Catching Up Once Again!

Okay, so obviously I'm not keeping up with this like I want to. We've been home from Phoenix for 2 weeks and life is flying by so I thought I'd jot a quick note down.

The trip home from AZ was good, considering we flew into Atlanta in the middle of thunderstorms and a tornado watch. The Boys all behaved and weren't scared (though Reece admitted to being "freaked out" when it lightninged outside his side of the plane). The most memorable moment of the flight was when Garett (jokingly) said in not a whisper, "Mayday! Mayday! We're going down!" There was a lot of turbulence, but we made it! Here are a couple of pictures from our wonderful trip! The first one is of Garett and Logi when we climbed into the Hole in the Rock. That was lots of fun! I posted a picture of all the Brown Boys at the Grand Canyon last time so here is a picture of Reece when he and Rhett spent a day hiking and exploring Sedona, AZ and the Red Rocks. They had a great time and spent a great day bonding! We spent a day with the Marlin's. Here is a picture of Eric and Rhett. I didn't get a family picture of everyone at once-you know how hard it is to get everybody to stand together when you have 4 kids!! So, the Dads get some face time! We had a great time seeing them and look forward to them coming this way next to go to the beach! I want to share just three more pictures from our visit. Here is my Mom and Logan, reading a book one night before bed. He did not want me to do anything for him while were there-Grandma had to do it all! It was hard for him to come home and not have a personal Grandma to do everything for him! Here is my favorite picture of Harry and Marty. Marty was getting ready for work and Harry had just woken up and they are both fresh and full of smiles and energy for the day! Marty needed his energy as he is a shuttle driver for a Resort there in Scottsdale. The night before we left, the Boys made stepping stones for my Mom for her birthday. She and Marty put the stones out front around their tree and we made sure to put the year on them so when we do the next ones we will have the beginning of the story of my Boys' growth! Here they are (minus Harry, obviously!). It was a great trip and we are looking forward to the next one already!! We better give Grandma and Marty time to rest up though! We definitely kept them hopping!!

When we got back, Garett and I had a field trip to Hollywild Animal Park! Here is Bug with a few of his friends and the huge brown bear we saw! We had a great time with the animals and then had a picnic and played on the playground at Lake Cooley. Fun times for sure!!

What else is going on? Let's see-Reece lost 2 teeth (on the same day!) while we were on Spring Break, so I'll take a picture of his gappy smile and post that. The tooth fairy had a field day with him! After we got home, Harry started crawling, like belly up off the ground crawling. The race for manhood is on. I am sad. He is also getting 2 more, maybe 4 more-I can't tell, teeth in. Time is flying - he'll be 11 months old on Monday, the 21st.

Last weekend we went to a showcase at the Poinsett Club for Rhett's sister, Meredith. She teaches ballroom dance and we went to see what all of the students have learned! That was exciting! Meredith danced too and I must say, Rhett and I were impressed! There wasn't the tossing of dancers like there is on Dancing with the Stars, but it was fun all the same! Here is a picture of Rhett and Mimi. Rhett did wear a tie...it came off the minute he stepped out of the ballroom!! :o)

One last bit of news! I talked to Melanie Jeter last night and she told me about Madison's accomplishments with the Charleston Southern University Golf Team. You can read all about their success here http://csusports.athleticsite.com/article.asp?articleID=2461 I am so proud of the wonderful person she has become! I have been a part of her life for 20 years (could it be that long?!?) and I love her so very much!

Well, I have been asked to pick flowers outside with Logan and since he is my boss for the day, I must oblige. By the way-if you have an assistant-don't forget-next Wednesday is Administrative Assistant's Day! Let them know they are appreciated! Take it from me, a little kindness and appreciation can go a long way!

Until next time, I'm fondly yours,

Jeanne

CHO of the Brown Family

Hello from Arizona!!

Well, we made it!! I had planned on writing sooner, but we have been so busy having the best Spring Break EVER that there hasn't been time!

We left Greenville last Friday afternoon, March 28th, spent the night in Atlanta and flew out Saturday morning for Arizona. The boys were absolutely WONDERFUL on the plane! I'll post later when we get home with pictures, but everyone slept, no one cried and we got compliments on how well behaved our children were! Music to Rhett's and my ears!! :o) Imagine the looks we got when we walked up to the gate with 4 children! I'm sure people were kicking themselves for not taking an earlier (or later) flight! But it was all great!!

I have just one picture to share for now. Here are my Boys at the Grand Canyon! We had a great time and Rhett and Reece want to hike to the bottom in the future. I'm happy just to look down from the top!! The views were awesome and the Boys were duly impressed, although we did have to make sure Logan didn't launch Bubba over the edge!! We took lots of pictures and will share more later.

Yesterday we spent the day with Eric and Kris Marlin. They are friends from Greenville that moved here just 6 weeks ago-perfect timing for us to visit! We loved getting to see them and the children we had met (though they left Greenville 4 years ago for Nebraska, so the children have grown alot!), Abbie and Joe and got to meet the 2 year old twins, Sarah and Lizzie. We had fun catching up and the kids all loved playing in their pool.

We've been swimming, hiking, shopping and having a great time with Grandma and Marty. It's a huge adjustment for them to have us in their home for a week, and an even bigger adjustment for their dog Serenity, but everyone has adapted and are having a blast! We leave tomorrow, Friday, to head home and so we covet your prayers that the airplane trip home will be as calm and uneventful as the one coming.

Hope everyone is having a great week!!

Until next time,

I'm Fondly Yours,

Jeanne

Queen of the Browns :o)

I'll Not Clean Them!

I've made a decision. My mirrored closet doors will have to remain dirty. Let me explain why.


Years ago, when my mother-in law told me that she couldn't clean the babies (Reece and Garett at the time) fingerprints off her sunroom windows I thought she was crazy. I mean-they were fingerprints!! Fingerprints were supposed to be Windexed and wiped! What was she thinking!?!


This week I was cleaning and had the Windex and paper towels poised, ready to clean the fore mentioned closet doors...and I couldn't do it. You see, the fingerprints that are on there are Logi's size NOW. If I clean them off, how will I know how small his fingers were TODAY?! Sure, I could clean them off, he'll put more on there tomorrow and the next day and the next day. But then that will be his fingerprint size for THEN. What if I don't remember the little prints and then suddenly he's 6 or 7 or 8 and doesn't want to play in front of the mirror making silly faces and pressing his hands to the glass? Right now, I can't bear that thought. So, if you come to my house and are privileged enough to see my bedroom, I don't want to hear a word about my dirty doors. They are filled with the fingerprints of my 3 year old and I'll wash them off when I want to and that is not anytime soon. I'll wipe the other fingerprints around the house (and there are lots: the back door, the refrigerator, the kitchen windows, the goes on and on!) but the ones in my room stay.


At my friend Missy's house there is a doorway that is filled with names and dates. There's one for Drew when he was 6 or 7 maybe (now he is a Senior at Byrnes) and there's one for Cadence who is 2 years old and number 7 in a wonderful family of 8 children. Maybe you saw him and his younger brother, Toby, in last week's post. Anyway, the point is that all of the kids have had their heights recorded in this doorway over the years. There are so many on one side that they spill over to the other side. There are the heights of friends and cousins and even a note or two. I love that doorway. When they added on to the house (just beyond this doorway) it might have been easier to tear it out the doorway and make a new one, but these were their memories, their fingerprints if you will. Maybe I'll take a picture of it sometime. How cool will it be when Drew and Kayla (and the other 6) grow up and move out and get married for them to come home and show their children how tall they were in the year 1999, before the turn of the century!! Well, they aren't all old enough to have measurements from 1999, but you get my point.



I like family history and traditions. What are some of yours? Share them with me.



So, I'm not going to inundate (like that SAT word? :o) ) you with my children's pictures this week, but instead share a piece of happiness from my Marriott World. This week I heard a rumor that we may get to have a reunion of sorts...only this reunion is with people that we enjoyed working with over the years. Here is a picture of a mini-reunion we had last September for my fabulous friend, Jackie (she's the 2nd from the left). When I think of the "good old days" at the Marriott, Jackie is right there with Sherry, Leo, Melanie and Anne. We had FUN at work---who cares if we made money!! Anyway, I won't go on and on because hopefully I'll be able to post about the reunion in the future-that is if Jackie and I can plan it between me watching Rachael Ray and Jackie watching Oprah!! :o)


Okay, so I didn't get the post finished on Friday, but I started Friday and finished this morning. For those of you who are keeping score, no, I have not sent my Christmas Cards yet. The wishes will be as heartfelt when the recipients get them as they would have been in December!

