Footballs and Crowns...Life with the Browns

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

O got a tan!!

Day 2 of vacation!! We spent the day swimming in our back yard in the new kiddie pool I bought the kids (after 2 trips to WalMart and one pool that had me coming up with some very creative words for bad ones, for example: shhhheeeez louisee). Claire and Owen could not have been any happier if we had huge in ground pool, so the day was great!! One surprising thing, OWEN GOT HIM SOME TAN LINES!! As yall know he has very fair skin, but after 3 hours in the sun, he has the cutest tan line above his booty (I took pictures, but Shane would not let me put them out here =)). He is even more of a handsome stud now!! After we spend a week in Gulf Shores in July, he will be brown as a biscuit like Claire (that is a Becky Brown term =)).

Before we get to the pictures of the day...I have to fill you in on some great quotes from Claire...and now Owen.

Owen - WHERE DID MY BABY GO??!! - Owen did not start consecutively sleeping through the night until he was about 18mos old (I know, it was TOUGH). He has been doing great, but the last couple nights he has been waking up. Now, also lately, Owen has started talking up a storm and is developing quite the personality. So, last night he was crying about 1am. I was hoping (and I know Shane was too, you can tell when they are pretending to sleep, you know what I am talking about) he would just fuss and go back to sleep. Well after a few minutes, the crying turned to screaming, and just as soon as he started screaming, he just started yelling "MAMA". That was a first and a surprise to me, so of course, I leaped up and went upstairs to his room. I open his door, with the usual plan of holding him for a minute, consoling him back to sleep...all he needed was a hug from his Mama and he would go back to sleep (Either me or Daddy, this is literally a process down to science in our house)...

Well I open the door and Owen says "No, night night, No Mama!!"
I was shocked, he was not my little baby anymore. He would not stay in his room, wanted to go downstairs and needed a drink. After a drink and watching some food network (always puts him to sleep), I was in bed by 2. Oh the night life of a Mom!

Brilliant Quotes from Claire Isabella 2-4...

#2 - She and Owen are swimming in the pool, she is just as happy as can be and keeps on telling me so. She is singing a song from one of her Playhouse Disney shows "It's a Perfect Day". Owen gets out and goes to play ball for a bit and she scoots over in the pool close to edge where I am laying out in a chair.

Claire : "This is great, just us girls, laying out in the pool".
Mama: "Uh-huh"
Claire: "Owen is playing over there, we can just talk"
Mama: "Yep, we can."
Claire: "So Mama, tell me about when you got married to Dad, what kind of dress did you wear? Necklace? Bracelet?"

That is some great girl talk. It turned into a long conversation all about my wedding dress...she is such a big girl!

#3 - Tara and Nicole come over later in the afternoon to lay out and hang with the kids. We were thinking about going to a dinner tonight, but we needed a sitter to watch the kids. So I went to call Nana and Papa (Keith and Becky) and Claire continued her conversation with the girls...

Nicole: "Claire you might stay with your Nana and Papa tonight!"
Claire: "Yea, they are my favorites!!"
Nicole: "They are your favorites? How about Nonna and Poppy?"
Claire: "Yes, they are too!"
Nicole: "Nina and Papa?"
Claire: "Yes"
Nicole: "Well, how about me?"
Claire: "Well...I like Tara today, but you can be favorite tomorrow??!"

#4 - All of us sitting at the the dinner table tonight...
Claire: "Mama, do you remember when you told me that Daddy would swim with us tonight?"
Mama: "No..."
Claire: "Yes, in the car after we left Wal-Mart!, You promised!"
Mama: "No, I don't remember Claire" (Shane is eyeing me and I seriously do not remember)
Claire: "Maaammaa, you are so not genius!! I remember...I am the only genius!!"

Enjoy all of the cute pictures from swimming today and a few of the girls and Claire making brownies...

Claire wanted me to take some shots of her in action, jumping in the pool...she was happy with my work =)

Owen likes for me to count to three before he does anything, like a countdown... so he turns to me like this...

Claire was having a blast, this was her favorite picture...

Owen in action too...

And then it was nap time (a day full of swimming will even put Owen in a nap!!)...=)

Making brownies...you think this was a planned picture??=)

I am so glad that I am vacation this week, we are having so much fun!! I just LOVE SUMMER!!

Monday, June 9, 2008

Bubbles and Popsicles

The two favorite things in our house are BUBBLES and POPSICLES! Sunday afternoon the kids played outside and enjoyed their favorites.

Look how much they have grown since Bubble days last year...sweet babies!!

Yep, two blogs in one day...there will be many more this week. I am on vacation, not because we have some glamorous vacation planned, nope...Mom does! Mom and Jake left for Vegas this aftenoon and I took off all week to spend with the kids. We are going to pack in as much swimming and fun outside activities as possible....except today, IT'S POURING!!

Sad Brown chidren =)

I know they are mine, but don't you just want to eat them up!!

Big Brown...not so BIG, PARTY anyway!!

The perfect scenario: BIG BROWN, the first horse in 30 years to have a significant shot at winning the Triple Crown, ending at the Belmont Stakes this weekend...the perfect scenario for another party at the Brown's!! (I know you are so surprised =)). We were so excited for the race, the odds were so great for this horse to be the first to win in decades....only, it didn't. The race was a bust, but we had an awesome party anyway. Most of the family was over, as well as our favorite neighbors from across the street Brian and Anh, with their precious children, Emma and Bodi. Their kids are exactly the same ages as Claire and Owen, so the kids really enjoy playing together. Below are some (ok, a ton of) fun party pics...

So in true horse racing spirit, Nicole wore a hat to the party. It took no time at all before the hat made its rounds through the kids...(the adults later in the night =))

Tara and Sadie, Nicole and Winston