Where has the time gone?

Sorry, I kinda dropped the ball on March.  Lots going on, and time has gotten away from me.  So here is a recap on our goings on for MARCH:

The Midland Center for the Arts is pretty cool.  We were able to really enjoy it this month!  We saw a visiting Frog exhibit that was really neat, and also enjoyed the exhibits that stay here year round.

Last weekend, Maryn, Avery, Mark, and I got to see Les Miserables, performed by a company of locals!  I was so impressed!  It was fantastic, and I couldn't believe the actors were all just regular old Midland-ites. The music was as wonderful as I remembered it, and it was a nice evening out with the "big girls".  I am excited that Midland brings such quality theater to the area!

Avery finished up another season of basketball.  This one was 6th grade girls 4 on 4.  Because of the smaller team size, she got way more time to play, and really improved on her skills.  It is so fun to watch her play.  We get such a kick out of watching her spread her giant wings and really dominate her opponents.

She also competed in our school's version of scholastic bowl...they call it "head-to-head", and there are several categories.  She competed in art: black and white still life.  She did well, but didn't place overall.  It was several weeks worth of practices and we are proud of her for being a good sport and doing her best.

She also participated in the 6th grade chorus, and had a spring concert this month.  It's fun seeing our tall girl in the middle of the back row.  We love our Avery Jane!

Maryn is doing well.  She has been through a lot this past year with facing some challenges that have come her way in school/life.  We are happy to say that we now have some answers we were looking for, and positive changes are happening that will hopefully make her life easier and happier.  It's hard watching your children struggle, and this has been a real growing experience for all of us.  Suffice it to say, she can still use your prayers and positive feedback to help her feel the love.  Teenage girls are so fragile.  I have to remind myself of this daily.  I know this because I was one, and wouldn't want to repeat that period of my life for a million dollars!  She has really been enjoying Young Women's and was able to go to a Stake Movie Night earlier this month.  Picking her up after 10 pm was a surreal experience.  She is definitely growing up!  I just realized I don't have any pics of Maryn this month.  Not sure how that happened...

Parker has been enjoying preschool, and made lots of masterpieces.  She celebrated her half birthday (for those kids whose birthdays are during the summer...hers falls right around Labor Day and Michigan schools always start after Labor Day), and insisted we make blue cupcakes and have blue juice (her favorite color).  Lucky for me, I was co-opping the same day, so I got to snap some pics of her in her element.

I took all the girls in for annual physicals this month, and was so amused to see that Parker is 43 inches tall, and weighs 43 lbs.  The first and last time that will happen in her life!!  She is in the 90th percentile for both, and is classic 4 year old, all the way!

She has also enjoyed her ballet class.  This past week was her last week for the season.  She has loved it, but we are going to be busy in the next few months so she will continue again sometime down the road.

I have been busy sending out resumes, teaching my primary class, and thinking about new furniture and paint colors.  Not much else to say...

Mark had his spring break from Delta the first week of March.  Needless to say, it's really lame that the public schools don't coincide their spring breaks with local colleges and universities.  We stayed home, he graded papers, and we got lunch out...a lot.  :)


We have been in full swing of looking for our new home!  We found a great realtor named Denise, and she and Parker have become new best friends.  It's so cute to see Parker run into her arms, and Denise be so excited to see her when we get together.  It's been a fun, but difficult process.  There are plenty of houses to choose from in Midland, and the market here is surprisingly great!  We had a wish list, a price-range, and location perameters.  We narrowed it down to two choices within all of those criteria.  It was either a big house that needed lots of renovations, or a smaller house that was move-in ready, but because it was a tri-level, it really lacked storage that we need.  We decided on the smaller, move-in ready house and were moving in the direction of writing up an offer when I woke up one morning and just didn't feel like it was the "one".  I felt like we were settling with both options, and for comparisons sake, we needed to open up either our search location or our budget just to see what else was out there.  I didn't feel confident, and figured that with this many choices why should we sacrifice?

