6 December 2025

Today we checked out the town's first Christkindlmarkt downtown in the same lot as the farmers' market.  Not particularly impressed, but this bush was pretty hilarious.

Ward Christmas party tonight.  Mr. Brown and I were on the committee and were responsible for setting up a Santa seat.  Nut Brown and D helped me out - I used the stuff from the Christmas bin that I didn't get out for our house this year and it turned out fine.

The party itself went well, lots of compliments from others.  Mr. Brown and I were not particularly enthusiastic about it, and Mr. Brown and D decided not to come.  Nut Brown was busy with his friends, so he didn't come.  Rosebud was looking forward to hanging out with a particular friend, but the little girl was upset about something and wouldn't play with her.  I made sure that the Santa seat worked out, and then packed it up and left as soon as I could.  

4 December 2025

D's school pictures this year

 

30 November 2025

Kids doing awesome things at school!

Also, one of Rosebud's vocabulary tests.  Interestingly, the test requires them to define it, use it in a sentence, and illustrate it.

 

22 November 2025

My thrifty daughter Rosebud attended two birthday parties this afternoon, and proudly announced (when I picked her up) that she had saved and folded all the tissue paper from the gift wrap for us to reuse!

18 November 2025

 Rosebud made herself a grilled cheese sandwich with bacon bits the other night.  She has a very sensitive palate and usually gives us a hard time about eating anything that doesn't taste "right". She was very proud of herself for successfully making the sandwich all by herself (with some advice/guidance), and even though it was burned, she ate it!

15 November 2025

 We went to a play at Nut Brown's high school which was doing Peter and the Starcatcher and D had already watched it with Nut Brown but he came with us to watch a different time. It was fun and we spotted some people we knew acting on the stage as well as some one that did the choreography and that was fun, it was also fun to see how pirates later also showed up as mermaids and to find out how Hook from Peter Pan became Hook the villain. We had a lot of fun trying to copy some of the cool choreography after the show. (written by Rosebud)

13 November 2025

Rosebud is having a very active school year. We didn't realize it was unusual until her teacher commented on it at the conference we just had with her.

She is taking viola lessons from the music teacher, and attending orchestra rehearsals. She has joined the school choir. She also ran for student government and won, so she's part of the student council now.

Since they don't do extracurriculars in elementary school, she leaves class for all these things! Viola lessons are weekly, orchestra and choir rehearsals are biweekly, and student council meets monthly and has other duties in between meetings. She has to make up any work she misses during class.

She seems to be doing alright so far. What a busy little bee she is.

12 November 2025

D: Mom, I insulted someone at school today. I told them they looked like the government. And they're like, you mean I look like the president?!? And I'm like, No, you look like the government cause you ain't working either!

‐------------

Mr. Brown, adamantly: "Violence should never be the first resort!"

Nut Brown: Right. Third resort, maybe

Mr. Brown, slightly bewildered by the change in context: Third resort?

Nut Brown: first, persuasion; second, long-suffering; and then violence!

12 November 2025

 Furlough leaves lots of time for things that I never thought I'd have time to get to... including making cheese with a kit that a friend gave us for Christmas a couple years ago.  Rosebud and I worked on it together, and used a gallon of milk to produce some paneer!  It was kind of magic to watch the curds appear, and then to press it into cheese.  So neat.  (Unfortunately Rosebud doesn't actually like paneer... but it was fun to make it, and I thought it was pretty tasty!)

8 November 2025

Rosebud and I went to see the ballet at the local library!  They do a (very) short version of The Nutcracker every year.  We found out about it accidentally last year, and this year we went on purpose.  We were there an hour ahead of time to make sure we got good seats, and then we just sat and read together while we waited.

Afterwards we were allowed to take pictures with the performers, and she chose the Sugar Plum Fairy.  It was a very fun thing to do together, even if it was a very abbreviated show.

 

Halloween

This year for Halloween, Nut Brown decided that we should all dress as characters from Final Fantasy 7, one of the best video games ever made.  He and I worked together on it, and our costumes totally rocked.  Unfortunately it's obscure enough (and old enough) that not very many people recognized us, except for our bishop.  Nut Brown's character is in a few other video games, so several people recognized him.

Mr. Brown as Cait Sith

Rosebud as Yuffi. Nut Brown and I made her shoulder armor out of a modified skate pad.

  
D as Vincent.  I made the cape myself, and Nut Brown made the gold armor.

D was so pleased with his cape that he made a matching one for his tiny pumpkin.

