The Brown Bunch

Now that we have a little one in the family, Nanny Nette has decided that we need to start some holiday traditions. On Sunday, we left after church and went to Warm Springs for their Christmas festival. After a wonderful lunch at the Bulloch House, we hit the shops. The most exciting thing we found was Santa. Along the way we also found several photo ops. Basically, the day was just a chance to take some cute pictures of Jake. Enjoy! Jake getting ready for some fun. Jake riding the reindeer with PawPaw . Jake with Daddy. Aren't they handsome? Jake and PawPaw rode " PawPaw's Express." This was Jake's favorite moment of the day! Getting ready to ride Do you see who the head of our household is? Jake tried to drive a tractor. The wheel was bigger than he is. (Ignore the bubble in my hair.) Daddy played Superman in the old fashioned phone booth. Back at home, we realized we didn't have any pictures with Nanny Nette . Thank you PawPaw and Nanny Nette for a fu...

Halloween was extra special this year because we had a little stinker to celebrate with. Although we started the week off with double ear infections, Jason and I were determined to make this a special day for Jake. Jake celebrated Halloween all weekend with Friday with Nanny Nette & PawPaw , Saturday with Nana & Papa, Saturday night with Nanny Betty & Nanny Shewbert , and Sunday with Mamew & Pop Charlie. With all of this partying, Jake was exhausted by Sunday night! Here are just a few pictures of Friday. Jake woke up bright and early ready to celebrate with Luke. Aunt Becky brought McKinley and Addie by to trick-or-treat with us! Jake was really impressed with Peter Pan. Maybe Aunt Becky can make him a costume next year. Mom and Jake (Jake is still staring at Peter Pan.) Jake with Nanny Nette , PawPaw , and Casper Jake with Nanny Nette Nanny Nette with our little stinker Jake with all of his Halloween loot. He got lots of goodies from Nanny Nette and PawPaw on F...

Nana & Papa with the grandkids Papa helping Jake with dinner Jake with Nana Jake looks almost as big as Alex in this picture Jake is all decked out for the Georgia game Jason was off for the weekend so we decided to tackle a few things on the list of "Things We Wish we could do, but never have time for...." The two main things that this included were going to visit Nana & Papa and going to tailgate with friends for the UGA/Tenn game. Having a baby sure does change things and we haven't been up to Royston or Athens as much as we'd like to. Friday was Papa's birthday. He and Nana were "campering" with Sarah and Alex for the weekend. They wanted to be close by for the Brown family get-together. Jake was able to spend a lot of time with them while Jason and I headed for Athens for a few hours to catch up with our tailgating buddies.

My cousin Dede turned The Big 4-0 on September 5 so we celebrated with a surprise party. She didn't feel like celebrating so we had to force it on her just a little bit. In the end, I think she enjoyed herself. In fact, it was a happy time that everybody needed. Here are a few pictures from the night. The Look-Outs Dede with Nanny Betty and Nanny Shewbert (The good looks run in our family!) Dede with Dikey and Lori (The good looks just keep coming!) The four granddaughters: Andrea and Lori (the babies) and Dede and Allyson (the big girls) :) No post on this blog is complete without a picture of Jake. Of course Jake did what Jake does best. Isn't he precious?

Football season is here! Jason and I are so excited to have Jake here to help us cheer on the Dawgs. As you can guess, Jake doesn't quite understand the excitement yet, but he is getting there. He really loves to watch the games and actually fusses if you turn him away from the TV or block his vision. I guess he's going to be just like his daddy. I caught this shot last week. The Bulldogs were fighting off Central Michigan and Jake couldn't make it through the 3rd quarter. He loves to watch, but it sure does wear him out!

Nanny Shewbert , my great-grandmother, is 98 or 99 years old. (She says she is 98, but the family Bible says 99.) She lived with us some when I was a child to take care of Allyson and me so that Mom could work. Because of this, she and I have always been very close. In fact, I like to joke with my cousins that I'm her favorite. So when Jake came along, I wanted him to be around Nanny Shewbert as often as possible. She lives in Helen, so we don't see her (or the rest of our mountain family) often enough. Jake is incredibly blessed to have 1 great-great- grandmother, 3 great-grandmothers, and a great-grandfather to all welcome him in to the world. For Labor Day weekend, Nanny Nette and I decided to take advantage of the long weekend and get up to see the family. The Nannies felt like getting out so the 5 of us piled in the car to go visit family that we never get to see, do a little tourist watching in Helen, and made quick stop at Dairy Queen. During our 3 h...

Paw Paw has been buying things for Jake since he found out we were pregnant. I guess it should have been no surprise that he bought Jake a playground for their backyard. Of course it's way too big and it will be a while before Jake can use the two slides or climb through the tunnels, but we had to snap a few pics. Judging by the looks on Jake and Paw Paw's faces, they plan on having lots of fun out there together in the years to come!

I got up early on Sunday to get ready to head to Nana's. Before I could hop in the shower, I glanced back to the bed and saw this adorable Kodak moment. I knew that the camera flash would probably wake them both, but to be honest, it was worth it. I had to have this picture to always remember just how much Jake is like his daddy, even at four months old. They even sleep the same! As I'm typing this, Jason is giving Jake a bath and I can hear them both singing and squealing. It's music to my ears! I am blessed to have such a happy son and wonderful, loving husband. Jason amazes me each day with his love for Jake. I knew he would be a good dad, but he is so much more. I say all of that to say this... Yes, I wanted my son to look a little like me. At the very least I thought he would have some of my characteristics. I don't think I'm that beautiful, but I DID do all of the work for 9 months and 18 long hours. I never thought that I would have a blond haired, blue eyed ...

Jason celebrated his 30 th birthday today. While his real birthday celebration will happen in September when Daddy takes him to New York, we met Mom, Dad, and Allyson in Newnan for a special dinner. I know that Jason's favorite present was the personalized card from Jake. I let him hold the pen and write a special note to his daddy. He also licked the whole card (before I could get it away from him) and sealed it with a kiss for Daddy! I swear everything Jake does is cute!

Around the Browns, August is a month of birthdays. Jason's neice Sarah, Jason, and I all celebrate our birthdays in early August. This year was even more special because Jason and I turned 30 and we had a new little bundle to help us celebrate. Sunday, the Brown clan met at Nana and Papa's house in Royston to celebrate all of the birthdays. Here are a few pictures of Jake with some of his favorite Brown relatives. Jake and cousin Alex Jake with Nana Jake with Aunt Julie- Jake is checking out one of Sarah's Barbies. I think he wanted to play with it, but Jason said he was just noticing how "hot" Barbie is. :-) Jake with Granny Dock

Okay, let me start by apologizing for the delay in updating our blog. Our picture software on the computer crashed and Jason and I had a hard time fixing the problem. It's still not fixed, but I wised up and bought an attachment that will allow me to upload pictures. So hopefully the problem is solved for the time being. Life with Jake continues to be wonderful and exhausting all at the same time. Jake celebrated his 4 month birthday on July 29 and he is growing and changing so much each day! Here is a little recap of his latest.... On Wednesday, I had to run to Walgreens to pick up some pictures of Jake. As I am standing in line to pay, I get a text message from Jason telling me to hurry home because Jake is about to roll over. Of course, by the time I got home, Jake had already met this milestone. I was sad to have missed his first roll, but he shows it to me several times a day so that I won't forget it. Jason has been so good about making Jake have floor time each day. I...