Alan and Lois Brown Family

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Tytan turns 11......when did that happen???

Seriously, when did Tytan grow up and not be a little boy anymore?? Time is going by too quickly! Saturday (9/22/12) was my nephew Tytan's birthday and we had a little family get together!! Good times were had by all..........and I loved the card I got him that said...."its not the cake, or ice cream, or gifts that makes a birthday happy, it's the people you spend it with" And I thought it was very fitting.

First we took Tytan and everyone to "On the Border" for dinner where the wait staff sang happy birthday to him and he got to be embarrassed!!

Then we went to Aunt Elizabeth's house and opened presents -- which at his age is money because quite frankly I have no idea what to get an 11 yr old boy!!

The dogs trying to eat his money!!

Aunt Elizabeth gave him an American Express gift card

Allison is finally starting to look a little bit pregnant!!

Then we went bowling, where Tytan was so great and helped Aileen, and when she did good he got excited and Aileen looked over at him as he raised his arms in the air and cheered and I know that meant everything to her!

Allison took pictures at the bowling alley and the first one she took was of my big butt as I was bent over throwing the ball down the alley.....real funny Allison, yeah, I deleted that picture for ever!!

Then afterwards Tytan wanted to play Canasta which is a family tradition and only his 2nd time of ever playing it. Tytan and I were partners and we won!! And believe me, no one in this family lets anyone win....so he has learned fast, and is a great partner to have!!

Happy Birthday Tytan! I love you!!

Time with Allison....

I'm not going to lie, I really, really, really enjoy having John & Allison so close!! Two (2) hrs is not far at all when you consider it was 18 hrs before!! We have been down several times, but have tried to wait for the invitation......and thankfully the kids have wanted us to come!!

Last Friday, Allison called and asked if we wanted to come visit because John had an away football game and when he has an away game it is usually 1:00 am (Sat morning) before he gets home. So Alan, Aileen and I headed to Tyler to spend time with Allison. We enjoyed talking with her. We talked about everything from politics, to babies, to t.v. shows and still could have talked through the night. It's fun to watch Allison and Alan talk, they say daughters have a special attachment/bond with their fathers and they do! And of course Aileen always loves seeing her sister.

The next day I wrote on paper in big letters YES/NO and asked Aileen some questions and here are her answers that she pointed to:

Do you like that John and Allison live close by? Yes

Is Allison having a baby? Yes

Is it a boy? No

Is it a girl? Yes

Are you excited to be an Aunt? Yes

I think that says it all!! We are excited and happy to be close by!

A "Popping" Good Time

I have a really strange attachment to Kristie Jensen!! She reminds me of Allison and every time I see her at church with her cute little family, I think of Allison and John and what they will look like in the future with their cute little family. So of course when they had a shower for her I wanted to participate!! She is having her 2nd girl, and we had a really fun time. Some cute things were done at the shower.......Caitlin Thompson was the hostess and she knows how to throw a party, with some help from Kristie's sister and I made the pasta salad (NOT!! If you know me I bought it.....but I bought it at Jason's Deli and it was really good) Here are some fun pictures!! I didn't take any of the gals that came....just the cute decorations.....funny!!

L to R: Caitlin Thompson, Kristie Jensen, and Kristie's sister

Every thing had a "pop" theme to it..... Carmel popcorn, cake lollipops, etc... very cleaver.

the soda pop, was designer Cream Soda, red and cream colored with cute straws and strawberries in the cups!

Cute clothes line

All the gifts!!

And Kristie made these for everyone to thank them for coming!! I had never seen where the person we were having the shower for made something for us!! What a fun idea.

Not long after this shower Kristie started to have contractions a little too early so she has been in bed trying not to have the baby too soon!! Our prayers are with her.....and be patient little one, and mom, your time will come!!

Fall programs are back!!!

Photo: ABC Dancing with the Stars - All Stars

So I am so excited that Dancing with the stars is back, and I think I like that they are having All-Stars!! I love Emmit Smith he is one of my all time favorites, but I think I kind of miss getting to see all new people trying to win that mirror ball. So we will see how I feel as the show goes on. But it was a fun first week!!

photo: MSN Fall TV Guide

Really excited for Castle to come back especially since he and Beckett seem to be together this season!! Loved the first show, hopefully they will let them be together! I want to see them work it out, not on and off again like so many shows think they have to do to keep us interested!! They don't, we're interested!!

My oldest had a birthday.......

My oldest had a birthday (9/18/12).......

