11 January 2023

6 January 2023

For New Year's, we had our family sandwich party (no guests this year) and played some of the new games that we got.  I love traditions.  And I love spending time with my family!

We also have a post-Christmas tradition to celebrate Epiphany.  We call it "the twelve days of Christmas" and it starts with pear custard pie for Christmas dinner on the 25th.  This year for 'two turtle doves', we ate Dove chocolates on the 26th, and ordered fried chicken for three French hens... and so on.  Here are the boys eating omelets for six geese a-laying, making origami jumping frogs for ten lords a-leaping and Rosebud eating a Drumstick ice cream cone for twelve drummers drumming.

 

4 January 2023

A sign that Rosebud posted on her door one morning when she was tired of the noise of the household.  (She and Rose Pink share a room.)

29 December 2022

 

The month of December was very busy!  We had scheduled everything that needed to be done well ahead of time so we had time for some more fun things too.  We had Advent singing every Sunday night with friends, made lots of Christmas cookies, opened two advent calendars every night, and drove around to see some light displays too.  The prep for the ward Christmas party took a lot out of us, but we fortunately recovered enough to have a good Christmas Day.

Since Christmas was on Sunday, spirits were a bit high all through church and the kids were anxious to open presents as soon as we got home.  Mr. Brown played a major role in stockings this year, and the kids got slingshots, yo-yos, marbles and parachute men.  They had a lot of fun with all of them.

The kids did a lovely job making/buying gifts for each other.  There was a lot of gratitude and hugs and affection.  It was wonderful.

There were wonderful gifts from grandparents and relatives as well.  Everyone was so happy all day.  We were kinder and more patient and more flexible and more willing to engage with each other, so it was a very peaceful and happy day.  We wound it up with Christmas dinner, where we had as guests a young couple with a super-sweet baby.  Happy Christmas!

Rosebud playing carols on the piano

walking the neighbor's dog, we found a friend of hers

Christmas craft this year was making paper chains.  Rosebud made a wreath, Bobo and I made icicles, and Rose Pink and Nut Brown made a long somewhat holly-based chain that they hung near the front door.

18 December 2023

 

Christmas is concert season for the choir that the girls sing in.  This semester Rosebud wanted to join too, and it has been such a good experience for Rose Pink that we signed her up too.  The concert in Dallas was wonderful.  Our friends the Atchleys came again too.  

This year there was a second concert in Austin.  It was not as good as the one in Dallas, primarily due to issues with the venue, which was disappointing, because Mr. Brown and our neighbor Polly got to come to this one.  It really felt like it was an A-level choir performing in a C-level venue.  

Here's some photos from the second concert:

Rose Pink's choir on the risers

Rosebud's choir in the front

Rose Pink's choir singing while standing off stage - the venue was too small for the choir.

16 December 2022

Rosebud was excited for me to come to her class Christmas party.  They had some fun activities and finished with decorating cookies.  Then there was a visit with Santa in the school auditorium (with the Grinch sneaking in the back).  Rosebud wisely kept her mouth shut while her classmates were amazed at the appearance of Santa.  

She's had a harder time with school this year, and after visiting I can see why.  Her class this year has a more rowdy kids in it, so it's a louder, more restless environment, which stresses her.  She was also freaked out by the assembly with Santa - so loud and so many people.  (I think she gets this from me.)  She came home with me after the assembly.  It was a half day anyway.

 

15 December 2022

Sketches in vocabulary:

While Mr. Brown was out of town for funeral, some friends brought us dinner.  When Nut Brown discovered that there was no dessert for dinner, he was very upset and told me, "My disappointment is immeasurable."  

Bobo struggling with working on his crosstitch project, and in his frustration exclaimed, "I am IRATE!"

The other day on the way home from school, Rosebud said that she didn't understand why people liked to be hit in the face with pies or cakes.  Bobo explained that once it got on your face it couldn't be taken away from you.  She said something along the lines of, but your face gets all sticky and yuck! and he explained very seriously that when you get frosting on your face you end up taking a shower so really it's a better outcome than if you don't, because you end up cleaner in the long run.  I told Mr. Brown this story and he said, "That sounds like a boy who is seriously considering getting birthday cake on his face for his next birthday."

13 December 2022

Where Nut Brown can be found when he is at home - on his computer, at his desk, with his headphones half off so he can hear us if we holler for him.

