Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Argg!!

We like pirates around here. We talk like pirates, we play pirates, we dress up like pirates, we draw pirates, we like treasure, and anything pirate-y. Will drew these pictures on a magna-doodle the other day and even gave them all names.
Long John Steve:
Al Coward:
Captain Something, and his parrot, the Jolly Roger 2
the treasure map:the ship, with two Jolly Rogers - on the flag, and on the boat:


Sam found this 'treasure' the other day lying on the ground under the bleachers at the rec center - a foreign coin - and claims that it's pirate gold. This is his pirate voice:

Monday, November 26, 2007

Mego Lego

Will has been working on a major lego project.
According to Will, it is actually 4 battleships connected together to make a super mega battleship. There are 6 guns, 8 guys, and over 38 bombs.

Cuteness

Here is your daily dosage of cuteness.


(She is getting a little distracted by my oldest, who won't stop his usual pestering.)

Will's Thanksgiving

On Thanksgiving, Will decorated the dining room with some wonderful pictures (which he decided needed his initials, WPB:)
a turkey: a pilgrim:
the mayflower:
an indian:

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Annual Tradition

It has become a Brown tradition to take an annual Thanksgiving picture. And this year was no different! Aren't we a handsome bunch?! Left to right in the back: Our nephew Dillon, brother-in-law Scott, niece Madison, nephew Jared, Damon, his Dad Larry. On the couch: Damon's mom Vicki, his sister Shelly, me, and Max. And of course on the floor: Will and Sam. This year we are especially thankful for my mother-in-law's continued improving health, and that we got to spend time with the Cole's who recently moved to Texas. And of course we are thankful for Max's first Thanksgiving!

Story Time on the Second Story

The other night I came into the boys' room to find story time happening in an unusual place. Yes, somehow Damon managed to get himself and the baby up into the top bunkbed! Getting down required a little mom help. I couldn't help but take a picture first. (notice the peace symbol lives on...)

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Turkey Day! I have lots to be thankful for: all the boys in my house who keep me smiling, a hubby who loves me, family who are amazing, good health, a warm, safe place to live, art, a Jesus who I love and who loves me, and much, much more.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Silly Times with Two Silly Girls

(The title is a spin -off of a book that Will has: Silly Times with Two Silly Trolls. Since I dare not call my sister and mother 'trolls,' I opted for 'girls' instead. You can thank me later.) Tomorrow Laura, Mom, Don and I head back up to the Des Moines area for our second craft show of the holiday season. Two weeks ago, we headed to Ankeny for the North Pole Village craft show. (See this post on our art blog.) Also, to find out where we'll be this weekend click here. I'm looking forward to some more silly times like these taken 2 weeks ago:

Laura, modeling the tiny carts we found at a Hy-Vee - just the right size for donuts and milk. How come our Hy-Vee's don't have these?!

The princess and the pea:

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Getting to Know Will

Here are Will's answers: (See an earlier post for Sam's answers)
name: Will
Where do you live: Westminster Street. What about "what day you were born?"
Ok, What day were you born: November 3rd, 1999
So that makes you how old?: 8, why do I need to do all these questions?
For fun. Your favorite thing to do: I can't decide. Go to Jack and Noah's house and play with them, play Lego Star Wars 2
Favorite food: pepperoni pizza
what's your favorite subject: Math, I'm also good at it too.
least favorite: reading
who do you play with: Jack D, Jack A, Witt, Quenton, and sometimes Jonathon
Favorite teacher: every teacher at Lemme
Favorite thing about Lemme: the golden rule: treat others the way you want to be treated and that it's a bully-free zone. NO BULLIES!!
favorite sport: football, soccer, swimming
favorite animal: pokemon!
No really, what's your favorite real animal: dragon
What do you like to do outside: a game, it doesn't really have a name. You know Max's little pumpkin? Someone hides the pumpkin and then we try to find it. And we made up a game named Spies. (Looking at the computer screen.) A sentence doesn't start with 'and' - our teacher told us that. Why are you writing that? No, really, why are you writing that?! MOM?!
Me: You're right. A sentence doesn't start with "and" but sometimes when you're doing something really creative you can break the rules. When you're in school, you should follow the rules of "and" for now. First you have to follow the rules before you know how to break them.
Who are your brothers: Sam and Maxwell, that spits up a lot.
What's your favorite thing about Sam: that he loves me. Plus, sometimes he's pretty silly. Sentences don't start with "plus" either....aren't you going to write that? (So I did.)
me: Just let me worry about that. What's your favorite thing about Max: he's cute.
Favorite thing about Dad: he plays with me
Favorite thing about Mom: that you're really nice.
Favorite book: Pirate Mom, Curious George books, Magic Tree House books, Pee Weed books
Favorite TV show: Pokemon
Favorite movie: Pokemon Diamond and Pearl
What do you want to be when you grow up: engineer, like my dad
If you could go anywhere on vacation where would you go: Wisconsin Dells
So if you could go anywhere in the whole wide world, that's where you'd go?: Yep. I wish I could be there forever.
If you had a million dollars what would you buy or what would you do with it: I'd give some of it to the church, then I'd buy a gameboy and 5 games to go with it. What did Sam say he would do?
Me: I didn't ask him that question.
What do like the best about yourself: that I'm lucky to get a dog and two brothers
If you could change one thing about yourself: having glasses, because I hate having glasses. Can we go now? I just want to stop asking these coo-coo questions and get a crazy snack.
Me: oooh-kaaay.

Peace and Leaves

One of the things that our boys (and the neighbor kids) look forward to most about autumn is all of the leaves. We have alot of mature trees in our neighborhood, and behind our house there is a cul-de-sac that makes the perfect place for the neighbors to put their leaf piles. (They are not crazy about our kids playing in the piles, since they're the ones doing all the work, and one neighbor actually told them they couldn't. But it's not their property, and as long as they stay out of the neighbor's yards, and clean up any mess they make in the street when they're done, we've told them they can do it. Some of our neighbors have obviously forgotten what it's like to have children. These leaf piles are like a dream come true!) The piles get so big that they are taller than the boys! They make forts and pretend that the leaves are water, go diving and play 'squid.' The fire hydrant makes a great jumping off point.




It seems Will has to do something with his glasses every year:


Evidently this is the newest coolest way to pose, because I had to discourage the "peace sign" (or some form of it) from showing up in almost EVERY picture:


See what I mean?!

Getting to Know Sam

I asked Sam some questions this morning and here are his responses, in his words.

name: Sam
age: am I 3? 4? 5? 2? I'm 3.
favorite food: jelly? I don't really know. Peanut butter and jelly.
where do you live: In Coralville. In a house. It's a white color. I've got a mailbox too with it. That's where I live
me: actually you live in Iowa City
Sam: Oh, yeah. Iowa City
where do you go to school: It's kind of the church.
favorite thing to do at school: kiss the teachers
who do you play with: Caleb and Caed. We play outside and Caed said, 'That was a close call!"
favorite thing to do outside: Play with Samantha, scooters, play in the leaves
favorite animal: the zoo. An elephant
favorite movie: Ratatouille
favorite tv show: Spongebob
favorite toy: pirate ship
brothers: Will and Maxwell Thomas (he almost always says his full name)
Favorite thing about Will: he gives me piggy back rides all the time (which he did once)
Favorite thing about Max: he goes poo-poo in his diapers. He throws up a lot.
me: That's your favorite thing?!
Sam: uh huh! (laugh)
What do you want to be when you grow up? an astronaut

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Helper Boy

(Caleb and Caed are the names of his two good preschool buddies.) Since I made this video, Sam has still been way excited to help me in the kitchen any chance he gets. He likes to set the table, push the buttons on the microwave and stir and pour. Sometimes it takes some creativity (and patience) on my part to come up with jobs to keep him busy. He's such a good helper boy! (I remember when Will used to be like that.)

