Here is a link to the house we'll be living in in Australia. (I hope!) This is the one I saw when I was there. It's really cute. Come and visit. We'll have plenty of room and a nice big pool...
It's also about a block from the school and just around the corner from Juli and Shon Robinson. Yipee!! Friends.
Our Home
This blog started so many years ago! I forgot I even had it. Here we go again a decade later still trying to raise 5 monkeys and a princess and adding 2 grandchildren to the mix!
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Mother's Day Gift
I had a good Mother's Day. As promised, I didn't feel guilty once. The best gift my kids gave me was to all be asleep at 8:30 tonight, including Monkey #3 who never sleeps. I had a nice talk with my mom and cleaned up my kitchen even though I thought I wouldn't because it's Mother's Day. I'm glad I'll wake up to a clean kitchen tomorrow morning.
I still miss Robert terribly. When he's gone I get far too analytical and emotional. Add pregnancy onto that and I'm sort of a wreck. I'll get through it all though. Thanks for everyone's encouraging words. I really didn't think anyone reads my blog. Now, I'm sort of embarrassed for being so open. Of course, we're all friends though, right?
My nice camera is kaputt, but we took these with Robert's camera when we were in Australia. I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day!
I still miss Robert terribly. When he's gone I get far too analytical and emotional. Add pregnancy onto that and I'm sort of a wreck. I'll get through it all though. Thanks for everyone's encouraging words. I really didn't think anyone reads my blog. Now, I'm sort of embarrassed for being so open. Of course, we're all friends though, right?
My nice camera is kaputt, but we took these with Robert's camera when we were in Australia. I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day!
Friday, May 7, 2010
Back in the Blog
Just to knock everyone off their feet, I'm blogging two days in a row. I sort of stopped because I had a couple of really good friends tell me that blogs are just for moms who want to brag about their kids. I think that's most of the time true. You usually only want to put the good stuff in because that's what you want your kids to remember. But, most of us that know, know that bad stuff happens to everyone and not all children are perfect.
Take Aaron for instance...no, the little guy is perfect! (right now!) I'm sure he'll have his moments, but I sort of needed him this year to be the perfect baby. Since Robert's been gone, he's taken to waking up around 3am. Instead, of rocking him to sleep like I know I should, I'm too tired and bring him in bed with me. He lies on my chest and sucks his little thumb and falls asleep. Right now it's not too uncomfortable and I sort of need someone to snuggle up to because my bed is so big and empty :-(.
I'm a little lonely without Robert. I told him this morning when he called around 7:30am (11:30pm his time) that it's not as bad as those early pioneers who had to leave their families for missions. Those poor wives didn't have anyone and couldn't talk on the phone to their husbands for years. No wonder they practiced polygamy. They needed more women around to help.
I talked to a friend today who thinks I'm always too busy to do anything fun. I wish I didn't give people that impression. I didn't used to be that way. I still don't think I am. I'm a little shy I guess, and it's easier for me to just hang out at my house with my kids than go out. It may come as a shock to some people that I get anxiety when I think I have to talk to people. That's part of the reason why I always join book clubs. It's the place I've forced myself to get out of my comfort zone. The problem is that our book club here only has about 4 or 5 participants. I never figured out where you're supposed to go to meet friends here. Oh well! I wonder what Australia will be like.
I just finished a whole sleeve of crackers with butter. What am I thinking? I've used probably a half stick of butter. Totally negated my walk this morning. Wait a minute...that's why I workout. I think I'll have another cracker with butter.
Take Aaron for instance...no, the little guy is perfect! (right now!) I'm sure he'll have his moments, but I sort of needed him this year to be the perfect baby. Since Robert's been gone, he's taken to waking up around 3am. Instead, of rocking him to sleep like I know I should, I'm too tired and bring him in bed with me. He lies on my chest and sucks his little thumb and falls asleep. Right now it's not too uncomfortable and I sort of need someone to snuggle up to because my bed is so big and empty :-(.
