Brown Family Reunion

This past weekend, we had Michael's family visit us. I have a new found respect and appreciation for my mom and mother-in-law who have hosted several people in their home at one time. It is hard work to prepare your house for visitors. But all the hard work paid off and I think everyone had a nice weekend. I have never cooked for 8 adults before and I was pretty nervous about making enough food for everyone. But everything turned out delicious.

I'd say the theme of the weekend was "Rosies" as Annabelle calls it. Annabelle was asking everyone to play "ring around the rosy" with her. There was even some ring around the rosy wheelbarrow-style. I think it's safe to say that everyone had a good time.

New bike

One of Michael's coworkers has kids that have grown out of some of their toys, including a pink tricycle., and they were kind enough to give it to Annabelle. She is so excited to have a bike and every time we go in the garage, she assumes she's going to ride her bike. She still has trouble steering. Well, actually, she has no idea how to steer, but she seems to be getting th hang of pedaling. She doesn't do real well on inclines of any kind and needs to me to push her, but other than that, she does pretty well. Now, we just some more good weather.

Can't get enough of wheelbarrow walking

Back by popular demand, here's another video of Annabelle's favorite activity with her Dad, wheelbarrow walking.

Future model

Annabelle has only one spring/summer dress and is in need of few more. I was at a baby consignment store and found the cutest dress. She wore it yesterday to church and looked so adorable and grown up that I had to get a picture. I can't believe that she is getting so big and tall. That dress is 3 sizes bigger than she's wearing now and you can see it's a little long, but overall, it fits her pretty nicely. Isn't she a total babe? I sure love that girl.

Sword fighting

After Michael got home from work last night, Annabelle was ready to pick up the sword fighting that she learned on Sunday. This time, I was able to capture some of it.

drinking milk from her cereal bowl

Annabelle and I eat cereal for breakfast together every morning. About a month ago, she began drinking her milk from the bowl when all the cereal was gone. I do this and I guess she was paying attention and began doing it herself. She's pretty good at it and usually never spills any milk on herself.

Easter Sunday

Happy Easter! It was wonderful to spend Easter in our new home. Because Annabelle is somewhat old enough to understand what is going on, I got really excited and did a lot more to celebrate the holiday than I have in past years. Yesterday, I spent several hours making Easter-related shaped sugar cookies, and today Annabelle helped me frost them (well, she mostly ate the cookies I had just frosted). We then delivered them to several friends and neighbors from our old apartment.

Later, Annabelle participated in her first East egg hunt (thanks, Grandma Heidi, for the eggs and basket). She was so excited to see what was inside the eggs. With a little help from Michael and me, she was able to find all the eggs and chocolate hidden in the room. Once she had collected them all, she wasted no time in opening the eggs and devouring the contents inside.


We invited our friends, Christy and Glenn, over for dinner, which I actually put quite a bit of work into and I haven't done that in 6+ months. I was really excited to make a nice dinner in my new kitchen. It turned out quite delicious (no doubt the rolls made all the difference, so thanks Christy) and we all enjoyed each other's company. Christy and Glenn have been in Texas since January and Michael and I were excited to welcome them back to Rexburg. Annabelle was most interested in their 4 month-old son, or at least his toys anyway. Here's a picture and video of her playing with a play mat that Christy brought for her son.

While Christy and I chatted in the kitchen, Michael and Glenn had a great time showing Annabelle how to play baseball in the living room. The bats were made from two maps that had been rolled up. These "bats" then turned into swords and there was a viscous battle between Michael and Annabelle. I wish I had gotten a video. It was pretty funny to watch. I think Annabelle won.

Successful Day

We had a very successful move yesterday (thanks, John, for your help) and got most everything but the bare essentials over to the house. The best part of the day came at the very end when Michael put the blinds on our bedroom window by himself and they look great. Here's Annabelle standing on our window sill. You can see out the window that our neighbor has a trampoline. They will definitely be our first stop when meeting the neighbors. Poor Annabelle has been sick the last few days but last night and today, it's been pretty bad. Her entire face is red and her nose and around her mouth is totally raw. Poor kid.This video is of Michael and Annabelle practicing their wheelbarrow racing skills. Annabelle wanted Michael to do it over and over again. At he beginning of the video, Annabelle is saying, "Feet, feet", trying to get Michael to pick up her feet. When that doesn't work, she says, "Come on" and motions with her hand. "Come on" is one of the cutest things that Annabelle says in my opinion.

Picture catchup

Because we are beginning our move tomorrow, I probably won't be able to post for a while, but I have several pictures to post.
Annabelle and I immersed in good literature. I am reading The Magic of Ordinary Days while Annabelle enjoyed Dr Seuss.
Annabelle and Bear hanging out in her new favorite place to perch.
Annabelle's makeshift bed for watching her shows.
Just a cute picture.
What's wrong with this picture taken this morning?
Game of hide and seek with bear.

Our house

After a stressful week and over a month of waiting, we are finally closing on our house tomorrow.
Our apartment is a mess with boxes everywhere. However, I think we will have a smooth move. We had our final walk-through this evening and Annabelle couldn't hold still. She's not used to having so much space to run around. I wish I had gotten a video of her running from room to room without pausing. Here's a video of the limited activity she can do in our apartment.