Monday, June 17, 2013

Update in Fast Forward

Long time - no posts! April hits and in our home it's like cresting the very first hill of a roller coaster and it never stops until the first of June - this year was no exception. So here's a pictorial look at what's been happening at the Brown household this spring.

Allan's Ninth Birthday and his first watch!


The Madame Tussaud's figure of President Howard Taft came to his childhood home which is only 2 blocks from us and so we went for a visit. I was impressed - he even had about 8 hours growth of whiskers - I wanted to get a close up but he was so lifelike I felt weird getting in his face to take a picture.

The main activity the boys engage in everyday is all things related to Legos - whoever invented them deserves to have made a fortune!

Stephen has a unique way of folding his washcloths - looks more impressive spread out instead of in a stack I suppose.
And then it was Mother's Day. Another year to mark the day by buying flowers instead of a card. So thankful for the blessing of such wonderful memories. And also a day marking my ninth year of being a mother!

Then there were swimming lessons - because it was still during the school year they were the only ones in the class.
About this time my "new to me" (October?)  camera breathed it's last breath. So I'm now working on trying to get used to a very different camera that was given to me - I miss my Canon!

Then garden season - asparagus first, then strawberries, the blueberries were just planted this year so it will be  few years, and then lettuce and peas. It looks quite different now! 

Below are the blueberry bushes.

This was a sweet mesclun mix that made wonderful salads!
 And then there was a surprise gift of a piano! Allan and Daniel promptly sat down and picked out Amazing Grace and so we have heard it until mommy has decided that lessons have to start very soon to save our sanity!
For whatever reason this year I was ready for the school year to be over before the boys were. Because of a special that BJUP was running, I placed my order for next year the weekend of Mother's Day. I was amazed at the excitement I felt and the boys expressed at seeing those boxes of new books, manuals, clean worktexts, and all kinds of fun stuff. It was like a shot in the arm to get us through the last few weeks. I may have learned a lesson for next year.
Occasionally there is a break from Legos to play with Play dough. I think this is to represent the bird that has taken up residence in a fern on our porch.
I know this is scattered but it gives you an idea of the happenings from April through the first of June. We just got back from a trip to TN and then to NC to go camping (which also involved Daniel losing his first tooth - it's been trying to come out for a month!) and getting a call on vacation informing us our car was stolen. So the past two weeks have been very exciting and as soon as I go through the pictures I'll do another post.

3 comments:

Dixie said...

Wow, you have been busy! Your boys sure are growing. Sorry about your car.
I love to see young ones so excited about school and learning. Carson and I just finished our first year of homeschooling using BJUP. We really enjoyed this year of learning. After our last final lesson, he started crying because he missed his "school friends" so much. He thought he should probably just repeat Kindergarten again next year. Because he just wanted his old friends back and knew that he would miss them so if we went on to first grade material.
I enjoyed reading an update on your lives.

Brenda said...

Great photo of you and your 3 cute boys! Where do you take the boys for swimming lessons? I'd like our kids to take lessons, but not sure where to start on that.

MarianneBrown said...

Dixie,
Daniel very much missed his K5 friends but soon made new ones in 1st grade. Particularly Digit the clown in math. Now Stephen gets to go to K5!

Brenda,
I took them to the Carl Lindner YMCA. THey have both group and private lessons. Our boys were the only ones in the "group" so it made it really nice. Their instructor worked really well with them.