Poker Night!

This is my doggie, Chico.

This past Friday night, on January 6th 2011, Chris had a couple of friends over, and instead of the usual night of killing zombies on the X-box, we all decided to play some poker. Needless to say, Chico got jealous and expressed to us that he wanted to play some poker too.

This made the other doggies jealous, so of course, we had to deal Rosco and Belle in the game too... hahahahaha!

Below: This is Rosco... he preferred to be the dealer... hence the hat!

Below: This is Belle... she was playing for diamonds being the Princess that she is...

Below: Obviously, these two took over... they preferred the attention more than anything!

Until next time...

Presents full of Love!

Well, another Christmas has come and gone, and as always, filled with fun and love!

It's always special to a parent to watch their baby's eyes light up when they open a present they really really wanted, and we get a giggle when they look confused after opening up something that wasn't on their Christmas lists... like those educational-type gifts we parents hope will help them in school (such as a 'states' puzzle for Katie and an Alphie for Nathan)! Haha!

Needless-to-say, Santa delivered the 'favored' gifts... Bilbos for both (those green and blue things in the picture), an iPod iTouch and a video camera for Katie, and an electric dirt-bike for Nathan! However, I did buy one present that they really like too called a Fun Fly Stick... it's a wand that uses batteries to produce static electricity and it came with these silver streamer-things the kids chase around with the Fun Fly Sticks! They are pretty cool!

Until next time...

Batter up!!

Nathan has been dying to try-out a sport, and baseball was his choice. I suppose he takes after my brothers when it comes to the urge to play this particular sport, and I hope Nathan sticks to it as long as my two younger brothers did. However, since Chris and myself are not very 'sports oriented', poor Nathan has not yet been exposed, much less introduced, to the simple rules of baseball. So... my little eager batt-swinger participated in a weekend 'Baseball Hitting Camp'. This camp was to teach kids of all ages the basics of hitting a baseball, among other things...

All I can say is, "Nathan had a BLAST, and is now very anxious, excited, and eager to begin baseball season in the Spring!" Nathan got some baseball paraphernalia for Christmas and is really excited about it!!

Below: Nathan was catching and chasing after the baseballs that his 'group' were hitting.

Below: Nathan was learning the "4 B's" of baseball; in this picture he was performing his 'routine' before bringing the bat up to his shoulder to prepare for swinging.

Below: I love this picture! At one of the 'stations', Nathan's group was learning how to run-the-bases. Apparently, sliding to home plate was a favorite move among Nathan's group; and Nathan proved to be good at it too!

Below: At the end of the second day of camp, Nathan was presented with a 'certificate', and he got this really cool t-shirt!

We are SO proud of our future baseball star!

Until next time...

Hmmm, pretty neat-o!

This past Monday evening I took my kiddos to an after-hours party at the Children's Museum for members only; it was called "Gingerbread Bash". This is because the main event of the 3-hr. night was to make a gingerbread house; among other various crafts and the regular playtime.

I guess I had never really given it much thought before, but providing gingerbread kits to close to 1,000 kids has got to be an expensive undertaking. However, leave it to the Children's Museum to find a way to make this event fun; and a way to minimize their costs!

The 'Gingerbread House Kits' consisted of 3 graham crackers, a few pieces of individually wrapped candy, 2 pre-packaged frosting packets, and an empty milk carton... all of which can be bought in bulk to lower costs. Being the very 'crafty' person I am, I'm actually a bit embarrassed to admit that I would have never have thought to use an empty milk carton to paste frosting on to hold the graham cracker walls! Both Katie and Nathan had a great time... then came home and broke their gingerbread houses with their teeth! Hahaha!

I like this picture... it's always nice when both my kids can sit next to eat other without kicking one another from under the table, elbowing each other, or nit-pick arguing! I LOVE these precious moments where they both get along so well!

Until next time...

Hy-Ya!!

I have learned that the difference between watching my son Nathan during his Karate classes, and watching him perform his belt-tests is his level of intensity. Nathan may seem like he doesn't always pay full attention during practice classes, but when he is in front of the large panel of black-belt judges, he gives them 110% ! I am very proud of Nathan achieving his Gold-Belt-Black-Stripe!!

Below: Nathan was demonstrating his 'high-block'...

Below: In this picture, Nathan was demonstrating his 'Reverse Front Punch'...

Below: Nathan is taking off his Gold-belt...

Below: Nathan's judge is putting on his new ranking belt... Gold-Belt-Black-Stripe!

Below: This is Nathan with his weekly class instructor, Mr. Garcia.

CONGRATS NATHAN.... MY FUTURE CHUCK NORRIS!!! HAHA!

Fall of 2010 Shutterfly Photobook

My previous blog had a bunch of pictures from the Super Silly Brown Family's photo session with Ryan Flores Photography... and below is a slideshow of all the pictures I used to make a Photo Book with through Shutterfly.com.

The cool thing about this book is that the lady who manages the Shutterfly Gallery Home Page emailed me to let me know that my book had made the Gallery Home page; which is where 12 different photo books are posted for anyone to view as examples for gathering personal ideas.

When I was first contacted, my photo book had 83 views. And now, three days later, it has had over 1,124 views!! I'm so excited and proud that my photo book is being used as an example for people all over the world to view!! Of course, I owe many thanks to Ryan Flores Photography for taking such gorgeous and silly pictures of our family that really helped our true personalities to shine through! (See below the slideshow for links to view other pictures by Ryan Flores Photography.)

Click here to view this photo book larger

www.facebook.com/pages/Ryan-Flores-Photography/153340204709058

http://ryanfloresphotography.blogspot.com