12 December 2023

The activities committee in our current ward is volunteers, except for the chairman.  Mr. Brown and I and our good friends the Weeks volunteered as soon as we found out.  Mr. Brown had a brilliant idea for the ward Christmas party that involved flying in a plane to travel around the world to celebrate Christmas, and we found ourselves and the Weeks in charge of the whole thing.  We worked so hard on it, and invited a lot of other people to help us with it, so it was more of a ward effort than previous activities.  It turned out really well - everybody had a great time and attendance was through the roof. However, it was A LOT of work and we burned ourselves out on Christmas only two weeks in to December.

Rose Pink is making flags for the tour leaders to use

Mr. Brown is painting one of the travel posters than hung in the "airport lounge" we created in the gym

Rosebud helping by painting a picture of the sunset

All the practice painting we did for the poster

and the final result.

We designed and furnished an airport lounge area, a ticket booth (they were given passports to collect stamps for each country) and a metal detector with a TSA agent who had an alarm he could set off.  The lounge had a bunch of signs and posters that other people also painted.  The detector was built by an older couple who said, "if it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing" and threw themselves into helping us!  Then after the flight was announced, the passengers went to an airplane seat set up (we painted airplane windows that were hung up along the sides - and people argued over who to the window seat!) and we sang Christmas carols to "power the plane".  Then the passengers were split into groups and went around to three classrooms to do Christmas activities from three countries.  Then back to the plane to "fly home" and deboarding back into the airport lounge, which had been turned into a winter party wonderland with snowflakes, white lights, decorations and cookies and hot chocolate.  It really was a great party.

 

5 December 2022

Earlier in the fall, the girls and I went to a rodeo with the mother of one of the participants.  We really enjoyed it!  It was pretty small and so it was easy to be close to the participants and really get into each competition.  If we have the chance we'll go again.

1 December 2022

  

Rose Pink!  She passed her GED so is officially done with high school now.  The anti-anxiety meds that she is taking are really helpful, with the result that she does a lot more silly things that brighten our lives.  She is brilliant and impulsive and funny.  So glad she lives with us!

28 November 2022

Bobo has really taken an interest over the past few months in perler beads - the plastic beads that you melt with an iron to stick together.  He both follows patterns and freestyles, and sometimes he sells the things he makes to kids at school.

10 November 2022

Rosebud is home from school today because of a fever and cough.  We let a bunch of flies in the house last night with going in and out during a cookout (first of the season), and she is running around downstairs with a fly swatter.  I'm upstairs at my desk and I keep hearing WHAP! "Did I get it?"  She is so pleased with herself when she does manage to smack one.  So far she's killed two.

5 November 2022

 Halloween! Our favorite holiday! This year Mr. Brown orchestrated family costumes for the first time ever. We did Alice in Wonderland. Rosebud was Alice, and I was Big Alice (already drank the potion), Rose Pink was the Queen of Hearts, Nut Brown was the White Knight, Bobo was a card soldier, and Mr. Brown was the Hatter! It was a lot of work but it was also really, really fun. Our friend Dani helped out by lending us her Queen of Hearts costume and helping with the White Knight helmet. Mr. Brown made his hat and the White Knight helmet. I made Bobo's cards. It was work down to the last minute and we were really tired afterwards. But we learned a lot and are already planning for next year!

We wore the costumes to the school fall festival (which was a bust this year because they held it inside because of the weather) and to the church Halloween party (which the kids enjoyed but not so much Mr. Brown and I - we put a lot of work into it as members of the Activities Committee).

I was so worn out after all of it that I didn't want to go trick-or-treating, which is my favorite part of Halloween! I had decided to go but to do it in a car and have the kids hop in and out. This distressed Rose Pink so much that she actually started to cry, so I gave in and we walked like we usually do. It was a perfect night for it, and we had a wonderful time! Our neighbors were generous and there were lots of people out and about enjoying the evening and the surge of generosity that is Halloween night. After 30 minutes, I texted Mr. Brown and told him, "You were right." We had so much fun!

Pumpkin carving really only happened for Nut Brown and Rose Pink. Rosebud took hers to school, and Bobo declined to carve his. Rose Pink saw a giant pumpkin for sale for only $20 that she had to have, so she bought it. She also picked one out for Nut Brown that was almost as big as hers.

Final result:

Final FINAL result: