Christmas at the Brown House

So it's Christmas time at the Brown House! Of course, Hank is confused as to why it isn't snowing yet. Because in his mind, Christmas=winter=snow. He keeps asking if it will be snowing in Phoenix when we go to Nana and Papa's for Christmas. It's hard to explain to a 3 year old why it won't be snowing in Phoenix....

Anyway, we did actually wake up one morning with a skiff of snow on the ground. And when Hank ran to look out the winter, he declared, "Now its wintertime!" The world is very black and white to a 3 year old.

So as we got ready for the Christmas season, it was like being a kid again. Christmas is so much more fun now that there are kids to celebrate it! Hank is very excited about Santa and he keeps telling me that its very important to be good so Santa will come. This is a great parenting tool! I'm just concerned what we'll do when Christmas is over.

So we put up an advent calendar, which is great because Hank is learning all his numbers and the calendar. Martha spoke to me and I made it myself by putting little toys and candies into gift card boxes, hot gluing them to clothespins and then writing the day of the month on the gift tag and clipping them onto a ribbon suspended from a Santa hat. That way Hank knows how many days until Christmas.

We also put up the tree, which Hank helped me decorate. I decided to play it safe and put the tree up on a table out of Merli reach. The decorating was a little harrowing since we have terrazzo floors (the hardest material known to mankind) and so everytime Hank dropped an ornament, it shattered into a million pieces. After losing 4 ornaments, we padded the floor with a blanket until decorating was complete. So tree complete, I made a few wreaths for above the fire place, the front door, and the window over the kitchen sink. But, I digress. This isn't a decorating blog, but a Hank and Merli blog.





Then Hank and I made Christmas cookies and decorated them with icing and sprinkles. Hank was good at putting on the sprinkles. He was also good at eating the cookies....







Merli is all over the place now. Crawling, pulling up, and getting mad when we take dangerous things away from her. She also just entered the stage where she puts absolutely everything she finds into her mouth. Let the fun begin.....


I'll be updating the blog on Friday, after Hank's Christmas program at school. Should be good. I think they're singing some songs. I'll get video. And then after that, it's off to Nana and Papa's for Christmas! Can't wait to see all the family!

BMX Pro!

So Aunt Laurie is going to be thrilled with this post! Hank is so good and can go so fast on his like-a-bike that he started doing tricks! Here is some video.

Halloween Weekend!

Well, except for the fact that Jason was working, we had a great Halloween weekend in Acadiana! We knocked out our trick or treating nice and early on Saturday and attended a Halloween festival in a city park called Vermillionville that is a Cajun version of Williamsburg. It is laid out the way an acadian village would have been in the late 1700's. It's really pretty and set up on the banks of the Bayou Vermillion. Anyway, they had games and a costume contest (which we did not win- can you believe it? What's wrong with these people?!) and trick or treating in all the restored old homes, school, and church. It was really neat. Curious George, Georgette, and the Man (Mommy) in the yellow hat had a great time.
Some pics.....

Yes that is Nemo with  us. Nemo goes home with someone in Hank's class every weekend and we have to write in a journal all the great things we did with him. So the pumpkin hat that I made for the Teddy Bear Parade got put to use. Nemo was a pumpkin.

From left to right: Curious George, The Mommy in the Yellow Hat ( except that the hat is sitting on the stroller- oops), and Curious Georgette

Bobbing for apples- yes the age old Halloween game, except that in this germ phobic world, you don't dunk your head anymore, you try to pinch the stem with a clothespin!

Swinging from the Church Bell like a good monkey! Curious George would be proud.

Anyway, after the trick or treating, we went home and carved our pumpkins. Yes, I realize we left this to the very last minute, but at least we got them done! Yes, impressive, I know!

                                                           See? Even Nemo helped!

                                        OOOOOOHHHHHAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!

Happy Halloween!!

Goin' Fishin'

So it's been raining for weeks here in Louisiana. And, not the kind of drizzling, overcast rain that we're used to from Oregon. We've been having huge thunder and lightning storms that just dump an incredible amount of water down for hours. Roads get completely flooded out and you literally can't go anywhere. They cancel after school activities and entire festivals during the weekend. One day, Hank was crawling up the walls because we'd been stuck inside for a few days and I finally had had enough. So Jason and Hank donned their rain gear and Jason rigged up the fishing rods and they went fishing! Right in the backyard! It was a good lesson and Hank's cast wasn't too shabby.

Merli and her new teeth

Here's a funny video of Merli. She has two teeth coming in and she constantly slurps her tongue around her mouth to feel them. It's very funny.

