What can Brown do for you?

Julianne (as you are aware) just had her 7th birthday. We have anxiously been awaiting the arrival of a birthday package from our family in Utah. It was supposed to arrive by Wednesday at the latest. By Friday, it was still a no show. As I check the mail on Friday we got a postcard from UPS stating that there was a parcel on hold at their facility addressed to Julianne that was undeliverable because "the address number is invalid/doesn't exist/" HMMMMMMMM. So UPS's solution is to mail a postcard to the same address on the package??????? I should have taped my conversation with UPS on the phone.

"Hi I just got a post card saying you have a package for me that you cannot deliver b/c the address is invalid"

UPS "Yes our driver attempted to deliver that package on Wednesday but there is no 5610 CaXXX."

Me "Did he actually drive on the street or did a computer determine that it did not exist?"

UPS "No ma'am, our driver actually attempted delivery."

Me "That is certainly odd, because although our home is fairly new, the street has been here for a long time and we are the first home past the older homes and the address is cemented into the front elevation in big black numbers. One would have to work very hard to miss it. In fact, I could email you a picture."

UPS "Oh no ma'am, that is not necessary. So you are telling me that you do in fact live at 5610 CaXXX? "

Me "Oh yes, we do. I am not trying to be harsh, but I would be little concerned about driver incompetency."

UPS "I am sorry ma'am but we will try to get this delivered to you as soon as possible. Do you have any other questions before I transfer you to our delivery dept.?"

Me "Yeah, just one. What does it say about your company that when you could not deliver the package you sent a postcard to the same address through the United States Postal Service . . . and they did find my house?"

UPS "(laughing) uh, yeah I guess we don't look so good?"

Me "Maybe next time when you get a package for me -- you could mail it?"

Oh life is funnier than fiction!

What was she thinking?

I bought a bunch of new t-shirts the other day-- nothing fancy, just the plain old standard t-shirt in a variety of colors. On Thursday, I wore the yellow one and noticed a small notch that had been cut into the sleeve. I was a little bummed, wondering what I had caught it on or wondering if it was like that when I bought it and just never noticed. Then on Saturday I was wearing a blue t-shirt for the first time and Trent pointed out an identical notched cut on the opposite sleeve. Now, I was really baffled. That night at dinner, Catherine looked at my sleeve and said, "Oh Mommy your sleeve is cut." Then she looked back at her food and started to grin and stifle her giggles. I looked at her and said,"Catherine, did you do this?" She kept looking straight at her food and said, "No o o o o o --- yes" I said incredulously, "Catherine, what were you thinking?????????" She replied, "I didn't do any of your pretty shirts."

We have now secured all manner of scissors in the house. I was lucky, she only got the 2 shirts and a ribbon belt. . . but still WHAT WAS SHE THINKING??????

Serves me right?

When we moved out of our Sugar Land ward, I had been the primary president for a little over 8 months. It was quite nice to walk away from the busy stuff and enjoy anonymity in our new ward. Four weeks ago, I was called to be the teacher to the 8 year olds. I enjoyed it immensely for 3 weeks, and then I got called to be the Primary president. . . again. At least I enjoy busy. This will be a much bigger challenge for me as it is a bigger primary (86 kids versus 51) and I don't know the kids names . . .yet. On the plus side, I did find a primary website I really like.

You know, Trent and I are both the oldest. . .

Check out this story . . .

Research Finds Firstborns Gain the Higher I.Q.

The eldest children in families tend to develop higher I.Q.’s than their siblings, researchers are reporting today, in a large study that could settle more than a half-century of scientific debate about the relationship between I.Q. and birth order.

Cute!

Cute, Cute, Cute! What else is there to say?

Madelyn "Miley" and "Hannah"

Madelyn thought the whole thing was a riot! She had a lot of fun at the "big" girl party!

Julianne as Hannah Montana

The party was a great success. The kids seemed to have a great time. The main activity was videoing each girl dressed as Hannah Montana lip syncing to one of her songs. I envisioned spectacular home made music videos with the girls dancing and singing and hamming it up for the camera. Boy was I wrong! There was lots of dancing and singing, but not in front of the camera -- always directly behind the camera. The actual videos proved quite boring, but I wish you could have seen all that went on behind the camera. Surprisingly one of the small activities proved the most interesting. I put out markers and paper on the table and invited them to write a fan letter to Hannah Montana and we would mail it. The girls were all over that. . . and they were lengthy and interesting letters too! Another activity was the "Miley" picture and the "Hannah" picture. Here is Julianne's! She is our big 7 year old! Don't forget to check out her Hannah Montana Cake I made!

