Do Re Mi…

So last weekend was spent in Charleston for Reece to take part in the SC Elementary Honors Choir Program.  We arrived on Thursday and he rehearsed Thursday afternoon/evening, Friday all day (with time off for lunch), and then the performance was Saturday morning.  Can I just tell you how amazed I was at the talent these children exhibited?  Reece, Mark, Amaris and Selah were 4 of the 243 students from all over SC who auditioned and made the choir. This picture was taken at one of the rehearsals.  Their music teacher, Donna Barrick, worked with them twice a week for 3 months to learn 8 songs and on Saturday, all the hard work paid off!  The sound of these children’s voices was astonishing!  I know I had tears more than once during the songs.

The weekend was lots of hard work, but the kids got to have fun too!  We ate at Bubba Gumps on the Market with everyone Friday night so the kids loved that.  It was nice to watch them enjoy themselves after all of the sitting still that they did the previous two days. Amaris’s little brother Joe was there so Logan had fun clowning with him at dinner too!  What a fun time we all had!

Our grown up Madison (we have little Madison friends and a big Madison friend!) is finishing up her senior year at Charleston Southern University so she joined us on Saturday morning.  Rhett’s parents also made the trip down on Friday to spend the weekend with us so Reece was not hurting for a Fan Club at all!!  Reece,Amaris, Selah and Mark all did a phenomenal job and I hope that we get to be a part of this special weekend again in the future…maybe even with Garett Bug!  Who knows?!

The rest of the weekend was spent playing!  We went to the noisy Oyster Saturday for lunch(where Reece was so tired he fell asleep immediately after eating!) and then walked around the Market and King Street.  Sunday found us at Folly Beach to look for seashells and then on the pier at Locklear’s for lunch.

Rhett and I renewed our vows on Folly and had brunch with our wedding guests at Locklear’s February 28th of last year so Folly holds a special place in out hearts.  You can read all about it here!

Self Portraits from the top deck of the Folly Beach pier.

Three SC Crabs...get it?! HAHAHAHA! I make myself laugh...I don't, however, make Garett laugh.

Reecie and one of the MANY live starfish we found on the beach...we threw him back. "Made a difference to that one"...has anyone read that story?

Rhett took this picture of his Mom while we were at Locklear's.

Thank you Reece for giving us a reason to go to Charleston!  We had a great weekend!

Until Next Time, I’m Fondly Yours,

Jeanne

Queen of The Charleston Going Browns

8 Year Old Bug

Garett turned 8 in January but I am making the celebration last longer by blogging about it today!!  We had a great day starting with pancakes with candles for breakfast and his and Reece’s basketball games (which they both won!).

Afterwards he choose to go to Steak n Shake for lunch…they LOVE that place!  An Oreo ice cream cake was enjoyed and fun abounded!  Fun usually abounds around Garett…he is just that kind of guy!

He is the jokester, the song maker upper, the good natured Brown.  He craves attention, but if you give him attention for GOOD things then usually the BAD things don’t happen, but attention is attention and he’ll take it anyway he can get it!  He loves reading and riding his bike, he loves playing wii and playing superheros with Logan.  He is the light in my eyes and the warmth in my heart.  He has the title of Oldest middle Child and wears it well.  We love him humongously and hope to celebrate 108 more birthdays with him!  We love you Bug!

Until Next Time, I’m Fondly Yours,

Jeanne

Queen of the Bug Lovers!

The Boys are Back in BBall Town!

We started basketball this past Saturday!  The Boys loved it and can’t wait for this weeks game.  Want to come watch?  Just let me know!!

Until Next Time, I’m Fondly Yours,

Jeanne                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Queen of the Brown Boys Fan Club!!

These are Favorites…

These are  Our Favorite Smells.  Smells that bring smiles to our faces.

Reece:  hot cocoa, soap, ice cream cake

Garett: cookies, brownies, tomato soup

Logan: pizza, roses, cupcakes

Harry:  clean taggie, “loved” taggie

Rhett:  hot chocolate chip cookies, the ocean, the air after it has rained on a spring day

Jeanne:  the smell of “play” on the top of my Boys’  heads, the smell of my Babies’ necks after a bath with Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Bath, honeysuckle on a warm summer night

These are Our Favorite Sights.  Sights that make our eyes light up when we see them.