I hope that everyone has had a great week! Ours ended on a questionable note when I had to pick Garett up early from school yesterday with a 102 degree (why isn't there a key for the degree symbol? Am I missing it?) fever and cough, but after lots rest and juice he's back to his normal, jovial self this morning. Thank you God...this is a answer to fervent prayer that he didn't have the flu that one of our playmates was diagnosed with this week. That's some scary stuff there.


So, if you have little ones, look at those fingerprints a little differently this week...and then clean them off if you want...there'll be more in the future! I'll be keeping mine for now.


Until next time, I'm fondly yours,


Jeanne

Queen of the Brown Clan

One more thing---does anyone have connections to a beekeeper? I have friend who would like one to speak to her class...this is my attempt to help! I'll let you know if I get anyone to respond, Jen!! :o)

I'm Staying on Top of Things!!

One week! Can you believe it! I only let a week pass before posting...much better than the 2 MONTHS I waited before! I read in a blog somewhere this week that daily postings are good. There is no way I could get that done! :o)


What a fun week we've had! Last weekend was jam packed with fun when Reece's (and Garett's) friend Brayden spent the night Friday. We ventured to Spartanburg to eat at the Mellow Mushroom (it opened in December) and loved it! We got a few hard stares with us bringing in 5 children, but they were all very well behaved...I was pleasantly surprised! We have eaten at the one in Charleston lots and I've eaten at the one in Greenville, but the people at this one were unbelievably nice!


Saturday was the Boys' last basketball game and so Garett's teacher, Mrs. Deal, and her husband came to watch the game so that was special! They won and ended the season with 1 loss and 8 wins! Yea! I think we are going to take a season (or two) off and maybe start soccer in the fall.


Sunday we started celebrating Logan's 3rd Birthday! We had lunch with my Dad and Rhett's parents and sister and her husband and Logan loved the attention!! He was decked out in true 3 year old fashion with his overalls, Birthday King Crown and rainboots! He loves boots! If he's not wearing his cowboy boots then he's wearing rainboots--and sometimes he doesn't even want the boots to match---I don't fight those battles. I'll let him win those and I'll stand firm on things that matter! But I digress, we had a great time at chips and cheese (Mexican) and he has started acting older already. One night while I was at school he told Rhett that he was a "big boy" now and that "You don't tell me what to do!" Rhett cleared that disagreement up really quick! Monday was Logan's actual birthday so the two of us made cookies and went to visit our friends at the Marriott to spread good cheer. Here is a picture of the Babies and "Aunt" Sherry. Logan loves to go around and stick his head in everyone's office. All in all I think he had a great birthday.








Did everyone watch the lunar eclipse Wednesday night?! That was exciting! Garett was in bed, but Reece stayed up to see it. Here is the best picture we got of it. I think this was about 20 minutes before the moon was fully eclipsed. I like lunar eclipses, but solar eclipses freak me out...I don't like those so much...am I strange for that?

Guess what else happened Wednesday!?! Harry got his first tooth!! Yea! Thursday the second one broke through so we are well on our way to solid food! I'm ready for another baby! Just kidding...no, I'm not kidding.

This weekend is going to be fun for everyone. Reece is going home with Duston and we won't see him for 2 nights. The Bass Master Convention (?) is in town at the Bi-Lo Center and Carolina First Center (I liked those better when they were Memorial Auditorium and The Palmetto Expo Center) and so they have a weekend full of fish planned out. Garett and Rhett had lunch today and then went to the movies so their weekend started early. I had Cadence and Toby with me this morning til school got out and so I took 4 children to Drop in and Play at the Boys' school with Ms. Pat. We had a great time and Missy got to go on a field trip to Roper Mountain Science Center with Gavin. Here are Harry and Toby sharing lunch!

