Benjamin's Graduation

So this post is just shy of a year old but because the main purpose of this blog is kind of a web based scrapbook I couldn't delete it.

It was a great day. My nephew and godson Benjamin graduated from high school (go Tide!). He and his friend Gordon, the son oldest of my sister's writing partner Suzanne from www.frugalfeasts.blogspot.com had a joint party. Every time I see Gordon I feel very old. He and his younger brother were some of my favorite little people to babysit when I was in high school. Now he's a sophomore in college. Oh heavens, my crow's feet are multiplying.

Ben had already made the decision to take a gap year and travel to Asia to work with disadvantaged children with the group Global Roots www.globalroots.org. After an exhaustive fund raising effort he made the trip and in the process made his family very proud.

Ben recently decided to go to St. John's College here in Annapolis in the fall. His mother will miss him but I am so excited about having one of my nephews living right down the street.

Ben is amazing with children. Might have something to do with coming from a family of eight children. I call him the Toddler Whisperer.

Mary-Catherine loved the pool.

Here's Big Uncle Dave (Ben's Dad) and Chris doing man stuff.

Congratulations Benny, the best is yet to come!

It's Only Fair

Seeing how I did all that complaining in the last post about our broken air conditioning, I thought I would share our happy news.

As of yesterday at 2:00pm our new air conditioning and air handling units are humming away and cooling our home to a delightful 70 degrees.

Mary announced this morning that she was freezing and demanded to snuggle under the down comforter for fifteen minutes before getting dressed. She had been clammy and miserable for so long her little body gave up on her parents providing conditioned air and just adjusted to 85 degrees and 90% humidity at 6:00am. Evolution at it's finest.

If you ever visit our home and find I am taking my central air for granted. Please slap me and direct me to yesterday's post.

And seeing how this is going to be one of those boring picture-less posts let's play catch up, shall we?

My nephew /Godson Benjamin is graduating from (my) high school next weekend (woo hoo, Go Crimson Tide!) I am so proud of this accomplishment and even more proud of the young man he has become.

Thanks to the recent severe thunderstorms we have experienced here in Maryland, Mary Catherine now has an irrational fear of thunder and lightening. If she hears the faintest rumble of thunder she leaps at me and says" Oh no, storm is coming! Save me, save me!". I try my hardest to hide my giggling.

Chris's grandmother Monica made the best brownies from scratch last weekend. After we raved about them she was sweet enough to send me the recipe. This got me thinking about how much I would love to put together a collection of family recipes for Mary Catherine. We have lots of great cooks and bakers in our families and I would love to make a culinary scrapbook for her. This way she doesn't have to covet and (kind of) steal her mothers box of recipes like I might have done in the past. If you are reading this and would like to share any recipes please send them our way and I will make sure they end up in her collection.


Some of MC's favorite things right now are:
*"Ipstick" - chapstick. We go through (secretly eat and smear on the hardwood floors) at least two tubes a week. What is wrong with me? I practically lose sleep over the amount high fructose corn syrup she eats but I let her EAT tubes of lip balm?

*"Owl Music" - The CD "If You Ever See an Owl" by the Terrible Twos. http://www.amazon.com/If-You-Ever-See-Owl/dp/B000NJISCK
(I have no idea why Amazon labeled these songs as explicit. They are about lady bugs, and turning eleven and chocolate birthday pies. Not explicit, I promise.)
Some of the band members are from The Get Up Kids, a band Chris and I love. This CD plays in our car all.the. time. When I pick her up from daycare her first request is to listen to "owl music".

* All things pink, sparkly and Disney princess related. ALL of it. I really didn't see this coming. Yes I love the color pink but have been an outspoken opponent to all things Disney since about 1990. Last night we were all in the living room singing along to the Little Mermaid. My how motherhood changes you.

*Running around in Noni and Pop Pop's back yard. Thank you Lynn and Ken for buying the perfect house for grandchildren :)

* Her make believe friends. She calls them "The Boys" and she carries them around in her hand. Stay tuned, I'm not sure about this one yet....

I have lots of pictures on our camera going as far back as Easter. I will stop being a slacker and download and post them this weekend.

Miscellanea

It's June in Maryland and our air conditioning is broken which means Mary Catherine and Mommy have been getting in lots of pool time.



