19 August 2013

Bobo loves music.  He'll dance to anything that he feels invites movement.  He plays the piano whenever he can.  Mr. Brown says that he must be a bard (D&D class).  Not only does he like to play instruments, he makes a tremendous amount of noise talking to himself and to the rest of us.  So chatty!

A couple nights ago he climbed up the chairs to play the piano.  He turns the pages in the piano books for himself.  When we applauded his efforts (he actually plays with one finger rather than a fist), he was so pleased, that he started to pause for the applause, and if we were not immediately forthcoming, he would clap himself in order to remind us.  Then Rose Pink bounced up to play a song, and he sat on the couch and applauded for her!

18 August 2013

On one of my furlough days this summer, we decided to go to Greenfield Village with our friends the Truskies.  (that's a nickname)  I fell asleep after breakfast and that delayed preparations so we didn't actually leave until we were supposed to be arriving there, but fortunately they were running late too so they were still there when we showed up.  Here is some documentation of activity that day:

 



My whole family is completely bummed that furloughs got canceled for the rest of the summer.  We all seriously felt that the 32-hour work week was the way to go.  I loved having the extra day at home, and the kids loved having me.  It was worth the pay cut, and I'll happily do it again if Congress doesn't pass a budget. Actually, I'm secretly hoping for more furloughs.

17 August 2013

Last night Mr. Brown was remonstrating with Rose Pink about leaving out a heavy brass dog that the baby managed to pull down on himself from above. 
Mr. Brown: It should have been put away when you were done playing with it so that the baby couldn't get to it.  Please put it away now.

Rose Pink: I don't know where it goes.

Mr. Brown: Where was it when you found it?

Rose Pink: On the floor by the baby's bed.  It's Nut Brown's.

Mr. Brown: Well, please ask him where it goes and then put it away.  Nut Brown, you should have put it away when you were done playing with it today.

Nut Brown: That wasn't today!  That was a few days ago!

16 August 2013

The kids laid a trail of Rose-of-Sharon blossoms from our back porch out to my favorite spot in the yard: the garden.

Here it is on close approach.  You can see the pumpkin vine on the right that is taking over.  We had to direct it away from the bed and behind the garage.  My neighbor in back did not believe that it was only one vine!

The front bed has peas on the right end, zinnias in the middle, carrots, basil and cilantro on the left side.

Back bed has cucumbers, the infamous pumpkin, a watermelon vine being overgrown by cucumbers, and two gigantic tomato plants.  Mr. Brown said, maybe you should have planted them farther apart... and I said, I planted them almost a yard apart!  I didn't expect them to be monsters!

 



Kids with sunflowers- someone gave us some seeds so we are experimenting with roasting.  They sprouted and grew just fine.  Their bed also has some poppies (chosen by Nut Brown) and some marigolds from seed (chosen by Rose Pink).  I was not super impressed with either one.

Kids with carrots.  We're experimenting with harvest times to find out when they're done growing.  I think they're still getting bigger at the moment.  This summer we have consumed voluminous amounts of ranch dressing to go with carrots and cucumbers.

15 August 2013

We have had two sets of visitors in the past two weeks.  My parents were here for the first weekend in August, and my sister and her family were here this last weekend.  We were glad to see all of them.  My sister lives in Florida so we don't see her hardly ever, but the kids had a great time with their cousins and stayed up late talking and playing.  Nut Brown got more wrestling in (she has three boys and a girl) than usual (although Bobo has started showing a tendency to throw himself on to people).  We played lots of games and made lots of noise and went for lots of walks.  It was really cute to watch Bobo play with her little girl, who is nine months older than he is.  It's the first time that he's really hung out with someone so close to his size and he wanted to be friends.  Our kids mesh very nicely: hers, mine, hers, mine, hers, hers, mine: so it was lots of fun.

