30 August 2022

For our twentieth anniversary this year, we wanted to go back to where it all started....

We decided to go back up to Oklahoma and see some of the places that we spent so much time when we were falling in love.  Since we celebrate our anniversaries as "family birthdays", the whole family went!

First stop on the drive up: Buc-ee's, which is the greatest travel center ever invented!

We stayed in a vacation rental that was really close to all the places we wanted to visit.  That night Nut Brown and Bobo and Rosebud gave the rest of us foot massages!

The next day we started with the zoo.  The Oklahoma City Zoo is one of the best zoos we've ever visited.  We went early in the morning to get the best time in before it got too hot.  We had a wonderful time and took pictures with all the statues around the zoo.

The lions were kind enough to go to sleep in the heat next to the window:

Rose Pink and Nut Brown rode the camel at a very slow pace:

And we fed the rays!

Then some of us rode the carousel

and then we discovered that Mr. Brown's wallet was missing!  Momentary panic until the carousel attendant helpfully called around and reassured us that it was in the lost and found and no harm done.  Relief!

That night we marked our family birthday with dinner at our favorite Indian restaurant ever in Norman.  The proprietor remembered us from the last time we were there when Rose Pink was maybe three years old!  And the food was still amazing!

The next day we started with the bone museum... the Museum of Osteology.  I've been looking forward to this ever since we planned the trip, and it did not disappoint.  

Eventually Bobo told me that he was a little creeped out by all the empty eye sockets, and Rosebud told me she was afraid the upper balcony would collapse, so we wound things up and went to meet Gia and Aunt Joellen and her kids at the skating rink!

Bobo got along great with his cousin Joseph who's the same age.  We went to Joellen's for dinner and had a good time playing video games (Bobo and Nut Brown), looking at cookbooks (Rose Pink) and talking with Joellen and Gia (me and Mr. Brown).

The next morning we checked out of the rental house and went thrifting at one of our favorite OKC thrift stores.  

It was not as awesome as it used to be. :(  We did have a couple of good finds.  Then we drove down to Dallas to stay with our friends the Atchleys for a couple days!

Good times ensued.  Mr. Brown and BJ's birthdays are very close, so there was a joint celebration with cupcakes.  They also rented a slip and slide bouncy castle for Saturday morning, and we went to the national video game museum in the afternoon.

At this point we were pretty much worn out, so we left Saturday evening instead of Sunday.  It was really nice to get home to our own beds.  We slept really well that night!

It was a good trip, and good to go do some fun things together.  Happy twentieth birthday to our family!

29 August 2022

One of the most joyful things about my life is that I have to clean up piles of books left all over the living room all the time. At any given time we have at least 30 books out from the library and they are always being read and left out.  I love living with other readers!

This summer I paid Bobo for every book he read that I chose.  He read a lot of Newberry Medalists and Honor books, and I liked talking about them with him.  Some he liked better than others.  Some were boring.

Rosebud learned to read this summer and she prefers graphic novels to picture books.  We packed away all the picture books that we have read and treasured with our kids.  So I have been reading her an assortment of graphic novels and helping her practice reading with early reader books.

Rose Pink reads avidly whatever she wants, usually YA books of some sort.  She also reads books on her phone.  Nut Brown mostly reads D&D rulebooks, and not much else.  I love that we have books all over the house and that we go to the library at least once a week!

27 August 2022

The other night Rosebud and I were going to the store (she and I are buddies and go everywhere together) and I had the window down and my arm out the window, and I saw in the side mirror her little hand hanging out the window too, just like Mom.  I love her so much!

We went to the store to get ice cream to celebrate "Fri-yay!" which is how we mark getting to the end of the week.  On our way home I said, "We should get french fries too!" and she said, "Yes, because that would really make it Fry-day!" which I hadn't even thought of.

24 August 2022

Towards the end of August, we had a surprise birthday party for Mr. Brown!  He has always wanted one and I successfully organized one for him this year.  It was just our family but it was a surprise and he was so happy. :)

The kids all got gifts for him.  Nut Brown bought some ginger beer and wanted to sneak it in through his bedroom window.

Then there was the party!  There was food and drink and cake and more gifts from all his children. And me.  It was a lot of fun to celebrate him, and to work on this with the kids!

 

23 August 2022

Nut Brown told us that his bibliographies for essays are usually largely made up of links to online sources, so he includes a live link.  But for the first link on the list, he changes the webpage that the link takes you to from the page that is actually referenced to a video of singer Rick Astley, so that his teachers would be rick-rolled if they checked his links.  He's so funny!  He said none of his teachers have ever said anything to him about it.

