Merry Christmas, Matty Brown(ing)!

Actually it was a very merry Christmas for Matty Browning, the rest of the Brownings, Murpheys and Fussells, too. As we got about 1/2 way up the mountain we could start seeing leftover piles of snow off the side of the road, til by the time we got to Apple Mountain, there were at least 3 inches everywhere. It was our very own little winter wonderland. We took advantage of it while it lasted, with tons of sledding (check out the videos below!)

Christmas Eve was pretty low key, the men folk (minus Matty) took turns shoveling the ice from the driveway, Mom and Hudson made a gingerbread house and the kids each got to open a gift. Hudson got an awesome video camera from his other grandmother, Matty got a magnadoodle and my parents truly outdid themselves with their gifts to Jen and me. In front of our house in Macon is a gorgeous old Mulberry tree, at least 125 years old. It's as much a part of our home as the house itself. But sadly it's slowly dying and as a way to preserve its place in our hearts, Mom and Dad had a wood turner create original pieces of art from cuts off of our old Mulberry. They are so gorgeous! We'll always treasure our precious tree now, even if it doesn't last forever.



After a mean game of Pictionary and we were all in bed, and even though none of us were really home-home, Santa found us anyway, Matty and Hudson especially. We were all shocked there was any floorspace left to walk on after the paper storm ripped through the house!

We all loved our presents, but mostly we loved the time we were able to spend together. This was a very unique Christmas for us. Not at anyone's full time home, but together at our home away from home. It's been a pretty hard 2009 for our family, like many other families I know of. Lots of struggles this year for so many it seems. I can't think of a better way to have spent this Christmas, to bid farewell to 2009 and ring in what I know will be a much brighter 2010.

Merry Christmas everyone, and Happy New Year!

Christmas in Highlands: The Videos

This was the first day of our white Christmas experience in Highlands. This was just a few moments after the three of us arrived and the sleds were already out and everyone was tearing up the neighbor's driveway.

It turned out to be a good thing we got a few hours of sledding in when we did, because the weather warmed just enough for it to not only not snow again, but to melt away the few inches we had. But these were some fun hours, I know we'll always remember!

Hudson starts us off...

Like mother, like son: Jen...into the bushes!

Not that I can talk...at all...

Close up of Bop's butt...sorry Daddy, "zoom in" and "zoom out" are right beside each other on this thing...

Jen and I realized we'd never been sledding with our Mom before this day...this is me and Mom taking a turn...very cool :)

Ben shows us all how it's done...

Ben takes Matty down a hill just the right size for a little guy.

Matty had more fun doing this with his Daddy. After my turn, he looked at me and said, "Daddy?"

But as much as Matty liked sledding fast with Daddy, he also liked it nice and easy with Hudsey.

After our afternoon of sledding, there were still lots of fun times to be had, and Matty was an endless source of entertainment of course!

Here he is belting out his favorite tune for us...

Whenever Mom and Dad would have a glass of wine when Jen and I were little, they always said somehow the two of us ended up being the ones who got buzzed. I think we can see the tradition continues with this generation. Matty is crackin' himself up blowing zrbtts on Dad's ottoman.

Dreaming of a White Christmas

It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas...and a white Christmas at that! A few weeks ago, we ventured back to our home-away-from-home for the annual Highlands-Cashiers Christmas parade. In 6 years we've never been and I thought Matty would surely enjoy the festivities. We awoke that Saturday morning to a gorgeous blanket of snow on the ground, flakes still falling and crystalline trees as fas as the eye could see! It was so exciting! I drew open the curtains and Matty just said "woooowwwww!!"

The parade that followed was awfully cold but worth the cold noses and hot chocolate. Parade stars included the town's mayor, the high school homecoming court, the garden club, assorted dogs from the Humane Society, antique cars, and a frightening looking tooth fairy! Such hokey small town fun for a moment I thought I was in that Chevy Chase movie "Funny Farm!" However, amidst the cloggers and waves, I was truly moved by the old army Jeep, the aging war veteran in full uniform in the passenger seat and the sign which read: "This WWII Jeep went from Normandy to Berlin."

In spite of the cold, Matty loved the firetrucks and the dogs, but mostly the little snowman prize he was handed during the parade. This little snowman has become one of our most prized possessions and Matty's proudly named him "Tummy." Now all snowmen are "Tummy" and I think it's about the cutest thing I've ever heard in my life!

I wish I'd known the snow wouldn't even last until we made it back home, I would have ventured out to take some snapshots. By naptime it was almost all gone and we weren't able to break in the new sled...hopefully Christmas will be a different story!

