We don't have lights, but we're not Jewish

When Jacob was 5 we were driving around looking at Christmas lights. As we were driving around Jacob saw a house that didn't have any Christmas lights up and said nonchalantly "Oh...they must be Jewish." I said "Why do you think they're Jewish?" he said "Well they don't have Christmas lights up, so they aren't celebrating Christmas, so they must be Jewish." So, I guess I'm Jewish, I could have sworn that my whole life I've been Mormon (well actually since I was three, cuz that's when my parents joined the church) but I guess I was wrong...I'm Jewish because we have no Christmas lights on the outside of our house!

Speaking of Christmas lights, Gerrit is a FREAK over them! He is always signing to me "Mom...more...lights" When we come into the neighborhood at night, we drive the long way around so that he can see all the lights. At every house he takes a big loud intake of breath and says "ohhh wwwoooowww" Then when we get home he fusses a little and signs "more...lights...more...lights"

He's also a FREAK over Santa. At the girls ballet party they had a Russian Santa come (since it's classical Russian ballet). He would sign "Santa" and I would ask him if he wanted to go see him and he would shake his head and say "uh uh" but he watched him the whole time. Then Father Frost left. For the next 45 minutes he was CONSTANTLY signing "Santa...where...go?" I would say that Santa went bye bye. I wanted to tell him then and there that Santa wasn't real and he was just a stupid man dressed up and on Christmas morning when he saw his cool little race car track and his stocking "ya buddy...that's allll me baby, no fat guy trying to squeeze his way down the chimney, just your fat mom swearing while trying to put the stupid track together, so you can rip it apart 27 1/2 times a day and strew pieces all over the house, and then we just end up throwing it away cuz we can't find all the pieces, but then we do in August when the movers come, but it's too late then cuz we already threw it away......" Wow, where did that come from? Do I need to work on some issues? ha ha

I must have issues dating back to childhood, oh that's right, I do, because I found out about the trinity (Santa, Easter Bunny, and Tooth Fairy) when I was 5 YEARS OLD!!! On Easter I went to the back door to do a pre-scoping of where the eggs were before I woke up my mom and dad. Guess what I saw? My mom putting the eggs out!!! So later when my mom was curling my hair for church I asked her if there was an Easter Bunny "Well, what do you think?" "WWAAAAA (me bursting out crying) I saw you putting out the eggs!" Then a minute later, the smart kid that I am I put three and three together and asked "Is there such thing as Santa?" "Well, what do you think?" "WWAAAA no!" "What about the Tooth Fairy?" same freaking question came. For the love of all that is fake, mother, could you not have lied to me...at least for a few more years? Yep, it's all my mom's fault for anything rebellious that I did! It all stems back to when I was five!!! Thanks a lot MOM, you ruined my life! ha ha ha ha ha The upside to all this is that my brother is 5 1/2 years younger than me, and you can sure as heck bet that he didn't here the truth about Santa from me! I wanted him to believe, so that I would receive! So see, I'm not Jewish! :)

I was tagged!!!

Finally someone (thank you Margaret) tagged me! I always read peoples blogs and they've been tagged but they never pick me :( Now I know I have a REAL friend (we're totally BFF's now Margaret ha ha) So I am tagged to write seven things about myself...where do I begin???

1. My whole kid life growing up I always wanted to break an arm or a leg, purely for the attention that I would receive, I love attention, oh wait I should save that for #2. I especially wanted to break a leg so that I could have crutches, that way I could be even later to class than I already always was, someone could carry my books, or lunch tray for me. And if it was in the winter, I'd have to buy all new jeans because I would have had to rip mine so that my pants could fit over my cast. All I ever did was break my pinkie toe...no attention, no slave, and no new clothes..

2. I love to be the center of attention. Wait...does that count if I tell something that everybody obviously knows?? I love to be around people and I love to have Browne Comedy Hour. Now, I want you to know that when I am in a setting with other people I try VERY hard to not interrupt the conversation to say what I want to say, which is hard because I know what I have to say is either so funny, or important that I know people can not live another second without hearing what I have to say. at the same time, I hate it when people interrupt me when I'm saying something (aside from a small comment that adds to the thing I'm talking about) especially if it takes the conversation away from what I was talking about. "HEY!" I want to say "I've had the self control to let 30 other things that I was DYING to say pass by, but this I HAD to say and now you're interrupting ME????" So if you're in a social setting with me and you notice that I'm getting that glazed over look, please ask me what I'm dying to say because I'm REALLY trying to be a polite-in-a-social-setting person...but I'm about to BURST!!!

