Christmas Cookie Fun!

This morning we headed to the Burford's (well one of them!) for their annual Christmas Cookie Decorating Party!  We were all in our PJ's and ready for brunch and lots of decorating fun!  I was super excited to see that even Emily Aclin, aka Miss Aclin to Mason, was there - we always feel excited to be wherever she is!

Conner headed straight for the donuts and tractors but Mason went straight to work!

Four donuts and 2 donut holes later, Conner joined the fun!

This is serious work!

Sweetheart!

Here is Conner . . . seconds after I found him drinking the black icing like a bottle!

Even after all the sugar, we still went to visit my Granny (at noon in our pajamas!) to wish her a Merry Christmas!  They were surprisingly well behaved and we had a great visit!  They did make her sit on an arm rest to take a group picture but I'll overlook that!

Jolly Ol' Saint Nick

Ryan wasn't feeling well yesterday so I bravely traveled to Bass Pro at 6:00 p.m. to wait in line to see Santa with the boys! I spent about 45 minutes promising Mason that all he had to do was stand in the general vicinity of Santa, just close enough to be in the picture.  He didn't have to talk and didn't have to sit in his lap.  Conner was very excited about Santa, however.

And all that changed when it was our turn! Conner wanted no part of Santa and I told Santa Mason only wanted to stand by him, but this Santa was pretty insistent that Mason would be OK on his lap.

Here is the end result!!!

'Tis the Season to be Jolly!

We've been having lots of Christmas fun lately! So much fun I've been too busy to blog but a special thanks to my Coushatta friends for wondering what I've been up to!! (P. S. you could leave a comment or perhaps become a follower . . . just saying!)

Kelly & I were in charge of the Kindergarten class party last Tuesday and as luck would have it the stomach virus struck both of our houses!! O' Christmas cheer!  Mason was the first and worst to go down! Thankfully I got the bathrooms cleaned and sheets washed before it got me too and just as I was beginning to feel slightly human Conner got sick and around and around we go!  Kelly so graciously offered to shop for our last remaining supplies until she got sick too! We threw it together at the last minute and Mason, Conner & I were able to attend for about 30 minutes before we headed to the doctor because Mason had an ear infection!  I was really quite worried about him for a while because he was so dehydrated but thankfully he is better now!

And fortunately he was feeling good enough to go caroling on Friday night with our church! I love Christmas music and was very excited about caroling!  I bought a new "pocket-sized" camera for events such as that and would love to show you cute pictures but the battery went dead (never charged it since I bought it!).  It was really cold and we were on a trailer driving through the neighborhood - freezing!  Only a few folks wouldn't let us sing but most everyone was happy to see us! We got our best reception at the housing project apartments and that was so sweet!

Sunday was our church's 2nd Annual Gingerbread House Decorating Fellowship and it was great fun!

Conner, trying to run away with a present!



Mason, all smiles and ready for Christmas

My sweet boys during some serious construction!

Conner, not really understanding the concept of putting the candy on the house!

Mason's house was so neat and tidy, not one drop of marshmallow creme on him!

Mason & Payne, school and church buddies!

Got the boys the cutest "Santa Countdown" placemats for Christmas and everyday you can turn the "dial" to show how many days until Christmas! Mason is ready for breakfast every morning to move his around -- ONLY 5 MORE DAYS!!!

Perhaps Mason Sang in a Christmas Program . . .

but since he hid behind some girl the entire time so that I and my camera could not see him we will never know!  If it weren't for my new camera with it's super quick shutter speed I would not have him on film at all because as soon as he realized he was exposed he would duck behind the kids in front of him!

His school's gym is super tiny and there is not enough room for all the parents to come so Kindergarten only did their portion of the play in the morning.  I didn't really like that because Ryan couldn't come due to work and because he had to wear his uniform and not a cute Christmas outfit! 

The play was really good though and we (me, Mom, Dad, and Conner) enjoyed watching the kids (the ones we could see!).

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree . . .

The Brown family has been rockin' around this Christmas season!  I have put myself on a "blog restriction" because I have needed to study for the Praxis and GRE, organize school functions, teach Sunday School, Christmas shop, haul kids to doctors and dentists, you know life in general, and I had no spare time for blogging!

Here is a quick recap of our comings and goings!

