31 December 2024

Right now, a game of Quarriors is happening in the dining room involving Mr. Brown, Rose Pink, Nut Brown and D. Rosebud is eating her lunch, yogurt and blueberries and Kashi, which she made herself. I am in the bedroom listening to the happy noises of the people I love most in the world. How lucky am I? So blessed!

29 December 2024

We usually get donuts for "five golden rings" on the 12 days of Christmas, but it's Sunday.  So I made biscuits and cut out the middles.  I was very proud of myself and excited to eat them.  They were terrible!  Mr. Brown said, "How much baking soda did you put in?" and I said, "Three tablespoons" and he said, "It's three TEAspoons, my love."  They were inedible.  Very sad.

25 December 2025

Sometimes I feel bad for Rosebud as the youngest.  Her older siblings are growing out of things that she is still excited about, and her parents are less interested in creating magic for childhood than we were when Rose Pink and Nut Brown were little.  Christmas is a prime example.  She finds Christmas magical and wonderful, as most children do.  D is on the cusp of moving out of the magic (not quite there) and Nut Brown and Rose Pink are definitely on the adult side of Christmas.  

So Rosebud had a somewhat difficult Christmas morning.  She woke her siblings up early, like always.  Mr. Brown and I had found some small fake Lego kits that we'd put into the stockings, and we wondered why the kids didn't come and get us around seven like they usually do.  Finally we got up and went downstairs and discovered that the Lego kits had about 170-250 pieces each, and the older three were engrossed in doing them.  The kit was a little too advanced for Rosebud, so D and Rose Pink did hers when they'd finished theirs.  Then Mr. Brown said we had to have breakfast first, so we did.  Rosebud was DYING to go back to the tree and open presents, but she was very patient.  Finally we all finished eating and we went back downstairs.

I only took one picture from Christmas morning:

I loved seeing my boys hang out next to each other and opening gifts.  When D is happy, he is so much fun to be around, and he was definitely happy on Christmas morning.  Nut Brown really enjoys being with him when he doesn't pester too much.

Oh, looks like I took two more photos.  Aunt Jenn sent fake mustaches and they were a lot of fun.

We were really tired - but dinner happened! Ham, mashed potatoes, rolls, brussels sprouts and pear custard pie.  I like Christmas Day, because my family is so happy that they are kind to each other all day.

22 December 2024

D is headed into puberty and we've been teasing him about the trials of being a middle schooler and the hormones he's starting to experience. This embarrasses him. Today, unrelated, Rosebud asked about some other bodily process, and Mr. Brown's response began with, "It's caused by hormones..." and D, who was reading on the couch, threw a blanket over his own head and exclaimed, "Hormones! They're coming for me!"

Tonight Rose Pink and Mr. Brown are making pasta together using the KitchenAid. Her New Year's goal last January was to eat a lot different pasta shapes and she's finishing off the year by making her own. 

21 December 2024

Kinda hard to see, but Rosebud has made a telephone out of cups (she saw it in a book) and she and her brothers are experimenting with sound wave interception.

18 December 2024

First snow this afternoon! It wasn't very much and it didn't last long but it sure was beautiful, and Rosebud was very excited by it!

14 December 2024

Grandma sent us some wooden ornaments and markers.  Rose Pink and Rosebud and I had a good time making them lovely!

11 December 2024

Rosebud has been learning to write essays at school in a particular format.  

I had to put in all three pages of the last one... it's my favorite.

10 December 2024

Mr. Brown helped me plan out Christmas again this year, and we even had gift packages for friends ready to mail before Thanksgiving.  We finished our gift shopping for the kids the first week in December. 

Rosebud helping fill the advent calendar with candies

Rosebud and I also went to see an abridged version of The Nutcracker by a local dance studio, with photo opportunities afterwards.  It was very abridged, but she and I had a good time together.

Then I got sick, really sick, and that kind of sucked up the next two weeks.

7 December 2024

I planned our second 2024 visit to DC around an opportunity to see the light show at the DC temple with Mr. Brown's sister and her family.  We went to the Natural History museum (fun but exhausting - lots of people) and then over to their house for dinner.  

They had just returned from a trip to Denmark, so we ate aebleskivers (yum) and hot dogs, which we pretended were sausages.

The light show was pretty terrific.  I can see why Mr. Brown's brother-in-law is so amazed by the quantity and thoroughness of the decorating. We went in the visitors' center as well to see the display of nativities as well.  It was crowded.

1 December 2024

Thanksgiving week started with a visit from my sister and her kids.  They did some sightseeing in DC and came by to see us in the evenings.  The second night all those teenage boys (her three plus Nut Brown) did a weigh-in to see who weighed the most.  Her son Joshua won.  It was fun to see her surrounded with all these almost-adults that she and Tom have raised.

She went up to see my parents, and we followed a couple days later.  My brother and his family were there as well, but my sister had left by the time we made it up.  First evening's dinner was a second round of Thanksgiving, which is always good eats!

We attempted the purchase of fireworks, and my sister's son amused D and Rosebud in the back of the minivan by taking selfies with them on his phone.  Unfortunately the fireworks shop was closed.

Rosebud was insistent on having "her own room" in the closet.  She was very pleased with it.  She also enjoyed the opportunity to be a big sister to my brother's daughter.

all of us but me

Grandpa took us to the children's museum downtown.  I thought the kids would be too old for it, but they weren't at all.  Grandpa was also in great form and amused D and Rosebud in the hospital/medical section for quite a while as they diagnosed and re-diagnosed him with a variety of "diseases".  Other fun included a large grocery store section, with working cash registers (at least, they booped)...

and a giant lite-brite set.

Reading on the couch together:

D also went on a VERY cold bike ride with Grandma and Grandpa and his cousin James.  The rest of us wimps stayed inside.  D and Rosebud tested out the walkie-talkies while D was on the bike and found that they have a pretty good range.

We left after church on Sunday, drove home, and had the first Sunday of Advent, just us singing and eating cookies!

22 November 2024

20 November 2024

Hooray, Rose Pink is home! She drove herself to Texas for ten days to see friends and arrived back today! We missed her and are glad that she is safely back with us again!

Church held a Linger Longer last Sunday, and we all got nametags to help us get better acquainted.  Nut Brown came home, took his off, and stuck it on the ceiling of our bedroom, saying, "I'll stick this somewhere my dad will NEVER find it," which is a reference to one of our favorite movies. It's fun to have inside jokes!

16 November 2024

Mr. Brown's brother called last week to say he and his girlfriend would be at the Naval Academy today to watch her son play in a rugby game. So we loaded up and went down to join the fun.  

We went to a very small museum about ships and oyster fishing to start. Then we ran to Wawa for hoagies for lunch, and headed over to the game. It was a beautiful day and we had come well prepared with camping mats to sit in that protected our bums from the cold bleachers and a couple blankets and jackets and hats and mittens and sunglasses and water bottles and snacks. The game was really fun!! Navy won, and it was a great time cheering with the midshipmen.  I think we may go to some more next fall!

16 November 2024

Reading in the hall closet.

Eating breakfast together on the back porch.

15 November 2024

There's a group of teenage boys at church who have "bro night" every Friday, and Nut Brown joined the group when we moved here.  Recently, all their younger brothers have started having "bro night" too, but since they're the younger brothers, we call it "mini bro night". It's eagerly anticipated by all of them every Friday. 

We were hosting the mini bros tonight, and Rosebud was sad and lonely because she couldn't join in. So she and I looked at family photo albums and played Bohnanza and pickup sticks together.

11 November 2024

D was headed to a friend's house today and told me seriously that he does NOT have playdates any more. He hangs out with his friends now.  Noted! Growing up.

5 November 2024

Rose Pink casts her first vote in a presidential election!

3 November 2024

Rosebud's school pictures for this year

 

31 October 2024

Halloween!  This year we went with a theme for costumes, instead a family group.  It happened because I suggested that Mr. Brown and I could dress as the Men In Black, and Rosebud said, "Great idea! I'll be Catwoman, she wears black!". So "men in black" it was!

Mr. Brown and I dressed as the Blues Brothers.  This picture was taken at the ward Trunk or Treat, which I was in charge of, and I forgot my black pants in the rush to get ready.  People still recognized us!  We went to the APG trunk or treat too, and people knew who we were.  They would say, It's the Blues Brothers! And we would respond, "We're on a mission from God!" So fun.

Nut Brown opted for "George Washington in black with sunglasses".  He loved the powdered wig I bought for him. And when we went to the thrift store looking for supplies, we found a fabulous red brocade coat with gold epaulets, and he was in heaven.  But this is the "in black" version of the costume.

D went as a Minecraft Wither, which is a three headed skeleton.  This costume was really fun to make.

Catwoman was a little grumpy for this photo.

Rose Pink chose to dress as the Dread Pirate Roberts from The Princess Bride. She wanted us to all dress as characters from the movie, but Mr. Brown and I didn't think we would be recognizable.  I unfortunately didn't get any photos of her individually! She looked great, and made herself up to change the shape of her face a bit and have a mustache, which was really cool.  Anyway, she's in the back row of the group photo from trick or treating, next to the boy in the orange shirt.

We trick or treated with our ex-fam friends in the same neighborhood as last year, and had a good time. (Mr. Brown made seven layer dip for the party and made some blood spatter out of hot sauce for the top!) The weather was so nice that D ended up taking off his costume (it's a lovely warm hoodie) and knocking doors without it.  When people asked Nut Brown how he could be George Washington while wearing a red coat, he replied that he was dressed as George Washington during the French and Indian War when he was a British soldier.

Eventually Rosebud had to go to the bathroom so she and I skipped ahead to get back to the house sooner.  The big group splintered and people trailed back in pieces.  There was some trading when everyone returned and then we headed home. Happily, the school district was cool enough this year to give everyone the day after Halloween off!

Last photo: 

Nut Brown's youth group at church built a trebuchet this summer.  What use could that be? Well, it turned out to be just the right size for flinging small pumpkins as part of the ward Trunk or Treat.  Awesome!!  I thought this photo of Nut Brown in a powdered wig working the trebuchet was pretty funny.

29 October 2024

 Rose Pink has been involved in a lot of changes over the past few months!  She put in mission papers, received her endowment at the temple, and was accepted to BYU Idaho. She also switched jobs and is now driving delivery for Domino's Pizza. 

Her mission papers submission was quite a journey. She decided back in October 2023 that she wanted to serve, but due to various hangups her papers weren't submitted until June. After a few weeks, the response from Salt Lake was that she could serve a service mission but not a proselyting mission, which was a disappointment. She did go ahead to the temple and received her endowments in September.

She is amazing.  

She decided to apply to BYU Idaho instead, and was accepted and is starting there in January. We have been busy negotiating a ton of paperwork and decisions necessary for college enrollment. It is no joke! But we're making progress and I think all of us are excited for her.

She was really nervous about going away to hang out with strangers, but then she attended a YSA Halloween dance also with a bunch of strangers, and she had a great time. She said it was like her inner extrovert woke up again, and it reminded her how much she enjoys social activities! So now she's more excited than anxious. I'm glad, because the social life is one of the main reasons Mr. Brown and I are excited for her to go to BYU Idaho.

In summary, big changes for Rose Pink recently, and more big changes coming!