I'm a little lonely without Robert. I told him this morning when he called around 7:30am (11:30pm his time) that it's not as bad as those early pioneers who had to leave their families for missions. Those poor wives didn't have anyone and couldn't talk on the phone to their husbands for years. No wonder they practiced polygamy. They needed more women around to help.
I talked to a friend today who thinks I'm always too busy to do anything fun. I wish I didn't give people that impression. I didn't used to be that way. I still don't think I am. I'm a little shy I guess, and it's easier for me to just hang out at my house with my kids than go out. It may come as a shock to some people that I get anxiety when I think I have to talk to people. That's part of the reason why I always join book clubs. It's the place I've forced myself to get out of my comfort zone. The problem is that our book club here only has about 4 or 5 participants. I never figured out where you're supposed to go to meet friends here. Oh well! I wonder what Australia will be like.
I just finished a whole sleeve of crackers with butter. What am I thinking? I've used probably a half stick of butter. Totally negated my walk this morning. Wait a minute...that's why I workout. I think I'll have another cracker with butter.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Update on the Brouwers
I've been needing to update this blog for forever. It's been so long and there is so much happening. I don't know if anyone ever reads this or not, but here's the latest on us.
I just finished a successful Odyssey of the Mind Tournament. These are the things I gave up so I could put this tournament on.
1. Taking pictures and playing with them.
2. Blogging
3. Going to the park with the kids so often.
4. Laundry (can't say I mind that one.)
5. Decorating the house. (I never did much anyway)
6. Going out with friends. (I did miss that)
7. Shopping
8. Movies and TV
9. Other volunteer opportunities
These are the things I did not give up:
1. Family prayers
2. Family scripture study
3. Family Home Evening
And, when it comes down to it, these are the most important things to do. Our Heavenly Father's Plan is for us to live in families. If we don't teach our children to live in righteousness, the whole earth is utterly wasted (D&C 2:3) or at least the earth will be smitten with a curse (Malachi 3:6). If you're doing those 3 things, the other stuff doesn't matter quite as much.
Next: Our move to Brisbane, Australia...Robert came home one day in February and asked what I would think of moving to Australia. I said, yeah...like in 5 years. We just moved here a year and a half ago, my free flying bird wasn't ready to go yet. But, of course the adventure beckoned and off we go. Robert and I visited the end of last month. He's still there and has started working. He'll come back on May 21st to help me get everything in order and shipped and then fly out with the kids.
The kids are getting excited. They weren't so much at the beginning. It's hard to leave good friends, but we know we'll be back. We're not selling our house and will be back in 3 years time.
The good news is that Robert has family in Brisbane. His Mom's family immigrated to Australia in the 1960s. His parents moved back to Holland shortly after their first 2 kids were born, but the rest of the family stayed. So we have 2 aunts and 3 uncles and a couple of cousins already there. It's too bad Oma died at Christmas time. We would have loved to get to know her better as well.
Not only do we have family, my good friend from Twin Falls, Juli Patterson Robinson lives in Brisbane as well, and she's supplying friends for my kids. She has 5 kids that are roughly the same ages as my kids! Yipee! How more perfect can you get. We will be living just down the road from them. I think we'll have a great time together. It's so nice to have a friend already there, and we have history. In fact, in comparing notes, we found that we've had the same jobs and even dated the same people (weird...).
And...just because I can't possibly move without having a baby. Surprise monkey #6 is on the way. This will be my first baby born outside the US. I'm not too nervous about it. I am a little nervous about having 2 babies at the same time. I wasn't quite ready for this. Some people really struggle with being patient for things like moves and babies. What would be the opposite of patience that I have to learn? Really, sometimes I wish life would slow down a little. Maybe that's why we're moving to Australia though. Maybe I need to learn to slow down.
