Lucky

September 26, 2003

I would have included a current picture as well, but it's amazing how much five years of marriage, 2 crazy boys, and medical school can age you. Too depressing. I like to remember the fresh-faced version of us.

When I first heard the song "Lucky" that you hear playing on the blog all the time, I immediately thought of Josh. I am lucky that I'm in love with my best friend. He is amazing. He is my partner. We share everything and talk about everything. I appreciate that we work so well together, and have goals that we are working towards all the time. I'm sure though that because today is our anniversary he decided to kick the chivalry up a notch with a special moment we shared on the tennis court this morning.

Fall is upon us, and so the geese are out of here. We were playing and a ton of them came flying over head. I immediately put my racket over my head (as if that offered any real protection! --it just would have dispersed the poop into a nice grid pattern all over my hair) luckily, they didn't poop on me, but they did drop two big bombs on the court. That brought playing to a swift halt. We didn't want our balls to bounce in the junk, so Josh went to the garbage can, pulled out a piece of card board and scraped the poop off of the court for me. What a sweetheart. It's no wonder I don't like birds. Anything that can fly over you and take a dump is a menace.

So, on this day that we celebrate five years of being together, I say to you Josh, thanks for dealing with all of my crap! I love you.

Potty Mouth

As most of you who read this know, there has been a very focused effort on Will's speech in the last year. I am thrilled to say that he has made dramatic improvements. We really are incredibly proud of how far he has come, and today I experienced a moment that you with very verbal children have been warning me about.
I was doing a load of laundry today, and as I mentioned in a previous post, we sometimes have water problems while doing it. Today was one of those days. I was standing in the kitchen talking to Will and Isaac, and I took a step back into a puddle. I just let out a yelp, but Will came rushing around the corner and said, "Oh, Shi@! Who did this?!"
I've never really considered myself much of a potty mouth, but it must happen often enough for him to have caught on. I didn't address the bad language, because I had to immediately start "operation sop-up the water" but I'm sure there will be a next time.

A Walk in the Woods

Will, looking for frogs

They were a little over pictures at this point in the walk.


Isaac is Mr. Rubber-Face, and so it is rare to get a straight picture from him.

"Sittin' on the dock of the bay..."

To get the boys to look at me at the same time, I said, "Look! Mommy has a booger on her face." This didn't work at all--Isaac just started picking his boogers.


For those of you who have come and visited us you know that we live right by a nature center, and an incredible park. I know that we are a little crazy about how wonderful these places are, but even after living here for two years, they are no less beautiful to us. I took the boys on a walk "in the trees" (as Will calls it) on Saturday, and here are a few pictures.

Hmm...tastes like...

My boys hangin' with their peeps

With a 4 year old, a 3 year old, and two, 2 year olds left under a tree eating popsicles, you would have to expect that something unexpected would come out of their mouths. It did, and it went a little something like this:

Z: What does this popsicle taste like?

Will: It tastes like it doesn't make me too hot...or maybe, lettuce (goes to show how much leafy green stuff we eat at our house. We are so unfamiliar with the taste that we suspect it may come in the popsicle form!)

Z: I think that the blue part tastes like POISON (yikes)

Isaac: yummy! tastes like...I want more popsicles!

Leave it to the lady to speak some reason,

A: It tastes like cherry.

We had fun playing with our friends today. Thanks for the laughs.

The Wisdom of a Child

A quiet hush, for my oracle, oh ,wise one




Today the boys and I were at the park. We are always at a park. What happened today was as routine as us, well always going to the park, only today I took special notice. I was helping Isaac across the monkey bars--helping is an understatement, this is how this activity goes.

Isaac: Me do monkey bars?

Me: You want me to help you?

Isaac: Yay! Monkey bars!

I lift him up- he grabs the first bar-sand falls from unknown origins on his body into my eyes-now, me blinded encourage him to let go and grab the next one-he lets go, and merely touches a few of the other bars as I walk him to the other side-we make it to the end-I set him down-and then Isaac says, "I did it!" Blinded and tired (he is no light-weight) I say, "Yay, Giggies, you did it!"

Isaac says "I did it!" after almost everything that he does. He is always incredibly enthusiastic about it too, no matter how great or small the action. I think that I can learn something from that. I spend too much time worrying about the cleanliness, the perfectness is which something is executed rather than just being thankful sometimes that I did it. Having this kind of attitude makes it incredibly hard to ever be satisfied with yourself, and I rarely am. I could have always done that better, or done more. I'm not saying that trying to better yourself isn't, obviously, desirable, but being able to savor your accomplishments, no matter how you finally got there is to be enjoyed, and certainly a necessary step to keep you sane. Thanks to the wisdom of my Giggle-monster for teaching me this today.

Old habits die hard, but acknowledging that I have the problem is the first step. Right?

Mud Men

Right now, we live for tennis at our house. We've had a pretty rainy weekend, and I was sorely disappointed to think that we wouldn't get a chance to play, but the rain stopped, and off we went. All that rain leads to lots of mud, and lots of puddles, which in turn leads to incredibly dirty boys. I've never seen them happier than when they were running and falling down ( on purpose) in the big puddles and mud holes.

We did have to make special transportation available for the ride home. There is no way we were letting them in the car like that, but the back of the 4-Runner was made for this stuff.

A quick hose down--and they were good as new.

OUCH! Part 2

He isn't sweaty--these were taken in the bath tub

With those big, blue eyes, nobody is going to notice that scar anyway.

Ouch!

Today started out wonderful! Josh went into work later so that we could start our day playing tennis--he did this for me yesterday too. It was so fun. On the drive home he asked me what are your plans for the day. I lied and made up this big list of things that I had to get done so that he would feel like I have the hardest job in the world (which I do by the way!), but really I was thinking...nothin'. Well, the boys took care of that for me. I was upstairs playing the piano, they were downstairs playing with toys. It was a blissful time of playing until...
Wah! Isaac lets out a big, old scream. Sadly, this didn't cause me to spring to my feet, because he lets out similar screams if he thinks we are getting to close to his ice cream, but when Will came scurrying up the stairs to get me, I knew it was trouble. It was trouble because, if Isaac is hurt, then Will is almost always the cause, and he is no dummy, he wouldn't come running up to call his naughty behavior to my attention. Well, he did, and when I went down Isaac's face was covered in blood. I would have taken a picture to document this momentous day, it was after all our first trip to the emergency room, but that seemed like poor parenting. Anyway, he was a trooper, and my friend Darcy saved me by watching Will for us all afternoon. Thank you, Darcy. Gigs was very brave, and didn't hardly make a fuss at all. When he was all stitched up he said, "Thank you very much!" and was ready to walk out with the irrigation syringe that they gave him.

2008: The Summer of Tennis

Living in Wisconsin for the last two years, and thus spending the last two winters here, has taught us a very important lesson...live for the summer time! If the sun is shining and the humidity isn't causing our skin to sizzle, then we are outside. It used to be walks to the park that kept us occupied, but I have a new addiction. Tennis! Mid-June, I told Josh that I would hit the ball around with him (he has been playing for years) and all it took was one look of surprise on his face when I had a few decent hits back, and I've been hooked ever since. I suppose I have some pathological need for praise. Yeah, it definitely is a pattern for me...
Josh always assumed that I had no athletic ability. Pretty safe assumption since I never played any sports outside of church programs, but I do have five brothers, and thought myself a "tom-boy" growing up, that really could have been more as a defense mechanism than what I really was. I didn't know how to do my hair or make-up and instead,ending up looking like a boy more than a girl. "Tom-boy" sounds more like I meant to do it, rather than a result of my own ineptitude.
Anyway, I tend to shock Josh and then I go crazy with it, for example:
When we were first married we lived in St. George, and we were broke. We bought a cheap basketball at Wal-Mart, and spent a lot of time shooting baskets. I grew up with a basketball hoop, so I was decent for a girl. Josh was shocked...I was hooked. We played H-O-R-S-E right up until I delivered Will.
Next came catch-Josh didn't think that I threw like a girl, so when Will was little we'd get him all set up on a blanket at the park, and play for as long as he would let us.
Next, Tae-Bo. This one is silly, but Josh commented on how my kicks and punches looked good, and that was the end. I became a kicking, punching machine.
Next, Running. I still love it. I never fancied myself a runner. I would only do it if being chased, and even then I'd rather curl up and cry hoping my pursuer would take pity, but Josh challenged me to run a certain distance. I was able to do it, and the rest went like all the others. I had to run! At my first race that I ran, they came over on the loud speaker and said, "Athletes, line up" and I got a big, stupid smile on my face, and yelled to Josh, "Did you hear that, they called me an ATHLETE!"
I'm sure there have been many other things in between, some of shorter durations, but my newest obsession is Tennis! During the months of June and July we were playing tennis two times a day a lot of days. Luckily, there are several tennis courts nearby that have playgrounds right next to the courts, so the boys play and we are left to feed our addiction. It really is an addiction. We played three sets this morning, and only an hour later, I was asking Josh if we could go again. He is good to me, so went again this evening. The thought of the weather turning cold and the courts being covered with snow is very upsetting to me. We looked into "Tennis Clubs" (somewhere we could play indoors all winter) and that would be a great option if we were bizillionaires or rock stars, but for little, old us, it's not an option. We would be better off to throw on our snow suits and get the snow shovels out. If only I could find a winter time obsession! Then I wouldn't have to be so depressed at the thought of the seemingly 6 solid months of cold, gray, snow-filled days. I swear that Wisconsin was not meant to be lived in during the winter months. It is strictly for nomads, and snow-birds who are free to go south for the winter. It really is ridiculous.
Blah. Blah. Blah. This is becoming quite lengthy. As my tennis season is nearing an end, this summer will go down in Brown family history as 2008: The Summer of Tennis.

First Day of School

Will's official first day of K4 was on Tuesday, but today was the first day that he rode the school bus. That was a strange feeling to put my kid on the bus with some stranger. I was surprised that he did so well with it all. He kept telling me that he wasn't going to ride the bus and I would just take him, but when the bus pulled up he didn't seem to mind. When he got off the bus he said that he told the bus driver to "Slow down! We are going to tip over!!" Pretty funny. He also uses the same urgency as we approach a stop sign or traffic light, just in case I forget. After hearing how successful the whole bus thing was, I was a little surprised to see a note in his back pack from one of his teachers.
It read: "Will had a rough time this morning. When we lined up to go to the bathroom, he got upset because he wasn't at the front of the line, and then refused to go after that."
I questioned him about it, and his response was:
"I didn't want to be the caboose. We were being a train and I wanted to be the steam engine."
My note back to the teacher:
"I talked to Will about the bathroom incident. He thought you were making a train. He didn't want to be the caboose. He wanted to be the steam engine. Sorry for the tantrum. Maybe in the future you can ask if he might want to be a coach or freight car as a compromise :)"
What do you do?

Bed Time! Best Time of My Day

William, just being handsome

I don't think they even look related

The Giggle Monster

Every once in a while I encounter a mom who says that her kids don't really have a bed time. This is one point of parenting I do not understand. Bed time is the best time of my day! That's not to say that it is always smooth, but when they are both sleeping quietly, it is worth whatever effort I had to put forth to make it so. Good night, sweet boys!