Five Brown Kids

We had big plans for Christmas. Tuesday we were heading up to the Ricks house for celebrating and snowboarding. The kids had new snowpants, we had farmers market salsa and ginger beer for a Christmas Eve party.  The Rick's Danish breakfast and pot roast supper was calling us north and... my back totally gave out.  It was a little sore over the weekend but by Monday night I was miserable and Tues/Wed/Thurs couldn't stand up straight or walk with out help.  Out of the blue - I've never had back issues before.  Unfortunately for us Tyrone has been off work for three weeks now with a sore back. It's an old football injury roaring back with a vengeance.   He can walk now with a limp but still hurts.  Since he was the most mobile he had to take over - groceries (fridge was empty for heading out of town), dinners, present wrapping. Everything!  Two cripples and four really excited and then really dissapointed kids.  Santa came anyway. ...

We wish you a merry Christmas  and a wonderful 2015! Tree lot photos by Crickett Photography.

Same as last year.  I am nothing if not consistent.  Football outside. Hot chocolate and Scattegories to warm up inside.  Pizza and ice-cream for supper.  Everyone loves it. Perfect! Our neighbor helped with the quarterbacking because Tyrone's back is hurting! A word about Jaxon because this is my journal and I want to remember.  Jaxon is the kindest person I know. Just now he helped me get the babe into her pajamas and lie her down next to me with a bottle - then on the way out the door he said, "call me gently if you need help".  He loves Blythe and that Christmas picture shows how he is totally into her. Some day he will make a spouse and kids very happy with his attentiveness.  And there is a kid in his class with special needs who he is friends with - not just I'll help you in class but I'll play on the playground with you, run slower at the boosterthon to keep up, hold your hand on a mile walk field trip downtown, tell my mom ...

Life is certainly more complicated with a toddler running all around but we were looking at an old family picture the other day and she was missing!   We all love our baby Blythe!

The dominance continues.  If you went to our elementary school in a grade with a Brown kid you never had a chance at winning the 100 yard dash for First in Fitness try outs. Scotia's first first!  Way to go!  And of course Jaxon - always impressive - first in 100 yard dash, first in mile run, first in shuttle run and first in triathlon.

I'm doing it again.  I wrote a response or an email to someone or about something that was bugging me and then didn't follow through.  Maybe I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings or I feel like someone is smarter and can do a better job responding.  (Two times I didn't let fear stop me here and here ) So today I'm just going to hit publish.  Even if I'm not the smartest source on this topic I am a source - perfectly split between black and white. ______ This season my heart is aching  - about black men and women and children who haven't got a chance... You hear all the same news stories I do and it's terrifying. Equally terrifying is the percentage of white americans who think the system is working just fine. This article I read describes perfectly how you might feel and act and who you might be after enduring hundreds of years of terror right here in the inspired USA. It is wicked that a black man is executed for a misdemeanor while...

The Ricks came down for Thanksgiving and it was a blast. We hung out with the Cleverly's too. We are not a small group with 17 people but everyone gets along so well. If I had to describe hanging out with them in one word it would be 'effortless'.  (History of the friendship here ) Thanksgiving morning most of us ran a 5k - Emily and Courtney rocked a half marathon. And then came home and cooked all day.  He makes it look easy in 24 minutes We divvy up the meal and divide and conquer. Matt's stuffing rocks, Taye is a pie wiz. I made cranberry sauce and sweet potatoes with a crunchy pecan topping. Tyrone was in charge of the mac n cheese. Scotia whipped the cream. Dinner was delicious. We played scattegories and nertz with the bigger kids. Totally fun. And I didn't hear one kid complain about another the whole day - effortless.... Post dinner leg wrestling Friday was some shopping, football (since bad weather ...