Midland has school of choice, so we were assured that no matter where the house was, we could still continue to have the girls attend the school they started the year in.  That left only one thing holding us back.  The ward.  We came to the difficult decision that we would be open to leaving the 2nd ward if necessary, and starting over in the 1st ward if it came down to it.  There were two good options outside of our ward boundaries.  I think Mark and I both knew when we walked into the first house, that this one was "the one".  It was the exact layout and size we'd been looking for.  It needed updates, but had good bones that we knew had a lot of potential.  It fit into the same style and feel that our other homes have had.  It was perfect!  Just to compare it, we went ahead and visited the second on the list.  This house was very similar, but had a super creepy unfinished basement, and a resident bat living in one of the upstairs window frames (between the screen and glass.  Can you say, ewwwww!!!!  I became more confident in our choice.  It wasn't difficult after that.  We knew having to move wards would be the only thing that would be a challenge.  The rest is history...as they say.

We closed on our 4th house TODAY!!  We are now home owners again!  May I introduce you to 5201 Nakoma, our newest member of the family...for hopefully many, happy years to come!!

So as you can see, we are MARCHing forward in our lives...one day at a time...busy, happy, and looking forward to SPRING!!

A few more winter tidbits...

Midland has an annual snow sculpture competition between the area middle schools and high schools. 

{Sidenote: There is quite a rivalry going between Midland's 2 high schools and middle schools which has been entertaining to observe and become a part of.  Apparently, as the legend goes Midland High and Northeast MS can whoop Dow High and Jefferson MS in sports, but vice versa get their butts kicked in academia.  So, allegedly we have all the brawn and they have all the brains, as the story goes.  Haha!  It kind of reminds me of the Stevenson/Churchill rivalry in Livonia a little bit.  The other differentiation is that all the "rich Dow kids" go to Dow High, and the rest of us go to Midland High.  That's a whole other story though.  Don't you love my new "sidenotes"?  Really just an excuse to go on really long, pointless tangents...hahah!!}

Anyhoo, Maryn belongs to an Art Honors Club which meets weekly after school.  As part of their club, they were invited to enter the competition.  Each member of the club molded a design using clay for a potential snow sculpture.  The teacher, along with each team member voted on the designs.  Guess whose design was selected?  Maryn!  She designed a castle tower with a winding staircase, and tower.  It seemed pretty straight forward as to how they would construct it out of snow.  She was leader of their 4-man team, and had a practice after school so they could make a plan for the big day of the competition. 

The day came, and the kids were allowed a school-excused absence to go downtown to the city park where the sculptures would be made.  As you know we have had record breaking snowfall, and temps here so there was no shortage in that dept.  Unfortunately that also meant that Maryn's snow pile was quadruple the size they had at their practice.  Add to that the fact that it was also in the low digits for temps that day.  It ended up being pretty treacherous.  Their art club teacher was also not there, so they had little supervision.  When I showed up, the kids were all pretty beat.  They didn't end up winning the competition, and I don't think any of them had that much fun doing it either.  Sorry, not a very happy ending to this story.  All in all, I think that Maryn learned some important lessons about teamwork, leadership, and perseverance.

 

Hopefully you can see the top part of her castle slowly unearthing itself from the massive pile of snow.  They just didn't have the time or the energy to complete the whole thing.  Ah well, another story for the books, I guess.

Here's another fun winter picture of Mark and Avery out shoveling snow for the millionth time this winter.  They were both soooo thrilled I made them stop to "say cheese"!!

{Sidenote: This was right before Avery came down with a terrible cough that lead to her pneumonia this winter...now that was a good time!  After her sickness, Mark got his annual "barky Marky" cough, which lead him to the doctor to be treated with antibiotics for a bronchial infection.  Shortly after that, Maryn started coughing and was diagnosed with H1N1, which she lovingly shared with MOI!!  I'm on day 6 of my incubation, but my virus has settled in my head and sinuses with severe congestion.  I haven't breathed out of my nose in almost a week.  You may be wondering, "Did Parker escape unscathed?"  Not so much.  She began vomiting in the wee hours of the morning today, and is now down for the count with the stomach flu. Tis the season!!}

Well I can't end this sad winter blog post on that note, so here are some of Parker's winter masterpieces to put life back into perspective. Isn't she getting so big?!?  As she has artfully displayed, her favorite color right now is...BLUE!  The funny thing about that bottom right craft is that they ran out of blue mittens, so she was forced to choose another color!!  Her #2 choice is...PINK!!  So perfect for her!
  