Nut Brown purchased his costume entirely, and he was extremely pleased with it.  Rose Pink helped him bleach his hair while she was home over the summer.  He especially loves the buster sword.

While Rosebud was willing to join the family costume theme for the ward Halloween party, she announced back in September that she and her two best friends were going trick or treating together dressed as the kpop demonhunter girls.  The girls planned it all very carefully and thoroughly and Rosebud got to be Mira.  Pink hair is pink hair is hair dye, so we started there.  So fun *beam*

Nut Brown and Mr. Brown made her glaive from scratch - pvc pipe and cardboard and hose washers and so on.  It took a lot of work, a lot of conflict and a lot of time, but the result was amazing.  People thought we had bought it.  Here she is ready to go:

And here she is with her other demonhunter buddies:

Of all the excellent good luck, D and Rosebud managed to make friends simultaneously with a brother and a sister.  D was on the fence about trick-or-treating this year, but ended up going with his friend since Rosebud was going out with his friend's little sister.  I don't think he'll trick or treat next year.

The friends' neighborhood had really big house lots, but since the lots are so big, there are a lot of riding lawnmowers in the neighborhood, so trick-or-treating is done by trailers attached to riding mowers.  The trailers are decorated, so it's like a big parade.  Very festive and fun!  Also nice for when the kids give out and you're half a mile from home - less complaining.

And the annual candy dump and trade... Rosebud really wanted a candy swap but there weren't ever enough people around to make it worthwhile for her.  Sometimes it stinks to be the youngest.

Nut Brown dressed up (in his Final Fantasy costume) and went out with one of his D&D friends, who was also dressed as a video game character.  They seemed like they had a good time together.  Around 9:30, they said they were going out one more time to empty any treat bowls that were still sitting out on porches. I'm glad Nut Brown got to go out again.  He loves Halloween and dressing up.

a random gift from the Halloween decoration fairies

Mr. Brown and I were invited to an adults-only Halloween party this year!  It was a "Villain Con" with the goal of determining the most villainous villain.  We dressed up as Frankenstein and the Bride of Frankenstein after a fortuitous trip to the thrift store.  It was really fun to experiment with makeup and wigs, and the party was a pretty good time!  (Maleficent won the most villainous award.)

5 November 2025

Being on furlough meant that I had plenty of time to spend on Halloween costumes.  Super fun!  This year Nut Brown wanted us to dress up as the lead characters in his favorite video game, Final Fantasy 7.  He bought his costume with some of his first salary from his first job and was so happy when he wore it.  I made D's red cape, and Nut Brown made the gold armor.  Here they are a little early, trying everything on.  D is so happy to be included with Nut Brown - look at his smile.

D loved his costume so much that he made one for his pumpkin too.

Here we are all dolled up at the ward trunk-or-treat:

Way back in September, Rosebud came home and told me that she and her two friends from school were going to trick-or-treat as the Kpop Demon Hunters main characters together.  They had many planning sessions and started learning the songs together too.  I decided to buy the costume, and then we dyed her hair pink and Nut Brown and Mr. Brown made her weapon - they did an amazing job!

Their friends live in a neighborhood with really big lots, so a lot of people have riding lawnmowers.  They hook up trailers to the lawnmowers and decorate them, and then drive their kids from house to house.  It was totally fun!  We had a speaker with music on ours, and waved at friends when we passed them - it was like participating in a parade.  And as a bonus, when the kids got tired, we didn't have to coax them to walk back to the house or car... they just sat down and we cruised on back.

Back home going through the haul.  Rosebud was disappointed in the smallness of the swapping circle - just her and D this year.  Plenty of candy though!  D told me that he felt that their friends had very bad trick-or-treating etiquette - they didn't say "Trick or treat!" or "Thank you".

Nut Brown also went out with one of his D&D friends, who was also dressed as a video game character.  They stopped back in to eat and then headed back out around 9 pm to "clean out" any bowls of candy that were still out on porches.  The friend is an only child and he is very polite and also very curious about our younger children.  Children are very interesting to him because he doesn't know anything about them.

And Rose Pink, at college, dressed up as Derpy Tiger. :) 

Mr. Brown and I were invited to an adults-only Halloween party (our first!) which was billed as a 'villain convention'.  We dressed up as Frankenstein and the Bride of Frankenstein.  It was such a fun party!  And all the experimenting with make-up that we got to do was a lot of fun too.

Halloween is our favorite holiday!

 

3 November 2025

Nut Brown asked me to put his hair in tiny ponytails.  He thought it turned out awesome.