Da Browns

Da Browns

Welcome to the jungle!

Our jungle has a mighty lion king, Jared; his sultry lioness, Tamany; three crazy monkeys, Landon, Tyler, and Ethan; and a beautiful gazelle, Isabel. It also has a beast, Phoebe, our mastiff.

Life in our jungle is much like other jungles: a constant searching for food. It consists of finding the food, killing it, bringing it home, preparing it, eating it, cleaning it up, and trying to share with others what we found.

This blog is to share the highlights of what happens in our jungle during that process.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Occupation: House Guard

I am every woman, but the woman I like best is House Guard! I taught today out of the book of Titus. Paul teaches the younger women to learn these lessons from the older women:

Love your husband
Love your children
Be good
Be chaste
and to be KEEPERS AT HOME.

These are all fabulous "old school" lessons, especially for women today, but I have never liked the term "housekeeper". On forms when you have to fill in "housekeeper" for occupation it always seems so degrading. I do so much more than clean my house. Besides, people who work clean their house, so what sets me apart as someone who stays at home to clean my house? When I fill that section out I always end up feeling like a slacker.

The Greek translation of the word "keeper" is "guard". I like the title "House Guard" much better In fact, I think I will start writing that on those dumb forms. (maybe I will put House Guardian so that I don't sound like a bulldog).

"House Guard" describes what I do so much better. I am keeping evil influences out of my home and my children's lives. I monitor what goes in those heads and out of those mouths. I am able to be involved with their choice of friends, media, and entertainment. I make certain that they are eating what they should, that they are studying as they should, and that they are learning the scriptures as they should.

I am a House Guard.

Monday, April 20, 2009

LDS Movers-R-Us


LDS Moving Company: "We move for blessings". Every Elder's Quorum member knows what I am talking about! Tonight we went to visit a widow/new member of our ward. She is 90 years-old and wants to be my kids' "Houston Grandma." Her kids are out of state and our grandparents are out of state--works out.

I asked her what inspired her to get baptized at 90 years-old. She said that after her husband died she needed to move to a different home closer to the hospital. The people from her church sent over two guys and one truck to help.

When our church found out about her they sent the whole crew, she described. She was so impressed that she looked into it, and voila she got baptized.--Love it!
Of course, before going over I prepped the boys on why we were going and so forth. Tyler was to tell her that he will be getting baptized and to ask her why she got baptized. When it came time for him to talk he just kept saying, "I don't want to ask her anything."
Then, Ethan, sweet, always-has-the-best-things-to-say Ethan is given an opportunity to speak. What comes out of the mouth of that angel?----"We are all going to DIE!"
Not such a hot impression on our new grandma.







Sunday, April 19, 2009

Armpits For My Birthday

Bad Guys Beware: Ethan is going to wrap you up in armpits!
A couple of days ago Ethan asked me for "armpits" for his birthday. At first I thought that he was mis-pronouncing a word so I kept asking him to repeat himself. Sure enough, clear as day, he wanted armpits. He talked about it all day long.

I asked him what he was going to do with them. He said he wanted to "wrap up the bad guys." I thought, well I guess that is pretty good torture to put a nice sweaty, smelling armpit over a bad guy's face. It brought back memories of some of the wrestling holds my brothers would put me in as a kid.---pure torture. Waterboarding ain't got nothin' on that.

As the day went on he kept asking for them, I was given a suggestion to have him draw them, but as he is three, the drawing was just circles. That didn't help since armpits are circular in nature. :)

Then, I asked him what color they were. He said, "Umm, maybe white, yeah, I want white."

Apparently he likes Caucasion armpits.

The next day was Tommy's birthday (the boy we care for). I asked the boys what I should get for his birthday. Of course Ethan pipes up with, "Maybe he would like armpits."

Finally, after some good questioning, Landon figured out what he really wanted-----handcuffs!

Friday, April 17, 2009

Happy Girls, Sad Boys


Can you tell which kids were good in church and which ones just lived through a "mama bear" tongue lickin' and time-out for irreverence in Sacrament meeting?


Besides that, the day was great. We always have fish and honey and bread for Easter to celebrate Christ eating with his apostles, post-resurrection.


We started with Honeycomb cereal for breakfast.


Dinner was swordfish, honey, french bread, mediterranean noodles, and grape juice.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Don't Try This at Home


Jared heated up a boiled Easter egg in the microwave today. (I still can't figure out why---aren't boiled eggs better cold?)


After opening the microwave and putting his hands in to get the egg, it exploded! Hot egg got in his eye and it took a few moments to determine if I was going to have to find a babysitter for six kids on Easter.....I mean to determine if he was blind in one eye. :)

It's Easter, Not Carnival







Happy Easter everyone-


When I found out that Landon was a boy in the ultrasound my first thought was, "Yay! clip-on ties!" I love clip-on ties.


