12.15

Not too much new to report here. In fact, I didn't blog yesterday and as I sit here today, I can't even remember anything significant that happened...hmmmm....my life is so boring sometimes :) Boring is good, because I know some people who are having lots of life problems and I feel blessed to be boring.

Jason's dad came for a visit today. It was nice to have the company and he helped Jason with a few chores that were better left up to boys anyways. He stayed with the boys for an hour or so and me and Jason went to pickup some new storage for our playroom. As I sit here tonight, Jason is slaving away trying to make it look good. Too bad I am gonna mess it up and paint it black as soon as I get the chance...maaahaaa...suprised? Didn't think so!

Cameron was in more pain today. OR maybe he figured out that we cater to his every whim when he says his 'pepe' hurts. Smart kid. Hopefully his will feel better tomorrow? He gets his catheter taken out on Friday. We should be uphill from there, hopefully??

All of our Christmas decorations are up. The kids are totally digging Christmas and the hoopla this year. I accidentally put baby Jesus in the manger scene and Gavin promptly took him down and hid him. He remembered that Jesus doesn't come till Christmas and the empty manager is to remind us what the holiday is all about! It's so cool to see him 'getting it' more and more.

I leave you with these

The boys decorating the tree...notice their in the pj's still....

Yum....chocolate covered bananas. Got the chocolate kit for 0.88 at Walmart. Take a a few frozen banana's and your kids think your the coolest ever. Shhh....don't tell them their eating the fruits!

Like Cam's hair?? I wanted to grow it out and see if it would curl. It's been out of control lately, but so cute :) That stick was promptly taken away, darn boys.

Gavin at his Christmas program a few nights ago....Check me out....I am not a baby anymore!

12.13

I love Saturdays...

Today we had lots to do around the house, but took it easy to see how Cameron would do. He was great today! It's actually much better than Nolan's surgery because he can tell us what is wrong...every time Nolan fussed, we would wonder if he was in pain, hungry, sleepy....Cam just tells us if it hurts, he hungry, tired....much better.

I took off for a couple hours in the afternoon to work in the clothing closet. Then we got the Christmas decorations out and ready for our tree tomorrow. Jason also put up some Christmas lights. The boys were so excited to see them after nap! We ventured out after dinner to get some shopping done. Again, Cameron did great and actually wanted to walk in the store. I was afraid he was gonna get hurt, but he was fine. I think it was good for him to get out of the house too. We also picked up these...they turned out too cute :)

After some light shopping, we drove through the our church's Living Nativity. It was crazy busy. I think we waited 45 minutes to get to the start and it only took 10 minutes to get through. Gavin got to tag along and be apart of the Bethlehem scene with some friends. He had a blast regardless of the freezing weather....There are two sets of casts, so he rotated out every 20 minutes or so...brrrrr

We still have church tomorrow, but one of us will stay home with Cam and Nolan because of Cam's catheter. Hopefully tomorrow will go as great as today! But isn't the 3rd day after an operation the worst???

12.12

Hey all! Thanks so much for those who prayed for us today. Things went well and Cameron is home resting. He is doing great (walking a little funny) but seems to be only mildly uncomfortable. We'll see what tomorrow brings. You can find out more info here about his surgery, if you are interested.

It's been a long day....too long and I should be sleeping.

No big plans this weekend. Hopedully we can drag all our Christmas stuff out and get a tree. Maybe finish some VERY loose ends on the latest remodeling project...wishful thinging I know :) Jason is off till Tuesday. Then it's 5 more days of work for 12 days off...whoohoo!!

12.11

Tomorrow is the big day. Cam is going in for surgery at 10am. If you are thinking of him would you say a prayer for him? We would appreciate it so much!

I preregistered him today and went over a laundry list of questions pertaining to his health. If got me thinking. Our family has truly been blessed. No cancer, no lifelong illness, no problems with our hearts, lungs, brains.....haha!

I am working with a clothing closet and food pantry....and it's so sad the situation some of the people are in. No financial problems here. How often do I take things for granted and appreciate what I have 100%??? NEVER!! What if the tables were turned, what would I do in that situation? Should I be worried about my stupid paint colors, when there are people who are hurting so much? What would $40 do for them? I'm struggling.....

I guess I wonder how much of yourself/your money do you give and how much you keep and enjoy? Because when it comes down to it, we all could live on alot less if we had to....

