14 May 2012

Although Ozzy's birth has certainly been the main event lately in our household, other things have also been happening.  Spring soccer started and we signed the kids up for it for the first time.  Here's Nut Brown in his 'uniform':

And here's Rose Pink:

Rose Pink's age group is a little more organized - we have scheduled practices and games with referees and a treat calendar for parents and so on.  Her team is the Honeybees.  Here they are in action:

Nut Brown's practices and games take place all in the same 45 minutes on Saturday mornings.  He has practice and then they scrimmage with another team until the kids are bored with it.  Here's his team in action:

Both of them really enjoy the game and also the 'dressing up' part: the shinguards, the cleats, the special shirts and shorts.  We now own four soccer balls, and Mr. Brown uses them regularly to practice with the kids at home.

12 May 2012

Happy two weeks to Ozzy! We haven't yet gotten to his due date, but he is nursing like a pro and started putting on weight. He hasn't started pooping yet, but we'll just enjoy the run of easy diaper changes while it lasts. :)

At his two week checkup he had gained back nine ounces and an inch and a half, so he's a growing boy.  He has a pointy little chin and a super cute habit of pulling his legs up to his chest and crossing his feet at the ankles.  Also he finds the sound of running water soothing, which we discovered while giving him sponge baths.  He doesn't cry a whole lot and does this funny squawking noise when he wants something.  The last two nights, he's slept five hours at a go, which is remarkable but I probably shouldn't have mentioned it because now he won't do it any more.  He is doing his best to make it easy for us to get used to him.

A big thank you to Grandma for coming to stay with us for ten days to help! 

Wrestling already...

Rose Pink loves to hold him and carry him around and will play pretend with him.  He enjoys the movement and attention, and I think she enjoys having a playmate who can't argue with her.  She does a great job with him.  Nut Brown's reaction has been more mixed- we had long discussions and cuddle sessions to help him understand that Ozzy is not replacing him, and that we don't love him any less even though he's no longer the smallest in the house. 

Two days ago:

Mr. Brown: Let's all get our shoes on to take Mom for her walk.  Of DOOM.

(we were going around the block)

Nut Brown: ... or of fun-ness!

27 April 2012

We welcome our new overlord.

The Great Ozymandias

April 27, 2012

9:03 am

6 lbs

13 April 2012

With warmer weather, we've started to come out of the house and make use of our front porch.

Rose Pink asked if they could do a craft.  Like what, I say?  Um, paint sticks from the front lawn, she says.  So she did.  And Nut Brown painted a picture on his paper instead of painting sticks.

Mr. Brown and the kids put together and played with a balloon on a straw on a piece of  yarn.  Science.  Propulsion.  Rockets.  Lots of fun.  Here's Nut Brown helping him prepare it for a run.  (Thank you to Grandma and Grandpa for that book of science experiments you gave us for Christmas!)

Nut Brown asked if we could play cards on Sunday afternoon.  Rose Pink took this picture of me contemplating my hand.  Not that there's a whole lot of strategy in this particular card game... but we had a great time playing together.  As one of our acquaintances here says, older kids are the best.  Because you can do fun things like this with them.  We played Swap and Uno and enjoyed the sunshine.

12 April 2012

Today was Rose Pink's first soccer practice with her team for this spring, and she asked her teammates and coach to call her by her middle name, because, she told us, she's tired of people getting her name wrong.  I suppose it had to happen sometime!

What we have been singing at bedtime lately: Big Rock Candy Mountain, Keep On The Sunny Side, He Sent His Son.

11 April 2012

Mr. Brown's brother from Iowa City and his family stayed overnight with us twice as they were passing through Detroit.  It was so great to see them again.  I miss living close like we used to.

And look at this picture.  Is it any wonder I used to get them mixed up when I wasn't paying attention?

10 April 2012

Easter!  We ended up with three Easter egg hunts: one at a cookout we were invited to on Saturday night, one I organized with some neighbors on Sunday afternoon, and one at Easter dinner at a friend's house on Sunday evening.  Can you say candy overload?  The kids started Sunday morning by devouring the peeps that Grandpa sent for breakfast, and went on to eat nothing but candy the rest of the day.  Well, I think Rose Pink might have had a sandwich in there somewhere, but Nut Brown had only candy all day.  He was crazy by bedtime.  When Nut Brown was hunting eggs he'd let out this 'a-ha-ha!' half laugh, half exclamation when he found something. It's so fun to get excited!  Here they are with some of the treasure. 

We're also going to dye eggs this week.  We didn't quite get to it last week, but who says you have to save Easter traditions strictly for Easter week?

7 April 2012

 Children painting at the table.  They made pictures of shields and various armors and weapons in a variety of colors.

Mr. Brown, who is making pancakes, I think.

5 April 2012

Rose Pink playing her first video game, a computer game called Terraria.  She plays by herself with just a little help from Mr. Brown when she gets stuck.  Nut Brown will stand by and watch her.  She said the other night, you know what, Daddy?  I have the music from Terraria stuck in my head.  Mr. Brown uses game time as a reward for doing her homework, as in: Can I play Terraria, Daddy?  Yes, you may, if you do a page out of your math book first.

4 April 2012

Rose Pink is reading a book from the library about native Michigan plants because she wants to know more about them.  Last week we bought a kids' reference book about animals at a mom-to-mom sale for a dollar, and she read it in the car and told us what she'd learned about alligators.  Mr. Brown says to me, I have been waiting her whole life for this.

28 March 2012

Another thing I love about Detroit is that in some places along the highways they have eschewed the traditional landscaping of nondescript evergreen bushes in favor of forsythia hedges.  Just at this moment of turning to spring, the highway drive is positively glorious- a riot of masses of sunshine colored flowering bushes.

 

Last week was fabulously summer-like, forget about spring, and the kids spent lots of time drawing on the driveway and even played with the neighbors' slip-n-slide (although I think 70 degrees is still just a little too chilly for me for that).  The windows all over the house are open. 

 

We stocked up on summer wear for both of them at sales this weekend, which they modeled for us when we got home.  One of the things that cracks me up about my kids is what little clotheshorses they are.  They love shopping for clothes, and they love to get out their bins and see what's in them when they outgrow their old clothes or the seasons change.  Both of them love clothes.  Hee hee.  I'm not exactly sure where this comes from.  But it makes me laugh.  I wonder if the new baby will be the same.

20 March 2012

Yesterday Mr. Brown found Nut Brown in the kitchen eating peanut butter out of the jar with his fingers.  What he meant to say was, 'Please don't eat peanut butter with your fingers' but what he actually said was, 'If you're going to eat peanut butter, use a spoon!'

 

After Mr. Brown had left the kitchen, Nut Brown found a spoon and polished off the jar, which was 2/3 full.

 

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

 

Beautiful weather last night and the kids and I made our first trip to Jim's for the season and got soft creams to eat at a picnic table.  Rose Pink declared Jim's the best ice cream store ever, and I just enjoyed being out on bikes with them in such lovely weather.  It feels like summer already.  What a gift!

18 March 2012

At the park yesterday.

 

Nice Lady: And how old are you, little boy?

 

Nut Brown: I'm four going on five.

 

Nice Lady:  My, my.  You certainly look big for four!

 

Nut Brown: That's because I'm going on five.

 

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

 

Rose Pink was looking at a family photo album on the way to church yesterday.  She'd started with her own infancy, and when she got to the photos of her first birthday, she felt compelled to comment.

 

Rose Pink: Oh, these are first pictures of a birthday party for me!

 

Mr. Brown: Yes, it was your first birthday.

 

Rose Pink: Did you just not photograph the other ones?

 

Mr. Brown: No, this was your very first birthday.  So these are the first photos.

 

Rose Pink: Why didn't you take pictures at my other birthday parties?

 

Mr. Brown: You didn't have any other birthday parties!  This was your very first one, when you turned one year old.

 

--pause--

 

Rose Pink: Oh.

15 March 2012

The other night, Rose Pink (having a bad day) cried out on her way to bed, I'm the worst girl in the world!

 

I hastened to assure her that she's not, and that we love her.  Nut Brown thoughtfully said, I'm the best boy in town.  (repeating something he's often told)

 

Rose Pink, still upset, said, You may be the best but I'm at the bottom!

 

Nut Brown, who loves his sister very much, replied, No, no... you're second!

4 March 2012

Nut Brown made a mask with a yellow B that he found in my scrapbag.  He very carefully wrote 'Captain H' on it, and added decorations.  The 'Captain' is written upside down under his right eye.

Warm enough- barely- for the annual spring rite of chalk on the driveway.  They were forecasting eight inches of snow that night.  Rose Pink has drawn a giant with a meteor hurtling towards it.  The giant is holding her in one hand and Mr. Brown in the other, and I believe the speech bubble from her says, 'Help' and the speech bubble from Mr. Brown says, 'I have a plan'.  Does she know her dad or what?

3 March 2012

Thank you, Holly & Michael, for bringing your wonderful selves up to Detroit.  Thank you for the cheese and the D&D and especially for being our friends.  We didn't have a sunny day for a week after you left!

