Five Brown Kids

The kids went to the grandparents house for Father's Day for the annual bake off.  Blythe and Jaxon tied for first and share the new trophy!

Taye's old car needed a big repair so he ended up buying a new car all by himself. His own insurance too.  Grown up kid. Grown up job.

Baby Taye turned 25!  We had a little family pizza and pool party. Pauline brought her specialty - banana pudding. Tyrone injured his arm and couldn't be there.  They tossed the ball and raced of course.  Jaxon beat Scotia and Blythe in freestyle and Taye beat them all in the fly.   Taye is a legit grownup with a grownup job and grownup money.  He's responsible and capable and that is so great.  It's been such a pleasure to be the mom of Taye Brown. 

Oh my goodness.  Taye is working and has the cutest apartment.  He's 30 mins from work, but right next door to a hospital where Tyrone does a lot of call.  That way Tyrone has a place to chill that is not the hospital.  Tyrone helped with deposit and furniture and first 2 months rent.  Taye pays from here on out. It's in a stunning new building, in the downtown of a small town, and right next door to a brand new YMCA.  He can walk across the courtyard to workout.   We all met for dinner one night to see his new place.   So much fun all hanging out and talking and eating.  Amazing sunshine.  And I loved seeing every ounce of wall art that used to be in my house. Same way I've been gathering stuff from my mom's house over the years.  Called Derick too and gave him a tour and let him "hang out" with us.  So many things from Grandpa Ripple too.   Nightstands, pencil holder, bowls, carved owl, bench, chess coffee...

Taye won't start work until February and he has a last few expenses before work starts - NCLEX practice exams, license fees, finger print fees, New Year's eve out with friends etc. On a vacation morning when he was telling Tyrone and me how much money he will still need he said, "I've got 6 weeks left on the dole and I'm going to take advantage!" We all laughed.  He's been on the Brown Family Payroll for 23 years and is excited to be on his own very soon.  Us too... 

I packed my suitcase again and flew out to South Dakota for Taye's graduation. It was a tough year - he felt all alone, classes were hard, the schedule was exhausting, loneliness was a constant even though he did hang out with classmates a few times.  But he did outstanding in all of classes, and developed a really good routine and some serious study habits. He knows he can handle grad school now.  When I left him all alone last January I put 12 monthly boxes at the bottom of his dry erase board. He had methodically crossed them off month after month after month until I showed up to take him home! We went to see Mt. Rushmore (a giant F-you to the indigenous people of the area - steal their land, genocide their people, break the treaties, and then disgrace their sacred lands with stone carvings of white dudes). And then drove through beautiful Custer State park and literally ran into some buffalo.  We went to the YMCA every day to workout. Taye said their was a worker ther...

Taye is doing great at nursing school but misses his family and friends. Tyrone flew out for the weekend to spend some time and they had a great adventure. Taye will be done in 3 months and on his way home. And in his OB rotation last week he got to help a really sad woman (who had no support) deliver her baby... holding her arm, holding her leg for pushing.  Go Taye!

On the July 4th long weekend Taye got to go on an adventure with a classmate.  So glad he is getting out a bit! 

Taye had a short break between semesters of nursing school and has been a little homesick and wanted to come home.  So Tyrone bought Taye and Derick tickets to fly home for the week and they were so excited for a vacation!  Taye brought little gifts for everyone.  The first evening we went to the pool, ate pizza, swam a bit, tossed some football and then sat around and talked and caught up and teased until it was time to go.  So much fun to have everyone together again and see how much they enjoy each other.  Trying to make this picture happen was shocking to me... how on earth did I ever keep five kids moving along in the right direction.  I can't even think about how crazy it all must have been.  Sunday eve we had a BBQ and birthday cake for Taye at the Browns House - then we watched my  annual family video .  One of my favorite nights of the year when everyone sits on the couch together and remembers all the highlights from the last year!...