Christmastown Weekend - November 21-23, 2014

We headed down to Williamsburg Friday evening after work after we dropped this little stinker off with his grandmom and nana.

We stopped for dinner at Chickfila to give Myla a break from the car ride. Traveling with toddlers is oh so fun then hit the road again. Myla did pretty good until she was over it and we had to resort to streaming Minnie Mouse on the iphone. Thank goodness for technology. We arrived and checked in to the hotel around 8pm. Myla found her new favorite toy....

She seriously carried those cups and the ice bucket around all weekend long! Who needs to pack toys? Anyhoo, we pretty headed to bed after we settled in.
We were up bright and early Saturday morning, stopped at the free breakfast in the lobby, then headed to visit Auntie Ashton.

We hadn't seen her new house yet either, so it was great to hang out with her and see her cute new home! Myla was all decked out in her Christmas gear and I absolutely love this reindeer top. I think I need one!

Taking a nice posed picture of a toddler to showcase their cute outfit is, well, NOT happening! HAHA! After hanging at Ashton's for a while, we decided to head to Honeybutter's for lunch. Chicken fingers for all the Perrys! Then, it was time to head back to the hotel and get Myla her nap so that she wouldn't be little miss crankypants for Christmastown. She fell asleep right away. Thank goodness. She woke up around 2 and we headed out for Busch Gardens. We were so excited to take her and couldn't wait to get there! My parents and the Williams were meeting us there and it was going to be super fun. Until......Myla started whining and crying and pretty much nothing would make her happy. And, if you know her, being outside is her jam. It made no sense. We couldn't figure it out and I felt completely helpless and all I wanted to do was get out of there! We ended up leaving after being there for only about 2 hours. We did manage to see the Scrooge show - the only time Myla wasn't crying. She absolutely LOVED it. She took her first amusement park ride on the mini clydesdales - she absolutely HATED it. She rode right next to Jayden and she cried and shook her head NO as soon as it started. I think the woman running it felt bad and stopped it after only going around like 2 times - haha! So, Myla did get to do a few firsts at Christmastown so it wasn't a complete bust. And, here is the scoop on Myla and her crankiness - she was constipated. As soon as we got back to the room, she took 2 nice poops and then was jumping on the bed. Oh the joy! Seriously?! Good thing she is a cutie patootie! Oh, and I may or may not have had a minor panic attack trying to get out of Christmastown because of ALL of the people. Like seriously, sooooooo many people and we couldn't walk fast to get out to be able to help calm Myla down. Broke my heart not to be able to help her and to feel so helpless and the tears just came!

After Myla felt better from her poops and stopped jumping on the bed, she chowed down on her chicken nuggets and then we all went to bed! What an adventure!
On Sunday, we got up at the crack of dawn and decided to try to make the most of our last day before we headed home. We had breakfast at our favorite place, Mama Steve's. Myla had her first meal from Mama Steve's - her own order of silver dollar pancakes and sausage (her favorite).

Rockin her new vest that her auntie Ashton bought her.

 After breakfast, we headed back to the hotel to take Myla to the pool before we had to check out.

We checked out and headed to the outlet mall. We got to shop for a while before it got extra crowded, got some Christmas presents, and then headed home! We got home just in time to watch the Redskins lose again! HAHA!

Toodles!

Brown Family Christmas Party 2013

The annual Brown family Christmas party was held on the Saturday after Christmas this year since D.J. wasn't supposed to come home until Friday and he didn't want to miss it. The day was definitely eventful this year. James broke his fingernail off and fractured his bone around 1pm just before the party was supposed to start. Brian had to take him to the hospital and they didn't get back to the party until around 6pm. They both needed a drink after that! Family started arriving around 3-4pm and we all caught up on life, ate, drank, and watched the kiddos. Dad and Mom made amazing food as usual and everyone brought something yummy. We had ham biscuits, meatballs, deviled eggs, green beans, mac and cheese, corn pudding, potato casserole and lots of desserts. Mmmmm!!! After we ate, the kids all opened their gifts. It was fun to actually have a kid this year to be able to open presents. She got lots of awesome things from her cousins and great aunts and uncles. Then, it was time to tell everyone our big announcement. So, once again, Myla had to go change into her sister onesie. My Dad brought her out and handed her to my cousin, Patty. We knew she would cry and she did. It was a cute moment. The ladies stayed upstairs chit chatting like usual and the men headed downstairs to play pool. This has become a tradition and I just love this party. It's good to see all of my aunts and uncles and spend some time together during the holidays. Myla had an awesome time too. Can't wait for next year!

 

Myla's First Christmas

On Christmas eve, I had to work until 3pm, but Brian and Myla headed to Nana and Nanny's house early that day. They spent the day with them and when I got there we all ate dinner. Nana out did herself like usual and we had ham, fried turkey, mashed potatoes, corn pudding, broccoli casserole, deviled eggs, green beans, bread, and so on and so on. That woman can cook!!! Brian's uncle, aunt, and cousin were there visiting too and we exchanged presents with them before they left around 5pm. After they left, Myla got to open her presents from them and us too since we weren't going to be going there on Christmas day. But before, we started opening presents, I slipped in to the other room to change Myla's diaper. I had a secret to share, so I put Myla in this special shirt......

and I walked her out to the living room. Everyone's jaw dropped and Brian started crying. He didn't know I was pregnant. I had kept the secret for 3 LONG days. It was the exact reaction I wanted and it was a very special moment. After all the shock and oohs and ahhhs, we opened presents. We all were really spoiled and LOVED all of our presents. We left their house around 8pm and headed home to get ready for Santa! Myla went straight to sleep and Brian and I set up everything around the Christmas tree. It was beautiful and so exciting to do for the first time.

Christmas morning came fast and we were up around 7:30am. We brought Myla out to the living room after explaining to her it was Christmas! She was so happy opening her presents and loved the boxes and wrapping paper more than her presents....haha! Brian and I exchanged gifts and went way overboard for each other. It was a wonderful morning.

After we were done, we headed to my parents house around 10am. My sister, James, and Jayden met us there. We ran in the house like little kids to see what Santa brought us. And yes, Santa still comes even though I am 33 years old!!!  Before we started opening presents, we wanted to share our pregnancy secret. So, we took off Myla's pajamas and she was wearing the big sister shirt underneath. My sister screamed "Amy's pregnant!" and everyone was so excited. Another awesome moment! Last year at Christmas time, we announced that we were having a baby girl and this Christmas we announced we were expecting again. Christmas has a way of bring BIG announcements. But, don't plan on any next year....hahaha! After the announcement, we opened our stockings and then our presents, ate breakfast, and relaxed watching Jayden and Myla play with their new toys. It was different with D.J. not being there (they are doing the every other Christmas thing), but things are changing as we all get older and I have come to accept it. But, we all got a HUGE surprise when D.J. and Cayte showed up at 7pm and surprised us all. It was AWESOME!! So, of course, we decided to open all of those presents. Holy cow did we open a lot of presents!!! It was a great Christmas!!! Spending Myla's first Christmas with both of our families and sharing our announcement in such a special way makes us feel really blessed and excited for the future.