3. I have ridden a mechanical bull! and I was quite good at it too! My friend and I, when I was around 18 used to hang out with a bunch of cowboy friends down in Lehi, Utah. One friend had a mechanical but in his huge barn and the Rodeo Club used to go there to practice roping and riding (can I get a YEE HAW???) I saw the guys getting on there and getting thrown off and I spoke up that I could do better, so they said "prove it" So I did. (Remember #2? Attention!!) I got up there, it started going, and I didn't fall off!!!

4. I love to read!!! My idea of a perfect day, sitting up in bed, in a quiet kid free house, surrounded by junk food and Dr. Pepper, and I good book!!! Some of my favorites are Twilight series, Inkheart series, Fablehaven series, Harry Potter, historical romance, self help (cuz I need a lot of help) and parenting books.

5. I played the flute for 6 years. I stayed in the band til the end of my 10th grade year. Why only til then you ask?? Every four years the band would go to Disney World to play in the parade. I only wanted to stay in until then. I wasn't a good player, I never practiced. I did some flute-syncing...meaning, I pretended to be playing but really wasn't. I know...I'm terrible!

6. I am NOT a deep thinking, ponder on things in life kind of person. I am an in the now kind of person. I also don't like to think about bad or negative things, I'd rather just flit through life dancing and twirling along and not deal with things. There are good and bad things about that, let's start with the good (cuz that's how I am...didn't you read the last sentence?) I am generally a happy person. If you need a pick-me-up, I'm your girl, I'll have you laughing in no time. Bad side is that I'm an adult, and therefore need to deal with adult issues which are often not pleasant, but I'm working on it, remember I like to read self help books.

7. I love cooking. Not baking, I can't make cookies to save my life, although I make a mean carrot cake! But, I am a pretty good cook. The problem is that 1. I wish I had someone that would clean up my mess for me after I've cooked a great dinner (I know, that's what 4 kids is for right?) and 2. I don't have a lot of time to fix great dinners. We're at ballet Mon, Tue, and Thur and don't get home until 5:45. Prepare ahead of time??? That makes too much sense! Jacob is starting basketball on Friday and the girls have Destination Imagination after school on Wed, and Fri, that means I have something EVERY day of the week! Not to mention the two year old that tries to climb back in my uterus whenever I try to do anything productive. Was the last sentence to graphic for you??? Sorry but that's how it is! Saturdays are usually crazy around here, so basically Sunday is the only day that the Browne's have a good dinner.

Well, that's it...there's my seven random things! I don't think I can tag 7 people...are there even 7 people that read this blog? ha ha

Sacrament is not a buffet!

Today in church they passed the sacrament water around and Steve gave Gerrit one of the little cups, then took one for himself. Now, the way it should have worked out is that they would both throw their little cups away and pass the tray on down the line. But that's not what happened. Gerrit hurried and downed his and while Steve was reaching to get his. While Steve had his cup at his mouth, Gerrit reaches over and snatches another cup and throws it down the hatch as well, and goes to reach for another one before we caught him!!! He was sooo excited for the tray to come to him, he had been signing "drink" the whole time before the tray got to us. He's probably thinking in his head "oh. this is sooo cool, a tray full of cute little Gerrit sized cups, filled with little drinks for me". And, by golly he was going to grab as many of those things as he could before it passed him by!! We also have to tell the girls that they can't spend five minutes looking around for the biggest piece of bread, after all, it's not called "snackrament"!

Picture Day is overrated!!!