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Handsome Boys
















Bowling Party

On Saturday, Will had some friends over for a belated birthday party. We took them bowling, then back to our house for brownies, ice cream, and presents. A good time was had by all!
Silly Stuff:

Brother Time

When Max gets to weaving his head back and forth like he does in this video I call it his Stevie Wonder imitation. He LOVES his brothers (as you can tell) - he'd much rather watch them any day. Today in the car Will leaned over from the seat behind Max and sang songs to him all the way home from church, so he gets lots of special time with both his brothers. They are very sweet to him!

(Everytime Sam talks to Max he says, "Hi, I'm Sam!" He feels the need to introduce himself.)

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Max is Growing!

Friday, November 02, 2007

Hallelujah (or Alleluia)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I couldn't have said it any better myself!!!!!! Read here on my sister-in-law's blog. Praise God!!!!!!!

Thursday, November 01, 2007

I'm Late For a Very Important Date!

If you came to my house this afternoon (please don't, this is just hypothetical) you might wonder why my dining room table looks like this:


Well, I'll tell you. It's because Sam spilled an entire large McDonald's cup of Sprite in the van - yes, the new van. And yes, Damon, I'm so sorry to tell you that that red book IS the prized owner's manual.It was such a mess. It spilled on the floor, inside my library bag full of books, down into the drawer under the passenger seat. Here I am in the McDonald's parking lot, taking my time wiping down the insides and outsides of 15 library books, and taking everything out of the drawer and soaking up all the pop with diaper rags and then anti-bacterial wipes to get rid of the stickiness, because I want to go on to Wal-Mart, and don't want the mess to spread. Finally I feel like I've got it all under control and turn on the car to head for Wal-Mart. It's 2:07. TWO OH SEVEN???????!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's Thursday, and Will has early out, and I'm nowhere near home. 2:07 is about the time Will comes walking in the door. "CRAP!!!!!!!" is what came out of my mouth, and I thank God actually, because it could have been so much worse. All the way speeding home I repeatedly called home, thinking that Will would eventually make it inside. (Even though all the doors were locked, and he'd spend awhile banging on all of them, he knows the code to the garage door, or at least at the time I thought he did.) I left one message after another, using up all the time on each one, saying, "Wi-ill, it's your mo-om, pick up the pho-one. Wi-ill, are you there? It's your mo-om, pick up the pho-one..." over and over again. Sam was very confused by all of this. By the time we got home it was 20 after. Pulling in the driveway, I could tell immediately that Will was home. He had dragged the Little Tikes basketball hoop over to the key pad so he could stand on its base to reach the buttons, making it impossible for me to pull in the garage. It had obviously been moved. All the evidence pointed to the fact that Will had made it inside. I ran in and called for him, then went looking around the house. No Will. Hmmmm. I went outside - called his name some more. Still no Will. I went around the back of the house. Yep - there's his backpack, laying on the back deck. He's definitely been here. Would he go back up to the school and tell someone he's locked out of his house and no one's home? What will they think? Could he have gone to the neighor's or down the street to his friend Jack's? I didn't think anything of the fact that the answering machine was beeping at me; I'd left several messages. (Kind of embarassing ones now.) Oop. There's a message from the neighbor Mom; Will is at her house. So I went running down, baby carrier and Sam in tow. He wasn't worried. He wasn't scared. He wasn't mad. He just kept telling me it was ok everytime I apologized and hugged him, which was a lot. I felt awful. I still do. Plus, I never made it to Wal-Mart. :=)

So, the new plan is to go to the neighbor's house if mom isn't home. Hopefully that won't happen again, but never say never.
(In all fairness, it wasn't Sam's fault. I made him carry my drink to the car. Will was my picture taker for these pictures. He needed something to do besides fight with his brother.)