Deer Season arrived!  Here are my mighty men on their way to help my brother, Josh,

clean one of his two deer!

Good thing they helped Josh because a few nights later Ryan needed help!

Here is Ryan's 6-point buck!

Ryan celebrated his birthday the day before Thanksgiving!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN!

That look is because I am trying to get him to smile by singing 50 Cent "Party Like Its Your Birthday,"

but I don't actually know the words!

Getting ready to cruise the pasture for our "charlie brown" Christmas tree!

I do not like spending money on a tree so we go the homegrown route!

A little brotherly love!



My little niece, Faith, is almost here!

Here's the lil' momma at one of her showers!

(yes, I'm not joking she is pregnant and due next month!)

Check out my friend Holly for some pictures of our Black Friday shopping! Check out my friend Lauren for some charitable Christmas shopping!

A New Week - FINALLY!!

Stressful pretty much describes last week and I am so glad it's over and life resumes!

I took the Praxis in English Language, Literature and Compisition on Saturday  . . . two tests: Content Knowledge and Pedagogy.  Don't have any idea what Pedagogy is but still . . . Content Knowledge showed me that in 12th grade English I should have paid way more attention to Shakespeare!  Short story, my 12th grade English teacher paid myself and a friend $20 to grade her term papers plus as an added bonus we got to do this task during our own English class so instead of Shakespeare and sonnets we graded and oh how I loved it!  That is until this weekend and I really needed to know something on Saturday about Shakespeare and haikus and iambic pentameter! Therefore, if around this time in December you don't see a blog post about how smart I am then that means that 12 years ago I should have stayed in class!!

I do however now know all you ever needed to know about The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn if any needs to write a short essay on that book!

Other things happening . . . my sweet Mason is learning to play checkers and something about cold weather always makes me want to play checkers (beat Ryan three times in a row last time!)! I am glad to teach him because now I will have someone to play games with this holiday season!

Mason has the best Mimee ever who just last week took him to McDonald's to play (and possibly eat), after his grandparents day program, even though she HATES McDonald's!  As an aside, my own mother, who happens to be Mason's Mimee, never took me to McDonald's - EVER - just saying! He also came home with a random assortment of Lunchable's, roasted peanuts, rice krispie treats, and a package of gum.  Not at all spoiled!

Mason informed me that the worst class of all is music class because all you do is "sit there and sing."  Also I am trying to persuade him to let me use the car drop off line at school since the weather is cooler and he told me no because one of the teachers might ,wait for it, . . ..say "hi" to him!  Oh, he is so much like his mother!

Sweet baby Conner has been a hysterical sweet mess as usual!  We went to the library last week and Conner has been going there since he was in an infant carrier and the librarian commented on what a big boy he was and he quickly corrected her - "uh uh big boy, my sweet baby!" - which in Conner speak means "I am NOT a big boy, I am a SWEET BABY!"

The sweet baby has also started hitting when he is mad so I watched Super Nanny on Friday to get up to par on my timeout technique!  Speaking of Super Nanny, the strangest thing happened on Friday night . . . Ryan, Mason, & Conner went to a hockey game around 5:45 p.m. so from them until around 10:30 I was home at night ALL BY MYSELF! Seriously, cannot even remember the last time I was home by myself at night - it was FABULOUS!

Felt a little like Andy's mom from Toy Story last night . . . trying to make room for the expected avalanche of new toys coming our way by cleaning out our various toy areas . . . started sorting out baby toys to store in the attic (I can almost hear the toys plotting their escape now!) and the saddest part was removing some of the stuffed animals from Conner's bed.  Mason made him a Build a Bear a few weeks before Conner was born and that teddy is now the beloved "gunga," however since the pacifier has been thrown out and the baby bed converted to a toddler bed he hasn't asked for gunga quite so much.  I left him in the bed because he is a forever kind of toy but the giraffe he got for his first Easter got moved to the shelf while the toys on the shelf got moved to a box . . . sniffle, sniffle.  Last year at Mason's Secret Santa Shop he bought Conner a little stuffed bulldog.  Mason has such a sweet sensitive spirit and he wanted so very much for Conner to love his dog and well every night I would arrange the dog just so in Conner's bed and every morning I would find it thrown out on the floor and I would quickly toss it bag in before Mason saw!  Conner now accepts the dog as his own so it will have to stay somewhere nearby but poor little giraffe had to move on . . . growing up is hard!

