28 July 2022

Some lovely things from Bobo this year - an essay and an astro-cat.

And some drawings from Rosebud.  On the left, a family of tiny people being harassed by bees.  On the right, a girl with great eyes.  She drew several versions of this girl, experimenting with different hair and eyes and clothing.

Some more of her writing.  I just love finding her notes around the house!

 

20 July 2022

On one of the hot hot days we've had recently, we went to the store for onions and cam home with ice cream, watermelon and grapes as well. The kids love the tiny carts that they can push themselves.

Rosebud got a new bike helmet and begged and begged to go for a ride in spite of the heat. So we went out after dinner and we still almost melted after only 20 minutes. Came home all red-faced as if we had expended far more energy than we actually did. It took the better part of an hour to cool down after, even with long drinks of cold water.

Bobo is taking a shower right now and I can hear him singing happily to himself at the top of his lungs. I love it when he is happy!

18 July 2022

I was out of town for work last week and when I called home to check in one evening, I had a very nice chat with Bobo.  He told me all about his day, and even asked me how my day had gone.  Then he said, "Okay Mom, I've told you about my day and I asked you about yours, so now I'm going to tell you all about my video game.  Okay? Because I talked about everything else already.  Okay?"  

4 July 2022

Sometimes the sheer cuteness around here is almost too much to bear!

30 June 2022

Summer vacation trip to Idaho!  Here we are on the shuttle at the airport: 

We had planned to rent a car downtown (and save $1000) but then Delta changed our flights and the downtown rental place was closed so we had to stay overnight in SLC.  But it was still cheaper than an airport rental!

On the way up, we stopped at Red Rock Pass, which is where Lake Bonneville broke through to flood thousands of years ago.  Fascinating to see the evidences still in the rocks!!

We arrived at the Peers' house and made friends with their new pet, a cockatiel named Buckbeak.  He was a big hit with our kids.  Aunt Lorien has taught him to whistle the R2D2 noise from Star Wars, and she's working on the Imperial March with him.

We went up to Big Jud's for a belated birthday party for Nut Brown.  We had promised him the enormous hamburger last December so we were finally able to come through on that!  It was a truly enormous hamburger!  Neither he nor Mr. Brown were able to eat the whole thing in one sitting, although Mr. Brown came close.

We went back to Lava Hot Springs! We swam at the small water park/pool there for the afternoon and then we went on to the hot springs.  Mr. Brown struck up a conversation with a British ex-pat who works seasonally in Jackson Hole.  The hot springs were wonderfully hot and we really enjoyed ourselves.  Afterwards we rejoined the Peers for dinner downtown with a guitarist who played Pearl Jam for Mr. Brown and Aunt Lorien.

Then we were off to Minnetonka Caves over by Bear Lake, which was pretty neat but SO MANY STEPS.  The drive up the mountain to get to the cave was so beautiful!  I walked the mile up the mountain from the ticket place to the cave entrance, and it took me an hour.  But it was a beautiful walk!

We stayed overnight in Bear Lake, ate raspberry shakes (yum) and the next day we went to the Bear Lake beach in Idaho.  The beach was really nice but the water was very cold!

We hung out in Pocatello too, did some local hiking and drove around the city looking at neighborhoods, and of course we stayed up late talking!  One night a water gun fight broke out on the front lawn with lots of shrieking and shooting.  One of the adults quietly suggested turning on the sprinklers, and that added extra volume to the shrieks!  We spent a lot of time outside, enjoying the fact that we didn't roast or suffocate from allergies.

16 June 2022

Rosebud learned to ride her bike!  She's been getting pretty close and then we had one more session in the parking lot.  She was very anxious about it at first, but as she gained confidence she got faster and faster.  "I'm a burning ball of fire!" she told me as she cruised past me.  She started starting herself on her bike without any prompting from me, and picked up that skill pretty quickly as well.  When we went home, she asked me for an achievement star for riding her bike, and then when I gave her one she wrote me a thank you note on the back that says, "Thank you for helpg me lrn to ride my bike".

2 June 2022

Rosebud finished kindergarten and they had a little graduation ceremony for them.  She was very excited about it and said she was well enough to go to school even though she was probably sick.  Here she is shaking the principal's hand.

This is her whole class together.

Here we are together afterward.  They were supposed to dress up but she said that what she wanted most of all to wear was our matching shirts!  She's our very first kindergarten graduate.

18 May 2022

Art from Nut Brown

and a comic book start from Bobo

17 May 2022

Last night, Rosebud said, "I'm going to brush my teeth spontaneously!  I'm probably the only kid in my class who knows what spontaneous means! .... What does 'spontaneous' mean?"

I said, "It means doing something without being told to."

Rosebud: "Well, then I listen to my teacher spontaneously.  I think I'm the only one who listens to her spontaneously."

