Lately here at the Browns!

So I am tired of posting beach pictures so let's just move on...I am sure most of you saw them on Tara's blog anyway and I am ready to blog "forward" :).

So let's find out what in the world we have been up to lately....

Lately, we have been really busy running Claire back and forth for dance. I have spent many afternoons working on my laptop in the van, in the dance parking lot while O and B sleep, while Claire is in her classes. We knew when we signed up to try out for Company, she was going to be a busy girl and she has been. She was able to take part in a great experience on Wednesday, learn from an actual cast member of Beauty and the Beast! We are going to see it at the WAC tonight so the girls were extra excited for the clinic!! Here is Claire and her buddy Olivia at the clinic ...don't you love the ruffle shorts!!??




Lately, my man Owen, has officially embraced potty training. As of today, we have had five full days in big boy underwear!!! WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!! We have had a few accidents (okay, quite a few) but we are making progress and I think I can say that he is potty trained (maybe??)!! He starts school in only a week and a half and then Tball and Soccer quickly after and the deal breaker for him was that he would not do any of it unless he was out of diapers!! I have to admit, this potty training boys thing is the FOR THE BIRDS!!!! While we were at the mall, I took him to potty in a public restroom....where he had issues aiming and peed all over my dress!!! Never had that problem with Claire :)....but I am soooooooo proud of him!!!

Lately, Bree is trying to walk!!!!! She is such a little mess! She will take up to 4-5 steps and then sit down. She will even be crawling and stop and just stand up, without any help! She may have some chunk a lunk legs, but they are STRONG!! She is all over the place and keeping me and Mom busy! She has developed a bad habit of not liking her bed lately :(...she will be in a deep sleep and we will walk her upstairs and as soon as she realizes we are putting her down, she wakes up and starts clinging in the likes of a spider monkey!!!! It's sad and kind of annoying at the same time, but we are working on it! She is talking so much more, but still her word of choice is DADA. I cannot believe she will be one in a couple weeks!!!!

Lately, I have been in full party planning mode!! Owen and Bree's birthdays are a week apart. My original plan was to have individual parties. Well this week, Owen's party completely fell through (I was not a happy camper with local bowling place here....starts with Fast and ends with Lanes) and I had to come up with plan B!!! I was so stressed seeing as his birthday is 8 days away!!! So we made a last minute decision this week to combine their parties and have a huge carnival birthday party in the back yard!! I am so excited and everything so far, has worked out perfectly and is going smooth with the new planning!! I am sure it will get crazy around here in a week and Shane will probably want me committed, but so far so good. :) I cannot believe and I want to bawl that my two youngest are going to be 4 and 1 so soon!!!!

Lately, I have been refreshing our house! I never want to move. EVER! I mean, my mom lives across the street, I would be crazy to leave!!! But, I need to keep this house happy and fresh so that we don't get burned out. I say we, but Shane could care less if the house had pillows, curtains ect, as long as it had cable and air conditioning and a place to sit late at night and watch the same movies over and over, but we sounded better. So, I have been replacing curtains, pillows and updating wherever I can. I totally re-decorated my master bedroom and bath and I love it so much more. I have also been working on my laundry room!! My terrible disease "cleaningmakesmeillitis" has been cured and I am no longer cleaning my house!!!! Since it is getting cleaned once a week, I am enjoying it so much more and I may even be found doing a load of laundry!!!! :) Maybe I will take pictures and post...

Lately, Shane and I have been really busy and stressed with work. B L A H!!!! Work stress sucks and it can really take a toll on a person! Shane and I were able to get away for a weekend for our 9 year anniversary to Plano and it was FANTASTIC!!! We slept in, saw a movie, ate good food and relaxed! It was wonderful and much needed!! I can't believe we have been married for 9 years! We have so much fun together and really try to keep each other from taking ourselves too seriously. It is so easy to get so wrapped up in work and trying to raise three crazy kids, but when you can just laugh (when your son pees all over you, or says "Oh Sh*t!", when your daughter is throwing the mother of all fits bc she did not see any reason for getting sent to her room for talking back or beating her brother with a play sword, or when your youngest baby girl is found in the toilet or eating dog food), you can keep some kind of sanity! Love my Shane and I cannot wait until our next anniversay...VEGAS BABY to renew our vows!!!!

Thank goodness it is Friday and looking forward to a fun weekend!!!