Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. What was going to be a small gathering at our house turned out to be 21 people. It was a lot of fun and nice to not have to travel anywhere. Being in the car too long right now is not fun. We supplied the turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and rolls, everyone else brought a side dish to share. I guess I should back up to Wednesday. Jacob had been coughing and it was getting worse Tuesday and Wednesday so Wednesday morning I took him to the doctor. He has bronchitis. What a great way to spend Thanksgiving. His medicine actually started working quickly and he was able to sleep through the night on Wednesday night. He is still on medication but doing much better.

Sean's brother, Adam, and his family came in town from Michigan. It was great to see them. They stayed here Wednesday night then went to Fredericksburg to stay with Sean's parents. Nana and grandpa took our kids with them, so we were without kids from Thanksgiving night until Saturday afternoon. We finished our Christmas shopping on Friday morning. My goal was to finish early in case Lucy decides to make her appearance early. Friday evening we went to see Twilight, we thought it was pretty good. And went out to dinner to see everyone before the big wedding on Saturday.

Saturday morning we went to the temple to be with my little sister Heidi as she was married to Christian (Congratulations!!). We then headed to Woodbridge to get our kids back and go to the reception. I will post pictures later today or tomorrow. It was fun to watch the little girls that were at the wedding follow Heidi around in her "beautiful dress". They could not get enough of her with her dress and flowers. As my sister said' "this is where little girls big wedding dreams begin". My niece Corrine made the comment that, "Heidi was the most important person there because she was the bride".

It was a very busy weekend but also a lot of fun. It is nice to be back into our regular groove too.

Weather

Today we had about 30 minutes of hail. They were not big but the kids were very excited to see it. It was coming down pretty hard, we could hear it in the house. When it was finished we went outside to look and it looked like there was a little bit of snow on our house. And there were a couple of piles of it on the deck. Emma and Seth both got spoons and were eating it off the deck. There was even a little bit left when Jacob got home from school so he was able to enjoy it also. Of course they all think it is going to snow now. It was fun to see them so excited about the hail.

Another Baby Update.

We are getting close. I only have about 4 1/2 weeks left until my due date. I am done being pregnant but not sure I am ready for a newborn and sleepless nights. I had a doctor's appointment today and everything is still going well. I am still measuring big. I am hoping that means I will go early other people tell me I am just going to have a big baby. The baby does not like to be bothered. Every time the doctor's try to get her heartbeat she moves. If I feel her more on one side I push a little on her and she kicks right back. The kids enjoy feeling her move too. Seth talks to her all the time. And Jacob can not go to bed without hugging my tummy and telling her goodnight.

The Birthday Party

We had a small party for Emma on Friday evening. We invited four of her friends and their families over for dinner, fun and of course cake and ice cream. A friend of ours from church has a moon bounce she let us borrow. It was dark in the backyard but we gave each kid a glow stick and they were all having a lot of fun. Our kids were very tired after everyone left but they had fun at the birthday party.

Eating a Birthday dinner of pigs in a blanket (hot dogs) and "The Good Macers" (my kids refer to macaroni & cheese as "macers" and the good macers is the deluxe kind without the powered cheese but the velveeta type cheese), per Emma's request. We also had chicken and rice soup for the adults.

Blowing out the birthday candles. (Jacob had to help a little) Funny that when she wants to yell and scream she has the lungs but when she needs to blow out candles she has a hard time. I am not sure what happened with the color of this picture it is a little distorted.

Opening the gifts. She received a lot of littlest pet shops which she was very happy about and several barbies. What more could a four year old ask for.

Happy 4th Birthday Emma!!

Emma's Blessing Day.

It is hard to believe that my baby girl is turning 4 today. I know everyone says this but it seems like just yesterday she was a baby. She is ALL girl and sometimes that is hard for me because I am not a girly girl (I wish Aunt Laura was still close). She loves to wear dresses and gets very excited every Sunday when she gets to wear her church dresses. She likes to have her nails painted, in fact she was very upset last night when daddy cut her nails and some of the nail polish came off so I promised her we would paint them again today. She likes to play dress up and get into any of her princess dresses with tiara, jewelry and shoes. She also loves to be a mommy to all of her dolls. She is a little confused because we are having a party for her Friday so she is telling her brothers that today is not her real birthday. I am grateful that she is a part of our family and I love her very much.

Family Photos

The Brown Girls

(not sure what is up with both of our hair, the wind must have been blowing)

The Brown Boys

The Brown Kids

Today before church we had a little extra time and everybody was ready. I am sure it was because we had an extra hour. The kids are usually up at 7:30 but of course today they were up at 6:30. Anyways, we decided since it was so nice that we would take a few pictures. The kids always enjoy cheesing it up for the camera. I think they turned out pretty good.

Beautiful Weekend

Yesterday the weather was so nice that we decided we should was our cars. They kids really enjoyed washing the cars. And as you can imagine by the end there was more playing than washing. Everyone was soaked by the time we were finished. They really enjoyed spraying the car to get the soap off because the car was not the only thing that got sprayed.