying "milky" for milk and "likey" for like. We're trying to break her of that habit.
• When we're at a stop light too long, she says, "Go. Now."
• She is passionate about eating bread and butter:  "Bwed! BUDDER!" following by satisfied giggling if we agree to get it for her.
• She flat out does not do dinner.  Nine times out of ten, she won't eat a thing.
• She is a woman at heart and she wants to be pursued (aka - chased).  The cutest is when Josh is giving kisses before he leaves for work or when he gets up in the morning.  She will grin and look away if not take off running and looking back to make sure he is following her. After he kisses her she says, "More. Kiss."
• She does not care for 3 or 8. She counts 1,2,4,5,6,7,9,10.  Sometimes continuing on with 11teen, 12teen and so on.
• She asks for relief for her poor bootie by moaning "dah tee ten" (Desitin).
• Noah has successfully trained her to say Mommy dude, Daddy dude, Noah dude, Anna dude, and doodie head. Nice.
• Her manner of speech so far is very choppy. Each word or syllable is quite staccato.  "See. Mirror. Gin. Mommy." (Let me see myself in the mirror again, Mommy) or "Siss. Zers." (scissors)
• When she speaks to us, she will bob her head with each word/syllable and maintain intense eye contact.  If you are unsure what she said, though, she will not repeat herself.  She totally freezes up, excusing the slow furl of her eyebrows in frustration.
• The other day we were leaving the house and Anna said to the dog, "No. Chewie. Day. Here. Back. Soon." (No Chewie. You stay here. We'll be back soon.)  She also tells him quite often, "No. Chewie. My. Toy."
• Other precious 2-yr-old mispronunciations:  Rossasip (rocketship), gra gra ger (graham cracker), shine it (find it), gar (dark), wa wa wa wa wa (fa la la la la), pie rur (pirate), hoo minutes (asking for a few more minutes before bedtime), jommas (pajamas), city bad (silly bands), wossy noman (Frosty the Snowman), too too preh (choo choo express), day mass (they match)

Raggedy Anna

Even raggedy, she is so beautiful to me.  Some Anna shots from the past week or so... (One small disclaimer: I don't know how I managed it, but somehow she is wearing the same "jommas" in every single shot.  Suffice to say, we like to wear pjs when we are at home.  Clearly.)

Here she is only moments after a complete meltdown.  She was not a fan of my not letting her bring all three of her stuffies (Piggie, Teddy, and Pirate) downstairs after her nap.  I let her pick one.  She refused even that, she was so mad.  And I don't know how she does it, but she makes even splotchy look good!

So much for a homemade Christmas picture of the kiddos.  Chewie always steals the show.

We got Chewie an indoor doghouse/bed this week.  He avoids it like the plague.  Anna's response has been quite the opposite.

This morning, we gave Noah and Anna their big present from us this year since we are not going to pack it for Christmas morning in Florida.  Anna and her bed head are in hog heaven in her new kitchen ... until she can't pack every single dish and food item into the microwave ... and then you get another meltdown like the one referred to above.  :)

Book Count 2010

This year, I managed to make my way through 50 books.  50 wasn't planned or anything, but by the time I stopped to tally all my titles, I was in the mid 40's, so I did decide to power through and push right on up to 50 over the last two months, which has not been easy.  I've sort of hit a dry spell in the way of finding good books.  But by the end of this month, I will have finished the Bible again, and that will be my 50th, which is fitting because the Bible has taken me all year to read anyway.  It might as well round out my list as it rounds out my year.

A few highlights from my reading this year:

Favorite author:  Francine Rivers

Favorite book(s):  Francine Rivers' The Mark of the Lion trilogy

Honorable Mentions: The White Queen and The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory

Most read author: Francine Rivers (16 books)

Fastest reads: Adopted for Life by Russell D. Moore and The Shoebox by Francine Rivers

Most passed off book to share:  I Quit! by Geri Scazzero

Most challenging read:  Wicked by Gregory Maguire

Most change-effecting read:  Mighty Fine Motor Fun by Christy Isbell and I Quit! by Geri Scazzero

Rereads this year: Don't Make Me Count to Three by Ginger Plowman, Creative Correction by Lisa Whelchel, Peace like a River by Leif Enger, The Bible, Shepherding a Child's Heart by Ted Tripp

Ones Josh read: Don't Make Me Count to Three and Adopted for Life (almost)

Will review again:  Creative Correction, Don't Make Me Count to Three, The Advent Jesse Tree

Already started reading for 2011: Feminine Appeal by Carolyn Mahaney

Books in the queue for 2011:  Treasuring God in our Traditions by Noel Piper, Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett, Heaven at Home by Ginger Plowman, Bringing Up Boys by Josh McDowell

Stuff My Boy Says

• The same boy leaning forward on the potty so I can wipe his bootie is at that exact moment pontificating our housing situation.  "Mommy, our home is bootuhful.  Our home is bootuhful cuz i wike our home.  Next time wets get a home dats pink."
• The same boy that asks me to come sit with him on the couch is up and chasing Chewie around no sooner than I have set down. 
• The same boy that comes home speaking scripture, also comes home singing Bow Chicka Bow Bow.  (to which I go ???????!)
• The same boy running around with hook and dagger in hand still sleeps with a stuffed bunny he's had since he was a baby.
• When I let the word "stupid" fly, he gasped and exhaled, "You not bein' nice to God."  
• I have been talking to him lately about how he is really disobeying God when he disobeys me.  The same goes for trying to upset a friend.  If you mean to upset, you are disobeying God. So when I overheard him mimic my reasoning in another setting, it melted my heart. Desperately trying to keep his cool, Noah was standing between Anna and his tower with his legs apart, arms spread, trying to keep her from knocking his work over.  He said in a whisper,  "Anna, no disobey God! No. Disobey. God."
• When I told him we'd have to hope that Santa or Mimmie would bring him the Batcave he was asking for, he said, "It wike Santa and Mimmie in a wace (race)!"
• He cannot, cannot, cannot say ravioli.  Every time, no matter how hard he tries, it comes out "Rah Wee Hoe Wee."
• The boy's got goals, I'll give him that.  "When I five I be gwown up!  I go kinnergarren and I can wipe my own bootie!"
• He got a firehouse set for Christmas from my grandmother, his GG, and when he plays it with Josh, he calls out, "Hurry up, friends!" When there is an emergency, he calls out, "Uh mercy! Mercy!"
• I am such a sucker for the sound of his "finkin'": example - I finkin' dare's not anyfing weff in dare.
• New words he's said that I've never heard him use before: spooky, dangerous, decorations, angry, curious, beautiful, holy cow (I don't even know where he learned this one) 
• This morning when I stepped on one of his teeny, tiny toys, I cried out in pain.  Those suckers hurt underfoot!  I got onto Noah for leaving his stuff all over the floor and he said back, "You give (forgive) me? I sorry." 

Recipe: Sugar Nuts

Num, num, num, num, num, num, num.  You'll have to excuse my chewing and murmuring.  This sweet treat is so delicious that it's hard to come up for air between bites!  This one comes courtesy of our MOPS cookbook again.

Sugar Nuts

• 1 lb. pecans
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 egg white

Place nuts on a cookie sheet in one layer.  Beat egg white with 1 tbsp. water until foamy.  Pour egg white over nuts and stir until coated.  Combine sugar, salt, and cinnamon.  Then pour mixture over nuts and stir until evenly coated.  Bake at 225 for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

Yum, num, num, num, num.  Oh my word, Yum.

Christmas This and Last

Christmas Last

Christmas This

And another just for fun...