So amid all my studying life went on and hopefully I will have more time to blog now!  The GRE comes next so send your prayers my way!

Pink Popsicle!

Everyone needs to check out the Pink Popsicle for the cutest Christmas clothes! Holly is fabulous and she does such a great jobs!

I love her new Christmas designs!  I think I'm leaning toward Rudolph and Baby Jesus . . . still deciding!

Louisiana State Fair 2010

Mason is addicted to the fair - ADDICTED I tell you! He has already asked this morning when he can go back and he'll continue asking ALL YEAR until the fair comes back!  We haven't had time to go and knew we had to get to the fair before the weekend since it's packing up on Sunday! Plus we can't stand the weekend crowds!

Conner was just tall enough to be able to ride the kiddie rides and he was very excited about that!  Of course, now that Conner can ride those rides Mason was bored with them!  Last year we made the mistake of doing exhibits and the zoo first and then didn't have time for many rides (and we listened to lots of whining about wanting to ride too!) and we weren't going to make that mistake twice. 

First stop, the carousel!  Conner instantly regrets his decision but by the end he is all smiles!

This ride was F-O-R-E-V-E-R long . . . I thought our kids would jump out they were so tired of being on it. Finally the operator quit talking and stopped the ride!

BTW, Mason was just at the doctor on Wednesday for an ear infection.  He was under strict instructions to keep his hood on at all times, that his why he seems a little incognito!

I get motion sick very very bad hence I don't ride anything at the fair.  Ryan had an arm band so he had to go on EVERYTHING with the kids, including this itty-bitty fun house slide - too funny!

However, some things he wanted to do not the kids! For instance, Mason wouldn't ride into the haunted house with him so he made Conner.  By the looks of Conner's face when he came out (not pictured!) he didn't want to go in there either!

This kiddie roller coaster was a deal breaker for Conner! We had to ask for it to be stopped because he was crying so hard - poor thing! After that he wouldn't ride anything!  

Conner's fear worked to Mason's advantage because then he got to ride big kid rides!  They rode this twice. I couldn't even watch this ride because it made my head hurt!

Conner's favorite part of the fair - large Coke! That's my boy!

My favorite part of the fair - stupid people!  Please pay close attention to the spelling of "knifes," "ect.," and "responceable." 

The boys trying to find their way out of the giant wave!

Conner & Mason both enjoyed the "big, big, big slide!"

No trip to the fair is complete without Malone's State Fair Taffy and after we got ours it was time to head home!! In the parking lot I made Ryan take my picture because I am never in any of our fair pictures and now I know why!!

LOVE MY BOYS!

Trick or Treat, Take 2

On Halloween night, Josh & Erica were having a Halloween party/outreach ministry at their house and since they live in a large neighborhood the boys were excited to get to go trick-or-treating!

Here is Sir Mason and Lady Mimee . . .

Bob the Builder and his beloved Mimee

Bob had the cutest tool apron that he refused to wear!

The kiddos knocking on Granny's door

Conner did not nap on Sunday

and I had the hardest time getting him to do anything I asked!

This is the best "brothers" picture I could get!



Ryan and "Bob" walking in the sunset!



Erica had cute food (of course) - punch with floating eye balls, fingers in the dip (carrots with almond slivers), caramel and candied apples, decorative cookies, hot dogs, chili - yummy!  It was a great time to fellowship with people in our church and to visit with friends and neighbors we ran into on the street!

Hope everyone else had a Happy Halloween!! We sure did!

Trick or Treat, Take 1

The Town of Stonewall changed trick or treating to Saturday this year, but not everyone complied! We ended up with Halloween parties on Saturday and Sunday which was so much fun for the boys!

Conner has had a little cold and we didn't want him to be out in the cool night air on Saturday so he & Ryan stayed home and Mason & I headed over to the Cobb's for their 3rd Annual Halloween Party & Hayride!

Kelly & I have been friends since 7th grade and now our kids are in the same class and Mason was really looking forward to playing with Natalie!

Here is my knight in "shiny" armour and me in my very un-original costume!