"My First Book" Project

This was a cool project that I did for work, and I'm really proud of the success we had with it and I wanted to share!

Our Cape Town, South Africa office came up with the idea to take stock photography books, that litter ad agencies and are now useless because of online libraries, and turn them into children's books for kids from disadvantaged backgrounds. The President of our North America offices then challenged every JWT office worldwide to take their idea and make it their own.

We partnered with the Boys and Girls Club of Norcross and arranged to help rebuild their library, which was literally a closet with the door taken off, broken shelves and only a few books. So several of us wrote orginal children's stories, cut out pictures that complimented them, and had them hard bound.

But we wanted to do more for these kids. So we collected almost 200 gently used books and $200 with which we bought more brand new books for their library. When we showed up with our boxes and boxes, they were completely overwhelmed!

This short video illustrates part of what we were able to do. The video itself was also was fun to put together. I never get to be creative at work, but this video was my baby...enjoy!!

My First Book Project

Fall Fun in Highlands

A few weekends ago the three of us headed to Highlands. For no particular reason, other than it had been a while and I was getting antsy for the roaring fire, the peaceful quiet and the gorgeous fall foliage while it was still hanging on.

Ever wonder what exactly it is that we do up there? A whole lotta nuthin' :) We crunch around in the leaves, we play on the playground on the hill by my parents' house. Matty moves pebbles from a bowl to the table and back. We chase bubbles. We watch for birds, bats, brown bears and wild cats. Yes, I'm serious.

Here are just a few pics from this last trip I wanted to share :)

Ye Down Home Thanksgiving!

What a fun Thanksgiving we had! Ben, Matty and I spent the holiday in Macon for 5 whole days. I cannot even remember the last time we were anywhere for that long, completely unplugged and away from the daily grind. Thursday was spent at a very extended family gathering at Bobbi and Larry Hines in Roberta, Aunt and Uncle to Kevin. We had Brownings, Murpheys, Fussells, Hines and more! Lots of kids running around, climbing tree houses, petting horses, hayrides under blankets, warm spiced cider, gorgeous blue sky and perfect fall weather! And with Kevin's grandmother now convinced she is part Cherokee, truly reminiscent of early Thanksgivings!

Friday Ben went to Auburn for the Alabama game and we tried to rest up for Saturday, which brought another chance for fun outdoors when we all headed to my cousin Clay's "staycation" house on the Ocmulgee River. Less than 15 miles from our house, it's a great place to get away, but not too far away. We ate and caught up, shot guns, drove 4 wheelers, played basketball and ran around until we literally fell down asleep! Great pictures, great memories and a great family. We had such fun being together. One of my favorite moments: shooting Clay's 20-guage and actually hitting my first sporting clay! I should have quit while I was ahead since that turned out to be the only one I hit, but the high is still with me days later!

Matty was trying to steer at one point!

This was right before the clay I actually managed to shoot (luckily, not my cousin Clay :))

Bragging Rights

So I'm realizing in most of my posts lately, they're of pictures and what we've been doing but not too much about Matty and his progress with this whole growing up thing! And we have lots to tell and brag about!

You know I am hardly a career-obsessed working mom, and would much prefer spending all my time home with Matty, but I've also never been able to deny the benefits that DCA has given him. He simply blossoms there and it's been an enormous blessing. But lately it seems he is learning something new everyday and he is truly blowing our minds!

The other day, Ben was crouched down in the kitchen by the fridge, arms spread wide, asking Matty for a hug. Matty turned to him and said "Why?" Ben said, "Because I love you and I want a hug, that's why!" Then Ben turns to me and says, "Uh, he's holding the letter 'Y'." So we experiment, holding up 'A', 'D', 'G', 'S' and about a dozen other letters, sitting there dumbfounded when he knew almost all of them! Little secret-keeper didn't tell us he knew almost the whole dang alpahbet!

Then yesterday, Matty had his 1st H1N1 vaccination and afterwards Ben took Matty for a Happy Meal before taking him back to school. Ben said in the car they were counting to 10. This I in no way believed. Until Matty, with only a little coaxing from Ben, starting counting to 10 during dinner! After he got to '10' we clapped and clapped and totally freaked out at this new accomplishment! So much so that after a little while, he stopped counting altogether and just sat there saying '10' and clapping since it seemed to be getting lots more fanfare than the rest of the numbers he was listing!

In general he is just thriving and learning more and more each day. And it never ceases to amaze me what little sponges toddlers are. The whole world opening up in new ways for them everyday. Watching the wheels spinning as he puts information together in his mind is such a thrill. It's no wonder every parent thinks their child is the most brilliant creature ever created! (Of course in our case it happens to be true :))

Halloween Cuteness!

