Livin' It Up on New Year's Eve

I spent New Year's Eve eating creme puffs and eclairs and watching a CSI marathon with Colin. Andrew was at the New Year's youth dance with Adria. He went as the bishopric presence at the dance, but I think he secretly wanted to see who his fifteen year old daughter was dancing with. Eva was in usual form with, "Mom, it's past my bedtime. I better go to bed!" It's nice to have one kid that doesn't kick and scream her way to sleep. Liam, however, rolled around trying to sit on Colin's head until he finally passed out. It was probably all the sugar since he and Eva discovered that they like eclairs which according to them tastes like they have 'melted ice cream' in the middle. After years of staying up past midnight with sick kids or insomnia or whatever else parenthood and adulthood brings, New Year's Eve has lost its mystique. The days of watching Dick Clark and the shiny, glittery ball drop on Times Square and wishing I were there are gone. Even venerable Dick Clark is on his way out to be replaced, I presume, with faux-DJ Ryan Seacrest who I'm not sure has actually seen or held a vinyl record. New Year's Eve is definitely not my holiday. Now the last day of school: there is day I can still celebrate like a teenager.

Notes from Christmas

Life has been busy, but I thought I'd share a few moments from the past few weeks

*The Nativity Reenactment: We decided to start a new tradition and act out the nativity. Originally, Liam was set to be baby Jesus. At the last minute, he decided to wear an old Harry Potter cape-costume since everyone else was in costume. Then he began making these hawk-like Caah noises and flapping his arms. When asked what he was he said a bat. So a Christmas bat is now part of our nativity scene.

*Santa's Cookies: Eva wanted to leave cookies and milk for Santa and carrots and water for the reindeer. Santa ate all the cookies, but one and drank the milk. One carrot was left with nibble marks out of it. But with no chimney, how did Santa get in? Too many questions and I'm not sure Santa will survive this next year for Eva.

*Casual Christmas Morning: It felt good to have a cosy gift opening and then a lazy Christmas Day. We love our families, but not having to rush around this year was nice. On a different note, we are all sick of ham leftovers.

*Wedding Reception: Adria and I helped man the kitchen for a wedding reception in our ward. It was exhausting and fun. I learned a lot about logistics, organization, food and venues for wedding receptions. It won't be too many years before I have to start thinking about these things. Yikes!

*Crazy Weather: We have had days where the high temp was in the teens and ice or snow on the ground. Then the past few days, weather in the 50s and even 60s with LOTS of rain. Too much of a variation all at once, has our sinuses going crazy.

*Church Zaniness: Our ward rotates starting times with the other wards in the building every year. Starting next week, we will be going at 1pm. I keep telling myself it's better than the 3pm we once had in Virginia. We also had the opportunity to go to tithing settlement with our 'bishop'. One of those odd moments in a long first year as the bishop's family.

*Late Hours: We are a family that naturally likes to stay up late. Over the break, we've been slowly edging back our bed times. Of course, this makes for cranky people and throws off the next days schedule. Last night everyone was ordered to bed early. The kids were great probably due to Christmas vacation exhaustion. Now, if only, I could fall asleep early.

We wish all our friends and families a Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year's and Best Wishes in the upcoming year!

Twas the Night Before Christmas...And We Ate Chinese Food

All of December has been hurling along to this one day, Christmas. Too many activities, too much food and too much shopping. Last night, I decided takeout from our local Chinese restaurant was in order. I had already been in the kitchen preparing for today. The last thing I wanted to do was cook dinner. Of course, no one complained. Give the kids chicken fried rice and their tummys were happy. While I continued to bake pie crusts, we watched A Christmas Story. You've gotta love Ralphie and his quest for the perfect Christmas present.

By 6:30am, we assembled in the living room for presents. Apparently, Eva had been checking the clock every hour since 4am. Adria was ready for her to just get the suspense of "Did Santa come?" over. Sadly, I think this is the last year for the Santa myth to exist for Eva. She's had too many questions and too many naysayer friends. But there is still Liam to keep Santa alive.

Merry Christmas!!

No School Voodoo

Last year Adria and Colin decided that anytime the weather threatened to cancel school they would practice a little voodoo to help Mother Nature along. Somewhere on the internet they found a list of superstitions that are supposed to help increase your luck. With an impending ice storm and finals looming and wanting more time to study, Adria called on her little brother to save the day last night. Colin flushed ice cubes down the toliet, ran around the house six times and performed a few other "good luck" charms, all the time giggling. Andrew teasingly told him to stop it as he needed to go to work today, and Colin needed to stop his "voodoo" practices. I have to wonder who started these superstitions. What person thought flushing ice cubes was good luck? Sounds a bit like something someone who plays the slots would invent. As it turned out, Mother Nature cooperated and glazed the roads with a sheet of ice and sent temperatures in the teens. Now I am at home with rowdy kids eating mac and cheese for lunch. Who knew hanging scissors on the wall would send good luck?

***Note:Writers of this post do not actually practice or subscribe to voodoo :-) Apologies to all voodoo loving people out there.

Have You Seen the Camera?

