The cousins made Evelyn a matching blanket and they all had fun playing

 We decorated Christmas cookies

 Read some stories

 Got ready for church

We had a lovely time at our church’s Christmas Eve service. Then we came home, had some dinner, did some Christmas crafts and got the kids settled down for bed (they were excited to sleep so Christmas would come sooner). After the kids were in the bed, the adults enjoyed some time drinking homemade kahlua and coffee (thanks, Marcie!), stuffing stockings, and staying up much too late.

Christmas crafts

Derek made homemade cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning but did all the prep work the night before so all we had to do was pop them in the oven the next day!

 Merry Christmas!

 Sophia and Alex patiently waited for Evelyn to wake up and for the adults to get coffee

 Grandma Kathy Skyped in to enjoy the gift opening

 Her very own little kitchen!

 YUMMY!

 The perfect gift for our daughter who is currently obsessed with airplanes (Thanks, Grandma!)

 She kind of got tired of opening gifts so decided to play on them instead

 A box full of gifts from Auntie Mandy

 A teapot from Auntie Jenn and Tio (Uncle Richie)

 He was kind of excited

 The only time we will allow Beaver gear in our house!

 Trying on Alex’s “hat”

 Name puzzle from Grandma and Grandpa Brown

 Playing with her new laptop

 Tea party with Tio

 And some family group shots

 The day after Christmas – play continues

 Cute cousins

The holiday went by far too fast. They arrived Christmas Eve and left the day after Christmas. But we are so thankful that we were able to spend Christmas with family in our own home. Lots of memories were made and we had such a blast.

Though Evelyn celebrated her first Christmas last year, she understands a lot more this year and seeing her little face light up when she sees “mis mis lights” or “mis mis trees” or hears “bimble bells” is priceless. Celebrating Christmas when you have a kid is a whole new, wonderful experience. We have found ourselves going a little over the top for her sake and it’s such a blast.

A couple weeks ago we picked out our Christmas tree at a local lot (we weren’t willing to risk cutting down our own this year and getting stuck in the snow again!), put on some Christmas music, dressed Evelyn in her Christmas PJs and decorated the tree.

Oops! A “Christmas Vacation” moment

 It’s blury but I still love it

 Evelyn helping with the final touch

We are feeling very blessed by all the Christmas cards we have been receiving and so grateful for friends and family near and far. 

Have a very, Merry Christmas!

Turkey Trot 5k:

Thanksgiving dinner and family:

Happy Holidays!

This is before our Turkey Trot 5k on Thanksgiving morning. My sister made Derek a shirt that says “Don’t Worry I’m a Doctor” on the front and “Dr. Brown” on the back. The run was the perfect opportunity to wear it.

Congratulations, Dr. Brown!

(For a recap of my 5k race, check it out here)

Evelyn really enjoys to sing and is getting better and better. The other day Derek tried to teach her “Jingle Bells”. This is not her best rendition but the end of the video shows something she has been doing A LOT of lately:

"Dada do it" and "Mama do it" are said multiple times daily (usually in 
reference to singing a song) and answering "k" to her own questions 
continues to crack us up especially when it's something that she wants 
that is not actually ok.

Purposefully hiding things and asking where they went has become a new 
favorite. She has also picked up from us how to reply with "I don't 
know" ("I no no"). It's pretty darn cute:


She is currently obsessed with airplanes. She hears airplanes flying by 
when we are in our house (even when we don't hear them) and almost always 
runs to the window to try and find them. She gets pretty stoked when she 
happens to spot one while she's playing outside:


I am not even sure what is happening in this video but it captures some 
of the essence of Evelyn. Her silliness and fun spirit:


I guess it was inevitable but she has fully learned the word "no" and 
loves to use it:

Since this video her "no" has become much more clear (much to my dismay). 
Her first response to almost everything right now is "no".

She has also started doing this which is pretty adorable:

This past week we took Evelyn to a local farm to visit the Pumpkin Patch, she is quite obsessed with “pun-tins” and was in heaven seeing them sprawled across the field. It was a lovely day and we enjoyed some wonderful family time together.

The final push to the finish line

Through our training, Jess and I found ourselves constantly wanting to write down or share our struggles or new tips or just how awesome our run was that day. From this we got the idea to start our very own mommy-runner blog! There are several of these out there so we thought “why not?” and therefore our very own blog was born. It’s called The Mommy Miles (www. themommymiles.blogspot.com) and I would absolutely love for you to follow along as we continue our running adventures and juggle all elements of life as running moms. You can also find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter (@TheMommyMiles).

For a full race report of my half marathon, head on over to The Mommy Miles and read my post here.

I am so proud!

Exactly 18 months ago she was this:

And now our silly little girl is this:

Evelyn is an absolute joy! She cracks us up on a daily basis and is just so full of life and energy. Granted she is hard to keep up with, but I wouldn’t want it any other way. She is always on the go, constantly absorbing new information and is getting taller by the day. The summer has been amazing because she truly loves being outside. She would probably pitch a tent and live in the backyard if we let her! She is learning so much and her vocabulary grows by leaps and bounds on a daily basis. We’re understanding more and more what she is trying to tell us and we know that she understands most things we try to communicate to her (even if she chooses not to listen sometimes!). She still loves to dance and her new thing is jumping (“jump, jump, jump” she says) or at least her version of jumping. She’s pretty stinkin adorable.

She hasn’t had her 18 month check-up yet but we did weigh her on the scale at the airport a couple weeks ago and she was about 25 pounds. I imagine she is still in the upper percentile for height as well since she is taller than all her little friends and we constantly get the “she’s tall” comment. I guess she had better get used to hearing it!

She has recently learned her shapes and we are very proud, here’s a video:

And one of her jumping: