A Few Christmas Pictures

We hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas season. We were lucky enough to be able to spend time with both of our families, and as usual our only complaint was that we couldn't have spent more time with both of them. Here are a few selected pictures.

We Couldn't Resist (Maybe we should have, but we couldn't)

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El reno más famoso de todo

Jen is a nurse. Alec is a school psychologist. They are well aware of the American Academy of Pediatrics' recommendation regarding television viewing for young children. As such, we are sure that they nourish their children's blossoming neurons with classical literature, stimulating conversation, and creative craft projects--but never with television programs. Right?


Well, perhaps there are exceptional circumstances that may necessitate brief periods of TV viewing (like making dinner, talking on the phone, cleaning the house, taking a nap....), but only the finest educational programs would meet their rigorous standards. A sampling of such standards:

1) Does the program refer to a great mind of the past? (e.g. Einstein, Beethoven, Lavel Edwards, or Walt Disney, for example?)

2) Is it only mildly amusing to children, thereby making PBS the only station that will show it?

3) Does it teach your child a second language? (Bonus points if it is a dead language such as Latin or . . . Pig Latin)

4) Does it provide opportunities for meaningful conversations with your children? Example: Yesterday Jen was hard at work when she heard Eric exclaim from the next room, "Ariba! Ariba!" She asked him what he was talking about and he replied in a full Spanish sentence, which was Greek to Jen. Greek! Isn't that another dead language! Apparently he had discovered the Spanish version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer during an exploration of the DVD bonus features, and now it is the only version he will watch. Ironically, he also learned who "The Trumpster" (Donald Trump) is from a disturbing clay-mation bonus feature. It did lead to an enriching discussion of personal finance, however.

Yes, the Browns are a paragon of fine parenting.

What a girl

Lily is 100% girl. LuAnne did her hair in this beautiful braid loop. Sadly, Lily has her mother's fine hair, so it only lasted about 15 minutes. In this picture, she found some train stickers and made herself some earrings without my help or prompting. She loves to sing the songs from Cinderella while she jumps off of the couch. We think her ideal job would be as a stunt girl in a musical.

Thanksgiving Festivities

We went to Cedar for Thanksgiving (obviously) and had a great time, as usual. LuAnne made gingerbread houses for the kids to decorate. Eric loved it, but not as much as Spencer. Lily loved playing with her Aunt Jen.