1 March 2012

Rose Pink suggested balloon volleyball one evening.  Boys against girls, and when the girls got a little aggressive Mr. Brown said, 'you're putting on the heat?  well, we're ready to bring it!' and Nut Brown chimed in, 'yeah, from the grocery store!'

29 February 2012

Mom: Uncle Chris served a mission in Oregon.  Do you guys know where Oregon is?



Nut Brown: (with a proud smile) Inside your body!

22 February 2012

Today is 'Redcoat Day' by Rose Pink's official decree.  We are all wearing red today. 

 

On Feb 4, Rose Pink decided we should celebrate hedgehogs.  If groundhogs have a day, why not their more adorable cousins?  We celebrated by making hedgehog donut holes with chocolate icing and brown sprinkles, which was enormously popular and will probably be repeated next year.

 

This weekend our friends Holly and Michael from Davenport came to visit.  We went to an animal show at a hotel that had a petting zoo and a bunch of hands on animal pelts and skulls.  The kids were totally fascinated.  They got to pet and hold rabbits, an alligator, a snake, and yes, a hedgehog.  The hedgehog was poky.  There was also a raptor show/lecture - Rose Pink attended with Michael & Holly and the kids have been pretending to be owls all week.

14 February 2012

Best Valentine's Day ever.  Mr. Brown treated me to new windshield wiper blades, which was so thoughtful of him, it just made my day.  It was one of those gifts where you can tell that the giver has been really listening to you.  Also he fixed my car radio so it turns on and keeps time again - all while taking it in for an oil change.  It made me feel very special and looked after.

 

My children really enjoyed opening the valentines that they received in the mail.  My next-door neighbors from my hometown sent the children $10 each, and Rose Pink promptly ran in other room and told Mr. Brown that she wanted to use her money to buy me a box of chocolates.  Mr. Brown took them to the store and they carefully chose a box of chocolates for me that was in their budget.  It was smaller than they wanted, so Mr. Brown reminded me that there's not a box big enough to show their love for me.  I was so touched by their thoughtfulness and affection.

 

Best Valentine's Day ever.

7 Feb 2012

Sometimes the things that come out of the dress up bin are too fabulous not to share.

6 Feb 2012

Rose Pink helped me make a countdown to birth calendar.  We have FOURTEEN weeks to go.  Every Friday we take one number off the wall.

2 February 2012

There's a new edition of D&D coming out and they were play-testing it at the D&D convention in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, which is only three hours from here, and Mr. Brown just couldn't resist... so we went to Ft. Wayne the last weekend in January.  Mr. Brown spent the afternoon at the convention (his first gamer convention!) and the kids and I spent four hours at the local science museum.  It was a pretty fun place.  Notice in the above photo that Rose Pink is holding on to the bar but Nut Brown did not feel the need.  He climbed on to the skateboard, it moved, and he just shifted his balance to remain upright.

Then we went to the art museum downtown and spent an hour and a half there looking at art.  Rose Pink has said she's interested in becoming an artist, so we discussed some of the different media and how to recognize them.  It was a nice museum, and left me with a desire to look at more art, so hopefully one of these days we can get down to Detroit Institute of Art and browse there as well.

Since we didn't stay as long as we had initially planned, we decided to make up the missed hotel swimming pool time by taking the kids to the Warren City Indoor Water Park.  We had such a good time (I know!  In January!) that we talked about maybe buying a pass to go more often. 

oh, january!

So in January there were several big decisions/momentous events.

 

1. We found out we're having a boy.  YAY.  I was hoping for a boy so much that I was sure that it was going to be a girl.  At the moment we're planning to name him Ramses Joseph.

 

2. Rose Pink decided that she didn't want to go to public school this fall after all.  When she and Nut Brown announced that they were going to public school this year, Mr. Brown started a more intensive round of homeschooling to make sure that they would be at 'grade-level' (such a subjective term!) and Rose Pink complained one day that she 'never had any free time' since school now takes a couple hours a day or all morning.  Mr. Brown laughed and told her that if she went to public shcool she would only have an hour or so of free time in the evenings, and that was enough to make her change her mind.  Mr. Brown and I are secretly glad she did.

 

3. Nut Brown started sounding out words all by himself.  We taught him his letters and the sounds they make over the last several months, and have been waiting for this... it means he's ready to learn to read!

 

4. Mr. Brown passed a kidney stone.  A big one.  We're hoping it's a contributing factor to his ongoing anxiety and depression, and that maybe it will be somewhat alleviated by expelling this sharp pointy crystal.

 

On to February!

