aBoUnDiNg in abundance

MERRY CHRISTMAS

we hope everyone enjoyed their christmas as much as we did! it was perfect! every year i am amazed at how much we are truly blessed and i realize there are so many people who are not able to enjoy what we do on this special day. we had a beautiful christmas eve with my parents last night. the traditional brower christmas eve dinner is spaghetti and since chris has joined the family, we have been quite happy to incorporate it into our traditions...partly because my mom's spagghetti ROCKS! chris made his fabulous cheesecake for dessert, yum!! my dad then read the christmas story from Luke and then we all tried to say the night before christmas from memory. we do this every year and none of us can say it still, but thats what makes it fun. then santa came while we were sleeping and what a surprise, he left lots and lots and LOTS of presents under our tree! chris took this picture early this morning before the rest of us were awake.

after opening presents at our house, we went to grandma and grandpa browne's. we found our stockings that santa had hidden and then played my mom's present game. chris and i received a lot of kitchen presents and the kids got tons of books, which we love. everett gave jack and ellie this awesome igloo tent! ellie LOVED it. she was inside it for the rest of the day.

ellie also got a doggie chew toy...i discovered with jack that dog chew toys can withstand all the rugged chewing of a teething baby.

beautiful babies - alli and ellie

my dad built his own go cart this past week so we all took turns driving it today. he didn't think it was going to go very fast so he built it with a child seat on the front (which alli is "testing") to take the babies around the neighborhood. well this thing actually goes wicked fast! he has decided to make another one that will be safer for the kids, but this one is definitely a fun toy for all of the rest of us.

during our present festivities this morning, ellie fell and hit her mouth on a box. because there wasn't much we could do but give her hugs, we decided to take a few pics of her painful moment, sorry ellie belly :(

jack got a potty training seat. he has been acting interested in potty time for a while and i have been putting it off as long as possible, but i think it's time.... if any one has some advice for this first-time potty trainer, please send it this way!

jack loves "going for a ride". when grandpa says let's go for a ride, he runs to the garage door and then puts on his helmet! he's so cute, most of the time! he is a go cart maniac.

our big news is that ellie started walking on christmas eve!!!! she is 10 months, which is too early if you ask me. jack started at 9 so i guess i shouldn't complain.

dad picked out a ball popper for ellie, and of course, jack has taken over the toy!

taking a turn with daddy-o

oh jack loves his fish. i don't think he will ever grow out of this obsession!