17 October 2016

Last Monday was Columbus Day, and we celebrated the day off by going to an orchard and picking apples, having donuts and cider and enjoying the beautiful fall weather!  It was such a beautiful day and a lovely time to be together.  We all tried the different varieties and had a great time walking around the orchard together.  Rosebud loves apple cores - we have started calling them 'baby crack' because when she gets her hands on one she doesn't want anything to get in the way of enjoying it and will scream when you take it away.  So funny!  She just chews and chews on them with her two teeth.

When we came home, we decided to grill for dinner and walked up to the corner store and ordered five different types of meat from the butcher counter (we all wanted something different).  Mr. Brown ordered a NY strip steak for me, which was very sweet of him.  Nut Brown had a hamburger, Rose Pink had a BLT, Bobo had a sausage and Mr. Brown had a chicken breast.  It was a lot of fun, and a wonderful day all around.

15 October 2016

Nut Brown was playing a game outside with large boxes and Bobo that involved 'trapping' each other inside the box.  We came inside and Nut Brown decided to see if he could lure Rosebud into a box and 'trap' her.  He laid a trail of Reese's Puffs cereal across the floor leading to a little bowl of cereal inside the box, and then carefully coaxed her along.  She totally took the bait, ate the trail and then crawled right into the box and sat up to eat the cereal in the bowl.  Nut Brown squealed with laughter as he lowered the other box on top of it, and shouted, "I trapped Rosebud!  I trapped Rosebud!"  She didn't actually appreciate sitting in the dark, but Nut Brown's excitement was so fun to see!

14 October 2016

Bobo has had interaction with the letter Z and decided that he must have one in his name, since the first 's' is a hard 's'.  So now when he writes it he includes a Z instead of an S!!

12 October 2016

Rosebud has started crawling, and it's such a treat to watch her work her way across the floor!  She has also started pulling herself up on things and is often standing up in her crib when we go in to pick her up.  She also has learned to clap, which is super adorable, and to make kissing noises, which she definitely associates with affection.  You may think that because I haven't posted in so long that this is the cumulation of several months of development, but all of this actually happened over the last two weeks.  She's so beautiful!  (She has also stopped sleeping through the night and started refusing to go to sleep in her own bed.  This part is not so wonderful.)  On Sunday I showed off her new crawling skills for my Sunday School class and they applauded.

11 October 2016

General Conference- I love it!  The kids made the list of words to listen for as usual and my canny nine-year-old said, "How about God-slash-Heavenly Father?" and I said, "I think you need to pick one of those."  Bobo said thoughtfully, "I pick 'slash'."  This past Sunday I turned on the Tabernacle Choir on our way to church and Bobo said, "I love General Conference."

22 August 2016

Tonight Bobo and I went for a long walk in the twilight around the block and pretended Star Wars together.  We kept discovering people hidden behind trees that I had to guess.  "You see a hairy person!" says Bobo, and I guess "Ewok!"  "No!" "Jawa!" "No!" "Chewbacca!" "Yes!"  The next one was - "You see a person in Jedi robes and a beard!"  I guess Obi-Wan Kenobi.  "No," says Bobo.  "It's Jesus."

I tucked him in bed when we got home, and we said prayers, and he said, "Make sure you go to bed and ponder - that means think - about what we did tonight.  About Star Wars."

13 July 2016

Happy six months to Briar Rose!  She sits up on her own now, eats solid food, enjoys water play and does not yet roll over.  Sweet baby.


I had her in the Baby Bjorn the other day and Rose Pink said, "What's this weight upon my chest?  Oh, it's not guilt, it's a baby!"


We had a clothes-folding party in the basement the other day and Rose Pink came upon a pair of 3T pants that don't belong to anybody at the moment.  She put them on her head and said, "Look, Nut Brown, I'm a Twilek!" (star wars reference) and then said absent-mindedly, "I guess my head is size 3T."


My raspberries are on with a vengeance and we are picking most days after work.  Still not enough to make jam, mostly because we eat them before they get in the house.  Yum.  The zucchini is also producing like mad.  I'm pretty sure one zucchini plant is the right amount.


