The Spring Break MegaPost

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS NO LESS THAN 22 PICTURES, plus captions. If a picture says a thousand words, then this is the Victor Hugo version of the Brown family spring break. I hope you can finish looking at this post before next week's update!

This week, Jay and I left Jeff at home and drove the 4 1/2 hours to visit my family. My sister Em and her 2 boys flew in from Missouri, so the only person missing was Brad, (who is almost done serving a mission in Portugal). We did all of the things that we love to do when we get together: we ate tons (and I mean tons) of delicious food, did crafts, went shopping, played with babies, watched General Conference, took a million cute pictures, and played games. And Dad and I went on a 90 minute trail run in the mountains. (I added that one separately because that's something that ONLY Dad and I call fun). Thanks for all the good times, family!

And now, on to the one million pictures: (I only posted about 1/8th of the pictures we took...)

Jay and I met baby Dan for the first time. (Dan is almost 5 months old) Jay liked poking and grabbing Dan because he didn't poke or grab back. Steve (2 yrs old) on the other hand, was much bigger and stronger than Jay, and I think Jay was jealous! Jay got this worried upset look on his face whenever Steve got too close, and they had a few tussles over toys.

The Seattle area had some crazy weather this spring break: sunshine, rain, hail, snow, and fog!

We made the cousins matching PJ pants! (Dan had some too, but he was asleep for the picture)

These poor little boys had to sit through far too many photo shoots. An airplane was passing overhead for this one

I wish I had a video of the CRAZY things we were doing to keep their attention and coax some smiles!

mmmm we made and decorated Easter cookies!

no cookie shall go naked...

...but these 3 cute boys did!

We gave them a bath in the morning, and Jay has his rosy "I like to scrub my face in my blankets all night" face. Jay kept floating into Steve. It was hilarious, because Jay didn't necessarily want to be quite that close

I got to babysit Dan, and I think he likes me.

The men watching the Final Four. Poor Butler.

WE WALKED TO THE PARK:

Mom (aka Grama Meri) and I took Jay and Steve to the park one sunny morning.

My mom climbed all over the playground to protect Jay from his own curiosity, and she walked at Steve's inchworm pace up the HUGE hill on the way home. (I walked Jay up in the stroller and then went back for Steve, and they were almost halfway up the hill!)

What a sweet Grandma

WE WENT TO THE PARK AGAIN:

Kyle (my brother) gave Steve rides on his skateboard

I was as long as the slide

I have been wanting to ride a skateboard with my jogging stroller for so long, and Kyle let me try it out with his skateboard. Steve volunteered to be my copilot. I was pretty wobbly for most of the time, but Kyle gave me a few tips and I managed to do a few scoots without tripping or stumbling! It was hard! I think I prefer my razor scooter.

Jay's favorite park activity. If he could talk, he'd say "push me higher!!!" I think that's what his kicks and giggles and squeals mean while he's swinging.

Steve prefers to swing with his auntie.

The g-parentals with their posterity

I love my sisters!

Hobbies

We have several hobbies around here:

Jay loves to crawl, climb, clap, and eat bananas

Jeff and I love to play weekly Sunday Scrabble games. I am on a 2 week winning streak, and I recently got my best score: 512 points!

And I have really started to enjoy the challenge of making cute cards for all occasions:

My brother Brad turned 21 yesterday!! He'll be home from Portugal this summer! YAY!

Who said ducks don't have teeth?

Le bebe au natural

Happy 10 month birthday to Jay! I can't believe he's that old already! Time really does fly. Jay's "GrandmaDear" randomly got a free sample of baby formula in the mail, so today at lunch Jay tried his first-ever formula. Since he won't drink from a bottle, I put it in his cup. He took two swigs and then did a huge, hilarious SHUDDER, and would not touch the stuff after that. I'm glad I didn't waste any money on this experiment! What can I say, I have an all natural baby!

4 months old

10 months old. He still fits the same shirt and vest! (different pants)

Oh, and speaking of "all natural," check out Jay's Sunday pants after church! They looked like this after a mere 20 minutes of crawling around the halls! [There was an activity at the church yesterday, so we think that's why it was so dirty this week.]

