31 May 2014

The other day Nut Brown was up before everyone else and left Mr. Brown the above note.

He uses language differently - I always have to pay special attention to make sure I understand what he's telling me.  He came up to me the other day and was very pleased to announce that 'This shirt has no back!' by which he meant, there's nothing printed on either side so there was no way to put it on backwards.

30 May 2014

Bobo is at the point where he's figured out that using words can sometimes get him what he wants, so he tries them out on us a lot, and parrots everything you say to him so he can learn even more words.  We've been practicing 'please' and 'thank you'.  He knows that when I ask him, 'can you say please?' that he's going to get what he wants, so he gives me a big grin as he says 'peeeez!'  I have him say 'thank you' and then I say, 'you're welcome'.  He says, 'welcome!' back to me, and lately when I prompt him for thank you, he says, 'Thank you welcome!'  He's so funny.

This week we had a powerful rainy day on Tuesday, and after dinner Rose Pink's soccer practice was cancelled so she and I and Bobo walked around the block, mostly in the gutter, splashing and singing and getting wet.  It was a lot of fun, and Bobo was totally pleased by this.  I love having kids to hang out with.

Bobo had his two year checkup this week and survived a shot and a finger prick.  Mr. Brown told me that he was anticipating the shot during the entire appointment, so he kept telling him not yet, not yet, not yet... okay, this is the shot.  But he was a trooper for the actual moment.  Physically he's on track and in social development behaves like a three-year-old.  I attribute this to his older siblings.

24 May 2014

My garden is in for the year.  The new thing this year is raspberry bushes, four of them along the back fence. We'll see how they do.  It's still so cold - even this week, supposedly past the frost-free date (Mother's Day) we had morning temps of forty degrees, which could easily have been overnight frosts.  The peas are already coming up.   I have six cucumber plants - I'm hoping to learn how to make pickles this summer.  The kids had a great time digging for worms and helping me plant the seeds and seedlings.  We're all looking forward to the growth. 

22 May 2014

The bench at the table in the kitchen fell over on to my foot and it hurt hurt hurt.  I said ow ow ow ow and are you okay Nut Brown because he'd been sitting on it when it fell, and then I said ow ow ow some more.  Bobo ran over and knelt down and kissed my foot to help it feel better.  So tender.

20 May 2014

Bobo and I were walking down the hall after church today.  He was sitting on my hip and I was feeling very tenderly towards him.  He was tired so he was just hanging out.  When he sits on my hip, he always wraps his arm back around my arm and locks on, and it's very secure and companionable, and I whispered to him, "Bobo, I love you." He turned to me and kissed me very sweetly.

18 May 2014

This past week Grandma was here visiting and I managed not to take a single picture.  She brought lots of activities and games and the kids had a great time with her.  One night we took a very long bike ride down to Treat Dreams, our favorite ice cream place.  Nut Brown was riding in the road behind me, a rare privilege for him.  He was talking about how much he prefers riding in the road to riding on the sidewalk, and when Grandma asked him why, he said, because usually I'm not permitted to ride in the road.  He surprises me with the big words he uses sometimes.

Grandma, the kids are still playing the games outside that you taught them - Red Light Green Light, Mother May I.

15 May 2014

Is it really halfway through May?  Last weekend we dashed down to Davenport for an unexpected event.  Friday morning our friend Holly sent word that she was giving bonus point to anyone who wore the shirts that Spencer & I had made for them (specific to a previous campaign) to the game session that night.  So we decided at 11:30 that morning that we were going to show up that night at her house!

The trip went really well, and it was so much fun.  We stayed in a hotel, ate at all our favorite places, swam in the pool, shopped at our favorite thrift store, and visited our favorite places.  Then we ran out to Iowa City to see family on Sunday, and drove back on Monday.  Nut Brown fell into the duck pond at the park.  Rose Pink began swimming in the deep end of the pool by herself.  Bobo acquired a Batman shirt at the thrift store that he hasn't really taken off since.  (We did get it washed, but he wouldn't take it off last night to get in bed, so ended up wearing it over his pajamas.)

It's fun to visit places you used to live, because you know where all the good stuff is.  Although this time around I was surprised at how much smaller Davenport seemed: my mindset has expanded to fit Detroit.

12 May 2014

Bobo wants to know why he's not allowed to listen to 'Let It Go' from Frozen over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and why are you turning it off, Papa?  I'm going to have a tantrum here on the floor about it.

10 May 2014

 Rose Pink has been busy writing.  See above comic - some of her 'h's look like 'n's.

 Someone gave her some Disney stickers and she was compelled to point out that it wasn't up to date.

Lately she and I have 'reading parties' occasionally, where I bring up my book and we read together on her bed at night.  (Note her Rainbow Fairy book on the above invite -they each have a drawing of a specific fairy on the cover.)

 In case I ever forget.

 

 

And one time she decided to have story time in the watchtower (her room upstairs) and invited everyone.  She has pretty much taught herself cursive - I showed her some letters and she improvised from there.

9 May 2014

Back in March we got a ride on a school bus (the kids were thrilled) down to the natural science museum in Ann Arbor.  They were having a day full of activities in the museum, with special exhibits (owl pellets for dissecting) and lots of silly crafts.  We had a lot of fun together, although Bobo was so tired in the end that there was definitely some screaming.

 

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Bobo is helping to roll out the roll dough.  He gets so frustrated that we won't let him use the sharp knives.

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There's just not much cuter than a baby who sits on the back of the toilet to brush his teeth.

 

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Why Nut Brown is taking gymnastics lessons:

...and his little brother who wants to be just like him.

 

 

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I love his upside down smiley eyes.  He loves having his picture taken.

 

 

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The city has an 'adopt a park' day every April, where you can pick a park to clean up to get ready for spring.  Our family is heavy park users, so I have often wanted to participate.  This year I decided to throw myself a birthday party that involved cleaning a park in our neighborhood.  I set it all up with the city, invited just about everyone I know, prepared treats for the guests, and then spent the next three weeks explaining that it wasn't actually my birthday until May but I was just having the party early.  It was actually on the day before Bobo's birthday, but I wasn't sure he has as many friends as I do.

 





Of course Bobo wanted to help make the cupcakes for our park cleaning adventure.  Mr. Brown also made me cheesecake for a birthday cake - yum.  It was so good.

I had a great time at my birthday party - we raked so many leaves (see all the bags behind me and Mr. Brown?) and the park looked much tidier for our attention.  The kids worked really hard right along with us - I got a bunch of comments especially about Nut Brown and what a good worker he is.  A couple people also brought me birthday gifts, which kind of surprised me, because really the party was an excuse to get some help with the park.  The weather was really nice - I hope I can do this again next year.

7 May 2014

Bobo turned 2!

Grandma and Grandpa sent him a wagon for his birthday.  It had a Spiderman tag on it, which made it extra cool.

Also they sent Batman socks, which he thinks are WONDERFUL.  He loves wearing them.  And when he's upset about anything I just have to remind him that he has Batman socks on and then he's immediately cheerful again.  He doesn't say 's' yet, so he calls them 'ba-ma hok'.  He's so cute.

I got out the clippers to cut Mr. Brown's hair and he decided that he needed a hair cut too.  A definite pro for having older brothers - he got his first haircut because he wanted to be like Nut Brown and get his hair cut even if the buzzer was a little scary.  Now he's pretty cool about the whole thing - I think this is his third haircut.  (So different from Nut Brown, who started getting his hair cut at four months old.)

On his birthday, we sponsored a park cleanup with a bunch of friends.  So he had the best birthday ever- three hours at the park in the morning, plus all the chocolate cupcakes you could eat (because Mom and Dad were busy).  It was definitely a good day.  In addition to the gifts from Grandma and Grandpa, Gia sent him $2 and we used it to buy him some superhero action figures.  Now he takes them to bed with him.  He's so sweet.

Happy birthday, baby boy!  May it be the first of many more!

28 April 2014

Last Thursday was 'Take Your Kids To Work Day' so Rose Pink and Nut Brown came with me to work.  We got to drive robots!  It was amazingly fun!!!

 Also the commander spoke to us all.  (My kids are in there somewhere.)

 Plus we built robots from kits!  Super fun.  And they walk themselves across the floor, very awesome.

 More driving robots.  Nut Brown spent a lot more time in the bouncy house than he did driving the robots, but he was having a great time.

 Rose Pink is waiting in line to get an airbrush tattoo.  She chose the robot one, not the princess one.  I was so pleased.  Robots are COOL!

 Rose Pink driving the big Talon robot with the suitcase controller.  She (with help) made it go over and pick up a pipe and come back to her.  It was so neat.

