Our Little CRAZY Brown Life is coming back!

Hey dear family,
Today John Paul started Kindergarten. I had a little reality check as I searched the house for our camera to shoot a picture of him looking all adorable and handsome in his school uniform. I finally realized that both our video and digital cameras have been lost for 2 months!

Inspired by Cathy's post, I'll give you all an estimate of what our lives have included over the past few months so you'll forgive my lack of posting:

2- number of weeks the flooring guys said it would take to install, sand and stain the surface area of our first floor
4 and counting- number of weeks it actually took them...they still haven't finished the last coat of finish.
1- number of surgeries I've had this Summer (wisdom teeth)
0- number of times I will ever again schedule surgery in the midst of home renovations and Summer vacation
532- number of Benjamin Moore paint samples I went through before deciding on what to try in our first floor
15- number of actual samples we tried in the dining room before I could make a decision
300- Number of Hail Marys I prayed while searching for beautiful curtains at a decent price (it worked- prayers were answered at the Pottery Barn clearance table!)
4- Age Gabe turned this past June- I should have done a whole post- but my whole point is that this has been an extraordinarily bizarre Summer!
1- Number of times we went to see Riverdance with Gabe & John Paul to celebrate Gabe's b-day. Our boys love ethic music and instruments as well as dance. Who knows? Maybe they'll have careers in the arts?
2- Age Monica turned a week ago on Aug 21.
67- Number of dollars I spent at the Party Store purchasing balloons, streamers, candies, a pinata, tablecloths, napkins etc. all in Winnie the Pooh theme because I love my daughter so much and wanted to delight her when she woke up from her nap on her birthday.
20- Number of dollars I had actually intended on spending at the Party Store.
7- Number of hours Grandmom Lorrie spent in VA on Monica's birthday (she amtraked it both ways in one day all for love of Monnie!)
Million- Number calculating @ how much it meant to us that Grandmom Lorrie did that
2- Number of vacations we took- one with Browns and one with Pierces.
500- Number of years ago it seems that we took those vacations because ever since we returned from the beach our home has been out of order so life has been out of sync!
25- Tears I've cried today after realizing that our cameras (along with almost all of our picture memory cards) are one of casualties of this crazy Summer.
20- Number of hours it feels like Luis works on a daily basis- between DRE work and classes, testing etc. for his pursuit of this whole patent thing (if he wants to talk about it, I'll let him post:)...don't hold your breath!

So I hope to be blogging with pictures and stories soon. Thanks for reading this little summary our little brown life in all it's craziness of the past few months.
I miss checking in with my Mom, Dad, siblings, cousins and aunts!

Love,
Cal