Christmas Day

Santa came! Look at what he brought us! All of these toys...

an itchy bum for the Giggies...

a strange, puffy eye for William...

and the flu for mommy. I spent the day feverish, with body aches, and a terrible sore throat, but we made it through. The boys had a great time opening presents, and playing with them the rest of the day. Josh was gracious enough to let me sleep much of the day. I learned something this year. Will is now old enough that if he puts something on his Christmas list for Santa, he fully expects that it will be under the tree. This year he only asked for one thing (aside from the chimney of course) and that was a remote control monster truck. He didn't get a remote control monster truck. He did get a regular monster truck, but one you had to push yourself. Every present that Josh went to hand him he would say, "No, not that one. That's not the right size for the remote control that goes with my monster truck." Thankfully, the racing motorcycles he got seemed to make up for the HUGE disappointment of Santa's obvious mistake. Isaac on the other hand only asked for one thing too--a remote control dump truck. He just kind of copied Will. He didn't get it either, but that didn't matter, because nearly every present he opened was followed by, "This is just what I wanted!" I'll appreciate that while it lasts, because pretty soon Santa will be held to much stricter standards...nice try St. Nick, you better get it right next year!

Christmas Eve

Will, proudly displaying the cookies and note he made for Santa.
The boys sporting their new Christmas pj's that Santa's elf left on the doorstep for them

Me and Josh, thankful that it is finally bed time

The holiday buzz was brimming in the Brown home on Christmas Eve. I'm pretty sure that I was completely sick of my kids by about 10:00 that morning with all of the Christmas excitement that couldn't help but present itself by way of obnoxious running, silly potty talking, and excessive bickering, but what is Christmas with kids without these things, right? Bring on Santa, let's do this thing!

First, we have a little bit of a problem...

We had our ward Christmas party last Saturday. It was a crazy day. From the moment I woke up until I was finally able to lay down I was on the go. I remember walking into the party and thinking, why doesn't everyone else look more frenzied?! Then I remembered, that only I had to make a bizillion candy "wreath" necklaces for the primary, come up with a craft for them to do, prepare the song that I was supposed to sing and play for the program, and make a dessert before we got there. Thankfully, it all went fine. As you can see from the picture below, Santa made an appearance. I asked Will if he talked to Santa, because I didn't see if he did or not, and luckily, Sis Givich caught this priceless moment on camera for me.



Their interaction went as follows:

Santa: Hello! Have you been a good boy?
Will: Yes. I've been good, but FIRST we have a little bit of a problem.
Santa: What's that?
Will: I have been asking my mom to take me to the flower store (Menard's-that's where we buy our flowers in the summer time) because we don't have a chimney, and I thought we could pick one up there, but she keeps saying "No". I keep telling her that you need the chimney, but she's not listening to me! So, first, I want a chimney.
Santa: (chuckles to himself)
Will: Then, I want a remote control monster truck.

I'm almost positive that even if Santa brings the remote control monster truck, that there will still be an element of let down Christmas morning when Santa didn't listen to him either!

Alive and Multiplying!

It seems I've taken a blogging hiatus. I lost steam. Stuff has been happening. Lots of stuff, but if I were to worry about addressing even any of it, I'm pretty sure that I would close this post now, and put away the computer...way too daunting! So instead, we'll start fresh with today's events.

I had an ultrasound. Many of you are thinking...what?! Oh yeah, I'm pregnant. 20 weeks to be exact. The baby is healthy and strong and looking great, and the best part--it's a girl!!