Fun Day for the Browns!

What a great day! Here's what happened today, Wednesday, May 21, 2008.

Reece and I went on a Field Trip to FENCE in Tryon, NC. Here is the website http://www.fence.org/ . We hiked in the woods, sucked on some honeysuckle, fed snapping turtles and fish, explored the marsh and swamp and pretty much just had an amazing day outside! It was beautiful! At one point his class was playing Duck, Duck, Goose! and it was so refreshing to see him play with such abandonment! Recently he seems to have developed an outer "cool" shell and I've shared with friends that I'm not a huge fan of the attitude that comes with the shell. Today it was gone and I am happy! After we came home he and I picked sticks up in the backyard and I discovered 3 things:

1. Our backyard is too big! We need to fill up some of the yard and add on to the house. There is too much room for limbs to be scattered around!

2. Chloe has taken to digging holes in the red dirt and I am not happy about that...at all.

2. Reece hasn't grown up as fast as I thought he had. I loved being able to talk to him one on one while we worked together. It was nice.

Here are some pictures of our trip.

Here is his class....................Here he is being silly in the animal room.

This picture is of him on the boardwalk feeding the turtles and fish.

And this is Reece and our friend Katelyn after we ate lunch. We missed Katelyn's Mom, Nadine, who was planning to come but got sick at the last minute.

After the trip I stayed at school till it got out and got to do one of my very favorite things...start changing out a bulletin board! I mean it! If there was a job that simply entailed designing and constructing bulletin boards at school I would apply! I love it! I'm working on one for church right now too! Maybe I'll post a picture of it when I finish. ANYWHO...we left school and headed to Beba's to get the Babies. I really miss them on days we are apart. We loaded up and when we got home we got ready to go out to dinner for Harry's 1st Birthday!! Here come more pictures! He opened presents first...here he is wearing the AZ Diamond Backs hat my Mom and Marty sent for him. It came with a cute little baseball outfit! The it was time for cupcakes!! He wanted that 1 candle bad!! Then the mess came!! He's dressed in this picture, but when we left, he was a nekid baby!! Smart Mommy bought blank cupcakes at Bloom (I love that store!) and iced them with vanilla icing and sprinkles so #1 the sadistic frosting bakeries use wouldn't stain everything and #2 there wouldn't be NEAR as much sugar and lard in my children's systems! Thank you to Wendy for this wonderful tip!! We all had a great time celebrating and were so glad our friend Lindsay came with us. She was a real trooper when she held a conversation while helping Garett do a crossword puzzle before dinner. She's a great multitasker and will make a great Mom some day!! Here she is with Bug. Reece and Logan hammed it up for the camera, messy faces and all! Thank you Daddy for taking the pictures...once again, the man behind the lens didn't make it in front of it...we"ll get you next time!!

All in all it was a wonderful day as I sit here typing and listening to Baby Harry's sleeping noises, I am so thankful for him. A year ago at this time he was in NICU and we were praying that he'd be able to go home with us. Look at him now!! You'd never know that there was ever any doubt! I am so lucky to have my 4 Boys. I love them so very much and hope that one day they will know the love that fills a parents heart.

That is all for now since it's tomorrow already and past time for bed.

Sweet Dreams,

Jeanne

I Refuse to Get Behind on Life!

Okay, I know you are all falling over from surprise, but here I am, updating, twice in 4 days! Compose yourself, it's not that exciting...


We had such a great weekend that I had to post pictures before I forgot. But I have to clear up something first. My Mother and "my friend" Dora were not the only 2 people who thought I could pass Statistics. Rhett Brown also had faith in me...he made sure I knew that this weekend after he read the blog. My apologies, Dear. I'm glad you knew I had the knowledge in me to pass!! One more thing and then I'll let this go-I thank Rhett for being a single Dad 3-4 nights a week for last semester. I could not have made it through the classes without you...and get ready, because it'll start all over again soon!!


I had a WONDERFUL birthday!! Thank you all for the calls, emails and wishes! I've told Rhett that there are 2 days that a mother should be celebrated (well there are more than 2-but they should DEFINITELY be celebrated on these 2) and that is Mother's Day and her Birthday. Pull out all the stops! Treat her like you should treat her every other day of the year! He and my Boys certainly did that! I did not cook, do laundry, or clean and I loved it!! Although it's like taking a vacation from work-my in box was always piled high. And so it is now! So here we go-I'm hurrying so I can go play catch up!


Here is Reece wearing my hat for me at lunch with Rhett's parents. I really did not want to wear it and while Rhett did get a quick picture of me with it on my head, this is a better picture because Reece is in it with me!