So, today is picture day and I'm sure my kids wonder if I love them!!! It started out good, I put Jaelyn's 50 pounds of hair in hot rollers so she could have "High School Musical hair" sent her downstairs to eat breakfast. Then came PMS child I mean Grace (how silly of me to get her name wrong) she was asking me where a certain shirt was, in the dirty clothes I said, I WANTED TO WEAR THAT FOR PICTURE DAY she yelled as she blew a gasket. Now, if I would have known that she wanted that shirt I would have washed it yesterday, but up until last night she had a whole other outfit picked out. How stupid of me to not read her mind. I know she's exercising her right to change her mind, she is after all a women but come on!!! So we found something that would work for her highness, I mean for her. So I started curling her hair so that she could also have HSM hair. She doesn't get curlers, for three reasons...1. they were in Jaelyn's hair (ha ha), 2. her hair isn't long enough, 3. she has 40 pounds of hair less than Jaelyn and it can be curled with the curling iron. She pitched a fit about everything imaginable, I'm sure we even argued about what to do on her wedding day. Amid the yelling and chaos I made her hair look cute. Although I'm sure she'll become an Emo when she gets older cause of the damage I caused her today, oh wait, she won't do that Emo's don't wear bright colors. so, looking back I guess Jacob and Jaelyn know I love them, it's just Grace that will wonder. So, as they got out of the car I yelled "Smile cute!" Why do I need to make all this fuss when 1. I buy the cheapest package possible and 2. My friend Kiersten took AWESOME individual pictures of the kids when we had family pictures done a few weeks ago??? Times like this when I screw up my kids I just remember that Steve and I don't have a college fund set up for the kids, we have a psychiatry fund so when they are older, and out of the house they can pay for someone to fix their life for them they we took all the years to mess up!!!

Veterens Day 2008

Veterens Day holds a special place in my heart because hello...I'm married to one and I know a ton of them. We decided that we wanted to go do something special for V-Day. We went downtown to the Mall and saw the Vietnam, Korea, and WWII Memorials. There were tons of people there, it was great! We told the kids that it would be really appropriate for them to thank some people for their service to our country. As we walked along the kids would walk in front of someone, shake their hand, and say "thank you for your service" I could tell that they were touched. One man said "You're raising them up right!" I sure hope so! If there's one thing that I would love to pass down to my kids it is the love I have for this country, and the patriotism that I feel. Most of you who know me, know that I am not a crier, I didn't even cry at any of my kids birth, but man do I get to bawlin when The Star Spangled Banner plays, when fireworks are going off on 4th of July, at ft. McHenry on Flag Day, when I think of our friends who have died in this war, etc. Today was no different, there is such a reverent feeling at the Vietnam Memorial for me. Seeing the different things that people had left their for loved ones and friends, knowing that these people were reliving feelings of those days when they fought and lost friends beside them, or when family got the news that someone had died, just ripped me open! Then we heard Taps playing and I couldn't stand it, I just let the tears fall! One of my favorite things about living on post in Texas is that we lived close to one of the big speakers, so in the morning at 6 we would hear Revelie and then at 5 p.m we would here the song announcing that they were taking the flag down and all the kids would stop playing (if they were outside) and turn towards the music and put their hands over their heart (that was cool to see 12 little kids doing that) then at 11 p.m they would play Taps. Oh I loved it!!! I also loved hearing the tanks miles away doing their shooting, it made me feel safe. Anyway, I just wanted to say that I love, love, love this country and thank, thank, thank you to those of you who fight for it!

We also saw a squirrel that was the fatest thing you've ever seen and do you know why it was so fat??? Because it ate right out of our hands!!! All of us had a turn feeding it! Who's not going to feed a tame squirrel? He's a smart guy!

Halloween 2008

As you can see Gerrit is the law around these parts and Grace is not too happy about that!

This officer runs a tight ship!!!

I'm raising a pansy!

So I took Gerrit to Toys-R-Us today to look for a motorcycle that he can ride on, we found several to choose from and he was in motorcycle lover heaven! We go back to the isle that has the big -huge-a-seventeen-year-old-could-drive cars and trucks, you know the power wheel ones. There are all sorts of vehicles, real manly ones, the isle was oozing testosterone, with the hunting 4-wheeler, the black Cadillac escalade, the John Deer tractor, the Harley Davidson, only the manliest of men should even try to ride these! So I'm thinking in my head that Gerrit is just going to die in this isle, he is going to think I am just the coolest mom in the world for bringing him here, heck he might even spontaneously start talking! So I pick him up and plunk him down on the "Hog" he throws a fit and wants to get off, so then I put him on the hunting 4-wheeler then I realize he must be either a vegetarian or work for PETA cuz he didn't want to be on there either. So I thought, alright I'll let him choose what "ride"he wants to unleash his manliness-in-the-making on. My friends...do you know what that kid ran to???? The bright pink Barbie Cadillac Escalade. Now should I be worried, or is it that my son is soooo full of manliness that he can pull off driving the pink Barbie truck, I think I'll go with the later!!!

