Signs of Life : The Brownie Chronicles

After three weeks at TSD, it's amazing to see the new language development in both boys!  We can tell they are chatting all day with their teachers and peers.  I will actively work on capturing a video of their conversations next week.  In the meantime, here are a few changes we've noticed: Travis: - adding "want" to his requests - Normally, he would point at something, such as his red Power Ranger mask, and sign, "POWER-RANGER MASK, RED."  Often, he'll add a fussy face or sound to his request.  Now, more often than not, he signs, "POWER-RANGER MASK, WANT!" - saying "mine" instead of using first person for everything - Where he's always pointed at items, then signed, "TRAVIS" to mean, "That's mine," he is now signing, "RED MASK, MINE." - putting together longer sentences - As I had blogged earlier this week, Travis is putting together 3-ASL-sign sentences, which is equivalent to a 5-8...

Today, the boys completed their first two weeks of pre-k and preschool at TSD.  Aside from Tian still being a little unhappy when we drop him off, they really like school! Tian enters the elementary building. Travis checks out his classroom. This morning, my younger daughter and I dropped off the boys.  When we arrived at the school, Travis was eager to don his backpack and get into the hallway.  I stayed with a clingy Tian while my daughter stayed with Travis in the hallway.  Travis hung his backpack on the hanger, then proceeded to empty the backpack of its contents. Mackenzie tried to get him to stop, but Travis was adamant.  He finally reached his red notebook, sat it aside, and began refilling his pack with its items.  When his sister tried to hand him the red notebook, he told her, "no."  He zipped up his backpack, hung it on its hook, then took his red notebook and deposited it in a small box at the front of his classroom...exactly wh...

My older three kids plus their cousin, D! Have I mentioned how much we love Austin?  Well, we do!  We adore this house.  Of all 3 homes we've owned, this is by far my favorite!  While I did really enjoy our location and pool in Highland Village, this house is arranged better and is easier to maintain.  In our 15 years of marriage and ownership of 3 homes, we've learned that extensive landscaping is beautiful, but also costly and a ton of work!  We have a few pretty shrubs and plants in the front yard.  There are two trees in the back, but otherwise, it's just a grassy backyard, which means easy maintenance.  Of course, we have the fabulous team at The Austin Lawn Service taking care of our mowing and trimming, so the amount of work we have to do in the yard is minimal. We had hoped for a one-story home, but with the layout of this house, we don't mind two stories at all.  The stairs lead to an open "balcony" hallway that looks down to ...

Ken and I have enjoyed aspects of each city in which we have lived.  In Oklahoma, we had some of our best friends; in Las Vegas, we enjoyed the mountains, dry climate, and church family; in North Dallas, we met some wonderful homeschooling and neighborhood families.  However, being a Deaf/hearing couple presents challenges when it comes to socializing with the general population.   In most cities, I would get plugged in with a women's bible study group, a homeschooling group, and either AWANA or Scouts.  I might work in the nursery or run the soundboard at church, so I would quickly get to know a lot of people.  In these settings, 99.9% of the friends I made were hearing people who didn't know ASL.   Language certainly presents itself as a barrier.  It was easy for me to visit with other ladies on a deep level, but not so easy to connect our families.  (We love with all our heart a lot of hearing friends who do not sign.  Just making sure...

We've been here just shy of one week and already love it!  We haven't yet unpacked 30% of our stuff, we don't have a couch, but I already feel like this is "home." When we arrived late last Friday night, the little boys kept saying, "New house! New house!"  We came in the door and the first thing Tian asked was, "Where's Nana?"  Aww.  He's going to miss seeing her and Pappy every week.  My three boys ran all over the house, checking out each room and the backyard.  Yay! We have a backyard again! Hugging the floor We went upstairs and I showed the boys their room.  They were so thrilled, they tried to "hug" the floor.  Thank God they seemed to understand the move.  I had prayed that it wouldn't upset them, that they would know we were all sticking together, that no one would be left behind or moved somewhere new.  From the minute we stepped in the house, they just "got it."  We had been showing them photos...

Last Friday, we loaded up all of our belongings into a big, yellow Penske truck and made the drive south to Austin! We have truly enjoyed our time in North Texas.  Moving to the Regency in Coppell was a great decision.  I must record this story.  TJ would kill me now, but by the time reads all of these, he'll be old enough to appreciate it: The girls rode with their dad in the moving truck.  TJ, the little boys, and I rode in the SUV.  As we were getting settled for the drive, TJ said goodbye to his best friend.  Over the past months, they've come to spend every waking-and-not-in-school moment together.  They've fished together, ridden big roller coasters for the first time, had a couple of sleepovers, visited extended family together, and spent hours and hours riding bikes and talking about Star Wars, movies, cars, and who knows what else.  I had to drop some trash off at the dumpster.  Before I got out, I looked at TJ, who appeared ...