Boo at the Zoo

Our local zoo has a trick or treat day where everybody gets dressed up, wanders  around the zoo and gets candy. It was pretty fun. We met my friend Denise and her son, Brady. Of course, I was the only mommy to actually dress up with my kid. Kind of embarrassing, but we did get big kudos from all  the zoo employees. For those of you far removed from children's books, we are Curious George (and Georgette) and the Man in the Yellow Hat. Yes, my hat was big. These costumes will be making another appearance this weekend, so I'll get better pics of the kids.

What about Merli?!

So it seems that Merli has been neglected on the blog and so here's a pic of her doing yoga. In my defense, she doesn't do a whole lot yet. Just kind of sits around smiling at everybody and watching her big brother. Oh yeah, she eats too. ALL THE TIME and with gusto! She'd make any Italian grandmother proud.

I do have video of her to post, but for some reason the "add video" button isn't showing up on my toolbar. I'll wait and try to add it again tomorrow. Sorry!

Hank and his new shoes

These are Hank's new shoes, which he picked out entirely on his own. He calls them his Fast Shoes and he insists that they make him go Fast. And, of course, Hank likes anything that goes fast.

And, here is a picture of a building that Hank built entirely on his own. He loves his Lincoln Logs and I do believe that this was his best work yet!

The Teddy Bear Parade

Teddy Bear Parade Prep

So yesterday was the Teddy Bear Parade at Hank's school and let me tell you, this was no rookie parade. Each kid was required to build a float that they could push or pull by themselves and it had to in some way honor their favorite teddy bear. This was also my first assignment as a mommy and I was not going to let Hank down.

So we sat down early in the week and brainstormed float ideas. Of course, there was no question about which bear to use. The obvious choice was Big Bear. Hank got Big Bear from Uncle Bubba and Big Bear is, well, big.

That decision aside, we moved on to the important task of the actual float. There is absolutely no shortage of rolling equipment in our backyard, but most of the equipment involves steering, so we settled on Hank's wheelbarrow, which he got from his Grandpa Paul. Hank loves his wheelbarrow and is good at maneuvering the wheelbarrow around with his tools and equipment, so I figured he could maneuver it around the parade route.

Finally, we had to come up with a theme. I threw a couple of ideas out at Hank and we agreed on a pumpkin and fall theme.

So here's how you build a float for the Teddy Bear parade:

Step 1: Get your wheelbarrow.

Step 2: Surround it with streamer bunting.

Step 3: Get the Guest of Honor

Step 4: Dress the Guest of Honor as a pumpkin. Yes I knitted the pumpkin hat. You can call me Martha now.

Step 5: Add a frame made out of PVC to prop Big Bear up and keep him in the wheelbarrow. Yes, this involved a trip to Lowe's, measuring and sawing the PVC, gluing the frame together and then duck taping the frame into the wheelbarrow, because we all know that no project is complete without duck tape. (Thank you Dad for that lesson).

Step 6: Have a big fight with your 3 year old as we're walking out the door the morning of the parade because he suddenly decides he doesn't like pumpkins, finally give in and go with a football theme. Yes, the beautiful pumpkin hat that I knitted was a complete waste....

Parade Day


So the parade was hysterical. Here's the line up  before the parade. Notice the creepy twins to Hank's right. They ALWAYS dress the exact same and I've never seen them in anything but smocked dresses with matching bows, socks, and shoes. These girls have a LOT of shoes.

You should be able to pick out Big Bear. If you are unable to do that, then you seriously need to go get your eyes checked.

So finally, the parade begins and they're off. (The parade route was a loop around the playground).

Well, we ran into trouble immediately and I realized I made a tactical error. You see, Hank did fine maneuvering Big Bear around the backyard. What I hadn't anticipated were the 200 screaming parents taking pictures, yelling at the kids, and cheering. It was all just too much of a distraction and Hank couldn't concentrate on his route. So Big Bear didn't even make it around once. Hank took out the cowboy float, the Miss Teddy Bear Parade float (yes, some mother really made a Miss Teddy Bear Parade float), and finally dumped Big Bear out onto one of the 8 LSU football floats. It was chaos. Stuffed animals, streamers, and screaming 3 year olds everywhere. Here are a few pics of the carnage (of course, I continued to take pics):

Finally, Big Bear was removed from the parade and Hank walked the parade route with his teacher, Miss Mickie.

Hank wasn't too upset. here are a few more parade pics:

All things considered, the parade was still a big hit. The kids had fun, the teddy bears had fun and the parents loved it all. When we got home that afternoon, Hank disappeared into his room for a few moments and came out with a very small teddy bear. He held it up to me and said, "Mommy, next Teddy Bear Parade, we'll use this teddy bear." I wholeheartedly agreed.