Halloween is definitely one of my most favorite times of the year! Don't ask me why. For someone who doesn't overly decorate and who feels like an idiot dressing up, it probably doesn't make sense. But I love it nonetheless! Just the fun and creativity and the exciting kick off to all the holiday festivities!

Though, this Halloween did not quite shake out exactly how I'd envisioned it. The weather certainly did not cooperate with us and since Matty did have pneumonia, I was reluctant to say the least to keep him out long in the cold and rain. Nevertheless, he was the cutest sea otter in the neighborhood and even kept his otter head on long enough for me to snap a few pictures (we sort of made a deal). We went "tweat-tweat"ing to the Browning's and one other house down the street. Forgoing the neighborhood hayride since the rain was starting, and I wanted to get him home. But he stayed in his costume (headless that is) all evening, helping me hand out candy to all the gypsies, tramps and thieves who came knocking on our door.

Seriously is there anything cuter than a toddler with a tail?

Congratulations Ben!!

I could not be happier to finally be able to make this post: Ben quit working full time at Primary Capital and his last day was Friday. So I guess you could say today is the first day of the rest of our lives!

Ben will be giving some regular hours on an consulting basis to Primary Capital but his #1 work priority is Georgia Solar now, as it should be. We're really excited, nervous, thrilled, anxious to see where the next few months takes us. But I know that with Ben working full time on what he wants to that doors are getting ready to swing wide open for him.

I'm so proud of the way he has worked and juggled and balanced work, fatherhood and husbandhood. I think it's been harder and more stressful than anyone could realize, including myself. Because he's never complained and just pushed through these past 2 years of transition.

So GREAT BIG congrats to Ben! And if you know anyone who needs solar...I gotta guy.

Fall Fun!

Last weekend I planned a "football widows" get together / playdate with a few of our friends. Thinking I'd be a football widow that day and not a solar widow of course! Ben and Craig were working in Blue Ridge on a solar job and poor Ben had to miss another football game. But the girls got together anyway and had a great time. We ate and laughed and laughed and ate, but not half as much as the kids! Jake and Matty were laughing at who knows what hysterically on the sofa together. I guess it was an inside joke?

Then the next day Matty and I drove to Woodstock and met Amanda and Ansley and James and Bella for a Pumpkin Patch morning and hay ride. It was so fun and the weather was perfect. But oh Matty was everywhere! He ran, he dashed, he zigged, he zagged, and I was exhausted afterwards! Hard to keep up with and juggle a 12 pound pumpkin too! Luckily James helped me carry or we might still be in the pumpkin patch :) But Matty was adorable and tried to lift each pumpkin! He also tried to eat a lot of them, I did my best to discourage this activity.

Look at those kissin' cousins! Could not be any cuter!

This past weekend was another jam packed one. One of my bestest friends, Trish and her hubby Matt, held their 1st annual Chili Cook-Off. Had a great time being with the Spauldings and meeting their awesome friends. The Spauldings won their own cook-off. But who knows, maybe next years I'll give them a run for their money! Matty had his own party too. While we were at ours, we went Matty on to the MacIsaac's Tailgate party! We hated to miss most of it but were glad to sort of bookend our night with more friends. Sounds like the kiddies had a great time and Matty found a new girlfriend in Hilary's friend Casey...uh oh!

Then yesterday we finally got around to carving that lovely hand selected pumpkin of ours. Matty was quite as into mushing up the nasty innards as I'd imagined, but that was ok too...less for me to clean up :)

First Getaway

Ben's fraternity brother Jib and his longtime girlfriend, Kristin, finally tied the knot in early October. We had been so looking forward to getting out of Dodge and just relaxing with our friends! We knew we'd miss Matty so much, and we did. But it was amazing to get away and be goofy with our friends, sans toddlers, like we used to all the time. Oh it was a blast! Hanging by the pool sipping daquiris and "Miami Vice"s and playing boys-against-girls volley ball (girls winning of course!) The wedding was fun and the guys even managed to, of course, find the Auburn game on in the bar at the receptiong and not misss a play. Was a total blast and the weekend went by too fast!

But while we were in Tampa, having a Floridariffic time ourselves, Matty, Mama O and Daddy O were having a pretty great time too! Patsy had mailed a giant box of surprises to our house which remained sealed til we left. Oh the fun they had! New toys, playing outside, park, the downtown square Scarecrows...everything PLUS the kitchen sink!