Five Brown Kids

can buy a lot of positive attention. (Here's a blog entry I wrote last spring and never posted - it reminded me of a quote that Tyrone used today that I wanted to share: ….[the poor] are not hungry for bread; they are hungry for love. - Mother Teresa) A few weeks ago I took Scotia in for a well baby checkup. The NP and I oohed and awwed over how much she's grown, how cute she is. How she tells everyone she doesn't like, especially Drs/nurses "bye,bye". Then we discussed her eating -which is fine, her sleeping - which is great and her talking, which is a bit behind but catching up. In the middle of it all I thought how lucky I was to spend time with someone who just cared about my baby's health and happiness and would spend all this time with me and Scotia making sure everything was okay. There's not a parent in the world who doesn't wish for that kind of postive attention for their child once a twice a year. Then later I was at my son's preschool ...

Someday Taye will be up for the job of a lifetime and they will google his name and see this post and it will all be over.... but I've got to say it. My kids are terrorists. Sure they look all sweet and good and behave nicely in public forums. But at home they are torturing me by depriving me of sleep ( Scotia is sick and can't breathe) and smearing makeup all over my beautiful master bed shams ( Scotia likes to get into my stuff), sucking up all of Dad's extra time and attention and just generally wreaking havoc in my attempt at an orderly life. The boys have been playing in the stream all week so every pair of jeans is coated in dirt and slime, their jackets and sweaters have to be washed each day, and every time they eat a snack the kitchen goes from clean to disaster in 30 seconds. Aargh! What I would really like is a day off where I wake on my own accord and spend the day as I so desire - just 5,840 days to go til my very own vacation. I am also thankful for two v...

We had a very pleasant Thanksgiving day. The boys all played football in the morning, and then we joined the Cleverlys and Greenes for supper (they haven't deserted us yet fortunately ). Thanks for the fun and the delicious food! Note from Taye that he wrote at school: Dear Mom, You are the beast mom ever. I love your scrumshish food! You do a tarific gob at cleaning. Thank you for taking care of me and leting me got to school. Thank you for leting me play whit my friends. Love Taye

This is a healthy treat we make all the time. Last week Taye made these for his second grade business expo and they were a big hit. Berry Smoothie 1 1/2 cups frozen berries (that big bag from Costco ) 1 ripe banana 1 cup berry yogurt 1 cup orange juice Mix in a blender until smooth. No ice needed if the berries are frozen. You can mix and match the ingredients as needed and double or triple. Serve with a yummy turkey sandwich today!

Monday afternoon I hit a wall. Either exhuastion or caught whatever had Scotia throwing up Sun aft. I laid down on the couch and didn't get up much for the rest of the day. At one point I asked Scotia to please get me the phone from the kitchen. She knew exactly what I meant and went out and got it off the counter - which was amazing! When the boys came home from playing with their friends I told Taye he would have to make supper for Scotia and Jaxon. He made scrambled eggs, warmed up some leftover spagetti and toasted some frozen waffles (thanks ricks!) and put it on all the table, and made a little plate for me which he put on the coffee table. Such nice kids!

Saturday morning I woke up bright and early to drive to Pinehurst with my friends for two glorious hours of torture. This was my third half marathon and my best one yet. I managed to stay warm and had Courtney to keep me company and pace me the whole time. We talked for the first nine miles and then popped on our ipods and busted out the last four. Well the last 3.5; by 12.5 miles I just wanted to sit on the curb and cry which is pretty typical running behavior for me. But I did it! I am a WOMAN! See me run! Later in the day we gathered some friends together for one last party before the Ricks flew off to new adventures. Here we are at Champs eating good food and watching the BYU/Utah game. Half of us were sad with the results and half were happy. After dinner we met at our house and played cards and drank serious ginger ale (Ripple style) till the wee hours of the morning. Sometimes it pays to lose...

Mom here it is. Proof that Tyrone does makes household design decisions. It all started with some relatively inexpensive new soft, cozy winter pillows for the couch (that I really wanted) and then we found a rug on craigslist that Tyrone has been dying to have and then we just had to buy the lamp to finish it off. Merry Christmas Tyrone!

After four years of Birthdays Babies Beach Trips Dinners and BBQ's Holidays Strawberry Picking Girls Night Out Park Outings Long Runs Swim Team Meets Welcome to Moes! & Crazy Card Games We bid you farewell. Thanks for the fun!

It's not Thanksgiving without cranberry sauce and it's not really cranberry sauce if it comes from a can. When I was kid we actually went out to a bog near the Western Head light house to pick cranberries. Now I buy them from the store but it's still pretty tasty. HOMEMADE WHOLE BERRY CRANBERRY SAUCE INGREDIENTS: 1 cup sugar 1 cup water 1 12-ounce package fresh cranberries, rinsed and drained (pick out all the soft and mushy ones) DIRECTIONS:Combine water and sugar in a medium saucepan. Bring to boil; add cranberries, return to boil. Reduce heat and boil gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cover and cool completely at room temperature. Refrigerate until serving time. Makes 2 1/4 cups. Double or triple recipe as needed. Enjoy!

I think I'm getting old or crazy... A few days ago I was looking for one of the metal wire bowls that I usually keep on the counter full of fruit. One was full of tomatoes and the other I wanted to put some bananas in. I couldn't find it in its preferred cupboard spot so I looked through a few more cupboards to see if it had been misplaced. Then I questioned Tyrone as to it whereabouts - trying to figure out if he'd given it away with cookies in it or something. This evening I found it in the most unlikely spot - I was wiping down the table and picked up a bowl of pumpkins to wipe under. And there it was. Same place it's been since before Halloween. On my dining table, full of mini pumpkins. I see it a hundred times a day. And it's very cute I might add. (See Fresh Friday blog about croutons) I'm still pretty young I think... what's happening to me?

Baby Room Big Girl Bed So far she's doing just fine in the new bed. Our sweet Scotia!

I make corn chowder every now and then and it doesn't get many cheers at the table until I add these really fantastic homemade croutons: 1 loaf or half a leftover loaf of yummy white bread (artisan, italian, french, whatever) cut into 1 inch cubes few good shakes of olive oil few good twists of bread dipping spices if you have any, otherwise a shake of garlic salt Saute in a lightly greased frying pan until they are toasty brown and a little crunchy (stay with them, you don't want them to burn!) Serve with boring soup and wait for the empty bowls.

The program went super today! It was wondeful. The kids knew all the words and sang nice and loud. Everyone knew their part and got up when it was their turn without any prompting. The spirit was wonderful... It was perfect! Here's a song I taped just for my parents, it was at our primary activity yesterday practising for the program. We did have some kids missing yesterday.... today we were a full house! For privacy reasons - you can't see any faces!

We don't have a swingset in our back yard - it's just up the street at our neighbourhood park. We go a few times a week at least. Here we are just happy swinging....

You know how some weeks just seem to be a mass collision of every important "to do" item you have on the books. That was this week. Most of you know that I have this little part time job, or more like a mini-job. I'm a stay at home mom 355 days a year, and the other 10 days I work for BYU Independent Study as a field rep. That means I visit local high schools and talk to counselors who use us or should be using us. My work also includes a three day counselors conference in the fall where I man a booth handing out the ever popular stress ball and talking to counselors. That conference was this week - Wed - Friday. It's in Greensboro, which is about one and half hours away. So each day I got up early, drove to Greensboro, visited schools before or after if I had time, worked at the conference talking to hundreds of counselors, drove home, wrote reports and did other work, then got up the next morning and did it again. I do enjoy my work because it give me a nice little...

Prep 20 mins Bake 1 hour Makes 8 servings, about 1 cup each Cassoulet is a French bean and meat stew (or a fancy way of saying "beans and weenies"). You will need: 1 lb Polish or smoked sausage, diagonally cut into 1 inch pieces 1 can kidney bean, drained 1 can black beans, drained 1 can great northern beans, drained 15 oz tomato sauce (two small cans) 3 medium carrots, thinly sliced (I use more since I love cooked carrots) 1 small onion, thinly sliced and separated into rings 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1/2 cup beef broth 2 TBSP brown sugar (this ingredient is critical, don't forget it) 2 TBSP chopped fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried To make: 1. Heat oven to 375 2. Mix all ingredients in ungreased 3 qt casserole dish. Cover and bake 50-60 minutes until mixture is hot and bubbly and carrots are tender. Must serve with yummy thick bread. We love this dinner! It's a great way to get more beans in your diet.

Scotia had her two year check up today. She's a perfect kid and still talking a little behind - tons of single words but not really combining them yet. (I'm sure she'll catch up - maybe next year when Jaxon is in school and she can get a word in edgewise) She weighed 31 lbs, or just over the 90th percentile. She is 37 inches tall which, to quote the Dr/NP, "makes her taller than 99.9 percent of 24 month olds". That's tall! (The data above is from regular charts, Scotia also gets preemie charts printed out - that puts her in a whole other galaxy!) Mom and Dad are on their way to Ecuador, via the MTC in Provo,Utah for this week. This blog will now become all my news to them. So be prepared for detail!