This is the summer that the kids are learning to swim - lessons at the Pleasant Ridge City Pool with some homeschool friends of ours.  The classes have just a couple kids each in them, and the children's progress was immediate and tremendous.  Bobo does underwater tricks now, and will float on his back and have a great time in the water.  Rose Pink and Nut Brown jumped up to level 5 and 4 respectively, and Nut Brown will probably move up to level 5 once he gets a little better at treading water.  They've learned specific strokes and treading water and diving in from the edge.  It has been so great to watch them progress, and I'm so glad that they're much more comfortable in the water.

30 June 2016

Mr. Brown is not keen on Father's Day, and so on the second Sunday in June, the children hung up balloons and decorations, and gave me a card that said, "Happy Working Parents' Day"!

29 June 2016

Mama, as drawn by Bobo

27 June 2016

Nut Brown, when asked to share his favorite scripture in Primary, chose a verse from the Book of Mormon about men racing to the judgment seat and find the chief judge murdered and lying on the ground in all his gore.


We just read a verse about wearing 'costly apparel' and I asked if 'costly apparel' increases one's personal worth.  "No," he replied. "Well, maybe to an assassin."

14 June 2016

Briar Rose's hair is long enough for a tiny ponytail!

11 June 2016

Last night I'm pulling weeds out of the garden bed with the tomato plants in it (I have two) and Nut Brown wanders over and asks what I'm doing. 


Mama: I'm pulling weeds out from around the tomato plants.  Want to help me?  Everything except the tomato plants can be pulled up.  .  .  .  . we're making space so that the tomato plants get all the nutrients and don't have to share with the weeds.  Because tomatos are yummy.  You know what tomatos from the garden mean?  BLTs!


Nut Brown: That means bacon!


Mama: Yep.  And lettuce!  And tomatos!


He decided to help, and when Bobo came over a few minutes later, Nut Brown said, "Bobo, will you help us pull weeds?  It will increase our chances of buying bacon!"

10 June 2016

Now that soccer is over, we've had a bunch of quiet peaceful evenings together.  Mr. Brown and the kids kick a soccer ball around, we go for walks or to the park, I pull weeds in the garden, and just generally we hang out and get to spend time together and still get kids in bed on time.  Last night Mr. Brown made dinner and then we ate outside, just sitting around.  Mr. Brown and Nut Brown kicked a soccer ball while holding their bowls in their other hands.  Rose Pink was reading Harry Potter (again).  The baby was jumping on my knee and Bobo was telling me about something in between bites.  He talks so much lately.


After dinner Mr. Brown asked if we could go to the park, so we did, and stopped for treats at the corner store on the way home.  Then it was home for scriptures and bed, which I love.  It was such a peaceful evening.  I'm so grateful for long summer days and quiet times with my family.

9 June 2016

Bobo's evening chore is to clean up the (short) hallway outside the bathroom.  If other people have left their stuff there, he brings it to them to put away.  But lately, since we've been throwing away so much stuff that doesn't bring us joy, he will pick up items and announce that it doesn't bring him joy and so he's throwing it away.  For example, Mr. Brown's jeans, or Rose Pink's shoes.  It's been extremely effective at motivating the rest of us to take immediate action to save our possessions.

8 June 2016

Last summer about this time Rose Pink was drawing hands:

6 June 2016

We've been reading "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up" and evaluating our possessions for whether or not they spark joy.  Nut Brown and I were playing with Briar Rose one morning when she was being especially adorable and I said jokingly, I think we're definitely keeping her!  Nut Brown said, "Yeah, she definitely sparks joy for me!"

5 June 2016

By Rose Pink, from last summer.  I wish I remembered what the story was.

31 May 2016

Bobo, talking to me as he's playing with Briar Rose, "She doesn't have me in her eyes!" i.e., she's not looking at me.

30 May 2016

 On my birthday, the kids and I went for a walk in the woods.  It was a lovely lovely day, so nice to be outside.

(a chipmunk on the path)

 Nut Brown was determined to climb out on this branch and jump on it, in spite of the fact that it was now in the middle of a spring pond about eighteen inches deep.  He was pretty confident of his balance so he made his way out there and only fell in the water once.


Walking again later in wet shoes and pants, he said, 'If I'd known I was going to fall in, I wouldn't have done it.'

Briar Rose snoozing through most of it.  She's learning to grab things, that's why there are ribbons on her car seat.