Also we went on a tour of Starbase? Don't ask.  It was okay but not that interesting. 

Overall the day was a smashing success.  We had a great time.  They always like coming to work with me, even when it's just hanging out at my desk - they're pretty self-entertaining, for an hour or two.  But we had so much fun with all the robot activities.  Can't wait for next year!!

19 April 2014

We are all doomed - Bobo has figured out how to fire the water guns.

17 April 2014

Mr. Brown took the kids to the park the other day, and it was full of kids because it's spring break.  There was a group of boys playing gunfight using their finger guns, and the baby got all excited and tried to join in.  Oh, pew pew guns, how I've missed you.  But his little fingers don't reliably make a gun shape and he ended up just clenching and releasing his fist as he ran around making noise.  That night he and Nut Brown chased each other around the house and under the table making pew pew noises. 

15 April 2014

Rose Pink has been totally engrossed in the Rainbow Fairy book series.  There are approximately 34,528 books in this series.  She checks them out, thirty at a time, from the library.  It takes her about twenty minutes to read one.  The other night she was talking to herself in her room, and it turned out that she was determining which fairies were each other's best friends.  And actually it was the fairies talking to each other, not Rose Pink.  I think it's so sweet that she talks to herself when she's busy imagining.  I know that she's happy when she does.

14 April 2014

Lately Nut Brown has been leaving half full cups of water next to the sink when he goes to bed.  I discovered last night that these are 'offerings to the water god'.  I hope the water god doesn't mind when I drink them in the middle of the night.

4 April 2014

Nut Brown has all kinds of issues with food.  He doesn't like his foods mixed (like in a casserole) or too spicy (garlic can be too spicy) and he also has problems with textures.  He's a good sport about trying everything we make, but sometimes it is challenging to feed him.  (He eats a lot of pbj.)  While making dinner the other night, Mr. Brown says, "Nut Brown is really a meat and potatoes kind of guy."  Nut Brown, who was sneaking tastes of the meat that Mr. Brown was slicing, said, "Not really.  Just meat."

1 April 2014

Bobo folds his hands for prayer - so sweet.  He calls for Rose Pink by shouting 'GOKO!' as loud as he can.  He's an extremely noisy wrestler - he's always making some kind of noise while he's rolling around with you.  He loves his papa and always asks for him when they're apart, and greets him ecstatically when they're reunited.  He also loves music and is learning to ask for certain songs by name - rahr means 'Roar' by Katy Perry, wown means 'Round and Round' by Selena Gomez, boom means 'Firework' by Katy Perry and gone means 'Cups' by Anna Kendrick.  He'll listen to pretty much anything and we're working on teaching him some other names in order to expand the playlist.

30 March 2014

Some photos left from when we spent February and March being sick!

Nut Brown and Bobo

 

Bobo taking his antibiotic all by himself

 



Rose Pink, who never got all that sick, constructed a Fairy Cafe restaurant in the kitchen, with a sign, a menu on the wall, and drawings of all the fairies that worked in the cafe.  She and Nut Brown took and filled orders for lunch while Mr. Brown and I were not feeling well.

27 March 2014

The day after Grandma and Grandpa left, we loaded up the bikes and drove over to a church parking lot nearby to ride.  Rose Pink and Nut Brown both have new bikes (Nut Brown's is a hand-me-down) and Rose Pink is bumping up to hand brakes and gears, so we tried out our new equipment in a traffic-free zone first.

Rose Pink rode her bike for a little while and didn't have any trouble with braking.  Then she decided she'd rather take photos, so she took the rest of these.

Bobo was very pleased to have his chariot come back out.  He rode very patiently around the parking lot and did not want to get out when it was time to leave.

Nut Brown is riding 'Skull', Rose Pink's old bike.  It's just a little too big for him, so he has trouble starting.  But otherwise he's very pleased with it. 

Here's what I look like on a bike.  The snow finally melted enough that I started riding in again this past week, happy happy.  An advantage to such a cold winter is that it seems warm enough to ride when temps hit 25 degrees.  Previous years I thought it was too cold.

Photos of the most stressful part of the whole exercise - convincing three bikes to go on the bike rack.  At least I know they all fit now.  There are some great bike trails in some of the Metro Parks around here, and I daydream about getting our whole family out to ride them.  Someday when it's actually warm again.