Apparently we need to vacuum our poor church more?

Sunny Jay

If you can believe it, Jay will be 10 months old in just a few short days!!! He had his latest doctor visit this week. BABY STATS: 18 lbs 12 oz, 28.5 inches tall, 100% healthy, and 200% happy! Man we love this little person!

Each day, the 4 rooms in our apartment start out clean and bare. After a few hours of Jay happily crawling around dismantling the place, it looks a lot more homey! Jay's toy box is slowly starting to resemble a trash heap-- he just loves junk! Examples: an empty vitamin container, a piece of yarn, a scrap of ribbon, an old water bottle half full, an old membership card, a granola bar wrapper (tied in a knot), and the lid to a baby food jar. Every time I get back from a run, Jay makes a beeline for my running shoes--he loves to bite the laces! Jay's love of random junk is one reason that the only toy we've ever paid money for is a single small ball!

Ok, so this little jump suit is still a tad too long--Jay keeps losing his leg in it!

Other stuff: ummmm My life has been kind of slow lately, but Jeff is officially DONE with taking classes for his Master of Teaching degree. Now it's on to GIVING classes: student teaching (along with job-hunting--prayers appreciated). It's spring and I've still only knitted about 7 rows on my scarf. New goal: knit a scarf by next winter! I'm still enjoying concocting creative cards, and I'm about half way through reading Born to Run. It's like the longest Sports Illustrated article ever written! But far more interesting since it's about the BEST sport ever... RUNNING!

Moving along

Yesterday Jeff was denied by Teach for America. Boo! When I asked him how he felt about it, he said he was surprised, but he felt happy! The only reason I was bummed about it is I just want to have the security of KNOWING that Jeff has a job lined up so we have a place to go when he graduates in June. I like to make plans. Oh the trials of faith (and patience). Why are they always exactly targeted at my ability to be patient? I guess a better opportunity will come when it comes. And by then I will be such a master of patience that it won't even surprise me!

And now, on to the token picture of the post. This is what Jay was doing until about 5 minutes ago...

Springy

It was another pleasant, springy week here: flowers started blooming, and I think it may actually really be springtime already! Yay! All of this good weather has inspired me to be outside as much as I can. So, Jay and I have made several excursions: we walked to the grocery store and ran to the park with the stroller, and even walked over to visit one of Jeff's grad classes with the baby basket (one of his professors loves Jay). We love spring!

Running makes Jay tired. I ran my 30 minutes around nearby neighborhoods and then stopped at the park, and by then, Jay was fast asleep...

While I was waiting for Jay to wake up, I did my crunches and played on the swings. (are you impressed that I took this picture of myself swinging with the 10 second timer on our camera?)

When I was done sprinting from camera to swing, I found a little cutie waiting for his turn!

Have I mentioned that I love having a little friend to take to the park? Jay swung on the swings, slid down the slide, and romped in the grass. Can you see that perfect strand of drool glistening all the way to the grass? I think Jay is working on some teeth, because he's been super drooooly and runny nosy all week, and now he has a little fever. Pobre hijo mio. We've had fun anyway, though!

One evening, we packed up and walked over to the university to meet Jeff after class. I love watching people's faces when they realize I have a baby in a basket on my back: indifference, confusion, comprehension, surprise, smile. All of that in the 5 seconds it takes for a car to pass!

Friday night was "date" night or (family outing night). We took a picnic to a nice open field behind the school and watched the sun set while we ate dinner. It got kind of cold, but I brought us fresh-out-of-the-oven enchiladas to warm us up.

Jeff finished eating first, whereupon he got all artistic with the camera. It was actually not dark at all--he just fiddled with the camera settings so he could get our silhouettes.

ooooooo

A delicious book:

If you haven't read this book yet, I HIGHLY recommend it!! My Mom sent it to me last week, and I devoured it in about 2 bites! It is the best, sweetest, "cozy-est" historical fiction that I've ever read!! I really want to visit Guernsey island now... just like how reading Anne of Green Gables makes me want to see Prince Edward Island... (don't worry, though, reading Twilight did not make me want to see Forks, WA. The Olympic National Forest, maybe, but not Forks.)