Well, I am stirring up the pot again...we are trying to get everyone we know to attend the school board meeting this coming up Monday...more school bond talk...fun stuff! NOT! I just wish we could come together as a town and get excited about fixing up our schools!

Other than that, not much is going on. I am helping to plan our Youth Valentine's banquet so that is fun and just the regular school/therapy/toddler stuff!

Another first...unfortunately, not a good one...yesterday on the way home from Duncan, our sweet little girl Makenzie asked me a question, I answered it and she responded (imagine attitude & head bobbing...) "daaaaamn" I almost lost control of the vehicle! I tried to remain calm and ask her what was that you said sweetie??? and sure enough, she said it again! Inside I was freaking out but I just calmly asked her where she had heard that word - as Steve & I don't use it - and she says "Ice Age 2" Again, I about lose control of the vehicle...I asked her where in the movie they said it and she said something about a beaver and his house...so I explain that yes, beavers build dams, but it is not a nice word to use in any other way and that I expect to never hear her say it again unless she is talking about beavers! Later this morning I was telling Steve about it and he tells me a story about her using the word "ass" the day before!!! She was watching Ice Age 2 and a preview for another movie came on and the character asked if the jeans made his a** look big...he then heard Makenzie saying the phrase and then saying a** and giggling! He calmly told her we don't use that word and gave her the words we do use...

It is just so bizarre to hear these words come out of your sweet babies mouths! Especially when we don't use them and to our knowledge the kids have never heard them...I know all kids go through it - I was just hoping it would be later rather than sooner! Oh well, tomorrow is another day and I'm sure something else will be crazy by then!

The sweetest thing...

Tonight while putting the girls down for bed, we read our little devotional which talked about how we are all different and special to God who made us all different. Makenzie pipes up and says that there was a kid making fun of Sydney today and she told him to stop because "it's not nice to make fun of others who are different and besides, God made her special." I told her how blessed Sydney was to have a sister like her; someone who looks out for her and loves her no matter what. That's when Makenzie tells me she thinks Sydney is the most beautiful girl she has ever seen...yes, I am crying just writing it out...you could tell she totally meant every word of it too. Sydney really is blessed to have Makenzie for a sister and Makenzie is the most remarkable girl! We are so totally blessed to have them both! And Karsten too, even if he won't leave the eggs alone!

More fun and games...Karsten has discovered how much fun cracking eggs can be! Unfortunately, he likes to do it with no adult supervision! We have to keep a close eye on him as he gets into the refrigerator and sneaks the eggs out and carries them all over the house! ARGH! The good news is that most of the time he doesn't even break the yolk, so he's getting pretty good at it...however, as you can see, he's also trashed one of the game room chairs and the carpet in the game room!

I picked up Mak from school yesterday and asked her how school was, she replied "I don't want to talk about it Mother!" It was just too funny and it wasn't that big of a deal, she has gotten in trouble 2 days in a row for talking when she's not supposed to be talking! Imagine that! HA!

Sydney had a good therapy day earlier this week but is having a little bit of a rough time getting back into the swing of school after being off for so long...we are in the process of appealing a denial by the ins co to pay for some therapy from last year...if they refuse again we are hosed! The total bill is over $6000 and we don't have it! Oh well, God will provide!

What a fun week! The girls didn't have school until Friday last week due to the weather and we had a blast hanging out at home as a family with no "have to go do's"! Well, except for therapy...rain or shine we take Syd to therapy! She had new AFO's made for her feet and was a champ from what Daddy said...they actually make casts of her lower legs & feet and then cut them off and then take the casts back to the labs, make the AFO's and then in several weeks we'll get a new $1600 set of inserts! Fire up!

Wednesday, Steve & I took the caravan to Wichita for some maintenance and what should have been an overnight trip! Instead, we wound up getting stuck there and having to DRIVE home late Friday night! UGH! We did however have a great time hanging out together and got to do some shopping (got a great pair of boots on sale at the mall, along with a new pair of pants, jeans & a jacket & 2 sweaters! Yeah for me! Steve got in on the action too and ended up with new jeans & 2 new shirts!) ate out, watched a movie - non animated! and got to sleep and read books - with no pictures & big words! It was really a nice trip out! And even the drive home was a great visit so I didn't mind that either, but I know it totally annoyed the pilot to drive home!

The kids had a great time with their grandparents (yes, it actually takes a village to raise our kids! HA!) And Thursday Nanny got to take Syd to see Dr. Matt as she had 2 ear infections and a nasty cough...so once again we have a kid on antibiotics! She has been trying to get rid of these ear infections for several months now and it just keeps coming back...I wonder if that means we will end up with another set of tubes for Sydney...

