Five Brown Kids

A week late - but she's still plenty cute and so sweet.  So glad to have such a pleasant baby!

For a few days each spring the sun shines in at just the right angle and makes little rainbows on the wall next to the fireplace. The attic has lots of storage space - which is good because half of our belongings are up there.  A little road trip means getting the extra van seat, pack and play, some sleeping bags, a couple of suitcases and the cooler down and then lugging it all back up once we are home.

Every now and then we have a family tickle-fest.  If dad is in charge then it's a wrestle-fest.  There is lots of tickling and wrestling and screaming and everyone loves it until someone gets hurt.  Don't want to forget this Brown family tradition. Oh, I have some pretty sweet tickling moves - the pork butt, chicken wing, pigs foot etc.

I have a talent that makes Jaxon happy.  We spent an "I'm not sick any more" afternoon making this video.

Laundry Running Check up Bathing 

This past weekend Courtney and I and our seven kids met in Washington, DC for a cherry blossom adventure.   Here's the good, the bad and the ugly.  The Good: Hanging with good friends and lots of wrestling for the boys Cafe Rio for supper twice, still my favorite after 20 years The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Lincoln Monument, The Martin Luther King Jr Memorial The cherry blossoms - walking along the tidal basin just below the MLK memorial, with a cool breeze blowing off the water and making the cherry blossoms rain down.  It was magical.  A run with Courtney The roaring lion at the zoo  Riding on the metro with kids and not losing anyone Jaxon saying, referring to the nice apartment we stayed in, "If I was single, and I'm not going to be, I would love an apartment like this" The boys were so good at taking care of Blythe in the back seat! The Bad: The crowds - it was the last w...

At the first OM worlds fundraising/logistics meeting for parents,  Jaxon, pleading his case for staying in the college dorms instead of a hotel spoke up. "Last year it was the best four eating days of my life".  I just shrugged... not much you can say to a crowd of moms after that.

I didn't like cauliflower as a kid and since I'm the boss now there hasn't been any in our house.  Then Scotia asked for cauliflower after she had it at a friend's house.  I'm not stupid enough to turn down a request like that so I picked up a head at Trader Joes and asked in the checkout suggestions for cooking.  Here's what I got. Roasted Cauliflower Heat oven to 350. Spread nice layer of olive oil on cookie sheet. Spread out cauliflower florets. Sprinkle with garlic salt and parmesan cheese. Bake until the cheese is toasty brown and florets are soft but not mushy.  (Maybe 20 mins) Oh wow!  We are eating it at least once a week now!

They did it!  Jaxon's Odyssey of the Mind  team went to States yesterday and earned second place in their event - good enough for another trip to Worlds ! After spontaneous and the skit we had a few hours to kill before the awards ceremony. The coaches brought along a big bucket of toys - 20 containers of silly string for a great post performance stress releasing silly string fight.  Bubbles, chalk, kites etc.  We laid out some blankets on a sunny piece of lawn and the kids raced, played catch and sat around talking about favorite teachers and books. The coaches who remembered to bring toys to play are the same teachers who met with them everyday during lunch hour, after school, during spring break (when one of then taught my ten year old son how to sew!!!! - on her vacation!)  They are wonderful - not enough good I can say for amazing public school teachers. Jelly fish, two evil scuba diver/oil tycoons, mermaid, clown fish and box turtle getting t...

Taye's class went to the aquarium and Fort Fisher for a day trip. They dissected squid...