This winter rocks!!

SEQUEL WIN!

I think we love movies a little too much at our house.  We spend a lot of time watching them, talking about them, quoting them, thinking about them, etc.  One might think that we may even spend TOO much time or money or both in pursuit of them, NEVERTHELESS we love them, and it works for us, so don't hate or judge...K?!?  Each one of us has our individual tastes and favorites, for sure, but to some extent we have OUR FAMILY favorites too.  It's been fun to see new releases as a family over the past couple years and all be equally delighted and entertained. 

To mention a few big ones from this past year:

Monsters University/Monsters, Incorporated

Parker wasn't around when the original came out, but the older girls were and this was one of our family faves.  We were all excited when this sequel came out, but unfortunately it paled in comparison to the first. Super weak plot line, no new characters, and nothing emotionally vulnerable to suck you in.  Sequel FAIL!!

Despicable Me/Despicable Me 2

Parker was around for this one, and LOVED it!  We all did, in fact.  The sequel to this movie was equally great and in a lot of ways BETTER than the first.  More minions, Gru dresses up as a fairy for Agnes' birthday party for pete's sake, and proceeds to fall in love with Agent Lucy (LIPSTICK TAZER!!) and there is a "happily ever after" ending that we all loved.  Plus the soundtrack is awesome.  Sequel WIN!!

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs/Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 (or as I like to refer to it: CWACOM 2)

We all saw #1 in the theater and had the best time.  This movie is so entertaining and moves quickly.  I think we all love everything about it.  The sequel was awesome!  New characters, progression of the original plot line, and that food-land is just so darn creative and a spectacle for the senses!  Who can't love "shrimp-anzees", "cheese-spiders", and of course the "Taco-dile SUPREME"!!  (Parker can actually say that with the accent and everything!  Haha!)  SEQUEL WIN!!

{SIDE NOTE:  You may remember that Parker got to see this movie as a reward for her good behavior at Chipp-u-wah.  Read here.  You probably are not aware that she kept telling everyone (teachers, friends, strangers on the street) that she was going to see CWACOM 2 in "Theater 7" at the Midland Movie Theater (pronounced fee-o-ter).  We just laughed it off, and tried to distract people from our sometimes very odd child.  But wouldn't you know it, the day came to see the movie, and we bought our tickets, and the friendly ticket taker directed us to THEATER-FREAKING-SEVEN!!!!!!!  We peed our pants a little, and basically tried not to be scared of our 4 year old throughout the rest of the movie experience.  Haha!  But seriously, we considered hitting up the convenience store for some lottery tickets on the way home.} 

When the DVD for CWACOM 2 came out, we were so excited!  We made a Friday night date out of it for the whole family!!  We had a special dinner with wacky foods, went to Target to buy the DVD, got some popcorn and drinks while we were there, and then the girls set up their sleeping bags on the floor to watch it.  It was really fun!!

 I asked him to make me a salad, and this is what he came up with!!  CWACOM 2 MADNESS!!

Getting excited for family movie night!  (I know P's eyes are closed...do you know how hard it is to get them all looking, smiling, and not being gigantic pains in the butt for every. stinkin. picture?!?)

The sleepover party.  (Yep, sure enough...P's eyes closed.  Again.  Awesome.  In her defense, I think she was pretending to sleep.)

See what I mean?!?  I think we like this movie stuff a little TOO much.

Holiday of Love 2014

I think we all enjoyed our Valentine's Day this year.  I was able to co-op in Parker's preschool the day of her Valentine's party which was fun.  She loved getting cards and treats from her friends.

I've started a bit of a tradition with making homemade valentines for everyone, along with a little treat.

Mark's started a tradition of little treats for everyone too.  This year he got the girls chocolate too, we must have been on the same wavelength...it was a chocolate holiday!!

There was also a Father Daughter Dance hosted by the other Midland Ward held later in the month that was a fun new tradition.  I kind of had to force them out the door, but I think they are all glad they went by the end of the night.

The last couple pictures were from a shaving game they had with the girls using popsicle sticks to shave their dads.  Luckily, Mark got Maryn's accuracy instead of some other dads who had their toddlers and young daughters just going to town with the shaving cream.  Pretty cute game though, I must say!!

Here are some of Parker's masterpieces from the month of February, too.

I love the fun of Valentine's Day, but I sure am glad February is over...onto March, and the promise of Spring!!

January Milestones

This month has had many milestones.  One of which is the fact that it has been the the most EXTREME winter EVER!  I am feeling like Michigan is trying to initiate us into an club or something.  A club where you have to show your strength and fortitude by enduring weeks of snow, ice, and sub-zero temperatures.  A club where your kids have snow days multiple times a month, and you are trapped at home with your bored and anxious children with nowhere to go and nothing to do.  It's kicking my butt, people!  I have no memory of winters sucking this profoundly when I was growing up here.  This is above and beyond, for sure!  Am I the only one who feels this way?!?

Anyway, for this reason I am glad that January is officially on it's way out.  Phew!  Although, February is just around the corner...you know what that means, right?!?  February is the loooooongest, shortest month of the year!  If you can get through February, you can get through anything.  But I digress...oh wait, did I mention this is what our house looks like most of the time?!?  Anyhoo...just sayin'.

This month Parker reached an important milestone...she draws for the first time!!  At least she drew something that wasn't just scribbles on a page, and something that was recognizable!  I was so happy to see this.  I was actually getting concerned because Maryn and Avery both drew earlier than her, and more than she does.  She's just not as into the drawing and the arts and crafts and M and A were.  She may not be, and that's ok.  She is definitely her own little person.  Nevertheless I was glad when she busted this out one night.  It made me happy.  She is also getting much better with her ABC's.  She is recognizing letters, sounds, and order.  She can even write a few of them.  She is growing up!

Another important milestone of this month is the birthday of our own Mark Sheffield Brown!!  He turned the big 4-0!!  I wanted to make it a little extra special for him, so I asked a few close family and friends to write some reasons they love and appreciate Mark.  I compiled them into a book called "40 Reasons We All Love Mark".  He loved it!!  Thanks everyone for taking some time to write down your thoughts.  It meant a lot to me, as well as Mark!  We love you back!

Avery made a cute robot named the "Mark-Bot 40", and took pics of it staged around the house.  One of which she took next to Mark without him even knowing about it!  It was cute, so here are a few fun shots of the Mark-Bot 40.

The Mark-Bot 40

The Mark-Bot 40 loves to jam to classic hits of the 80's, 90's, and even some contemporary tunes.

The Mark-Bot 40 loves to spend time whipping up a little something something in the kitchen.

Avery thinks the Mark-Bot 40 is fun to take a selfie with.

Suzy thinks the Mark-Bot 40 is where it's at.

The Mark-Bot 40 manages the chaos that is the shoe rack by the back door.

The Mark-Bot 40 is on stand-by in the bathroom with mousse for any hair disaster that may come up.

The Mark-Bot 40 bows to his sensei.

The Mark-Bot 40 thinks this winter blows chunks.

Parker thinks the Mark-Bot 40 is fun to snuggle with.

Maryn likes taking the Mark-Bot 40 to the mall to hang out, and go to Claire's with.

We are all grateful for our Mark-Bot 40!!  Here's to a great fortieth year!!

New Year and New Looks

Maryn recently started PHASE 2 of her Orthodontia, which means sparkly braces on the top and bottom for 2 years!!!!  Whoa, Nelly! 

To go with her new braces, we decided she needed a new 'do.  She immediately begged for the "Jennifer Lawrence". 

(On a sidenote, do you remember when the "Jennifer Aniston" was popular?  You could walk into a salon anywhere in the US, and say "I want the 'Jennifer Aniston'," and they'd know exactly what you were talking about.  The reason I say "anywhere in the US is that this time period just so happened to coincide with my time as a missionary outside of the US, in the Czech Republic of all places!  In the best broken Czech I could muster at only the 5 month mark of my service, I asked for something that could loosely be translated as "bangs, with floppy layers all over".  Ummm, yeah...not the best decision I have made in my life.  Needless to say it didn't turn out as much like "Jennifer Aniston" as I was hoping.  On another sidenote, it took me the rest of my mission and even after I got home to correct that decision, but I digress.

Nobody would've known what hairstyle I had, as each day I hid it under my raspberry wool beret anyway shielding my poor, delicate head from the harsh, winter elements of the great white north.  LOL!  Seriously, the old Babichkas of the CZ were CONVINCED that if you didn't cover your head in the winter, you would automatically shrivel up and DIE!  They would cluck and point, and fuss until you covered your head if you were out in public.  Makes me laugh remembering that!!  Wow, long SIDENOTE!!)

Anyhoo, I shot down Maryn's request to get the "Jennifer Lawrence".  I think the hairstyle is darling, but not for a growing (and somewhat awkward) 13 year old.  It's just not the right time.  All I could imagine was super short hair, big black glasses, 2 rows of silver braces, etc....you get the picture.  I love her too much to let her do that to herself, or have her ask me 10 years from now, "WHY did you let me do THAT!?!" while sifting through pictures of THAT period of her life.  Haha!

So anyway, she got her hair did, and it turned out great!  I think it's enough of a change for her to feel sassy and fresh.  (Not like she needs a whole lot of help in the sassy department...she IS 13 years old after all!!)

Watching her locks fall to the floor inspired me to look inward and do some soul searching...haha!!  I was ready for a change as well.  I needed some highlights, but I also figured I'd trim up the ends a bit.  I seriously did not go into the salon asking for her to make it short.  It just happened.  I was a trooper about it, but when I got home I panicked.  It's fine now.  I've had this style before, so I can adapt.  It's sure refreshing though!  I can barely squeak out a ponytail now, which is forcing me to actually make an effort in the morning.  I don't know if that's a good or bad thing.

Anyway, here's to a NEW YEAR, A NEW PLACE, and a NEW 'DO!!!!

Happy New Year!!

Some new friends invited us over for a New Year's Eve party, and it was super fun.  Their home was decorated so cute, and even had a photo booth for party-goers.  Unfortunately Mark missed out on the fun, because he was drafted to go help another party-goer out of a snow bank they had accidentally backed out into.  No, there was no alcohol at this party!  Haha!

We spent the evening eating yummy snacks, and playing games.  In years past, we've always gone to the Ottawa Ward party at the church, and we usually leave around 9 or 10.  This year we actually stayed until the ball dropped!!  I couldn't believe Parker was still functioning.  By the time we got her in the car, it was probably around 12:30, and she finally hit the wall.  She dissolved into a ball of tears, but at the party she did great!  We were all asleep by 1 am.  Shwew-ee!!

Luckily everyone slept in, so the next day wasn't a drama fest.  We actually stayed home and did nothing.  We played some wii, watched some movies, wrote some resolutions, and reflected on 2013.  It was kinda awesome.  I made a new twist on our traditional Hoppin' John dish.  This year instead of the half pound of bacon, I added yummy baked meatballs in bbq sauce to go over the rice and black-eye peas.  It was a hit!

Here's some of our highlights of 2013:

Mark's greatest lesson learned:  It is important to enjoy the moment I am in and be present in it.
Mark wants to get better at teaching in 2014.

Parker's favorites from 2013:  Chippa-wuh, Despicable Me 2, the Midland library, Tag books, and vegetables (she said her favorite food was vegetables and salad).
Parker wants to get better at sitting still and listening in 2014.

Maryn's favorite memory from 2013 was her first year at girl's camp!  She is amazed at all the changes and new things that took place this year.
Maryn wants to get an A in science in 2014.

Suzy's greatest lesson learned:  When it's meant to be, it will be.  I can't believe that a year later, we are in another state with a whole new life!  I still can't believe we sold our house in 48 hours!
Suzy wants to get better at making bread and friends in 2014.

Avery's hardest challenge from 2013 was moving, but one of her favorite things was also meeting new people!
Avery wants to make the Northeast 7th grade girl's basketball team in the Fall, and meet even more people!

Hope you have all had a wonderful start to 2014!!