Guess that's it for now, I've got to make a pie for mom's bridge group tonight and finish cleaning up the house from all the laziness of last week! Tonight is bedlam - GO POKES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Things to do in an ice storm!

What to do when you are stuck in your house (sometimes with electricity and sometimes without electricity!)...

10. Eat

9. Sleep (yes - I am actually "caught up" on sleep for a while!)

8. Read a book

7. Wrestle with Poppy

6. Ride the Airplane with Daddy

5. Play hide & seek (naked when possible! HA HA! He actually decided to take off all his clothes after peeing in the potty and go hide!)

4. Play outside in the 20* weather

3. Watch a movie

2. Play new video games

1. Eat black magic markers!

Brrrrr...ice storm is hitting us as I am typing this post! The temp is already in the low 30's and dropping rapidly! They expect most of the state to be without power all weekend as they say we will be getting 2" ice in the next day or two! It was 65 yesterday! Got to love Oklahoma weather! At least it keeps things interesting! I think we have enough food and stuff to get us thru it - I am worried a little about some of our eldery neighbors...

On a lighter note...the other day Steve was watching Karsten and he got quiet, so he went looking for Karsten and found him in the bathroom, sucking on toilet paper he had dipped in the toilet! ICK! Honestly, what made him look at the paper & the toilet and say "Hey - I wonder what that tastes like!" I've decided that must come from his side of the family as his sister used to get water out of the toilet for Steve to drink! HA HA

Got the pictures back from Dad's birthday party - all black/white with a cool ragged border around them...that was such a fun party! And I still can't believe that we totally surprised him!

I guess that's all for now...I'm assuming we'll be picking up the girls from school in an hour or two as the weather is deteriorating rapidly! Stay warm!

Girls' 6th birthday party!

The girls turned 6 a few days ago! We can't believe they are already 6! How time flies when you are having fun! And not much sleep! HA! We had kind of a tea party and they each had an individual heart shaped cake with their names on it, heart shaped ice cubes, heart shaped homemade candy...they also dressed up and made a 'stained glass' sun catcher unicorn - so everyone had a ball! Besides the girls, we had Taylor, Katie, Alli, Rebekah, Lindley & Aubrey over for the party!

Dad's 60th Birthday Party!

We managed to surprise dad for his 60th birthday with a surprise Sock Hop at the Opera House downtown! It was so much fun plotting & planning and it went off beautifully! He never had a clue! Everyone dressed in their letter jackets/sweaters or other 50's/60's gear and we played all the hits from '55 to '65! It was a blast! Uncle Mickey still looks stylish in his jacket! He was one of the few that could still button his jacket up! HA We made a 'cut out' for party pics from a picture of mom & dad from a highschool homecoming long, long ago! That was fun for everyone too!

Extended Brown family Christmas!

More Christmas to be had! Sat after Christmas we had the entire Brown clan at our house for more food & fun! The kids drew names & had fun opening their presents and the adults had a great time playing dirty Santa later on! Hot items included the OSU shirts (Go Pokes!) and a Catch Phrase game and a Sports Scene It game! Tons of fun! The guys enjoyed watching football while the girls talked up a storm! The grandkids decided to try to replicate a pic from our childhood (Grandma Kate used to line us up on the couch in the outfits she had made us! Special times!) Anyway, we don't all fit on the couch any more! But you can tell we all still love each other a lot!

fun at the park

After things quieted down a little, we managed to fin dour way to the park where we met up with cousin Krystal's kids & their new bassett puppy! Too sweet! She is a little doll! We got all the kids together for a picture, but couldn't get everyone to cooperate and look forward at the same time! Oh well, we had tons of fun anyway!

Christmas with Nanny & Poppy!

Later Christmas day, after a nice nap - we got together with Nanny, Poppy, Uncle Ga, Uncle Steve, Aunt Suzie, Taylor, Katie & Rob! Quite the crew! We had a blast and Nanny & Poppy got all the grandkids some awesome orange & black boots! Go Pokes! Uncle Ga made a hit with his Princess gear for all the girls! Poppy & Nanny loved their gifts with pics of the kids on it! The big kids all got great presents too and we are all hoping Steve finally gets the last word in! HA HA

Of course, we can't leave out our naked elf & cowboy! Can you say like father like son?!?! And Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without pictures of the kids lined up on the couch! Icky boys included!