18 August 2022

Rose Pink spent the last few days cleaning her room, going through everything, and getting rid of a lot of stuff.  I complimented her on her hard work, and she told me that she was clearing out room to make space for herself as an adult, as she is basically done with high school and moving into the transition to adulthood with a job and classes at the community college.  I know she and Mr. Brown had talked about it, but it was such a mature thing for her to be doing.  I'm so proud of her, and excited to see how she goes forward into being a grownup!

17 August 2022

The day we have been counting down to all summer is here!

First day of school today!  Here they are headed off to fifth grade and first grade.  We went to meet their teachers on Monday.  Bobo has one of the same teachers that he had last year and he's happy about that.  Also his nemesis Peter is not in his class (we think).  Mr. Brown made sure to tell all his teachers that he has ADHD, and when he starts to act up, he needs to be assigned some challenging work, rather than be disciplined.  Hopefully this will lay the groundwork for a good year for him.  They both trotted off this morning in good spirits.

I didn't get a picture of Nut Brown this morning.  He got into the two electives he most wanted (Ceramics and Culinary Arts) so hopefully he is set up for a good year as well.  He's been maturing so much lately.  It's been really great to see and I'm looking forward to what happens for him this year.  

We're balancing morning seminary classes for Rose Pink and Nut Brown, jiujitsu classes three times a week, and choir rehearsals for the girls on Thursday evenings, along with weekly church activities for Rose Pink, Nut Brown and Bobo on Tuesdays.  It's hard to find a balance between things the kids love and not overstressing our family, especially when the activities are so good for them.  I love to watch their growth though. So fun to see confidence increasing as they learn and succeed at what they are pursuing.

16 August 2022

Rosebud came downstairs in this outfit and told me that she was like "a cheetah prowling in the grass" because of the spot pattern on her shirt and the flowers on her skirt.  Then she demonstrated her cheetah skills for me.

I just love how her two front teeth are missing.  It's so adorable.

16 August 2022

Happy birthday, Nut Brown!

His birthday was full of things he loves, a jiujitsu tournament, hamburgers and cheesecake for dinner, and a D&D game in the evening.  Unfortunately the jiujitsu tournament was not all that he expected it to be and he came home headachy and disappointed instead.  For dinner that evening both Rose Pink and Bobo were out of the house, and so the dinner table was very quiet, which Nut Brown said was really nice.  We ate some of his cheesecake that evening and then did candles and singing the next day when everyone was here.

I'm so glad to know him and to watch him grow up.  He is a very fine person.  We teased him about making a wish with his candles, and he said he had already made one, and it came true!  What did he wish for?  That his friend who was competing in the jiujitsu tournament would do well in his first match.  He has such a kind and generous heart.

15 August 2022

Rosebud and I went to visit a friend who has thirteen puppies at her house right now.  It's not quite 101 but it was a lot!  Rosebud was in heaven.  The puppies were so cute, and there were so many of them!

Update: Rosebud wrote this book about the episode in spring 2023.

 

11 August 2022

Our sweet Rosebud was born with a more active imagination than anyone else in this family with very active imaginations. Right after we were married, Mr. Brown and I watched one of The Lord of the Rings movies at a friend's house one afternoon. That night when we were going to bed, I timidly asked Mr. Brown to check in the closet for orcs after he turned the lights out, because I couldn't close my eyes for worrying about it. He very gallantly did, and never teased me about it, which is one of the reasons that I love him. 

Rosebud has inherited the imagination and the worry from me, and we have to be very careful what media she gets exposed to. Sometimes we have problems because she is the youngest and ends up watching things that are fine for her older siblings. One unwise morning spent watching a police detective show resulted in nightmares for weeks and an inability to go to sleep by herself for months. I incautiously told her the story of the headless horseman after the acquisition of a cool Halloween decoration and she refused to go alone anywhere in the house for months because she was afraid he would be there to get her.  Most recently we listened to the audiobook of The Lightning Thief and the scene with the minotaur chasing and killing Percy's mother made it so she couldn't go to bed by herself for several days.  (Not so bad this time... she is getting older.)

I love her so much. I hope we haven't managed to scar her too badly so far.

10 August 2022

Uncle Eric came by for a visit while he was in town for a conference!  He wheeled Bobo and Rosebud around the kitchen in a mattress box with wheels on it.  

So fun to see him!

9 August 2022

Nut Brown gave his first talk in church.  We helped him with the outline and some references, and Mr. Brown coached him through the presentation.  He was really, really nervous, but he did extremely well.  The talk was good and he also gave it well.  This is a still shot from the video of him practicing at the makeshift "podium" in our living room.  So proud of him!