Happy birthdday Gerrit! One week late

So, a week late (that's how I roll) I thought I'd do a post about Gerrit for his birthday that was last Monday October 13th. What a joy it has been to have Gerrit in our family! He is the best natured kid! Always happy and smiley and loves to run around and play with everyone. He now knows over 60 signs and communicates with them very well! His favorite things in life continue to be motorcycles, balloons, balls, animals, watching Signing Time DVD's, and playing outside with all the neighbor kids. I thought I'd post a billion pictures showing you some of Gerrit's favorite things in his life and some other just cute pictures.

Being nice and warm in mommy's tummy

Being born

Helping Daddy fix the car on his new under-the-car-rolly-thing

Smiling for one of the first times

Looking at the world with big blue eyes

Looking cool like daddy

Showing off his dimples

opening presents

swimming...this year at the pool he didn't think he was swimming unless he was in the big pool, I would take him to the baby pool and he would stand at the gate and sign swimming and point at the big pool

Being carried in the sling...in this picture I'm getting on to Jaelyn because she kept pulling him backwards in the sling so that she could see him...it was getting just a tad on my nerves

Eating ice out of a pool meant to keep drinks cold for the triathlon runners

animals

digging out pumpkin guts...every time he would stick his hands in there he would pull them out and a shiver would go all through his body, I guess the feel of it gave him the heebie jeebie's

LOVES to play and drink from the hose

being a chicken for Halloween

Loves to hike and wonder all around the backyard and anywhere outside

This kid loves to eat dirt, people I try but there is just no keepin it out of his mouth

Wearing helmets...hey he's a safety guy

Drinking from puddles...just one more thing that I can't keep him away from, but I gotta tell you that kid now has an immune system of steel, and this must be why!! He believes that being sanitary is so overrated

Loves to balance on balls...one time at church he fell asleep on top of a basketball doing this! It was the funniest thing

Loves to drink soda! That's my boy, lovin Dr. Pepper

Being with Sydney, she's his best friend. They are only 5 days apart and we got her when he was 7 weeks old. He rolls and lays all over her and she happily takes it!

Loves his binky...yes this is a girl binky, Steve bought it because 1. it was on sale and 2. they didn't have any boy ones.

At Yellowstone

Riding Grandpa's motorcycle...he is a FREAK over motorcycles. Anytime we are anywhere, in a parking lot, driving down the road, anytime he can even hear one he signs motorcycle over and over again!

Scraggle

Grace is my Little Miss Independant. She will NOT let me touch her hair, to brush it or style it in anyway. Now there are times when I stamp the mommy foot down, for instance; the first day of school, family pictures, school pictures, anywhere I'm going where we might take pictures that will be on the blog. But for day to day things Grace does her own hair. Here's the problem, she doesn't brush it good. She'll get the front sides ok but completely forgets the other 60% of her head. She hates to deal with the "ratties". If I try to take a brush to it, a miracle happens...she suddenly has NO bones in her body, she just melts to the ground. Too bad her voice doesn't disappear like her bones do!! Her idea of doing her hair is grabbing random handfuls of hair and sticking it in a ponytail holder. The reason I let her do her own hair is that if she feels good about how she looks, why should I ruin her self esteem just so that I look like a better mother (which we all know I'm not so why try to deceive) but I do have a serious problem with her not brushing it in the first place. "Grace expressing herself" hair does look a little bit better when it has at least been brushed! So I told her the other day that kids are going to start making fun of her if she doesn't start brushing, (see how I foster her self-esteem? I think I should write a book)and that I was going to take her and cut her hair short if she didn't start brushing. Last night at church I was telling said conversation to my friend Sylvia. She then pointed out her own Little Miss Independant and said "Why do you think we call her Scraggle?" So then she was asking Grace is she was a Scraggle. So guess what Grace said to me this morning after her shower??? "Mommy can you do my hair this morning...but do it the way I tell you to?" If Sylvia would have been at my house at that moment, I think I would have kissed her (you know you'd like it Sylvia...pucker up!) If this continues and she wants me to keep doing her hair, I will owe Sylvia BIG!!! Thanks friend!

