Nellie's 7th Birthday Interview

***Nellie is 7 years old***

1. Who is your favorite person in the whole world? Mila

2. What is your favorite color? pink

3. What is your favorite television show? Malibu Rescue

4. What is your favorite outfit? skirts

5. What sport do you like best? hula

6. What song do you love? Savage Love

7. What is your favorite cereal? Lucky Charms

8. Who is your best friend? Makena

9. What do you want to be when you grow up? a contractor

10. What is your favorite book? Green Eggs & Ham

11. What are you really good at? leaping

12. Where do you wish you could go on vacation? Hawaii

13. What is your best memory? my first birthday

14. What would you buy if you had $1,000? a barbie dream house with a slide and an evelvator

15. What vegetable do you hate the most? carrots

16. If you could have a wish, what would it be? to have $1,000

17. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? birthday cake

18. Who is your biggest hero? Dad

19. What do you like to do best with your fiends? ride bikes

20. What do you hope you get to do before your next birthday? go to Build A Bear

Robert's 40th Birthday Interview

***Robert is 40 years old***

1. Who is your favorite person in the whole world? Jesus Christ

2. What is your favorite color? Gray

3. What is your favorite television show? Dan Patrick

4. What is your favorite outfit? HB uniform (boardshorts and t-shirt)

5. What sport do you like best? Football

6. What song do you love? Here we go on another sick one

7. What is your favorite cereal? Well, since I am 40 now, I guess it will have to be FiberOne

8. Who is your best friend? Megan

9. What do you want to be when you grow up? I am doing it now (police officer)

10. What is your favorite book? Lone Survivor

11. What are you really good at? Always being right

12. Where do you wish you could go on vacation? Hawaii

13. What is your best memory? Proposing to Megan

14. What would you buy if you have $1000? Bigger TV

15. What vegetable do you hate the most? Cauliflower and eggplant

16. If you could have a wish, what would it be?  For my family to love me forever

17. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? Pistachio

18. Who is your biggest hero? My dad

19.  What do you like to do best with your friends? Drink beer and camp

20. What do you hope you get to do before your next birthday? Take a family trip to Hawaii

Mila's 9th Birthday Interview

***Mila is 9 years old***

1. Who is your favorite person in the whole world? Nellie

2. What is your favorite color? Turquoise

3. What is your favorite television show? Baking shows

4. What is your favorite outfit? Hi/low dress with the shorts built in

5. What sport do you like best? Trumbling

6. What song do you love? Dance Money

7. What is your favorite cereal? Frosted Flakes

8. Who is your best friend? Jillian

9. What do you want to be when you grow up? Zookeeper

10. What is your favorite book? The Owl Diaries

11. What are you really good at? Splits

12. Where do you wish you could go on vacation? Hawaii

13. What is your best memory? Playing with Roscoe

14. What would you buy if you have $1000? Gum

15. What vegetable do you hate the most? Brussel Sprouts

16. If you could have a wish, what would it be? For Roscoe to be alive

17. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? Bubble gum

18. Who is your biggest hero? Dad

19.  What do you like to do best with your friends? Monkey Bars

20. What do you hope you get to do before your next birthday? Go see William

January 2021

 Well, so far 2021 isn't looking much different than 2020 (not sure why we expected it to!).  

For my New Year's resolution this year I decided to spend more one-on-one time with each of the girls once a month.  I rarely spend time with each of them alone and I think it's important. By default, since I am having one-on-one time with them Robert is too, which is an added bonus!  Nellie was first and we went bike riding around the neighborhood and to the park and then came home and made dinner together, just the two of us. I could be imagining it but I think I can already tell a difference in her attitude! For Mila and my first one-on-one date we went to Target, which seems weird but it's exactly what she wanted to do!

Nellie had a big accomplishment this month and is starting to read! I bought some BOB books from Costco over winter break and Nellie was excited to try it out; Nellie reads to me for 20min every night and now Nellie and I go through one of her books twice. She's averaging a new book every week, which is awesome!

California was back on lockdown in January, with pretty much everything closed, including the schools, which reverted to full time distance learning again.  We didn't do much but we managed to have some fun. 

The girls braved the winter cold for a trip to the beach and even got in the water.

Since the pandemic started last March Robert had quietly been going back to school, online, to complete his Bachelor's degree. He finished up all of his classes in December and received his diploma this month. We're so proud of him, not only for going back after so many years out of school, which is so hard, but for accomplishing it so quickly and dedicating so much time to it.  

Good work, babe!!!

What we're looking forward to next month: family trip to Mammoth, a trip to Arizona, hopefully being back in school, at least on a hybrid schedule!!!