When I found out that Isabel was a girl my first thought was, "Yay! Easter dresses!"


I was shopping for an Easter dress this year. What happened to little girls' dresses? They aren't cute and frilly like they used to be. My mom has a way of always finding the "birthday cake" princess dresses. She found one for Isabel that is adorable. This year I needed to get one for Angelina, who is older. This posed a bigger challenge.



I thought that I was alone in my quest for a modest, little girl dress. But as I was looking I heard another mom say to her sister, "Where do they think these girls are going---a nightclub?" I started to laugh and joined in with them and their frustration.


Thankfully I found the last (literally) cute, modest dress, and it matched perfectly with the one Isabel already had---fate! :)

BFFs












Each place I live I pick up a new BFF or two. Our jaunt in Chicago during our law school era brought us into contact with the wonderful Wrights! Not only did I find Denise (pronounced "Neesie" by Tyler as a child, thus my nickname for her) but Landon found Loren.

We first saw them at an Enrichment activity that we both arrived early to help with. Loren ahd just turned two and Landon was 21 months. From the moment they saw each other they were best buddies and always have been. They look alike, love to roughhouse, have similar temperments, and are both very smart. When they were little, if either got annoyed with the other, unlike other kids who start fighting, they would just walk to the other side of the room and start playing on their own. It was so funny to watch because they were like guys who need their "alone time".
Denise and I are great friends. We both love running together (especially along Lake Michigan with the Chicago cityscape as our view). We have had most of our kids within months of each other. She is ahead with 5 to my 4! Go Denise! Every time we decide to do something it is always an adventure. One of our highlights is when we were both pregnant (I was 6 monts and she was 8) and going on the train to downtown Chicago. We both had strollers and a little one in tow. The turnstile at the train was broken so we had to hoist our stollers over it, then do some kind of gymnastic move to hoist ourselves over it--PREGNANT! then carry the stroller and kids up a gazillion stairs. All while looking chic! :)As fate would have it they came to Houston (Pearland) for medical school ,and thankfully stayed for residency. So now we get to see them, though never as much as we want.
Our latest adventure was on Friday. We went to East End Park in Kingwood. Between her kids and mine we had 11 kids with us 9 yrs-old and under. The kids were playing in Lake Houston and Landon and Loren came running down the path. They had come within a foot of stepping on a full-grown cottonmouth (water mocassin). That makes two times Landon has had close encounters with poisonous snakes.---Thank you, angels! I owe you a few.

Monday, April 6, 2009

I'm Not a Paid Movie Critic-

I am not a paid movie critic--I promise, and I normally do not (and will not) continue to critique movies on a regular basis. Partly because that doesn't interest me as much as other stuff and because I don't watch a lot of movies.

But it is only fair to tout the good ones if I am going to bash the bad ones. We watched "Meet the Robinsons" during Priesthood Session on Sat. night.----GREAT MOVIE!

Great story line, funny, engaging, creative. With wonderful values: Family matters, it is okay to make mistakes, personal responsibility for our choices, forgiveness, the list goes on. It could have been a church movie.

Well done, Disney!

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Static Electricity




Too bad we can't harness this energy and run our air conditioner

Monsters vs. Aliens

You know the scripture that tells that once you've been warned you should warn your neighbor? Consider this your warning! :)

Every time we finish reading the Book of Mormon the kids get to go see a movie at the theatre. I have suffered through two horrible movies since we decided on this family activity---Shark Boy and Lava Girl--biggest waste of time and money ever spent! And the latest, Monsters vs. Aliens.

I have issues with Dreamworks in general. I know that a lot of their movies are popular, but I think that they have too much "adult" content that gets passed as a G rating just because it is animated. To a kid, it is all the same--actually it means MORE to a kid when it is animated because they actually pay attention.

Monsters vs. Aliens is a pretty shallow movie, but my real beef with it is its use of the Lord's name over and over (once is bad enough), the feminization of men, and its nuances to homosexuality.

The premise of the movie is that the girl can be strong and independent without her soon-to-be-husband. But throughout the movie they show scene after scene of men being rescued by women, a girl coming on to a guy at "lovers lane" and the guy not wanting anything, etc.

The one guy who is "manly" is the General and he is made to look like a lunatic.

Some people think that it is okay for kids to watch this stuff because it "goes over their heads". I don't believe that. Kids are like sponges and pick up on everything. Everything they see influences them. Besides, I am not so worried about whether they catch things cognitively right now, as I am worried about offending their spirits.

I am personally boycotting Dreamworks from now on.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Fireproof

Great movie!!! Not the best acting throughout, but good enough. The story and message are spot on and very well done. And Kirk Cameron to boot!

