Ben and Logan going for another ride

See a pattern?

Ben and Logan going for a ride

Winter Wonderland!

Merry Christmas!!!

We had a great Christmas morning. The kids had so much fun!


Santa brought a bike for Ainsley.

Logan got a bike from Santa.


The kids found the bikes outside like this.


Madison read a poem from Santa telling them where there bikes were.

Logan got a robot.

The girls got Snuggie's that they wanted.

Logan got some army men.

Bay Area Fun

We went down to the Bay Area for a few days before Christmas and had a wonderful time. Here are just a couple of pictures from our trip:

The girls at McDonalds with their cousin Samantha after roller skating!

Logan all set to watch the Princess and the Frog.

The girls ready to watch the movie.

We went to see Princess and the Frog, played Rock Band (I did a lot! I later found out my kids made cookies and crafts-Thanks Mom!), played outside, went Roller Skating, went to McDonalds, did Christmas shopping and had tons of fun.

Popcorn Chex Mix

Thank you Mattie and Aubree for introducing me to this yummy chex mix. I love it and so does everyone else.

1 box Chex (rice or corn)
1 bag popped popcorn (Try to get all the kernels out!)
1 cup slivered almonds (optional but I recommend even more!)
1 cup whole pecans (optional but I recommend chopped up and more!)
Put in a Big bowl and mix around

In a sauce pan boil:
4 sticks of butter
2 cups brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup corn syrup
Bring to a boil for 5 minutes

After being boiled, dump over mixture and place on large cookie sheet. Bake at 225 for one hour. I only do it for about 40 minutes becasue I like it softer.

After baking, put it back in the bowl and stir every 15 minutes so you don't get huge chunks.

SNOW IN FOLSOM!

I know when my family and friends in Utah, Idaho, Ohio, and Washington will laugh when they see these pictures but I had to post them. Madison came into my room one morning, far too early, saying that there was white stuff outside. I told her it was just frost on the grass and to go back to bed. Ben had to get up for work and looked outside and said, "Nicole, there is snow outside!" I could not believe it. It was not much, but it WAS snow and the kids were excited to run out and see it.

The Men in My Life

My Little Man

Before we went to church, I had to take this picture. He is getting so big. He got a haircut the day after this!

Double Decker Fudge

I got this from a recipe exchange a long time ago and love it. It is so easy and turns out great every time! Enjoy.

1 Cup Reeses Peanut Butter Chips (I used peanut butter and it turned out great)
1 Cup Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips
2 1/4 cups white sugar
1 (7oz) Jar Marshmallow Creme (I used marshmellows melted down)
3/4 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla

1. Line 8" pan with foil, extending foil over edges of pan. Measure peanut butter chips into one medium bowl and chocolate chips into second medium bowl.

2. Combine sugar, marshmallow creme, evaporated milk and butter in heavy 3 qt. saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture boils. Boil and stir for 5 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla.

3. Immediately stir 1/2 hot mixture into peanut butter chips until chips are completely melted. Pour into prepared pan. Stir remaining 1/2 hot mixture into chocolate chips until chips are competely melted. Quickly spread over top of peanut butter layer.

4. Cool completely. Remove from pan; place on cutting board. Peel off and discard foil; cut into 1 inch squares. Store tightly covered.

Fun Video

Make sure you pause the music player below first.

Thanksgiving 2009

We had the best Thanksgiving week. We went to the Bay Area for the first half of the week. We started it off by taking the girls to see "Wicked" in San Francisco. They LOVED the BART ride and the show. We also got to help the community with sorting food for deliveries to families in need. We then got to go to the zoo. We came back home in time to have a huge feast with Ben's family and we went to pick out our Christmas tree. Everyone is so excited for Christmas! Thank you mom and dad and Danielle for so much fun! Thank you Barbara and Myles for so much yummy food and great company. We had such a fun week!

Family Pictures 2009

My talented friend Michelle (who also designed my blog) met us at my in-laws house and did family pictures for us. They turned out really good. Thank You so much Michelle! Enjoy!

Ainsley's Progress Report

Ben and I got to go to Ainsley's Parent/Teacher conference yesterday and it was a lot of fun. She has a wonderful teacher and is really LOVING school. She looks forward to going every day and is always telling me who her new friends are. She seems to have a lot of boyfriends or, as she puts it, "boys that are in love with me". She has a very healthy self esteem at the moment. Here are the highlights of our conference:

Reading Level is right at grade level and effort is Outstanding.
She is right at level with writing and math.
She is Outstanding at Respecting school and classroom rules and cooperating with adults. (SHOCKER!)
She is Outstanding at following directions(what?), stays on task(really?), completes classroom work on time, and works great independently.

Ben and I were shocked and amazed. Our Ainsley??? She sounded like an angel. (which I always knew as hiding in there somewhere!)

The teacher loves Ainsley and says that she is very social and she never has to worry about her. She says that she feels that Ainsley should continue to love school because it will probably come easy to her. This was really fun to hear.

I could not help but feel proud and excited that she was doing so well and is so happy. She really is growing up and we are enjoying getting to know her better.

Dit?

Whenever I find myself laughing so hard with my children, I know it is a moment I need to document. Well, this is how I will document it. Today at lunch, we had several funny moments. I was making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and I hear Madison say to Ainsley, "Yum, this dead animal restaurant is delicious." "Don't you love dead animals Ainsley?"

I turned around and asked what she was talking about. Little did I know that I was in for a science lesson. "You see mother, we are spotted hyenas. We do not hunt, we eat dead animals. We are, what you would call, "garbage collectors". There are many "garbage collectors" around like vultures."

I asked where she read all of this and she said it was in a book at school called, "Animal Appetites." I was laughing so hard. She LOVES science stuff.

After that, we somehow got onto a discussion about appropriate words and discussions at the lunch table. I heard Ainsley ask, "What is the D word?" Madison replied, "I know it ends in 'it'" Ainsley then turns to me and asked, "Dit is a bad word?" It really made me laugh. At least I know she is putting sounds together well. I explained that there are words for every letter in the alphabet that we should not be saying. We do not need to try to guess them all day. I guess there will be no more using "Dit" in our house.

A Homework Moment

Tonight I was working on homework with Madison. One of her questions was, "If I could live anywhere I wanted to, I would live..." She thought long and hard. I mentioned Hawaii or Castro Valley (near the way far away grandma and grandpa). She did not seem to like my suggestions. She replied, "No, I was thinking more like Venice or Pennsylvania". (are those places ever in the same sentence?) She really makes me laugh!

Our Sunday Morning

We had some extra time to kill this morning with the time change so the children wanted a photo shoot. They got some new dresses from Grandma Brown and they wanted to show them off. Logan just wanted to be a part of it all. We had fun and actually got to church on time.

Happy Halloween 2009!

Happy Halloween from the Brown family. We had a great Halloween. We went from party to party and the kids are already talking about next year. Thank you "close Grandma and Grandpa" for all the great costumes. We had so much fun!


Wicked Madison!

Super Logan!

Madison the Wicked Witch

Super James and Super Logan

James and Logan

Madison, Lily, Ainsley, Jack and Cole

Logan with Bishop Larson

Logan and Cohen (Super Logan and Bat Cohen)

Hailee and Ainsley (Cinderella and Dorothy)

Super Logan at McDonald's

Angry Dorothy at McDonald's

Our Halloween at McDonald's

Elphaba the Wicked Witch (aka Madison)

Madison, Ainsley and Logan

Logan and Ainsley

Strong Logan