6 September 2026

Heading up the street to a neighbor's house for hygge - snacks and games and good company.

playing Skull King together.  The kids love to go for the snacks.  I think the neighbors are growing on D.  Their youngest son (now age 20) also has ADHD, and they were patient with him last night as he got louder and louder while he was enjoying himself during the game.  And they don't mind that he gets up and leaves when he's done being social.

 

6 September 2026

 Rosebud went to the high school open house with Mr. Brown and D, and decided that she wanted to be in the marching band. The viola is not an instrument that she will get to march with, so we've been working on what she should switch to.  I think she's going to end up on the trombone.  

There was discussion this evening about middle school band, and D commented that he didn't think Rosebud was going to like middle school, that it's not what she thought it would be.  It's pretty bad, he said.  The classes aren't good.  Well, said Mr. Brown, except for chorus.  Oh yeah, D responded.  She'll like Mrs. B.  

And Mrs. Wagner's class? prompted Mr. Brown.  Yes, said D.  I loved Mrs. Wagner's class.  That class was so good it doesn't deserve to be called middle school.  

Mrs. Wagner was his 8th grade English teacher. D and Rosebud had very different experiences with English teachers this year.  Rosebud's teacher censured her for reading ahead and finishing the book ahead of her group. I found that so hard to believe! And now she's not happy about reading for school this year because she doesn't like getting in trouble!

On the other hand, when D finished his book for Mrs. Wagner in three days instead of three weeks, she got him the sequel to read while the other kids kept reading.  And she bought the next book, so that he could stay engaged with a series that had caught his interest!  She also gave him and his friends a chance to eat lunch in her classroom together.

Mrs. Wagner goes to church with us and she's in my book club.  When it was held at my house last month, D came out to sit with us for awhile because she was there.  He has actually verbalized to us how much he loves her and her class.  And he sent her a completely unprompted thank you note that she shared with me. 

I'm so grateful for the way that she treated my son with respect and encouragement!

5 September 2026

 Rosebud and her three best friends had a seven-hour pool party today.

The hosting mother said that when she said it was time to leave that the girls insisted that they had to get out of the pool holding hands, and it took them several tries.  When I talked to Rosebud afterwards, she giggled and said, "We did that on purpose.  So that we could make it last longer."

When she got home, she told me a long story about their game that involved a magic boarding school, a wealthy family, orphans and choosing an element (hers was water).

Meanwhile the rest of us went to the ward barbecue, ate some delicious meat, and enjoyed the beautiful weather.  The boys engaged in some gymnastics, or maybe cheerleading lifts.

Also D reorganized all his shelves.

He was very pleased with himself.  He found more space without getting rid of anything, and also made space on the library book shelf in the living room so he can check out more library books (a self-imposed restriction).

When Rosebud finally got home, he engaged in some relieved teasing, which she was made about until I told her that's actually how he shows love right now.  I told her to watch for it in other boys too - when they want to show they like you, they'll do something that really annoys you.  Her eyes widened in understanding.

1 September 2026

 

31 August 2026

 First day of school!  9th grade and 5th grade.  My sweet husband remembered to take pictures for me this morning, which made me feel very loved.  D was up at 1 am this morning because he was anxious, although his middle school is in the same building as the high school, so it should be a pretty easy transition.  Rosebud has had varying degrees of anxiety as today approached, mostly related to not being able to do everything that she wants to do, but I think she's ready now.  I'm excited for this school year for both of them!

30 August 2026

Walking home from the Wines' last night. Rosebud was enjoying her cloak and wand outfit and was trying to come up with incantations for spells. After some thought, she announced, "I figured out one for 'levitate'. Wave your wand and say, "Let's break physics!"

16 August 2026

Clearing off my dresser and found this award that D won this spring.

Rainy afternoon, and Rosebud and I watched birds out the window for awhile, with a camera and with D's binoculars.  Then she let me braid her hair in a loop around her head, and regretted it as soon as I accidentally pulled her hair for the first time.  It turned out pretty cute though!  I'm glad she agreed I could play with her hair today.  She usually won't let me.

Finished off the armadillo cake tonight.

13 August 2026

 For Nut Brown's birthday, he asked for a party that involved his friends and his family, so we had a cookout with way too much delicious food (hamburgers and chicken skewers, the best potato salad ever, so many chips).  It was fun to hang out with Nut Brown's friends, who are pretty funny guys.  They get along well together.

This is most of them.  Sam suddenly turned away to pick up some firewood right as I snapped the shutter.

Nut Brown asked for an elaborate cake for his birthday, so Rose Pink made him an armadillo.

Nut Brown and the guys took it on in battle in the basement (D&D).

They humored me very politely when I asked for a picture.  Also, as part of their game, Nut Brown had them sing a monster to sleep, and those of us upstairs listened to the whole group sing Backstreet's Back, all the verses.  

Then we sang and he blew out candles and cut the cake with Mr. Brown's treasured cleaver!

Happy birthday to Nut Brown.  It was a fun evening.

8 August 2026

 I planted onion sets in the front flower bed this year, because I figured the deer wouldn't eat them.  They didn't eat them.  But the onions didn't get very big either, just barely doubled in size, and most of them weren't big enough to even bring in.  But they didn't get eaten by the deer!

6 August 2026

Rosebud went to Sumobot camp for a week this summer.  She partnered with another girl to build and program a robot that would try and push another robot out of the ring, and they made a presentation to share with parents about it.  Their robot did pretty well, but Rosebud was frustrated that she didn't feel like she had enough time to do as well as she wanted.  I enjoyed watching the robots fight on the last day of camp!

Camp was close enough to work that I dropped her off and picked her up, and she came back to the office with me for an hour before the end of my workday.  Here's what my office looks like at the moment:

Rosebud drew stars on my board for me.

D also went to STEM camp this week.  He was learning about natural disasters, and came home and built bridges out of popsicle sticks.

 

2 August 2026

We celebrate Mr. Brown's birthday and our family birthday right next to each other every year.  This year, because Mr. Brown likes to get a pan of gyro meat for his birthday,  Nut Brown suggested that we wear togas while enjoying pitas and bubbly juice.  Fortunately I had enough sheets.

It was very silly and very fun.

For the family birthday, Rose Pink made a red velvet roll cake that was quite tasty!

24 years and counting!

31 July 2026

 

30 July 2026

Rose Pink is back for a month!  We went to hot pot to celebrate.  A really fun thing to do together!

Also, a fire to burn school papers.  D doesn't like getting smoke on him so he was sitting far away in the wheelbarrow, and his hero-worshipper was sitting next to him.

A couple of items that Rosebud requested photographic evidence of before consigning them to the conflagration:

25 July 2026

someone (D) has been having fun with twos.

Our turn to clean the church, and Mr. Brown is teaching the boys how to properly care for the sacrament equipment and preparation space to ensure cleanliness and reverence.  It was a beautiful moment to watch him teach them some of their priesthood responsibilities.

 

22 July 2026

Today we became a minivan-less family... the Pan has been having issues and it was time to bid it farewell.  My parents generously offered to sell us their Toyota Camry, so we are now a two-sedan family.  We bought the Pan because Rosebud was on the way and we needed accommodations for four kids.  Right now we have one kid away at college and the second on his way out the door as well, so we don't need a minivan any more.  The Pan entered our life when we needed it, and it faithfully served until it wasn't needed any more.

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We have 113 books checked out from the library right now.  This is what 113 library books around the house looks like:

Yep, they are everywhere.