A Mood a Minute Behind the Wheel

Gettin' where she's goin'.  With style.

Enjoyin' the ride.

Road rage.

Noah's Newest Rite of Passage

First time!  On Josh's newest yard purchase bought with his "blood money."  Ha!

I love this.  It will be good for him.

Anna's New Braces

Official BEFORE pic for braces.

And official NEW pic of braces BEFORE the year of work ahead of her.  Her face did not require any time with expanders and such like Noah had.  I guess the teeth pulling accomplished the space making.  Also those springs in the bottom braces.

Adorable both ways!  I swear she looks older with them though! 😳

Lasa's Power Wheels Upgrade

Baby Girl QUICKLY outgrew the little toddler Power Wheel she got for her birthday.  And given our powerful Power Wheels love, we couldn't leave the poor child without a set of wheels!!

So, you know me, I sold that bad boy.  And these following bad boys, too.  Both helped fund a much needed Power Wheels upgrade.

 

We made two solid attempts to be frugal and buy used.  Both times, we showed up at the people's houses and neither ride on toy would run ... despite the listing claiming they worked great and despite my messaging and reminding that we would need to see them running before purchasing and them assuring me that they would run.  People. Both times we gave the people friendly side eye and left the premises with our cash still in hand. Josh was over the aggravation after that and said just buy a new one.

So we used a smidge of tax return cash and the sold toys cash and got Lasagirl a brand new Power Wheels.  We are trying to pretend that this counts as a realllllly early birthday present.  Because we really would save this for her birthday, but her birthday doesn't come til the dang END OF SUMMER! Nope. Not wasting a spring and summer full of good riding time.  Early present it is!

We nixed the Anna and Elsa Frozen decals that are meant for this model and went with a cleaner, simpler snowflake motif instead.  We love it.  And, after a few first time nerves, she is off the races.  She is the exact age Noah was when he got his first "Bee Caw" (big car) our first Christmas here in TN.  Precious memories.  Fun to compare!

Bring on spring and summer! 

Bunny Prep

We are about 3 weeks from picking up the bunnies, so it is all sorts of bunny prep time out back at the Browns.  This has WHOLLY been a Josh and the kids endeavor.  But I saunter back there once in a while to see what all progress has come and gone in the green house and now the bunny bin area.  Take a look. 

You would be surprised how sweet and earthy a car full of straw smells. 

Anna is so excited about grooming and walking the bunnies on a harness/leash.

The bunny bin. Well, one half of it at least.  This is half the closed portion and one of the screened ends.  Screened porches!  Ha! 

You can see the other half of the bunny bin there where Noah is on the right.  He is lining it with straw.  Anna and Josh are building play equipment for the enclosed yard space for them ... which they lined with wire underneath the ground all around the edges. 

Straw and Rabbit Chow coming at ya! This is my life now.  Well, my life when I stroll out back, that is. ;)

Little hidey hole for the play area.  Super cool!  That green piece encloses it on top.  Noah piled up branches all around it so it would look more natural. ;)

Check out this chick with the power tools!  Building her bunnies a ramp to climb on.

I should probably give the kids a day of school credit for all this work and investment and bunny life they are building. Love this for them!  We go visit with the rabbits tomorrow to see how much they have grown.

Journaling 1 & 2 Peter +

And one bonus pop of color where I added a palm leaf over where I am currently reading again in John.  I finished a book this week about Judas Iscariot, too, that included this scene obviously, too, so the timing was pretty cool along with us going into Easter season now anyway. Palm branches on the brain = palm branch on the page!

Fie, Fine, Ha, Thanks, Curses, Die!

It wasn't bad enough that Noah and Lasa went down with fevers last week.  Or that Lasa had already been in the middle of an annoying cold and cough the past two weeks.  No.  February had to pitch another little fit before finally letting us be.  Fie on you February.  Fie!

