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.