Finally finishing up our trip blog! We left early Sunday morning and headed to St. Louis.  On our way, we had a t ire blow-out.   The blowout caused damage to back fiberglass, then the t ire guy messed up the side of the RV by placing the jack in the wrong place.  The blessing over that was that a storm was brewing in the distance, so we had a nice, cool breeze while waiting for the tire service. We arrived in St. Louis a bit later than we first planned, but still had time to park, then get a taxi to the Arch.  We were happy we had thought to call ahead and make reservations.  The lines for tickets were long and the 7:00 time we had secured was sold out. Ken and I woke early the next morning and decided to head on over about a half-hour to the Wal-Mart by Six Flags.  For the first time, we let the kids stay asleep in their beds while we drove.  I went grocery shopping while Ken and the kids rested.  Then we were at Six Flags for the opening....

Obviously, the remainder of the week was FULL and I ran out of time to blog. Here's the photo album from these days. July 5th was Ken's birthdayt!  We got him a cake and card and gave him the gift of not spending any more money than that.  He loved it!  Our friend Chris joined us for dinner and cake to help us celebrate.  :)  The kids and I visited NAD for a while during the day, then Ken and Hannah went back to watch the College Bowl that evening. Cool artistic horse. Carol and Merv Garretson with the boys. A key lime cake after dinner to celebrate Ken's birthday! Friday morning, we decided to go across the street to Atlantis Waterpark .  It was a great way to spend the 105-degree day.  Travis wasn't a huge fan of the waterpark.  He does not enjoy the blinding sunlight nor getting his face wet, so after a couple of hours, we went back to the RV, picked up Ken from work, let him and the little boys nap while the rest of us...

The kids are loving the playground here at the KOA campsite.  They played for a while this morning, then we went across the bridge to a splash park.  Wet is the only way to survive outdoors right now. The boys at the splash pad On our way back to the RV, we swung by the skate park to check things out.  The photos online look amazing, but reality was quite different.  The skate park is evidently in a bad part of town.  Trash was everywhere.  Graffiti covering most places.  (Not the pretty graffiti, either.)  The place was completely abandoned, which I thought was strange for a holiday.  Our skate park would be packed.  Then we noticed two police cars in front of the park and realized they must have just cleared out the place.  We're not sure if we'll go back and skate or not!  It was pretty creepy. Aunt Janice, Chris, Hal and the boy Brownies. In the early afternoon, Ken got back from work and we headed over to ...

We had a nice, slow morning.  Ken took the van to work, so the kids and stayed "home."  Because of some rain storms last night, the morning was relatively cool.  TJ, Kenzie, Tian, Travis and I went over to the playground, just a hundred steps away, to slide, teeter-totter, swing, and merry-go-round.  I love the playground here.  It's clean, well-kept, and all old-fashioned metal play equipment like I grew up with.  The slide is high, fast and fun! The kids enjoyed their Lunchables (a rare treat for them).  When Ken got home around noon, Kenzie, TJ and I decided to try out the KOA showers.  They were clean, nice and safe.  They are single showers, each with a locked door.   When you go in, you can latch the door locked from the inside.  It felt good to shower and not have to worry about running out of warm water. After hanging out and relaxing for a while, we packed into the van and drove to Slugger Stadium.  We got to see S...

Today was SO much fun! We went to visit the Mattingly family, who were in our travel group when we adopted Tian in Zhengzhou.  It was a treat to visit, play and do laundry!  :) I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Silly kids! (Instagram) TJ had a great day hanging out with the guys. Sweet Allie

Up with the sun this morning, I packed up as much as I could while everyone was still sleeping.  I wanted Ken to get as much rest as possible so he would feel better!  It worked! We left the park around 8:00 am, took a few pictures and made our way up to Louisville.  The KOA park is nice, shady, and clean.  There is a great playground, clean bathrooms and showers, and it's an easy drive to all the places we're going.  We also just found out that Ken's aunt lives just around the corner! Ken went to work at 1:00, so the kids and I set up at the RV park, then went out to explore and do some grocery shopping.  We had a great meal at Shake N Steak (kids meals free!), then stumbled on a HUGE Bass Pro Shop!  We killed an hour or so there, then decided to go on home so the boys could nap.  The grocery shopping would have to wait. Click here to see the photos . For dinner, we met the Z family at the Old Spaghetti Warehouse.  It was fun to see ...

The photos are worth a thousand words if I can ever get them all uploaded.   (The WiFi here is a joke, at least at our site. But we’re camping and having family time, so technology is not a huge priority anyway.) Let me just say a few things: Water Warriors Weekend.  It’s amazing! People from Arkansas, Indiana, and other neighboring states were here this weekend especially for Water Warriors.  The parks is packed to full capacity.  Evidently it’s only done once per summer and it is FUN!  We were wet the entire day, which was perfect, considering it was 105 degrees.  Wet is the only way to survive outside.  Considering that this place is full and it’s stinkin’ hot out, we’ve had a great time!  We don’t feel cramped or run-over at all.  The park hosts and the campers are all friendly and fun. Ken has stayed in 99% of the day.  He has a fever and headache, but says he thinks it is just the heat.  My goal today has been to l...

