Christmas Eve Eve - Ollerton style

We had our annual Christmas Eve Eve party and it was as fun as ever. Eating breakfast for dinner, silly skits, embarrassing ourselves, delicious treats, the much anticipated sisters (aunts) singing, and watching a new video of all the aunts and grandpa's favorite Christmas memories. We also got to see Santa, but of course I didn't take a picture!!! I didn't take any pictures, except for the last few minutes I went a little crazy. Well at least I have proof we all had fun!

WARNING: Silly picture overload!

my adorable baby

this one is quite possibly my favorite... Chantal's face is priceless!

Each face is exactly how I felt after the party was over

He thinks we are gross!

She is heeelarrrious!

Charmaine looked uber fabulous all night.

baaahahaha

She's my idol

we have fun

my hero!

Wonder where all my silles come from?

Even Grandpa Grandpa got his sillies on!

This is what he gave me when I said make a funny face...

LOVE THAT MAN!

Christmas Eve Eve Eve - Prescott style!

We decided to trek the whole family up to Prescott for some Christmas celebration up at Ryan and Krista's. We started off with a trip to the dentist. It was Jacks first time... he was super happy until he realized what was going on. Hugo and Lacy were both perfect.

On Wednesday we spent the day with everyone, eating a fantastic dinner, opening presents, and just having an overall great time. We stayed until the next day, while everyone else left pretty much right after dinner. We are so glad we stayed, we went on a drive to see some fun lights and then, later that night it started to snow! How fun!!! I have never seen such big snowflakes. We woke up the next morning to slushy snow all over the place. The kids found a fun little hill in front and played for hours on the sleds.

Thanks for hosting the party, Ryan and Krista, we had a blast!

My Bunny is 3!

HUGO BOY BROWN

Hugo turned 3 in November!!! He is getting so big. He is such a smart, witty boy. He cracks us up on a daily basis, and he knows it! We love him so much, it is so fun to see my babies grow up and to see their adorable personalities shine. He is my snuggle bunny, my big helper, my angel, my BOY!! Love you buddy!

Halloween

I guess I haven't even talked about Halloween. Lacy was Dorothy and she was absolutely perfect!! She loved it and totally played the part. She said she was so excited every time she dressed up and people told her "Hi Dorothy!" or "You are so adorable, Dorothy". She loved that she was recognized. She had a parade during school, and she was surely the cutest girl there :)

The boys took turns being a tiger and a dragon. They weren't too into Halloween this year, which was totally a bummer because I LOVE Halloween.
I even dressed up, as an angel, of course, with my devil sister. We were adorable!!! The picture doesn't capture it, we were having technical difficulties, really, this is the best we got!

I'm a goof, get over it!

Thanksgiving

Its been so long since I've posted, even I was wondering where the HECK I've been!
Shawn started this semester on his way towards Architecture in school and he has been busy busy, which in turn means I've been busy busy busy! So anyways, now that the semester is over, I have a second to blog a little.

For Thanksgiving this year, all the Browns (minus TJ and Adelia... and you guys were missed) packed up and headed over to Huntington beach.
We had so much fun, and it was a much needed break.
We started off with a little surprise visit to the Schvaneveldts in Laguna Niguel. As far as HB goes, we did the usual, walked down the pier, shopped on main street, went to the freezing cold beach, spent Saturday at the swap meet, Balboa bars and a delicious turkey dinner surrounded by family. I am so grateful for all the love in my life. Happy, very late, Thanksgiving to all.

my very own HB

somebody was too cold to play... he decided to stay snuggled up on the sidelines.

we LOVE you California... we will be back soon!

all tuckered out... We ended up going strait to the hospital when we got home. We thought Jack might have an ear infection or something because he had been so fussy the whole ride home. Turned out he had some major stomach issues. Hopefully they are all resolved now, only time will tell!

I really want to wim one of these!!

Its your buuurrrrrtthhh-day!

Okay.. one more birthday I want to add to the list.

Allison has quickly become one of my very best friends! Today is her 19th birthday- HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIRL!! We have so much fun together.. even if it is late at night acting crazy while grocery shopping.

Or dancing in the rain - her first time. WHAT?? Thats too bad. But we had oh so much fun the other night when it started pouring, we ran and danced and jumped in the puddles, splashed each other. Shawn loved it too!!
But one of my favorite things and some of the most special times in my home, has been her allowing us to invite the missionaries to have discussions with her (for her second time around). It was spiritual and fun and exciting. I am embarrassed to say that this was the first time that I had a friend of my own have the discussions at my house. My sisters and brother were always great missionaries but I was always shy and whatever the stupid excuse, never invited anyone. Well I finally did and it was so fun! We looked forward to them and miss them now. Allison has taught me so much about myself. She has taught me to be bold and to not be afraid to stand up for what you believe in. She faces so much adversity all the time and she always stands up stronger and braver than the time before. I am so grateful that she was introduced to Shawn and I because we love her so much. She is part of the family now, she always will be! Thank you Allison for being my partner in crime, my listening ear, an awesome babysitter, a best friend- I LOVE YOU!

byeeee

September Birthday!

I started doing family birthday posts at the beginning of last October. I decided I would do a whole year. So with this last September birthday, I have finally come full circle and end here on little Mr. Elijah's birthday.

Elijah is a little stink pot! He is cuddly and sweet and a total spitfire! I am so happy to have him here in AZ where I can see him all the time. He is a total crack up, walking everywhere with his blankie and 3 paci's. He is adorable with is sweet smile, big adorable blue eyes and curly blonde hair. He is such a cute boy, I LOVE HIM. Happy 2 years little man!

Super-Powers

Somebody asked me the other day,

"If you could have the powers of any SUPERHERO, who would it be?"

MARY POPPINS! She can fly, talk to animals, transport herself and her friends to magical places, clean up with songs and a snap of her finger. She can carry anything she wishes in her bag, no matter the size. She can fly and float with laughter and even those around her, weather or not they are magical. She is amazing, and she is so classy and beautiful.

Who's superpowers would you like to possess?

A lesson on HONESTY

A lot to be said about Lacy lately...

On Sunday we went up to Ryan and Krista's to spend time with the family while Sharon and Don were there, but lucky Lacy got to go the day before with Mimi and have a fun sleepover with one of her favorite cousins, Anna. She had so much fun, Mimi and Krista both said she was perfect, and she begged to go back as soon as possible. On Monday night we were unpacking her backpack when we discovered something odd. It was a beautiful purple crown, a princess doll and a wand. All of which were not Lacy's. We asked her about it and at first she said, "These are Anna's, she's letting me borrow them."

Oh really Lacy?

After a little more talking with her, tears starting running down her face, she said her tummy hurt really bad and that she took them with out asking. She was scared to tell Anna or Aunt Krista because she was afraid they would be so mad that she wouldn't be allowed to come back to their house. She just wanted to drive up there and quietly put them back in her room.

While that is a good idea to return them, that is not the lesson we want her to learn. I always remember hearing in primary or YW about the kid that steals from the convenience store and their parent makes them go back and tell the clerk they are sorry and return it. I was a perfect child and never had anything happen like that :) jk... I had my moments.

So anyways, we taught her about repentance and forgiveness and how Heavenly Father would be very happy with her if she could ask Krista or Anna for forgiveness and tell them how sorry she is. If she could call them up and tell them what she did. She had a hard time understanding that Krista would be proud of her and happy with her for telling the truth and that she wouldn't be mad. She was so scared. She kept saying her tummy hurt. We had to teach her a little about guilt and how you feel sad when you do something you know is wrong.

She finally got the courage to call Aunt Krista and she was very brave and sweet when she told her she was sorry and she would keep the toys safe in her backpack and she would return them as soon as she could. She would never do anything like that again. I was so chocked up and teary watching my little 5 year old so scared and crying doing something so scary for her but I know she learned her lesson.

The next day she came home from school and told me about a girl who got a red card in school (thats bad!) She told me that three of the girls left the class when they weren't supposed to, to meet up with their book buddies in the bahroom (I'm getting the story from a 5 year old... so who knows how accurate it is?). She said they asked her to come but her tummy started to hurt so she said she didn't think they were supposed to do that and she would rather stay in the class where they were supposed to be. She said those girls got a red card and she got a green. I was so proud of her. She is such a rock star! I LOVE HER!!!

Thanks Krista for being so sweet to Lacy and for helping me teach her such a valuable life lesson. I LOVE YOU!

Oh Jenny Jenny Jenny

Well since I put Lacy on blast and I love Shay enough... I will tell you my most embarrassingmoment as of recent that happened at Target. The day after it happened I called Charmaine and told her and she had to pull over because she was laughing so hard (at my expense) she almost crashed her car!!

Well anyways... it was late one night when I needed to do a quick Target run for somethingreally really important. Something like toilet paper or toothpaste. I can't really remember what it was. All I know is that it was past Jack's bedtime and I had him with me and he was a little cranky. So I ran it planning to run quickly out when I spotted the dang cutest little ruffly black tank top right in the front of the store.

And if you know my Target, you walk right into the women's clothing section. It's a smaller Target, so its also right by the dollar spot, the the left of the food court and caddy corner to the check out. Needless to say, I was visible to tooo many people! Well anyways... I had on a tight grey shirt and I thought to my self, I can just try it on real quick in front of this mirror, right on top of this shirt and be quick and done with it.

Well I tried it on (and to make the story worse, it wasn't even cute on!) So I quickly took it off, with Jack whining and clawing at me and I started my way to the pharmacy section... (YES, I didn't notice right away..) When I looked down in my hands and realized that with the tank top, I had REMOVED MY SHIRT!!!! YES.. I was standing in target in my over the shoulder boulder holder... LIKE A FOOL!!!

And you know how when you scream, DON'T LOOK, everyone looks? Well I said, at a far too loud decibel, "OH MY GOODNESS!" And everyone turns and looks at me like I am a total and complete FREAK... what is that crazy lady doing with her shirt off, I try and turn my shirt the right side out, and get it on while running to find an alone space that doesn't seem toexist anywhere in the universe!! And by now my shirt is certainly made of GLUE and will not cooperate and Jack isn't helping. By now the toilet paper doesn't seem so important. Except IT IS... I HAVE to get it!!! Oh my heavens. I am sure the perv security guards if they even exist, enjoyed watching the surveillance tapes on repeat.

Kill me!!

No, not really, I am definitely one to laugh at myself.... after a few months :)

The kind that beavers build

Oh that Lacy...

The other day we were driving to get an after school treat when she was playing her FAVORITE game, the rhyming game. It hardly ever ends well.... this time it went a little something like this,

" bat, rat, Lacy, bacy, Hugo, bugo, shoe, two, slam, dam... Oh but mommy, its not like a bad word or anything, its the kind that beavers build."

at first I died laughing, then I thought, "What the HECK are the teaching my kid in school!!"

This doesn't even compare to the night before we were at Target, (yes for those of you who know it was the Target and if you ask real nicely and I really love you, I will tell you of my most embarrassing moment which happened at Target) well Lacy was once again playing the rhyming game and she was in the cart and we had a conversation that went like this, starting with her rhyming game

Lacy: itchy, b****y

ME: Oh Lacy don't say that, thats not very nice.

Lacy: What, itchy?

ME: No, the other thing

Lacy: b****y?

ME: YES LACY, don't say it! (I was a little flustered, ok, don't judge!)

Lacy: What does b****y mean?

ME: Lacy stop saying it! Its just not a very nice word, its very bad, and you say it when you are being very mean. (I'm not very good under pressure, OK!)

Anyways, she went on to say it another 7 times and I was blushing as the other moms around me were laughing and giving me funny looks like, "control your potty mouth child!"

Ahhh!! What are we to do with children!!