Easter

Easter, Easter, EASTER!! I love this time of year. Why, you ask? The candy!! I just can't get enough of the: Peeps, Cadbury Cream Eggs, Jelly beans, chocolate bunnies, Robbin Eggs, and just about anything marshmallow. I also love witnessing the anxious anticipation of the boys as another holiday nears. Preston has been counting down the days until 'The Bunny' makes his secret entrance into our home to stash candy and eggs for about a month now. I'm sure as soon as the candy runs out he'll be asking how much longer until the next holiday!
I had Good Friday off of work, so the week leading up to Easter i got my bake on, and started to make things for my work potluck and the kids daycare Easter party.

When the kids treats were done, i had extra cupcakes so i decided to make a little something for the adults in our house.


The strawberries were really good on top of the chocolate and a little of the juice soaked into the cake so they were really sweet. The only problem was the strawberries started to get a little wilted the longer they were out of the fridge.


While Nicole was visiting a few weeks ago and we were rummaging through Marshall's, i came across a fancy cupcake book i just HAD TO HAVE. I used the boys daycare party as my 1st excuse to try out one of the recipes.... "Bunny Butts"


I was pleased, not thrilled, with the way they turned out. I think in the future i need to set aside more time and be more patient while decorating. The most important thing is the kids loved them!


Our office had a Easter potluck on Thursday. Let me tell you, people really pulled out all the stops this time! I was full from 8:30 am until about 9:30pm! I made these little cuties...


They are Rice Krispie Treat baskets with a Twizzler handle and frosting piped around the edges. I put jelly beans and Robbin Eggs inside. Everyone at the office loved them and the majority of my co-workers took them home for their kids.


I can never resist the opportunity to take a self portrait :) Ha Ha HA. So here i am on Thursday, ready to hit the road and deliver my home made treats!!


Easter morning: The Easter Bunny came!! Preston is following in his Uncle Martin's footsteps and is already a master Easter basket hunter by the age of 4. All i had to say is his basket was green and he found it in about 30 seconds flat. I hadn't even left my bedroom yet when i heard him yelling "I found it, I found it!!"


I really thought it was hidden well to!


Ethan on the other hand, was not so quick to find his basket.


He was getting really irritate and was harassing Preston for his candy so i finally had to give him a hint.


Lots of candy = happy Walling boys!


It wasn't even 9:00am and they boys were already outside hunting for eggs. It took Ethan a few minutes to get the hang of the whole thing and Preston would have taken them all if it wasn't for me screaming at him to "drop that egg"!!


Ethan and his basket...


The boys were comparing their findings...Ethan pointed in Preston's basket and said "WOOOOOW"!! It was pretty cute and it made Preston pretty proud.


This is the cake (well a slightly updated version) that my Grandma Donna used to make for my mom and uncles and my mom used to make for me and my siblings. I decided to keep the tradition going this year.


Yes, the cake was very large, and yes the boys look a little creepy in the photo. It took about 15 attempts to get a picture where they were both "smiling" and were not trying to pick the candy off the cake.


Sunday was the only day when the weather was crappy, but we still went to Imperial Beach and hung out for a few hours.


Ethan took a while to warm up to the idea of playing in the sand, but by the time we had to go, he was kicking and screaming to stay!


I would say this Easter was a success and was very relaxing. The only thing that could have made it better would have been if Price were home. Hopefully we'll see him next weekend!!! I hope you all had an equally wonderful weekend!

Lots of Love and Bunches of Hugs,
XOXO Brogan Lee

The B.F.F.!!!

Late postings seem to be my thing these days! Because again, here is another one. Last weekend (1st weekend in April) my best friend Nicole came to visit from San Luis Obispo. It was a very postponed trip for the one scheduled in December for her birthday. Reguardless of how long it has been in between each visit, we always seem to have a great time. This weekend was no exception.

Nicole got in late Friday night and we stayed up WAY TOO late chatting, like girls love to do! :) But we still managed to be up by 7:30am. After getting ready, eating breakfast and making a quick stop at Starbucks, we were on the road by 9:00am (just as we had planned) to do a little damage around San Diego. Among many of the stores we went to, one was Marshall's. I used to love shopping here in high school but have not been in years becuase shopping these days is mostly done on the internet or quick runs on my lunch break. Picking through rack after rack with two little boys is near impossible. But let me tell you...I am hooked again! I was in heaven. Poor Nicole, she was probably so annoyed because i was off in a different direction every two minuets distracted by another pretty thing.

After Marshals, we went to Target, Charlotte Russe, Victoria Secret, and then we HAD TO EAT! It's amazing how hungry shopping can make you! So we headed to Fashion Valley for some grub at Cheesecake Factory. Guess what?? Traffic was a nightmare, and finding parking was impossible. So as hungry as i was, i decided to pay $15 for vallet and we headed in. It may have cost a small fortune just to park the car, but when you're hungry, you're hungry! Here's what we had...

We started with the Buffalo Chicken and Cheese clusters (i don't actually remember what they're called but this is close enough). They were A-M-A-Z-ing!!!!!



Nicole reccomended I try the "Chicken Bellagio". And i have to say, it was one of the best dishes i have ever had!! Even the second day!