Today, I got up as usual, thinking about all the things that needed to be done today. I never get everything done. So, today I went to the temple. It was so peaceful I kept falling asleep. There was a part of the ceremony that really touched my heart today though. It made me think about my role as a mother. I'm so grateful for families. This mother's day, I'm going to really enjoy. I usually feel guilty that I'm not a good mother, but this time, I think I'll focus on Heavenly Father's Plan for families and be grateful for the time I have with these kids. They're not perfect by any stretch. And, I'm certainly not a perfect mother, but I sure do love them.
I just finished a successful Odyssey of the Mind Tournament. These are the things I gave up so I could put this tournament on.
1. Taking pictures and playing with them.
2. Blogging
3. Going to the park with the kids so often.
4. Laundry (can't say I mind that one.)
5. Decorating the house. (I never did much anyway)
6. Going out with friends. (I did miss that)
7. Shopping
8. Movies and TV
9. Other volunteer opportunities
These are the things I did not give up:
1. Family prayers
2. Family scripture study
3. Family Home Evening
And, when it comes down to it, these are the most important things to do. Our Heavenly Father's Plan is for us to live in families. If we don't teach our children to live in righteousness, the whole earth is utterly wasted (D&C 2:3) or at least the earth will be smitten with a curse (Malachi 3:6). If you're doing those 3 things, the other stuff doesn't matter quite as much.
Next: Our move to Brisbane, Australia...Robert came home one day in February and asked what I would think of moving to Australia. I said, yeah...like in 5 years. We just moved here a year and a half ago, my free flying bird wasn't ready to go yet. But, of course the adventure beckoned and off we go. Robert and I visited the end of last month. He's still there and has started working. He'll come back on May 21st to help me get everything in order and shipped and then fly out with the kids.
The kids are getting excited. They weren't so much at the beginning. It's hard to leave good friends, but we know we'll be back. We're not selling our house and will be back in 3 years time.
The good news is that Robert has family in Brisbane. His Mom's family immigrated to Australia in the 1960s. His parents moved back to Holland shortly after their first 2 kids were born, but the rest of the family stayed. So we have 2 aunts and 3 uncles and a couple of cousins already there. It's too bad Oma died at Christmas time. We would have loved to get to know her better as well.
Not only do we have family, my good friend from Twin Falls, Juli Patterson Robinson lives in Brisbane as well, and she's supplying friends for my kids. She has 5 kids that are roughly the same ages as my kids! Yipee! How more perfect can you get. We will be living just down the road from them. I think we'll have a great time together. It's so nice to have a friend already there, and we have history. In fact, in comparing notes, we found that we've had the same jobs and even dated the same people (weird...).
And...just because I can't possibly move without having a baby. Surprise monkey #6 is on the way. This will be my first baby born outside the US. I'm not too nervous about it. I am a little nervous about having 2 babies at the same time. I wasn't quite ready for this. Some people really struggle with being patient for things like moves and babies. What would be the opposite of patience that I have to learn? Really, sometimes I wish life would slow down a little. Maybe that's why we're moving to Australia though. Maybe I need to learn to slow down.
Today, I got up as usual, thinking about all the things that needed to be done today. I never get everything done. So, today I went to the temple. It was so peaceful I kept falling asleep. There was a part of the ceremony that really touched my heart today though. It made me think about my role as a mother. I'm so grateful for families. This mother's day, I'm going to really enjoy. I usually feel guilty that I'm not a good mother, but this time, I think I'll focus on Heavenly Father's Plan for families and be grateful for the time I have with these kids. They're not perfect by any stretch. And, I'm certainly not a perfect mother, but I sure do love them.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Brouwer Halloween
It's been a while since I blogged. Here are a few pictures from Halloween. All the monkeys got plenty of candy. Monkey #1 didn't do any trick or treating this year. I guess he's too old for candy, but not old enough to still wear a costume. He sewed his own costume this year. Nice to have a skill although he asked me if he should not tell his friends.