Happy Birthday Jacob!!

11 years ago today Jacob was born! Oh how excited I was to finally not be pregnant anymore and have my cute (not-so-little) baby in my arms. He weighed 8lbs 15 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. Raising him has been some of the best and worst (just being honest) times of my life! He was an amazing baby, always happy as could be, such a charmer, and ALL boy! Then he learned to walk and a whole new chapter in my life opened up...let's title it CRAZY!!! As most of you know Jacob has ADHD and boy he maxed out on the points for hyperness!!! It was a challenge raising him...walk down memory lane with me. Let's see where do we begin? How about the time he climbed in the pantry, got the maple syrup and squirted it all over the floor and couch...aahh yes...good times...good times. How about the time in a one week period he dumped out a bag of flour, broke a very large jar of minced garlic, schlapped (yes that is a word in the Tiffany dictionary) 1/3 of a large tub of butter on the ONLY rug that we had in our on post house (everything was good ol cafeteria tile) and then the topping on the cake was when he emptied a thing of SHOUT gel on the laundry room floor and was skating around in it saying "whoa, whoa, whoa". How about last year when he thought it would be a good idea to slide down the stairs in a laundry basket resulting in a large hole in the wall of the house we RENT!! Has it been an adventure raising Jacob??? Oh heck ya! But the pay off for having not thrown him in a sound proof closet, selling him on the black market, or trying to get some stranger to kidnap him, is that I now have an AMAZING son! He is a true joy in my life now! He is such a smart kid and does very well in school. He LOVES to read and stays up late into the night reading by the light of the bathroom. He has started playing the trumpet. He has a great sense of humor. He is spiritually strong. He is a momma's boy and doesn't want to be away from me. One of the things that I love best about Jacob is that he is the BEST big brother to Gerrit. It is so obvious to everyone that he loves him very much. He takes him outside to play with him, gives him rides on his Green Machine, and takes him in his room to play. I had worried that since they were nine years apart that they wouldn't really have much of a relationship, I couldn't have been more wrong! Jacob I love you very much and am so glad that Heavenly Father blessed me with such a wonderful son! You are going to continue to be amazing as you get older and I can't wait to see all the wonderful things Heavenly Father has in store for you!

Check out the GUN show!!

First trialthalon

Yes, this is Jacob...not Gerrit

His other front tooth came out after this pic was taken so he had all four front teeth missing at the same time!

Gerrit...the biker dude

Gerrit's favorite part of our trip was my dad's motorcycle! That kid is ready for Sturgis (if you don't know what that is you are so not cool in the motorcycle community) In the morning when we would leave the hotel he would have to sit on the bike. When we would stop and look at something, he would have to sit on it before we could put him in his car seat. When we would get back to the hotel at night what do you think he had to do??? That;s right, get on the motorcycle. So we taught him the sign for motorcyle, he used it so much you would have thought he had a stuttering problem! He also learned the sign for grandpa, and would keep signing "grandpa, motorcycle" over and over again! I guess for his birthday (which is NEXT MONTH, when did he grow up???) we'll have to get him a leather jacket, a do rag, and a tattoo (one that says I love mom)

Browne Towne taking over Yellowstone

I figured I would get all the family pics put up first and go from there. We were in Utah for two weeks and we had a blast!! One of the things we did was go to Yellowstone. My mom, dad, and brother came along as well. The kids were AMAZING on this trip, I thought they had been abducted and replaced with better behaving kids but I guess my own just rose to the occasion!! Maybe it was threatening to beat them with a steel pole...hmmm...

You might think "wow look at Gerrit smiling for the camera" you would be wrong...he was smiling for the dog that someone brought and walked by with at the time. In the picture he's trying to get his hand down to his side so that he can sign "dog"

I guess Gerrit doesn't like the smell of sulpher

Gerrit was crying so we threw him over our shoulder down the ravine into the river. That'll show him not to cry when we're trying to make memories!!! Uhh..actually he was asleep. Sleeping babies are much more important than memories.