And she really needs to stop having birthday's because now I really am feeling old!!! I have been thinking all year that she was going to turn 33!! Whew! She only turned 32!! Feeling better now! lol!! Anne Marie is really an amazing woman. One I am so proud to say is mine, and that I raised her, because she really makes me look like a great MOM!! But of course, I had nothing to do with it, she came that way, but every time I hear about something amazing she has done, like calling grandparents, or helping at a soup kitchen, getting excellent grades in College, sending care packages to soldiers overseas, or really just about anything I'm thrilled that I got to be her Mom!! Happy Birthday Anne Marie! I'm sorry this post is late, but the wishes are not any less because it took me so long to post it! I love you sweetie! You have always been such a joy to me and Daddy! Continue to follow your dreams...... ~love, Mom

Sunday, September 16, 2012

9/11 - remembering

I know 9/11 was last Tuesday, but I needed to post about it.

Photo: Remember 9/11

I remember 9/11 so well and still find it hard to remember it actually happened. But I know it did. It was during the time that I was a stay at home mom, so I was doing my usual straighten the house from everyone going off to work and school while I watched "Good Morning America" and they broke into whatever programming they were planning on having next to say that apparently a pilot had mistakenly flown into the World Trade Center, because of course no one could have even imagined that someone would do it on purpose.....and while they were talking we see a 2nd plane come flying into the picture and hitting the 2nd Tower of the World Trade Center....then we knew it was on purpose.

I remember being glued to the TV as we learned and watched scenes from the crash into the pentagon and then later the brave men who stopped the plane that was headed to the capitol or maybe even the White House with the plane crashing in Pennsylvania.

Who can forget the people running out of the building covered with white concrete dust, or people jumping out of the windows because of the burning building. I watched in Shocked horror as the first tower collapsed and then the 2nd and oh, my gosh we lost so many of our brave firemen, policemen, and emergency workers.

And it would be a tragedy if we ever forgot all those who gave their lives on that day!!

I know you can't believe everything you read on FB or other Internet pages, but someone posted that they were an elementary school teacher and on 9/11 asked if her students remember what happened on that day, and they didn't remember even though it had happened in their lifetime. But they knew all about the Titanic. I hope this was a hoax, but it still made me sad and made me want to post something about this historic tragedy that happened on American ground, and kind of made us realize that we were not safe from Terrorist.

And with this election coming up for President, I hope that we will all be prayerful and vote for someone that will stand up for America and not Apologize. And fight for our freedoms if need be. Because those freedoms and liberties are what makes America so great!!

And if you've read my profile you know I'm Republican, so of course to me that person would be Mitt Romney. We are worse off now then we were 4 yrs ago. We cannot afford another 4 yrs of Obama. But I really didn't intend for this to be a political statement. But I pray that everyone can see that we cannot have Obama for president any longer and have our Country be the Country it is suppose to be. I would hate to see how Obama would have handled 9/11. And I am so grateful that Pres. Bush kept his promise to those who risked their lives for our freedoms and in fighting terrorism. I pray we never see another 9/11 in this country. And may we never forget those who died on that dreadful day!

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Labor Day 2012

George, Dad, Elizabeth and me!!

Labor Day marks 3 yrs since Mom passed away. This year we were able to get together with the family that is in Texas. We never have really started a tradition before now, each of us have asked every year, but nothing has ever really come about....maybe because it was too hard, but this year everyone was ready to celebrate Labor Day and Mom's life by being together and BONUS for Elizabeth and George who always have to come to Fort Worth for these family things....they are now 1/2 way....they are the middle where we all need to get together so they were excited and felt they really should take advantage of this new phenomenon!

Allison and John came from Tyler, George from Plano and Dad, Barbara, and my family came from Ft Worth to Elizabeth's home in Rowlett!! Art barbecued and we had awesome roast and hamburgers, Barbara brought her delicious brownies, George brought chips and soda, and I brought deviled eggs and cheesy potatoes and I have to say the hit beside the awesome roast, was the fruit salad that Elizabeth made.....it was really good, I'm going to have to make that for upcoming holidays!!

We all enjoyed visiting and then we had to play Canasta in honor of Mom. And Logan has inherited his Dad's lucky streak and gets all the wild cards!! I was his partner and it was a lot of fun to watch him do so good.....of course that meant I did good too lol!!! Then later Tytan said he wanted to play and he will be 11 this week and he really picked it up and also is lucky with wild cards...... it was fun to watch him do so well his first time out and be officially apart of the family tradition!!