But now we're very tired. :-)

My garden is plowing along being prodigious.  My tomatos are just starting to turn red.  We picked the second one yesterday.  They are so good!  The peas are producing a second crop, which I did not expect.  The jalapeno has given us twelve peppers so far.  The banana pepper has produced only one, but that's probably because it's being overshadowed by the tomato plants.  Summer was so cool that the basil plants are still flourishing and haven't gone to seed yet.  (Looking forward to eating them with tomato if they ever finish turning red!) My cucumber plants (six of them) produced tons of cucumbers, but then they got mildew and I had to rip them out. The watermelon plant has a watermelon on it about the size of my fist.  And the pumpkin vine has six pumpkins on it.  One vine, and it covers about three square acres.  One of the pumpkins is actually in my neighbor's yard because it grew through the fence.  The pumpkin got mildew too, but Rose Pink and I looked up a remedy and have been working to save it by spraying the leaves and ripping out some of the worst ones.  (The cucumbers were beyond saving by the time I figured out what was going on.) We also prayed for it, and I think that the pumpkin is going to make it.  Six pumpkins!  Can you believe it?  It has been a very rewarding year for gardening.

Woodward Dream Cruise is this weekend, and the kids and I are going to ride bikes down to Nine Mile in Ferndale to see the Ford display on Saturday.  We may also ride over to Woodward on Friday night, which is in my opinion the best time to go.  Mr. Brown is unfortunately busy both those times so he will miss out!  The old cars have started to come out and be seen around town.  I love the Dream Cruise.

14 August 2013

Happy birthday, Nut Brown!  He is now six years old instead of almost six.  We had a fun party that included a hot dog and potato chip lunch, a mad hunt for clues to thwart an alien invasion, and the final destruction of the alien technology in its secret hideout; followed by cake and presents.  The alien invasion was precipitated by its use of mind control pills to take over the human race.  The two groups who were trying to defeat the invasion each pursued a separate path: one group to find the secret communicator device that would open the alien's secret lair and the other to find the weapon of doom to defeat it.  For each clue, a brave soul in the party had to eat a mind control pill, which would temporarily render them unable to speak.  However, they would hear for a moment what the alien was thinking, and would have to show the other group members so that they could guess where the next clue was.  When a group member said what he'd heard, the binding was broken and he could talk again.  Basically it was a treasure hunt with charades: one group found the garage door opener, and one group found a stick to break the pinata.  Together they opened the garage and beat the pinata to pieces, and then gobbled their loot: mind control pills rendered harmless by the alien's defeat (skittles).  Lots of fun.

One of my favorite moments was when I started the game after lunch by announcing theatrically, "I have bad news!  An alien invasion is imminent!  They are trying to take over the planet!" and a five-year-old turned to his mother and said worriedly, "Mom, what are we going to do?"

On Nut Brown's actual birthday, he asked for hamburgers for dinner, so we went to Red Robin.  There were several other people having birthdays there, and when he saw that the waiters would sing and bring you ice cream, Nut Brown made sure to tell the waiter that it was his birthday too.  Our waiter was a little overbusy and Rose Pink kept turning to me to say, "I hope they bring something for Nut Brown."  We all wanted him to feel special and have a birthday serenade.  Eventually they did come out and sing.  I wish I had a photo of the expression of delight on his face.

Nut Brown is so wonderful. We are so fortunate that he is part of our family.

30 July 2013

My bad driving habits came back to haunt me on a bike ride with the kids last week.  Nut Brown and I with Bobo in tow were riding home from the park.  We're coming up to a light at a fairly busy road.  It's green, and then it turns yellow, and Nut Brown speeds up.  I yell at him to stop stop STOP and he does, sliding to a stop with his back wheel turning to the side- very dramatic.  But the important thing was that he stopped, because by now the light was red.

I explained that when I'm driving in the car, sometimes I speed up for yellow lights.  But on a bike, yellow ALWAYS means stop.  ALWAYS.  He was a bit grumpy, I think because he felt he could have made the light, but I insisted.  When he was under two, Mr. Brown and I used to say to each other that we'd be surprised if he made it to eighteen, because he was constantly climbing on things and jumping off of things.  He got better at that (now he climbs and jumps more safely) but now it looks like it may be his bike that keeps him from getting to eighteen.

A few days later we were riding to the farmers' market (we ride our bikes kind of a lot).  A big yellow garbage truck had pulled up and was blocking the sidewalk while waiting to turn, so I called to the kids to stop and wait, rather than trying to go around it.  Nut Brown grinned big and said, yeah, Mom, because yellow always means stop for bikes!

28 July 2013

Nut Brown is getting really good at Connect Four.  He's a challenge to play.  I have to try hard to win, and sometimes I lose.  Lately we've also been playing Sequence, which is a great game because the rules are so simple and it's all about strategy.  Rose Pink gets some of the strategy, and Nut Brown gets none of it, but they can still play and they really enjoy it.  Also we've been playing Go Fish with some alphabet cards.  Instead of counting up who got the most pairs at the end of the hand, the kids enjoy the game based on who got their favorite pairs during the hand.  Did Rose Pink get the Jaguars?  Did Nut Brown get the Narwhals?  Who got the Umbrella Birds?  These are the questions on which the success of the hand hangs. 

26 July 2013

Bobo loves socks.  Whenever he finds them, he picks them up and carries them around the house with great affection.  Occasionally he will get into my dresser and get out pairs of socks and carry them around.  This morning I got out a pair to put on to go to work and he insisted on taking it from me.  I had to buy it back by trading him a cup of milk.  On Sunday I put his Lightning McQueen socks on him and he thought that was pretty awesome.  When I went to take them off at the end of the day, he fussed so much that I left them on.

He also loves to cook.  (See above photo: he's wearing an apron)  Whenever Mr. Brown starts moving pots around, Bobo is right there, demanding to be picked up so he can watch.  He says, 'hot! hot!' because he thinks thats what cooking is called.  When we make toast in the toaster, he cries to get out of his chair so he can come over and watch the toast toasting.  It's so funny.  Mr. Brown is getting good at cooking one-handed.

This baby has made me realize what a mystery babies are.  I really don't know anything about him - I know a couple things that he likes, but not how he makes decisions, or what his preferences are, or why he screams for some things but not for others.  He's such a mystery.  I look forward to watching him grow up so I can learn more about him.

24 July 2013

Nut Brown, going to bed last night:  What's on the bottom of the ocean and in outer space?

Me: I don't know.

Nut Brown: Stars!  Because there are stars in outer space and starfish on the bottom of the ocean!

23 July 2013

On Saturday we ran out of ice in the Igloo drinks cooler that we keep on the kitchen counter.  Shopping day is Monday, and since it's summer we decided that we couldn't wait until Monday for cold water.  The kids and I decided to ride a mile and a half to the grocery store to get a 20 pound bag of ice.  When Bobo went down for his afternoon nap, we strapped the cooler into the bike stroller and set off. 

We rode past a park and Nut Brown asked if we could stop, so we did.  There was a brother and sister playing there, and when we rode up the little girl said, "Oh, look, some friends just arrived!"  Her older brother said, 'Do you know them?' and she said, 'No, but that doesn't mean they're not my friends!'  The playground was built to encourage climbing and swinging, and Nut Brown was having a fabulous time.

(Side note: he can do those monkey bars that are made up of swinging rings on chains instead of bars.  Mr. Brown said to Rose Pink, watch how Nut Brown uses his momentum to move from ring to ring... but then we watched, and Nut Brown doesn't use momentum at all.  He waits until the ring is still, and does the whole thing strictly based on upper body strength.  Wow.)

So anyway, the other kids suggested playing Lava Tag, which involved more swinging and climbing to stay away from the lava monster.  Right?  I'm laying on the picnic table watching the sun and sky through the leaves on the tree over me.  Very restful.  Suddenly Nut Brown starts screaming and crying and runs over to me.  His hand is hurting.  When I look at it, he's given himself a blister from all that monkey-bar-ness, and now it's popped.  Then it starts to bleed.  Ow ow ow ow ow ow.  Poor little guy!!

Fortunately someone from our ward lives nearby, so we walked over to her house and she drove Nut Brown home.  I put his bike in the bike trailer next to the cooler, and Rose Pink and I went home as well.  So we didn't make it to the store to get ice.  Mr. Brown had a hard time believing that Nut Brown played on the monkey bars until his hand bled.  That's some serious dedication to climbing.

22 July 2013

In which I behave in a very juvenile fashion.

In the car on the way to church on Sunday, stopped in a turn lane at a red light.  Rose Pink was in the front seat with me and Nut Brown and Bobo were in the back seat.

Rose Pink: Mom.  Turn on your blinker.

Me: No.  I won't.

Rose Pink: Mom!  Turn on your blinker!

Me: You can't make me!

Rose Pink: They'll get mad at you!

Me: Who will get mad at me?

Rose Pink: The people behind you!

Me: There's nobody behind me!

Rose Pink: HONK!  HONK!

Nut Brown: No, I'm behind her!  HONK!  HONK!!

18 July 2013

What does homeschooling look like at our house?  Doing math homework on the couch.  And yes, Bobo is a chronic cheater- he's always copying the older kids. :)

15 July 2013

I took the older kids to a program at the library about all the layers of ground underneath our feet in Michigan.  It started by talking about soil and what's in soil and the insect life associated with it, and then moved down into the dirt and various rock strata, with samples from each to look at.  It was a really great program.  One of the things the presenter told the kids is that a great place to find fossils is in the gravel in parking lots.  The next night I was out poking around the yard, and the kids decided to look for fossils in the gravel I have down between my raised beds.  What do you know? They found some!  They were occupied hunting for and showing off fossils for at least an hour.  Totally awesome.

14 July 2013

That's showing the temp inside our house at the moment (9:09 pm).  Today is the first of what is supposed to be 90-95 degree days for the whole week.  It's going to be a long week.  Lest I sound ungrateful- it has been much cooler this summer than last - last year it was over 90 for almost half of the days in July.  So far this month it's been over 90 twice.

12 July 2013

We had folks over on the 4th for food and chatter and fireworks in the backyard.  The food and chatter was fun, but the fireworks were a little nervewracking - much more powerful than I anticipated and it felt unsafe, so we didn't end up setting off the biggest ones that I bought.  The fireworks also terrified the baby.  Then to top it off we gave sparklers to the kids, but things got a little crazy and Nut Brown got a pretty bad burn on his foot.  Mr. Brown gave him a blessing with the assistance of one of the other dads, and the burn is healing just fine.  Altogether, a mixed holiday for us, though.

3 July 2013

This afternoon Mr. Brown took the kids to the zoo to meet up with our friends the Truskies.  As they pulled in to the parking lot, Rose Pink saw a Texas license plate and said, I was born in Texas!  But you know what's weird?  Madison (our next door neighbor) was born right here!  And Nut Brown said, at the zoo?

Tonight Rose Pink went out and grabbed a fly swatter to get a fly.  Bobo toddled out a few minutes later and also returned with a fly swatter, very pleased with himself that he could be like her.  Then he doubled his efforts during family prayer and came back with TWO fly swatters, dual wielding.  He's so silly.

2 July 2013

Happy news about Bobo's blood work: he doesn't have a rare blood disease, and it looks like his iron levels are going up.  So we're back to making his milk taste weird in the morning by adding polyvisol and they'll check again at his 18-month checkup.

Nut Brown's gymnastics lessons have started, and he's really enjoying them.  There are 2-3 other little boys in his class, and they do things like headstands, forward and backward rolls, and cartwheels.  They also do some basic stuff on some of the equipment like the rings and parallel bars.  Yesterday they jumped on the trampoline.  Nut Brown enjoys all of it, and it's right up his alley.  He has a lot of upper body strength, and this is a good outlet for it.  He's always had an extra awareness of his body and its capabilities, and it's great to see him making use of it and enjoying it so much. 

1 July 2013

It's amazing what a little motivation will do for kids.  I promised them a batch of cookies each if they would clean the basement before Mr. Brown got home from his meeting on Saturday morning.  The basement was tidied in about half an hour.  Then Saturday night Mr. Brown told them that if they got in and out of the shower in the next twenty minutes, both of them, they could watch an episode of whatever show they're watching now before bed.  And they did, proving that both of them are actually capable of taking a shower in less than ten minutes, something I have always suspected.

As the days have gotten long, the kids stay up later and later, and Rose Pink was sleeping late on Sunday morning.  I have to be at church half an hour early for choir, and I kept thinking she was going to wake up but she didn't.  Finally I went in to wake her and she said, but Papa says that if you're tired you should keep sleeping.  I told her, any other day of the week, I would not be in here having this discussion with you, but it's Sunday and today is the only day we have to be somewhere, so I'm afraid that you have to get up.  I was grateful again that one of the benefits of homeschooling we enjoy is the lack of schedules and deadlines: the day starts when you get up, not with an alarm clock (well, for everyone but me).

30 June 2013

Last Monday Mr. Brown decided to have an evening off and took himself to the cinema.  The kids and I ate popsicles on the front porch (Bobo has already mastered bag pops!) and then Rose Pink and Nut Brown ran off to play in the sprinkler of a neighbor who was watering their sidewalk.  (My rule of thumb is that there's no harm if they stay on the sidewalk.)  Bobo helped me mulch the bed by the driveway, but he eventually wandered down the driveway and watched the sprinkler action.  Rose Pink saw him and came running over to get him and said, 'Oh Bobo, you'll love this!'  Last summer he was not so enthusiastic about drops of cold water falling on him... but this summer he thought it was fantastic, and splashed back and forth up and down the sidewalk and got thoroughly soaked.

I introduced myself to the neighbor, who had let her 3 yr old out to play with my kids, and she commented on how nice it was that my daughter wanted to include the baby in something fun.  It is nice.  It makes my heart happy when my kids are friendly to each other.

I put down some gravel between my beds in back.  It cost me eighteen dollars.  Mr. Brown says that he had no reservations about giving me a budget solely for yard work because he knows how much I enjoy it.  So true.  It's endless - a hobby that never stops giving you something to do.  I find it really satisfying.

28 June 2013

We went to Sears to buy a lawn maintenance device and the kids begged to ride the escalators while Mr. Brown was checking out.  So Rose Pink and Nut Brown and I headed over to ride them.  Nut Brown needed no help at all, but Rose Pink held my hand getting on at the bottom.  At the top, she made as if to get on by herself, so I followed Nut Brown on.  She lost her nerve and shouted, I can't do it!  I can't get on!  I looked at her somewhat helplessly as I was moving down away from her but Nut Brown, bless his tender heart, immediately ran back up the escalator to the top and held her hand so she could get on.

(as a bonus, the Krispy Kreme in the mall parking lot had its 'hot donuts' light on when we passed it, so we got free donuts!)

Last night Bobo and I read his favorite book, the phonics book with lots of pictures, on the couch.  He would point to the pictures and wait for me to name them.  His favorites were the picture of the car (which he would echo by saying, 'ka') and the ball.  Then we got off the couch and played with his cars together, which was really fun and silly.  He drives them all over the living room floor and talks to himself.  He thought it was so fun to have someone play with him.

27 June 2013

 

A bit of a commemoration of Rose Pink's spring season.  We love soccer at first but by the end of the season we're ready to stop running around to all the practices and games. 

 

Rose Pink really enjoyed playing again, and she and her team got much better.  We're going to sign her up for fall.  Her team will have a new coach (a different parent) and she's looking forward to playing again.

Nut Brown, not so much.  He would get frustrated with his teammates when they wouldn't pass, and he'd get offended when other more aggressive players would push him out of the way to get to the ball.  His team never really jelled, and he just wasn't excited about it. We've signed him up for gymnastics lessons this summer, and we'll see how that goes.  Mr. Brown went ahead and signed him up for soccer again this fall, but with a different team.

26 June 2013

Rose Pink asked me to make a princess canopy for her bed.  She helped me sew the tulle on to the hula hoop and took it for a spin before we hung it.

I includ this photo in order to share the expression on the face of the child in the lower right corner.  'Aha!' he says. 'I've got the phone!'  He's so funny.

25 June 2013

Random niceness from our house:

 Baby keeps getting bigger.  He likes to feed himself now.  He loves canteloupe, nectarines and oranges, and was mortally offended the other night when I told him that he wouldn't actually care for the carrot sticks that he was sure were some sweet orange-colored fruit.  He's totally switched to sippy cups and drinks soy milk and water and the occasional Sonic slush.

Speaking of Sonic, they now have as their kid's meal toy SUPERHERO TOTS.  We are suddenly eating at Sonic so much more than we normally would.  Or at least buying kids' meals there.  So far we've collected Wonder Woman, Batman, Green Lantern and some red guy.

