40 Baby!

I am not even hiding it!

It was my day to celebrate on the 19th.

R took the day off and spent it with me.
Just what I wanted.
A sister kept the babes.
Also what I wanted.

We lunched at a great restaurant called Sekai Sushi.
Its on the NE corner of Gilbert and Southern.
It was our first time there, and our first time having sushi.
unless you count california rolls...
We loved them both!
I can't think of a better way to start a meal than with a hot towel...
and everything else just followed suit.

We did a little shopping.
We bought a treat from DQ.
I even got the large, thinking I would share... but I ate it all myself!

I love treats, especially cake.
J started talking about this one a couple of months ago, so I had to make it.
It tastes as good as it looks and I even shelled pecans from my tree for the frosting.
I think that makes it taste even better.

When my family sang, they had K on speaker phone from Provo.
Gosh I miss her and her music!

The best part of the day was spending time with my family.
A close second was getting so many sweet messages from friends.

It was a wonderfully happy birthday to me!

Unexpected Results

He had a plan.

It started with this.

Do you see the problem?

Nowhere does it say WASHABLE!

I only said, "WOW!"
...and picked up the camera.

He was quite pleased with himself.

He had been quite thorough.

Then he looked in the mirror.

It was not quite what he had been expecting.

It mostly washed off... with A LOT of scrubbing.

He did have purple circles under his eyes for a few days.


I guess he comes by it naturally.
No, I don't color myself purple...

I DO start projects and have an idea of how they should turn out, but when they don't I get discouraged and then my projects are few and far between.

I think that is why I stick with the basics.
Meals.
Laundry.
Cleaning.
Momming.

They don't require much vision, just some stick-to-it-ivness.

But sometimes, we are asked to stretch ourselves.
And when other people will see the success or failure,
it is scary.
Scary isn't bad... just uncomfortable.
I've been learning that from a friend who took a job in Abu Dhabi just because she could.
I have been comfortable with me.
But,
What am I learning?
What am I becoming?
What am I teaching?

Who am I fooling?
Not me...

Today, take a chance... do something different...

Use a marker that is NOT washable!

Veteran's Day

There is not much I enjoy more than a day off from the regular schedule!

I like a schedule to get things done,
but
with a day off, we relax and enjoy each other.

2 left bright and early to help with an Eagle project in the mountains.


The rest of us joined a wonderful early morning flag ceremony and breakfast.



At 1o:50, we were seated on Center watching the historic plane with a prop fly over the parade route.

We sat with Granny , an aunt, cousins, sisters and brothers, nieces and nephews... just like in the olden days.
My olden days.

For as long as I can remember, we have met in "our spot" for parades.
Muttie, my mom's mom, always brought a big bag of home popped popcorn.
Now, my mom does.

We cheered for the police officers who rode by...
we always have.
We stood for the first flag.
We called thank-you's to the Veterans.
We stood again and cried when too many pictures of young faces were borne past in waves.
And, of course,
we cheered for our favorite and tallest bass drum player!
He even grinned!


Granny treated us all to frozen yogurt cones.
We spent the afternoon visiting and letting all the children and dogs run in the yard...

Enjoying our free country...

THANK-YOU VETERANS!

Finally Halloween

My brain is a jumble right now. It has been for a couple of weeks. Anticipation of the upcoming and unknown has thrown off my sleep AND wake habits and blogging has suffered... along with a few other things...

For you who are away, here is our silly Halloween. Enjoy!

T with some of his class mates at Academic Accolades.

(the best pre-school in the area!)
We started the day by participating in the Juvenile Diabetes 5k walk...


Go team Coke!
(My sister in law's company sponsored us all!)
Here they are heading off to the ward trunk-or-treat...

One of our favorite Halloween carnival games!

L hoping to win the cupcake walk so he can win one of these...
delicious monsters we created in our lab!


Checking out the loot!
There's got to be more in here!

Black and Orange Dinner

This is one of our favorite family traditions.
We were adopted into it... the family and the tradition.
We have been going since K was little.

For the Browns, this was the 24th year!

costumes
dinner
bring something black(ish) or orange(ish) to share
homemade rootbeer
pumpkin carving
laughter
friends that feel like family
goody bags

This year was bigger than ever, but we missed our K!

I have been thinking a lot this month about budgeting.

It has been one of those months... where there more days than dollars.
(Nothing serious, just way more effort to stick to the budget)

For 14 years, we have been paid on the 1st of the month.
Efficiently,
Automatically,
Like clock work.

