Brown Family Update

It's been a while since I posted, so I thought I'd give you all an update on what we've been up to. I'm planning a couple new posts to be coming soon that include pictures of missing teeth and the kids reciting some of their Bible verses from Awanas.

First of all, things are going well with Waffle. He is adjusting to life in our house and is getting used to some of our house rules. He is pretty laid back and very silly, so he fits right in! The kids love him. Not sure about Travis. I think he'll warm up to Waffle soon. Maybe when the dog quits pooping in the house (almost there on that effort!) and barking at night (again, almost there- totally getting better!) The biggest problem that we have with Waffle is that Aiden is allergic to dog saliva. We never thought Aiden would be allergic to dogs because he has been around them with no problem, but I guess he's never been licked by one either! As long as Waffle doesn't lick Aiden, he's ok. If he does lick Aiden, then Aiden gets hives where he got licked. Waffle will soon be on a "No lick" training program once we get the pooping thing under control!

School is back in session for me. I have one class this semester and then one class over the summer and then I'm done! Yippee! I'll spend the fall trying to figure out which Masters program to apply for. My biggest excitement in this is that I'll have somewhat of a social life back by the beginning of August! I'm really looking forward to having the time to help with the kid's Awana's program next year.

Aiden is doing well in his Speech class. He is really speaking more clearly and many of our family members noticed it when we were home for Christmas. However, with him speaking more clearly, his speech path has noticed a few problems with his language development. They are going to re-evaluate him in April in order to start working on the problems that she is finding with his language. The good news is that there is still more than a year until he starts kindergarten and he will surely be done with speech services before he starts kindergarten.

Sophie has lost her two front teeth. I am planning spring pictures soon because I think having pics of both my kids missing their front teeth will be just plain cute! I'll be sending those out as soon as I get them (and as soon as my free time allows.)

Sophie has just one basketball game left for this year. She has had so much fun with it! I'm sure she will be playing basketball for the next couple of years for those of you who didn't get to come and see her play. Just mark your calendars for a weekend in January of February next year!

The kids and Travis thoroughly enjoyed a visit by Grandpa Charlie, Grandma Dana, Aunt Connie and "Cousin Kristi" (yes, that's how you are frequently referred to in our house!) They all got to watch Sophie show of her mad b-ball skills and then enjoyed an afternoon at the Incredible Pizza Company. There are no photos to share becuase unfortunately, I was home sleeping while the excitement was taking place. I do know that Grandma Dana took several photos (Yay for grandmas!- Photo taking is not a task to be left up to daddys or grandpas!) Maybe she will e-mail me some of her photos and I can post them (hint, hint).

I'm sure there's more that I should update you on, but alas, my brain is malfunctioning...again. I'll post pics soon. I know you'd rather see those than listen to me ramble on and on and on.

Introducing Waffle

Waffle is the newest member of our family! He is a 6 month old Shichon (Bichon/Shih Tzu) who's owner couldn't take care of him anymore. He has such a cute personality. He is very feisty, but loves to cuddle! The kids are super excited to have him! I knew he was ours as soon as I met him and then the guy said the magic words "already housebroken." I was sold!

Snow Day

Sophie and I made our Valentine cookies today since we got so much snow they had to cancel school (just really less than an inch, can't really see why they canceled school. The teachers must have some desire to work extra in March.)

Aiden was going to help, but he refused to clean his room this morning. He has really been testing our patience recently. I'm hoping this is just a phase, but overall, he's just not nearly as compliant a child as Sophie. I keep reminding myself not to compare them. They are two totally different people! Travis and I are really trying to find out how to deal with his "I'm gonna do what I want, when I want" attitude. He's also been throwing some major fits lately. It's really getting old, especially leaving him out of the fun stuff like making cookies, but what's a mom to do? The thought is that eventually, he'll realize that if he just cleans his room, he'll get to make the cookies. Last time we had this fight, it took 24 hours of major family fun sans Aiden to get him to finally clean his room. This time, it took just about 4 hours, most of the progress as we were just finishing the cookies. I guess 20 fewer hours is progress! I'm open for ideas and suggestions on dealing with a tough 4 year-old!!!

Loose Teeth

Sophie's two front teeth have been loose since summer. Finally, one has fallen out (actually, pulled out by mommy.) The other one is still hanging on by a corner. She won't let me pull it. It's sooooo horrible!

City Museum

A couple of weeks ago, we were planning a trip to the City Museum with family, when weather and illness prevented them from coming for a visit. We decided to take Sophie out of school anyway and keep our plans, minus the cousins, aunt and grandparents. We had never been to the City Museum before, but had heard so much great things about it. It certainly lived up to our expectations. The kids had a blast. One of their favorite things to do there was go down this HUGE slide (above pic, orange view from under the slide.) They went up two flights of stairs countless times and down the monster slide! They were totally worn out by the time we got home.

There was a woman there who was painting faces for a donation. Aiden got a Batman mask painted on his face. He was running around saying things like "I have super Batman powers!" It was fun. At one point someone said to him, "I didn't know Batman was here." Aiden gave her a very serious look and said, "I not really Batman. I just have paint on my face." It was too cute! (His eyebrows were black for a couple of days. It was weird looking.)

The woman painting faces had recently shaved her head for a cancer chairty. She had beautiful butterflies painted all over her head and Sophie wanted one too!


There was a room full of theses skateboard ramps and the kids slid down them for nearly an hour. Some of them were pretty high and steep and had my nerves really going. I was just imagining broken bones and missing teeth! I also was regretting putting my kids in their nice jeans. Next time it will be their holy play jeans!

Our Little Basketball Player...

Sophie started basketball at our church last week. I think she looks cute in her uniform, but I guess it's not really a fashion show! She has some pretty good b-ball skills too! I KNOW she doesn't get that from me!!! We'll be working on getting the games uploaded for you to see... I just know you're dying to see them! We're especially proud of Sophie's basket that she got in her first game! Of course, as parents, we're proud no matter what!

Christmas

I'm probably the last person in the world to finally be blogging about Christmas, and I really don't have much of an excuse, other that just not wanting to do it!!! I'm sure you all want to hear about Christmas now... because it's the middle of January!!! Here's a few pics of our Christmas this year!

Aiden in a Santa hat- Grammy had silly hats for everyone to wear this year while we opened gifts. There were santa hats, elf hats, reindeer antlers and mistle toe hats. It was fun!

Santa left a letter for the kids again this year! They had fun seeing that the toffee and chocolate milk that they left out for him was enjoyed! (Sorry about the glare on the TV!)

Santa brought Aiden Mac & Cheese in his stocking! This was probably his favorite gift, or at least the one he talks about the most! Way to go Santa!!!

Aiden got a Cars racing game for the Wii from Santa. The soccer goal was a part of our living room for nearly a week... can't wait until it get warm enough outside to use it. It's in our family room until then...

Yes, that's Aiden in a dress.... again!!! Those are ornaments from Sohie's little Christmas Tree on his ears...how creative... he's going to thank me for sharing this picture when he gets older!

Papa and the kids made a gingerbread house this year. I took myself off house building duty this year. I think Papa enjoyed it!

The kids ate more candy than they managed to get on the house!

You get to break the rules when Papa's around... they thought it was pretty cool to be able to sit on the counter and watch Papa pretend to be Julia Child in Gramma's apron!

The Klassen family Christmas picture... I got it on the first shot this year!