Two-Faced

We are lucky at the Brown house. We may just have the most fun daddy in the universe. Josh is usually busier than anyone I know, but he always makes time to spend with me and the boys. Their favorite activity as of late are "tackle parties", and they are exactly what they sound like. Josh also hosts the occasional "snowboarding party" on the XBOX, another crowd pleaser. Both of these activities seem to be anti-mommy, because we are pretty sure that the baby would get broken in the tackle party, and as Will so tactfully puts it, I can't play in the snowboarding party because I'm not very good. Before our snow all melted Josh took them out to build a snowman. Of course, because we have two independent, strong-minded little boys, this would mean that two snowmen would be necessary, but Josh being the super smart guy that he is threw two faces on him and the boys were content.

View #1

View #2

Thanks to our daddy for all he does. Come home soon, because as Will would say, "Mommy isn't very fun."

Look, Feel, Help

Last week for Family Home Evening we had a lesson on service. The boys listened fairly well, and then to put it all in action we made cookies and delivered them to some people in the Ward. The boys loved it. Everything about it. We delievered a plate to our Bishop, and the following day the Bishop called to thank Will for the cookies and the note that Will wrote him. After Bishop was through thanking him I prompted Will to tell him "you're welcome", which he did, but followed it up with a, "Maybe you could make me some cookies now too!" I swear that wasn't part of the lesson.
The rest of the week when I needed them to do something like put their clothes in the dirty clothes or run and grab something for me I was sure to phrase it with "Will you do me a service?" Each time I said it, they almost always were quicker to respond and do. It was amazing.
As a follow up lesson to last week we talked about kindness, and made these rockin' glasses that I found in an old Friend magazine. In addition we made thank you cards for Grandma Hall since she sent the boys snuggly Christmas blankets. I was sure, though, to allow them to practice what they had been taught by simply bringing up how nice it was of Grandma to do that for them, and had them 'look, feel, and then do' which made Will think that thank yous were in order.
Why this terribly long story? I am amazed at how little effort it takes to teach these young kids some really solid and sound principles and virtues. 15 minutes and a coloring page, with some minor modifications in how I talk about things there after, and hopefully, I've planted the seeds for service and genuine kindness. Pretty stinking amazing. In comparison to most of the other moms I know, I am mediocre at best, so just think what you all are capable of!

An Answer to Prayer

Monday night we had gathered around the table for dinner, and Will offered up a very fervent dinner prayer, that went as follows:
"Dear Heavenly Father, help up to follow the prophet, help us to follow the commandments. Bless this food that it will get better..."

Tell me how I'm not supposed to take that personally. Ouch. Well, as was pointed out to me by my dad last night, perhaps the happenings of yesterday are a direct result of Will's humble prayer.

In the last 6 months we have had to replace our washer, dishwasher, and now our oven. Apparently 12 years is the lifespan on appliances or something, because our garage was beginning to look like an appliance grave yard. So, yesterday, in an effort to make us appear a little less trashy, I called an ad from Craigslist that some guy had posted who was just itching to have our junk, and sure enough within a half hour of calling he was here in his beat up, rusty toyota, threw all three appliances in the back, and just like that he raised our class level from "yes we park our cars on the lawn" to "we are just as sophisticated as you, we just choose to adorn our yard with tonka trucks instead of cherub fountains".
Which brings me to this beauty. I used it for the first time this morning, and I think I'm in love. No, it isn't THAT fancy, but it isn't a fire hazard (as was the one it replaced) it is A LOT nicer and the price was incredible. $170 at Sam's Club. The stars aligned...deal of a life time, right? or perhaps, just Heavenly Father extending his tender mercy on my little Will in an effort to help make this food better.

Christmas Day

Santa came! Look at what he brought us! All of these toys...

an itchy bum for the Giggies...

a strange, puffy eye for William...

and the flu for mommy. I spent the day feverish, with body aches, and a terrible sore throat, but we made it through. The boys had a great time opening presents, and playing with them the rest of the day. Josh was gracious enough to let me sleep much of the day. I learned something this year. Will is now old enough that if he puts something on his Christmas list for Santa, he fully expects that it will be under the tree. This year he only asked for one thing (aside from the chimney of course) and that was a remote control monster truck. He didn't get a remote control monster truck. He did get a regular monster truck, but one you had to push yourself. Every present that Josh went to hand him he would say, "No, not that one. That's not the right size for the remote control that goes with my monster truck." Thankfully, the racing motorcycles he got seemed to make up for the HUGE disappointment of Santa's obvious mistake. Isaac on the other hand only asked for one thing too--a remote control dump truck. He just kind of copied Will. He didn't get it either, but that didn't matter, because nearly every present he opened was followed by, "This is just what I wanted!" I'll appreciate that while it lasts, because pretty soon Santa will be held to much stricter standards...nice try St. Nick, you better get it right next year!

Christmas Eve

Will, proudly displaying the cookies and note he made for Santa.
The boys sporting their new Christmas pj's that Santa's elf left on the doorstep for them

Me and Josh, thankful that it is finally bed time

The holiday buzz was brimming in the Brown home on Christmas Eve. I'm pretty sure that I was completely sick of my kids by about 10:00 that morning with all of the Christmas excitement that couldn't help but present itself by way of obnoxious running, silly potty talking, and excessive bickering, but what is Christmas with kids without these things, right? Bring on Santa, let's do this thing!

First, we have a little bit of a problem...

We had our ward Christmas party last Saturday. It was a crazy day. From the moment I woke up until I was finally able to lay down I was on the go. I remember walking into the party and thinking, why doesn't everyone else look more frenzied?! Then I remembered, that only I had to make a bizillion candy "wreath" necklaces for the primary, come up with a craft for them to do, prepare the song that I was supposed to sing and play for the program, and make a dessert before we got there. Thankfully, it all went fine. As you can see from the picture below, Santa made an appearance. I asked Will if he talked to Santa, because I didn't see if he did or not, and luckily, Sis Givich caught this priceless moment on camera for me.



Their interaction went as follows:

Santa: Hello! Have you been a good boy?
Will: Yes. I've been good, but FIRST we have a little bit of a problem.
Santa: What's that?
Will: I have been asking my mom to take me to the flower store (Menard's-that's where we buy our flowers in the summer time) because we don't have a chimney, and I thought we could pick one up there, but she keeps saying "No". I keep telling her that you need the chimney, but she's not listening to me! So, first, I want a chimney.
Santa: (chuckles to himself)
Will: Then, I want a remote control monster truck.

I'm almost positive that even if Santa brings the remote control monster truck, that there will still be an element of let down Christmas morning when Santa didn't listen to him either!

Alive and Multiplying!

It seems I've taken a blogging hiatus. I lost steam. Stuff has been happening. Lots of stuff, but if I were to worry about addressing even any of it, I'm pretty sure that I would close this post now, and put away the computer...way too daunting! So instead, we'll start fresh with today's events.

I had an ultrasound. Many of you are thinking...what?! Oh yeah, I'm pregnant. 20 weeks to be exact. The baby is healthy and strong and looking great, and the best part--it's a girl!!