Merry Christmas

We hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and that you get time to get snuggly & warm in your Christmas jammies with family and friends.

~hugs
The Brownsteins

This is Max's new most favorite toy in the whole world. Apparently the rumor I heard is true, they prefer playing with the box.

Taking a nap with the dogs is his 2nd favorite thing to do. This is them right as they woke up today.

(Just kidding, for some reason the dogs tried jumping up there today so I put them in for a picture).

Busy Day

Yesterday I felt seriously motivated to get crafty. Max & Magnolia is participating in a boutique in LA the middle of December so Natalie and I have had to get busy. I cranked out a couple snowman hats, several bows, organized my buttons & checked my email. But this is the price you pay for neglecting to watch where you son was heading while you do all that. I'm guessing ash doesn't taste too good, cuz' it was all running down his chin. So why oh why did he keep eating it?

Sooo, it was off to the bathtub for Max. All I have to say is "splishy splashy" and he knows exactly where he is going and gets all squirmy with excitement.

After that it was outside to check on the status of the tree trimmers we had come clean up our yard. It was becoming way too much for us to take care of. Plus we never could figure out the layout or plan the previous owners were going for, so out came all the hard stuff to take care of. I was amazed at the guy who could shimmy up our redwood tree w/o any hint of fear and with a chain saw swinging from his waist hack away at the tree. Crazy.

You can kind of see the guy here as he gets started towards the top.

Almost done.

The finished tree. It's amazing how much light gets into our family room now.

Beware! Read if you Dare!

It was a dark and scary night. It was oddly warm, even for Southern California. You could smell sticky sweetness in the air. Was it cider or blood? There were goblins & ghosts, there where spooks & skeletons, and there were dragons & princesses & lobsters! Dragons, princesses and lobsters? Ok, maybe not all very scary, but very cute.

Our friends Laura and Eric Daines recommended an awesome street in Sierra Madre to check out for trick or treating. Honestly, I've never seen anything like it on a residential street. These people must be some serious Halloween lovers.

I thought the "shoe" tombstone was fitting for me :)

My Mom, Dad, sister, her husband and kids joined us.

The best part of the night was the house with the witch. You could go up and get your picture taken with her. Probably not the best idea to let our son be held by her as she was being served served booze through a straw. Who know how many drinks she had.

Max made a pretty good haul for a 1 yr old. We'll definately remember this place for next year!

While we waited for my family to arrive, we went to a couple of our neighbors with the dogs. Let's just say that Boo Radley was not very enthusiastic about her costume. I think she wanted to be the "Bad Dog" .

i'm a Bella

I read the Twilight series every night after Max went to bed for 3 days straight while staying at my sisters house this June. I bought the final one the day after it came out. So, yes, I got hooked. Saw this quiz on Niki's blog & took the quiz. Which are you?

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

Party #2

I'm a little late posting this, and all I have are the same old excuses, so I'll just tell you about his 2nd party on 10/20 (official b-day). Just a small shindig with a few close friends and our buds from MortgageIT. I made way too many treats and one was purely to post on the blog. Can you guess which one? (thanks to Natalie, Mike and Marshal for helping out in a pinch!)

The spread:

Some guests:

A happy and not so happy Fallon. What sort of mother forces a party hat on her son? oops, I mean daughter.

RJ & Max . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jean & Weston

Ciana & Sienna (that's a tong twister!)

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Trying to get photos of the 1 yr olds. They had their own ideas.

Party #1 for Max's 1st B-day

Max is having 3 parties (doesn't every 1 year old?). Today was for family and we had a nice quiet lunch, presents & cupcakes. We had to let him go to town on his own cupcake which he inhaled- literally. It didn't start off well, but its his party and he can cry if he wants too :) I didn't exactly put the party hat on right (see photo below). The only way to get him to stop crying was to force a taste of frosting in his mouth. After a quick hose down he crashed for about 3 hrs. I should have taken advantage and grabbed a nap of my own.