Reece: Cinderella’s Castle at the Magic Kingdom, the Grand Canyon, my Family

Garett: Signs for Disney World, my Mom’s smile, a clean house …author’s note:  where in the world did he see this?!? 

Logan:  Bubba, my Mommy coming home, my Daddy coming home from work

Harry:  taggie, a ball, his Daddy

Rhett: the ocean, a starry sky, my Wife

Jeanne: 10 new fingers and 10 new toes, the underside of a trees leaves viewed from a hammock, my Husband walking toward me.

These are Our Favorite Tastes.  Tastes that make out mouths water just thinking about them!

Reece: pepperoni pizza, M&Ms, sour gummy worms

Garett: Skittles, corn dogs, gummy bears

Logan: vanilla ice cream, chicken nuggets, french fries

Harry: orange juice, applesauce, grapes

Rhett: salsa, chocolate chip cookies, coffee

Jeanne: vanilla creme brulee, Strawberry Haagen Das ice cream, Marion’s Pizza

Until Next Time, I’m Fondly Yours,

Jeanne

Queen of the Lists

All for Love

I blog for my family.  I have found a website that will bound my blog into a book and so this is my record of our lives for future generations.  My Grandma wrote in a diary, my Great Aunt writes a weekly letter to the family, I blog.  Not well, I admit, but I try.  Here is my latest attempt to catch us up to date.

My last post was at the beginning of October and so I’ll begin with Rhett’s 38th Birthday.  We celebrated with lots of friends at El Mariachi and had a great time!  Ashlynn was Rhett’s cutest date, but Jimmy and Hoss were the most unusual pair!    As I’ve told Rhett each year, I don’t mind him getting older (and I don’t mind getting older either) as long as we are together!

 

The Brown and Campbell Families at Boo in the Zoo

Halloween was full of fun, friends and candy as we celebrated the whole month of October!  We had Halloween Hoopla,  Boo in the Zoo and Halloween night with the Tuckers and Gunters. The Boys loved getting to wear their costumes so much and we really felt like we got our money’s worth on them!  The Big Boys (and Daddy) made Horton and Dr. Seuss pumpkins for the Storybook Pumpkin Patch at school and we even visited the Chick-fil-a Cow for the Halloween Party he had!  In October we found out that Reece has been accepted into the SC Elementary Honors Chorus!  This is such a huge honor and we can’t wait for his performance in Charleston in February!

 

November started off with the Brown Family being SO extremely proud of Bug for being chosen as his class’s Terrific Kid!  Wee Hew!!  It couldn’t have happened to a greater 2nd grader!  The next week we celebrated both Reece and Garett in the Pinning Ceremony of the Student Council

Logi, Reece, Brayden, Bug and Abby...Future Leaders!

Members!  This is the first year either of them have been on the Council and we are so proud of them!!  The end of November found us celebrating Thanksgiving and being thankful for all that we have.  We celebrated with Poppa, Beba and Teba and Mimi and we all had full bellies when we left.  My heart was also full of love for my entire family.  We are truly blessed.

 

 

 

 

 

Katelyn and Reecie

December was a FLASH!!  We decorated for Christmas the weekend of Thanksgiving because every moment of December was spent celebrating, planning or doing!  Reece participated in the Bill Drake Christmas Celebration at the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium with other 4th grade choirs from District 5.    He played Santa in the

Mr and Mrs Claus...aka Reece and Amaris

Christmas Program at school and had a solo to sing in one of the songs.  By the time we left for Disney World on the 11th we had already celebrated more Christmas events than the whole month of December in years past!

 

One of my Christmas gifts was a Girl’s Night Out with my Marriott friends!   Although only one of us works there still, we all met there and the history that we share from there is unbelievable.  Stephanie, Melanie, Anne, Jackie, Sherry and I had a great time and laughed so hard remembering good times we’ve shared.  These are some of my Friends with History!

