Just an Old Fashion Update

For those of you who didn't get a Christmas card, oh wait that would be all of you since we didn't send one out!, this is the family photo we would have included. Things are good at our house. The boys have been eating solids for a couple of months and although life is busy and hard, it is getting easier. I feel like my life is spent in the kitchen, and from what I hear, it only gets worse! Luke can army crawl, but we are still waiting for the day when they both take off to disappear for hours while they happily entertain each other. (Does that ever really happen?)

Below is the newest addition to our family!, well, the larger Bown family. Katie, Ruston's sister, had the most beautiful little girl on December 19, and we got to meet her last week.

And lastly, Brooke thought she looked so cute with the curlers in her hair, that she made me post this picture. Sadly though, the curlers mostly fell out while she was sleeping, so we had to start from scratch the next morning. Does anyone have any tips for keeping these super old fashion sponge curlers in?

Our Christmas

I don't have a lot of time, so here are some pics from Christmas. Mom and Dad and David came and we all had a really good time. Luke and Zach had a good time playing with the wrapping paper and bows, and I loved watching Brooke and Josh open their presents and exclaim (every time) "This is my most favorite thing ever!"
Christmas is a million times better with kids.

(Luke above, Zachary below)

All of my Boys

First of all, I think it's GREAT that all three boys were playing happily with the same toy. I can't wait until they can all really play together.

And I love Zach's face here. He's not really mobile yet, but he has managed to roll his way under the changing table and now he's not quite sure what to do.

And Josh and Luke just look so cute together, all snuggled up, just waking up from a good night's sleep.

I do love my boys; all of them. And I can finally say that I'm grateful I have twins. It's still really hard sometimes, but it's only sometimes instead of all the time, and that is a huge accomplishment.

My Little Girl is Five

She made it! and so did we; Brooke is now a five year old. Her birthday was a "few" days ago for those of you in the know, but hey, we do the best we can to get things posted, whenever it may be that that actually happens.

This was her birthday cake, and although I was kind of disappointed with it, she loved it!

Then a couple of days later we had her party, and did ice cream cone cupcakes.

In the end, Brooke had a blast, and is loving all of her new toys.

Richard G. Scott

On Sunday, our stake got lucky, and Elder Scott came for a visit. Everyone speculated as to why a member of the twelve would come and visit our small and seemingly insignificant stake. Was there going to be a new stake president? Maybe the stake boundaries were going to be changed? In the end, I still don’t really know why he was here, but at our house we made a big deal about it. Last Monday night our FHE lesson was on prophets, and we specifically talked about Elder Scott coming. Brooke, without any prompting on my part, decided that she wanted to shake his hand. I think there was a story in the Friend a while back about the primary kids shaking an apostle’s hand; she might have gotten the idea there. She prayed every night and every other time it was her turn to say the prayer that she would get to shake his hand, and I have to admit I was worried that I might not have enough faith to see her goal through.

Sunday came, and we were out the door by 8:30 for a 10:00 meeting . . . well, me and Brooke and Josh. There was no way on Earth we were going to make the twins sit there for that long too! (They showed up at 9:45.) Fifteen minutes later we were at the stake center, and upon walking into the chapel, we found that it was already 80% full, and some people were already sitting in the cultural hall. But after hearing Brooke pray all week, I was NOT sitting in the cultural hall. I walked into the chapel determined to find a seat when a kind usher stated that he had been instructed to fill the chapel (i.e. you couldn’t save seats) and so we sat down in someone else’s saved seat, about 2/3 of the way back, but in the chapel!

The meeting started early, and was really rather uneventful. Several of the local leaders bore their testimonies and then Elder Scott spoke for the last hour. When he started his talk he told a joke, “If you always want to wake up with a smile on your face, go to bed with a coat hanger in your mouth”.




I guess Brooke and Josh took him seriously!

The rest of the hour was spent talking about teaching your children, dressing modestly, the other side of the veil and then he bore his testimony, and the meeting was over. Towards the end of his talk Brooke asked when we could go home (I can’t really blame her since she had been sitting there for three hours), and I told her it was almost over, to which she replied, “Mom, I haven’t shaken his hand yet!”

The meeting ended, people got up slowly, lingering in case there was more, and while they lingered, Brooke booked it to the stand. Josh wanted to go with her, but in the end he was too scared.