We woke up early this morning, set the RV back for daytime use (a breeze), then started cooking breakfast: Zip-Lock Bag omelets with turkey sausage and green onions.   I went down to the bath house with a couple of the kids.  I took a quick shower and felt like a new man! ..er...woman! Once all packed up, we pulled out of the campsite.  Ken and I did our first “dump” together.  It was so romantic!  Actually, because of the way this RV is set up, it was very easy.  Easier than dumping the hybrid trailer we had borrowed. Despite lots of hours on the road, including a good 30-minute stop on the interstate for road construction, the day was great!  I got some fun video of the older kids cracking up, playing with some of the boys’ matching cards.  They got along most of the day.  While we were stopped in traffic, we let the little boys out of their car seats to play.  (My next blog will link to photos.) In the afternoon,...

We started our day at about 6:15, finishing up the last of the laundry and packing essentials we still had in the house.   My goal HAD been to pack on Wednesday night, everything except our toiletries, but after the busy day we had, we were completely spent after dinner.   Also, remember what I said yesterday.   Things don’t always go as planned.   Click here to see photos from the day. Ready to hit the road! Happy to have a place to hang out on the way. Packed and ready to go by 10:30, we all were giddy with excitement.   We drove about an hour and a half to Sulphur Springs to visit the Southwest Dairy Museum .   I highly recommend it if you’re passing that way.   It’s a self-guided free tour.   They have some very nice items and lots of good information.   For our kids, the giant cows out front were the highlight! We made a quick stop at the local Wal-Mart Supercenter and realized we weren’t in Dallas any more!  As ...

Today, all seven of us spent our morning running errands.   Our plan had been to grocery shop, but things don’t always go as planned.   We had to get our SUV inspected.  Again.  It hadn’t passed due to the computer not reading it right, so they reset something and had us drive over the weekend, then try again once we went 50 miles.  It failed again today, so we drove over to the Ford Dealership.  They knew immediately what was wrong: the car place wasn’t setting the weight right in the system.  I still don’t understand what exactly happened, but we drove back to Driver’s Edge where they set things right and our SUV finally passed inspection.  Third time’s a charm.  But that little excursion (Ha! See what I did there? Our SUV is an Excursion.) ate up our morning, so we only had time to run to Walgreens for prescription refills, pick up a few burgers for lunch, and then head home so the boys could nap. After getting the kids settled i...

The Brown Seven are getting ready to head out on a two-week RV trip to Louisville, Kentucky and back.  We will be attending the National Association of the Deaf Biennial Convention and Kentucky DeafFestival . We made the decision to rent an RV  so we could enjoy the long drive up and back.  I wouldn't say it's a money-saving way to travel, but we will have more freedom to get out, play, and move driving an RV as opposed to staying in hotels.  I know we'll see some money savings in our meals, since my goal is to make our meals most of the time. coachmenrv.com Our plan is to leave Dallas and head to Lake DeGray for the night.  We should have a little bit of time to see the lake and walk in the woods.  Then we will head to Mammoth Cave , Kentucky for a two-night stay at Jellystone RV park .  It looks like a fun place! From there, we'll head up to our main destination in Lousiville .  We'll basically be staying in a glorified parking lot wi...

This morning, while I was making pancakes, Tian was playing around in the kitchen.  He had grabbed his toothbrush and was using it to "clean" the front of the refrigerator.  For a cleaning agent, he sipped his milk, put his brush in his mouth to fill the bristles with milk, then turned on the brush, scrubbing the fridge from top to bottom. At lunch, I was sweating over a pot of beans and weinies when I heard the boys in my bathroom.   I sent Hannah in to check on them and her "Mooooommm!!!" let me know I was in for a surprise.  This is what was up: A sink full of bubbles with Tian right in the thick of it! [Instagram] While I was emptying the sink of bubbles, Tian ran into the kitchen, grabbed my quickly-neglected-because-I-ran-to-the-bathroom open can of beans and proceeded to cut his finger nice and deep.  He didn't cry one bit.  He simply came into the bathroom (where I was still cleaning up) and signed/said, "Please, bandaid, hurt." ...

Travis went shopping with Ken, then when they got home, he came running up the stairs, screaming happily all the way. He ran into the kitchen, looking for and finding Tian.  He was waving two electric Thomas the Train toothbrushes in his hands. He handed one toothbrush to Tian and signed, "Toothbrush!! Thomas!" Tian gasped with a thrilled smile and signed, "Thank you!" Travis leaned over, hugged Tian, kissed him on the forehead, gave him a thumbs up, then invited him to go with him to the bathroom to brush their teeth. Sweet sweet sweet!!  These boys are best friends and brothers for life!  Ken and I thank God every day for His leading us to bring them both home together.