A toast......

.....to watching Henry take his first steps and enter into toddlerhood

.....to gorillas, cats and ducks

.....to cozy homes and visits from family

.....to new words, new skills and new shoes

.....to adventures at the museums, aquariums and parks

.....to playing in the sun, leaves and snow

.....to swimming and splashing and kicking

.....to tubbies, books and snuggles

.....to starting new (old) jobs and promotions

.....to clementines, blackberries and eggs

.....to making memories with our little boy

.....to more smiles, more laughter, and more love

We had a fantastic 2009.......
Best wishes in 2010! We're looking forward to it!
Happy New Year!

- you know, if I can stay up till midnight........

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Christmas with the Browns

Luckily, we made it to Oklahoma just in the nick of time a day before the blizzard of the Midwest hit. On Christmas Eve day, hail turned to snow, accompanied by strong strong winds and probably 6 inches of snow, leaving us with a beautiful white Christmas the next day! We had a fun time snowed in with everyone, roasting marshmallows, cooking delicious food, and finishing preparations for Christmas. And we woke up to have a wonderful Christmas morning with lots of treats for Henry. First, before opening the presents, he had to make sure the snow was still there. Yep, sure was!

Henry loved opening his treats, and had to take a little break in between each gift with reading a story with Grandma.
Christmas morning in our jammies!
What a cute Christmas Elf!
Merry Christmas! Henry, you made Christmas morning lots of fun for us - thanks for all the memories!

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deck the halls.....

Finally....after much build up and anticipation, I finally found time to take some pictures of the house. So without further ado....

Living Room (eventually, we'd like to get new furniture in here)

Dining Room

Kitchen

Family Room

Hall Bathroom (I love Henry's Ducky bathroom - I was so excited to decorate in yellow ducks!)

Bedroom

Bathroom

Henry's Bedroom

Henry's Bedroom

Guest Room/Office

Basement Playroom

Basement Playroom

Guestroom side of the basement

And there you have it!

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As I was getting ready for our holiday open house so friends could see the new place, I was singing Christmas songs, and one in particular got stuck in my head:

There'll be parties for hosting, marshmallows for toasting and caroling out in the snow.
There'll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long long ago.

Is anyone out there really telling scary ghost stories at Christmas time?????? I think Eddie Pola and George Wyle have their holiday confused!!!!!!!

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Walking in a Winter Wonderland

A few days ago it snowed a whole lot, and then warmed up enough to play outside a little. With some baggy snow pants and some big snow boots, Henry is a little unsteady in the white stuff. So, he held Mommy's hand for most of the way, after taking a tumble and getting a face-full of snow. But, he loves being outside, so once he realizes we're going out, he gets pretty excited, no matter how cold it is. Earlier, we had a little less snow, and he was able to walk around himself, crawl, get himself up, and make snow angels!

I love holding Henry's hand. It took us awhile for him to get better at holding hands, which was a surprise for me. As soon as he was able to walk on his own, that's all he wanted to do - walk on his own. And not hold hands. But, we insisted, and now he's much better! Which makes me so happy! And you know, where he's not running through stores is a good thing.

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Happy St. Nick's Day

Aren't Henry's little shoes so cute underneath the Christmas tree for St. Nicholas' Day? Good thing he moved up from a size 4 to size 5 a week ago. More room for Resee's Peanut Butter Cups and clementines!

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Fun with Paint

The week of Thanksgiving, my family was in town to celebrate and we did lots of projects around the house. My brother and dad became master painters and adorned the kitchen, Henry's room, guest bathroom, and basement with color! Henry even helped out a little bit.





We even found a little roller for him so he could roll paint like the bigger boys! He loved it, was surprised by the color going on the wall. As for the actual colors for the rooms? A pretty blue for Henry's room, and a bright fun orangy/yellow for the basement (actually the top color in the picture A watery blue for the guest room and light sage green in the kitchen. We're (still and finally) putting some pictures on the walls, and acquiring new furniture, so I'll post some pics of the inside of the house soon. Hard to believe we've been here two months already.

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Santa made him...

CRY!

and cry some more....

until he became mildly curious. But not merry or bright.

Knowing this might be Henry's reaction, we decided to forgo the busy, crowded long lines of the mall and take Henry to see Santa at the local garden shop. For a free picture, and no line at all. And a cookie, which made him very happy. Why is it that the crying Santa pictures are mildly funny? Poor kids, why would they want to see a big guy in a crazy beard anyway?

So we decided to check out the less scary, more fun train under the tree instead.

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