This week child 1, Noah, developed a reallllllly swollen lymph node in his neck that was so painful that it hurt to even speak or chew.  So we landed at the dr for that and got the kid some steroids after strep and mono tests said nothing was up.  Fine, February. Fine!  Two days later, Lasa was still grabbing her ear (that we had been giving ear drops too just for good measure already) and saying that her cheek hurt??  I finally probed around the spot some more and discovered she had what felt like a swollen giant lymph node in her neck too!  We called the dr and hoped they would save us the trip (and cost) and just prescribe her some steroid too since she had the same fever as Noah as before and now had a painful neck issue.  Nope, they wouldn't have it.  Because of her age, they needed to see her first.  Fine, February. Justtttt finnnnnnne!  Lasa went to the dr and, as it turned out, that was for the best.  Ha!  Because the child did not have a swollen lymph node.  No, the child has strep, thankyouverymuch.  Her neck/throat are just swollen from that.  Who knew???  Dr sent us on our way with antibiotic for child 2.  On the way home, I say to Anna, "Anna.  Be careful! You know you are so prone to strep." And not 4 hours later, child 3 came downstairs after bedtime to say her throat hurt.  The next morning, it was hurting even worse.  So that made another Thursday two of my children were home sick from PDO/Co-op.  Thank you so much, February, for all this intense togetherness and bonding time!  Thankfully, the dr knows Anna's history with strep and was willing to just call in another antibx rx for her and call it a day.  For anyone who's counting, though, that is all three children requiring medical attention in one week - After the week before when I thought we were so cool and savvy for not rushing to the dr for fever when all the world was falling apart around us in flu hysteria.  Curse you, my pride.  Curses!

Lasa has missed so much PDO this month that one of them called to check on her Thursday.  So sweet!  February this year? Not so sweet.  Die, February, die!

Zoo Run

We have been without a zoo membership for a year now and we went ahead and renewed it again this month.  We have since had two flopped attempts to go, but made right on those plans yesterday.  We went with our friends, the Smiths. It was good to be back and see the new progress on the construction and new exhibits.  It was also delightful to see it through Lasa's eyes anew.  (She has been before of course, but she was an infant, a baby, and a very, very new walker at the time - all before she was even 20 mos!  She had no clue what the point was then.) Yesterday, it was game on!  Interestingly, she was a good bit timid ... didn't wanna touch the animals, didn't wanna ride the carousel or the train.  Next time!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a gorgeous windy day in the high 70s, hitting 80 I believe?  We are all a little sore from all the activity today though. HA!

It is Well

Oh my word, the Lord has been so persistent and gentle bringing me back around to this goodness ... of course in this season I am applying it to our TPR proceedings.  All things take my brain there until this is done.  WHICHEVER way it goes, WHETHER it goes when I prefer or not, IF IT NEVER HAPPENS in my life ... I thank the Lord humbly for shepherding me back to this peace in Him and enabling my trust in his wisdom, sovereignty, and providence whichever way he reveals it. 

Bunny Love

Our baby bunnies are growing and hopping and exploring more every day.  The lady who is giving them to us is gaga for all things rabbit and keeps us updated regularly, bless her heart.  She is super sweet.  AS ARE THESE BUNNIES!  AND THEIR EARS!  Oh my gosh, I am in wuv with their wittle ears!!

Last week pics ...

 

 

This week pics.

They are all still nursing some while they try new foods and, if you can believe it, it's still too soon to know the gender of the babies, but three (males) of these 21 cutie pies are bound to be Browns in only a month's time.  Excited!  (which is saying a lot because I was all "No.  No.  Not having it.  What?! Are you CrAzY?  NO.  Out of the question." when they first brought this up, oh, a year or so ago.) Kimmie's come a long way.  I warm up slowly. 🤣

Contestants

My people all had a contest-themed weekend.  Josh, first, won The Biggest Loser Contest at work after 6 weeks of effort.  He lost 12.5 lbs.  He spent the $100 winnings already on ... you guessed it ... greenhouse and rabbit stuff.

And Noah and Anna submitted some Lego creations of their making into Nashville Public Library's Lego Contest this weekend.  Noah was in the 5-7th grade category.  He made a model of The Eruption of Pompeii.  If I were paying enough attention I would have had him mention the name of the volcano, but eh.  Didn't happen.  Anna, in the 3-4th category, turned in an already made creation - her Lego Nativity from Christmas.

 

Neither kiddo won in their categories or the raffle, but both really enjoyed the experience and attending the awards ceremony.

 

Both agree that they are so glad they participated and will be even more ready to compete next year for having taken part this year.  Good job, peeps!