Five Brown Kids

We have a typical starter subdivision home with a yard the size of the proverbial postage stamp. We originally intended to be here two years for school and then maybe two years to pay off loans if we could contain ourselves. Of course things didn't go exactly as planned and now we've been puttering away on this house and yard for 8 years. It's not quite as idyllic as the place I grew up in but here are a few of my favorites on the Brown Family Estate. Flower box on front porch. It will be overflowing by summers end. Jasmine climbing up the side of the front porch. It smells phenomenal! Honeysuckle growing in the backyard trees. Smells amazing. Especially if you are out on the back deck at night. Boots for hiking about the estate/greenway. Strawberry pot for a morning snack Pot on the left has mint and thyme along with pretty flowers. We have the garbage can garden too and a little spot for basil and a jalepeno plant.  And our crepe myrtle...

The science museum downtown got a new mega-million dollar expansion  to add a Nature Research Center . It's perfect for older kids.  We loved it!

My Dad who is in his 70's now likes to say, "It will see me out" every time he buys something new.  His little truck - won't need another before he passes on.  The retirement house - it will see them til the end.  All the tools in his shop - won't need to be replaced til he's long gone. I find myself saying the same thing around these parts.  We have just three months left until P-day (first paycheck) and are hitting lots of milestones that won't happen again til we are working. This laundry detergent - it will see me out. Car taxes - won't pay them again til we have money.  Stake conference? We'll be hiring a babysitter for the Saturday evening session next year and going out for dinner after.  General conference - next one - study free the whole weekend. Air filters - won't buy again until I can afford them.  Termite inspections  - this one will see us out! The boys are wearing shorts now - by the time they need pants again I'l...

I'm afraid it will look like this all summer.

The summer is cruising along.  The kids are all busy swimming!  Scotia is swimming like a Brown!  The first meet of the season I saw her on the block for 15Y backstroke main event with no kid catcher anywhere nearby.  I thought, don't they know she's never done backstroke without someone holding her?  But lo and behold she swims backstroke excellently under pressure. Jaxon is a great swimmer - his fly is amazing!  And Taye looks like a super hero in the water.  He's unbeatable.  The Browns are a great source of pride for our little neighbourhood swim team.  It's all relative, right?  A superhero at summer swim is an average swimmer at the state meet . We are all biking back and forth to swim.  My goal to physically exhaust my children each day is going well :-) Taye also participated in a year round swim meet.  It was his first meet as an 11 years and 10 day old and he walked away with two BB times.  That's a g...

Taye had a perfect little birthday party on Saturday.  He had his three best friends over for airsoft and swimming.        We cooked hotdogs on the firepit for lunch and then the boys started planning for war in the woods behind our house.  They were absolutely thrilled when Tyrone decided to join.  His first task was to try and sneak from the river to the tent in our back yard without being hit by any of the boys.  He didn't make it but he did manage to get his first hit on Taye. We were concerned that airsoft might not go well because there were greenway workers on big tractors working (on a Saturday!) but Tyrone said the workers were laughing and giving him thumbs up to see all the little terrorists crawling around, hiding and shooting. After every scenario they compared war wounds and planned strategy.  Serious stuff! We ended with a nice swim in the pool and some tasty ice cream sandwiches.  Happy Birthday Tayeberry!...

In school Tyrone gets 5 vacation days a year.  We spread them out carefully this summer to minimize his days away from home during his final out of town clinical rotation.  (All my friends know - I'm a great planner, like to clean and organize - but childcare - it's not really my specialty.   Three kids 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for a whole summer vacation is a recipe for a mental breakdown.) The end of last week found us camping at Carolina Beach State Park .  This might have been our second out of the backyard camping trip and we survived nicely.  We even figured out the charcoal burning thing and managed to eat well. We had a raccoon visit us both nights but we were packed up well so he didn't find anything of interest. The first morning Jaxon woke before dawn but waited until 6:30 on the dot (That's the rule) to wake us.  Tyrone said he never wants to forget rolling over and seeing Jaxon sitting on the edge of the air mattress legs cro...

This portrait of President Spencer W Kimball was painted by a missionary in my little branch back in 1983. It was in my parents house all growing up and when I was a freshman in college and just barely gone from home I received it in the mail with a note from my mom. Oct, 1994 Dear Jessica ....President Kimball's influence in your life extends far beyond this acrylic painting. When Peter gave you a name and a blessing during sacrament meeting in the Dartmouth Branch in 1977, many eyebrows were raised over the promise given to you that you would grow to be a fine young woman and marry a choice companion in the temple of the Lord. Of course it was not until 1978, when President Kimball declared that through revelation, priesthood and temple blessings would be extended to all worthy male members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, regardless of race or color. Your blessing is yet to be fulfilled but we know that it is possible - we did not doubt. Love,...

Tyrone's best friend from high school just put this together! Tyrone is number 42.

This was a new kind of swim meet for Taye.  An open water swim at a beautiful lake down near Pinehurst.  No stuffy pool building, no lane guides, no chlorine.  Good thing he had some practice last year in NS .  He swam 800 M in under 12 minutes and earned a fifth place medal.  Yeah Taye! I loved this meet too - 74 degrees, beautiful scenery, big puffy clouds.  What a way to spend a day! Taye will move up to the next age bracket with his birthday this week.  He'll be working toward challenging new time standards and trying to work his way up the A/B ladder again.

Tyrone had a clinical rotation in New Bern so we went up for the weekend to see the sights.  Downtown was beautiful.  And we spent Memorial day at Atlantic Beach.  The waves were big and strong, and the beach was packed!  I still love Topsail best - but we had a really fun day.

This recipe takes a lot of effort for one pitcher of juice - I wouldn't recommend planning gallons for a party but it does make a perfect afternoon activity for vacationing children. And ends with really tasty results. We followed the recipe from this pin. 1. Make a simple syrup of 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar  - heated until the sugar dissolves 2. Juice 6-7 lemons (to make 2 cups of lemon juice) 2. Puree a cup or two of fresh or frozen strawberries 3. Combine syrup, lemon juice and strawberry puree in a pitcher and add water to taste (about 8 cups - start low and add til it's just right.) We added a lime and some fresh mint too because Taye was involved (he likes to experiment).  It was really delicious!