Merry Christmas!

We have much to be thankful for this holiday season. Having a new little son makes Christ's birth and Atonement all the more poignant. How thankful we are to have the gospel in our lives! And to have such wonderful relatives, friends, and neighbors to go along the journey of life with! We are so blessed! Merry Christmas to all!

Brown Family Christmas Party

These are from a family party at my Uncle Dave's house.

Great-grandma Brown reading to the girls.

Aunt Krista and Rachel

Daddy and son a.k.a. Farmer Luke

Nativity

Last night for family home evening we acted out the Nativity. The girls were so excited to do it because we have our own baby Jesus this year. And he actually stayed in the cradle (as opposed to Rachel last year who was 15 months old and crawled out and away).
Ben: Joseph
Emma: Mary
Rachel: Shepherd
Luke: Baby Jesus
Brooke: Wise man (not pictured)

Miss Bergin

Every day--and especially on days she attends preschool--Emma plays teacher. She teaches anyone who will listen, sometimes it's Rachel and sometimes it's her stuffed animals. Today she made her own worksheet on her easel, which I thought was absolutely adorable. Match the picture with its beginning sound. I was teaching kindergarten when I was pregnant with her; maybe listening in on all that teaching really influenced her!

Snow Babies

SANTA!

These pictures were taken at our ward Christmas breakfast on Saturday. Poor Rachel--she didn't want to have anything to do with Santa. Maybe next year. When I talked to her about Santa later, she said, "He's scary." Poor kid.

Luke's first Santa experience--isn't this a sweet picture?

We had my brother, Paul, over for dinner Friday night and enjoyed making a gingerbread house (note: the candy that comes with these kits is not really candy-don't eat it, it's nasty). Paul got creative and decided to dress up with the candy (since it's not edible, might as well wear it, right?). He makes a cute girl, don't you think?

Luke

WARNING: Naked baby picture. Ben told me Luke would hate me later for taking this picture, but how could I resist?


Ben has finally learned to multi-task. :) Reading a bedtime story to the girls and feed the baby at the same time. Congrats Ben!

Oh, baby!

What is it about baby smiles? I can't get enough of 'em! Emma's addicted to baby smiles too. We both love to bring out those addictive smiles on Luke all day long. (Sorry I can't figure out how to rotate these pictures--turn your head sideways to get the best view) :)

L & R

Do you see a resemblance between Luke and Rachel? I sure do. Too bad the picture of Rachel wasn't taken from the side like Luke's, then we could really see the similarities. They're definitely siblings!

Luke, I am your father

Cute daddy-son pictures. Do you think Luke looks like Ben?

Thanksgiving Pics

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. My favorite: the pumpkin pie, although Sue and Marian make a mean dutch apple pie that definitely competes. I am so grateful for a million things, especially the gospel, my Savior, and having so many people that I love in my life.

The girls love their Aunt Sue! Emma asked me the other day if Susie could live at our house.


I finally caught a good pic of Luke smiling! Look at those dimples! Grandma Bergin was tickling him and he loved it!

Banana Boats

Okay, if you have never tried banana boats, you need to. ASAP. We made them for FHE a few weeks ago. You just slice open a banana lengthwise, tuck in goodies like chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, peanut butter, mini marshmallows, etc., wrap up the bananas in foil and bake at 400 F for 20 minutes or so until the filling is melted and yummalicious. Scoop out and enjoy!

Pucker up!

My girls love grapefruit--straight up, no sugar on it. Weird, huh? Now I like grapefruit too, but I'm a grownup. Here are the girls sucking out all the juice they can get.

My Awesome Kids

I just have to brag up my cute kids a bit.

Emma played with Rachel all morning--reading whatever books Rachel wanted to read, helping her stack a huge tower of blocks, helping her color with markers. And then at lunch Emma dragged Rachel's chair over close to her chair so that they could sit right next to each other (and I mean RIGHT next to each other) and then Emma kept giving Rachel bites of her yogurt. It was the sweetest!

Last night Rachel kissed Luke's head and said "I love Luke so much." And then she proceeded to name all the people she loved "so much."

This morning, Luke GIGGLED. Now I know he's only seven weeks old, but he really did giggle! He loves it when I sing with him and move his arms around. I was singing "Roll Your Arms" to him and he giggled! My heart was mush.

Oh, how I love my kids!

Weekend pictures

My dad got to be here for bedtime with the girls Friday night--snuggles on Emma's bed!


My little cutie

Daddy moment

Luke is about big enough to hold Rachel!

Cute sisters

Sweet Ray Ray --she is my sunshine!

Luke is Blessed

Luke was blessed yesterday by his wonderful father. Thank you to all those attended and supported us! Luke has so much love in his life.

What great men Luke has to look up to!

The sleep-deprived parents!

The Grandmas (Granby--we wish you were in it too!)

My brother, Paul III with Paul IV

The main man! Look at his little tie!