15 October 2018

So in this picture, Rosebud is flossing my teeth.  In the evenings I usually floss Bobo's teeth (he's had a lot of cavities and even gotten a crown) and after seeing that, Rosebud occasionally asks to floss my teeth.  It kind of tickles and it's just sweet and silly, which is why I asked Nut Brown to take a picture.  But the funniest part of this picture is what she said to me as she put her fingers in my mouth: "This is going to hurt a bit."

10 October 2018

I love Bobo's tenderness.

1 October 2018

Some artwork from Bobo and Rosebud.  Bobo's is from his Sunday School class at church.  He told me that he put the puzzle together and then drew his family on it.  I love how affectionately he feels towards us.  

Rosebud had a blast with a pen, while sitting on a short stool and using a tall stool for her desk.  Super cute to watch, and I liked the art she produced.

30 September 2018

September has been a bit of a blur.  I'm working a very busy yearend closeout and am very very glad to see the end of it today.  This afternoon Rosebud and I decided to make 'material mosaics' and collected some different textured things in a muffin tin - rice, salt, tortilla chips, dirt, wood chips, grass and dead bugs - and then glued them on pieces of paper.  I'm not sure we made lasting artwork but it was fun.  We ran out of dead bugs first.

8 September 2018

Rosebud loves to pretend to be a kitty and will turn into one at random times.  Sometimes it helps to get her into bed if I invite her to snuggle up like a kitty and she'll lay down while making tiny little meows with her tiny little voice.  The other night she said her prayers as a kitty, and the preciousness of an extra tiny little voice saying, 'Dear Heavenly Father...' cannot be expressed.

17 September 2018

Bobo hugged me this morning and said, "Mom, I know I was born into the right family."  Warm happy feelings!  I said to him, "How do you know that?" and he replied, "Because I'm really good at making gun noises."

13 September 2018

Rose Pink has joined our D&D group.  We play with two other (young) couples on Tuesday nights, and Rose Pink is playing an elven ranger with us.  It's a fun time, and the other couples are good at including her.  It's nice to see her learning more about interacting with adults.

She asked to take a civics course this fall, because all her friends are taking civics in ninth grade and they say it's really interesting.  So we got a civics textbook and she'll be working her way through that.  School starts for us again at the beginning of October.

The other day I asked her to help me color some people puppets for nursery.  She likes coloring, so she took on the whole project, and brought me back puppets with five or six different skin colors.  I loved the unconscious application of diversity - so glad that she's growing up without (or with less of) a feeling that people can be othered based on their skin color.

11 September 2018

Rose Pink and Nut Brown spent time building a world together.  See if you can find the sawmill.  Smiley faces indicate allies.

9 September 2018

Putting Rosebud in bed just now and I said, "Do you want me to sing a song?" and she said, "I want a song, but the songs are all dead."

7 September 2018

Rose Pink has been reading a trilogy of books called "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children".  It's very gothic, and Mr. Brown advised me not to read it.  It's just her sort of book though.  She read Lovecraft awhile ago, and thought it was boring, but she likes Poe.  She finds the horror and suspense stimulating and interesting.

5 September 2018

We spent Labor Day weekend at my sister's house in Tallahassee with her family and my parents.  Mr. Brown stayed at home and had a restful weekend, and my brother-in-law went down to Tampa to see their son there, and my sister and I sat up late and talked and talked and talked.  Being closer to her has been such a wonderful thing!  So glad to count her as a friend.

We arrived pretty late on Friday because I ignored the GPS and we ended up going almost 90 minutes out of our way to make up for it.  (oh well)  We went to Home Depot on Saturday morning to do the free kid project, which the kids really loved.  That afternoon, Grandma split the grandkids into two groups and had them each do a skit, which was fun.  Then we went to the pool and went swimming, and then Grandpa took all of us out for Chinese food.

Sunday we went to church, which I just love, because the ward in Tallahassee is so wonderful!  Sometimes I tell Mr. Brown that we should move to Tallahassee so we can be in that ward.  Then it was board games for most of the afternoon, and we left to drive back just after dinner.  At the moment we're listening to Howl's Moving Castle as the audiobook, and the kids AND I are completely entranced.  I know they're listening to it now without me and I've just about decided that I must get it out of the library in order to to finish the story!

4 September 2018

31 August 2018

Nut Brown's birthday this year was kind of a bust.  He was disappointed in several things.  He had been talking about a couple of different activities earlier in the year for his party, but when we started planning it, he didn't advocate strongly for anything and Rose Pink ended up setting up a party that involved playing Live Action Clue in the living room, having a silly string fight in the backyard, smashing a whale piñata, and then eating cake.  Only one of the three invited families could come, and then Nut Brown was disappointed that he didn't win the Clue game, and then we couldn't go outside to smash the piñata because it was raining.  The silly string canisters ran out after about ten seconds.  He felt that Rose Pink wasn't listening to him well enough when planning the Clue game either, and he was disappointed that he didn't have enough budget left over to buy another gift.  He wasn't satisfied with the spending account that we gave him for the funding.  I hadn't had a whole lot of energy available to devote to his birthday, and was grateful for Rose Pink's support that made the party possible.  I felt that it wasn't a great party either so I could understand his disappointment.

