Alan and Lois Brown Family: March 2014

Spring Break 2014

Last Friday night since the kids will be headed to Washington for Spring Break, Alan and I went to dinner with Charlotte, Allison and John and then kept them from getting their packing done by playing Canasta all evening!! We went to Cousin's the best BBQ in Texas and loved every minute of it! Charlotte picked up a fork and started trying to eat using one.....so we decided maybe it was time to get toddler utensils and let her start eating that way!! She is just growing up too big!!

Saturday we took them to the airport and even though we hated seeing them go, we were so excited for the Rex's to see them and to see how big Charlotte is getting!!

"Catching Fire" is out on DVD!!!! Yay!!

In honor of Catching Fire being out on DVD last Friday and because I now own it and have watched it 3 times already!! I wore my "Catching Fire" earrings that Becky Wangler gave me for Christmas!!

And I can't wait for "Divergent" to come to the Movie Theatres next Friday, March 21st!! I'm excited, Can't wait!! I finally got my kids reading it and excited too!! Alan and I have read all 3 books and have been counting down the days!

Watching the Oscars 2014

Watching the Oscars with my best girls (except Anne Marie is missing)!! My Favorite night of the year and most definitely my favorite thing to do!!

March 2, 2014

Shopping spree from Grandma!!

One of the joys of being a Grandma is shopping whenever I feel like it for Charlotte and bringing gifts to Charlotte whenever I feel like it!! It's AWESOME!!

Carters had a good sale going.....

Charlotte wearing one of her new outfits

When Anne Marie saw this picture of Charlotte on FaceBook, she commented on how much Charlotte looks like Allison!! She is her mother's girl!!

This is considered a "Snow Day" in Texas!!

Jan/Feb 2014

Yes, all schools including my office was closed because of this amount of snow!! For those of us that have lived other places....Let's say, Utah, or Kansas, laugh at this! But to be fair - in Texas because snow and ice happens so rarely, it is dangerous. Only because Texans don't know how to drive in it!! And they don't have the equipment to keep the roads clear and de-iced!!

We won't mention that the Friday before I had the sun roof open and sunglasses on in my car enjoying 70/80 degree weather!! That's how quickly the weather changes in Texas!!

Benefit of having a crazy "Snow Day" - Charlotte gets to come to Grandma's and eat Breakfast!!

Charlotte had been to the Doctor and had a huge Band-Aid on her finger!! Poor Baby!!

I missed Posting about Valentine's Day!!

Valentines day is always a fun day of the year and this year was no exception!! The only problem is Anne Marie has not spent her Valentine's day gift of money on anything yet!! Get busy girl!!

I have to start with the best first.....my husband was so excited to give me my gift he woke up at 5:00 am to present me with my beautiful necklace!! I loved it and love him so very much!! I got him an adapter for his Nook that he wanted and needed so that he can show movies, slide shows up on a big screen or t.v. I think I got the better gift!!

When I got to the office at 7:30 am and even though the Doctor was out of town, this is what I found sitting on my desk!!

After work I went to Allison, John's and Charlotte's and gave them their Valentine's gifts!!

Brown tradition to give Valentine Pj's

Plus I got her a new outfit!!

Then she wanted to help Mom open hers...

....so cute.....

This mom has her hands full ....

Here is Charlotte in her new outfit a couple of days later.....

Aileen had a great Valentines day too....

Diet Coke and candy from Grandma and Grandpa Clay;

a pink fluffy pillow and Candy from Yency, her respite

care giver; and a bag of Gummy Hearts from Mom and Dad

An extra gift for us is that because we now have respite care Alan and I got to go out for dinner and a movie!! It was a great Valentines day!!

Only thing left.....Anne Marie spend your money!!! lol!!

Lets go back a little bit in time.....

Rainbow Girls.....have you heard of it? I had, but never really seen it up close or learned a great deal about it! Barbara's family has generations of Rainbow Girls and this year my Cousin, Lauren Zelenske, was elected "Worthy Advisor" the highest office in Rainbow girls! Her mother, Aunt Tootie (Debbie) had also held that office as a girl so it was a big and exciting night for our family!!

Before and after the installation of officers early February 2014....

Some moments of the installation of the new officers for 2014!

Family that was there to help celebrate.....

Congratulations to Lauren, Taylor and Aunt Debbie (Tootie) what a great evening it was!!

Aileen is 29 - I really can't believe it!!

My how the years have flown by!! Aileen is 29, I really can't take it in!! It has been such a humbling and amazing experience to be this girls mom! What a blessing she is to our family's life! We are going to have a bowling party (her favorite thing to do)on Saturday, but I didn't want the actual day of her birthday to go by without celebrating it! Because Alan and John had Young Men's and other church meetings we had a "girls night out" at Chili's to celebrate Aileen's birthday!! We had a great time. I had my credit card out and kept waiting for the bill....and when the check finally came the waiter said, there was no charge to us, it had been taken care of!! "by who" I said, to which he said "I can't tell you that". So I don't know if it was by the waiters who signed the back of the ticket, or Chili's Management, or another patron that just happened to be in the restaurant at the time. But Wow!! I don't think that has ever happened to us before! But, I should realize that most people recognize how special a person Aileen is!! Thanks to that "good Samaritan" whomever you may be!! It was a beautiful birthday gift!!