We had some munchies to keep up company, including pita breads.  Nut Brown asked for a pita and I said, I don't know how many there are, so please take into account that everyone will want some when deciding what to take.  He counted and there were (serendipitously) enough for everyone to have exactly one.  So he's munching on his and sings to himself, "My own... personal... pita..." and starts to laugh.  (Name that Depeche Mode song- again from the 80s)

The kids were playing a rhyming game with animal names.  Rose Pink asked Nut Brown to name an animal, and he said, "Elephant!"  So she sings, "I wish I were an elephant/Then I could be so benevolent!"

At a birthday party last month when they were playing Duck Duck Goose, she wanted to know why it couldn't be Shark Shark Tuna.

29 May 2016

Sometimes lovely things just happen.

28 May 2016

Star Wars passion continues unabated.  See above lyrics written by Nut Brown - to be sung to Johnny Cash's Burning Ring of Fire.

Mr. Brown listens to a lot of 80s bands, including The Smiths and The Cure.  There's a Smiths song that goes, "Some girls are bigger than others.... some girls' mothers are bigger than other girls' mothers..."  The other day Mr. Brown was looking at potato varieties online and he turned and said, "Some potatoes are better than others."  As if rehearsed, Rose Pink and Nut Brown responded, "Some potatoes' mothers are better than other potatoes' mothers!"

25 May (2) 2016

Tonight at dinner Bobo is telling me about the sign language that's used in his Sunday School class.  "This sign means water," he tells me, holding up a fist.  "And this sign," he says, as he gives me the bird, "this sign means that you need a helicopter."

25 May 2016

By Rose Pink

21 May 2016

Bobo's vocabulary has recently exploded.  It's as if a switch somewhere has flipped, and although he was talkative and vocal before, he is using more complex words and sentences to discuss his needs.  Words like "opponent" and "annoying".  He actually said to me the other day when he ran into some road block, "That's annoying, Mama."

20 May 2016

Last night, reading scriptures with Nut Brown, he announced that we were now 'floating in the foam' of his fluffy comforter.  We read while drowning underneath it, came up for air, and were gently swaddled in the 'sea foam'.  The sheer randomness of his imagination was so fun.

19 May 2016

Nut Brown, one evening, frustrated with his sister, produced the following:

Rose Pink was so flattered that she created the below in response:

18 May 2016

We heart Briar Rose!

We all love watching Mr. Brown bathe her...

Rose Pink loves dressing her and tickling her for smiles.

Lately she's become super chatty.  She's ready to talk to anyone who will look at her.  She smiles easily and often, and she laughed at Rose Pink the other day for the first time.  She's also figured out that her hands are under her control, and is practicing hard the grasping skill.  Her days as a lap baby at the dinner table are numbered!  She's adorably chubby and so good-natured.  She also really seems to enjoy being around people and being out and about.

17 May 2016

Rose Pink made a cake for the cake auction at church.  It was gloriously chocolate, and she frosted it with more chocolate and Andes mint bits.  We didn't end up going to the cake auction so we ate it ourselves.  The kids thought that it needed candles and they each took a turn blowing them out. 


Rose Pink has gotten more adventurous in the kitchen - ready to try new recipes and push her boundaries.  She made dinner the other night - broccoli and noodles in cheese sauce.  She also made tiny cheesecakes from a new recipe that turned out nicely.  I'm so glad she's exploring food and cooking while she has access to her father's advice and guidance.

8 May 2016

Rose Pink chose this outfit. It's too, too adorable.

We went for a walk.  My kids are so cool.

Bobo has this green sweatsuit that he loves so much.  None of my kids have ever loved jeans.

7 May 2016

A sweet note from Nut Brown.  I'm a little slow posting it but I love it!

5 May 2016

The other night, Bobo saying his prayers: Dear Heavenly Father, sank you for my birfday, and pyease hep me grow up.

Happy Michigan birthday to us!  We arrived here six years ago today.

