Five Brown Kids

We are home safe. And we've seen every cousin my kids have so that was a successful week. Happy birthday again to my adventurous mother! 

Tyrone always says having four kids now is like ten kids a generation ago. We got a few looks and some comments moving through the airport with four kids and all that luggage. Happy first flight Blythe!

My mom is 60 this week! We are all 23 of us meeting for a big party. My mom was raised by her widowed grandmother who already had ten kids of her own plus my mom's two older brothers. They were in today's PC terms "food insecure" and by any Canadian standard poor and cold.   But her grandmother loved her and did her best and she had a much loved aunt who read stories to her until she was a great reader and that propelled my mom through high school (only one in the family) and into one year of college. She found herself pregnant and alone at 20 and kept me anyway (thanks mom!) and now has four kids with college degrees and temple marriages and 13 wonderful grand kids with two more on the way!  Three cheers for my mother - the nicest person I know and the ultimate game changer! Hip hip hurray! Hip hip hurray! Hip hip hurray! Debbie's 60 years from jessica brown on Vimeo .

Scotia got to participate in a week long art day camp this summer. The theme was American Girl dolls in Hawaii and they painted and created and sculpted lots of Hawaiian things - and tasted a papaya too. For one week Scotia had her own thing - perfect summer experience.

She's so cute and so tiny.

Blythe should get her cast off tomorrow. We are all so excited! And no more crazy diaper changes, or sweat inducing car seat buckling. And no more questions. I am so tired of talking about it. First item post cast - mega bath, then some real cuddling and some sitting up before we head to the pool.  And we should all be fighting over diaper changes now - it will be a piece of cake. Hard experiences make regular life seem easy. Right?  A few of the many questions.... Q How did it happen? A See this post Q Did Taye get in trouble?  A Of course not. Just an accident that could have happened to any of us. I tell him "she'll be okay, you'll be okay".  Q How do you change diapers? A There is a gap in the cast. You tuck the edges of an infant sized diaper into the cast and then wrap a super big diaper around the outside to hold the little diaper in place. Q How do you clean her?  A Sponge baths! I reach into the cast as far as I can a...

I haven't posted about Jaxon's bball team at all. Just before Blythe was born Jaxon tried out for a 4th grade competitive travel team. He made it of course and that plunged us into a winter and spring of what I will fondly remember as the 'tour d' raleigh'. Jaxons practices were on the most southern side of the city and Taye's swim was in the most northern part. The distance between the two is not for the faint of heart.  Nor was the team. The coach never communicated with the parents, the parents all bossed their kids and the coach and the refs from the sidelines  (except for Tyrone-  he played division 1 football and basketball and he doesn't say a word other than nice shot! or way to hustle! - if he has a suggestion for Jaxon he saves it for a conversation at home- and that should be a lesson to everyone. ) Some games were so tense I'd do a quick emergency exit check just in case.  In the end half the team bailed on the nationals trip because some par...

A quiet day for us with just the girls.  So glad I've been lucky to live in two wonderful free countries! 

For these empty laundry baskets that are about to be dumped on with a weeks worth of nasty scout camp clothes and multiple use basketball tournament clothes. It was a quiet week - welcome back boys (and mess)! 

Lots of mine craft.  They'd all be on their screens but playing in the same virtual space and talking back and forth coordinating.  Best case scenario for screen time.  The turtle hospital has a big new facility, the line is still long but it's totally worth it.  Such beautiful creatures. Does this cast make my butt look big?  (Thanks Court) I loved the evenings we played games.  The kids are fun and funny and old enough to sit still.  Scattergories was a big hit! Plus card games Spoons and Nertz.  Here Courtney tried to show us her amazing spoon on the nose talent.  Turns out everyone could do it!

Catching minnows and sand fleas. Dolphins Catching a crab Riding the waves never gets old.

Here are my favorite pictures from the intracoastal water way. The boys did some shrimp fishing with a cast net in the sound.  We ate some for supper one night with alfredo sauce and noodles.  Delicious!   Still a few more baby pounds to go This local couldn't stand to see the boys shrimp fishing the wrong way - he came over to give us a very helpful lesson The Ricks brought their kayaks.  That's a great arm workout.