Christmas recap coming soon!

A full Christmas recap will be posted once we get back from our beach trip with our friends from high school...but for now, check out pictures of our holiday celebrations here.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Christmas Eve Eve

We had our annual dinner party with Dad's family tonight. We went to Morelia's per Evelyn's suggestion. We had 22 people there! Holy crap that was a big party! I was exhausted after I left. It felt strange to be so tired after two and a half hours of sitting. But, as strange as it was, it was what I felt. Absolutely pooped. Addison came right in the house and crashed. She watched two quick videos and was out. She was so tired, she even told Robert to leave her room instead of having him sing to her as per the norm. He felt sad, but I think he understood. You can see pics from the family gathering (thanks to Evelyn's photography skills!) here.

It's Christmas Eve Eve and I'm about to pee in my pants I'm so excited. I'm going to watch A Christmas Story as many times as possible tomorrow. Thanks, TBS! ;-)

Sugar cookies, here I come. Yum!

Merry Christmas, everyone!!

Happy Holidays from the Browns...

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Addison turned 2 today!

Don't know why this picture is sideways, but it's the best I can do for now. I think it still shows how adorable Addison's birthday cake turned out. It's a milkshake - because milkshakes are Addison's most favorite thing besides horses, painting, kitty cats, and any number of other things. :-)

Her party was wonderful. She got far too many gifts, as usual. She is so loved & so fortunate. I only hope she understands that as she gets older. Probably her favorite gift of the night was a giant stuffed horse from Aunt Evelyn & Uncle Andrew. She has already played with everything she got, but she carried the horse with her to bed, so I'm guessing it's up there on her list of faves. Speaking of bedtime, Addison had a complete meltdown around 6:15. She cried for about 30 minutes, refusing to eat, play, color, paint, change clothes, bathe, everything. She finally settled on a movie, and went to sleep with very little protest at 6:45. It's going to be a very, very early morning at our house tomorrow!

Here is a picture of Addison & Amaly, just because I think it's cute. And - YEAH! - Amaly finally came back! We'd missed her SO much! We're going to have lunch with Amaly & Heather Hutchinson tomorrow. Should be fun. Amaly is going to serve Addison's most favorite food - macaroni. (Though Addison says it "mack-ee-roni".

Four days until Christmas. I cannot wait!

Last but not least, CONGRATULATIONS to Fenella & Mark! They got married today!

Addison freakin' LOVES kitties!

Addison got several birthday cards and gifts in the mail today. She opened a cute outfit and a kitty card from Aunt Pat & Uncle Brian (Betty's sister & her husband). Then we opened a cuppycake card from Papa with a check. We must've had ESP today 'cause we definitely saved the best for last! Aunt Evelyn's mom & dad, Evelyn & Dick, sent Addison her favorite card of the day! She said, "OOOHHH! Kitty! Pretty kitty!". She carried it around for a while, the ended up in the dining room, sitting in a chair, looking at it for what seemed like 15 minutes. Thanks to all the people who sent her something today (or earlier!). She is very, very excited for her birfee!

Welcome to baby Kaitlyn Noel!

This afternoon we got to meet Robert's cousin Alice's new baby girl - Kaitlyn Noel. When Addison saw her initially, she froze and didn't say anything. After being in the room for a minute, Addison said, "Can I touch it?". Hilarious. We practiced saying "baby Kaitlyn" all the way to the hospital. Guess that practice really payed off. :-)

Addison had a birthday party at school today. They had pizza for lunch and we took in cupcakes for snack. But for some reason they were going to do cupcakes at 4pm...so Addison missed them. I picked her up earlier than normal today so that we could go visit baby Kaitlyn. They're going to save them for tomorrow I think...I hope.

One day of school left. Addison will return to school in January as a big girl member of the 2 year old class. Exciting!

Potty training is NOT easy and is NOT fun. Good luck to any of you who have not yet experienced this joy. I'm off to the diaper station now.

so, did you know...

If you don't pay Comcast when your bill is due, they'll turn off your cable & Internet? Apparently, they want their money without delay. I evidently failed to pay our November bill, so when I got the December bill, I freaked out when I saw the total. Today in the mail we got this official "Final Notice before suspension and termination of service". Wow. Those people REALLY want their money. I'd paid the bill last week but they seem to have printed the final notice before they got our electronic payment. I had a minor panic attack over that today, but it was remedied by checking our comcast account online and seeing a "$ 0.00" balance. Word to the wise, pay your Comcast bill on time. They do not think twice about cutting your service - even with ten years of excellent payment history.

My mom saved the day by ordering Addison's birthday cake at Tasty Pastry. It's going to be a surprise...can't wait to show it to you all!

Four days and counting until freedom...