Happy Valentines Day!

I hope everyone had a nice Valentines Day. No celebrating here, as Lilly has had a fever that started yesterday, but seemed much better today. We mostly stayed around the house, but did get to play outside in the afternoon.

We let the kiddos open their little Valentines bags after naps today. Presents are still a little confusing to them...I really should know by now not to give them more than one gift at a time. They are so enthralled with each item, they don't want to move on... Their favorite present by far was a new toothbrushes. My kiddos have been facinated with personal hygiene for the past few weeks so we are constanty washing hands and brushing teeth. I'm sure I'll be wishing for these days in a few years. They also each got their first underwear....hey I can try right?!?!?!

Once the rain came, we let them make some cookies. That means letting them put precut cookie dough on a sheet and shaking some sprinkles on them. I had already made a batch while they were napping - we made the mistake of doing this once before and they went into complete meltdown mode when the cookies had to go in the oven and they didn't get instant gratification.

Last weekend we had the best Saturday morning. We went to the 1st weekend in historic Montgomery (which is about 5 minutes from us, lol). They have a farmer's market and some live music. We also walked to the park for some fun. It was a gorgous day and it was nice to be out as a family!

Always time for kisses for Daddy!

25 weeks.

Future musician making himself at home.

It was not fun trying to get Owen to leave the music, but he was trying to climb up on stage and play all the old mens' guitars. Tears all the way home...

Lilly & Owen are 2!

I can't beleive my babies turned two on Sunday! Actually I have so much fun watching them grow and learn at such a fast pace, it doesn't really make me too sad to see them getting older. They are still in need of lots and lots and lots of mommy time and mommy hugs, so I'm trying to enjoy that, knowing some day that won't be the case. We had some friends over for a birthday party, and it was a great time. Luckily it was a beautiful day so we got to spend most of the time outside playing on the new swingset Paul and Grandpa Brown worked so hard to build. The better pictures are on Paul's camera so I'll post more soon.

Lilly woke up on the day of her party and started shrieking when she saw some of her wrapped presents sitting out. She even knew the word and was screaming "pesen!!!!" She totally gets the unwrapping of gifts, which is good, because brother isn't quite as excited about that.

We let Lilly pick her own cupcake on her actual birthday, Sunday. I think she wanted them ALL.

Owen also got a late birthday "gift" on Monday....a 102 fever that doesn't want to go away. Little man had to miss "cool" today because of it, which didn't upset him too much (he's not a fan), but he's been quite pitiful the past few days and I'm hoping he turns the corner tomorrow.

Oh, and last but not least, Mommy gave them new haircuts yesterday to get ready for their birthday photos. Hey, I was feeling frugal, and that way we didn't have to leave the house. I'd give myself a C. Paul was pleasantly suprised when he got home, I think he was assuming the worst! He's yet to let me get my scissors on him, I can't say I blame him :)

Lilly before.

Lilly after...she seems happy with it :) Don't worry I went back and did a littel tweaking after this picture.

Owen after. I didn't get a before, and by this time he was feeling lousy.

New Years Resolutions. Is it too late?

Hmmm.....well I think my 2009 Resolution is to blog more than, oh, once a month. I love reading everyone else's blog, and I don't know why it's so hard for me to update mine. So, since I'm just now setting resolutions, I guess I might as well go ahead and post a few Christmas pics.


One of the highlights of the season this year was the introduction of candy canes. Lilly constantly asks for a "can cane" even a month later. They make quite a mess when eating them, but oh well, they are cute!

One of their shared gifts was this art easel. It's chalkboard on one side, and paper table on the other. They play with it every day.

Santa does not wrap gifts, so they were both excited to see this toy under the tree first thing! So excited they had no interest in unwrapping anything else.

OK, well that's it for now. If anyone out there is actually reading this, give a girl some positive reinforcement and leave a comment!

Our Christmas Card to You

Paul, Jenny, Lilly, Owen & "tator tot" want to wish you a very Merry Christmas! This month has flown by in a way, due to a bout with a horrible stomach flu, and then two weeks later a cold I can't get rid of. I am finally starting to get into the Christmas spririt, and am really looking forward to seeing my babies's faces on Christmas morning. They are amazing kids, and I am so thankful to have them in my life, even on those sub-par days :) They never cease to amaze me by using a word I didn't know they new, or deciding to jump for the first time ever. They are going to start Mother's Day Out the first week of January, and I suspect they are going to have a blast. I think I will too :)

We are looking forward to 2009, and to having a new addition to the family. We have so much to be thankful for, and hope that 2009 brings you and your family health and happiness.

Much love,

The Browns

Happy Halloween!

Well we survived Ike. We did lose power for 5 days and needless to say we were outta there within 24 hours of the no power thing. My friend Michelle was nice enough to put it up for THREE days. We didn't want to wear out our welcome, so then we headed to Dallas for the duration. I wish I had taken a single picture during this, but I didn't.

We're excited to go trick or treating tonight! I'll follow up with some pictures of that by Christmas, I'm sure :)

Until then, enjoy the cute photos below.

Jenny :0




Have you seen my children???



First popsicles!





Um, how come nobody ever told me about ketchup before???



Owen at the zoo. He LOVES fish!


Blackmail photo (note Owen in princess nighty)



Lunch at the Children's Musuem

Where did the time go???

Oops!

Wow, I can't beleive it's been so long. How do these other people post every day???

We had a great time on our vacation. We went to Vermont and upstate New York for a few weeks and got to enjoy the beautiful weather. We got to visit Aunt Patty and cousins Dave and Jeff, and then drove over to the cottage and spent two full weeks there. As always, we were not looking forward to returning to the Texas heat, and I won't even discuss how flying with two 1.5 year olds went, except to say we were "those" people.

The highlight of the trip was when Paul bid, and won, a boat at the Clayton Antique Boat Auction. Our whole trip was actually scheduled to attend this, so it was a good possibility that we were going to be boat owners before leaving. We are now the proud owners of 1961 Lyman, 24.5 feet long, named the "Honeyduck" by it's previous owner. We have to keep the name, otherwise it's bad luck, not to mention a lot of money to have it repainted on the back of the boat. It's a great family boat because it has very high sides so no chance of anyone falling over. We got to spend a lot of time on the boat while we were there, but of course it made leaving even that much harder. In case you were wondering, yes, the boat is staying in New York. So now you're probably thinking "you bought a boat, and you're leaving it in New York, where you only spend two weeks a year?" The answer is yes! We are hoping that Paul's parents will use it as much as they want, and we're also hoping that we eventually figure out a way to spend much more than two weeks up there per year. If we could just figure out a way for Paul not to have to go to work...




Since we've been back, we've been to our 18 month appointment, where the pediatrician said Lilly and Owen are definitely long and lean. They are doing great. Lilly weighs around 23.7 lbs and Owen 24.4 lbs, or something like that.



Lilly is turning into a big girlie-girl. Her favorite activity, besides watchign Elmo, is to play in my closet, trying my shoes on and draping my clothing all over her. She loves to carry a purse around as well. Oh, and one of her newest words is "shoes!"- go figure.

Owen has some words as well, but has quite the animal noise vocabulary and is a pro at pointing to body parts. He is still a total momma's boy and Daddy is being a good sport, but would like some attention too!

We joined the YMCA last week, after I found out they provided free child care while you work out! What rock have I been living under???? The is a great way for us to get out of the house, and Lilly really enjoys her playtime at the wall, and Owen has had a few fits where they had to come get me, but I'm sure this will pass......I hope it will pass. The Y has a great kids pool and playground, so I'm looking forward to getting to do those things as a family on the weekend.

The weather is finally a little more tolerable, so we've been able to start going outside to play some. Lilly is a master at the slide, she just loves it! Mostly, they just love playing in all the dirt, but it's good to be in the fresh air.

I hope everyone is doing great, and I promise to post more often, so please check back.

Jennifer :)

Lots of new things

We have been up to lots lately! For starters, Lilly is (finally) walking at 17 months! She finally got the confidence to let go last week and has been walking like a champ since - yay Lilly! This means she will be sporting many adorable dresses from now... I always felt a little guilty making her crawl in a dress.

Well Paul left the house for a few hours last Sunday. When he came home, he discovered a very definite set of teeth marks on Lilly's arm...now I'm not a forensic scientist, and you'll have to forgive the fuzzy picture where we tried to get a close-up up the bite marks, but we're pretty sure we'ved found the culprit. Not to mention Paul and I don't bite.

4 on top, 3 on bottom

4 on top 3 on bottom

And this is poor Lilly' arm....

The bad thing is when Paul asked when and how it happened...I couldn't really give a definite answer. They scream and meltdown several times a day, so I honestly didn't even notice. Plus, Lilly is a tough gal..not a cryer so I guess she didn't make much ado over it.

This picture of Owen was taken a few days ago...too cute! Daddy says we have to train them young. I got them each their own broom so they could help, but he grabbed the rag all by himself :)

Cinderfella

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Owen woke in the night early last week with an awful stomach virus. So bad that the pediatrician sent us to the hospital. Luckily they gave him some medicine to stop the vomiting, and we were in and out in a few hours. I actually took him back again two days later, because he still looked horrible, etc. We're happy to report he's back to his normal self, but last week certainly was a rough one on all of us.

Pitiful little dude just laid on his bed the whole time we were there, too weak to do anything else!


Recovering at home.

Luckily, Lilly did not get sick!