31 March 2025

fire pit night

didn't think we had time to do it, but we pulled it off!

 

30 March 2025

Comic/joke produced by Rosebud.

 

26 March 2025

The Browns go to the library.

 

23 March 2025

Since Rose Pink has gone away to college, we have adjusted to her absence but miss her very much! Now "everyone" is only five of us instead of six, and there are far fewer jokes told and less baking. D and Rosebud miss her especially much for all the fun things that she did with them. Mr. Brown misses her as his right hand girl, and I miss her too. Things are not the same without her. She is growing towards more independence and we are proud and excited, but we miss her.

This afternoon I ended up home from church before any of the other kids. Mr. Brown was home sick and he and I sat in the sun in the bedroom and I wrote in my journal and he read companionably with me. It was very quiet. Then the kids came home (Nut Brown was driving) and they came directly into the bedroom to be with us and talk to us and it was noisy and lively and wonderful.  My family is amazing. 

21 March 2025

I went down to visit my sister over her spring break!  We ate dinner in Panama City (great view, blah food) The next day we went kayaking and saw turtles and manatees. Better food that night - we got appetizers only at a restaurant that brought us our drinks in cans instead of from the fountain.

The next day we went to the beach (yay) and read books in the sunshine and walked up and down the beach.  That was my favorite day.

It was fun hanging out with her and having pastries for breakfast and making friends with Petey the cat and walking in the park across from her house.  She has a snug little house and fun place to live!  It was super fun to spend time together.
 

17 March 2025

Nut Brown all gussied up for school on St. Patrick's Day.  Green hat, green cape, green pants.  He's so cool!
 

14 March 2025

For Pi Day this year, we had bagel pizzas!

 

9 March 2025

Went for a walk today with D and Rosebud.  We explored a new walking path.  It was pretty neat.  Pretty busy.  It was nice to be outside, and nice to do something new together.

Lately D is really big into playing Phase 10.  Instead of playing the phases in order, we roll dice to find out which phase we do.  It's pretty fun! :)

 

3 March 2025

Paczki Day (Fat Tuesday) is tomorrow but we celebrated early because Tuesdays are busy for us these days!  There was a hiccup in preparation when I overheated the oil, but the results were still delicious even if they were browner than usual. Some had to be cut in half and double fried to get the middles cooked but the deliciousness remained. I also put a monkey wrench in the proceedings by putting the mesh strainer in the dishwasher and starting it before frying commenced, but Nut Brown got around it by using my tea strainer for the powdered sugar. Yum yum yum!

2 March 2025

D made cookies and brought me a cookie dough ball in a dishy with a sweet note. I saved the note.

1 March 2025

Shopping with Nut Brown for a suit for prom. He fell immediately in love with this one. And it was on the discount rack for $30!

Here he is all dolled up at home with his hair done and everything.  Mr. Brown helped him with his hair and turned on Sharp Dressed Man by ZZ Top.

28 February 2025

23 February 2025

This afternoon Rosebud and I went for a walk and I dragged D along with us. We walked a different route than usual and crossed a creek running under an earthen dam of sorts. They dashed down both sides to look at the creek and found ice on one side. First they threw rocks to break it up, and then they started bringing me chunks of it. I set them on the metal guardrail posts, and they melted around the shape of them, which was very fun! We spent an hour. Loved being out in the sun doing unnecessary but interesting things.

22 February 2025

D and Nut Brown were both out sick last week. We are working on a make up project. I'm suspicious of how much art is now involved in academic subjects (this is an English assignment) but it's fun to work on it with him. Last week we made a skeleton for science class!

20 February 2025

Some artwork from Rosebud.

18 February 2025

14 February 2025

Yarn all over the house this morning to celebrate Valentines Day, although less than usual since Rose Pink was not home now.  Prices on tiny boxes of chocolates skyrocketed so Mr. Brown chose boxes of Little Debbie treats instead, so we ended up with more treats for less money, yay!  I thought I would have to leave the house super early this morning for a work thing, so the kids were ready to follow the yarn when they got home from school, but schedules changed and so they were surprised by the spiderweb when they got up this morning.  When I got the yarn out that evening, Nut Brown decided to go to bed rather than have to navigate the house after I finished putting out the trails leading to treats.  So fun!

12 February 2025

 

Snow day today!  At this rate we'll be in school until July.  Kids went over to play at our friends' house, and made snowmen in the rain.  The end result was taller than their oldest teenage son!

9 February 2025

Super Bowl Sunday!  Our friends the Bloods were coming for dinner anyway, so we did a super bowl theme and had snacks (sliders, seven layer dip, veggie tray) as well as a pan of lasagna. Then we made a poke cake and set out yard lines in licorice and gummi bears in the colors of the teams that were playing.  So fun!

9 February 2025

Last night, headed out the door to drive himself to bro night with his friends, Nit Brown referred to the minivan as the "bro bus".