30 November 2016

Rosebud has been cruising and is now standing up by herself.  She's thinking hard about walking but isn't quite there yet.  Right now we call her the Floor Princess, because everything that is on the floor is subject to being investigated, tested for tensile strength, and chewed on, occasionally to her siblings' chagrin.  She's also learning to climb stairs.  She's still so full of smiles for everyone, but super-clingy to family.  She won't go to anyone else, not even Grandma.


Yesterday I played the organ for a funeral, and wore my hair down because my hair elastic had broken.  When I sat down next to Rosebud, she wouldn't come to me because she didn't recognize me with my hair down!  It took her several minutes to sort out that I was still a safe person even with long hair.

29 November 2016

Bobo's Sunday School teacher recently told me this story:  Bobo is evidently the smartest kid in her class, and she says it's clear that he's also the most spiritually fed.  A couple weeks ago they were having a lesson on reverence, and she invited them all to sit quietly while she played a song on her portable computing device.  They listened quietly to "Reverence Is Love" from the Children's Songbook, and then Bobo said, "I feel the Spirit when you play that song." She wanted to thank me for the opportunity for a teaching moment.  I thanked her for sharing such a sweet story with me!

23 November 2016

The other night Bobo trotted off to get ready for bed.  We heard the electric toothbrush, and then the toilet flushed, and he came back out in very short order.  Mr. Brown said, "That was quick."  Bobo said, "Yes!  I had a pee race between the pee and the toothbrush and the toothbrush won!"  He'd been brushing his teeth while on the toilet.

21 November 2016

Rose Pink is counting down the days to her birthday and moving into the youth program at church.  (ten weeks left) She may have started into some of the moodiness of teenage-hood too.  Last Sunday night, we were reading scriptures on the stairs (Mr. Brown was on the phone in the living room) and Rose Pink got a toy plastic ring stuck on her finger.  She was trying to freak out but I kept laughing at the situation, and she eventually said to Nut Brown, in a very serious voice, "Bring me the dental floss."  He replied equally seriously, "The floss or the picks?" and she said, "The floss!"  So he rushes off, brings her the dental floss, and she somehow, painfully, got the ring off.  So we continue with reading, and Nut Brown kind of randomly wanders off and comes back with a dental floss pick in his mouth, flossing his teeth.  Rose Pink pauses mid-verse and says, "Oh, NOW you bring me the pick!"  It was so funny!


Rose Pink is so mature.  It is such a pleasure to spend time with her.  She can be so thoughtful and very reliable, and so funny!

19 November 2016

Last Saturday we were unable to go up and see our friends in mid-Michigan, so we did our Saturday chores and went to the Warren indoor water park instead!  Bobo and Rosebud were not actually excited by the splash pad - too many sources of unexpected splashes and the 1,000 gallon bucket was too scary.  But we had a great time in the big pool, swimming and having train rides and playing in the corner.  Mr. Brown swam races with Rose Pink, and Nut Brown chased a basketball.  I even went down the scary waterslide.  It was a lot of fun to get in the water together!!  Then pizza for dinner, and a movie before bed (How To Train Your Dragon).  It was a really nice day together.

18 November 2016

Another of Rosebud's charming characteristics is that she thinks it's fascinating to have her fingernails cut.  She holds her fingers out for me and watches me trim each nail.  Then she wants to chew on the nail clippers when we're done.

17 November 2016

Last night Nut Brown and I were reading scriptures, Alma 37:15, and he reads, "...which are sacred shall be taken away from you, and ye shall be delivered up unto SANTA..."


I said, "Santa?"


And he said, "I KNOW, Mom, but it's getting close to Christmas."

16 November 2016

On my day off, Bobo decided to sort through his treasure box with me.  A four-year-old's treasure box is full of a lot of things that I would not myself value, and it was very interesting to see what he wanted to keep.  He said he was going to get rid of all the pieces of paper and all the leaves.  I held up a box that once held a dozen ballpoint pens, and asked if he was keeping it.  "Oh! Yes!" he exclaimed.  "I need it to punch people."  He slid his fist into it and made punching motions.

15 November 2016

Sunday morning

13 November 2016

Rose Pink's soccer team was renamed the Badgers this year and turned into a winning team.  New coach and some new girls, and Rose Pink really enjoyed the fall season.  She was usually goalie or defender, and worked hard at running and practicing.  Her games have started to be a lot more interesting to watch.

11 November 2016

9 November 2016

Batman pajamas - $3.50

Nut Brown's excitement - priceless

Nut Brown LOVES these pajamas.  And Bobo's eyes, when he saw them, were extremely covetous.  I told Nut Brown he had to take good care of them so Bobo could have his turn with them later.

8 November 2016

Tucking Bobo in bed tonight, he whispers sleepily to me, "I super-duper love you, Mama."

6 November 2016

It's official - we have a crawler!

She's actually been mobile for more than a month, and pulls herself upright on stuff, and will walk while holding on to your legs or fingers.  Everything she finds goes right in her mouth.  So far we've found two things in her poop (a googly eye and a necklace clasp) that worried us.  Fortunately no complications so far.  She's so dang good with that pincers grip!

5 November 2016

A little boy and his beloved tiny pumpkin.  He named it Spike because of the vine coming out of its head.  You can also see Rose Pink's pumpkin behind him on the porch with the soccer ball - titled 'Header Gone Wrong'.

4 November 2016

The Halloween dance at church was fun.  Turns out that Bobo loves babies and little kids (except Rosebud).  Here he is dancing with a two-year-old friend.  Mr Brown was still in the grips of pneumonia but still danced a couple dances with me.  He made himself chainmail out of canning rings, and a giant spoon, and went as a knight of the dinner table.  Sorry no photo!!

We carved monster pumpkins at the beginning of October, and then it was a lovely month and the pumpkins rotted.  Rose Pink suggested getting pie pumpkins to carve, and I thought we could just about handle that, so we did.  I actually had a lot more fun with the tiny pumpkins.

Costumes: Rosebud was a lady bug, thanks to Aunt Jessica!

Wait, there must be something wrong with my camera....

There, that's better:

Older kids, from left to right: Dr. Fate, a 'Batman knight', and an iceberg.  The iceberg has a broken Titanic represented on it.

We trick-or-treated with our friends the Calls, and had a great time.  The kids came home with pounds and pounds of candy.  Bobo in particular is ecstatic.

A couple nights later, the boys and I made a bar chart of all the candy by laying it out on the playroom floor.  They got more kit-kats by far than anything else.  Reese's Cups and Snickers were in a dead heat for second place.  It was really interesting to see which candy companies have a lock on the Halloween market.

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.