 

 

 

 

The Boys and the Gingerbread Christmas Tree at the Contemporary Hotel

We hadn’t been to Disney at Christmas since I was pregnant with Logan so the decorations were all overwhelming to us!  We loved it!  Beba and Teba took us and Mimi and we had the BEST time!  It was so warm, the Boys got to go swimming at the beginning of the week!  We did everything we wanted to do (and some things twice!) and Logi even rode Space Mountain!  This was his first

Mimi and Reece in front of the Tree in the Magic Kingdom

BIG rollercoaster and Garett rode his first rollercoaster that went upside down, Rockin’ Rollercoaster!  Logan says he won’t ride Space Mountain again, but Bug rode his rollercoaster twice!  It was all still brand new to Harry and I love the wonder in his eyes in this picture….and it was just taken on the bus!!

 

 

 

 

 

We always love Disney and this time was no exception.  It was a fabulous way to begin Christmas Break for the Boys (we took them out of school a week earlier than break started) and the memories that we made will live on.  I loved seeing Rhett with the Boys and spending so much time with my family.  The drive home was like childbirth…horrible at the time, but now that it’s past I don’t remember the bad part and would do it again tomorrow!  Disney’s theme this year is “What will YOU Celebrate Today?”  I think that’s a wonderful question to ask yourself everyday!  You don’t have to be at Disney or have a birthday or anniversary or special event to be in a celebratory mood!  I think that each morning of  2010 the Brown Family will continue to choose JOY and we will talk about what we celebrated each day in the evenings.  That way we can start each day with a smile and end each day with a heart full of celebration!  Thank you Beba and Teba for taking us to Disney World.

 

When we got back it was CHRISTMAS!  We celebrated our Savior’s birth with Communion (Garett’s first time) Christmas Eve with Poppa at Pelham Road Baptist.  It’s where I grew up and Rhett and I were married so it’s always nice to go “home” and see friends and hug necks we haven’t hugged in a while.  We opened a few presents before we left for church and here are a few smiles I captured!

 

 

 

 

Christmas morning was great!  The Boys slept til 9:15 and then the fun began!  I was ready….the tree was on, the fire was going, I had the video camera to record their faces as they came into the living room…it was great!  About 6 or 7 minutes into the festivities, after I had been talking to the Boys about what they had gotten I realized something.  The clock on the camcorder wasn’t moving….I was still in standby…not record.  OH NO!!  Rhett told me I couldn’t “re-enact” Christmas morning and so I started from where I was in my interviewing and went forward.  I will make sure THAT mistake doesn’t happen again!  It was a wonderfully relaxing day spent with Beba, Teba and Mimi and we enjoyed talking with my Mom and Marty later on in the afternoon.

 

When Rhett and I celebrated Christmas 10 years ago, we had no idea that our biggest gift of 1999 would come 4 days

Reece (2 yrs old) holding Garett. This is the 1st digital picture I have of Reece.

after Christmas.  This is the day that I had Timothy Reece Brown.  Ten years.  I am the mother of a ten year old.  I can not believe it.  The years have literally flown by.  We celebrated with dinner at the restaurant of his choice…Steak and Shake.  Beba, Teba, Mimi and Poppa joined us and we have definitely moved from Little Boy gifts into Big

Reece on the day of his 10th birthday

Boy gifts.  I enjoy every day I have as a Mother, because I am aware that number one, it could all be taken away from me in a split second, and two, when I look back, childhood will all be over in the blink of an eye.  Someone recently told me that they don’t understand how I can divide my love between 4 children.  I don’t, every time we had another son, I grew another heart full of love.  So now I have 5, one for Rhett, one for Reece, one for Garett, one for Logan and one for Harry.  My love is never divided, only multiplied.  To fully understand, I think you have to experience multiple children…but be careful…it can be a wild ride that you are never fully ready for!! 

 

We celebrated the end of 2009 with friends and way too much food!  Scott and Vickie were our hosts and it was fun catching up with friends. Friend to All Children, Jimmy, was there

Jimmy and Jada

and the Boys loved playing with him and with Jake.  Everyone was very laid back and it was a great way to say goodbye to 2009.  We left early to be home safe and sound by midnight.  We got home, woke the kids up and got inside and started to get settled in when the power went out!  So, we didn’t get to see the ball drop, but we did make memories by the firelight and candles. 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a good New Years Eve with everyone sleeping in our bedroom, all safe, cozy and together.  That’s exactly how a family should be and we wish your family a safe, cozy and full of togetherness 2010.

