26 May 2018

Reading scriptures with Bobo.  We get to the part where the Liahona points which direction they should go.

Bobo: How did the Liahona work, Mom?

Mom: It's not explained in the scriptures.  I don't know.

Bobo (very seriously): Let's Google it.

25 May 2018

Why do my kids always end up in bed late?  Wednesday evening I practiced bike riding with Bobo and then it was time for baths, but he asked very sweetly if we could blow bubbles and because he'd worked so hard at bike riding practice, I said yes.  I blew a thousand rainbow shimmering spheres in the front yard, and he and Rosebud ran around as ninjas and popped them all.  I blew and blew as the sun went down and it was beautiful and peaceful - and suddenly it was late and kids are late to bed again.  But I'll never forget it.

23 May 2018

Happy birthday to me!  Bobo and Nut Brown were invited out for the day to Legoland with friends, and they went and had a wonderful time, and I enjoyed very much knowing that they were off having a wonderful time.  Mr. Brown and the girls took me out for lunch to a Thai place for curry, yum, and brought me some of my most favorite chocolate as a gift.  Some former coworkers in Michigan remembered my birthday, which warmed my heart.  Master Guns also remembered but waited until almost midnight to text me, so I thought he'd forgotten!  Mr. Brown had planned steak for dinner, which is a super treat for me, but we were still full from lunch so we didn't have dinner.  But that was a treat too, because Nut Brown loves steak as well and I was a little sad for him to miss it.  Then another friend randomly chose that night to bring us a dryer, since ours has been broken for several months.  It was very sweet of him, and I had a good time hanging out in the front yard waiting for him.  Mr. Brown took Rose Pink to volleyball so I could stay home and get the first reports from the boys of what their day had been like.  It was such a wonderful day for me, mostly because of Mr. Brown.  He is so good to me!

21 May 2018

We now know what Rosebud's favorite color is.  She has begun to identify everything that's pink as 'mine' and 'for my birthday'.  It doesn't matter what the item is- she wants it to be hers 'for her birthday'.

She recently got a new Sunday dress - it's really cute, black with red and white flowers.  Rose Pink told her that it was her 'princess dress', and so now she says she's a princess, without any other real context for what that might mean.  Her Sunday shoes with bows on the toes are her 'princess shoes'.  Tonight I put her in bed and said, "Good night, chicken," which is one of my terms of endearment for the children, and she said, "No, Mom, I'm a princess."  Except that she doesn't say the 'r', so it comes out, "pincess". 

19 May 2018

This week I've been doing grammar homework with Nut Brown over the phone at lunchtime.  I love it.  He's so funny and I love having 20 minutes on the phone with him.  I told him how much fun I have doing this and he looks at me and says, "That's because you LIKE grammar, Mom."

17 May 2018

There's a book about Pete the Cat and his four groovy buttons.  It's a super fun story and both Rosebud and Bobo like it.  Also me.  I told Rosebud that the snap at the top of the zipper on her footie pajamas is her 'groovy button' and when I'm putting her in bed at night, if she finds out that it's undone, she cries out, "My groovy button!  My groovy button!" until I fasten it.

A couple days ago, Bobo found the container of miscellaneous buttons in the toy room and brought it out to the living room.  When Rosebud saw it, she exclaimed, "My buttons!  My groovy buttons!  Oh, oh! My groovy buttons!" and poured them all out so she could play with them.

15 May 2018

There is a poster on my bedroom wall right this moment that says, "Garden Variety Greatness!  The Exploding Eggplants... in concert May 22 in Orlando!"  The kids have started a band, and the first performance is for my birthday.

7 May 2018

Mr. Brown is still recovering from pneuflugraines - pneumonia + flu + migraines.  My mom came to stay with us for a few days last week since my sick leave was basically exhausted from the previous two weeks of the flu, and that was a welcome break from taking the kids to other peoples' houses every day so Mr. Brown could rest, because he wasn't ready to take care of them.  He's better now, but still lays down a lot and has to rest often.


We had Bobo's birthday party on Saturday.  His favorite friends and their families came over and we cooked hot dogs on the fire and they jumped on the trampoline, and I put together a quick treasure hunt for the birthday boy and his buddies.  It was a lot of fun.  Mr. Brown made the most delicious potato salad with some sausage cut up in it.  Bobo, sweet boy, wanted to get a number '5' candle to go with the number '1' candle we had and then make a plus candle, so that his candles would spell '5 + 1'.  So we did.  His friends gave him a kite and a lego set, and he was a happy, happy boy.


Sunday night, he was still wakeful at 9 pm, so he and Nut Brown blew up his light-up balloons and took them out to the trampoline.  Then they had a sleepover on his bed. 

1 May 2018

Rosebud pretends to be a kitty at night sometimes when I'm putting her in bed.  She sings along with her good night songs by meowing.  She's so adorable.