1 February 2012

My brother Chris came to visit us in January.  He is a favorite at this house and the kids were super-excited to see him.  He helped us set up for the birthday party, put in insulation in the basement with Mr. Brown, job searched from our sofa and did a lot of dishes.

Also we went to the auto show downtown.  After Chicago, Detroit looked pretty dead (it was my first time downtown too) but the auto show was pretty fun and we got a free photo taken with some Chrysler product (I think).  The kids got tired of walking around and the cars all started to look alike after awhile, but Chris and I admired the presentation and marketing strategies in place, and we got to take a ride in an electric car in the basement of the Cobo Center, so altogether, a nice excursion.

31 January 2012

Nut Brown presented us with this gem the other night.  It's a 'who driving a raindrop car'.  Mr. Brown was inspired and added a 'who riding a rocket skateboard' in the upper right.

Birthday

Rose Pink had a ladybug birthday party this year.  For some reason, I really enjoy planning and putting on birthday parties for my kids.  She decided she wanted ladybugs, so we played aphid hunt (finding Mike & Ike's), and pass the ladybug down the string, and ladybug bean bag toss, and musical spots.  Mr. Brown made her an extremely beautiful ladybug chocolate cheesecake.

I tried out a new philosophy with invitations where I left off the time of the party, and when parents called to find out when it was, I could ask if they were going to come!  It worked better than I thought, and we ended up with about ten kids.

Rose Pink says it was the best birthday ever, which I think is what she said last year too.  I'm doing pretty well.

Uncle Chris was visiting, and lent his height for putting up and taking down decorations.

Happy birthday, Rose Pink!  Seven years old!

30 January 2012

Nut Brown gave Rose Pink a unicorn pillow pet for Christmas and it's her new favorite toy.  Lately she's been pretending to be a queen and the unicorn is her husband.  To show familiarity, she refers to it as her 'unic', which is pronounced 'eunuch'.  My daughter is married to a eunuch.  hee hee.

more about superheroes

 Rose Pink has been doing homework writing sentences about whatever topic she chooses.  Here is one of her assignments completed.

 She has also invented her own superhero, whose name is 'Four-Eight'.   As you can see in the below drawing, Four-Eight has a head shaped like a numeral four.  He has many adventures, all chronicled by Rose Pink with her pencil.  She announces, time for a Four-Eight story! and sits down to create one.  In the drawing below, he and his daughter are wearing matching snowsuits, and he is rescuing her from a snowdrift.  His wife is shown inside the house.

Once, when we drove past a sign that said, 'Pizza by the slice, $4.99' she exclaimed, "Mom!  Someone has stolen Four-Eight's head!"

25 January 2012

Sometimes the artwork the kids produce is so amazing that it needs no explanation.  This one is from Rose Pink, using the markers Gia gave us for Christmas.  I hung it up on my cubicle wall at work.

Superheroism

Superheros are big at our house.  The kids love watching superhero cartoons and play with action figures and imagine themselves as superheros as well.  Yesterday we had Superman and Supergirl for dinner.



Here is a series Rose Pink created:

Batman

Hawk Girl

John Johns

Pink Lantern

Wonder Woman

A couple of Green Lanterns from Nut Brown:

musicality

We sing a lot at our house.  We start Family Home Evening now with four songs (or more).  Family Home Evening used to involve about a dozen songs and no lesson so we feel we are very restrained, although we do enjoy the lessons too.  At least Mr. Brown and I do.  I sing to the kids at night when they go to bed- they get to choose two songs each.  Tonight it was "Casey Jones", "On Top Of Old Smoky", "Turkey In The Straw", and "Poor Wayfaring Stranger".  When Mr. Brown takes a turn singing to them, he sings things like They Might Be Giants songs.  They love those, and now they know all the words to 'Birdhouse In Your Soul', and so on.  Nut Brown says his favorite is 'Istanbul', and he sings one line like this: even old New York was once New Hamstertown. 

Some of their favorite performers include Johnny Cash, The Lovin' Spoonful, and John Mayer, and they know most of the words to a lot of Simon & Garfunkel due to Mr. Brown favoring that duo.

21 January 2012

We got our first substantial snow of the winter last night, and Mr. Brown and I actually shoveled snow this morning (assisted by Nut Brown).  Rose Pink came out in her snow gear just as we were finishing up and invited me to stay outside and play with her.  It was a beautiful day, not too cold, and sunny.  We fooled around in the backyard for awhile, making snow angels and filling the sled with snow.  Then we walked up to the park and investigated playground equipment covered with snow, and puddles frozen over the grass.  We made snow angels on somebody else's lawn.  I wish we could have stayed longer but I had to get home to eat.  Rose Pink loves the snow, and it was a lot of fun to relax and enjoy it with her.