 

 

Until Next Time, I’m Fondly Yours,

 

Jeanne

Queen of the We’re Celebrating Everyday Brown Family

Predicament

Middle of the Lake? Taggie was there!

I have a Baby (don’t tell me he’s not!).  He has a Taggie (a super soft and silky blanket with ribbon tags all around it lovinglycreated by Wendy.).  We keep misplacing Taggie.  I have tried to switch the Baby, Harry, over to a Bubba (teddy bear) like his Brothers have (and had), but he keeps throwing it on the ground.  No Bubba for Harry.  We don’t mind the Taggie at all, in fact, when en is fresh from the dryer, he is the sweetest smelling, softest piece of fabric I have ever laid eyes or hands on.  I love Taggie…but we have to keep a better hold on him.  Rhett suggested making Taggie into a cape for Bubba.  It is easier to keep a Bear from wandering off than it is to keep a Taggie from slinking under something and feeling lost. 

I need your help!  Mail me or comment and give me your ideas.  We are heading to Disney World soon and we CAN NOT  lose Taggie there!  This is the first year Harry won’t stay in the stroller most of the time and losing Taggie ranks right up there with losing a child!  Not really, but it would make life very difficult!

Please help!!

Until Next Time, I’m Fondly Yours,

Jeanne

Queen of the I Try to Keep MY Babies’ Lovies Clean Club!

Ketchup!

I love my life…it’s just happening too fast for me to keep up with!  I’ll try to do better!  Here’s the rundown:

Logi in motion

Logan’s playing soccer and absolutely loves it!  he’s playing Upward and his shinguards go from the top of his foot to above his kneecap!  He’ll score a goal (which Upward doesn’t keep count of, but Mommy does!) and then say, Mom!  I did GOOD!  Rhett is impressed that he can alternate kicking with his left foot as well as with his right and I’m ecstatic to be a “soccer Mom”!  We have 4 games left, 2 regular and 2 make up so come cheer on the Cannonballs!!

 

Reece and our great friend Haley

Reece is now a “senior” at his school…a big ‘ol 4th grader!  I can’t believe it!  He loves his class and was elected onto Student Council.  He is in chorus, Creations (the art program he had to apply to be in) and was just picked for Pride Patrol which is his school’s hall monitoring program.  He keeps busy with both homework and playtime and breaks my heart just a little more each day with his grown up ways and independence.

 

Hanging out at Lake Hartwell

This is the last year until the 2017-2018 school year that Garett will be with his older brother in school.  the next time  they are together, Reece will be a true Senior and Garettbug will be a Sophmore at Byrnes (GO REBELS!).  I don’t know why I just calculated that.  I’m making myself tear up.  Garett is a 2nd grader and giving Reece a run for his money!  Garett and Reece are both learning German beginning this year (I pray a job at BMW is in their futures!) and Bug comes home and teaches it to Logan.  He keeps Reece on his toes during multiplication drills (though Garett calls it skip counting at this stage) and I think it does Reece good to have healthy competition!  He is a fabulous student and is soaking up knowledge like a sponge!  His favorite thing to do is play with friends and jump the ramp on his bike, but reading is a very close second!

 Logan is learning at home this year with me and is wanting to go faster than we can!  I’ve told him, there are 26 letters that we are learning this year.  There are 36 weeks of school for us.  We need to slooooow down the learning!!  After the first day of “homie school” he told me, okay Mom, I got A.  What’s next?  He does not like spending a week on a letter and is always ready to move along.  We have celebrated by making fudge on F week, marshmallows on M week and butter on B week!  We are finishing up K and plan on making kabobs with kiwi!  We take lots of field trips (zoo, library, etc) and will be going on the traditional apple/pumpking picking field trip soon.  We visit our friends at Lyman Elementary and can’t wait for Drop-in and Play to start back!  In 2 weeks we are going to the Chapman Cultural Center in Spartanburg with our friends Joy and Taylor and can not wait!!  School is so much fun for him!