Sir Mason protecting his three princesses!

Also known as digging for Halloween treats buried in buckets of deer corn!

Sir Mason with Dino Mason, enjoying the hay ride!

As always we had a super good time! I made Mason get off the hay ride earlier because our Sunday was super busy and we needed some rest, plus he had missed school earlier in the week because of a cold, and he was not too happy with me!  Once he got home and saw how much loot he had though I think I was quickly forgiven!

Luckiest Mommy Ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hooray for Elmer!

Today's was Mason's school's book parade.  It's the finale to their Red Ribbon Week and today's theme was something like Who Needs Drugs, I Want to Read!  Each class picked a book and the whole class dressed like the central character or various characters in the book.  Mrs. Lynch's class picked Elmer by David McKee about an elephant who doesn't look like all the other elephants in his herd.  The kids made trunks in school and they were each supposed to dress up in different colors.  This lead to Mason and I attempting to tie dye a T-shirt for the first time . . . interesting to say the least!  If you are going to try this I recommend following the directions!  Mason likes his shirt though so that is all that matters!

It was really cold this morning so Mason is in the red jacket and you can't see much of his shirt!

After the parade was his class Halloween party!  Me, the least cute & crafty mom, was in charge of the party! I think it was fun!! Thankfully lots of several parents were able to stay and help out!!  I even ate a hamburger in the school cafeteria -- eek! I wouldn't even eat there when I went to school but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do!

Thanks to all my super crafty & cute friends for their ideas . . . we had 4 centers, one was making ghost suckers, which didn't take long so luckily Kelly had sent some Halloween games to help fill the time, the second was decorating treat bags with markers, foam Halloween stickers, and Halloween stamps, third was Halloween colored play-doh rolled out and cut into Halloween shapes, and last Mrs. Lynch did a center where the kids got to "buy" vampire teeth, spider rings, and mini rats with play money to work on their math skills!

After activities they headed to recess while we set out their cookies, ice cream, Cheetos, and juice and loaded their freshly made treat bags with tons of loot!  I think it was a success!  I'll have a better idea of what to expect if I ever do this again!

2nd Annual Stonewall Long Haul!

Last year's post was titled "I Did It . . . Almost!" and I could have called this one the same thing!  Mason was my partner this year and he was spurred on by the fact that when he was done he would get to jump in the bounce house and he just about killed me with all of his running! At mile 2 we were TIRED but encouraged by the fact that we could see the finish line . . . however, it turns out the finish line was on our right but we needed to turn left to stay on course!!

Mason decided to call it quits and of course I couldn't let him cross a busy US Highway by himself so I had to quit too . . . but it was all Mason's fault!!

My dad kept Conner for me because Ryan had to work and since I didn't have a stroller I didn't take my camera thus no pictures this time!

It was a tiring but fun morning!

Down Home Fun!

Thursday I was able to head on over to Dixie, Louisiana to join Mason's class on their field trip to the Dixie Corn Maze & Fun Farm!  The farm is located in the middle of many row crop fields in the middle of no where -- it was a very ideal setting!  There were 4 kindergarten classes from our school and our class headed to "The Jumpy Thing" first. 

Mason is in the middle having fun!

Hey chicken!

Mason & Payne riding the train, love the grain bins in the background!

I think the highlight of Mason's day was getting to pet a 20 foot, 200 pound, 19 year old python! He also petted another smaller snake - I was a little terrified!  We took a guided tour of the corn maze and went on a hay ride (minus the hay) to the pumpkin patch.  There was also a pig race.  By the time we left Mason was so tired and he fell asleep after about 2 minutes in the car!

Friday was the 2nd Annual Stonewall Pumpkin Shine!  Here is Mason with his pumpkin!  Ryan helped Mason and I helped Conner with his mummy.  Conner missed his nap on Friday and refused to pose for a picture with his!

Last year I took the boys to the pumpkin shine by myself last year and it was chaos! We convinced Ryan to the miss the hockey game and come with us and I think he had a lot of fun!  I am so glad he was there because even though we were both watching the boys in one jumper Conner still managed to sneak out without us knowing and head over to the big boy obstacle course jumper.  We were so scared!  Luckily I happened to glance in the right place at the right time and I caught him running to get back in and start over!  It was a fun family down home night!