We made our way to Pigtails and Crewcuts recently. Mary's hair grows like crazy (ok, just the back....mullet) and she was way overdue.




My sister, my cousin and some of their little darlings came to visit over Memorial Day weekend. Mary kept Ellie and Harry busy the entire weekend. They taught her how to get her own popsicles out of the freezer. Thanks guys :)

We spent one day in DC doing the tourist thing. Mary spent all her money on this tee shirt and sweet shades from one of the vendors outside of the Smithsonian. No buyers remorse on that face.

Note the fan in the background. Yeah we own a lot of those now. Thank goodness our visitors were from New Hampshire where central air is not the norm. Also they were way too nice to tell us how darn miserable they were.

And this gem is from Sunday afternoon. Sleeping baby in the car gets me every time!

(Yes, I know the car seat straps should be tighter. I'll double check them this afternoon, okay?)

In other news......

Our Accord went to the big parking lot in the sky last week. We replaced it with........a black Accord. We are SO unpredictable, aren't we?

Mary Catherine has been fully potty trained for about a month now. It was a pretty quick process as she is very motivated by M&Ms and fruit snacks.

Inspired by Chris's health kick, I've been getting up every morning at 5:00am to exercise. I've been doing lots of walking, pilates and an exercise video made by the devil, I mean Jillian Michaels from the Biggest Loser.

Chris is still running and is in a 100 mile cycling race on June 27th. He is also signed up for the Marine Corps Marathon in October.

Did I mention we have no AC?

He Did It!

Chris is now home resting and recuperating after a long, chilly run. He did great and amazed us all by sprinting to the finish line. It was awesome to watch someone you love accomplish something like finishing a marathon. I think he inspired all of us that gathered to watch him complete the race.

Here he is approaching mile 24. Is that a smile I see????

The finish line!

Mary Catherine waiting at the 24 mile marker. She loved cheering on all the runners.

She also loved being with "her Kim".

Post race smooches for her Daddy.

Congratulations Chris! Your girls are so proud of you.

Race Day

Morning y'all! It's 9:45 am which means Chris has been running for two hours and fifteen minutes.

It's a balmy 32 degrees out and there is a crust of icy snow on the ground. Sounds like a perfect day for a 26.2 mile run, huh?

I feel very guilty sitting here in our toasty warm living room knowing that Chris is outside running and running and runninng and running and running...............

Mary and I are getting ready to head back to Severna Park High School to get a good spot to see our

hero cross the finish line. I hope to get some good shots of him finishing the race.

Here are some pictures from this morning. Not too many as in the minutes leading up to the race Chris just kind of disappeared and the next thing I knew he was off and running.

"Oh look, there he is!"

"And there he goes......."

Noni and Mary Catherine braving the elements

Mary Catherine has a post marathon goodie bag packed and ready to go for her Dad. Ice packs, Advil, electrolyte chews and some hot herbal tea. She can't wait to get back to see the runners. She's pretty convinced she saw Michelle Obama running in the race.

As an aside, Mary is very entertaining these days. Earlier this morning she told me that "only women can drive minivans". Last night when I was making cupcakes for Girls Night Out (or Girls Night In at Beth's house :) she asked who they were for. I told her the cupcakes were for my friends and she ask me to "make sure I save some for my family".

Our Petite Mademoiselle

She can be silly... And serious...

She adores all things girly.

She is our petite mademoiselle.

P.S. These are pictures from this afternoon. I'm taking the first steps in being a better blogger :)

Welcome to Two Months Ago

Ummm sorry about that folks. I've been terrible about updating this blog, can you forgive me? Would some pictures of our little princess on Christmas morning help?

Yes, I know we are closer to Easter at this point but humor me and I'll promise to be a more prompt blogger, k?


She isn't an enjoy-one-gift-at-a-time kind of gal.

She could tell something wonderful was in this box and was going to unwrap it by an means necessary.

Bitty Baby from American Girl. We found her on our trip to Chicago and were so looking forward to seeing Mary open her on Christmas morning.


Bitty even has her own bouncy seat. Good thing too because Bitty Baby is very colicky!

Pink Christmas kitty pajamas, tutu and heels. Life is good.

Mary's first tube of "lipstick". She's gone through about a dozen of these since Christmas.

New Hampshire

Here are a few pictures from our trip to New Hampshire.