Cadence came over and "cheesed" for me after I took the babies' picture so here he is too! Logi had fallen asleep so he didn't get to be in this picture.

So let's see, next big thing we have coming up is flying out to Arizona to see my Mom and Marty for Spring Break. It's hard to believe that it'll be here before we know it! The Big Boys love flying, but Logan and Harry will soon learn to love it (we hope!). We are all excited and can't wait! An added bonus is that our great friends Kris and Eric Marlin just moved to Phoenix (where my Mom is) and so we will get to see them while we are there. I'm glad they moved there because I didn't see traveling to Nebraska to see them! That's where they moved from. So, I guess this week I'll start getting the packing lists together.

That's all for now I suppose. I hope everyone has a great week and keeps healthy--wash your hands-the flu bug is running rampant! Thanks for caring about The Browns and remember to choose Joy each and every day!!

Until Next Time,

Jeanne

CHO

Let's Play Catch Up!

Thank you all for your concern and emailing me to make sure we are okay due to my lack of blogging. I'm so sorry! I just had too much fun with the Boys over Christmas Break and then we had birthdays and so on and so forth and now it's halfway through February and I haven't even sent out my Christmas cards...but they will be sent soon! Life is getting in the way!

Okay, so the last time I posted it was 13 days til Christmas. Let's start there...Christmas was wonderful!! The house is full of guitars (real electric guitar for Garett, Guitar Hero for the Wii for Reece and a play electric guitar for Logi) and the driveway is full of bikes so we are having fun inside and out. Here's a picture from our adventure to Hollywild to see the lights and feed the animals. The Boys had a great time riding in the back of Teba's truck!

Reece turned 8 four days after Christmas and had a great time celebrating and wearing the Birthday Crown! Where have the last 8 years gone?!?

Garett's Birthday came next and with it I am suddenly the mother of a 6 year old! We are so happy that he is following in Reece's footsteps and learning how to be a such a wonderful Big Brother.

We had a snow day thrown in there and I posted a video on YouTube of a snowball fight the Boys had. It quickly turned warmer and the snow was gone, but it was pretty while it was here and it was nice of Rhett to keep a fire blazing all day long. "Smarshmellows" were toasted and smores were made.

Rhett and I have started back for the Winter Semester and are doing great. Rhett is taking both Speech and Religion online and this time I'm in the classroom. I'm taking Anatomy and Physiology and Statistics and Probablity so I'm in class three nights a week. Rhett has given his first speech (that part is NOT online :o) ) and did great. I received a 102 on my first lecture test and a 79 (that's ALMOST a B!!!) on my Statistics test---BIG THANKS TO MY FRIEND JAIME FOR THAT!!! She was a Math Teacher for Middle School and has been awarded the distinct honor of becoming my Tutor!! I guess she's still a Math Teacher, she's taking a hiatus from teaching to raise a family...a family that will have a new baby in September!!! Yea for you Uncle B and Aunt Jaimes!! Here's a picture of them with Gracie and Avery.

Reece was awarded Terrific Kid for December/January! Hootie Hootie!! He was picked from his class and Miss Ford wrote a very nice page about him. For those of you who have a Terrific Kid bumper sticker and don't want to "Stick" it...take it to Kinkos and they will make it into a magnet for you!! Little trick of the trade (motherhood) for you.

Valentine's Day was sweet. I was able to help with Reece and Garett's parties at school since they were at different times. My friend Nadine brought Valentine's Day doughnuts from Krispy Kreme in the shape of hearts for Reece's class (her daughter Katelyn is in the same class)...the doughnuts were adorable. We had an ice cream party in Garett's class and they all had fun in their "heart crowns". Rhett had practice and I had class so we celebrated with a big breakfast for dinner...a tradition I acquired from my wonderful friend, Jill Frick. I made heart shaped pancakes that the Boys loved, even though I made them eat eggs first! I wore Rhett's high school class ring all day like I have for the last 16 years. He put it on my finger on February 14th, 1992 and so I wear it every year on Valentine's Day. I asked him if we are still "going steady" and he said yes! I think we are the steadiest people you could ever know and I'm so lucky we are Valentines all year long!

