Five Brown Kids

Flowers as big as a dinner plate and great smell. We skipped the playground at this park and sniffed magnolias and pushed the swings instead.

This is another easy and super tasty salad. Toss in a bowl: Head of romaine lettuce, washed and torn Few chopped tomatoes Can of mandarin oranges, drained Dressing: Drizzle with Briannas Ginger Mandarin Dressing Top with: Grilled chicken, sliced (mine was marinated in soy sauce and italian dressing) Crunchy chow mein noodles, I like the tiny ones, but these ones work fine too

Fabulous teacher! Silly friends! Here's Taye's end of year PowerPoint presentation on Komodo dragons. I didn't write a single paper or do any sort of presentation on the computer until I was in college. This second grade class makes me feel old. Notice Taye's chime between pages. They each picked their own and that was big excitement.

Here is proof that Tyrone really, really loves that strawberry salad . I was just home from the gym and Tyrone is packing lunch before we head out to Taye's end of school festivities. Tyrone is making sandwiches for everyone else and in this picture sugaring his sliced almonds for his lunch salad. What a man!

Francine, lots of dark pink wave petunias. I'm addicted to them.

I don't necessarily love the thought of all my children home all the time all summer long but I do love the end of the school year with all the activities and fun. Here's Taye (blue bandanna around his neck) dancing his heart out at the school talent show. His class did a medley of TV theme songs. Speaking of Taye, he was one of two second graders in his class who scored 100% on his year end math assessment. He is setting the standard high. And we are so proud. Taye wanted to wear shorts under his pants so he could change as soon as he was done. He wore a pair of next years jeans that were big enough to fit over the shorts. I'm sure you can see the shorts sticking out and the pants falling down :-)

1 quart strawberries, sliced 1/2 cup sugar 1/3 cup shortening 2 cups white flour (don't use whole wheat for this) 2 tbsp sugar 3 tsp baking powder 1 tsp salt 3/4 cup milk Sweetened whipped cream, Cool Whip or vanilla ice-cream to top. 1. Mix strawberries and 1/2 cup sugar. Let stand for 1 hour. 2. Heat oven to 450. 3. Cut shortening into flour, 2 tbsp sugar, the baking powder and salt in a medium bowl, using a pastry blender or crisscrossing 2 knives, until mixture looks like fine crumbs. Stir in milk just until blended. 4. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Gently smooth into a ball. Knead 20 to 25 times. Roll 1/2 inch thick. Cut with floured 3 inch cutter. Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. 5. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. 6. Split shortcake horizontally in half while hot. Spread margarine on split sides. Fill with strawberries; replace tops. Top sweetened whipped cream.

After five wonderful years at his preschool Jaxon is done and ready for the next adventure. And me too - I'll be counting down the days until Jax starts school right over there in that side bar. This is Jaxon's favorite girl classmate. He even got to go to her house a few times to play. He said the thing he liked most about her was that "she laughs all the time". I was bumped so it is kind of wobbly but they are too cute. Congratulations Jaxon!

Our buckets of strawberries turned into fabulous strawberry shortcakes (Fresh Friday coming up) and wonderful freezer jam. Jaxon did an awesome job chopping up all the berries and stirring them into the sugar mixture. We'll have breakfast toast with jam for months to come.

Scotia's year of gymnastics has come to an end. Boy was it fun!!!

It's a new year on the blog and it's going to feel like you've read this all before. Buckets of strawberries, pool opening, Taye's birthday, swim team and the beach. It's the same summer plan as last year. Love it!

It took me a long time to read this book (and even longer to write the report) it started out s.l.o.w. and I got hooked on The Office in the mean time and had to catch up on four seasons in my spare time. Summary: The preeminent geologist of the nineteenth century and first director of the US Geological Survey lives a double life, portraying himself has a light skinned (black) Pullman Porter to marry a former slave and poorly paid domestic worker. He hid his family life and wife from his friends and colleagues and he hid his work life, career and top level government friends from his wife. Details: Because he was white and well to do and a Yale educated high level government worker there is enough info on Clarence King to write volumes. The first half of the book documents his family life, education and work travels in great detail. No offense to my friend Scott but the minute details of geologists' travels and rock discoveries just aren't that exciting. There are almost no ...

I just had to rip this triscuit ad out of the magazine. Entertain your guests for less than $1 per person? That's fabulous. Then read the fine print. *One serving is two crackers, 1 tsp of dip and one eight ounce glass of sweet tea. I'll do the math. Two crackers + 1 tsp of dip + a roomful of guests = no one will ever come to your house again!

This is a quick and easy treat to make with kids and perfect for all those spring strawberries. I had leftover melting chocolate from Christmas that I microwaved in a plastic mixing bowl until it was soft and smooth. The kids took turns dipping fruit and pretzels into the chocolate. We let them cool on wax paper and then enjoyed for an after supper snack. Yummy!

Right now all the kids and Tyrone are on the path in the back yard trying to start a fire. Taye wants to heat up rocks and blow them up; Tyrone has a bag with a few marshmellows in his pocket that he hopes will appease the crowd.

A few weeks of serious swim classes to get ready for summer swim team. Watch out! Here come the Browns! (yep, they are totally on upside down) (For upcoming reference: Jaxon has blue goggles and Taye black. Always.)

There's a quote that goes something like, " A happy childhood lasts a lifetime." I had a great childhood. And I'll be saying "Thank You, Mom" for the rest of my life.

2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni 1/4 cup margarine 1/4 cup flour 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper 1/4 tsp ground mustard (dry) 1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce 2 cups milk 2 cups Velveeta processed cheese, cubed 1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. 2. Cook macaroni as directed on package. 3. While macaroni cooks, melt margarine in a 3 qt saucepan over low heat. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, mustard and Worcestershire sauce . Cook over low heat , stirring constantly, until mixture is smooth and bubbly, remove from heat. Stir in milk. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir one minute. Stir in cheese. Cook, stirring occasionally until cheese is melted. 4. Drain macaroni. Gently stir macaroni into cheese sauce . Pour into ungreased 2 quart casserole dish. Bake uncovered 20-25 minutes or until bubbly.

I've been blogging about my family life for a year and what a journal I've created. Thanks for sharing in the fun.

Taye has the red shirt on at the end of the rope.

School is winding down for the year, but busier than ever!

Oh, we love this recipe in the summer! Cook on the grill: 1 nice sized steak brushed with balsamic vinaigrette (use half at grill, save half for salad) 1 red pepper, halved and brushed with bv (peel the blackened skin off before serving) 1 red onion, cut in thick slices and brushed with bv Salad prep: 1 head of Romain lettuce, rinsed and torn 2 Roma tomatoes, sliced 1/2 cup sliced carrots Balsamic Vinaigrette - buy a pre-made jar or mix: 2 tbsp plus an extra dash balsamic vinegar 4 tbsp olive oil 2 good shakes of garlic salt (test it, then add some more) 1 clove fresh minced garlic if you're up to it Combine: mix salad with half the dressing slice steak and grilled veggies and mix with salad top with croutons and shredded asiago cheese So good!