For 7 years, we have had a monthly budget meeting.
R and I,
1st Friday of the month,
Almost like clock work.
(You know, life happens)


The practice began as a necessity.
It was one tool taught to us by the therapist we were seeing at the time.
It is one of many tools that saved us.

Really, the object was communication...
even in the financial part of our lives.

We fill in an established budget form.
We notice any changes.
We check totals on our various accounts.
We check see that our debt is decreasing and our investments are increasing.
We set goals for the current month.
Together, we anticipate what we will need to spend money on...
(haircuts, birthdays, receptions, showers, tournaments, fairs, trips...)
We review how we did on the previous month.

We "spend" every cent on paper, before we spend it for reals.

I know stuff like this comes naturally for many couples, but not for us.
We learned that we have to plan it and organize it.
We learned that and now we do it.

Hooray for us :)

And now, I ponder the concept of budgeting time.
I have the same amount as you.
Yet, our lives are so different.
I mean, as far as talents, hobbies, interests, schedules...

I do so much,
but I could do so much differently.

Really, the possibilities are endless.
If I clear my schedule,
first put in the necessities,
and what is most important,
and schedule in the things I will do to become the person I want to be,
and plan to act when I am prompted,

the possibilities really are endless.

Fall Break

Hooray! No routines for the week!

Monday:

2 dozen free for great report cards...



and they were PINK!

We also picked up 15 tokens per report card from Chuck E Cheese... we collect them for each report card until we have enough for a family outing.

We spent a couple of hours "browsing" the shelves of Toys For Us. It had been ages since we had done it, but our "babes" all love to play through the aisles.
We even got some great ideas for a certain upcoming holiday ;)

My boys are always wanting to visit the Halloween stores that emerge this time of year.
Dad thought it was a great idea.
We didn't last long inside... YUCK!

Finally, we watched the new Karate Kid in the basement for the afternoon.
Fun movie.

Tuesday:

I did chores.
The boys ate and read and ate and read and ate and read.
Hmmm...

Wednesday:

I did chores.
The boys ateandreadandateandreadand...

WAIT, that was YESTERDAY!
so, I had a fit.
not cool.

WE did chores.
We escaped to Granny's house.
We ate lunch.
We played with cousins.
Some of us SWAM... in OCTOBER!

2 stayed for movie night
and then slept on the couches
and had apple stuffed french toast for breakfast.

Thursday:

Surprise!
Appointments for everyone to go see Dr. Lim!
For flu shots!

We love Dr. Lim.
We don't love shots.

Everyone cried.
1 person even had a panic attack and had to be taken to R's hospital to get his.
I got one at PIMC too.

We went to Costco for lunch and saw friends.
We went to Last Chance and saw another friend.
We went to Sheplers to buy T her first pair of cowgirl boots with birthday $ from Papa.
She wouldn't keep them on, so we didn't buy them.

We pitched our tent in the backyard.
We read by the light of our headlamps until we fell asleep.

Then, I snuck back in to watch the end of "runway" with R.

Friday:


Cereal for breakfast?!
With cartoons?!

Oh what the heck, we're on vacation!

And I think, after chores (it's already 10am) we will head to Main to enjoy the shops and statues.

BYE!

Recycled Crafts and Pesto

I am the first to admit that I have probably hampered the creativity of my children.

I RARELY encourage (or allow) any kind of activity that is cutty, gluey, markery, or glittery.
In my opinion, they spread too far and... I just don't like the mess.

L came up with this one all on his own. I sometimes feel like he tries too hard to keep up with his older brothers and what they do, so I was so happy when he started a creative kid project. He even let T join him... bonus!See the stairs up one side and the slide down the other?

I even let it live on the counter for 4 days :)

Unrelated, our basil plant in the garden is the size of a young hippo. Probably bigger than it should be. I am unsure how to tame it or whether or not we should cut it wayyyy back.
I did decide to make pesto... a first for me. I used almonds instead of pine nuts. It is really great on grilled pizzas.

It was also delicious on this!

A couple of other interesting harvests recently...

Dad has been collecting the olives off his tree instead of complaining about the mess they make. He has learned to brine them and has used many different concoctions for flavors. My favorite have been the lightly salted. They are just smooth and soft... almost buttery. He has offered to teach me, so I'll have to take him up on it!

A neighbor spread a sheet under her palm trees and has been collecting the falling dates. They are sweet and delicious! I was gifted an entire bag of them, already dried. I could eat them like candy, but I think I will bottle and save some and add some of their deliciousness to granola when I make it.