Ooh, Mommy, Look! Look!

We were at the park this afternoon, and I was pushing Will on the swings. There were some middle-eastern girls next to us with scarves wrapped around their heads. One girl's scarf was white, and when Will noticed her, he said, "Ooh, Mommy, look! look! It's the Holy Ghost!"
That made me snicker.

Sunday Morning Photo Shoot

Will, looking quite suave, or rather after washing with Suave.
They really do like each other.

Just handsome

I love my Giggies

Explanation for this picture--they are 4 and 3. This is the natural pose, a smile takes coaching. This, unfortunately, just happens.

Josh was at Bishopric meeting leaving us on our own for the group shot. Some people take great pictures like this. I am not one of those people.

Will gave specific directions as he took this picture:

"Mommy, you move your leg back and forth (I did) and Isaac, you make a silly face and talk to me. Now talk to me louder! (he did)"

We even let Isaac take a turn behind the camera

Giggies Turned 3! (One Month Ago...oops)

Let them eat cake!
What to get Giggies for his birthday? hmm..."Oh, I know! another train set!" I keep waiting for the time that he just hands it back to me and tells me that this is getting ridiculous.

The goods

Will, unsure that he is willing to concede that it is indeed, Isaac's birthday, and not his.

Happy Birthday, sweet Giggies. You are sweet, funny, and what I love the most about you (Will too, come to think of it) is that you are not afraid to let your crazy show :) It's a problem we've got in this house, and now I'm just ready to accept it. Watch out for the Brown family, their crazy is showing!

What a Stinker!

This morning Will and Isaac were sitting at the table for breakfast, and Will had a blanket wrapped around him, so Isaac thought he needed one too. Isaac, started whining, "blanket, blanket, BLANKET!"
Will said, "No, no, Isaac. You need to ask daddy nicely for a blanket, and if he says 'no', then...ask mommy."

Any takers?

Since the end of November, I've been dealing with a pretty annoying knee "injury". This prevented me from doing too much running between then and now, but over the last few days, I seem to have found my groove again. I am SO thankful. It is a pity to not be able to run around the Wisconsin parks and trails in the 3 months that we have beautiful weather of the whole year, so I could not be happier with this development.
I've been waking up at 5:00am and going to the gym for the last month, and I love this schedule. I have learned something about myself--I suppose I knew this about myself before, just didn't realize how much it really did permeate all aspects of my life--and that is that I hate when I don't get to do things on my terms. One of those things is waking up in the morning. I got so sick of waking up to the boys already bickering or fighting, or jumping on me, and said "Enough!" That is why I started waking up so early, and now I really just like it. I am such a better mom for it-at least for the first hour or two of the day-you know the two hours when I am at the gym and my kids are not in sight-I am a FANTASTIC mom then :)
I title this any "takers", because maybe, just maybe, there are other moms out there looking for an exercise buddy, or a chance to do something on their own terms, and wouldn't mind joining me for my 5:00 (ish) runs in the park? If you do, let me know. I know that you won't regret it.

Where Did April Go?

The Easter bunny came. I'm pretty sure that the boys had no idea why a giant bunny would be coming to our house to bring candy--neither do I for that matter, but my boys aren't silly enough to question a basket full of free candy.

We do Easter hard core! Aint no Easter like a Brown Easter.

Giggies after his blood sugar dropped.

The boys got to stay up late for family movie night.

April was mostly cold, as is indicated in the pictures of Will still wearing his winter gear while riding his bike on the BMX track.

I know that every parent thinks that there kids are great at everything, but I must first say that I'm not one of them--I would never tell my kids so directly that they are seriously lacking in some areas, but I see their strengths and weaknesses, and with this in mind, I feel confident in saying that my little Will is wicked good at riding that bike!

This is Will riding at the BMX track on top of the "ski hill" in Franklin. Pretty sure that we weren't supposed to be riding there though.Those little beginner bikes weren't really made for hill riding, but Will made it work.

Perhaps, a written summary of all of this would be helpful to piece it all together, but I think leaving it scattered and chaotic is a better way to sum up how this month felt. I think that I would like to lobby for a new Spring saying..."April crazy's bring May lazy's" What do you think?

Choices

We believe in choices at our house. It seems to be the most effective way of getting our boys to do what we want them to do. For instance, when Will or Isaac are whining for a treat, and I give them one, they almost inevitably will say, "I want two!" Here is where the choice comes in. I reply with, "You may have one or none. What do you choose?" They are no dummies and always choose the more desirable choice. It is all how you phrase it though. One has to be more desirable than the other, and you have to make sure as the parent that no matter which they choose you are okay with going along with it, and you must!

Will has begun making choices for Josh and I when he isn't getting the kind of behavior or responses from us that he is desiring. Here are two examples from the last two days.

#1 Sunday night we were getting ready for bed and Will was dragging his feet. I told him that he needed to choose two books to read now, and that we were going to bed. He said that he wanted to watch a movie downstairs and go to sleep on the couch. Time for choices!

Me: Will, you may choose two books and we will read them and then go to bed, OR we will skip reading and go straight to bed. What do you choose?

Will's response as he climbs onto Josh's lap and grabs his face to turn it so they are looking directly into each other's eyes: Daddy, (not mommy, she isn't rational) here are your choices. You can put me up in my bed where I will be very noisy and not go to sleep, or you can put me downstairs where I will watch a movie very quietly. What do you choose?

#2 This morning I had made breakfast, and everyone but Will was still sleeping. I sent Will up to get Josh to come down and eat, but apparently he met some resistance from the sleeping daddy, because it resulted in choices.

Will: Daddy, you can either stay in bed and sleep for a very long time, and not go to work, and make us lose our house, OR you can come and eat, and go to work, and we can keep our house. You choose!

He is a clever one!