Harry is wide open!  I bet you couldn’t guess I was going to say that!  He is talking non-stop and I can’t believe I ever was worried about him NOT talking!  He is full of energy and I have people at the Boys’ school and at church asking if I

Garett Bug and his Mini G, Harry!

ever take him out of the stroller he seems to always be in!  He is out of it alot, in fact he was in it only when he wore himself out today at the Zoo!  People are amazed that he has legs!  I’m always more than happy to let him out…if  THEY want to chase him!!    He is almost 2 and a half and I find myself wishing for a new Baby less and less.  I am blessed beyond measure and though I’m certainly not pressing the potty training, I can see a glimmer of life after 10 years of diapers on the not so distant horizon.  I have to stop, I’m tearing up again!!

We had a fabulous end to our summer with time at Lake Hartwell with the Somer’s, fun walks around the lake at Furman and Zoo visits. We’ve ALL been learning new things, choosing JOY and making ourselves better people.  I hope that this Fall finds you eager to learn new things and choosing JOY!  There is nothing better!

Until Next Time, I’m Fondly Yours,

Jeanne

Queen of the This Ones For You Jimmy Club!! 

Baptism the Way We Do It!

There are different ways that one can be baptized.  Being sprinkled by the Pastor as a Baby,  immersed in a baptismal pool at the front of the church by a Reverend.  I like they way Our People, Freedom Fellowship, do it.  On Sunday, July 26th, Garett was baptized.  In Lyman Lake.  In swimming trunks.   By his Daddy.  What an AWESOME experience!  We had tons of friends and family attend the baptism and the huge BBQ that was held afterwards.  Here is a picture of some, but not all, of our group.  We had long time friends and new friends there.  We had a youth that helped with one of the VBSs that Bug attended there.  We had his Principal, his 1st grade teacher and his 2nd grade teacher there…though at the time we didn’t know she was going to be his 2nd grade teacher! All in all I think we had about 35 people come to show Garett some love.  )

The love and support that surounded Garett was amazing!  We are so very blessed to have such wonderful, caring and loving friends and family.

These are my favorite pictures.  Thank you, Jill, for posting them on FaceBook for me!

Here is Bug listening to our Pastor, Cliff, ask him if he has indeed asked Jesus into his heart.

 

 

 

 

 

Here is Rhett washing the old Bug away…

 

 

 

 

And the NEW Bug emerges!!  Yay!  God is SO good!  He has always been a wonderful child, but now more than ever he is trying to live the right way, do the right thing, say the right thing.  I did tell him and Reece the other day though, that if Jesus lived in their hearts then he better live in their mouths too and for them to stop calling each other names.  It’s worked pretty well.

 

 

My friend Jimmy had the honor of baptizing his sister.  Here is a picture of them that I think says it all.  It was a reverent and joyful event all at the same time.  It was the best.

 

So, that’s how we do it!  And my heart is happy knowing that Garett will be with me in heaven one day.  It is well with my soul.

 

Until Next Time, I’m Fondly Yours,

Jeanne

Queen of the Full of Joy Browns

Why I Want A Digital Camera in my Head

Not the best title ever, but this is an image that I don’t ever want to forget.

I’m taking more pictures than ever because everyday The Boys grow and change and I want to remember it all.

We are going to a family reunion soon.  My camera won’t stop because as much as I want to make memories, I want them to last a lifetime.

Until Next  Time, I’m Fondly Yours,

Jeanne

Queen of the Shutterbugs

I Have a New Brother!

I have a new Brother in Christ!  His name is Samuel Garett Brown.  My 7 year old has accepted Christ and will be baptized later this month at Lyman Lake.  We are so excited for him and can see the way that Jesus is working in his heart to be a better person.  Not that he was bad before, but he is trying very hard to be a better brother.  You can see his mind working in different situations trying to decide how to react. 

He really is growing up so very quickly.  Rhett and I are very proud of him and can’t wait to celebrate with him at his baptism.

One short anecdote and then I’ll end for now.   After Bug prayed and asked Jesus into his heart, I told him that I was so excited that he was my Brother in Christ!  We were both crying tears of happiness, but suddenly his eyes grew large and he asked me, “But you’re still my Mommy, right?”  Yes Garett-Bug, I still am, and always be, your very proud Mommy.  We love you!

Until Next Time, I’m Fondly Yours,

Jeanne

Queen of the Brown Jesus Followers