I got my first birthday cake from "my friend" Dora (I promise-from now on she'll just be Dora!). She made me a lemon jello cake that was AWESOME!! It was so thoughtful for her to make that for me and bring it by. She brought her son Conner and he and Harry had a good time talking and laughing at each other. Did I mention that the cake ROCKED!!? Just wanted to make sure! We celebrated Friday night at dinner too before Rhett headed off to Relay for Life to play with Pretzel Logic-don't ask me about the name-I forget where it came from. Anyway-it was cold! And LATE!! I bribed the Boys with ice cream and Oreos and the promise of a trip to Monkey Joes later on and it worked! I was glad when Rhett made it home safely at 3am.


Saturday we all spent the day together and went shopping (after we had all of the paint washed off and the confetti vacuumed out of the van!) and I got a couple Teacher gifts for the end of the year. Saturday night we had dinner with Missy and Andy Alling since their birthdays are in May too. There were about 18 people there I think and we had a great time! Here are the birthday girls! While I'm on the topic of Allings, I want to share the picture I took of their growth "chart". Remember, I talked about it earlier in a post. Here is one part of one side of it. The idea of having 8 children used to scare me, but now that I'm at 4 -what's 4 more?!! I'd love to have 2 more! Hey-I just read in People magazine (I know-don't lecture me on the pitfalls of society and the obsession with celebrities-I hardly ever read it) that the Duggar family is expecting child number 18! Number 17 is 9 months old. I've seen them on TLC. THAT'S a little much for me. Anyway-here is the picture! I love it! You can't see it too well, but you can see that there are lots of measurements! I love that!





Well, we did Mexican after church on Sunday with Rhett's parents (and I had my 2nd birthday cake!) and I took this picture of Harry-his birthday is Wednesday-can you believe it? I can't. Let's not talk about it...but here is a cute picture of him multitasking. He was drinking juice and playing with the balloon. I loved the picture, so here it is.



Sunday night Reece had been invited to see his friend Amaris in a musical at her church, so Garett and I went as well while Rhett stayed home with the Babies. Amaris did a great job! She has a beautiful singing voice! So sweet. Reece picked some flowers out for her and here is the picture I took afterwards. Good times for sure!!


So, this week holds a field trip for Reece and I to Tryon, NC. We are excited about that! Logi and Harry will spend that day with Beba and every afternoon will be filled with fun stuff so Garett will not be left out. The hammock has made it's debut for the season, so most likely instead of my lying on the sofa eating bon bons, I will spend the days out in the yard, swaying in the breeze...hmmm, I think 4 tons of laundry disagrees with me! One day off makes a huge difference in the schedule I try to keep!


Hope everyone has a great week and remembers to Pay it Forward if you can! Smile more than you have to---it's a great gift you can always give!

Until next time, I'm Fondly Yours,

Jeanne
CHO for the Brown Family

Just Another Day

Hey! Jump right in to the Brown Lake of Life! Here we go! Today it's all about bullet points so I stay on task!

-I PASSED STATISTICS!!! I really don't think anyone thought I could do it besides "my friend" Dora and my Mom (including myself-I was very pleasantly surprised!), but I did it!! Thank you SO much to Jaime and Dora...I really could not have done it with out you, or everyone's prayers! I know my high school algebra teacher, Mrs. Byrd, would be the most shocked of everyone!! :o) Anatomy and Physiology was good too...I wasn't as worried about that one! I'm taking the summer off to be the Camp Counselor at Camp Keeping-4-Boys-Occupied-for-21/2-Months, but will be back into the thick of things in August. Whew! I need a break!

-We have pulled out all of the old home video tapes and are having a ball! Last night I found one that I taped before we had children. We had 3 cats and 2 fish tanks (BIG fish tanks) and I gave a tour of our 2 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath condo that lasted 15 minutes-i showed every detail-including thee laundry room and the cat boxes. So THAT'S what I did before kids! It was hilarious to watch! I took it in 1997 and Rhett and I had only been married 2 years. The Boys love watching the tapes and especially got a laugh when I talked about not wanting Baby Garett to walk because he was probably my last baby!! HA HA HA! That was 2 Babies ago! I need to run the camera more...it's so much fun to look back on the Boys' lives.

-Logan is a freak! Not long ago I told him that I loved him. The conversation went like this:

ME: Logan, I love you.

LOGAN: Me "yove" YOU!

ME: I love you MORE!

LOGAN: ME "yove" you SO much more...with a little CRAZY on top!

How can you not smile at this curly haired ball of energy ?!? This curly haired ball of energy who has decided that NOW it's okay to be potty trained!! YEA!! One Baby in diapers is GREAT! No rush for him to get out of them! Here is Logi with my new "nephew" Sam! He couldn't wait to hold him! He's the son of my brother's wife's sister and brother in law, Lisa and Rick. Technically they aren't related to us, but we call them Aunt Lisa and Uncle Rick and so their daughter Halleigh is my niece and Sam is my nephew! I love new babies and when the Boys and I stayed with Lisa and the children last weekend I jumped out of be to do the 3:30am feeding. I miss that time with my Babies. I so wish I was preggers again!