This has been my mantra for the past few weeks. Not having a camera around discourages blog posts. Eva had her 7th birthday on December 9th and I wasn't able to take pics. We gave her a goldfish which she promptly named Madison. As soon as we can, we'll let everyone know what she looks like(Eva is assuming it is a she, but how can you tell with goldfish?).

The end of the semester is approaching. Andrew has papers to grade and Adria has finals to prepare for. Liam just said his name for the first time. It comes out "We-um Bown". As parents of a child with a speech delay we are excited. He attends a special education preschool and has a speech pathologist to work with. Colin is flying along on the guitar. We were treated to Deck the Halls at our last Family Home Evening. Eva is constantly asking if she can read a book to us.

Cross your fingers and toes and hope we find the camera before Christmas!

O Christmas Tree

Monday night was spent decorating the Christmas tree. I set up the tree with all the lights. The kids took care of the ornaments and I rearranged them later. All and all I think we did a pretty good job. We decided the to use a smaller tree this year, one that we bought not long after being married. Colin provided 'Deck the Halls' on the guitar. It's the first Holiday song he's learned so far.

**I wrote this post last week intending to take a pic of our tree. Alas, I cannot find the camera.

"Tis the Season? Already?"

Can you believe it's only a little over a month until Christmas? This year has gone by too fast. We decided after all the summer travels we would stay home for Christmas. The kids are looking forward to waking in their beds on Christmas Day and opening presents at home. They have also been making "Christmas tradition" requests. Most of the requests involve food like wassail and different cookies. They are also demanding the tree is decorated as soon as possible. I've informed them that right after Thanksgiving is as soon as I'll be setting up the tree. I have to draw the line somewhere and so far no one has requested that I get on the roof and decorate the house with lights. We all know that won't be happening!

Those Kids Were Fast As Lightning

After watching Kung Fu Panda, Eva and Liam decided to bust out some karate moves. Liam's new monkey pjs (which he refuses to take off) add to the visual effect.

Pre-New Year's Resolutions


According to one of my sisters, I have abandoned my blog. Life has been its normal busy with the added delights of colds for everyone in the family. Andrew and I have also been busy with some pre-New Year's resolutions. We decided to give ourselves early Christmas gifts and renew our gym membership. Both of us have a few pounds we'd like to get rid of, and the holiday season is never kind to weight loss seekers. Other than that, life rolls along. Adria is busy with YW, piano, yearbook staff, AP European History, etc. Colin is on the quest for the perfect video game. Eva wants to be able to read every book in the library. And Liam is sailing along with speech therapy and torturing our cat. Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da.

"I'm Amy Brown and I approved this message."


No matter which candidate or issue someone is rooting for, I'm sure you are ready for this election to be over. Living in Missouri, we have received all the phone calls, knocks on the door, and campaign literature. Since Andrew was flying out of town to give a lecture, we decided to hit the poll early. Our polls open at 6am. So at ten minutes to 6am we arrived ready to cast our vote. Unfortunately about 250 other people also had the bright idea ahead of us. Two and a half hours, a stiff back and cold toes later, we had our "I voted! Did you? " stickers. If we drank coffee, Starbucks would have given us a free cup for our efforts. Good thing this election means more than a cup of coffee!

Halloween, St. Louis Style

I wasn't able to get all the kids together for a pic so everyone will have to settle for individual shots. Be warned. Colin's costume this year was an accident victim. We spent the evening in a neighborhood not far from our house. It's a popular trick or treating place for all the local kids including the high school. I think every child in the school district was there. Luckily, the rumor at the high school that the police were closing down the neighborhood at 8:30pm was true. Imagine packs of teenagers knocking on your door after 9pm. Some of the neighborhoods in St. Louis as trick or treaters to tell a joke for their candy. This was once such neighborhood. Here's Eva's joke: What kind of pie does a ghost like best? Boo-berry.

Pumpkin Carving Time

I love to carve pumpkins and part of the pleasure is the reaction of the kids. It feels like I'm "really" doing something as a mom. They love cleaning out and scraping the inside of the pumpkins which is nice since I don't like that part. We have a silly pumpkin, and angry one, a spider and a painted one. Eva wanted the angry and Liam picked out the painted one. The spider was a huge pumpkin I picked up at the grocery store for $5.

Images from the Past Week

Fuji apples are ripe so the boys and I headed across the river to Illinois for apple picking. It was sunny and in the 60s. We rode a wagon to the orchard. Liam didn't like for me to have my arm on the rail. He thought I might fall out.





Eva experienced a first this week. She lost her first tooth. She attended a birthday party with a Halloween theme. During the wrap the mummy game her tooth became caught on the tissue paper, when it was time to unwrap the mummy out came the tooth. She is excited and anxious to spend the tooth fairy money.

Sunday Blessings

I have a friend who posts weekly blessings each Sunday. It's a way of finding joy in everyday life. Since I can sometimes dwell on the negative, I thought I'd give it a try.