4 May 2016

Mr. Brown and I got into a D&D plot via Google chat the other day while I was at work.  It involved mud monsters from the swamp that engulfed the unwary and carried them off, a poorly aimed fireball that set the tavern bar on fire, and fire called down from heaven that hardened the mud monsters into ceramic.  The kids were so inspired by the interplay that they produced the following artwork:

2 May 2016

Happy birthday, Bobo!  He's been so excited to turn four for weeks and weeks!  He came downstairs to our bed on the very day and said, It's my birthday!  So we sang Happy Birthday to him and he sang along and added, "Happy birthday to MYSELF!" every time.  Mr. Brown took him shopping for presents, and he was allowed to play Candy Crush before breakfast, and we all tried to make it a special day for him.  He chose what was for dinner, and then we had poke cake for his birthday with four candles and the train candle holders.  (Poke cake was chocolate with raspberry jello- yum)  After blowing out candles, Mr. Brown went out to the living room because he doesn't eat sweets.  We dished up the cake, and Bobo ran out to make sure that Mr. Brown knew he could have some.  Mr. Brown kindly declined, and Bobo came back to the kitchen saying that he wanted to share his cake "wif all my famiwy because I yuv dem all so much."


Rose Pink/Nut Brown went in together on a Camelbak water bottle for him so that he'll stop borrowing Rose Pink's.  Gia sent him four dollars, which he counted over and over and said, "I'll buy diapers for Kitty!  I'll buy a treat at the corner store!  I'll keep the other two dollars."  All four ended up going for treats at the corner store which were very much enjoyed.  His other grandparents sent some toys, including a Batman Lego set, which was a double win - Batman AND Legos, it can't get much better than that.  He very sweetly thanked Mr. Brown spontaneously for the toys that he bought for him.  He's such a dear little boy.

24 April 2016

 We were cleaning out the basement and brought up some charcoal pencils we found down there.  The kids drew pictures of Mr. Brown.  Nut Brown's is above and Rose Pink's below.

22 April 2016

I went upstairs to lay down with Bobo for bed the other night and when I took off my glasses and put them on the shelf, he jumped up and said, let's switch sides, Mommy.  When I asked him why, he said, "So I can hand you your glasses in the morning."  He's so thoughtful.

21 April 2016

Spiders everywhere!  Rose Pink really got into April Fool's Day this year and set up a variety of pranks for us.  She put eyes on some of the food containers in the fridge, which was really actually very cute.  She also put the stuffed rat into the cupboard on top of the plates, and I totally jumped when I opened it that morning.  She also drew spiders in black ink on various paper products (paper towels, toilet paper) so that they would suddenly appear.


The spiders were a hit, and she and Bobo ended up making more spiders and hiding them around the house, then going on a spider hunt together.  A couple days later I made up a bunch as well and hid them for the kids to find then next morning. 

19 April 2016

Kitty has started talking to us!  When she's in the mood, she tries to catch your eye and then will expound at great length regarding whatever she's currently concerned about.  It is so fun to talk back and forth with her.  She is such a mellow kid - when she fusses, it's because she needs something, and once you take care of it, she's good to just hang out - sit on your lap, watch the activity around her.  She is such a joy!

Here are the kids, watching the snow out the window on General Conference weekend at the beginning of April.  Oh yes.  We know it's spring because we think forty degrees is cold now, instead of thinking it's warm. 

11 April 2016

Kitty has her first cold, and can't breathe while laying down.  She slept just fine last night while being held but struggled for breath and woke up every time we laid her down in her crib.  It was a long night.  She ended up in her car seat for awhile.


This morning Bobo saw me walking around without pants on while I was making him a sandwich for breakfast, and he said, "I'm going downstairs, Mama.  I'll come when you call me."  Then his little voice comes up the basement stairs.  "Mama, which yaundry basket is yours?"  He was going to surprise me with my pants!  What a cutie.  He hates to be undressed, so I imagine that he was trying to assuage what he must have viewed as my distress at being pants-less.


This has really been such a cold spring.  It was freezing all week last week and it snowed four times.  You know it's spring though, because we're complaining about how cold forty degrees is.  If it were January, we'd be celebrating forty degrees.


Bobo has started learning to read.  He's clearly wanted to for awhile, and while I was on maternity leave we studied letter shapes and sounds.  We're so tired from new-baby-life at the moment that it stalled out when I went back to work, but I decided that if he's up before I leave in the morning, we'll have five minutes of reading.  That's really all a three year old should have anyway.  So we're reading Dick and Jane together.  He's so pleased when he learns new words and is so proud that he can read the stories to me.  I love watching him learn!