Brown Family Blog: May 2006

Best and Worst of American Idol

Best: Elliot's mom winning a trophy

Worst: Meatloaf...scary.

Best: Carrie Underwood

Worst: Bucky singing "Raindrops Keep Fallin'on my Head."

Best: Elliot and Mary J

Worst: Kevin singing "What's Up Pussy Cat."

Best: Taylor's final song with fireworks

Worst: Prince - my kids, "How old is he?" Response, "So old that he has to sing imbetween two dancers with hardly any clothes on."

Memorial Day Info

Hey family. Just finished up the last day of school - I'm somewhere between insanity and elation. The reality of summer will hit hard and I will end up back at insantiy. School will begin again...elation...insantiy.

Thought I'd break the vicious cycle with another attempt to "control" the chaos of Memorial Day food planning. Conquering food planning is an elusive goal, but something sick about me keeps rising to the challenge. Holly and I have been brainstorming for yet another way to simplify and streamline feeding our hungry, growing crowd.

I'm sending you an email with an idea to try - certainly an experiment, and open for improvements. If you guys could post or email back with what meals your family will be at, that would be great.
Thanks guys!

Mother's Day

Lena gave me sweet kissis for Mother's Day.

Field Day

Today was Field Day at MCS. Emily told me she hula-hooped for 35 minutes solid while eating a snowcone! Impressive! We have such a gifted family--really!

Hmmm....what are some good captions that could go with this picture?

Brown Baccalaureate

Just for fun

How about a recipe? It's very easy and fast (about 30 minutes) and delicious. And all but 1 of the ingredients I almost always have. (Cilantro is the one I sometimes don't, but Ben is planting 3 little plants as we speak, so maybe I'll have plenty soon!)

Easy Cheesy Chili Chicken

2 T. olive oil
2 T. chopped fresh cilantro
1 T. chili powder
1 T. cumin powder
2 t. salt
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 t. pepper
1/8 t. cayenne pepper
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/4 c. julienned green bell pepper (they now have roasted peppers in frozen foods at HEB--wonderful to have on hand)
2 T. diced onion (whatever kind you have--I used green onion tonight)
1 medium tomato, diced
shredded colby jack cheese

Preheat oven to 400.

Toss oil, cilantro and spices into a ziploc. Add the chicken and toss to coat.

Transfer chicken to a foil-lined baking sheet (for easy clean-up) and arrange the green pepper, onion and tomato over each. Roast until the largest piece is just cooked through and a meat thermometer reads 165 degrees, about 20 minutes.

Remove chicken from oven and immediately top with the cheese and serve as the cheese melts.

I served it with rice and guacamole. I would have served a salad, but the lettuce was frozen when I took it out of the fridge. I put extra tomatoes in the guacamole, so I'm counting it as a vegetable. Plus I put extra vegees on top of the chicken.

You could use taco seasoning in place of the dry spices if you want--it's basically the same thing.

No cute pictures of my kids tonight, although they are awfully cute! Maybe I'll post some kindergarten graduation pictures after Thursday night. Cary and Alan, you can enjoy them from your hotel rooms.

I just couldn't help it

I just couldn't help but post a few of Lena's cute moments to share with yall. I hope you enjoy them, though you probably don't get as tickled as I do at every cute thing she does.

Things are busy here. This is finals week for James, so he's hiding in the study preparing for finals. There will be much celebration this weekend because he will be finished with his classes, and also it is my first official Mother's Day.

Looking forward to seeing you all Memorial weekend.

Love,
April

I just thought this was cute.

I promise, I really don't pose these
pictures! James and I were eating
dinner, and then we looked over at
Lena and the lion was sitting perched
on top of the ice breaker's tin. James
says he didn't do it. Wonder how he
got there? Hmm........

Lena likes her new high chair. This is her first
time in the high chair.

Let's hit the road!

This is not posed! I was laying on the floor next
to her and reading the book, when she took it
out of my hands. She's a little bookworm.
Like mother like daughter.