Hank's Pick Up Tricycle

Aunt Cynthia and Uncle John sent Hank a tricycle for his 2nd birthday last year. Well, Jason added a bed with tailgate to it and now Hank uses it to haul his tools all over the yard. Hauling tools is very important work!

Hank is a big boy now!

Hank often tells me that he's a big boy and that Merli is a baby. This is a big deal- the difference between babies and big boys. For instance, he explains in great detail that Merli can't eat real food because she doesn't have any teeth! Genius! However he does take very seriously his role as Sissy's big brother. Merli is not quite crawling, but she can roll wherever she wants to go. And she always wants to be near Hank, so whenever he's playing and she's hanging out on her blanket, she'll roll over to him and knock down his Lincoln Logs or his legos or his Thomas the Train or whatever he's working on and he isn't so happy about that! So I was explaining to him that Merli is growing up and getting bigger and would soon learn to crawl, walk and eat and would become a big girl. I also explained that since he's her big brother, he needed to take care of her and teach her things. Well, he took that all in and was thinking about it and then very seriously told me that when Sissy is big, he'll take her in a boat and teach her to catch a trout. I forgot to mention that Hank apparently is an expert at catching trout. He tells me constantly about how many trout he has caught. Hmmmmm.......

Anyway, Hank likes to dress himself these days and we have pretty big arguments about what he can and can't wear to school. (I don't think the AC/DC t-shirt- which he calls his ABCD shirt- is appropriate for Catholic school and he does). He very proudly came out to play yesterday after he put his pants on ALL BY HIMSELF. He couldn't understand why his pants kept falling down! Ha!

Hank and Merli's trip to Arizona!

So the Brown's were all over the place this past month. Jason spent a week fishing in Alaska with his folks and then hunting in eastern Oregon with his Dad, Uncle David, and buddy Lonnie. In the meantime, I took the kids to my parents for some fun in the sun...lots and lots of sun. I spent a week there with them and then I headed off to Cabo with my girlfriends. However, I don't think I was missed. Hank and Merli went swimming every day at G Nana and G Papa's pool and we discovered a wonderful park in Anthem that has a train and a water park that Hank really enjoyed. Hank also got up on a horse ALL BY HIMSELF and was only disappointed because my mom wouldn't let him go fast. Merli just sat around looking cute and smiling at everybody, which has become her MO. Here are some pics!

Hank's big boy underwear

This past week, my mom and I flew to D.C. to take Merli and Hank to see the Galloways and the Merli's. We had an absolutely wonderful time and it was really good to see everyone. Aunt Cynthia went all out with play-doh, bubbles, a kiddie pool, books, and lots of fun activities to keep Hank busy. The Letsche's drove down to see us for an overnight, which was so fun and crazy since Danielle is heading off to college (she was 12 when I got married- are you kidding me????). Then we got to spend a few days with the Galloways and we hit it right because Uncle Gerry was in town the entire time. Too funny. He and Hank walked around with their imaginary baby wombats and Uncle Gerry might actually have convinced Hank that the Cookie Monster is not bad, but very nice indeed. (I was worried about Hank having an imaginary baby wombat, until I found out that Uncle Gerry also has one, and he didn't turn out so bad, so I am no longer worried).

Anyway, funny story to share: Laurie Chadwell had all the local Galloways over for a BBQ on Sunday afternoon, which was really nice. Well, Hillary's daughter, Tess, is a month younger than Hank and so cute. She and Hank were buds, following each other around all day and playing. So all the ladies and Hank were sitting around the dining room table eating ice cream and discussing the fact that Tess wears Dora the Explorer big girl panties since she's almost potty-trained. And Kathy Galloway turned to Hank and asked him what kind of panties he wears. And Hank looked up from his ice cream and very indignantly declared to the room, "I not wear panties! I have a penis!" And then he returned to the important job of eating his ice cream.

sleeping merli

The Zoo of Acadiana

We have a good little zoo here that Hank really enjoys. So the last time Lynden was here, she bought us a membership and now we can go whenever we want. Since we were tired of the pool, we got up one morning and headed over to the zoo (have to get there early- the only time you can do anything outside all day in August!) As far as zoos go, I think this is a really good one. The animals all look really healthy and the zoo is built into and around all the natural landscaping of the area- lots of trails and trees and stuff. There's also a train that takes you through a "safari", which of course, Hank loves. There are also new babies, which are fun to see. Last time we went, the emu had just had babies and they were pretty cute. There also always seem to be lemur babies. My favorite animals are the giraffe and the vietnamese pot belly pig, which is in the petting zoo. The giraffe has the most beautiful face! And, he's so graceful. The pig is not beautiful or graceful, but pretty funny and very friendly- like a dog. I'd actually love to have one in my backyard to run around and keep out the critters.