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!

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.

------------------------------

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.

 

15 July 2026

 My parents invited my family and all of my siblings' family to a vacation in Tennessee this summer, and it was finally time to head down there!  Rosebud has been counting down the days for about two weeks.  She's super excited to see her girl cousins that are her same age.

There was a little alarming health issue for me on Thurs/Fri/Sat of last week, but when I finally went to the ER with it, the chest pain turned out to be strained cartilage on my ribs and the ear/jaw/throat pain was a cyst in a salivary gland.  It was all manageable with some medication, so we didn't have to cancel our trip!

We packed on Monday and got on the road early Tuesday morning.  We drove down to Pigeon Forge in a very uneventful manner in a red minivan we rented, which Mr. Brown calls 'Cherry'.

Kids had a good time, alternating playing video games on the Switch with reading books and looking out the window and other activities.

There are two Buc-ee's on the route, and we stopped at both of them!  Once for lunch and once for dinner!  That was definitely a highlight because we love Buc-ee's and miss it from when we lived in Texas.

We arrived safely at the house my parents rented.  My parents and my brother's family were already there, and cousin connections were revived.  Rosebud is sleeping in the same room with her girl cousins, and D played foosball and shuffleboard and video games with the ones his age.  Happy to see that they will probably be having fun together this week.

This morning Mr. Brown took Nut Brown and Rosebud to the water park with most of my brother's family.  D and I stayed home because he took a fall yesterday and had some big scrapes and a twisted ankle.  Grandpa took us go-carting (fun) and to lunch at a car-themed restaurant (fun) and then we did some grocery shopping for dinner and also ice cream :) . D has also been playing video games and reading his book and having quiet time, which I think is probably the best choice for him today.

12 July 2026

 This morning Rosebud decided to occupy herself by using some of her craft supplies.  She got out a soap bar sized chunk of wax and began work on a bird sculpture.  We looked at some bird pictures, and she sketched it out and then made a mockup of it in putty eraser, and then dove in with the carving.  When Nut Brown saw what she was doing, he asked if he could join in.  She gave him one of her other bars, and he started work on a human figure.  They spent a long time working steadily on their projects.

2 July 2026

 

My raspberry bushes have been wonderful this year.  And we're having another summer with a local CSA order so we get fresh corn and other vegetables... the best tomatoes ever, and more zucchini than my kids want to eat.  We are eating good this summer!

30 June 2026

 

20 June 2026

 Rosebud and I shelled the peas that we got from the CSA this week.  She started playing a game that involved rolling them up the brim of her hat.  Then she ate all the peas.

14 June 2026

 D is trying to delay taking a shower by laying on the floor contorting his body and trying to get Rosebud to guess which letter he's making.

13 June 2026

Rose Pink and D set up a time to game online together.  D was very careful to make sure that we would be home and the computer would be available, but then he didn't sleep the night before and when the time rolled around he had passed out on the couch and I couldn't wake him.  Fortunately Rose Pink was flexible and rescheduled for later.  Here he is playing with her, with Rosebud tagging along as best she can.  We miss Rose Pink. 

 Also, here's Rosebud's 4th grade class, but without her in it... she missed picture day.

12 June 2026

Friday night and we ordered pizza and maybe we got a little too much?  You can see how excited D is from the fact that he's actually looking at the camera.  One of these pizzas he bought for himself with a gift card he received for his birthday.

Rosebud surprises us again with another school activity.  She auditioned and won a spot on the team that does the daily announcements at her school.  She is very excited and pleased with herself.

10 June 2026

Mr. Brown leads a Bible study class on Wednesday nights at the church for investigators and new members.  I attended tonight and had a beautiful spiritual experience.  Plus I got to take a picture of my handsome husband without him noticing. :)

 

9 June 2026

Picking cherries at a friend's house.  Yum.