Emma's Favorite Book

Emma LOVES to "read" her favorite books to us. I wanted to capture her sweet little voice on tape so I never forget it. If you can't understand her you can read the words to the book below.

Dust and dirt make a mess! Cinderella needs a brand new dress.

Clean and bright. Oh, what fun! This blue dress is the perfect one.

Jasmine must choose a skirt or a gown. her friend Rajah looks on with a frown.

Jasmine and Aladdin enjoy a starry night. Her green outfit is truly just right.

Belle is excited about the fancy feast! She gets ready for her date with the Beast.

Belle and the Beast share a night of romance. Her yellow gown is perfect for this dance.

Everyone sings in the wedding parade. King Triton sends off his little mermaid!

Ariel's wedding dress fits just right. Prince Eric thinks she looks lovely in white!

Sleeping Beauty has such a busy day! The fairies can help. They are on their way!

Music and menus. There is much to do. Should Aurora's dress be pink or dark blue?

The Prince arrives with his horse by his side. Snow White must dress for their royal ride.

It's chilly and windy. It feels like a storm. A blue and cape will keep Snow White warm.

Slip on the shoes. Fluff up the dress.

Put on the jewelry. Look your best.

Which one is your favorite dress?

Is this the same kid?

Tyler sure is growing up. He is getting taller and slimmer each day. Way back when I didn't even know this kid had ribs....

now look at him!=)

Thanks Nana

Nana came to stay with the kids while we took a much needed weekend away to Vegas. The kids had a great time with her. This was the first time she has done it alone since Tyler was 10 mos. old. She did great and the kids really enjoyed having her here. I was a picture taking slacker so I will have to wait until she posts some of hers on Facebook and copy them.

Thanks Nana---we LOVE you!!!!!

Big Girl Bed

Well...the last little bit of baby is gone from the Brown's house. Emma finally graduated to her big girl bed. I know, I know, she is almost 3 but I am a firm believer of leaving my kids in the crib until they decide it is time to get out. Emma just happened to decided it was time when we went out of town. She crawled out several times while Nana was here with her.

Here she is in her big girl bed.

Tyler is a big fan of getting into to bed with her now!=)

Snow Day

Our good friend, Nate, took Tyler with him and his little guy, Kole, to play in the snow this year. Tyler LOVED it!!!! Thankfully it wasn't too cold and we could just layer him since we don't actually have any real winter clothes! Here are a few pics of the boys.

Arizona Winter

I love where we live. I would rather be hot than cold any day of the week. In fact, I am so used to the warm climate of AZ that I seriously can hardly handle being outside when the temps are below 60 degrees (yes I am the same girl who grew up in NE Pa!).

We usually have a cold snap or two during the winter and if we are lucky enough to get some rain during that cold snap than the mountains get snow. We had one of those rainy cold snaps this past week so we are actually experiencing winter for the first time this season.

The view in our backyard is one of my very favorite parts of our new home. Check out a few pictures that I took yesterday and today of the gorgeous mountain snow.

Where have we been? (by Marshall)

Why has my sweet saint like wife not been posting updates you might be asking? Well....I guess I have some explaining to do...

In the hours following the Fiesta Bowl a few weeks ago, I decided that it would be best for my friend Scott and I to jump a waist-high chain link fence instead of going around it. The jump went just fine, it was the landing that I failed to stick (not that his landing was much better than mine, but his result was much better). I wound up with a visit to the ER at Scottsdale Regional Hospital with both a dislocated and fractured ankle (looks like I may have torn something in my knee as well). The good folks in the ER at the hospital (whom could write a book on customer service - quite a nice group of people) got quite a kick out of both my story and Scott's attempt to pick up on very female employee in the ER. I wound up having surgery on the foot that evening where my orthopedic surgeon put a plate and ten screws in my ankle (just a little souvenir that stays to remind me of my failed decision making that night).

We were helped by a lot of friends and family over the past two weeks. Cindy Arino met Sarah on the way to Phoenix and she took the kids back to Tucson, Shelly Cordova kept the kids that day, and Marie flew over from San Diego and stayed for a few days so Sarah could stay with me in the hospital.

Katie had already had a planned trip out here so she was here from Thursday until Monday but my injury put a damper on some of the fun. She did however take some time during her visit to try to completely convert our children in to Eagle fans.

The good doctor prescribed 6-8 weeks of no pressure being put on my right foot (no driving for me - just lots of rides in the hatchback of Sarah's small SUV). We will also find out this Wednesday whether or not surgery will be required on the knee.

As you can guess, the whole family disrupted by my injury.

Tyler is missing wrestling with dad and Sarah now has three kids to take care of all day in addition to doing my usual chores of giving the kids their baths each night, taking out the trash and recycling, and such. She is not getting much down time so I will owe her big time when this is over! The only member of the family enjoying this is the Weiner Dog - she now has a permanent lap to lay on.

Here is a picture of how the foot looks now (may not be for the queasy stomachs out there):

We will keep you posted as we make progress toward a full recovery. Sarah will hopefully soon get back to more frequent blog posting. Go ahead and say a little prayer for her sanity....hopefully she will stay sane during this and not decide to hold a pillow down over my face!