31 October 2018 (2)

 Somehow we managed a red and black theme this year, which was pretty much accidental.  We appear below in the order that we exited the house for trick or treating.

 Rosebud, who loves kitties, was a kitty.  She loved that Rose Pink drew whiskers on her face.

Nut Brown was a dragon ninja.  Our thrift store here was a treasure trove of costume opportunities.

 Bobo was also a ninja.

 Mr. Brown was the devil.  He had a fabulous cape and dyed his hair and beard and eyebrows black.  The horns were super awesome. 

 

 Rose Pink was a day-of-the-dead person.  She found this skirt on sale last November (post-halloween) and has been waiting for a year to wear it.

 She did her own makeup!!

She also found one for me, so we were twinkies, which was really fun!

She made her headdress, and I put two separate headdresses that I found in Michigan together to make mine.  I have a veil with a skull on it sewn on to the flowery headband.  We were both pleased with our costumes.

Trick or treating was fun, although our neighborhood was less fruitful than we expected.  But there were still piles of candy when we got home.  Eleven pounds this year.

31 October 2018

This photo reflect Rosebud's obsession with the color pink.  She gathered up a bunch of pink things and put them in her pink crocs.  I think I noted in here already the day that I put on a pink flowered apron and she came up to me and said, "Oh Mom!  It's pink!  I have to hug you!" and she gave my legs a hug.  A couple weeks ago I put on some hot pink slouchy pants that I haven't worn in awhile and she was immediately caught up in the color, coming up to me and saying, "What's this?  What's this?"  She LOVES pink. Anything pink.

29 October 2018

At the end of September, Mr. Brown rewarded my extra time at work by building me a raised bed next to the guest house and putting up poles for pole beans.  I have started the beans, and they look beautiful twining up the poles.  I planted pepper plants in between.  Hopeful that they will do well this fall!

27 October 2018

Halloween preparations... Mr. Brown is up in the panhandle cleaning up after Hurricane Michael and reminded us to be sure and do jack o'lanterns this weekend!

Rose Pink made sure to change into appropriate attire for the activity.  We have some friends staying with us, and they're former JWs who had never carved pumpkins before.  So that was fun too.

 

Rosebud got happy with the Sharpies on hers.

 End results:

 Rosebud's kitty pumpkin (it's all cats with her... guess what she's going to be for Halloween?)

Then the sun came out and the boys needed sunglasses.  Sun in Florida is no joke.  Nut Brown and Bobo were both making Avatar the Last Airbender pumpkins.  Nut Brown carved four of the characters into his.  Bobo got hold of the tiny pumpkin saw and went to town on his.  He did most of it by himself and I think he ended up with three faces on his, plus he cut out the bottom of it.

Lit photos from that evening of Bobo's and Rosebud's pumpkins:

25 October 2018

At the end of September, Mr. Brown and I got dressed up and went to a Gold and Green Ball hosted at the stake center.  I was so excited for it.  I wouldn't let him see my outfit ahead of time but I told him it was all black, so he went and got new clothes too, all black to match me.  (We're so cute!)  We danced and danced for three straight hours.  There was a live band, and we had so much fun!  Rose Pink watched the younger kids for us, and we had such a good time together.

24 October 2018

We found $78 plane tickets and so we flew back to Detroit to work on our favorite service project ever!

Winter clothing distribution!  20,000 pounds of clothes and five solid days of hard work!

Also friends!

It was good to be back with friends and to work hard at a worthy project.  Things felt different about it this year, though - less unity, less common spirit... it was just hard work with less spiritual reward.  But it was so good to be back in Michigan with our Michigan ward!!

24 October 2018

We went to the beach at the end of September.  This picture captures the beach experience as a responsible parent - always checking for my four fluorescent rashguard babies - pink, yellow, orange and pink, although the small pink one is usually right next to me because she's very cautious about the waves.  Living so close to the beach is one of my favorite parts about living in Florida!

15 October 2018

So in this picture, Rosebud is flossing my teeth.  In the evenings I usually floss Bobo's teeth (he's had a lot of cavities and even gotten a crown) and after seeing that, Rosebud occasionally asks to floss my teeth.  It kind of tickles and it's just sweet and silly, which is why I asked Nut Brown to take a picture.  But the funniest part of this picture is what she said to me as she put her fingers in my mouth: "This is going to hurt a bit."

10 October 2018

I love Bobo's tenderness.

1 October 2018

Some artwork from Bobo and Rosebud.  Bobo's is from his Sunday School class at church.  He told me that he put the puzzle together and then drew his family on it.  I love how affectionately he feels towards us.  

Rosebud had a blast with a pen, while sitting on a short stool and using a tall stool for her desk.  Super cute to watch, and I liked the art she produced.