December 2020

 Happy December!  We have been trying to get in the holiday spirit around here but the weather has been so nice that I always forget how fast Christmas comes because I think it should be cold in order to celebrate!  Nellie had a Zoom holiday program that we really enjoyed, we were able to sneak in a visit to Santa and I had endless hours of serenades during work while Nellie was distance learning!

Nellie turned 6 this month! It was so fun that her birthday was on Friday so she got to celebrate with her friends at school AND it was the last Friday before Winter Break so it was a lot of parties and fun!  She had her first real birthday parties with friends this year, too, which was great. When I asked her what she wanted to do for her party she said "paint a cat" so we had a painting party!

Unfortunately my sister and her family had to cancel their trip out here; the girls have been dying to see William for months and this was a perfect way for the Browns to surprise them and celebrate Christmas as a whole family but it just didn't make sense with everything being shut down and state-suggested quarantine upon arrival.  Now we are shooting for their trip next July so hopefully we will be more back to normal by then (I'm not holding my breath though!!!)

We celebrate Christmas with our neighbors and had a great time. We recently learned that our direct next door neighbor will be moving in April, which is super sad for all of us. They are keeping their house and renting to their friends so at least we know we will get along with them!

New Year's Eve was pretty quiet; we didn't plan on doing anything and then last minute randomly all ended up at the same house. The girls rang in the East Coast New Year's and had a blast with glasses they made at camp and sparkling cider.

Things we're looking forward to in January: I've got nothing!

Nellie's 6th Birthday Interview

 Birthday Interview

***Nellie is 6 years old***

1. Who is your favorite person in the whole world? Valentina

2. What is your favorite color? Blue and white

3. What is your favorite television show? Loud House

4. What is your favorite outfit? Cheetah clothes

5. What sport do you like best? Soccer

6. What song do you love? Red Kingdom

7. What is your favorite cereal? Lucky Charms

8. Who is your best friend? Valentine

9. What do you want to be when you grow up? Petsitter

10. What is your favorite book? Gaston

11. What are you really good at? Singing

12. Where do you wish you could go on vacation? Hawaii

13. What is your best memory? Spending time with mom

14. What would you buy if you have $1000? a phone and airpods

15. What vegetable do you hate the most? Mushrooms

16. If you could have a wish, what would it be? Being rich

17. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? Birthday cake

18. Who is your biggest hero? Roscoe and Dad

19.  What do you like to do best with your friends? play on the playgound

20. What do you hope you get to do before your next birthday? get my nails done

November 2020

 I thought maybe if I never did this post I could pretend it never happened...but that's not the case. After 10 amazing years we lost Roscoe this month.  It was so hard on all of us but, all things considered, it happened in the absolute best way possible  I thought about writing about it in here so that I would always remember and one day the girls would know how it happened; but I honestly don't want to live through all the details again, no matter how sweet (but equally devastating) they were.  Robert and I were with him when he died and I am 100% confident that he knew exactly how much he was loved. We were so lucky to have him for all of those years.

The girls started November surfing and playing at the beach; November might be one of my favorite months of the year because you think it should be cold but somehow we end up with 70-80 degree weather every day, it's the best!

Speaking of good weather, I was fnally able to make the trip to Minnesota to meet Whitney's baby, Calvin!!! I was supposed to go earlier this year and that was cancelled due to Covid but somehow all the stars aligned and I was able to make the trip this time.  They were having a heat wave of 60 degree weather when I was there, which was awesome, especially condering they got 14in of snow the week before I came!  Cal is the best baby and it was so great to see my best friend! We didn't do much but sit around, talk/watch movies, drink wine, eat good food and hold Cal...basically the best trip ever!

Someone was excited to see me when I got home though ;)

Mid-month we went camping with the Charlands at Camp Pendleton, which was an amazing trip. You have to be active or former military to get on the base so it was a pretty special trip; we definitely can't wait to go back!  We were so close to the beach and it was the perfect amount of cold early in the morning and in the evening but warm enough for the beach during the day.

Mila started a basketball league at a local church and has had a couple of practices and one game; it's hard to find any activities that are open so I am glad that she's able to do this.  Nellie is really loving school and adores her teacher and friends, she's so cute when she talks about the kids at school and her new bestie, Valentina.

Other notables this month: Mila lost one tooth and pulled out another one, we had our quarterly Cypress wive club dinner, Nellie performed a Thanksgiving performance for us, we had a birthday party at the beach, a great Friendsgiving with our neighbors and time in Palmdale/Helendale for Thanksgiving.

We ended the month by putting up our Christmas tree and welcoming our Elf, Lucy, mask and all!

What we're looking forward to next month: a surprise Christmas trip from my sister and her family! Nellie's 6th birthday and Christmas!