29 October 2016

Bobo and I got in the car to go somewhere, and he asked me to put in the 'Fudgie Tales' CD - the one with Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber.

27 October 2016

And finishing the Winter Clothing Distribution meant that we could also acknowledge illness- Mr. Brown has some respiratory thing, and Bobo has an earache, and Rosebud was wakeful last night because she has a snotty nose and is pretending to be Snuffleupagus (more than usual).  Bobo's prayers last night: Dear Heavenly Father, please bless Papa, who is pretty darn sick, and please bless me, who is pretty darn sick... Today, doctor's appointments and hopefully antibiotics for both of them.

26 October 2016

As part of Rosebud not sleeping, one night we warned the kids to be VERY QUIET while we were trying to get her back to bed.  Rose Pink made her own caution tape by cutting copy paper into strips, writing 'DO NOT CROSS' on them and taping them together.  She then taped off the end of the hallway, in case any of us forgot.

25 October 2016

At the end of September we all came down with this horrible head cold.  It started with Bobo, then me, then Nut Brown and Mr. Brown and Rosebud.  Rose Pink might have gotten it a little bit.  She is more resistant to disease than the rest of us.  Nut Brown and Mr. Brown and Rosebud didn't get it too badly, and got over it within a week.  Bobo and I continued to have congestion and runny noses and to feel generally lousy for days.  It moved into my chest just a bit, and then the doctor diagnosed me with walking pneumonia, so that was fun.  Bobo is still not great and is now complaining about an earache - to the doctor he goes, tomorrow.  Rosebud fortunately didn't get it too badly, but she had a hard time sleeping for a couple days because of the congestion, and all the hard-won sleep training was lost.  Now she wakes up several times a night just to cuddle, which is sweet and I love it but I'm going a little crazy with lack of sleep myself. 

Everything in life went on hold last week while Mr. Brown chaired the Winter Clothing Distribution in our ward - 17,000 pounds of clothing, 3,700 invited guests, and 1100 volunteer hours over four days.  It was a lot of 12 hour days and pizza for dinner and no naps for Rosebud.  The opportunity for service and sacrifice was a great blessing for us, and now we are laying around the house recovering.  Bobo is sick, and Mr. Brown is also sick with something respiratory.  Now that we're done with the WCD, we can address this, and also Rosebud's lack of ability to sleep.  Sleep training, round two!  Starting tonight.

21 October 2016

I just put Bobo in bed.  He said, "When do I get to be the one in front, and Nut Brown behind?"  I said, "Not for awhile.  I think you have to grow up a bit."  He said, "It's not working.  I'm stuck at four.  I eat all my vegetables and it doesn't help."

17 October 2016

Last Monday was Columbus Day, and we celebrated the day off by going to an orchard and picking apples, having donuts and cider and enjoying the beautiful fall weather!  It was such a beautiful day and a lovely time to be together.  We all tried the different varieties and had a great time walking around the orchard together.  Rosebud loves apple cores - we have started calling them 'baby crack' because when she gets her hands on one she doesn't want anything to get in the way of enjoying it and will scream when you take it away.  So funny!  She just chews and chews on them with her two teeth.

When we came home, we decided to grill for dinner and walked up to the corner store and ordered five different types of meat from the butcher counter (we all wanted something different).  Mr. Brown ordered a NY strip steak for me, which was very sweet of him.  Nut Brown had a hamburger, Rose Pink had a BLT, Bobo had a sausage and Mr. Brown had a chicken breast.  It was a lot of fun, and a wonderful day all around.

15 October 2016

Nut Brown was playing a game outside with large boxes and Bobo that involved 'trapping' each other inside the box.  We came inside and Nut Brown decided to see if he could lure Rosebud into a box and 'trap' her.  He laid a trail of Reese's Puffs cereal across the floor leading to a little bowl of cereal inside the box, and then carefully coaxed her along.  She totally took the bait, ate the trail and then crawled right into the box and sat up to eat the cereal in the bowl.  Nut Brown squealed with laughter as he lowered the other box on top of it, and shouted, "I trapped Rosebud!  I trapped Rosebud!"  She didn't actually appreciate sitting in the dark, but Nut Brown's excitement was so fun to see!

14 October 2016

Bobo has had interaction with the letter Z and decided that he must have one in his name, since the first 's' is a hard 's'.  So now when he writes it he includes a Z instead of an S!!

12 October 2016

Rosebud has started crawling, and it's such a treat to watch her work her way across the floor!  She has also started pulling herself up on things and is often standing up in her crib when we go in to pick her up.  She also has learned to clap, which is super adorable, and to make kissing noises, which she definitely associates with affection.  You may think that because I haven't posted in so long that this is the cumulation of several months of development, but all of this actually happened over the last two weeks.  She's so beautiful!  (She has also stopped sleeping through the night and started refusing to go to sleep in her own bed.  This part is not so wonderful.)  On Sunday I showed off her new crawling skills for my Sunday School class and they applauded.

11 October 2016

General Conference- I love it!  The kids made the list of words to listen for as usual and my canny nine-year-old said, "How about God-slash-Heavenly Father?" and I said, "I think you need to pick one of those."  Bobo said thoughtfully, "I pick 'slash'."  This past Sunday I turned on the Tabernacle Choir on our way to church and Bobo said, "I love General Conference."

22 August 2016

Tonight Bobo and I went for a long walk in the twilight around the block and pretended Star Wars together.  We kept discovering people hidden behind trees that I had to guess.  "You see a hairy person!" says Bobo, and I guess "Ewok!"  "No!" "Jawa!" "No!" "Chewbacca!" "Yes!"  The next one was - "You see a person in Jedi robes and a beard!"  I guess Obi-Wan Kenobi.  "No," says Bobo.  "It's Jesus."

I tucked him in bed when we got home, and we said prayers, and he said, "Make sure you go to bed and ponder - that means think - about what we did tonight.  About Star Wars."

13 July 2016

Happy six months to Briar Rose!  She sits up on her own now, eats solid food, enjoys water play and does not yet roll over.  Sweet baby.


I had her in the Baby Bjorn the other day and Rose Pink said, "What's this weight upon my chest?  Oh, it's not guilt, it's a baby!"


We had a clothes-folding party in the basement the other day and Rose Pink came upon a pair of 3T pants that don't belong to anybody at the moment.  She put them on her head and said, "Look, Nut Brown, I'm a Twilek!" (star wars reference) and then said absent-mindedly, "I guess my head is size 3T."


My raspberries are on with a vengeance and we are picking most days after work.  Still not enough to make jam, mostly because we eat them before they get in the house.  Yum.  The zucchini is also producing like mad.  I'm pretty sure one zucchini plant is the right amount.


This is the summer that the kids are learning to swim - lessons at the Pleasant Ridge City Pool with some homeschool friends of ours.  The classes have just a couple kids each in them, and the children's progress was immediate and tremendous.  Bobo does underwater tricks now, and will float on his back and have a great time in the water.  Rose Pink and Nut Brown jumped up to level 5 and 4 respectively, and Nut Brown will probably move up to level 5 once he gets a little better at treading water.  They've learned specific strokes and treading water and diving in from the edge.  It has been so great to watch them progress, and I'm so glad that they're much more comfortable in the water.

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: