The Joys of Christmas

Us Browns just love Christmas!  We've been having so much fun this Christmas season.  So far Christmas joys have included:



Decorating our home with tree, lights, nativity scenes, candles . . . . Hannah just loved decorating and wanted to make sure there were decorations in each room!

Putting on the angel!

Hanging lights outside.

Playing with the new nativity set from Babu and Sho-Sho. (Thank you so much!)

Attending Christmas Breakfast with Santa at Minds in Motion Dayschool complete with scrumptious doughnuts, fun crafts and of course a photo with Santa was a sweet morning, though Shawn had to work afterwards cleaning it up. :)

And Elanor got to taste her first candy cane (actually first candy for that matter!)

Inspired by a chance encounter with a friend in the grocery store, I created an advent calender. Hannah has responded to this with so much joy and excitement. We have so enjoyed her anticipation of opening one envelope each day to see what special activity we have to complete.  Almost the first thing she says every morning is "Can I open an envelope?"  Some of her favorites activities so far have included making Christmas cookies, reading about the shepherds and wiseman and going outside to look at the stars, learning the story of the candy cane while eating one, and making Christmas cards for her friends.  I have always wanted to have an advent calender so I finally just made a simple one this year--envelopes decorated with Christmas stickers holding gift tags with an activity for each day.  It has been so much fun and will definitely be a family tradition.  Maybe some day I'll make cute felt envelopes or something like that, but for now simple is best because at least it gets done! :)

Making Christmas cards.

Making Christmas ornaments to give away.

Elanor loved getting to play with the dough too!

Making Christmas cookies--Hannah tenderly letting EZB taste some dough. 

"This is so much fun!"

Not only has she eaten a candy cane, tasted cookie dough, but Elanor has also eaten powdered sugar!  Wow, welcome to world of sweets I guess!  I'm so much more relaxed with her than I was with Hannah! :)

We've enjoyed a class Christmas party at Minds in Motion and cozy playdates with friends complete with tasty treats like cappuccino muffins, pumpkin bread, and cinnamon rolls.

We've danced like crazy to all kinds of Christmas music!

We hosted our life group Christmas party and had such a special time in spite of the snow building up outside--which just made it all the cozier inside. 

My sentiments exactly Anna-Lynn. I just love Christmas parties!

We turned our gas fireplace into a wood burning fireplace for Shawn as his Christmas present and have thoroughly enjoyed the switch. Shawn was so excited and touched he got teary eyed.  Having a real fire is so cozy and takes me back to my childhood. (Yes we had a fireplace in Africa and used it quite often--it did get down in the 60's you know.) :)

So now we are off to see some Christmas lights and have hot chocolate . . . . I just love this time of year! We can't wait to go to Grandma and Grandpa's!

Hope you are all enjoying the season with your family and friends and being filled with the peace of Him who is our Prince of Peace no matter what the season.

I've updated EZB and Hannah's pages!

Elanor's Baby

Every once in a while I discover a whole new characteristic of Elanor or Hannah as they grow. It is one of the deep joys of being a mother--getting to watch the flower of their personalities unfold before my eyes. Recently Elanor has blossomed into a little nurturer. She received a baby doll from Grandma for her birthday and immediately fell in love with it. It brought out a nurturing side to her that up until then I did not know existed.  She LOVES her baby.  She often asks for it right when she wakes up and toddles around her room or the kitchen holding it, hugging it and rocking it.  She has now taken to holding it and saying "shh, shh, shh" while rocking it back and forth.  It is so cute!  She pats her baby's back, pushes it around in the stroller and pretends to feed it.  This nurturing has spread itself to other toys too-- she hugs on and loves stuffed animals, little people toys, toy dinosaurs-- and even uproots my pansies and carries them around patting them like babies!  (Of course this has resulted in all flower pots being put up out of her reach-- though it was very endearing to see her comforting the flowers I don't think it will go far in actually helping them grow . . .) 

Elanor discovering her baby after opening her present.

Exploring her baby's face



Kisses and hugs for baby!

Time to feed baby!  Elanor got this little tea pot and spoon to feed her baby all by herself!  I noticed her "feeding" her baby on the floor so I helped her put her doll in the highchair. Now she does that all by herself too.

I love my expressive little toddler and her nurturing sweet ways!  She just melts my heart!  It's such a delight to watch her personality unfold and I look forward to seeing how God continues to grow Elanor and use her nurturing gifts in the future.

This Summer . . . .

We had a busy, fun summer with lots of family reunions and activities--so you get to enjoy it all at once! This is quite a lengthy slide show . . . .

Music is as follows:
"The Swimming Song" by Loudon Wainwright III
"The Summer" by Balmorhea
"Animal Arithmetic" by Jonsi (Hannah's current favorite song and her favorite song from the summer.)

This free picture slideshow personalized with Smilebox

Elanor's Birthday!

We had so much fun celebrating Elanor's birthday at the end of September.  I can't believe she is already a year old!  What a delight she has been to watch grow- she has such a special place in each of our hearts and has really made her name ring true--she is our precious "gift of light."  She makes my heart glow each day with her hilarious antics and bright, bright smile.

Enjoy the smilebox scrapbook!  Remember you can click on each picture to see a bigger version, then click again to return it to normal and continue looking at the book.

Free digital scrapbooking design customized with Smilebox

I updated Elanor's page . . . .

"How to Eat" by Elanor Zawadi

1. Excitedly swat Mommy's hands out of the way as she places finger food on tray.
2. With patience and determination try and grasp the slippery, soft food Mommy insists on feeding you until you have some tenuously grasped between the side of your finger and your thumb of your left hand.
3. Squish up food a few times.  If it does not fall back to tray, continue to step four.  It it falls out of hand, repeat step number two. 
4. Transfer some to right hand and squeeze in fist until some food squishes up between thumb and index finger. 
5. Bring hand to mouth.
6. Swallow food Mommy surprises you with on a spoon as you open mouth for finger food. (Or spit it out if you do not like it.)
7. Proceed to put finger food in mouth. Spit half of it out and swallow the rest.
8. Repeat steps one through seven as often as desired making sure to take breaks to smear food around on tray, stash some on the side of seat for Mommy to find later plastered to your bottom.  Also intercept spoon several times, grabbing it to fling onto the floor or catapult pureed food onto the wall, or table, or Mommy's clothes.
9. Punctuate all activity with delightful coos, giggles, your best smiles and cutest "concentration" faces so the horrendous mess you are making is considered an endearing, necessary learning and exploratory experience.
10. When finished communicate this by clapping hands together then wiping whatever food is left on your hands in your hair and on your cheeks.  Grunt emphatically and rock back and forth.  When Mommy tries to clean you up with a cloth, open mouth and chew on said cloth.  Upon being removed from chair, give Mommy a big hug!

For Grandma . . .

Here you go Grandma!  Here are the pictures of Hannah playing dress up in Aunt Danielle's feather boa, and the hat and shoes you gave her.  She loves to pretend she is a princess!  Corban got into the action when he was here--he was the prince and she was the princess, though they both pretended their name was "Laura!" 

Prince Laura and Princess Laura!

Top Ten Highlights of Spring:

(In loose chronological order . . .)

1. Easter weekend!  We spent Easter with the Holly and TJ McCloud and had such a blessed time.  We don't spend near enough time with these dear friends.  They were so sweet and made an Easter egg hunt for Hannah.  We also enjoyed some delicious lentil curry together!

2. My dream guy's birthday!  I am so thankful God brought him into the world and into my life.  Shawn asked me to make a black forrest cake this year, so I found some recipees online, put together the ones I liked and had lots of fun creating a special cake for him.  He loved it! (so did we all!)


 3. Spending more and more time outdoors.


4. We went up to Jellico for a visit with Claudia and Steve Greek, very dear friends and mentors to us.  It was such a refreshing time to us and everything was in such beautiful spring bloom. Below is me with Claudia. 

5.We bought a car! We are now a two car family after 14 years of being a one car family. I am a liberated woman!  Story time, playgrounds, and play dates here we come! :) Maybe I should say the kids are liberated. . . . .

6. The Zoo!  We have been enjoying our member benefits by going to the member nights and member mornings.  Hannah LOVES the free rides on the carousel and the bouncy slide.

7. One of our best friends, Sarah, graced us with her presence in our home.  We love it when she comes to visit!  We all were so blessed by her company.

8.  On the heels of Sarah's visit we were so blessed to have Grandma and Grandpa, Shawn's parents come and see us for a few days.  Hannah was so delighted to have her grandparents to play with and I was pampered and treated so special for my birthday!

9. And then as if that were enough fun company for a month, Rachel and Corban came for a week long visit!  We packed it full of trips to playgrounds, the zoo, the Farmer's market, and birthday celebrations for me and Corban!

Rachel making my birthday cake--yum, yum!

Corban and Hannh dressed up as a prince and princess.

Spiderman! (Corban in his birthday present!)

10. Elanor's milestones:  She learned to sit up without support, and started eating baby food!  She also began babbling and making talking noises!

First cereal--end of April.