8 August 2022

Rosebud and Bobo finished a two week swim class at the local city pool.  It was a great class, they learned a lot and they really enjoyed it!

28 July 2022

Some lovely things from Bobo this year - an essay and an astro-cat.

And some drawings from Rosebud.  On the left, a family of tiny people being harassed by bees.  On the right, a girl with great eyes.  She drew several versions of this girl, experimenting with different hair and eyes and clothing.

Some more of her writing.  I just love finding her notes around the house!

 

20 July 2022

On one of the hot hot days we've had recently, we went to the store for onions and cam home with ice cream, watermelon and grapes as well. The kids love the tiny carts that they can push themselves.

Rosebud got a new bike helmet and begged and begged to go for a ride in spite of the heat. So we went out after dinner and we still almost melted after only 20 minutes. Came home all red-faced as if we had expended far more energy than we actually did. It took the better part of an hour to cool down after, even with long drinks of cold water.

Bobo is taking a shower right now and I can hear him singing happily to himself at the top of his lungs. I love it when he is happy!

18 July 2022

I was out of town for work last week and when I called home to check in one evening, I had a very nice chat with Bobo.  He told me all about his day, and even asked me how my day had gone.  Then he said, "Okay Mom, I've told you about my day and I asked you about yours, so now I'm going to tell you all about my video game.  Okay? Because I talked about everything else already.  Okay?"  

4 July 2022

Sometimes the sheer cuteness around here is almost too much to bear!

30 June 2022

Summer vacation trip to Idaho!  Here we are on the shuttle at the airport: 

We had planned to rent a car downtown (and save $1000) but then Delta changed our flights and the downtown rental place was closed so we had to stay overnight in SLC.  But it was still cheaper than an airport rental!

On the way up, we stopped at Red Rock Pass, which is where Lake Bonneville broke through to flood thousands of years ago.  Fascinating to see the evidences still in the rocks!!

We arrived at the Peers' house and made friends with their new pet, a cockatiel named Buckbeak.  He was a big hit with our kids.  Aunt Lorien has taught him to whistle the R2D2 noise from Star Wars, and she's working on the Imperial March with him.

We went up to Big Jud's for a belated birthday party for Nut Brown.  We had promised him the enormous hamburger last December so we were finally able to come through on that!  It was a truly enormous hamburger!  Neither he nor Mr. Brown were able to eat the whole thing in one sitting, although Mr. Brown came close.

We went back to Lava Hot Springs! We swam at the small water park/pool there for the afternoon and then we went on to the hot springs.  Mr. Brown struck up a conversation with a British ex-pat who works seasonally in Jackson Hole.  The hot springs were wonderfully hot and we really enjoyed ourselves.  Afterwards we rejoined the Peers for dinner downtown with a guitarist who played Pearl Jam for Mr. Brown and Aunt Lorien.

Then we were off to Minnetonka Caves over by Bear Lake, which was pretty neat but SO MANY STEPS.  The drive up the mountain to get to the cave was so beautiful!  I walked the mile up the mountain from the ticket place to the cave entrance, and it took me an hour.  But it was a beautiful walk!

We stayed overnight in Bear Lake, ate raspberry shakes (yum) and the next day we went to the Bear Lake beach in Idaho.  The beach was really nice but the water was very cold!

We hung out in Pocatello too, did some local hiking and drove around the city looking at neighborhoods, and of course we stayed up late talking!  One night a water gun fight broke out on the front lawn with lots of shrieking and shooting.  One of the adults quietly suggested turning on the sprinklers, and that added extra volume to the shrieks!  We spent a lot of time outside, enjoying the fact that we didn't roast or suffocate from allergies.

16 June 2022

Rosebud learned to ride her bike!  She's been getting pretty close and then we had one more session in the parking lot.  She was very anxious about it at first, but as she gained confidence she got faster and faster.  "I'm a burning ball of fire!" she told me as she cruised past me.  She started starting herself on her bike without any prompting from me, and picked up that skill pretty quickly as well.  When we went home, she asked me for an achievement star for riding her bike, and then when I gave her one she wrote me a thank you note on the back that says, "Thank you for helpg me lrn to ride my bike".

2 June 2022

Rosebud finished kindergarten and they had a little graduation ceremony for them.  She was very excited about it and said she was well enough to go to school even though she was probably sick.  Here she is shaking the principal's hand.

This is her whole class together.

Here we are together afterward.  They were supposed to dress up but she said that what she wanted most of all to wear was our matching shirts!  She's our very first kindergarten graduate.