Bobo also has produced the word 'car' and I think he said 'book' the other night.  But he hasn't repeated it.  He loves to go outside or to go in the basement (two places he's not permitted without supervision) and if anyone goes outside without taking him, he throws a royal fit.  Sometimes the kids will sneak out the other door just so he won't see them leave and get upset.

He also loves to go for rides in the wagon.  He recognizes that this is his chariot and will go stand next to it in the garage and make noise until either you take him away from it or you put him in it.

He's also mastered pointing and grunting for when he wants something, which is really cute right now but will probably not remain cute when he's two.  I'm so glad he's one, you know?  Really, the older they get, the more fun they are.  I'm finally past the point where I've been saying to myself, At this point last year I was miserable; and have begun saying to myself, What a fun little guy he is.  Right around his birthday was the worst, because I was miserable - all the heaviness and discomfort of late-stage pregnancy along with unbearable itching.  And then for a few weeks after his birth I was so sick and weak.  Having acknowledged how much I hated it, I think I'm starting to forget... although it has taken a whole year.

Bobo also LOVES baby einstein movies on youtube.  In general we don't approve of television for babies, but it is so much fun to watch with him and see how excited he gets.  He claps and dances and makes all kinds of noise because he enjoys it so much.  Usually he's only good for the first twenty minutes. 

Life is unpredictable with kids in the house.  They like to eat their jello through straws and blow bubbles in their milk.

This is the house of our neighbor across the street.  One night I looked out the window and said to Mr. Brown, 'That looks like an Italian sports car.  Doesn't that look like an Italian sports car?'  The license plate says '85LAMBO' and sure enough, that's what it is.  I love living in Detroit.  You never know when lovely car randomness will pop up.

24 June 2013

Bobo has found a toy that sings - a crib from a doll's house that plays lullabies if you push the button.  He crawled upstairs, found it, and backed carefully down the stairs with it.  He carries it around the house, pushes the button, and does a little dance when the music plays.

Bobo and Nut Brown had their first wrestling match on my bed yesterday. wrestle wrestle wrestle  Bobo is much more fun for the older kids to play with these days and it's fun to watch the sibling bonding really beginning.  Maybe they'll eventually change their mind and think that it would be okay to have another baby.   Our family is still healing from Bobo's arrival, although it's become clear that while two kids and a baby was dubious, three kids is definitely 'okay'.

23 June 2013

I am a tiger mother.

22 June 2013

You know your kids are growing up when you no longer have to use wet wipes to clean up after ice cream cones.

Our first trip to Jim's for the year.  Nut Brown is confident enough on his bike that we ride all together with the baby in the bike trailer.  Yay for bikes.  Poor baby got no ice cream because we still think he's allergic to dairy.

Following this trip to Jim's, I lost my wallet for two weeks.  When I found it, it was in the bike stroller, where I'd tossed it so I wouldn't lose it on the bike ride up to Jim's.  Ha.  At least it turned up eventually.

Mr. Brown said, how could you lose your wallet? (I often lose track of it, but this is the first time that it actually really was lost and didn't turn up when we looked for it)  I pointed out that I rarely actually use my wallet.  Since I ride my bike to work for most of the year, and Mr. Brown drives whenever we go anywhere together, and 90% of the shopping I do is online (I have the cc info memorized), I don't often actually need it.  I'm not even really sure why I took it with me to Jim's... it's a cash only place and the cash was in my pocket, not in my wallet.  But that's why I couldn't find my wallet: there was no reason to take it with me to Jim's so I didn't remember having it there.

On Sunday, I couldn't find it to drive to church but I was in a hurry so I just left without it.  When I couldn't find it when I got home, I told Mr. Brown, but neither he nor I could find it for all the looking we did.  I was anxious about it -- Mr. Brown was even more anxious about it -- but the cc accounts didn't show any unauthorized shopping happening, so we knew it was lost and not stolen.  I remembered my friend Karen telling me about how she received an answer to a prayer about a relatively trivial matter, and I agonized for a day or two about whether or not the Lord would answer a prayer about my missing wallet - something that's also fairly trivial.  Finally, I decided to pray about it, but didn't find the wallet for another eight days.  However, I did find it, and my prayer was answered in time to save me from the small hassle of cancelling credit cards.  It also gave me something to talk to my Primary class about when we discussed prayer the next day in Sunday School.