11 May 2022

Sometimes having my two ADHD kids sitting next to each other at dinner is just a little much!  They either have a great time together or drive each other to anger and fighting.

6 May 2022

I am out of town on a work trip and tonight Mr. Brown took the kids to Cici's Pizza for dinner and on the drive over they sang the entire album from They Might Be Giants, "Flood". Fun times!

-------------------------

From the other night:

Somebody: What's for dinner?

Mr. Brown: Slugs!

Bobo: Again?!?!?

2 May 2022

Happy birthday, D!  First decade down!  

We had donuts for breakfast, his favorite dinner in the evening, and opened gifts from people who love him.  He was so happy and so sweet to all of us.  When he feels safe, it is clear what a loving heart he has.

He had a birthday party that Saturday with four other boys over. He didn't want a party but I insisted, with mixed results.  The cake was a hit though.

1 May 2022

Fire pit night, because fire pits are wonderful.

There were a few minutes at the end where we were all sitting together around the fire, and it was really great to be all together.  Rosebud was on my lap and she told me how much she loves it when we were all together.  Sunday afternoon she had invited us all to play games with her on the back porch, but only some of us came, and she was really disappointed.  So I'm glad we got to have together time at the fire pit.

30 April 2022

This morning, at the donut shop, D requests a chocolate eclair and then asks, "Why do they call it 'barbarian cream'?"

28 April 2022

Rosebud is a non-stop producer of wonderful artwork, including painting, crayon drawings, lettered posters and school work.  I told her that she was limited to putting up four items at a time on the refrigerator, which made her very sad.  Fortunately for her happiness, she figured out that there are more magnetic surfaces in the house and now we have artwork attached to the metal shelving in the kitchen and on the back of the front door.

25 April 2022

General Conference weekend, Rose Pink took Bobo and Rosebud to the playground between sessions.  

Also we got the stomach flu that weekend and Rosebud was home from school for three days.  Mr. Brown was sick too, and Nut Brown came down with it on Wednesday.  Here is Rosebud keeping me company on one of her days home.

She is making a doll wearing traditional clothes of her ancestors for Diversity Week at school.  I offered her Scandinavian or European Jewish (since I'm 45% Scandinavian and 23% European Jewish) and she opted for European Jew, so the doll is wearing a long dress and a headscarf.

21 April 2022

 

Rose Pink's spring choir concert was the second weekend in April.  They had rehearsal on Friday afternoon, and then dress rehearsal and two performances on Saturday afternoon.  We crashed at friends' house Friday night and then headed back for more on Saturday.  

Here's the entire high school women's choir (with one photo-bomber boy in the back).  There are five choirs in the concert (kids, middle school, high school women, high school men, and adults).  She was in most of the numbers but there were a few that were just the adults, or just the adults and the kids.

Moms are asked to volunteer backstage and I was assigned to the high school sopranos to run the walkie-talkie for that group.  We practiced being all the places we had to be on Friday afternoon (stage right!  balcony! lobby between numbers! back to the balcony!)  There was a lot of waiting around.

I worked the 5:00 show and then attended the 8:00 show.  It was pretty great!

(she was up in the balcony for most of the show)

I was worried about the music being performed in a way that would manipulate me into crying, because I would have completely fallen apart after being away from home and being so tired.  But my antidepressant medication squashed all that!  I could tell all the places where I was supposed to be moved but the medication was like, Nope! No emotions for you! so that was great.  At the end of the concert, as they finished singing Be Still My Soul, I could still feel the Spirit, which was wonderful - a very clear sense of peace and calm in response to the musical prayers that were offered in the concert.  And it was that much clearer because my emotions were suppressed.  I'm so grateful for that gift.

I really admire this choir and the directors.  I'm really glad Rose Pink gets to participate in it.

21 April 2022

 On Good Friday we went for a long drive (4 hrs) to look at Texas wildflowers.  In Burnet we found the largest bluebonnet we've ever seen.

Overall the drive was something of a disappointment.  We saw a lot of flowers on the side of the road around Llano and between Llano and Burnet, but there were not as many as we expected, and the second half of the drive was pretty much barren.

When we got home, Rosebud wanted to go to a park, so she and I went to Brushy Creek Park and discovered the field of bluebonnets that we had looked for everywhere else that morning.  It was beautiful, and you could smell the bluebonnets.  Next year we will just visit the park and save ourselves the drive!

Here is Rosebud on top of the dam in the park.  The flowers are in the meadow on the shore of the lake in the distance.  She and I walked across the dam to check on another wild patch on the other side and see if there were more wildflowers there.  Alas, nothing.

Another cookout- the weather has been wonderfully mild for late April, and we have taken advantage of it.  Mr. Brown got the grill rack out of the garage and we have made hamburgers as well as hot dogs.  I love having fires in the back yard.