12.10

I hope I am not the only one that feels like life just gets away. Run here, run there. Buy this, take this back. I ordered 4 sets of cards today. From a different printer, because it was a little cheaper and more convenient. Colors are off. Ugh! Guess that's what I get for trying to fix something that wasn't broken. I need more play time.

We had a lunch date with Jason today. It was a little last minute, but we meet at Denny's for a great brunch. I love doing things like that. It makes my day go by so fast and I know Jason likes it too....or maybe we stress him out and he is happy to go back to his quiet desk?!

I took some pics tonight for a friends Christmas card and for her daughter's first birthday.



I also took pics of the boys... This is about how it went....

We might have to try for round two another day.

12.9

I tried, I really did. But I can't seem to get a video up that I wanted to share....maybe another day.

Gavin's program went really well today. He actually sang this year. Last year he kinda stood up there with a shocked look on his face. Their so sweet at this age. He was so proud of himself and we were too!

Life seems to be getting back to normal around here. Not that we have a 'normal' really. I have lots of volunteering stuff to work on this week and I am dying to get the upstairs in some sort of order. Even if that means shoving all the stuff that in the hallway in the spareroom in a pile. I miss my hallway. The trim is almost all done, so pending Cameron's surgery going OK, we may be able to knock a few to-do things of the list this weekend. I don't think we will be running alot with a 2yr old with a catheter....anyone want to come entertain????

Christmas shopping is ALMOST done. It's so hard to buy for some people in our family that we are having to get creative.

I hope to get our Christmas cards pictures taken in the next few days so I can make and send out our Christmas cards. Don't worry, I always share some of the bloopers here.

Here's a pic for my sister-in-law. This is just one of a few of your beautiful daughter!

12.8

We're back!

It's been a long few days.

Friday night was sewing with the girls. I worked on Nolan's Christmas present, one of these. Each boy is gonna get one. Nolan's turned out great!

Saturday was going to be busy. But around 9 am, I started feeling icky and mentioned it to Jason. He said he didn't feel good. By 10 we knew is wasn't going to be a good day. I haven't had a bad stomach bug like that in a long time. Neither of us were very function-able, but somehow we made it through the day. Jason held it together enough to 'watch' the kids. It sucks when we are both sick, but diapers still had to be changed and kids needed to eat. Thankfully they played really well and took long naps. Jason deserves all the credit for holding this house together. I am such a baby. By 10pm, me and Jason were feeling a little better. By 4am Sunday, Gavin was up and sick. Nolan got sick in the morning too. Cameron acted like he wasn't feeling well one minute and then was fine the next. He has surgery on Friday, so I hope he doesn't come down with it in the next couple days....

There was no church on Sunday for us and no school for Gavin today. We are now over 36 hrs sick free and most of the house and toys have been disinfected. What a job it is to be sick!

We finally ventured out this evening to shop for some kids that we 'adopted' for Christmas. We got some 'boys' and our boys had fun picking out some things for them. It was so nice to be out of the house and dressed!

Gavin's Christmas program is tomorrow night for school. Watch for pics to come.

And I will leave you with a few things that I have been working on the last few days....even in my deathly state...ok I did most of these before I became so gravely ill....

A collage to be inclueded in their Christmas card:
My sister in law wanted something for her blog:

A Christmas Card

12.7

So....guess who's sick?

Let's just say, "everyone"

We have a BAD stomach bug...and it sucks....

12.4

In 4 minutes it will be Friday. This week has flown by! There are definetly more things are my to-do-list that HAVE NOT gotten done then HAVE. Oh well...tis the season, right?

I worked on a collage for my sister-in-law and am tying up some loose ends on some other cards. I am in the process of creating 3 others. Stay tuned and I will share...

Tomorrow is sewing night with some girlfriends...I am excited to get a few things at least started.

Oh, by the way...sorry about all the poor grammer and spelling errors. I know it's horrible.

12.3

Hello. Hello. Did you miss me. Probably not.

Here is what we've been up to the last few days...

Monday night after blogging, I made a cute nursing cover for my sis's best friend. I am such a procrastinator. I told her I would make it months ago and now she's delivery Thursday. My sis is taking it to her personally now though.

We got around on Tuesday, it was off in this freezing snowy weather to the post office. (Now that's love) I even was there before 11am...gasp! All kids and me dressed and showered...double gasp! Then, it was back home for lunch and naps. I was going to finish painting the last coat of white on the trim, but the darn can was sealed shut with dried paint. I hate being a wimp. So I did this instead:Isn't she the cutest. Yup, I took that pic too...Don't come banging down my door for yours...

Wanna know a confession? No, too bad! Last night I didn't blog because of this! Stupid TV!

I finally got ahold of Cameron's urologist and scheduled his surgery date. It is next Friday. I am a little nervous about how he'll do, but I think it's best for the long run. It's the same surgery that Nolan had done in October, so at least we know what we're facing.

I took Nolan to the doctor this morning for his 15 month check up. Guess what? Double ear infection. Man I feel bad. The doctor thinks that it may be related to this running nose, which he's only had since last week. He's still drooling like crazy and I think the teeth are the biggest issue. But, I still feel bad. We'll see if he perks up the next few days.

A friend came over for lunch today to help make this for her mom:

Then it was off to church tonight. Our boys love their Wednesday night program. It focuses on Godly character qualities and they take to it really well. Cameron is learning about sharing and being kind. He gets these papers that he is SO proud of!

Then it was time to put the kids to bed and finish these up for a friend, which one do you like?? He's a real estate agent and he's gonna mail them as postcards, so this would be the front.


This one would have the 'looking forward" part on the other side with the address.

12.1

Happy December!

Have I told you that I hate snow? Ugh. It's cute to see the kids be excited about something so simple. Me, I just complain. About the cold, the dry skin, the coats, extra laundry....you get the idea. I should be thankful that we have a warm house, plenty of warm clothes, dependable transportation...

I think Jason did a great yesterday blogging for me! Maybe he can give his 2 cents more often!

We didn't do anything exciting today. Stayed around the house and made a HUGE mess playing :) Picked up Gavin from school and headed to Meijer. If you don't know, we go to Meijer almost everyday for something. The greeter recognizes us. The lady at the cheese counter knows us.

I also made a meal for someone who just had a baby and ran it over there while Jason feed 7 kids. That's right, my wonderful do-it-all husband held down the fort and feed the kids (We were watching some friends kids, in case you thought we went off and adopted a few extras without telling :) Then we filled them with sugar...hot chocolate, marshmallows, and apple pie...before we sent them home. I hope they went to bed ok ;)

Now it's off to finish some Christmas shopping (it's Cyber Monday and I've been shopping online today!) and start and hopefully finish a nursing cover.

11.30

OK, so I guess you pros call this "guest-blogging"? Jaime said she's sick of writing, so I had no choice. In hopes of lowering your expectations, I'll have you know that creative writing is not a requirement for engineers, but just jotting down a few things about our day shouldn't be too hard, right?

Well, like usual Sunday mornings after our crazy Saturdays, it took about 4 snoozes before I was actually awake enough to realize we needed to get out of bed. 3 snoozes later, I was able to convince Jaime that we HAD to rise and shine. We figure if we get to Church nursery a little late, that would be OK because Dave and Mel will be there on time to open up. As we are walking up the steps, we greet Dave and Mel on their way in as well :). Everything still got set-up on-time, and we were ready for the kiddos. As a friend is dropping off their little one, they asked for their Purdue B-ball parking pass back, which was in the van...no problem, I'll have it for you after church. Mid-way through 1st service, I venture to the van to grab the pass. After searching for 20 minutes, I decide hmmmm, must be at home. I drive home only to spend 1.5 hours turning the house upside down, searching high-and-low. I give up and arrive back at nursery to help close up after the last service. Jaime had seen them in the hall, so mentioned it was at home and we'd have it for them. They'll be here Tuesday to get it. Tried calling them 3 times today but wasn't able to connect. Hopefully I'll get ahold of them tomorrow morning before they drop by my blog.

Had lunch after church. We were thinking ahead enough yesterday to pick up some cheese from Meijer for lunch. Grilled cheeses just aren't as tasty without it. After playing Little People, puzzles, more Little People, and blocks, all 4 went down for naps. Woke up around 4:30. More Little People, more puzzles, more Little People (I think). I decided it was time to go play in the snow. Bundled up the 3 little ones, and went out and built Woo-Woo (true Cubs fans might get that one!):

Don't ask about the tarantula right-eye, not sure what happened there. And Cameron didn't grow a mustache, that's Woo-Woo's left arm. Anyways, they were very proud of him. We woke mom up to snap some pics, but it was too cold out for her so I had to use my photography skills. Nolan was getting chilly and his cheeks were rosy, so he came in. Cameron, Gavin and I threw snow balls at each other for about 45 minutes until Gavin got whacked in the face. That always seems to end a good snow-ball fight. Really I was just getting cold and I knew that was the only way to come in without being called a wimp. j/k

Jaime prepared us some hot chocolate. After Cameron's first sip his taste-buds were gone so Gavin got 2 cups; he was pretty excited. He thought it was a good trade for taking a snow ball to the left cheek.

Dinner was some delicious Dream Dinners (some tasty spicy chicken stuff). Then we had some popcorn while watching The Amazing Race. Kids finally went to bed about 9:45. Hopefully Gavin will wake up for school tomorrow.

All-in-all, a great day!!

11.29

Darn...I didn't get more than a few days and I already messed this up!

Nolan was feverish and restless most of Wednesday night. He woke about 10ish and we went ahead and gave his tylenol. He went to bed around 12 and woke up fever free. I felt a little queasy and tired too, so we sat around most of Thursday with the intention of just 'wait and see' Nolan never fevered again and I felt better in the afternoon. We made the call around 5 to eat here and head up after dinner. Jason threw together our feast. "Feast" as in ham, potatoes and green beans. But it was good none-the-less and was fun to sit around as a family and talk about what Thanksgiving really is meant for and what we have to be thankful for. Then we were off....

We didn't make it to my sis's house until about 9:30. The kids feel asleep in the car so when we got there, they were ready to go in and play! Jason and I had this bright idea (ok, I had this bright idea) to head to an outlet mall 1 hour from my sis's house to do shop. The sale started at 12 midnight (yes, that is 12am on Black Friday)! My intention was to go there, do a little Christmas shopping and be back in bed by 3:30 at the latest. This particular outlet has a Stride Right and Cameron needed new shoes. They were also having a great sale that would make that this trip worth it if the shoes where the only think we bought! Plus, it was a free night with Jason. My kids would be sleeping and me and Jason would have some alone time.

I really didn't expect the outlet center to be so busy. We arrived about 12:30ish and there wasn't a parking spot to be found! It was insane. I should have known better. We didn't dress for the weather either. It was cold and we expected to be able to drive from one store to the other. We should have seen all the cars and ran the other way...I know Jason probably wanted too! Some stores even had lines to get in because they had reached their maximum capacity. The shoe store ended up being pretty slow and we were able to find some shoes and get in and out within 20 minutes. The other stores that we ventured into had such long lines that we ended up leaving without even looking at much merchandise. We ended up at the Gymboree outlet to find that their deals were too good to pass up. Outlet store prices, plus an additional 25% off the entire store= Tons to cute clothes for super cheap. Jason was smart and started to stand in line before I was done shopping. the line was only about 40 people deep, but it took 2 hours to get through!!! Needless to say, if I knew then what I know now.....

Poor husbands were being left while their wife went to different stores and would come back amazed that they moved so little. It was bad.... It wasn't the people it was their computers that were so slow!!! Needless to say. we didn't get back to bed till 6am. It made for a long day with the kids. But hey, Cameron has some new (cheap!) kicks and me and Jason will know better next time.

After that whole excursion on Friday, we took it easy. Nolan was still fussy and did not sleep well Friday night. Sleep as in NO sleeping for us either! We were able to catch up on some sleep today between naps and sleeping in. But, we are VERY thankful to be home.

On a fun side....we received these from a local Freecycler! It's all baseball cards. If you don't know what freecycle is, check it out here. This is a once in a life time sort of gift! It was her husband's and he didn't want it anymore. There are some great cards in there too! He spent most of the night looking through them. Now, where to store them...his collection has now almost doubled!

11.26

Nolan has a fever, won't eat, and it very restless.

Maybe we won't be traveling tomorrow afterall....

11.25

We painted 8,000 pieces of trim today....or at least it felt that way. All primed and ready for their final coat of white. All 1900 sf of trim is white. It just took 2 years and 6 months!

11.24

Date night! Me and Jason went out tonight sans kids. We did a little Christmas 'looking' for the kids. Our problem is that we really hate to buy them something just to get them something. Take Nolan...what in the world does he need/want?!?

It was so nice to run in and out of stores without the extra 'weight' and to have dinner without interruptions. The kids had a blast too, they didn't want to come home!

We still haven't put the spare room back together, but picked up the rest of the needed supplies tonight. Maybe after MOPS tomorrow morning, we will make a dent in the room. Jason did brave the cold for more than an hour this afternoon and put away all the porch furniture and kid toys from the yard. We were dragging our feet...mainly me...hoping for a spike in temps so that we could sit out on the porch one last time! My flower beds are so dreary and dead now. I am starting to question not planting any bushes!