* Cooler weather coming soon
*Thrift store finds including jeans for three out of the four kids.
*Liam loving preschool
*General Conference and being able to listen to it on an IPod
*Quick dinners that don't taste quick
*Teaching another Sunday school lesson and feeling good about it
*Gas prices dropping
*Eva discovering Thoroughly Modern Millie(movie) and remembering how much I love it

My Boy Makes Me Laugh

I have this fabulous 12 year old boy. He has this magical ability to make me laugh.

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

I know I'm bragging, but my children have beautiful hair. It's a rich, chestnut brown color and thick with lots of body. Liam's hair is still in that blond turning to brown stage which all the kids went through. Eva's hair has been past her shoulders and part way down her back. We've been growing the bangs out, too. Tonight Liam decided to take a swipe at Eva's hair while playing with scissors. Needless to say I had to even up her hair. I know it's just hair and a vain thing to dwell on. She still has that beautiful smile and a pleasant disposition. I just wish we had chosen to cut her hair instead of needing to do so.

Before the Hair Cut


After the Hair Cut

Spider Update

About an hour after taking the photo, one of the kids wanted to look at the spider. There was a hole in the middle of the web and the spider was missing. My guess is a bat(lots of them in StL) swooped down and had a nice dinner with our fat, arachnid friend.

Isn't Summer Over?

Colin and I have been studying the stars, planets and space in Science. We took a moment and learned about the recent autumnal equinox on September 22nd so I know that it's officially Fall. Mother Nature hasn't let all her critters know about the change of seasons though. Last night I was walking Colin home from a friend's house. It was dark and we were chatting away until at the end of the driveway we spied a skunk in the garage. Luckily, we made it into the house without being skunkified. Eva reminded me that we'd have to 'pour all our tomato sauce on me to get the smell out' if it did spray me. The skunk did leave peacefully and our garage door will now be kept shut especially after dark.
After the skunk scare of 2008, we noticed this lovely spider waiting for its prey out our back door. Thankfully, we spotted it before stepping through the web. It reminds me of the poem, "Will you walk into my parlor?" said the spider to the fly, "Tis the prettiest little parlor that ever you did spy." BTW, the web is the size of a large watermelon.

Beware of the Scissors

We've all been told and heard, "Don't run with scissors." As children we are taught to hand scissors to another person with the sharp, pointed end facing away from the person. Scissors even come with the pointed end dulled and safety versions. Despite all these precautions, I have suffered two wounds from scissors, both on my legs. I have a lovely scar on my left knee from a pair of hair cutting scissors. I was about 7 years old and my mother was cutting my hair. I raised my knee at the same time she brought the scissors down and Shazam! One deep scar running vertically across the knee cap. I can still remember walking about with an ace bandage, keeping my knee from bending.
Yesterday, I was cutting Liam's hair. That squirmy, little monkey child moved, I wasn't paying attention and Bam! One gouge in my leg not too far from the knee cap on my right leg. I probably needed a stitch, but what's the point in paying an emergency room bill when I can use the handy dandy skin super glue now sold everywhere. Before anyone asks, I have had a recent tetanus shot.
I'm sure Freud would find something in both wounds coming from hair scissors. Both wounds occurring while a mother cut a child's hair. The difference being I was the child in one story, the mother in the next and always ended up being the one hurt. I think I'll chalk it up to staying away from scissors and always staying up to date on those tetanus shots.

First Day of Preschool for One, Flu for Another, Immunizations for the Rest

Liam officially started preschool yesterday. Because of speech and behavioral delays he qualifies for free preschool, four days a week. I've been hesitant and sad to send him. He's my baby, so little, and I didn't send any of the other kids to preschool. I love and value those years before school, but recognize that he needs help I can't give him. We visited the class on Wednesday and it helped to settle most of my fears. He is in a classroom at the district's early childhood center with eight other children. They have two teacher, Miss Jill and Miss Janie, at all times, and then a third person in the room is rotated between the speech pathologist and the occupational therapist. The class is a mixed classroom with only part of the children having IEPs. He'll go for a few hours in the morning, four days a week.
Thursday morning we headed to school for the first day without Mom. He was fine until it was our turn in the carpool lane. As they helped him out of the car, here came the tears and cries of "NO, NO." I drove away with an assurance that they would call if he continued to be upset. A couple of hours later, I picked up a smiling, happy to see me three year old. As we drove away, I asked him what he did that day. I got a jabbering, full of hand motions and sounds effects answer. What a relief!
Adria and Colin had yearly doctor's visits as well. Each had to have several booster shots and immunizations including this year's flu shot. Both came away with sore arms. Liam also had a test to check the levels of his peanut allergy. Love that blue, restraining papoose! My boys are so strong it has been needed anytime blood is drawn or stitches given.
We headed home after the exams to find that Eva came home from the bus crying. Andrew was home with her and tried to determine what was wrong only to get mumbling and more crying. She quickly fell asleep only to wake up an hour or so later vomiting and complaining of body aches. My sweet, little angel remained sick through the night and was left exhausted today. I think she's on the mend as she just asked what was for dinner. I gave her the choices I've planned for this week and she asked if we could have chicken and mashed potatoes as "That will make me feel better."
As a parent, the old adage 'when it rains it pours' is always appropriate. Thank goodness for the weekend!