Happy Birthday to Rhett

Well, today's the day. Rhett turns 36. He has been dreading this day for a while now and we (the Boys and I) are determined to not let him be depressed.

His celebration began on Sunday when we ate dinner with his parents and Meredith and TJ. We went to his favorite place for Mexican food in Greer, El Mariachi and though he didn't want them to, they sang to him! There he is at the top of the page. He smiled on the outside, but he wasn't smiling too much on the inside!

I made his birthday dinner Monday night since he has class tonight and we got him a huge chocolate chip cookie instead of a cake. He smiled more when we sang to him. Maybe he was just happy not to have to wear a hat!

This morning he woke up and while he was getting ready to leave, Reece and Garett brought him the card they made and a balloon that we hid in the shower. I think the balloon is his only surprise since he bought the shirts and movie that he wanted for his present and will pick out a new Dallas Cowboys shirt online for me to order, but that's the way he likes it. Nice and calm, no surprises.

When we talked about this birthday I was told, "No Party". End of discussion. When I tried to downplay the number 36 (and that's all it is, a number) I was told that that was easy for me to say, I'm 33 and that's closer to 30 than 40. He's closer to 40 and that makes all the difference I guess. I told him that I didn't care what age I was because as long as we grow old together I'm good. That shut him up! How can you complain about growing old when you are growing old with the one you love?

I have known Rhett for 15 of his birthdays. The first one we celebrated was his 21st. It wasn't as wild and crazy as you would imagine. In fact, we celebrated with Melanie and Stephen Jeter! No late night drinking with no remembrance of what went on. Just dinner and I'm sure since we were with Stephen that was lots of reflection and looking forward. Fast forward 4 years and we celebrated his 25th birthday as husband and wife. I didn't ask this time-I just threw the party! That's what wives do, right? I was a new wife and the surprise party was at Don Pablos (can you tell that Mexican is Rhett's favorite food?!). It was a surprise til he started recognizing cars in the parking lot! Oh well, I tried! He has had new babies to help celebrate on his 29th, 31st, 34th and now 36th birthdays. Every year adds more cards to his collection with hands traced on the back with the date. One day Rhett's sons' hands will be too big to fit on the back of a card to be traced and we will marvel at where the time has gone.

Before I end, I want to thank Rhett's Mom, Vonnie, for having Rhett 36 years ago today. The day he was born, God chose him for me and I am so grateful that you raised such a loving and wonderful son. He is the best Father ever and I am proud to be Mrs. Timothy Rhett Brown.

I want to end this with a quote from the birthday card Reece made for his Daddy.

"You rock and I bet everyone else thenks that to! I love you and everyone else dose to!"

He read my mind! Rhett, you do rock and we love you so very much! Happy Birthday!

Till next time, I'm fondly yours,

Jeanne, Queen of the Rhett Brown clan

P.S. Thank you Mrs. Kinard for the word "fondly"!! :o)

So Maybe I'll Send This One

So...I started this blog to preserve our goings on for future generations, but have yet to let anyone see it. If you're reading this, then I guess I got brave and sent it out!

What's going on in our lives? Well, Reece and Garett are loving school, 2nd grade and K-5 respectively, Rhett is happy for the cooler weather of fall (but not looking forward to winter : ) ), Logan and Harry seem to enjoy chillin' with Mommy and Mommy is having a FANTASTIC time trying to keep a hold on everyone! Really! I am! I love taking the "big" boys to school and "staying home" with the babies. Logan looks forward to picking Reece and Garett up in the afternoons and knows their teachers' names and talks about Wellford Elementary like it's his school!

Rhett is enjoying his English class at Greenville Tech 2 nights a week and is SO blowing me away in the great grades department! His tests have all been super and he got a 98 on his first paper! He's talking this school thing very seriously and I think it's great for the boys to see him so hard at work on it. I'm totally the President of the Rhett Brown Fan Club!

My class is going well too-I'm taking a speech class online and doing okay. I have my third speech to present in November and this will be my best. We have to persuade our audience to believe the way we do on something. We were supposed to pick something that we are passionate about and since I'm sure the class doesn't want to hear me go on about my family, Rhett suggested I speak on IVF. In-Vitro Fertilization. Many people believe that children should be adopted instead of spending money on IVF to have a child. I strongly disagree. If Rhett and I had believed that, Reece would not be here today. If you don't know the story and want to, just let me know. I won't bore those who know about our miracle, besides, I haven't written my speech yet to win everyone over to my side!

This is "Red Ribbon Week" for Reece and Garett so they are wearing red tomorrow, their sunglasses on Wednesday and having a "sock hop" on Thursday to celebrate saying NO to drugs. This was Reece's list of drugs this morning on the way to school: cigarettes, cigars and beer. At what point do you list all of the other ones? Do you scare him to death now or wait until 3rd grade to try to explain everything? I guess we need to do it now-otherwise, when he's offered pot (and I pray to God he's not offered ANYTHING), will he know it's a drug? I'm told that you can't start talking about drugs too early, but how do you put it on a kindergartner's and first grader's level? Parenting gets harder every day, but it's the challenge I love and we'll just all learn together!

Okay, a few last thoughts:

When Garett thanks God for the "loveness you give us" it truly melts my heart.

Logan's bug eyed, long face look is priceless. (See picture above)

Reece is getting some big ol' corn getters in in the front of his mouth.

Harry loves it when Garett reads "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See " to him. An I mean LOVES-like big belly laughs love!

As Rhett and I discussed after a dinner time filled with what seemed like dysfunctionality to me tonight, I wouldn't want the Stepford children, so I'll love mine, craziness and all!