Kids are doing great. Monkey #2 is in the school play, "Willy Wonka" as Violet and is also in 2 orchestras and violin lessons and jazz. I think we're going to have to cool it a little and give something up soon. I don't know how we get busy with so many things. Monkey #3 is trying to be top monkey of his class. His teacher says he completely wears her out. I think she should send him out to run laps. That's what I do. Monkey #4 is hilarious. He cracks me up all the time. His preschool just got cancelled, so I'm trying to do my own preschool with him. He likes doing all his workbooks with me, but I think he would have been better with Mrs. Tina. Monkey #5 is so sweet. He hardly complains. He got a wasp sting in the thumb that he sucks yesterday. I felt so bad for him. Every time he tried to comfort himself, he couldn't help himself.
I'm super busy with Odyssey of the Mind. I've found someone to coach all my kid's teams except Monkey #1. I love getting together with his team. They are so funny and creative.
Love to you all!
Kids are doing great. Monkey #2 is in the school play, "Willy Wonka" as Violet and is also in 2 orchestras and violin lessons and jazz. I think we're going to have to cool it a little and give something up soon. I don't know how we get busy with so many things. Monkey #3 is trying to be top monkey of his class. His teacher says he completely wears her out. I think she should send him out to run laps. That's what I do. Monkey #4 is hilarious. He cracks me up all the time. His preschool just got cancelled, so I'm trying to do my own preschool with him. He likes doing all his workbooks with me, but I think he would have been better with Mrs. Tina. Monkey #5 is so sweet. He hardly complains. He got a wasp sting in the thumb that he sucks yesterday. I felt so bad for him. Every time he tried to comfort himself, he couldn't help himself.
I'm super busy with Odyssey of the Mind. I've found someone to coach all my kid's teams except Monkey #1. I love getting together with his team. They are so funny and creative.
Love to you all!
Friday, September 4, 2009
Happiness Is...
I've been thinking lately about what makes people happy. Sometimes I feel a little down, a little guilty that I'm not everything I should be. There are some things people think I should be, but I'm coming to realize I don't want to be that way and that's why I am the way I am. Does that make any sense? Anyway, I thought, instead of focusing on the negative today, I want to focus on positive things, so I started writing down all the things that make me happy today. Feel free to add your own happy moments.
disclaimer: There are plenty of moments when I fall short of what I should be, but I'm only listing the times when things are right with the world.
Things that make me happy:
1. Running this morning while listening to a talk Elder Uchtdorf gave about creating something beautiful and finding joy in serving.
2. Singing "Twinkle" about 20 times yesterday to Ammon in the car.
3. Watching Ammon make new friends at Preschool and bringing projects home and being so proud of them.
4. Having my kids come to me for comfort when they are hurt, sad or afraid
5. Knowing where my kids are and trusting that they are making good choices.
6. Reading a good book.
7. Having a clean bathroom.
8. Having a clean kitchen.
9. Talking to my brother about his life and feeling like he likes to be around me.
10. A husband who runs errands for me with little complaint.
11. Playing with Aaron and almost getting him to smile at me.
That's so far today. Hopefully, I'll add a few more before the day is through.
