Mad Hatters and Disneyland Fun

The Millers came to California. And, we all landed in Disneyland for a few days. It was a lot of fun!

It was so much fun to see the Miller clan. I miss you guys already. Please come back soon!

A preview: Jacob's Baptism.

Julie and Adam took a lot of darling photos at Jacob's baptism.

Mine are not so great, since I forgot to bring my good camera, and only had my camera phone.

So, until they upload their fantastic photos. I will let you guys preview mine here.

We are all so proud of you Jacob!

Snow Days!!

This is pretty much all we've been doing for the past two weeks, mingled with a little school! We woke up to 20 inches this morning!!

Familyhood of the travelling wig

A few nights ago Mark shaved mom's head, because that fateful moment finally came. The hair loss... sigh! And, then he shaved his own in solidarity. When I saw the picture on my phone, I was overcome by emotion, tenderness and love for both of them. I love our family. You guys rock.

When meme was in Connecticut with the 2nd generation Brinkerhoff kids, they were totally enamored of her wig. So, each of them tried it on.

And, wouldn't you know it, the wig looked fabulous on everyone!?!

Christmas in Connecticut

This year Meme, Papa, and I (Ali) had the great privilege of sharing Christmas with Adam, Julie, Haley, Jacob, Izzy, and Sadie in Connecticut. And, blizzard aside, it was a perfect Christmas! I decided to just upload a bunch of the photos and let the pictures tell the story.

Gated!

The "what are we waiting for" look.

(Oddly enough, with the except on one photo Meme snuck into, I forgot to take any photos of the adults. What can I say, my camera is just drawn to kids).



Thanks Brinks for letting us come (most especially Jules, for all that you did to make us feel at home, we love you more than you will ever know.)

What did the rest of you fools do for Christmas? What did the kids get? Post some pictures people! Why am I the only one who adds to this blog?!?!?

The Best Kind of Date.

While I was on a business trip last week I had a few free nights and so I decided to go on some dates.

The best kind of dates. Auntie Dates. I told each of my four (4) nieces and nephews that they could pick one place to eat and one activity. Needless to say, I spend quite a bit of time at Chuck E. Cheese (where a kid AND an adult can be a kid).

Date #1: Ethan

Dinner: McDonalds

Activity: Chuck E. Cheese

E and I decided to hit up McDonald's because they have a wicked playground and a mean sundae. His favorite meal is a happy meal, which made him a happy little man. (He ate 2 nuggets! - Who eats that little!?!) Ethan was a champ! He won a 182 tickets. And, he went on all the rides. (Can we call those quarter things that move about rides?!?). He got some cool prizes, and of course, bought tootsie pops for each of his sisters. Sweet kid! Anyway, I had a lovely evening. Apparently, so did E, because the next night when I went to pick up Livvy, he said that he didn't care what we were doing, he wanted to come!

Date #2: Olivia

Dinner: Chic-Fil-A

Activity: Nail Salon

Livvy is my glamour girl. She loves to do anything that's stylish and girlie. And, I couldn't love that more! She and I got our nails done. She got a lovely flower. I ALMOST got a lovely flower, but not intentionally, I just couldn't understand what I was being asked. I jacked up my pedi right away (but, luckily, Wes is getting me a new one for my birthday! - Whew). Livvy got a peppermint milkshake and loved it. After dinner and the nail salon, we braved the rain and went to the Loft to see if we could find any steals, she helped me find a darling new outfit. I think she's going to have her mother's taste in style!

Date #3: Chloe

Dinner: Chic-Fil-A (These kids LOVE Chic-Fil-A!)

Activity: We TRIED to go to Incredible Pizza, but it had been turned into a buffet or something, so we opted for Chuck E. Cheese.

We ate at Chic-Fil-A, and Chloe decided that she needed to try the peppermint milkshake too. Chloe trumped Ethan's score, and got a 257. We played almost every game in the joint. And, Chloe was a superstar! When she went to buy her prizes a little toddler was crying because he didn't have enough tickets to get the toy he wanted. Chloe bought the toy and spent 60 of her tickets. She's such a sweet little tender hearted sharer. We had a blast!

Date #4: Christian

Dinner: Chic-Fil-A (Christian couldn't stop talking about how he wanted to make Uncle Adam jealous by eating at his favorite restaurant - apparently all the ones in Manhattan are overrated?!?)

Activity: Well....

Christian could not get over how he was eating at Uncle Adam's favorite restaurant. He was also amazed that Adam ate 12 chicken nuggets AND fries AND a chicken sandwich... AND... he got Adam a present (look for it in the mail). Mr. C. kind of got the shaft, we didn't have enough time to go anywhere for an activity, so I took him to CVS (shameful, I know). I told him he could pick out two toys and I'd play with him at home for our activity. He picked out some wax sticks and a glow-n-the-dark something-something. But, he assured me that he would take any additional toys I wanted to buy him, why stop at two? (I also forgot to take many photos... oops).

And the Tooth Fairy is . . . JAKE?!

I just had to post about the package that came in the mail for Ethan while we were traveling last week. In all the hubbub of arriving home over the weekend and then scrambling to get ready for school on Monday, it slipped my mind to give it to him. I finally remembered to have him open it today, and guess what he got? A bag of Blow Pops from his cousin Jacob.

Here's the back story: During our family reunion in July, Ethan lost his first tooth, which was of course super exciting. Jake was really happy for Ethan and, for some reason, decided that he want to buy a whole bag of lollipops for Ethan to commemorate the occasion. (If I recall correctly, he had just seen a bag of lollipops at a convenience store and thought they would make a great gift. You can't argue with that logic.) After we got home from the reunion, Ethan mentioned a few times that Jake had promised to send the lollipops to him, and I told him that probably wouldn't happen because, 1) kids promise things all the time that they then either forget about or can't deliver on, and 2) Jake's parents likely wouldn't want the hassle of mailing a bunch of lollipops, not to mention the fact that they would cost twice as much to send as they would to buy in the first place. Not a big deal, anyway, since Ethan eventually dropped it and moved on.

Well, it turns out that Jake both has a better memory and is far more dependable than the average kid. When Jake gives his word, you can take it to the bank, baby! It also turns out that Jake's mom is both more patient and more willing to support her child's charitable impulses than the average parent. (Okay, fine, I'm talking about me.) Which isn't breaking news, believe me. So I've posted a picture of Ethan with his lollipops and, if you can make it out, the little gap where his two bottom front teeth used to be. (He lost the second one a couple of weeks ago.) The first words out his mouth when he saw what was in the package were, "I knew Jake would keep his promise!"

You've earned Ethan's undying trust, Jake, through the best possible means for earning any kid's trust--candy. Thanks for being such a great cousin. We love you and your sisters so, so much.