14 March 2024

 Pi Day! Pizza and pie for dinner!

We also got a new trampoline set up in the backyard. There was much jumping and squealing from all four of them as soon as it was safe to get on 

6 March 2024

 

5 March 2024

Bobo, making his angry face at me.  I told him that even when he's angry he's smiling!  One of the things I love about him is how easy it is to make him laugh and cheer him up when he's upset.  And he has such a charming smile!

 

4 March 2024

 Today was a lovely day. During the last several testimony meetings at church, Nut Brown has written out his testimony on one of our small white boards before getting up to share it.  Today while he was doing that he also invited Bobo to do it, and then coaxed him into coming up with him to share it! He said that he would feel less nervous if Bobo came with him.  Mr. Brown and I watched his tender mentoring with amazement, and we were touched by the testimony each of them shared. Nut Brown talked about his opportunity to baptize his little sister, and Bobo opened with a metaphor - that he was like the Holy Ghost because he was there to support his brother - and then shared his testimony that we are never alone because the Holy Ghost can always be with us. Mr. Brown also shared his testimony about how our wretchedness does not keep us from Jesus, and makes God's salvation of us more glorious. 

After church, I sat outside in the sunshine for most of the afternoon. Both Mr. Brown and Rosebud told me how glad they were to see me outside again. Spring is coming, and I am even thinking about planting something!

Rose Pink came home from church with papers to be completed for her missionary application (yay!) and she took Bobo and Rosebud to a state park to hike along a shallow river. She is such a a good big sister to them.  They came home wet and muddy, which Rose Pink did not foresee, but I was not surprised.

Tonight we were invited over for games to the Wines' house as well, and Nut Brown and Mr. Brown and I went. We had a good time! And Mr. Brown got to give some counsel to their son with the same name and the same ADHD. It was such a lovely restful Sunday. 

3 March 2024

 A lot of nights at our house are either really busy so we're all in a hurry or involve a lot of us on individual screens not really interacting with each other. But a few nights ago we had an evening where everyone was happily occupied and busy and there was a cheerful spirit in the house. 

Bobo and Rosebud were playing War.

Rosebud was working on a baby quilt for a friend.

Nut Brown and Mr. Brown were having a D&D conversation.

1 March 2024

 A note from Nut Brown's seminary teacher:  "I was really proud of your boys in seminary today.  I asked them "In your reading today, what titles of Jesus Christ have you see?" and all of them burst out spontaneously with "Wonderful! Counselor!" and sang the rest of the chorus from the Messiah together.  You are obviously raising them right."

26 February 2024

Rosebud was baptized on Saturday! She was one of three little girls from her Sunday School class that were baptized that day, and there was a lot of little girl energy bouncing around the church.  Rosebud kept jumping up and down before the service started because she was so excited.

Nut Brown baptized her.  When she was born, we did math in our heads and said, "When she's old enough to get baptized, Nut Brown will be old enough to baptize her!" and now, eight years later, we arrived at that moment.  

Grandma and Grandpa came out for the baptism, and Grandpa bestowed the gift of the Holy Ghost on her and gave her a lovely blessing.  Spencer's sister and her family also came up from Silver Spring.  A lot of people from the ward came and gave her gifts.  We had a brief reception in the gym afterwards.  Nut Brown served desserts with help from one of the Knoxes.  The whole event went really well, and she felt very special. Spencer and I were so grateful for all the people who came out to show their affection for our family.

Afterward, my parents and Spencer's sister and family came back over to our house for dinner, which was fun.  Her kids are basically the same age as Bobo and Rosebud, so there was some fun play that happened.  It was really nice to visit with the adults as well.  My parents came back the next afternoon (Sunday) for a few hours and we had a good time together.  

I'm so happy for Rosebud!

18 February 2024

 Kids are funny.  Funny food lates: 

-Bobo and Rosebud have been taking unfilled sandwiches for school lunch - that is, two slices of bread.  

-Nut Brown's favorite breakfast these days is Kashi cereal with frozen berries and whipped cream - a half a cup of heavy cream, whipped, every morning.  (So many calories for my teenage boy!) He also eats a lot of chicken nuggets cooked in the air fryer for lunch every day.  

