Taa Daa: Shelf Shift

The Pottery Barn knock-off shelf that Josh made awhile back started out here in Noah's room.


Once we moved his room earlier this month, however, it just didn't fit his new wall space.  So after a paint job last week, the shelf was relocated today to Anna's room ... and quickly put to good use.

Mem'l Day at Don Fox Park

It's a bright, hot, and cicada-infested Memorial Day here in TN, but the Browns could not be held down or inside.  We hit the road bound for Lebanon this morning to check out where Josh's new job is located (more on that later) and to take in a day at a new (to us) pool and recreation area.  We had such a great time and cannot believe we didn't know about this place the past two summers we've been here.  And bonus, we ALL learned how to NOT squawk when a giant beady-eyed 13-yr-insect phenom landed and/or crawled on us.  These cicadas have been a real adventure!  Anyway, if you need us at anytime this summer, you can expect to track us down at Don Fox Park. :)

 

 

 

Recipe: Chicken and Rice

I believe I've been in a cooking rut for a little while now.  Couple that with the fact that any new recipe I've tried lately hasn't been a keeper and you see why I haven't had any new dish worth sharing here...except for one.  I made this simple Chicken and Rice recipe last week and we all loved it.  Finally, we liked something new ... although familiar to us.  It reminded Josh and me of these boxed rice dinner meals we used to buy in our newlywed days called Supper Bakes.  It turned out simple and delicious ... except minus the box now. :)

Chicken and Rice

• 1 c. uncooked rice
• 1/2 envelope onion soup mix (I used more)
• 2 1/2 c. boiling water
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 6-8 skinless chicken breasts
• butter, salt, pepper to taste

Mix rice, onion soup mix, boiling water, and cream of chicken soup in 9x13 baking pan.  Add chicken on top of mixture.  Dot with butter, salt, and pepper to taste.  Cook, covered, at 350 for 1 hour, or longer, until well done.

Thoughts & Things at 2 2/3

I did not expect to need to post solely about Anna and her quirks so soon after the 2 1/2 year post I did not long ago.  But there has just been something about Anna these days that cannot wait for a September birthday post to share.  For some crazy reason, 2 and 2/3 years old is a magical age for us and is NOW my favorite Anna so far. :)  My heart belongs to the light and limb-y little girl that lounges across my lap, all disheveled from her nap, who reaches up to touch my face, looks me dead-on in the eyes with her happy gaze, and says for the 20th time today, "I wub you, Mommy."

I marvel at the transformation that continues in her every day - especially in terms of verbal development.  I don't really remember when exactly we shifted from one to two word translation sessions to bouncing back and forth in easy communication with her.  Be we do - we talk and talk in easy conversation each day and I delight to get to know what she is thinking about next. What's more, she stuns me with words she'll use I didn't realize she knew.  And where I used to marvel at the words she was finally producing, now I marvel at what she is using those words to say.

My heart belongs to these Anna-type thoughts and things lately:

• Big words she's said that I didn't know she knew what they were: decorating, regular, earth, dumptruck, bulldozer, collection, disappear, abracadabra
• Mispronunciations I adore - Wishus (delicious), Noah bodderin me (bothering), gooter (scooter), or (your),  tan't (can't), cada (cicada), pooter (computer), mine (my)
• She reminds us every day that she is earning her very own "eargreens". (earrings)
• She tells me several times a day that Jesus is happy when she goes on the potty or keeps her underwear dry.
• Likewise, after she's had an accident, she says that it makes Jesus sad.
• She is lavishly affectionate.  She hugs us tight around the neck and tell us she loves us multiple times a day.
• She says, "I happy, Mommy! I happy!" often.
• She's started kissing us a lot each day.
• When she's mad at me, she moans for Daddy.  When she's not happy with Daddy, she moans for me.
• She has mastered the whiny "WhyyyYYYYYyyy?"
• She said while playing dress-up with her wings, "My wings not wite, Mommy!  I tan't fwy!" (My wings aren't right, Mommy. I can't fly!)
• Anna only believes a top and bottom match if they are both the exact same color.  The wardrobe battles have begun.  Try explaining complementary colors to a 2 year old. Sheesh.
• On her toy phones she chatted it up with a pretend Josh while we was out of town, "Hello daddy. I miss you. I made coffee. Ok, I got cake. Bye. {mwah}"
• She tends to point out anything smaller than she expected it to be by saying, "Dat ... dus my siiiize." (That's just my size)
• She followed me around one Saturday all upset after seeing a wedding picture of Josh and me.  She kept whining/begging, "I wanna get marrrrrrrrried!"  Apparently the grins and gown and flowers really spoke to her.  She was not ok with being told that her getting married was a long, long, long way off. Longer than her birthday even.
• She asks "Wuss (what's) so funny?" I guess I must ask that a lot - I don't know where else she'd pick that phrase up.
• While watching Star Wars with Noah she announced that she "wikes bad guys."
• She likes to unfold and lay out napkins on the table.  She says she is making the house pretty.
• I must say "hold on" a lot because now she says it, too.  It's particularly noticeable when she says it to ME, "Hold on, Mommy," after I have told her to do something.
• She asks "Sit in my wap?" when she really means, "Can I sit in YOUR lap?"
• She found a stamp pad/stamps and brought it to me asking, "Daddy buy me make-up?"
• She was looking through one of my books.  I asked her what the page said and she answered, "ABCDEFGHIJK-QRSTUVWXYZ." (Sorry, lmnop.)
• She calls herself a "fwippy fwoppy" girl at bedtime because we always comment on how she wallows and clamors all over us when she is tired.
• She STILL likes to name all the parts of my face and hers.  Then she points out that she looks like me.
• She wants a make up set (plus earrings) as soon as possible. We've promised her earrings as soon as she finishes potty training.  Should happen in the next month or so easily.
• She applies chap stick to her cheeks and her dolls' faces when left unsupervised.
• She can be trusted to be regularly DISAGREEABLE.  If you make a statement, she will attest to the opposite.  Me: "Anna you look good in this."  Anna: "I NOT wook good."  Me: "Eat your dinner." Anna: "I NOT hungry."  Me:  "Drink this medicine." Anna: "I want PINK medicine." 
• She will pretend to be sick or tired to distract you from her misbehavior. "Eh, Eh - I dill (still) coughing!"
• She picks cheese off burgers rather than eat the burger and licks jelly off sandwiches rather than each the sandwich.
• I adore her dull, squeaky, monotone voice.
• She always, always chooses pink.  It is officially her "favewit cuwwer."
• Her bedtime book of choice these days is Wiggle by Doreen Cronin.  It's really cute and silly and it makes her laugh at all the same places each night.  She has the same comment for the last page every night  "We not hafta sweep on top of da house!"  She knows almost the whole book by heart.
• She doesn't need to have a sippy cup everywhere I take her now.  And we have begun upgrading the sippy cup situation to straw cups for her.
• She is not in any supply of diapers or wipes now. It is so weird to NOT be cutting those coupons all of a sudden!
• She asked her daddy to remove the rails from her bed recently.  He did and she likes it that way.
• She goes potty all by herself.  She wipes herself.  She flushes it herself.  She DOES like to call me in to see her work before she flushes though. :)  And I do every time.
• She changes her clothes 2-3 times a day and I let her.  What does it hurt?  She does, however, have a steady mess of clothes all over her floor all the time.
• Noah got a new bulldozer today.  Anna asked Josh to buy her a pink one.
• Stuff we currently work on with Anna - teaching her to be agreeable, be a peacemaker, and use words instead of screaming when she gets frustrated with something. 
• She cries the ugly cry when we take her band-aids off her - not because it hurts, but because she doesn't want to let them go.  She tends to see them as accessories, I think.
• Every time I show her something new we have, she asks if we are going to keep it.  She is THAT used to me and Josh buying and selling stuff. 
• She is loving being back in her MyGym class and is showing real strength and balance in the gymnastic skills and activities they do.  Also, she's started to show an interest in dancing there, which is really fun to watch.

• 

WPTM #28: Face Time

What Parenting Teaches Me #28: Face Time

It happens a lot with Anna and me.  I will be with her for hours - change her clothes, brush her hair, watch TV with her, feed her, put her in the car seat, take her back out, talk with her, whathaveyou - but it's not til I get to some destination (store, school, friend's house) that I notice her face is smeared with one thing or another and desperately needs to be wiped.  I have been with her all that time, spoken to her all that time, done things for her all that time, moved and prepared her all that time, been aware and occupied with her all that time  ... and yet I have not stopped long enough to actually look her straight in the face.

Lots of indirect attention; not so much direct attention.

Ouch.  Sound familiar in the Christian life?  Uhhhhhh, yeah.  It's so easy to do.  We can sing about God, talk about God, pray to God, think about God, read books about God, write about God, testify about God, listen to sermons about God, but we are mistaken if we let all this try to substitute for actually looking at God, seeking his face.

As it turns out, for me this seeking God's face applies to being in His word.  I've taken a few (ahem - 5!) months breather from the regimented Bible reading plans I have done for the past few years.  I just needed a break, I thought.  But this lesson coming to mind via my daughter causes me to think it's time I stopped messin' around (again) and got back in the Word for myself.

