Happy Birthday Adam!!

8 years ago today Sean and I welcomed our first child into this world. Adam was born premature and only weighed 1lb 15.9oz. His little body was not strong enough to fight off a blood infection he developed 11 days after he was born. He returned to heaven 2 weeks after he arrived here. We know that his short life here on this earth was for Sean and I. He only needed to come here to get his body. He had other work to do. We look forward to the day when we get to see him again. He is a very important part of our family. We miss him everyday. FAMILIES ARE FOREVER!

......And Carving!!

Monday night for Family Home Evening we carved and painted our pumpkins. Emma and Seth painted and put glitter on theirs while Jacob and Daddy carved their pumpkins. And Mommy was on Lucy patrol! Lucy was into everything. We had some sugar cookies with frosting that she helped herself to. She also got into the paint. And she got a mouth full of pumpkin guts. Jacob and Seth will not touch the pumpkin guts but the girls do not mind, is that a little backwards?!?

Pumpkin Fun.
Lucy finding the pumpkin guts.

Seth's disgusted face when Lucy put a handful of pumpkin guts in her mouth. I love the look of "eewww" on his face.

We also roasted the pumpkin seeds. They were okay but did not have much flavor so I am opened to any suggestions anyone may have.

Pumpkin Patch......

The Brown Kids at Ridgefield Farm
The Hay Ride

Seth in the Corn Maze

Lucy's first Hayride

Emma's pumpkin

On Monday our Joy School (preschool) class went to the pumpkin patch. Emma does not have school on Monday's so she got to come along also. We decided to take Jacob out of school early to come with us since we did not see another time when our family would be able to go. All the kids enjoyed it. We got to go on a hay ride, go through a corn maze, go to pumpkin school and pick a pumpkin. Seth was excited to get to go on his first field trip and that his brother and sisters got to come with him.

Long Cold, Rainy, Busy Week

A whole lot of Brown's.

Last Monday started our busy week this week. Monday Sean and I headed to Massanutten, VA to listen to a sales presentation for a time share. We had not intention of buying but could not resist all of the free things they were going to give us. Nana and Grandpa came and stayed with our kids. We were tempted but did not buy. It was nice to spend a day with Sean.

Tuesday is always a busy day for me. Emma is in a preschool with two other friends from church are in also. We all carpool and Tuesday is my day. After getting Emma and Jacob to school I had to get home to prepare for Joy School. This week was my week to teach. We talked about camping and being outdoors. We actually had circle time in our tent. We made backpacks, went fishing, went on a hike and for a snack we made smores. Yes, I roasted marshmallows over an open fire with 3 year olds (Sean was here to help, he is off on Tuesdays). They are did a great job and we had a lot of fun. We kept the fire going all day and roasted hot dogs for dinner. Then our kids had smores after dinner. Tuesday afternoon and evening was getting ready for our weekly Relief Society meeting (formerly Enrichment). It was my first one with my new calling in the Relief Society presidency. I am way out of my comfort zone. I have been in primary all of my life, with the exception of about a year right after Sean and I got married. We had a class on budgeting. It was well attended and I think everyone had a good time. We had all apple things to eat. I must say I was glad when Tuesday was over. And to add to the mix Jacob has football practice on Tuesdays. Sean got to take all of the kids himself.


Wednesday was the day of school things. Emma had a field trip to Lowe's where they built faces for a cardboard pumpkin. She wanted Sean to go since they were building and that "is what dad's do". As he headed home he stopped a Jacob's school for National School Lunch week to have lunch with Jacob.


Thursday was Joy School again at our house. It rained all day so we were not able to do the outside things I wanted to but it was still fun.


Friday was my rotation for the preschool run again. Friday evening Jacob went to the first on many upcoming Fall Festivals/Halloween parties. He had fun.


Saturday the cold rainy weather continued. Jacob did not have his football game because of that. I must admit I was not sad to have a day to stay at home. I did a lot of much needed cleaning and general straightening up.


Sunday was church this morning and relaxing in the afternoon. Above is a picture of our family we took today. Emma is supposed to bring in a picture of her family and we did not have any family pictures with Lucy. Jacob is taking piano lessons and was practicing today. As you can tell Lucy loves to watch him.





I love this picture!!

Families Are Forever

Tonight we had Family Home Evening. We rotate assignments in our family. Seth had the lesson, with help from daddy. He talked about temples. We sang "I love to see the Temple". Our activity was playing freeze tag. I know that sometimes our neighbors must laugh as we are running around in our yard on a Monday evening. Then we headed to Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins for a treat. It was a wonderful evening. As we were all in the van and heading home I had, as Sean refers to it, a "mommy moment". One of those moments when everything seems to be perfect and just they way that I have always wanted my family to be. As Elder David A. Bednar stated in his General Conference talk, (you can find it on http://www.lds.org/) our children may not remember a specific lesson, scripture or prayer but will remember that as a family we were consistent. Our children really enjoy Family Home Evening and I hope that they will remember that we did it as they grow older.

Another Busy Saturday

Jacob in action.
Jacob was the QB today. He did a great job.

Lucy having a great time at the football game.

Seth not having a good time at the football game because I did not have any money for a donut.

Our Saturdays these days are filled with football. Sean is working every Saturday from 6:30am - 4:30pm, which means I get to pack up all four kids and head to the field. They all do very well. Luckily the games only last an hour. I pack my bag with drinks, snacks and a couple toys and we are good to go. Jacob is enjoying football. Today Seth was not happy with me because I did not bring money for donuts. I pack enough snacks that we should not need a donut but when they announce over the loud speaker that there are donuts what 3 year old would not want one. This was our first 9am game so the donuts are usually gone when we get there. I was not a prepared mommy. He survived!!

This is what happens when the snack cabinet gets left opened.

This afternoon I was watching General Conference. Twice a year we have conference that is broadcast from Salt Lake City, UT. We have BYU-TV on our satellite so we are able to watch it from home. The kids were having a snack so everything was quiet. Lucy is mobile now and I do not always know where she is every second. She took advantage that one of the bigger kids left the cabinet opened. Yesterday Seth had some pringle sticks and did not finish them so he put them back in the cabinet. As Lucy was exploring she somehow discovered that the pringle sticks were opened and helped herself. She was very excited about her find.