Well, I guess I should wrap up for now. I've covered a lot of ground and promise to not wait so long to post again. I should have plenty of time to do it since it seems to be the concensus that I lay on the couch and watch TV and eat bon-bons all day! :o)

Let me leave you with this one last thought from Reece. After we chose JOY and sang our song (see previous JOY post for clarification) we were talking about it being a great day. Reece told me, "Of course it's going to be a great day, look at the sun! It's coming up!" As if every day that the sun comes up will be a great day! How awesome is that?! So here's my challenge to you. Look at the sun each day and MAKE it a great day...because Reece is right...it would be an awful day if the sun DIDN'T come up! And I don't want any comments asking about cloudy days--the sun is there it's just hiding and YOU can find it! Just look for it and then share it with everyone! I don't mean to try to sound like Little Miss Sunshine, maybe I just am a Sunshine Girl (Melanie)!

Until next time, I'm fondly yours,

Jeanne

Queen of the Browns

P.S. Once again, I've left Harry out in the pictures, so here is oneof him that I that I took. He looks an angel, straight from Baby Heaven as my friend Michael Gordon would say!!

It's a Sunny Day in Our Lives!

For those of you who are not in the Greenville/Greer area this week, let me tell you something. This weeks weather has been INSANE!! I've attached a video of the Boys playing outside yesterday afternoon.

The temperatures have been in the high 70s with 80 being the high yesterday. It's unbelievable! Except, we're living in it, so it is believable I guess. Anyway, we love it! I'm able to wear flops again and Baby Harry loves not having to be all bundled up when we go outside! It's nice for now, but with Christmas less than 2 weeks away, I'll be ready for the cold (and turtlenecks, right Annie B!?) when the weather turns normal this weekend.

Before I forget, I have a friend (well, I guess he's my friend-he's really Rhett's friend and my Boys' playmate!) who has an awesome blog so I want to give him a shout out! Check it out here: http://kentbateman.blogspot.com/ . It's very thought provoking. One thing that I have learned about blogging is that if you read someone's blog and agree (or disagree) about something that is written, let the author know! Let then know if you like reading it! Let them know that there are people out there reading it! I love it when you email me and comment on my goings on (is that a word?!) or comment directly on the blog. I feel validated!!

Okay, so it's Wednesday and I have decided to make it WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY! Here are 5 wonderful things happening in the Brown Family right now.

1. Reece and Garett are on the same basketball team with church and loving it! They have won their first 2 games! Hootie Hootie!! Let me know if you want to come to a game and I'll give you the schedule!

2. My kitchen is coming into the final stretch of being re-done. Once we are finished anyone who wants to come over for dinner is welcome! I love my new stove/oven and can hold so much more food in the fridge now! BIG hugs to Rhett for all of his hard work reconfiguring my cabinets so the microwave will be up and out of the way!

3. Logan LOVES acorns! And I don't mean just a little bit! I have them all over my house! We can't walk barefoot because he drops them and then I can't find all of them till I step on one. I find them in every load of laundry because he puts them in every treasure pocket he has. This is much cleaner than the rock phase since those were covered in dirt!

4. It's only 13 days til Christmas!! I love Christmas! The lights, the songs, the hot chocolate, the craziness...it's all so much fun! It's awesome to talk about the reason we celebrate Christmas with the Boys too. Garett is full of questions about God and how we know that Jesus is beside us all day. I think that this year the Christmas Story will have new meaning to him. What an exciting time!

5. Finally, I am happy to report that my Speech class is over! I gave my final speech last Friday night (and received a 100!) and took my final test on Monday and if my calculations are correct, I ended up with a B. That's great for me since #1-I hated school before and still wonder why I have gone back and #2-Most of you know that I love to talk, I just hated having to plan what I was going to talk about! I'm a fly by the seat of your pants kind of girl so there you go! A B is awesome! Now I am looking at taking 2 classes beginning in January and possibly auditing Rhett's math class before I take my only math class left.

Okay, that's all for now since a Mom's work is never done! I think I'll put a load of laundry in, eat some bon-bons and take a nap on the couch! Just kidding-I'm skipping the laundry part! This last part was purely for Rhett's benefit!

Have a great rest of the week and remember to let me know you're out there!

Till next time, I'm fondly yours,

Jeanne

CHO for the Brown Family

P.S. I'm sorry, I didn't mention Harry in my 5 wonderfuls. He's doing great (did you hear him laughing when Reece was swinging?! That's priceless!) and has moved up to his big boy car seat.

OK. Now I'm finished. (People finish, turkeys are done. I learned that in Speech from Ms. Trumbo!)

Learning to Adopt!

Just looking at my pictures, what do you think this post will be about? Hmmm, could it be, one of the Brown's favorite pastimes, our vacation to Disney World? Ding ding ding!!

You're right...kinda.

I sat down to work on this not having a clue as to what I was going to talk about, but knowing that if I didn't post soon ,

I was going to lose some faithful readers! So, Logan (along with a smelly Bubba) climbed into my lap and I asked Logan to look at pictures with me and pick his favorite. He picked these three. My favorite is the one with my tower of Boys on Main Street at the Magic Kingdom. It doesn't matter which picture I pull up from September's trip, Logan can tell me all about what was happening in the picture. He has amazing recall abilities.

Our trip to Disney each year is a trip into fantasy land. Literally. This is not real life that we experience, BUT, real memories are made. I don't think my children are aware of just how lucky they are that they have gotten to meet Mickey, or Buzz, or Pooh. There are children who will never have this experience and this is what I try to instill in my boys. Thankfulness to Beba and Teba for them taking us is something that I try to get them to express. Now that I think about it, we have tried to work vary hard to express thankfulness this year. I have repeated over and over, "Look at the person when you thank them." We've also worked on ma'am and sir with Logan. Reece and Garett have that down pretty good now and are great examples for Logi to follow. I didn't show this form of respect to adults until I was taught how to when I moved to the South and I love that my Boys are learning it at young ages. We are learning every day so I want to show you an example of progress that was made just this week.

Reece was sick on Thursday of this week and so I asked my friend Melissa if she could take Garett to school. She was fine with this. Garett was not. I was told that he wasn't used to riding with Melissa to school and that he wasn't going to do it. I begged, I pleaded, his Daddy offered him a dollar, I offered him a dollar. No dice. I sat down and explained to him about how sometimes we have to adapt to change. I explained that he would be fine. That he would make it to school just fine and go on with his day. I told him that even though I wasn't taking him to school, that I would be there to pick him up. I promised. Still, he was upset. I left him to get dressed while I made breakfast. Five minutes later he cam into the kitchen, smiling. "Wow! What a change", I thought! I was pleasantly surprised when he told me. "I'm ready to adopt!" What a wonderful moment for me, not just because he touched my heart by using adopt instead of adapt, but because he GOT it. Through all the crying and hyper-ventilating, my words reached him and he understood. We chose our JOY for the day (since we wouldn't be in the car together!) and when he left I emailed his teacher (Mrs. Deal, Wellford Elementary-wonderful teacher, we love her and Mrs. Gibson!) to let her know we had kind of a rough morning and related the adopt/adapt story to her. I asked if she could just love him a little if he was upset at all and she mailed me back and told me that he was doing great and writing about the morning in his journal. I breathed a sigh of relief and took Joy from the way the whole event played out.

Okay, so maybe I rambled today, but it's okay, because this is all for my family and you can stop reading at any time. I love all of my Boys and just wanted to get this story down before I forgot it.

Moral of the story: I know that my Boys are not by any means perfect, but they are mine and are a constant work in progress. That's all I can do. We wake up, choose JOY and move along trying to make others feel loved and good about themselves, fall into bed and start all over the next day.

I feel another blog coming on, but it will have to wait. I want to talk about my husband and the amazing job he is doing re-doing my kitchen, Reece and Garett and their basketball team, Logan and his growing up too fast moments and Harry and HIS growing up too fast moments. But, I am tired, it's time for Harry's bottle and morning will come quickly, so I will close for now.

Thank you to those of you who hung in there through all of my story!

Until next time, I'm fondly yours,

Jeanne

CHO for the Brown Family

P.S. Reece is better now, it was a 24 hour bug, thank goodness!!