We're headed up north on Thursday and looking forward to spending some time with family...and maybe some friends we haven't hung out with lately!

11.23

It's Sunday...and Sunday's are always busy...and relaxing in the Brown household. We're at church by 9am to set up for Nursery. That means that everyone, including myself, needs to be up and around by 7:45ish to be on time....ugh. Poor Jason has to drag be out of bed! I hate mornings. After church it's lunch and off to naps for the boys. Today, that included Jason. So I had two whole hours of peace to do whatever I wanted. I should have been doing laundry, but instead, I was lusting after this....

We went to the Faith's annual stewardship banquet tonight. It our church's wrap up of stewardship month. The theme was gratefulness for God's provision. Our church has been blessed tremendously this year with the community center and Vison of Hope but we have also experience many blessing in our own family. Thank you all for helping us along the way! It reminds me so much of where I started and where I am today. God has been so good!! The speaker tonight talked about how important it is for us to show appreciation to not only God, but also to others. I see how I fail so miserably at that. I know how special a hand written note means to me, and yet, I often fail to recognize someone else generosity.

Will you try to thank someone this week that has helped you in some small way?? I will.

And I leave you with these,

My toothless wonder:Mini-me

11.22

Three days running...whoohoo! Try not to get too excited :)

We were pretty lazy most of the morning. Jason helped set up Living Nativity at church this morning. If you haven't ever been with us, you should come this year! It's a reenactment of the bible, mainly focusing on Christ and His reason for coming to earth. I think we have about 15 or so sets around the church campus and you can either walk thru or drive. There are live actors at each set to help tell the story and make it 'real' It takes hundreds of volunteers to pull it off. Definitely worth it, though! The kids always love the live animals. Plus, it's free! This year it's Dec. 12-14 and Dec. 19-21. Plan a trip, will ya?

I finished this collage and they picked it up today. It is a Christmas gift for her mother-in-law who loves Purdue. I also wrapped up a business card design that I am working on.

Gavin attended a b-day party for a friend. Don't you remember how cool and exciting going to a friend's b-day party was? He was so excited ALL morning!

We were out doing errands this afternoon and the kids were being pistols. So, we stopped at our favorite local park...a really quiet one even in the summer...and made the kids get out and spend some energy. It was like 20 out there, but they were so excited! Too bad we stayed in the car and watched :) It lasted less than 10 minutes, but really made a difference. They were better when we went to CVS and stocked up on batteries. They had a great deal going on, but the lady was clearly annoyed. Now I have enough batteries to last us through Christmas ;)

Jason was so kind to go to the grocery store tonight for me. I secretly think he wanted to get away from the madness! I appreciate it anyways. Nolan has been really fussy lately. He gets so mad and is starting to throw little tantrums. I think he might be cutting his molars, but usually not even Tylenol helps. Poor guy. Pray that it's just a teething issue and we're not overlooking something else.

11.21

I took pics this morning for a girlfriend. Her kids are the cutest. Next, I am working on her first birthday announcements.

I stole one of Cam while I was at it :)

Our bible study meets tonight and we decided to have dinner together. So after I pick up Gavin from school, it's off to Meijer for some fixins'. The kids don't care...they get free cheese as their reward. It a small form of bribery.

Jason if off for the next 9 days...hopefully we can get our spare room put back together so I can reclaim my hallway and laundry area.

We have offically taken over the nursery at Faith and with the new 8 am service starting up on the 1st of January, we have some serious recruitment issues. I have a long list of calls that need to be made in the coming days...

Now, I am off to TRY to catch up on laundry before the weekend.

A post a day?

I know that I don't post as often as I should....so for the rest of the year....gasp!...I am going to try to post one thing a day. This might get really boring, but at least you'll know what I have been up to when you call me for the 100th time and I still don't call ya back :)

11.20

I had the pleasure of hosting a play group for some mommy friends this morning. 8 mommies and 24 kiddos! I think it's so much fun to have everyone over for lunch and playtime.

Nolan and Cameron took super long naps (no suprise) so I got lots of emails caught up from the last few weeks of scarce internet connectivity. It's all good now!

I have picked up some 'freelance' work designing a full page brochure and business cards for a friend. I have also begun christmas card designing.

Gavin lost his 3rd tooth in about a week this afternoon. His response, "tic tack toe, three in a row" The tooth fairy is about to go broke if he keeps this up.

See ya tomorrow!