We had a combined Relief Society/Priesthood meeting on Sunday. Our High Councilman taught the lesson. It was about being your brother's keeper. It really touched my heart and made me think a lot about how I can be my brother's keeper. He told a story about when he worked for the church in some capacity. There was an award given every year to someone in the organization, named after the Prophet. He was able to accompany the winner of the award to the Church Office Building to meet with the Prophet. The winner with his family would be able to visit with the Prophet for about 15 minutes and receive their award. When President Monson became the President, things were a little different. A stake President from Idaho Falls had won the award. He brought his 6 daughters and his wife to accept the award. They were all waiting in a board room visiting when Pres. Monson walked in. They all stood and shook his hand. He was very attentive to them and especially to this brother's youngest 8-year-old daughter. After the 15 minute interview, the family was overwhelmed by his kindness and just as Pres. Monson was leaving he turned around and said, "Would you like to see my office?" Of course they thought that would be great, so he took them into his office and showed them several things in his office that were special to him and explained them to the family. As they were leaving his office, Pres. Monson said, "Would you like to see my Secretary's office?" At this, the family was overcome. The stake president, took Pres. Monson's arm and said "President Monson, we know you are so busy and have so many things to do today. We have seen so much today and we've been so blessed to have your time for so long. We can go now." They had promised Pres. Monson and his secretary that they would only take 15 minutes and the Secretary was getting a little nervous because he knew what kind of schedule the Prophet had. President Monson took this good brother by the arm and looked into his eyes and with a very serious voice said, "Brother, I know exactly what my priorities are." Pres. Monson then proceeded to show the little 8-year-old girl how to work the nutcracker outside his office that was shaped like Joseph Smith. He spent 50-60 minutes with this family that day.
This story really touched me. I wonder if I know what my priorities are?
disclaimer: There are plenty of moments when I fall short of what I should be, but I'm only listing the times when things are right with the world.
Things that make me happy:
1. Running this morning while listening to a talk Elder Uchtdorf gave about creating something beautiful and finding joy in serving.
2. Singing "Twinkle" about 20 times yesterday to Ammon in the car.
3. Watching Ammon make new friends at Preschool and bringing projects home and being so proud of them.
4. Having my kids come to me for comfort when they are hurt, sad or afraid
5. Knowing where my kids are and trusting that they are making good choices.
6. Reading a good book.
7. Having a clean bathroom.
8. Having a clean kitchen.
9. Talking to my brother about his life and feeling like he likes to be around me.
10. A husband who runs errands for me with little complaint.
11. Playing with Aaron and almost getting him to smile at me.
That's so far today. Hopefully, I'll add a few more before the day is through.
We had a combined Relief Society/Priesthood meeting on Sunday. Our High Councilman taught the lesson. It was about being your brother's keeper. It really touched my heart and made me think a lot about how I can be my brother's keeper. He told a story about when he worked for the church in some capacity. There was an award given every year to someone in the organization, named after the Prophet. He was able to accompany the winner of the award to the Church Office Building to meet with the Prophet. The winner with his family would be able to visit with the Prophet for about 15 minutes and receive their award. When President Monson became the President, things were a little different. A stake President from Idaho Falls had won the award. He brought his 6 daughters and his wife to accept the award. They were all waiting in a board room visiting when Pres. Monson walked in. They all stood and shook his hand. He was very attentive to them and especially to this brother's youngest 8-year-old daughter. After the 15 minute interview, the family was overwhelmed by his kindness and just as Pres. Monson was leaving he turned around and said, "Would you like to see my office?" Of course they thought that would be great, so he took them into his office and showed them several things in his office that were special to him and explained them to the family. As they were leaving his office, Pres. Monson said, "Would you like to see my Secretary's office?" At this, the family was overcome. The stake president, took Pres. Monson's arm and said "President Monson, we know you are so busy and have so many things to do today. We have seen so much today and we've been so blessed to have your time for so long. We can go now." They had promised Pres. Monson and his secretary that they would only take 15 minutes and the Secretary was getting a little nervous because he knew what kind of schedule the Prophet had. President Monson took this good brother by the arm and looked into his eyes and with a very serious voice said, "Brother, I know exactly what my priorities are." Pres. Monson then proceeded to show the little 8-year-old girl how to work the nutcracker outside his office that was shaped like Joseph Smith. He spent 50-60 minutes with this family that day.
This story really touched me. I wonder if I know what my priorities are?
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Fun Friends from Holland
We spent a week with the Tenthofs a week ago. This was our staycation this summer and we had a great time showing them some of the wonders of our neighborhood. Enjoy the slideshow.
If you want to download any of the pictures, click here
If you want to download any of the pictures, click here
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