28 April 2024

Nut Brown has been reading manga voraciously since last summer. Rosebud and Bobo and Mr. Brown have also been enjoying it. I just recently realized that he's working his way alphabetically through the library's catalog, because all the manga we have checked out at the moment starts with V or W. 

Lazy Sunday today... Three kids reading manga on the couch next to me. I'm working on my crosstitch, and Mr. Brown is stretched out on the floor in front of us, also reading.

27 April 2024

Happy birthday, Bobo!  For his birthday, he wanted to go bowling with his friends from "mini-bro night".  (Nut Brown goes to "bro night" on Fridays, and one of the younger brothers from the bro night bros asked for a "mini-bro night", and the name stuck.)  So off to the lanes we went!  Bobo was kind enough to invite his little sister too, and she was thrilled to be included. I tried to turn The Pan into a party bus, but the balloons all popped.  Fail.  But Bobo was amused by it.

  

After bowling, we returned to our house and had lasagna for dinner.

Followed by "cake".  Bobo has a recipe for chocolate peanut butter bars that he loves to make, and he asked for a double decker version.  Mr. Brown got inventive and made it work.  They were delicious.  I think Bobo's favorite part was that he got to eat the rest of it basically all by himself for the entire next week.

After cake, they jumped on the trampoline for awhile and then parents came to pick them up.

Bobo took his birthday money and bought himself a wireless mouse.  He'd been planning on it for awhile. He was so disappointed that his aunt's card this year didn't say, "You Guac!" like it had for the past two years.  (Rose Pink found him another one on Amazon and gave it to him.)  He put the Minecraft stuffy on his bed straightaway and sleeps with it.  

On the day of his actual birthday, he asked if he could have his best friend over to play computer games.  We agreed, suspending the normal video game rules for a birthday.  When we pulled in after picking up his friend Aaron (and his little brother Elijah), I heard Bobo instructing them that they had to play 30 minutes of board games first. 💓 Be still, my heart: I was so glad that he had decided on his own to put a limitation on the video games.
 

23 April 2024

It is so fun when Rosebud gets to wear some of Rose Pink's old clothes.  Of course, they were hand-me-downs when Rose Pink got them, and then I sent them to my sister for her daughter, and now they're back here for Rosebud to wear.  When Rose Pink put on this shirt, she said she felt so cool that she just had to play air guitar. The shirt says, "I have a rockin' mom", so I like it too!

 

13 April 2024

Our dear friend Elijah turned five and wanted a birthday party them from a horror video game, so we made four sculptures based on the video game for his party.  You could loosely call them pinatas, but they weren't made to be broken.  He was surprised and amazed and so pleased by them!  They came out really well!

Here he is with Nut Brown, who spent most of the party playing with him and putting his new toys together for him.  They are good friends.

 

12 April 2024

Rosebud is really into creating wordsearches at the moment.  She likes to do them, and she likes to make them.  

The first time that I've been tempted to buy school pictures. She went to school with her kitty ear headband and the results are adorable!!

Some artwork from Rosebud:

She wrote a chapter book at school.  "Reality is Pain".

I hung this one up in the dining room.

8 April 2024

Easter means getting Peeps from Grandpa!

We were looking through old photos and came across one that I love (from maybe 2021?) and the kids wanted to recreate it.

Eclipse day!  We originally planned to go to Ohio to see the totality, but in the end we decided to stay here and watch General Conference instead.  But we did watch the 90% from the backyard.  I had saved the eclipse glasses from 2017 when we saw the eclipse in Charleston, and it was disappointing not to see the totality.  Staying home was definitely the right choice though.
 

3 April 2024

Spring break! The schools were out for ten days around Easter weekend.  We didn't go anywhere.  Instead I scheduled playdates mostly for Rosebud but also a couple for Nut Brown and Bobo.  

Friday of that week we also met Grandma and Grandpa in Washington DC for a couple hours.  We went to the Museum of American History and saw the flag from Ft. McHenry, and had lunch together in the basement.

Then we walked over to the Tidal Basin and walked under the cherry trees to the Jefferson Memorial.

Nut Brown was not very impressed.  He told me that he thinks Harford County is prettier than the cherry trees.  It's true that we were there later than last year so it wasn't quite as heart-stoppingly beautiful.  But I was also glad that he was enjoying the beauty around us at home.

After the Jefferson Memorial we walked back to the car.  Friends have always advised me that you have to be on the road home no later than two pm - any later and a 90 minute drive turns into a 2.5 hour drive.  I pushed it a it, and we left at 2:30.  I thought surely that would be okay, but no, we didn't get home until 5 pm!  Lesson learned!

And then it was Easter - and there were Peeps from Grandpa to be eaten! 

We had Easter dinner as a shared meal with the Bloods and Knoxes.  So glad to have friends!