-Rosebud is still working her way through her Halloween candy.  She filled her class valentines with some of it.

16 February 2024

 Bobo likes his hair longer on top than Nut Brown does, so I've started taking him to the hair cutter to get it cut instead of doing it ourselves.  When he got really shaggy a few weeks ago, I took him in, but the stylist he got that day did a terrible job.  She fussed with it and fussed with it but cut minimally, so he ended up with a seventies hair cut where even the short hair was long.  Finally I told her that it was fine, and took Bobo home and decided he was just going to have to live with a Mom cut this time.  I trimmed up the back and sides without any problems, but when I tried to address trimming the top so that it was shorter but still long enough for him, I didn't do as well.  His bangs ended up lopsided and ragged.  He looked at himself in the mirror and said, "Mom, you just lost a client."

15 February 2024

 In November, Mr. Brown and Rose Pink and Nut Brown cleared out a big messy section of the backyard which Bobo and Rosebud and I were visiting my parents.  The debris turned into a woodpile (a small one) and last Saturday night we had a firepit night for the first time since moving in!  Our trees both drop twigs at an extraordinary rate, so we always have lots and lots of tinder.  We burned the woodpile and cooked hot dogs and marshmallows over it and hung out together staring at the fire and listening to Prairie Home Companion off and on when we were talking.  It was a perfect night for it, and we had a really great, quiet time together.

13 February 2024

Snow day again today! Unfortunately it now means virtual school assignments.  Happily both Bobo and Rosebud finished pretty quickly.  I love it when it snows.  It's so beautiful.  And the snowfall is very heavy with big wet flakes today, lovely!

Today is Paczki Day, and we were excited to find paczki for sale at a local supermarket! This is very timely since Mr. Brown is too sick today to make paczki this year.
 

11 February 2024

 Last night, while getting ready for dinner, a spontaneous performance of "Moses Supposes His Toeses Are Roses" (from Singing In The Rain) broke out, complete with the boys doing the corresponding tap dance in the kitchen.  We sat down to dinner and played Telephone during dinner because the kids were still caught up in tongue twisters and enjoying it. It was all very playful and fun!

This morning a member of the bishopric challenged the ward to share their testimonies about something.  I missed the invitation entirely, but Nut Brown took the challenge and got up to share.  As he crossed the dais and turned to face the congregation, Bobo and Rosebud flashed him enthusiastic, sustained thumbs up gestures!  Nut Brown shared some beautiful thoughts about how much love he feels in the temple when he attends.

9 February 2024

 Tonight we stood out on the lawn and looked at the stars with Bobo's new binoculars that he got for Christmas.  I found an app that told us what the stars are when we pointed my phone at it.  We found Jupiter, and Betelgeuse, and Sirius.  I was grateful for the technology that made the night sky so much more accessible to us.

2 February 2024

The end of the monster snow week.  Bobo and Nut Brown made a snowman, and then it rained.

I drove for a temple trip for the youth, and Bobo went for the first time.  Our car was the singing car, as they sang their way through Hamilton on the way down and back.  They're very careful to clean up the language as they sing, replacing "damn" with "darn" and "God" with "gosh" and so on.  At one point Bobo sang, "In Gosh we trust" and Nut Brown interrupted him to say that it was okay to say God there, since we trust in Him and not in Gosh.

Bobo has also started passing the sacrament.  I snuck a photo of him on his first Sunday.  He is strongly encouraged to wear a white shirt and so I finally have an excuse to insist.  (He was not very resistant.)  Overall, it has been a pretty straightforward transition for him so far into the youth program.  He was nervous the first couple weeks as he sorted out new teachers and new meetings, but now he looks forward to weekly activities and is okay with his deaconly duties.

Nut Brown has started blessing the sacrament as well.  I love to see him doing that.  Both my boys are such awesome people!

21 January 2024

Bobo continued his streak of receiving ordinances in private homes rather than at the chapel, and was ordained to the priesthood at our house on Thursday evening.  My wonderful boys all looked so good that I insisted on pictures.  

Here's the initial one, with no direction:

Trying to loosen them up - so I said, Make a frowny face!  Except that Bobo can't make a frowny face even when he wants to!