17 January 2012

Last week Mr. Brown took the kids to the Henry Ford with another mum and her kids.  Nut Brown and Rose Pink are very well-behaved, and it's always a pleasure to go places with them.  This time they were looking forward to packages of swedish fish promised by Mr. Brown in return for good behavior during the excursion with this other family.



Mr. Brown had miscalculated the calibration of lunch and dinner times, and the other nibbles he'd brought proved inadequate to requirements, so Rose Pink and Nut Brown ended up mooching somewhat off the other mum as they went around the museum.  However, as they were winding up, Mr. Brown got out the packages of swedish fish for them that he'd promised.  He had only brought two; and as he gave them to our very deserving offspring, the little boy from the other family said, 'Oh!  Swedish fish!  May I have some?'



What to do?  On the one hand, our kids had earned the reward.  On the other hand, they had been eating out of the other family's lunchbox.  On the third hand, sharing builds character (or something like that).  But back to the first hand, it was a treat that the kids had made choices to earn.  Mr. Brown said to them, "I know that I promised you this treat, and you have certainly earned it.  But as your dad, I promise that if you will share your treat with our friend, I will make it up to you when we get home."



Both kids chose to give their packages of swedish fish to the other little boy.  We were touched by their willingness to share, and also by their trust in Mr. Brown to keep his word.  When they got home, he gave each of them TWO packages of swedish fish.  It also reminded us of how our Father often asks us to do the same: give up what we want now, or maybe even feel we have earned, in order to help someone else, and promises to make up to us what we have given up.  I wish I could show as much trust in Him as our children did in their father.

10 January 2012

Saturday was warm (relatively) and sunny so the kids and I went to the zoo.  They're standing on top of a hippo statue outside the front gate.  I watched Rose Pink almost have a meltdown and get over it:



Rose Pink: Nut Brown climbed on top of the hippo and I can't get up on top of the hippo and he's going to have all the fun and I won't have any of the fun!  It's not fair!



Mom: That sounds bad.



Rose Pink: Humph.  pause Mom, could you give me a boost on to the hippo?



Mom: Sure, I'd be glad to.

8 January 2012

On Friday I rode my bike to work because it was sunny and above freezing.  Mr. Brown weighed in at a decrease from the previous week, and it was sunny all day... it was a good day.



The children lately are such treasures.  They are so fun to be with and I really enjoy their company.  We made paper chains for Christmas decorations together.  Although once I showed them how to connect strips into links to make a chain, they each strung a few links together and then Nut Brown wandered off and Rose Pink started making other things out of strips instead: a firework, and a person shape.  I finished the chain by myself, and we added their little chains and they were very proud of 'our' handiwork. 



Two days ago Nut Brown got up before Rose Pink, and she wouldn't let him turn on the light to find his clothes before he stumbled out of the bedroom (he likes to get dressed right away), so when he did come out, he was wearing a shirt of Rose Pink's that said, "Everybody loves an Irish girl!"



Mr. Brown and I make no secret of our attraction to each other, and our perceptive kids have certainly picked up on it.  We have one bathroom in our house, and Rose Pink came in to get something while I was in the shower the other day.  She said, 'Wow, it's hot in here!' and I replied, 'That's because I'm in here taking a shower!'  She rolled her eyes and said, 'No, Mom, I meant the temperature.'

4 January 2012

Uncle Chris came to visit at Thanksgiving, and to celebrate, Rose Pink produced this drawing of a plane dropping bombs.  She says, A group of girls called the Gaiganis were jumping on their plane seats and broke their windows and bombed the city.  And shot a man.  Contrary to what you may expect, Chris is not actually a particularly violent man.

3 January 2012

Nut Brown is at the stage in prayers where he squinches his eyes tight shut.  It's so adorable I want to spend the whole prayer watching him, except that then he relaxes them and catches me looking and reprimands me for having my eyes open.



Since the kids started sleeping in a bunkbed, Nut Brown will grab my neck when I bend in to hug him goodnight and threaten never to let go. (Rose Pink's rendering of their beds is above.)



Tonight, reading scriptures, Mr. Brown said to Rose Pink, 'Your verse, verse thirteen, the last verse, just like you've always wanted.'  Rose Pink said, 'What?  I've always wanted to read verse thirteen?!?'  Completely puzzled.  Mr. Brown said, 'No, you've always wanted to read the last verse.'  She cried, 'oh right!  You're right!  I have always wanted the last verse!'