Lost Teeth

I'm so behind because Justin lost his first tooth in September.  Of course I made a big deal of it and took pictures but never posted.  Now that he just lost his 4th tooth, his first one on the top, I figured I'm well overdue for posting pictures of my cute little snaggletooth.

2014: The Year In Review

In January the boys painted snow and had lots of outdoor fun playing in the snow.  

 In February Nate turned 4.

In March we realized J loves legos and Nate loves dress up.  The boys had fun at Oakland Gymnastics for their field trip and the Brouzins had fun at Princesses & Superheroes.  

In April we did the March for Babies, the boys started swim lessons and went on their first egg hunt.  

In May J turned 6 and started gymnastics class and Nate started flag football.

In June I took the boys annual photos.  

In July the boys started karate lessons and we had lots of quality family time at the spray park, boat races and children's museum.  

In August the boys had fun playing in the sprinklers, we went to the Romulus Activity Center and a Lions preseason game.  

In September we held the Brouzins Rodeo, Justin started kindergarten and Nate started pre-k.  

In October we had family photos taken.

In November the boys helped us decorate the outdoors for the holidays.

The boys tore into their presents this year.  Merry X-Mas!

Elf on the Shelf

The boys, especially Nate, were really into the Elf on the Shelf this year.  Actually I can't lie, Carl and I were really into it this year as well and tried to come up with some creative ideas for our visiting elf.  So without further ado, meet our elf Cliff who was named by Nate.  The boys were sad to see him go.

Now that our elf has a name I registered him at the North Pole and we got a letter from Santa

Cliff helping me address our X-Mas cards

Cliff playing chicken with the trains.  In case you're wondering, he lost.  

Nate wasn't happy about Cliff dipping into his Oreo stash

Cliff reading one of the boy's favorite books

So glad Cliff believes in proper hygiene

J wasn't happy Cliff was playing with his Legos

Wild Wild West

Caught in the blinds

Cliff wanted to watch the boys eat breakfast this morning

Cliff getting into my scrap ribbon

X-Mas With Friends

Last Saturday we had friends over for our annual friends x-mas celebration with arts and crafts, cookie decorating and gifts for the kids, white elephant gift exchange for the adults and every family had family photos taken. The kids loved their gifts and the white elephant exchange was pretty fun.

Breakfast with Santa

This was our third year taking the boys to Breakfast with Santa with the Mims crew.  The first year was a free pancakes with Santa at the YMCA.  Last year's breakfast at the Longacre house was more intimate.  This year's was at the Novi Civic Center was bigger but seemed to be a big hit with storytelling with Mrs. Clause, arts and crafts, including making reindeer food and of course pictures with Santa.  They even had x-mas music playing during the down time (while Santa & Mrs. Clause went from table to table) so the kids could dance and play on the stage.

Santa Barn

We took the kids to Santa Barn the first Saturday in December.  This year the proceeds went to a family that has been impacted by ALS.  My co-worker's parents say this is the last year they're putting Santa Barn on, but everyone is encouraging them to continue.  It's always a great way to kick off the holiday season so I hope they at least do one more year.   

X-Mas Photo Shoots

Last year's holiday card of the boys in their x-mas PJ's was a big hit with their teachers so I had already planned on doing that again.  Good thing too, because at Nate's field trip in early December his teacher excitedly asked if they were going to get another picture and that she loved last years and it was still up on her fridge.  Needless to say this years card was another hit.  I got plenty of "this looks like a GAP ad" or "you should put them in modeling".

Christmas day we decided to put on our x-mas shirts and play around with lights in our living room.  I really wanted nice Bokeh x-mas pictures so still need some practice but they came out okay for my first attempt.