Next up then - make a goofy face.  I'm not sure Bobo realized what was going on behind him!

Now everyone's relaxed!  SMILE!  and they all bared their teeth in different ways. 

The ensuing laughter meant that I finally got the more natural smiles that I was hoping for:

 What handsome men!  I love them all so much!

19 January 2024

 

It has been a week of extraordinary snow. The kids were out of school on Monday because of MLK Day.  It snowed all afternoon on Monday, so the schools were closed on Tuesday.  Then the temperature dropped  and school was cancelled on Wednesday due to ice.  Kids went to school on Thursday, and then it started snowing again, and school was cancelled for Friday!  It's like an extra week of winter vacation!

When the snow started on Monday aftenroon, Rose Pink took her break at work outside, just standing in the snow as it flew around her, because she loves snow so much.  She was so happy to have frozen precipitations!  Monday night, she took Rosebud for a walk around the block.  When they got home, she told me how fun it was to watch Rosebud have what was essentially her first experience with snow!  So cute to see her start experimenting with snow play!

Kids went to bed on Monday night, knowing that school had a delayed start of two hours the next day.  The district called early Tuesday morning to say that school was cancelled for the day, so as the kids got out of bed, I told them.  Bobo was the first up (as usual) and I made him wait to go out until the others were awake and ready.  Rosebud staggered out just after seven, obviously still sleepy.  I told her the news, and she jumped up and down with excitement.  She told me that she had set her watch alarm to seven a.m. to make sure she had time to play in the snow before school started.  <3  Nut Brown came out at the same time, heard the news, saw the snow, and immediately suggested a prayer of gratitude.  The three of them sat in a circle on the living room prayer and held hands and offered a sweet prayer where they took turns being the voice to thank God for the gift of snow and a day off to enjoy it and each other to enjoy it with.

The family got together with friends to go sledding on both Tuesday and Wednesday, which they all loved.  They wanted to go this morning, but it is still actively snowing right now, so we are hanging out inside, watching it pile up.  They're predicting six inches total.  We've had at least three so far.  Hooray for real winter weather!

15 January 2024

 Today the kids had the day off school for MLK Day!  My boss and another coworker and I got together and took our kids bowling.  Bobo was the oldest by two years, but everybody else was between seven and nine, so it was a good group.  Fun to hang out for awhile.  The kids played two games, and Bobo enjoyed the improvement that came from practice.  He wants to play again and get better!

14 January 2024

January birthday season at the Browns!  We are actually having a bunch of important birthdays/landmarks this year: Rose Pink has decided to serve a mission and will be putting in her paperwork, Nut Brown is going to learn to drive, Bobo will be ordained to the priesthood, and Rosebud is getting baptized.  This family and these kids are amazing.

First up, Rosebud's birthday!  I was overwhelmed, and ended up asking my ministering sisters to help me.  I had already promised her the party and sent the invitations, but it was two days before and I had done literally nothing for it.  After a one a.m. message from me, they put together the whole party, and made it a really nice time for Rosebud.  I'm so grateful.  

This is the cookie cake that Rose Pink gave her.  She had bought it for something else but repurposed it and personalized with some pink icing for Rosebud.  This was at the family birthday dinner.  Rosebud requested dal.

Party time! Her friends Elise, Freya and Lisa came over.  There was a treasure hunt, cookie decorating, and Twister.  Then cake and candles and gifts.  The girls all had a good time.

The next day was posole day, since by Rose Pink and Rosebud love posole, so we always have it for dinner on the day between.

Then it was Rose Pink's birthday:

She and I went shopping in the afternoon and had a good time together!  She is helping me learn how to use makeup.  We went to a couple consignment shops, Office Depot, and a party shop, and I bought her avocado earrings.  Mr. Brown made pickle soup with potato croquettes for her, and german chocolate cake.  She asked that we all stay home that evening and we played Abducktion together and sang karaoke!

Rose Pink put us all in the shade like usual, but it was really fun to sing together.  Nut Brown had wanted to go to a friend's house, but he stayed home because of her request, and sang "If I Had A Million Dollars" in a duet with her.

Rose Pink has been praying diligently for snow on her birthday every night at family prayer for the past two weeks.  It's not supposed to snow until Tuesday, but there was just a little snow this afternoon!  God loves her.  