She got up there as only a child can, weaving her way around people’s knees, and yes, shook Elder Scott’s hand! He asked her for her name and talked to her for a minute and then went on to the other people on the stand, and then left. Apparently his flight home made it so he really couldn’t stay long after the meeting ended.

I have to admit I cried. She was so determined and had so much faith, and I was so proud of her. She’ll be five in two weeks, she’s old enough to remember some of the things that happen to her now, and I KNOW she’ll remember this event for a long time. I will too.

And Now a Sad One

Josh was walking on the sidewalk last week with his hands in his pockets when he tripped and landed FLAT on his face. His face looked sooooo bad and I felt soooooo bad for him. He was super brave! We let him eat all the Popsicles he wanted, but since it hurt so bad to eat, he really didn't want them. It's been five days now, and aside from a few scabs, he's back to normal.

A Few Funny Frames

Luke and Zach (and the rest of us) finally made it to six months! I can't believe it. There were many, many, many times I didn't think this would ever happen. For now, they are still in the same crib, but so much for the pillow that keeps them on "their" side of the bed! They also just had their six month check up. Luke is a hefty 18lbs 1 oz and Zach came in at 16lbs 5 oz, so they are still just about two pounds apart; they are both 28 1/4 inches long.

For the most part, we are all surviving, although everybody but me has had the flu in the last two weeks. Other bits of news include Luke and Zach's first "meal" consisting of homemade rice cereal and bananas. Ymmm.

Luke loves to be on his tummy and I love the way he rests his head like this when he gets tired of holding it up. It is so adorable!

This was just funny because Brooke loved her balloon so much she couldn't bear the thought of not sleeping with it.

And lastly, this was one of the funnest days on record. Josh is out in the hail, and although you can't see her in this picture, Brooke was out playing in it too. This was such a crazy weather day because it was sunny, rainy and then it hailed and then it was sunny again. The kids had so much fun getting their rain gear on and playing in the hail, and of course for anyone who knows Brooke, she had to eat it too.

Shoe Tied?

She did it, all by herself! About a week ago Brooke came up to me and asked me how to tie her shoes. So I showed her . . . once . . . and then she did it! It was amazing!

Here is the finished product. It looks so good!

Josh thought it was so cool that I have now been demoted and Brooke has been promoted to the only acceptable shoe tie-er in the house (not that I mind),

and yet again, she did a terrific job.

Costumes

These are my little candy corns. Although they are happy in the picture, Zach HATED his hat. I'm still amazed that we got even one good picture with it on!

Luke is above and Zach below.

Brooke, who always a ham for the camera now days, is Tinkerbell ( her wings aren't on yet), and Josh is a dragon. Sadly though, Josh had a pretty high fever on Halloween, so he only went to a few houses, and then we called it a night for him. However, the nice thing about young children is that Brooke felt so bad for him, she gave him well over half of her stash. It melted my heart to see her be so loving, generous and sensitive to her brother's feelings!

Jack-o-lanterns

The Pumkin Patch

I did it! I managed, with the help of a friend, to get all of the kids to the pumpkin patch this year. Brooke and Josh were going for their preschool, and the wanted the parents there as well. I can only imagine what it would have been like for the teacher if it was just her and both of her classes at the pumpkin patch, all by herself . . . a total nightmare! So I loaded us all up and off we went. Brooke and Josh had a blast. Can you see the pathetic pumpkin they give out!?! It was more of a hassle to hang on to than it was worth!

Brooke picked the pumpkin without a stem, she seemed to think that made it cuter!

Here are the boys just hanging out. They really did very well. The ended up staying awake almost an hour longer than they normally prefer, but since there was so much going on, they didn't seem to mind, and handled themselves quite nicely.

This is both classes. A class for four year olds, and one for three year olds.

Oh the humor of it

I just finished reading Oliver, and so I borrowed the musical from the library, and it has the greatest line. Fagin is singing and thinking about his situation in life when he says,

Can a villian be a villian all his life?
All the trials and tribulations,
Better settle down and get myself a wife.

Good thinking right? Well then he says,

And a wife would cook and sew for me
and come for me and go for me
And go for me and nag at me
the fingers she would wag at me
The money she would take from me
a misery she'd make of me . . . .
I think I'd better think it out again!

I just had to laugh. I think it's one of the funniest lines in the whole movie. I had to watch it and rewatch it a dozen times; I couldn't get enough. Clearly he doesn't have a gospel perspective!