Five stars for content.
Three stars for acting.

Apostle's Memorization Game

Here is a great idea to help your family/church kids learn the names of the apostles and their order of seniority. We did this in seminary today and we learned it in 15 minutes---never to be forgotten again.

I can't remember the name for this type of memorization technique, but you start with a number, give it a rhyme then make an association with the name of the apostle. Here is our list (some might not make sense because we personalized them for us).

1. Sun, Monson
2. Blue, Blue Bay Packer
3. Tree, Perry Tree
4. Score, Four score and Nelson years ago
5. Drive, Through the Oaks (The Oaks is the neighborhood our church is in)
6. Mix, Power Ballard (A power Ballad mix)
7. Heaven, Beam me up Scotty
8. Late, due to Hales
9. Spine, PerspEYRING
10. Hens, from Holland (They imagined the hens wearing little wooden clogs)
11. Leaven, UchtDOUGHorf (My personal favorite)
12. Shelves, CLean your shelves and make your BEDnar
13. Bean, ChriSTALKerson (play on Jack and the bean stalk---Christofferson)
14.Quarintine, Quarintine the Cook (imagined a diseased person making your food---gross)
15. TBA

Pretty fun and very effective!

Post surgery/grateful kids

Phoebe's stitches

new stove

new water heater

Mom, she loves us

Mom, she loves us
Tyler's pic of Gramie

Mom, she love us

While at dinner with Gramie, I asked where she was. The boys said she was standing in line waiting to get them their pizza from the buffet line. I said, "What!" Tyler looked at me and emphatically announced, "Mom, she loves us!"

My Guitar Heroes

My Guitar Heroes
Jared and Landon practicing

kiddies at the park

bed of mulch

monkey bars backwards

"Hulk" at the park


Belle and Babe

Bella and her "buh"

I Am a Child of God

I Am a Child of God

2008 in review

2008 in review
Landon's baptism

Gramie and Grandpa came to visit

Best buddies

the nappers awoke (after family pics)

Extended Stay (Feb 2008)

Extended Stay (Feb 2008)
I got sick---Gramie stayed

A Bit Too Much Fun With Slime

Houston Rodeo

Houston Rodeo

Easter

Easter

First Easter Dress

Grandma Lowry Came to Visit (April 2008)

Grandma Lowry Came to Visit (April 2008)


#41 Presidential Library

T-Ball

T-Ball
Da Boys

A Love Affair

A Love Affair

Beautiful Belle

Poisonous Snake (copperhead)

Poisonous Snake (copperhead)
Annie Oakley got her snake (with a shovel)

Overnight Campout (May 2008)

Overnight Campout (May 2008)
Lake Livingston

horseback riding at Lake Livingston


HUGE Frog

HUGE Frog

the frog we caught in our neighborhood

Farewell to the Broadbents

Farewell to the Broadbents

Tyler and Jeffrey saying goodbye

Tamany and Sheralie

Jared's B-day

Jared's B-day

Trip to St. Louey

Trip to St. Louey
Jesse James Wax Museum

driving 15 hours with the dog

road trip to with 9 kids under 9

all the cousins

Inside The Arch

Independence, MO

Independence, MO
where Tyler felt the Spirit

Liberty Jail

Liberty Jail


Far West Temple Site

Far West Temple Site

Adam ondi Ahman

Adam ondi Ahman

Ethan's birthday (July 2008)

Ethan's birthday (July 2008)
He was in heaven

Isabel's 1st birthday

Isabel's 1st birthday
hosted by Mr. John and Ms. Shey

princess dress from Grandma Lowry

Mr. John with Belle-Belle

Dinner with Elin (Aug 2008)

Dinner with Elin (Aug 2008)
Fancy French Food

First Day of School

First Day of School
Very Happy Day (for all of us)

Playing at the Pier

Playing at the Pier

Ethan

mom and daughter

Hurricane Ike

Hurricane Ike
retreat to Birmingham with the Oborns

Sharlene and Isabel

Phoebe and Joey (Oborn's dog)

visiting Lana during Ike aftermath

Ragnar (October 2008)

Ragnar (October 2008)
CTRs--Chicks That Run

VICTORY

Halloween 2008

Halloween 2008

Disneyworld

Disneyworld
We went to Disneyworld for vacation in December. It was a lot of fun. We were just happy to see the kids got over their fear of people in costumes!

The Princesses

Daddy's Girl

Daddy's Girl
While in Disneyworld, Isabel's wish came true: to have her dad hold her non-stop for an entire week! She is so in love with her dad!

Tyler's birthday in Disneyworld

Christmas 2008

Christmas 2008
Gramie and Grandpa

Aunt Sara, too

monkey attack

The Polar Express train ride

Gramie and Belle

potato gun shooting