Lots of cake this weekend.  It was great to celebrate our awesome girls!

 

6 January 2024

 Our kids all brought home school recognitions in December.  Both Bobo and Nut Brown made the honor roll, and Bobo was nominated for Student of the Month.  Rosebud was not left out with her artwork on display downtown.  Our kids are amazing!

5 January 2024

Happy New Year!  We were too sick and tired to stay up on New Year's Eve, but we did manage to have our annual sandwich party on New Year's Day.  We didn't get to do poppers on Christmas Day because the missionaries were at dinner and we didn't have enough to share, so we did them for the sandwich party and wore the crowns during dinner.  Very fun!

 School started again on 2 January, but only Rosebud went because Bobo and Nut Brown were both too sick.  Bobo went back yesterday and Nut Brown went back today.  In other happy news, Rosebud asked me to braid her hair because apparently braids, not ponytails, are cool for second graders.  Finally I get to play with her hair and braid it for her!

She is continuing to grow up very quickly.  We gave her Barbie things for Christmas, which totally fell flat. She thanked us but said that she doesn't play with her dolls very much any more, and she chose to spend her Christmas money on adult make-up.  I think Rose Pink is helping her learn how to use it.

31 December 2023

 December was kind of a blur, and a very busy month this year.  I was not very well prepared for Christmas and it ended up being for stressful than fun for me, and overall was kind of flat for the whole family this year.  

We started the month with performances.  Rosebud's art was chosen for a show at the school district, so we went down to admire it.  Bobo's chorus had a Christmas concert.  He felt that they didn't have enough time to practice, but he enjoyed participating in chorus overall this semester.  It was really great to see him perform.

We did Cookies and Carols for three Sundays this year, since the fourth Sunday was Christmas Eve.  All the people from church that I invited initially chose December 17th, so I had to go invite a whole new batch of people for the 4th.  We had people from my work on the 10th, and we were unpleasantly surprised at how much they did not sing.  On the 17th we ended up with two sessions because there really was no way to host as many people as I had invited.  That went better than expected- we enjoyed both times!  My parents also came down on the 17th, so we got to spend some time with them on Saturday and sing with them on Sunday.

boys being awesome at an outdoor walk we did with Grandma and Grandpa

frosting sugar cookies:

One evening, we had a fire in the backyard, and then got tots from Sonic and went to see a spiffy light show in our neighborhood.  Rose Pink brought her portable radio/CD player and we stood on the sidewalk to watch it and dance to it.  It was a lot of fun!

Right as school was getting out, the flu struck.  Rosebud brought it home, and she had a pretty miserable Christmas because she was too sick to go shopping and too exhausted to really enjoy Christmas Day.  She shared it around, and we spent time at urgent care with Bobo (fear of pneumonia) and Nut Brown (to get an excuse for school).  Neither Bobo nor Nut Brown were well enough to go back to school when it started so they had extra time off to lay around the house and rest.  Mr. Brown and I also got to suffer through it.

Nut Brown amusing himself at the doctor's office

Once we were through with Christmas, we moved on to marking the twelve days of Christmas with the small treats that make those days fun.  And that was December.  It was really nice to have the week off between Christmas and New Year's.  No work, no school, no church... the vacation was wonderful, even if we were sick.

30 December 2023

 Rosebud learned how to do some very simple paper engineering at school and made a Christmas card for the family.

She hung it on the back of the front door (magnetic) and we opened it on Christmas Day as instructed. The snowman is sitting on a little popup block.

5 December 2023

Rosebud made a placemat for Thanksgiving dinner at school.  I was so charmed by the word search and the 'spot the difference' games that she included.  School definitely offers her opportunities that she would never have had if we were still homeschooling.

1 December 2023

One of the unexpected pleasures of public school is the joy of having other people recognize how awesome our kids are! Bobo came home with both of these items a week or so ago. His chorus teacher had just emailed parents asking for Kleenex, and I told him that she was now my favorite teacher so I was going to reward her with boxes of tissues. He thought that was pretty funny. It is such a wonderful thing to me when other people tell my kids how great they are. It's true and people who see it always raise my opinion of them!