dear santa…

all i want for Christmas….

is for daddy to pick me up off of your lap.

love,

drew bear

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sweet stockings…

 

my sister’s friend lance’s sister lindsay had triplets a few months ago. although i don’t know her, i’ve frequently visited her blog “hat trick” to see how the family was doing after delivering about 10 weeks early. all of the babies are out of the hospital and doing very well, and i couldn’t resist sharing this precious holiday picture of the trio!!!!

wanted: the drew bear…

check out the full story here, as told by bret….HILARIOUS!!!!

kisses kisses and best wishes…

…to the new mr and mrs clark mccord bolls!

josh’s cousin (megan) married her high-school sweetheart last weekend in abilene, where drew made his wedding debut as the ornamental ring bearer pulled down the aisle by josh in a sleigh built by their grandfather some 15-20 years ago.

every detail of the event was festive and fabulous. the seating place cards were arranged on a christmas tree, red roses, greenery, candles and crystals adorned the tables, red and gold ornaments were given as gifts to the guests and wedding pictures of the bride’s and groom’s parents and grandparents  accompanied their engagement photo. another beautiful wedding and holiday to remember for the brown family!!

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many thanks…

since Christmas is just two weeks away (OMG!), i’m feeling especially pressured to post a blog about our fabulous hill country thanksgiving. my aunt found sunset ridge escape just 2.5 miles from the precious town of wimberley, so we all packed up and headed south to celebrate the holiday.

the 12 acre property had two houses, pool, hot tub, observation deck, fire pit, gazebo, grill, dozens of deer and plenty of room for the kids to run around and the boys to build their own shooting range…

we had a blast, ate and drank a TON, roasted marshmallows for s’mores, played poker, went on nature hikes, shopped downtown wimberley, played corn hole, shot aluminum cans…which led to glass bottles…which led to pumpkins, fished the blanco river, enjoyed the beautiful sunrise and sunset, and watched the deer come within 10 feet of our front door.

i took soooooo many pictures that i can’t even begin to post them all, but if you have 15 mins or so, browse the album link below. otherwise, here are some of the highlights.

    

i am so grateful for my crazy, fun, hilarious, wonderful, frustrating and beautiful family. what a blessing!

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bah! humbug!

 

no different than any other hat, he’s NOT a fan.

like EVERY THING else, he had to taste the ornaments.

 

HELPING mommy make bows.

 

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the magic of Christmas…

the expression on his face is priceless and melts my heart every time!

 

“ba” is ball in drew-speak.

red and GREEN wish book…

the internet shopping experience has really minimized the need for those classic (300+ page) retailer holiday wish books. definitely showing my age, but remember how fun it was to dog-ear the pages and circle your favorites toys?  my what a waste of paper, resources and postal service. jcpenney’s announced this is the last year to publish their heavy weights which will cut their paper use by 25-30 percent in 2010.

so in our effort to also save trees and postage, here is drew’s holiday wish list…since this is probably the last year i’ll be designating his favorites!

Fisher-Price See 'N Say Farmer Says

 

Crayola Beginnings - TaDooles Crayon Buddies & Coloring Book

Little Tikes Pop Tunes Big Rocker Guitar

Alphabet Nesting and Stacking Blocks

 

Imaginarium Giant Bead Maze Cube

Melissa & Doug Chunky Puzzles

Baby Einstein Alphabooks Board Book Set

all grown up…

a few of my loyal blog readers keep reminding me how long it’s been since i’ve posted. no excuses, but november has been a crazy month. i was in bentonville the 1st week, chicago the 2nd week, home sweet home all this week and now looking forward to wimberley (sw of austin) for thanksgiving next week.

all the while, drew has been transitioning from his baby class at school to the big kid class (14 mth-2 years). no more highchairs. they sit at these adorable little tables for all meals. one nap and no more cribs. they have individual mats to lay on with their favorite blankie and take a two hour nap every day. crazy that he’s actually sleeping better now, than he was in the crib.

today is his first official full day in the new class. i usually stay and play for 5-10 minutes when i drop him off, and i know i’ve got to make those goodbyes a little shorter. so, this morning i stayed for just a few minutes and he was great. he started playing with the other kids and then blew me a kiss goodbye. no tears (from him at least) -- such a sweet big boy!!!

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because we’ll be out of town next weekend for thanksgiving and the following weekend for megan’s holiday to remember wedding, we’ll be decorating the house this weekend for Christmas. this should yield some fun pictures -- i can just see him removing every ornament as i place them on the tree.

happy holidays, have a good weekend!

happy halloween…

      

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