Brown family Christmas

Sunday we had our family Christmas at home with our kids. I know it's a little early, and trust me I really was not ready... But we are preparing to leave for Ohio this Thursday. So this was about the only time we could do it without rushing to have it the night before we leave and then they don't get to enjoy anything. Needless to say.. My house is a shambles, my RV still needs packed and my house needs to be in working order before I can walk out that door come Thursday afternoon. I need some major energy to get it all done. Below are some highlights of our rushed Christmas . Enjoy!

Santa came to visit

Saturday was the community bag lighting in our neighborhood. As usual it had rained so there was not alot of participation this year. We had goodies and coffee and Santa paid a visit. Below are some pics from Santa's visit to our house.





Meg was scared of Santa, but we finally got a picture with Brittany



Santa and Izzie



Santa, Izzie, TJ and kevin's dog Buster



Buster & Tj



Buster & Santa



Meg, me and Santa

Our newest agent

After getting Britts senior pictures done we stopped by the office with the dog. Rod had to have pics of her. So she is now our newest agent in the office.

Welcome Isabelle Cleopatra Brown- IZZIE




Sporting some reading glasses



Checking out the computer



Trying to look important



What do I do next?

2009 Christmas parade

Lets just say the Christmas parade this year will be one to be remembered. It started off raining in the morning and continued off and on. I t cleared up just before the parade was to begin.. so they went ahead with it. They started about a half hour late. Probably if they would have started on time they could have made it through before the torrential downpour. Unfortunately it started pouring big time right before our group got to our office. I felt so bad for everyone in the parade. Below are a few highlights. You can see the cloudy skies and then see the downpour of rain. Everyone was a good sport about it. The poor cows had quite a bit of extra weight with all that water in the suits.

Halloween 2009

Better late than never... I created this photo slide show late one night and saved it and forgot about it. Life has been so busy. We had a Homeowners insurance company go out of business...So we had to rewrite over 200 policies if we wanted to keep the business. All of this in a short period of time. My head was spinning.. but we made it through and even had a liitle time in the schedule to attend a halloween party of some friends. Didn't have time to shop for costumes.. so we searched our closet and came up with something. Not too creative, but it did the trick. Anyhow it is almost time for thanksgiving and I'm still back at halloween. Enjoy our goofy pictures.

We also attended The Judgement house at the kids school over Halloween weekend. They caught our family as we were coming out of it and wanted to interview us for TV. Wouldn't ya know that they only put on something I said . So below is a link to my 5 seconds of fame.



http://video.cbs12.com/m/27205635/halloween-judgement-house.htm

School projects!

The high school years bring on many projects in English class. You never know what kind of project may come along. You really need to show your creativity when it comes to these projects. Sometimes an option is to write a long paper or color detailed pictures. Britt doesn't care to do either so we usually get stuck building some sort of item. This past project was a castle. This one was made out of ceiling tiles, corners from a cardboard box , a juicie box on top and some sample roofing tiles, toilet paper rolls and some textured spray paint and some little plastic people. Below are some pictures of the product. Glad to say She got an A on the project. YEAH!!





Britt Painting windows in her castle


Painting on doors



gluing on some people



The finished castle



Another angle of the finished product

Jessica's Surprise 14th Birthday party

On October 23rd Jessica celebrated her 14th birthday. She wanted to have a party with her new friends she has met at her new school this year. We decided we would surprise her this year. So we put together a little party at Chuckee Cheese and had some of her new friends show up and give her a surprise. She was definately surprised. We actually got it pulled off. It turned out really nice to have new friends from her new school. Even one of her Teachers Ms. Foster came and brought her 3 kids that Jess is also friends with. We had fun playing games and visiting and the best was pulling off the surprise.

Office Mural Painting

The area we live in in Hobe Sound is kind of a quaint little area. Recently they have started painting murals on the sides of some of the buildings. The painters who work along with the Chamber of Commerce approached us a few months back and asked us if we would be interested in having one on our building. They gave us some of their ideas. Some of my friends received emails from me asking your opinions on which one we should go with. We narrowed it down to two. The one we did and the other was flower boxes and flowers painted on the building . Many chose the flowerboxes because it was safe. But we all kinda like the Hurricane although it made a BOLD statement. Afterall, the hurricane kinda tells who we are. Insurance for such things, or the Calm in the Eye of the storm. As you can see we chose the hurricane, had them perfect some things and they went to work. They did an excellant job, and were more than happy to let each of us have our own little special thing on the painting. The kids thoroughly enjoyed doing it. They have started on the building next door. They are doing the flowers. It looks nice, but we all think ours looks the best!!

Disney on Ice- Princesses

Thursday evening we took the kids to Disney on Ice. As usual it was a great show and a nice family time. The funnest part is to watch the kids enjoy themselves. Always fun making family memories.

Meagan intently watching



Waving to the princesses

Orlando & Friends

Some friends of ours from Colorado were in town for an extended weekend to take their daughter to Disney. Rod & Brad go way back, and Brad was best man in our wedding. They asked us to come up on Saturday and spend the day poolside at their hotel with them. We knew the kids would love that. So we headed up and spent the day with them. The weather didn't look real promising on the way. It rained the whole way there. But by the time we got there, it stopped except for a few sprinkles and it was great weather. It was still overcast, but it made for a bearable day and no sunburns. Their were several pools and hot tubs available, but once the kids found the slide thats all they needed for entertainment. They spent the day running back and forth going down the slide. I wasn't sure how Meagan would do with it, but she was right in there, and wanted on repeatedly. They all must have came down about 50times. We got subs at a nearby Publix and ate by the pool. Zach left part of his and a squirrel helped himself. It was quite the picture. We had a great time catching up with old friends. We last saw them about 3 yrs ago. So there was alot to catch up on.

We have a new addition to the Family

On August 12,2009 we added another addition to the family. Our oldest Daughter Lex came down to see us and she brought this addition along with her. We have always wanted to add this to our family, but just never had. The time was right so we went for it. This addition was a surprise to the kids, they did not expect it. When Lex walked in the door with her they all went crazy. So without further a-do .........





Intoducing IZZIE

Izzie is a weimaraner. We love her grey color and her grey eyes!!!





She needed a Bath - first thing



Not sure who is giving who the bath



She likes being held like a baby



She sleeps in wierd positions




One night we had brought the car seat in out of one of the cars for some reason- Izzie climbed in it and sat down. We had to strap her in!!

Lazy days of Summer

A few Sundays ago the day was absolutely beautiful outside. Warm, but just enough of a breeze that made it comfortable to be outside and enjoy some fresh air and sunshine. After lunch we headed outside to the dock and sat with the kids. We all kinda did our own thing, I read the paper, Rod fed the fish and we just enjoyed a relaxing day. The kids decided they wanted to fish, so we grabbed the shrimp out of the freezer and they stuck their poles in the water. We spent the whole afternoon outside. It was such a relaxing day. Just what we needed!




Zach with his only catch


Andrea is enjoying her fishing time



Zach looks a little bored! He's very impatient!


Meagan enjoyed eating her pudding!

Zachary's Summer Band Camp

This past week Zachary was involved in his first band camp. He had such a fun time. The teacher Mr. Doyle Bozone does such a fantastic job with the kids. He has 5 whole days to teach them some songs. For some of these kids it was also learning a whole new instrument. Maybe they had played something else before, but have some experience in music and want to try a new instrument out. He has some fun activities for them also. And at the end of the week they have a recital of what they learned. Below are a few pictures and videos of it.









A group shot in front of their seats



Another group shot closer together




an another group shot



acting silly with their instruments








and another silly picture






Dr. Rockenstein


My Heart Will Go On- Titanic


Star Wars