She had the "Tomato and Basil Pasta", again, a winning dish! I couldn't believe how flavorful everything was!



As if that large delicious lunch wasn't enough, we created one heck of a spread for our "movie night". We rented BURLESQUE and chowed down! (we enjoyed cupcakes, cheesecake,chips, salsa, guac,fruit and chocolate and grahm crackers dipped in a marshmallow whip dip, fancy kettle corn and Orangina, ALL until we felt like we were going to puke)



Oh, Orangina... Nicole introduced me to this liquid wonderfulness on our trip to France in High School. I have only had it one or two times since because it is pretty expensive. BUT since she was comming for a visit, i felt it was appropriate to make sure we had some!



It was a great weekend. Best friends, long talks, shopping, good food and musicals...what more could two girls ask for?!? We'll cheer to that!!



Lots Of Love and Bunches Of Hugs
XOXO Brogan Lee

Washington D.C.

I am SOOOO far behind! The week of March 23 to March 27, Ethan and I flew to visit my sister and her family in Virginia. I am just now posting pics and telling the little diddy of our trip. It has been a crazy few weeks since then. So first off, this was Ethan's 1st time on an airplane. Let's just say, it will be the last for a while. We had a red eye flight, which I was expecting to be nice: he'd be tired from the long day, he could cuddle on my lap and wake up well rested and ready to play when we made it to our destination in the morning. WRONG!!!! Ethan SCREAMED bloody murder for the entire 5 1/2 hours, except when i stood in the aisle and let him sit alone and play games on my cell phone. Let me remind you, I had been up since 4 a.m. that morning and worked all day, so i was wiped and really wanted to sleep. So when i couldn't stand any longer, I plopped Ethan on my lap and tried to snooze. The screams started again and he started to kick the heck out of the poor sleeping mans seat in front of us. So i got up to let him stand in the back. As soon as we stood up, Ethan threw up ALL OVER ME and himself! We checked our bags so i had no change of clothes. Ethan and I had to strip down in the tiny little bathroom and i had to wash all our clothes in the sink. Then we spent the rest of the trip smelling like vomit and soaking wet. Sounds joyful, right? This is why it will be a while before he flys again. BUT we made it to Washing D.C. safe and sound (and early) and were picked up by my sister and brought back to her house for a warm shower and some much needed play time with my adorable little niece Sydney Lyn!



A) Sydney does NOT like things in her hair, but I think partly because I came to visit (Miss bows,headbands and all things shiny and frilled) my sister attempted to put a bow on little Sydney's head...and guess what?!?...she left it in there for hours! I can't believe she didn't rip it out. She must have been trying to make Auntie proud :) ha ha, honestly she probably didn't notice, but I like to think she did it for me. B) And see that lovely lady holding Miss Sydney Lyn? She was the one responsible for making this whole trip/weekend possible. She was kind enough to buy airfare for myself,Ethan, my sister Karlene and my brother Martin to all go out for the weekend to have a late birthday celebration for Karlene. Thank you Karen Barrett from the bottom of my heart!



Ethan and Sydney had a rough start (100% on Ethan's end) but they soon became great buddies! They liked to eat together...



Read books by the fire...play hide and go seek...and stack water bottles next to Lobo (my sisters dog)...



Guess who else made an appearance???? The hubby!! He was able to fly out for Saturday and part of Sunday. It was a really short visit but being that I won't get to see him again until the end of May, I was VERY thankful. I do have to admit a little bitterness here... as previously mentioned, i had a TERRIBLE flight. Yet, Price, being active duty military was upgraded to 1st class and got to spend his entire flight being served free booze and food. Lucky duck! I was pretty jealous, I'll admit it.



Saturday morning we were up at 6:30am and out the door by 8am almost on the dot. Mr. Jeff Brown planned an entire day out and about in Washing D.C. Check out some of the sight seeing we did...





Sydney made sure to stay nice and warm :)...











This is one of my favorite photographs from the whole day out...



Martin took a little break under the cherry blossoms, and i used it as a photo opp...



Here is our group getting ready to take a bus tour at the Arlington cemetery...






I was a little disappointed that we didn't get to see the Changing Of The Guards, but we got there just a few minutes after it happened and with two little babies, we were not able to hang around and keep them quite and happy long enough for the next switch. It was pretty emotional being there and hearing the history everyone buried there.









After a long day of sight seeing, we headed back to the Brown household where our Dad and his wife met us for dinner. There was steak, mashed potatoes, salad, veggies, bread, and the boys even made lobster (which was a pretty dramatic event).





Saturday was a LONG day of walking and touring and eating. After a little 'Say Yes to the Dress' and carrot cake, we all crashed. Our little brother was kind enough to snap a photo to document our sleeping sister all tuckered out. Thankfully i had gone downstairs so he couldn't get me in that photo :)



Oh, how I miss my family! It was hard enough to see everyone when we all lived in California, but now with my sister and her brood on the east coast, it makes it that much harder. I was very thankful to get to spend 4 long days with everyone and i cannot wait until the next time we are all together! I love all you Barrett's (and their additions :) )

Lots of Love and Bunches of Hugs,
XOXO Brogan Lee