Let It Snow!

Just a quick picture of the snow that we woke up to this morning! It hung around long enough for us to admire it for a short while and was gone an hour later. Landon made a quick trip outside before having to head off to school.

The Countdown is ON!

My best friend Lauren is one of the most crafty people I know. Last year she tried to talk me into making a Countdown to Christmas Tree (similar to the one at Pottery Barn Kids) with her. I was weeks away from having Payton and just not up for the challenge. That really worked out in my favor! This year I was ready to take it on and she graciously gave me ALL of her patterns that she had spent so much time creating. THANK YOU AND LOVE YOU, LAUREN!

I will not lie. I loved making this treasure for my kids, but it took bookoos of time. I am just going to take a wild guess and say approximately 25 or so hours...at least! It is all hand sewn, so that is what makes it so time consuming! (I am a bit of a perfectionist and tend to rip out seams that are not straight, sequins that are lopsided, etc. so that could be part of my problem!) All in all, I am more than pleased with the final outcome. I even branched out a bit and made a few of my own patterns to fit my family! (notice our sweet Bailey dog made the tree!)

We finished it off with a little craft project for Landon, Reagan and Payton. They each (Reagan did Payton's) decorated a popsicle stick and put a picture of themselves at the top to put in the pockets and move each day. There is also a Bible verse in each pocket that we read each night as a family that takes us through the entire Christmas story.

I truly feel like this will be a treasure we will have forever and one of my children will hopefully want to take it for his own family when that time comes. (and NO...I will not be making two more so they each have an heirloom to take with them...I have actually thought it might be clever of me to have "The Browns" monogrammed at the bottom and then there will be no fight over who will get it...Landon will be the only one that keeps the Brown name! He He!)

Thanksgiving 09

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving! We spent the week in Waco with my family and got in some much needed R&R. Brad was able to take a majority of the week off and that was a huge treat! Our time with Doc and Mimi included...

lots of cooking! My mother is an incredible cook! She had Landon and Reagan help her prepare the Thanksgiving feast! They loved it!

Reagan helped make the cornbread for the dressing.

They shucked the corn.

They helped (or looked on) as Mimi made stuffed mushrooms for Brad...one of his favorite things!Landon got the rolls ready.

topping the sweet potatoes with marshmallows

We also spent a lot of time playing UNO with the kids. It's been a long while since I have played a game of UNO, but I have to say it still might be one of my favorite card games.

I give you exhibit A of the R&R I talked about earlier!

These are the three blessings I am most thankful for!

Uncle Kyle and Aunt Alli (who I didn't get a picture of) were able to spend some time with us on Tuesday night before heading to Kyle's parents' house for Thanksgiving. We always love seeing them and missed them the rest of the week!

Doc and Mimi,

Thank you again for such a wonderful week. We are more than thankful for you and for our time there. It was every bit of perfect and we are now so excited to come back at Christmas! We love you!

Turn Out the Lights...The Parties are Officially Over!

I know Reagan turned 5 a week ago, but I didn't want to post about all the celebrating we have been doing until it was officially over! I honestly feel like Reagan partied like every child deserves to party for her birthday. We started a few days before her actual birthday and ended the celebrating this weekend. That's what I call making a girl feel special! I will let the multitude of pictures below show you all the ways we honored our sweet 5-year-old girl this past week!

Reagan wanted a pajama party this year.

She's ready for her friends to arrive!

They all came in their jammies!

They had pizza on their sleeping bags and watched a Strawberry Shortcake video about sweet dreams while they ate.

Present Time!

Decorating Pillowcases!

Daddy handed out PJ Awards to each girl.

Pajama Cake - It had different pajamas all around it. Can you see the cute little slippers?

Time the blow out candles!

The party ended with a little Pajama Jam!

The next day was spent at Gattitown celebrating with our families. You can't go to Gattitown without getting your face painted!

The Boyd and Brown Crew

a little family competition

Guess who won?

She opened many exciting things while we were there, but I had to show this one on the blog!
It's a KID'S Snuggie!Finally, her actual birthday arrived! A cinnamon roll with candles helped to start off the fun day.