Time to give my God my direct attention once again, lest there be (spiritually speaking) a sticky remnant of grape jelly or dried snot right across my face all day long.  Right, Anna?

School's Out, Summer's In

Yesterday was full of activity though it came and went with a calm, content, and mild mood overall.  And a reflective one, too, because yesterday our first baby finished up his preschool year with an awards ceremony and class field trip.  Then, because we had Josh home from work for the day, we headed out to pick strawberries before the season ends.

Noah receiving a medal for his memorizing all 26 scripture verses the class did this year. (Funny note - Noah kept those hands in his pockets and twisted side to side for the songs and scriptures the kids sang/recited.  That seems to be his newest nervous tick.  Still, he looked so handsome and composed.)

 

Pre-kindergarten completion certificate.  He is so ready for kindergarten. :)

Group shot. 

Farewell, Mrs. Cindy.  You've been great and Noah's pre-k experience was better than we had hoped it would be.  You get all the credit. 

Then all three pre-k classes headed for Monkey Joe's to celebrate the occasion.  We have actually been there a number of times, but this time was pretty cool because Noah AND Anna were capable enough to not need Josh or me to climb in to help them at all.

Anna was fearless the whole morning and kept up with all the big kids with ease.  THEN, she showed her true colors and pitched a fit in the floor.  Model parent that I am, I rushed over to take a picture of the comedy.

It was a pizza party well-earned, Noah Brown.  You are such a smart and good boy.  We are so proud of your work, improvement, and behavior all year long.  Mrs. Cindy says you have blessed her and I don't think she's just being nice.  You are a blessing, boy, from start to finish every day.

After naps, we headed out to Bottom View Farm to pick some strawberries FINALLY.  This was Noah and Anna's first time ever doing this.  The last time Josh and I picked strawberries we didn't have any kids at all.  Crazy!

I spotted two sweets in the field.  :)

Noah picked all the biggest berries he could find.

Anna had another approach.  She only wanted "baby" berries.  So she did the farm a favor and picked all the little ones that no one else would ever dream of picking. 

All done!

I was dreading the mess of sponge cake and whipped cream and forks and sticky fingers when we got home, however, so I created a different sort of strawberry treat for the kids.  It went over great!  And with less mess, too!  Strawberry Cream Cones, it is!

School's officially out and summer is officially in.  What fun!

Accidents Happen

Everyone ready for a good potty pun?!  Here it comes ...

Urine Trouble if you have to buy a bottle of this stuff.  

HA! I crack myself up.

Seriously though, I have had it with staring at the stains from all of Chewie's submissive pee moments. And Anna (though potty training has gone well and is just about done) has added a few of her own contributions to the collection.  So I thought I'd give this crazy product a try when I spotted it by accident (ha again!) the other day in Target.  And so far, this stuff really is all it's cracked up to be - for pets OR people accidents. 

And that just cracks me up.
Wait.
Maybe I am just cracking up altogether.
Hmmmmmm...

Brown Family Bushes and Plants

Our garden a month ago ...

Our garden today.  

Any day now those first tomatoes that are already growing in will start turning red. Can't wait!

Over a year ago, we chopped down big, thorny, bushes in front of our house and then they never grew back.  They just left big, bare, ugly stumps.  So we FINALLY took care of them last weekend.

Josh yanked them out of the ground with his four-wheeler and, surprisingly, it was not as easy as that sounds. A few broken pieces of equipment later, all the stumps were out of our way.  

 

This week we picked up eight pretty little American Boxwoods and 18 little Monkey Grass sprouts and filled in the blanks in our landscaping. 

Feels so good to check this off our to do list!

Before:  Lookin' bare. : (

After:

Lookin' good. :) - even if I do say so myself. :) 

See the skid marks from the 4-wheeler?  It takes a special landscaper to add that creative touch.  Try not to be jealous of our skillz.

Marking 5 and 10 Years

5 years:  I've been a SAHM now for as long as I was teaching before that.

5 years:  It has been 5 years since I finished my master's degree.

5 years:  I've had sleep issues for 5 years now.  Wow. 

10 years:  I have now known Josh 10 years (@ 2 mos. shy).

10 years:  It has been 10 years since I graduated college.

10 years:  My very first classroom of students 10 years ago is graduating high school this year!  WHAT?!

On a Sunday Afternoon

The only thing that could pull us from water gun fights

and a new trampoline on a Sunday afternoon together

was the

ice cream man

and a

couple of

Cherry Bomb Pop Juniors

while we watched red birds eat cicadas in flight.

Yum,

yum, 

yum!