The Best Sunday EVER!

Sunday morning started out just like every other Sunday morning around the Brown House. We woke up early, rushed to get ready, and headed to church. However, this Sunday was a little different because Grafton was singing two Christmas Songs on the big stage with his class.

For the occasion we dressed the kids in the matching outfits that their grandparents gave them.

Grafton was excited to wear his dressy clothes, but not very excited to have his picture taken in them!

To get the kids on stage in a proper order, they all held onto a black string and headed up.

I am proud to say that Grafton was the most boisterous singer in the entire choir!

Once church was over, I headed over to the mall with my cousin, grandmother, mom, sister, and aunt to celebrate my Mom's birthday. We started out by having Greek food, then went to the movies, and finished our day with shopping!

My aunt had to head out after lunch and wasn't able to make it into any of our pictures. :0(

We went to a mall that is mostly outside and it started pouring the rain. That didn't stop us though! It just made me want to sing, "Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful...."

We ended our Girl's Day Out with coffee at Starbuck's, took one last picture, and then headed our separate ways.

When I got home I immediately put on my pajamas and then spent the remainder of my evening with with my three favorite guys.... Vince, Grafton & Deklan!

Phantom of the Opera

My sister Rachel has been a HUGE fan of The Phantom of the Opera since her class studied it in third grade. Since then, she has seen the play 4 times. One of those times she got to go backstage and meet the cast (when her 3rd grade class watched it in L.A.) and this summer she sat on the front row and watched it in New York City.

I saw it 4 years ago with her and it came to town again! The original plan was for Vince & I to go with Tony & Rachel, along with some other friends of ours. However, Vince came down with a terrible cold and so my Mom was my date!

We had an enjoyable evening of going out dinner and watching the show. It makes me wonder when we'll see it again!

First Soup of the Season

The last two years I've had a tradition of making soup about once a week from mid October-February and I never make the same soup twice in a season. To start the tradition this year I decided to use a white chili recipe I recently found in a magazine. (If you interested in trying it yourself, you can find it here http://www.parenting.com/recipes-gallery/Recipes/One-Dish-Wonders-1000016903?cid=enews090809)

To get things started off the right way, I invited some family over to kick off our season of soups and try my new recipe. I served it with corn bread and then we made smores in the backyard for dessert.

Next week I'm thinking about making chicken and dumplings. I have a superb recipe for that!

Thanks, Mom

This afternoon the boys and I stopped at my parents house for a few minutes.  In a matter of that short time, my mom gave Grafton this lovely spider.....

He was so excited he managed to ride home with it in his lap and said he couldn't wait to show his dad.

I must admit I do not share his enthusiasm for this large, hairy creature that will be taking up space in our home.  All I can say is, "Thanks a lot, Mom!"  :0)

Keeping Busy

This past week Vince went to Minnesota to celebrate his grandmother's 90th Birthday. I was not looking forward to him being gone, so I kept myself and the boys busy.  Very busy, in fact. Here's a few of the things we did...

We went shopping and then had dinner at Paradise Bakery with my Mom (aka Grandma H.). When we were done having dinner and walking to the car, we saw the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile.  If you look closely, you'll notice that Grafton is trying to open the door!

The next day I took Grafton to get his haircut.  It had been almost two months since his last one and was desperately needed.

We went straight from Snip Its to the mall to have lunch and play. We usually go to the play-place outside, but Grafton wanted to play with the train set at Barnes and Noble.

This is the self-portrait I took of Deklan and myself at Barnes and Noble.  I had to get in a picture somehow!

After our day of haircuts, lunch, and playing at the mall, my sister and her son came over to visit and eat pizza.  I decided to trust Grafton with markers again and then he and his cousin drew beards on their faces.... Will I ever learn?

The next morning I took the boys to our play-group.  Deklan is such a content baby that he was happy sitting in this exer-saucer most of the time.  Grafton spent the morning eating donuts, building towers, playing with trains, and drawing on a chalk-board.

The weather was so beautiful in the afternoon that once the boys woke up from their naps, I took them to the park in our neighborhood.  When we got there it was empty, but a few minutes later some of the neighborhood kids came.  Two of the girls kept telling me that Grafton was "so cute".  They were both five-years-old, and now Grafton keeps telling me that he's five too.

On our last morning without Vince, the boys and I went to a birthday party and Grafton decided to have a fish painted on his cheek.  He liked it so much that he ended up having an ice-cream cone painted on his left arm and a snowman painted on his right arm.  I hope this doesn't mean he's going to love tattoos when he gets older.

After four days of Vince being gone, we were so happy to have him home!  He brought Grafton the crayon you see in his hand.  It looks like a stick, but has a brown crayon in the middle.

I hope it's a while before Vince has to go out of town again.  Staying busy helped, but the house feels lonely without him!