Mommy, Daddy and Payton brought lunch to school.

She picked IHOP for her birthday dinner. We met Mr. Britton, Mrs. Michelle, Mr. John and Mrs. Krista there. Reagan ended her dinner with a giant sundae!

They brought cupcakes of course!

This is my precious nephew, Carson Tate. He turns two on the 26th, so we got together this past weekend so we could celebrate his and Reagan's birthdays.

one last time to blow out a candle!

Sweet Reagan,

You are 5! I hope you know that your Daddy and I love you more than anything. You have made us so proud and we are so thankful that God chose us to be your parents. Happy Birthday to You!

SHE'S NINE MONTHS OLD!

Yes...that is way too close to one year and that makes me a little sad! Payton is growing so quickly and doing new things each and every day. She and her brother and sister bring so much joy to Brad and me and we count our blessings every day to have three amazing children. Thank you God!

Payton's 9 month stats...

weight: 20lbs 1oz.

height: 30in

words: da-da, buy-buy and bubba (buh-buh) I know you are probably thinking that bye-bye and bubba are the same. Nope! The second Landon gets in the car after school she starts chanting for her bubba! It's so sweet! (I have to keep reminding Reagan that her name is much harder to say!)

new things she's doing: scooting all over the place, goes from laying down to sitting and back down again, sleeps about 10 hours a night straight (when she is not cutting her top teeth!), smiles non-stop, waves at everyone she sees, can now growl like a bear (Talent at its finest, I know! We kept trying to get her to do this to go along with her Baylor Bear Halloween costume, and she finally got it about a week late!), eats mostly table food and is still very picky, now only nurses 3 to 4 times a day, drinks from a sippy cup (We realized last night that she can also suck from a straw. She scooted over to Reagan's water jug at a soccer game and went to town on her sister's water!)

I am attaching some of my favorite pictures (the ones I have not yet posted on previous posts) of our girl from the last few months! Enjoy!

Loving some ravioli!

all smiles at the mall

Doesn't this face just scream STINKER? That's banana in her hair...lovely. Yes, she usually does wear a bib, but I had just given up at this point. I knew we were heading straight to the bath and the clothes stood no chance.

She's ready to take off!

We ADORE Dr. Amber. Here she is checking out our girl at her latest check-up.

4-Year-Olds....Start Your Engines!

Reagan had her Grand Prix Race Day at preschool on Tuesday. This is the 4th car the Brown family has created and I have found that each year it gets a little bit easier. I think this is because I have come to the conclusion that it really is more fun (and the whole point of it all) to just let the kids do the creating! Reagan and I literally walked the isles of Hobby Lobby with the "butterfly theme" in mind and she picked exactly what she wanted. We got home, she painted her box (after I used the exacto knife and cut the box and wings) and decided exactly how she wanted the wings to look. It was not near as stressful as years past and to be honest, this mommy and daddy had a much better time in the process! I didn't get any good pictures of the actual event because my camera was not on the right setting the entire time...UGH! Here are few pictures of Reagan and her precious creation!

She's hard at work painting that box!

It's time to add the eyes, nose and smile!

Here she is! She was so proud of her blue ribbon (that each child won!) and loved getting to race her butterfly.

Happy Halloween Baylor Style!

You guessed it! We decked the kids out this year in our favorite colors....GREEN and GOLD, of course! Reagan was the first to suggest she and Landon be a BU cheerleader/football player and to our surprise, Landon went with it! I think the deal sealer was telling them that Payton could be the little Baylor Bear. We had a super day as a family and enjoyed trick-or-treating in the neighborhood that evening.

The Precious Threesome

a family picture before we hit the neighborhood streets

Payton waves at anyone who will look at her. She spent the evening waving and smiling to the people passing by.......

while her big brother and big sister went door to door!

Pops and Payton

Mimi and Payton

It was such a great Halloween and now we are all way too sugared up on candy. Thank you to Mimi, Pops and Lucy for coming to spend the day with us! Happy Halloween 2009!