Harry and his big sister Ellie were extra helpful with Mary during our stay. They managed to keep her entertained for four days straight!

Mary Catherine shared her top secret cookie recipe with Ellie and Harry.

Then Auntie Robin dressed her up in her collection of antique children's clothing. This made Auntie very happy and made Mimi very sad. I had a hard time taking this picture because I was laughing so hard. Is that wrong?

On our last night Chris suggested making s'mores in the fancy dining room fire place. That handsome devil (no not Chris, the other handsome devil) in the picture below is our nephew Max. He and I had the job of stick collectors. He collected sticks, I watched and made sure he was careful on the icy stairs. That's what aunts do.

This is Andy, he is my sister and brother-in-law's foreign exchange student from Korea. My sister didn't think having six sons of her own was enough, so she decided to import another brooding teenage boy from a far away land.

Andy said he thought making dessert in the fireplace was a great idea. He was totally thinking, "Crazy Americans!"

Ellie wants a dog so bad for Christmas she was willing to go along with the whole marshmallow madness. This was difficult for her as she has a strong sense of decorum and good manners.

She would do just about anything for a puppy to show up under her Christmas tree.

Santa, if you are reading this blog please do what you can for Ellie. She loves animals and I just know she would be a great pet owner.

Giving Thanks

Chris, Mary Catherine and I made the long haul to my family's house in New Hampshire for Thanksgiving. We alternate Christmas and Thanksgiving each year spending the other holiday with our family in Maryland.

They always welcome us with open arms and offer the promise of a memorable holiday. We had dinner for 23 people today, 21 of which was immediate family. It's a big family in a big house filled with lots of teenagers.... I mean memories.

Chris is sitting with the men watching television, Mary is tucked in bed upstairs in Ellie and Muffie's room and I should be helping my sister pick up the fourty-seven different dessert offerings we had today. Instead I am in the wacky "Harry Potter's room under the stairs" sort of computer room. It's perhaps the coziest spot in the house.

I thought I would take a few moments to give thanks.

I am thankful for............

The two people that hold my heart, Christopher and Mary Catherine.

Our family. We are truly blessed.

It has been an incredibly difficult year for our family the Browns in Florida. I am thankful for healing hearts and new beginnings.

Flat irons

Automatic timer coffee makers

Miss Peggy. Please promise to keep the doors of your in home daycare open until Mary and any of her future siblings are pre-school age. Pretty please?

Our fantastic neighbors, Erik and Stephanie. They are true friends.

Our mothers. Thank you both for helping us in your own ways.

My sister's fantastic Thanksgiving stuffing. To die for.


I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Here's to full bellies, football and pumpkin desserts!

2nd Birthday Party

Here are a few pictures of the birthday girl. She has a great time at her party. Thanks to everyone who celebrated with us, sent cards, balloons, gifts and called the birthday princess. What a lucky girl!

Somebody was caught having an early birthday treat!


Mary and her cousin Madison who came all the way from Florida to celebrate. We are still talking about her visit. We miss you Maddie!

It's a Bunny Party! We had Max and Ruby cake of course.

Our girl made quick work of her cake.

Mary took a break from the party to color with Uncle Dave.

Here is the little baker enjoying some of her birthday gifts. After I took this picture I told her it was time to take a bath. She replied "No mommy, Mimi cooking for two minutes".

Halloween 2008

Mary Catherine dressed up like Ruby from the Noggin show Max and Ruby. Ruby is very popular at our house (see birthday pictures). Her Auntie Robin took a plain ol' bunny costume and made Ruby come to life. Thank you Auntie!

Due to the large amount of sugar rushing through her system, Ruby wasn't very interested in being photographed.

Kennedy was a sweet little girl monkey. You can't see it very well in this picture but her costume had the biggest belly. So cute! Also worth noting is the fact that her parent give out full sized candy bars on Halloween. They made our fun sized Charleston Chews and Junior Mints look pretty sad.

This was Mary's third Halloween but her first time Trick or Treating. This was one of the first houses we stopped at. Don't be fooled by their light being on and the jack o lanterns on the front steps. These people were not handing out candy. How confusing for a little person.

After knocking on most of the doors in our little neighborhood we headed over to Noni and Pop Pop's house.

Finally she could sink her teeth into that Tootsie Roll she had been eyeballing all night.