(We had a good time playing Clue.  I think we should set up a Sorry board in the living room sometime too; I think that would be fun as well.)

Nut Brown has talked about it for a couple weeks afterwards, and I did get a better accounting of the funding together that satisfied him.  Eventually I learned that he had wanted a surprise party but didn't know how to tell us.  If he told us, then it wouldn't be a surprise, so he didn't say anything, and hoped we'd figure it out.  As a result, he didn't get either of the events that he wanted, because he wasn't talking about them or about what else he wanted with us.  I was disappointed that he was disappointed, and felt like I'd failed somehow for not making sure he was happy with his birthday. 

Mr. Brown explained to me that Nut Brown was learning a valuable lesson about communication, and finding out that if you don't tell people what you want, then you're not likely to get it.  He had a conversation with Nut Brown a couple nights ago as they were doing after-dinner chores about it, and told Nut Brown that he also had wanted a surprise birthday party this year.  "You did?" I said in surprise.  He told Nut Brown that he hadn't told me, because he wanted it to be a surprise, and when I asked what he wanted for his birthday he'd said, "Nothing special."  And guess what he got for his birthday?  Nothing special.  We went out for breakfast as a family, and that was it.  So he was now telling Nut Brown that the same thing had happened to him – he'd gotten exactly what he'd asked for, which wasn't what he wanted.  A very important lesson!

29 August 2018

On Sunday the kids and I sang a musical number in sacrament meeting, a medley of 'I'm Trying To Be Like Jesus' and 'Lord, I Would Follow Thee'.  The kids put in a lot of effort and work on it, and although we didn't sound the greatest, I was proud of them for their willingness to practice.  It was so sweet to watch Bobo learn where to come in and be so proud of himself for knowing that he could do it.  The ending was written really, really high, and when we suggested re-writing it so sing a lower, unison line, instead of a high two-part line, Nut Brown resisted because he didn't want to give up the coolest part of the song, the part where he and Ramses got to stand out, in his opinion.  He worked really hard to learn the high notes and practice singing above his natural register.  Rose Pink ended up with a solo line at the end that was really beautiful.  Even Rosebud learned the words and sang with us - 'Love one another as Jesus loves you'.  We improved so much as we practiced, and I was so proud of us!

12 August 2018

I ask Bobo after church: How much peanut butter do you like on your peanut butter sandwiches?

Bobo says, "Nine percent."

10 August 2018

Last night, working in the kitchen, Rosebud comes up to me and says, "Mom!  You're wearing a pink apron!  I have to hug you now!" and then she did.  She loves the color pink.

She just got another haircut last night.  She refuses ponytails and so her hair gets so messy and tangled.  So I asked if she wanted a haircut and she said yes.  After her bath, we turned on the kitty videos and I trimmed a couple inches off.  So it's short and cute again.  She went to bed before Rose Pink and Mr. Brown came home from church so they were surprised to see her this morning.  She was so pleased with her ability to sit quietly and get her hair trimmed successfully.  I love to see her grow.

6 August 2018

We spent our staycation doing fun things and ignoring (mostly) the chores, and eating ice cream.  Monday we made candles and went shopping.  Tuesday we went to the public library downtown, and got the brakes on the minivan fixed.  Wednesday the kids and I went to St. Augustine, and visited the old fort there and went to the beach, which was totally and completely cool.  We took a picnic and didn't have enough time at the beach because the fort was more interesting than I expected.  I definitely want to go back and see some more of the old city and visit the fort again with Mr. Brown.  Thursday we rearranged the furniture.  Mr. Brown said that we should finish moving in since we've been here for a year, so we put the toys in the office closet and changed the kids' beds around and threw some things away.  Friday we mowed the lawn and the kids and I went to the science museum downtown.  It was packed and crazy, but we loved it and so we bought an annual pass so we can go back during the school year when everybody else is in school.  Nut Brown has been asking to return ever since we got home. 

We ate a lot of ice cream and a lot of treats and slept in and did as few chores as possible, and did some adventurous things so we can see more of what there is to see in Florida.  Super fun!

5 August 2018

Doing a puzzle with Rosebud today and as we put each piece in place she'd say with satisfaction, "That's the way to do it!"

4 August 2018

Mr. Brown and Rose Pink were talking about polygamy, and Mr. Brown said, "Besides, what would you do with all those husbands anyway?" and Rose Pink replied, "Boss them around, probably."

3 August 2018

Started the day with two kiddos who came in and curled up in bed with me.  Bobo is always the first one up these days, and today he decided to come in and lay down next to me and snuggle.  Rosebud was next up and wanted to lay on my chest, and Bobo moved over between Mr. Brown and I.  Super sweet cuddles.

2 August 2018

Watching Nut Brown and Bobo work peacefully on a 300 piece puzzle together on the living room floor- my heart is so happy.  Gotta love these moments when they come.