21 June 2013

Two Saturdays ago,  our day was filled with yardwork.

Bobo helping me mow the lawn

 

Nut Brown helping me mow the lawn (with scissors)

 

Rose Pink also assisted by trimming super long grass with pruning shears.  She said that she was Indiana Jones slashing her way through the jungle.  (I don't think our lawn is THAT bad.)

 

We planted the beds in front.  I got carried away and let the kids get way too many annuals (they picked out a flat each) so the plants are way too close together.  But we had a great time buying them and planting them too.



Then I had to fix my bike (three flats in three weeks, frustrating) and Bobo volunteered to assist. 

He did more than supervise- got his hands dirty as well!

 

Success!  And I haven't had another flat yet!

 

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



 

Mr. Brown made me steak for dinner too... yum.  And then I got feeling less tired.  Mr. Brown doesn't actually like beef so we don't eat a whole lot of it, or a whole lot of meat in general, so I don't get as much iron as I should and I think that's why I was so tired.  Also Mr. Brown is trying out gluten-free for awhile, and that's messed around with our eating too.  So the steak was nice, and even a bonus because the kids didn't really like theirs so I got to eat theirs the next day.  Double helpings for me.

 

Speaking of iron, Bobo's blood tested low for iron at his one-year checkup, so he had to go back and get it tested again after a month of him getting polyvisol in his applesauce to boost his iron.  It was even lower than it was before, so he had to go to the big hospital and get more blood taken (Mr. Brown says that phlebotomists there were amazing- they double-teamed the baby and had the blood they needed in less than five minutes) for more tests to see why his hemoglobin might be so low.  Updates to follow.

20 June 2013

 On Saturday morning, the Bobes got up at 5:30 am after having gotten up twice that night for a good long stretch.  I was grouchy and decided to take myself out for breakfast.  Nut Brown was up already too, so I bundled the Bobes into a stroller and Nut Brown got on his bike and we went to Tim Horton's for breakfast.  It was a quiet morning and it was early (before eight) so it was a nice ride down there (it's about a half mile from our house).  I had a breakfast sandwich and Nut Brown had a donut and orange juice, and we shared the baby's donut holes.  He was mostly interested in toddling around the restaurant, rather than eating, anyway.  We made friends with the old people having coffee and then we walked home with some more donut holes for Rose Pink.

It was the start of a very nice day.  Mr. Brown went to ARP and the kids and I played in the basement for awhile (I don't often manage to play very well, which is why this is of note) (while it was happening I kept telling myself, don't think about it! don't think about it or you'll screw it up!).  then we rode down to the bank and got some cash out and hit a bunch of garage sales on our way back home.  I can't honestly say that we found treasures, but we did buy some stuff and had a good time.

Then Mr. Brown let me have a three-hour nap after lunch.  He is so NICE to me.

It was really a fun day.

19 June 2013

Yesterday afternoon Nut Brown and Bobo and I went to the library and on our way home we stopped at a park.  Bobo was climbing up some stairs that are made of a material with quarter-sized holes in it, and Nut Brown crouched underneath and was poking his fingers up through for Bobo to grab.  Then he started poking sticks out of the holes and Bobo would grab them and push them back down the holes.  They were both laughing and laughing and Bobo forgot about climbing up the stairs and started playing peek-a-boo with Nut Brown, which just provoked more shrieking and more laughter. 

They were both having so much fun.

18 June 2013

 Mr. Brown lately has been having the kids write sentences wtih their spelling words to practice handwriting.  Drawing the pictures is the reward for writing your sentences (Rose Pink doesn't do it).  Nut Brown has lately been drawing and coloring these fabulous finished pictures: detailed, with backgrounds fully colored in.

 "No Pat No Don't Sit on That!"

17 June 2013

Some things are too funny not to share.  (Nut Brown dressed in pillowcases)

4 June 2013

Rose Pink's drawing style has changed.  She recently completed a series of family portraits.  In age order, here we are: