Christmas Day

As you saw below Christmas eve was busy, Christmas day was very quiet and relaxing!

We woke up with the call from the other room " Can I wake up now"? since it was 6:45 and that is sleeping in for Cassie we were happy to oblige! Dad got the dogs out and the video rolling and Cassie and I raced down the hall to see what Santa left, A Barbie princess and a Sleeping Beauty dress just like she asked for!

After tearing into stocking

and a huge pile of presents we spent the morning playing card games, Candyland, Chutes and Ladders (Cassie actually won every time I was impressed) Dressing bears, Flying Dora and her Pegasus around the house and having a grand time. Cassie loved attempting to roller skate in the kitchen

and putting in her first pair of new earrings!

We made the lazy mom lunch of Mac and Cheese and then popped the Turkey in the Oven and put Cassie down for a nap. You can see by this time she was more than ready!

After a nap we made all the game rounds again and had a wonderful turkey dinner with just the things we like, add in Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding for desert and you have three and a half happy Browns!

I hope all of you have had just as merry a day as we have enjoyed!

Christmas Eve

Twas the night before Christmas and all through our house, there was hustle and bustle trying to get it all done!




We opened our gift from Lisa when we got home!

Then it was off to Amy and Alex's for dinner and gifts! The Lite Bright was a hit with us all!

Then we put out some food for Santa's reindeer, left Santa Mouse some cheese, and of course one cannot forget the cookies and milk for Santa.

Now Cassie's asleep and mom's on her way, Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Let the Holidays Begin!

We have had a busy few weeks preparing for the holidays, hence the lack of posts, but like a good mommy I documented most of it so..... Let the festivities begin!

Cassie goes to an in-home daycare that we just love. This year Lisa added a preschool program which I think is just fantastic at helping Cassie learn. Here is her wreath, although daddy thought she was saying leaf for 2 days!


She is very proud of it so it is hanging in our kitchen



Here she is showing off her pretty pink tree, with pink balls, pink snowmen and pink candy cane ornaments...(Thanks for the idea Zoie)



Yesterday we had our first x-mas celebration with Anthony's family in Chariton, Santa dropped by for a visit! Cassie is on the nice list so far and still wanting a barbie princess from Santa. She had a great time unwrapping and has played with her new toys most of the day today!









More to come in the next week as we are not even close to finishing the celebrations!!!

Amazing Love

I'll admit it, sometimes my daughter tries my patience, makes me frustrated, is just plain nuts or all of the above, but then moments happen like tonight and I forget it all and just bask in the love that she emits all the time!

Disclaimer: Keep in mind I am 23 weeks pregnant with a high risk pregnancy and emotional when reading the following.

I was talking on the phone tonight to a woman I am working with something on and at the end of the call I immediately started crying. Cassie came right to me and said " Why are you sad momma?" I told her that I felt bad about something but I was better now, she then said " Mommy, let's go get you a drink, I think you need pink milk" So together we mixed up a cup of pink milk and shared the treat!

I am amazed at the amount of caring and understanding and love that she shows at just three years old! I am proud to be her mother and love her greatly!

Here she is right before bed tonight, hanging with daddy cause in her words " you were gone today" ( no more than normal either)

WWB

World Wrestling Brown Family style!

Cassie and her daddy LOVE to play together and the other night she said " Daddy wrestle with me" of course this invitation was quickly followed and since the pregnant lady cannot partake she grabbed the camera!

They made up their own moves and made a mess out of the bed I had just made but it was all worth it, until the doggies realized they were missing out on the fun! At that point it became a survival match and the title belt now belongs to Cassie!

First Snowfall

Cassie has been waiting for snow to stick here for weeks now and last Sunday morning she got her wish, we woke up to a winter wonderland. Here are a few shots of our girl making snow angels and playing out in the snow, notice it is dark in all the pictures, that is because these were takenwhile we were out at 6:30 AM.. yep, we are that silly around here!!

Pink

That's right, we are staying on team pink! Baby Brown # 2 is a baby girl!!!

Babysitting

Cassie has a desire to practice her big sister skills so I convinced Alex and Amy to let us watch Chloe (1 month) for awhile yesterday! Chloe arrived while Cassie was napping, so it was a great time for me to remember how to work small babies! Cassie woke up and after her initial holding of the baby we got out all the baby things we could find. Chloe was very patient in her job of admiring each toy and rotating from plaything to plaything! In the end we had two very happy girls, and I THINK I can handle two kids!

Each visit in never complete without a few kisses

"It makes my heart sing"

Have you ever heard a more beautiful phrase? I love the sound of it and even more so when it is coming from an innocent three year old. We took Cassie to see Disney on Ice 100 years of Magic tonight and about 30 minutes in daddy asked her is she liked it, her most sweet look turned to him and said "it makes my heart sing" could there be anything more adorable? Here she is enjoying the show with her Grandma Cookie!

New Things

I am trying new things with the blog! I'll be back with pics and more fun stories tomorrow!

Helpless

I am feeling totally helpless today, I never quite realized what the restrictions I have for Placental Previa would mean. No carrying or picking up Cassie I knew, we can work around that. I didn't think about getting her in and out of the bathtub, soaking wet, or who to explain why mommy can no longer catch her etc... Then you add in the fact that people all disagree what weighs 20 lbs, heavy grocery bags? my husband says they may so I have to take the whole family grocery shopping.. Baskets full of laundry, too much. so my husband god bless him has really put the breaks on my activity... He is doing it all and letting me rest as much as possible, Which I know is great but man it makes me feel completely helpless.we'll just keep on hoping that this migrates and my restrictions are lifted! Tomorrow since I can't do much I hope to get pictures of Cassie from Halloween posted!

Catching up

So to get everyone caught up a little more we enjoyed summer, with lots of trike rides on our street and playing with friends. Cassie got a new big girl room, and Anthony and I just tried to stay on top of everything! I have the big news in the family, a new job! I started in September and immediately got to do a little travel. Week one on the job I went to Las Vegas for a team meeting and managed to sneak in a bit of time with two of my favorite girls who are lucky enough to live so close to one another! Of course on my first trip away Cassie got the stomach flu and gave daddy quite an experience!

Here I am with Steph and Jamie!
The next two weeks included trips as well, Albuquerque where I got a great dinner out with my mom and Larry and finally get a taste of green chili again! The following week I hit up Phoenix for a Ruth Clark Certification training with my whole team. Three weeks of straight travel was crazy, but also nice to meet my team, as we are virtual and no one else lives in Iowa.







Cassie has been practicing her new role of BIG SISTER by singing to my ever growing stomach and naming the baby, "Baby Huffington" ( From the Max & Ruby show) That's right if you really haven't heard from me in a long time We are expecting baby # 2. Due on April 8th. I am 17 weeks and things were pretty uneventful in this pregnancy until yesterday. Of course in true fashion I cannot just have an easy pregnancy right? Well yesterday morning I thought I had started to go into pre term labor and knowing that I am not near far enough along for that I immediately hit the dr. Turns out I am not in Labor THANK GOD, but I do have a conditional called Placental Previa. For me that means no lifting over 25 lbs, so I cannot pick up Cassie at all... and if it doesn't migrate I will need a C-section at about 37 weeks. We are just keeping out fingers crossed the placenta migrates and I am being very careful not to do anything I shouldn't and we'll see what happens! We tried to get a sneak peek at what we are having yesterday but baby brown was sitting on his/her legs and hiding all the goods, We'll look again in 3 weeks and hopefully know how to decorate the nursery!

Birthday Girl - Long Overdue

My great intentions never seem to follow through but I will say in my defense I have been busy since June. Cassie turned 3 June 19th! She had a PINK party, everything was pink and in her eyes perfect! Here are a few of her Third Birthday Photos,

And here she is on the tilt a whirl during her birthday trip to Adventure land!

June Birthday's

Can you believe it my baby is going to be THREE in 11 days. Cassie isn't the only one with a June birthday either, yesterday we took off for Iowa City for my nephew Michael's 9th birthday. We had a great time, notice the cuteness of cousins cudding below. The cousins are moving in less than a month to Virginia, so snuggle time is very important right now.

Summer has begun!

Anthony is out on the 4-wheeler, Cassie is protesting her nap and I am finally getting a update written! It is official the summer has begun... In true Brown Family fashion we have some projects to complete.

Anthony and our neighbor Jim built a new deck on your house last weekend, notice we know have built in entertainment for hours of toddler fun!

We added a new vanity to the bathroom in the spring and in the process ripped up some of the flooring. Come to find out instead of getting a few replacement tiles we have to re-do the whole floor(our tiles were discontinued a year ago) so we decided to re-paint and re-decorate the bathroom to go with the new vanity and new flooring.

Cassie is almost three and I am amazed at where the time has gone, seems like we just had her first birthday

She is enjoying the summer as you can see below!

Headed to her second cousin Sophia's First Birthday party or in Cassie' s language "My Presen Sophia" which sounds very similar to my present so we always think she is asking for a present when talking about her cousins.

Enjoying a popsicle on the first warm day...

Trying out the pool!