School is winding down-9 days left not counting today and 2 of those days are half days! I'm excited to get to sleep in and not have to get up and take the Boys to school (sorry Rhett!), but we'll miss our teachers! Bug's teacher, Mrs. Deal, is moving to the new school with us next year, but Reece's teacher, Miss Ford will still be at Wellford. We've become friends and I wish I could be her Room Mom again next year!! I'm glad Mrs. Deal is moving with us, because number one, she and her husband are going to have a BABY in January (yea!) and number two, I have two more children coming behind Bug that could have her for kindergarten!! We are looking forward to lots of field trips and fun times this summer...let us know if you want to plan a play date!!

One more thing, I think just one...Last night when we pulled into the driveway, Rhett saw a frog...the first frog of the spring! So the Boys all scrambled out and Bug scooped it up! Here he is. Jaime, remember how we used to catch the frogs at your parent's farm and throw them up in the air and catch them?! Those were fun times!

The icecream truck came through the neighborhood this week. Summer is coming! Now we just have to wait for the fireflys!! When I get old I want to drive the icecream truck. That is going on my list of goals.

Okay, well, I will go for now. Today is my birthday and so now that my CHOOSE JOY coffee mug is empty it's time to get dressed and climb in my van that my DH (Dear Husband) so thoughtfully decorated for me and go to lunch and playdate with the Babies. We're off to see Joy and Taylor and we're so glad that the sun is coming out!!

Remember to be nicer than you have to and try this this week-Pay it Forward. If you are in line at Hardee's or Bojangles or wherever, ask how much the order for the person behind you costs. Then, if you can, pay for it! It's the BEST day brightener EVER!! Then you just leave! Let them enjoy their sweet tea or biscuit and hopefully they will be nicer to someone that day than they have to be! Try it! It's fun!

Until next time, I'm Fondly Yours,

Jeanne

Queen of the Brown Clan

P.S. I sort of failed on the bullet points, I know. Oh well!

A Few Thoughts I Didn't want to Get Lost in my Head

So, it's been a good week. My review nights for exams are finished and now all I have to do is take the exams next Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday is Anatomy and Physiology and Wednesday is Statistics, so pray for me for both exams, but REALLY pray for me for the Statistics night. I know many people have heard me say this, but if I can just make it through that class!! I will count it a major accomplishment in my life.



If I could, I'd like to make a statement as the President of the Rhett Brown Fan Club! He had to critique an outside speech for his class this week. He chose Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech and totally rocked it. Ms. Trumbo said that he was the first student to do the speech justice. I am so proud of my husband. He rocks on so many levels! Tonight he has to give his final speech!



Okay, so yesterday while I was on the phone with Wendy, my disposal literally dropped out of the bottom of my kitchen sink! Sorry for the hasty goodbye, Wendy! I freaked! There was water pouring out of the cupboards under the sink and let me tell you, it was a mess, but the Boys helped me get towels and it's all good now. Rhett has a project for the weekend (and who doesn't like home improvement projects that HAVE to be done?!?) and I'll have a new disposal! In the middle of the mess, I took a bag full of drenched under-the-sink-stuff to the garbage cans and what do you know? I had something to smile about! The climbing rose by the cans is ready to burst open with blooms! I could have gotten frustrated about the mess and inconvenience, but you know what, it wouldn't have helped at all, so I just smiled, took a deep breath and went back in to finish cleaning up and getting dinner ready. Thank you God for climbing roses that make me stop and smile!



Last night when Garett Bug was going to bed , he asked me to lay with him "for just one minute". So I did. After he had said his prayers we had a conversation that went something like this:

"You know those flying squirrels?"



"Yes."



"They look like brown bats when they are flying".



"Really?"



"Yes."



"Did you talk about flying squirrels today?"



"No. I just thought about them."



Okay, Bug may look like Rhett, but his thought processes are so like mine! The thought about it and so we talked about it. I love it! Who else thought about flying squirrels and their resemblance to bats yesterday?



I promised a picture of Reece and his new smile so here it is! He's such an introverted child! Just kidding! He's had a great week at school!



Okay, so Logan and Harry are great and will get more attention in the blog next time. I've got to get ready for Drop-In-And-Play with Ms. Pat at Reece and Garett's school. I can take the Babies up there one Friday a month and do crafts and activities and play and hang out with other Moms! I love it!

I hope that everyone has a great weekend! Be thankful for your kitchen disposals, blooming flower and children who tell you what is on their minds!



Until next time, I'm Fondly Yours,



Jeanne
Queen of the Brown Clan

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)