The Hannah Montana cake!

Both Madelyn and Adam needed to go to bed early tonight (by 7:00) because they were so tired. So we play a little game. All of us get ready for bed and pretend to go to bed. As soon as they are asleep we get up . . . and it actually works! Madelyn just cannot settle down if she thinks anything is going on. But they were both asleep by about 7:05. Yeah! And then Catherine and Julianne helped me decorate the cake for Julianne's birthday party tomorrow! I think it turned out pretty good. I always have made the cakes myself and think they are quite tasty, but I was worried enough about the Hannah Montana theme that I at least inquired at HEB and in case you are wondering they do not make a Hannah Montana cake . . . yet. So here is our version. I think it looks like her logo pretty good (you can scroll down a few postings and see the actual logo). It is 2 layers of Chocolate with strawberry filling in the middle and chocolate buttercream frosting. I think it will be delicious!

Our pace just picked up!

Today in about 2 hours Adam went from crawling, to crawling fast, to pulling up on his knees, to pulling up to standing, cruising, and climbing stairs. He is dangerous right now! Every time I turn around he has found another precarious perch. In this photo he stood to reach Madelyn's leap pad and while I took the picture he grabbed it and ripped a page right out of it! I got nothing done all afternoon except chasing him and ensuring his personal safety. But isn't he the cutest????

Cutest Swimmer Sisters Ever!

If a picture is worth 1000 words. . . Here are 1012 for you!

The actual events

The first 2 pictures are them waiting for the buzzer to start freestyle and the next 2 pictures are them starting backstroke. This is Catherine's first time swimming backstroke.

Swim Meet # 3

Madelyn fell asleep this meet!
Julianne getting ready for her freestyle event.
Catherine in line for her first unassisted freestyle!
Jamie's messy but short hair and cute Adam with his Astros ball cap on!

My new blog

I have a group of friends who wanted to do a recipe exchange, and we decided to post the recipes online -- (I got the idea from someone else's blog -- a friend of a friend -- that was on their links list) You can check out the original one I saw and then you can check out our new one!

Chronicles of Narnia

Well, I just finished the whole Chronicles of Narnia series. I read them as a kid (at least a few of them) and then decided to read them all again. I really enjoyed them. They are not long and they are not a series where you need to read each book before to understand what is happening. They are each independent -- almost vignettes that stand alone and yet, belong to the group. I liked them because they just made me think . . . think about the themes and the characters and then knowing that they are each Christian allegories they made me ponder other things as well. I love great minds and C.S. Lewis definately had one. I just marvel that he thought about all these beliefs and ideas and then put them into a context (the Narnia backdrop) to provide better understanding to his ideas. How the mind works . . . But check them out -- then we can chat about what some of you thought!

Here we are at the second swim meet and first "real" meet (meaning we had an opponent). The girls were well prepared after the practice. Here at our team they have a special event for the young kids called "assisted swim". It is for those kids who are a little too scared to do it by themselves. Catherine did the assisted swim at the blue/ green meet and loved it! (However, she swam all by herself last year and this is a bit of a step backward). The funny thing is that when you swim in the assisted group they do not give you ribbons based on what place you come in, they just let you choose whichever color you want. Catherine chose pink (4th place) at the first meet and purple (8th place) at this meet. I think we can safely say she does not understand the competition side of swimming right now. Especially considering that at this meet she swam the whole length by herself (without the aid of her "assistant" in the lane with her) and took 1st place by a landslide! Needless to say, the coaches have informed her that her days of assisted swim are over.

Julianne swam freestyle in a relay as well as an individual event and also swam backstroke (a first for her). She did great! They are both really doing well.

Julianne and Catherine had it easy at the meet though because it was HOT! They at least got to get in and out of the pool whereas Madelyn, Adam, and I just sat in the heat and sweated! Trent was in Montreal and so I was going solo at the meet and put Adam in the backpack (which is cooler that carrying him). He fell asleep and I laid him in the shade. Madelyn's hair was just wet with sweat! Don't you all wish you could have been there?

Summer Haircut

Here is Catherine's new summer cut. Ain't she cute? Maybe, just maybe we will get those bangs all the way grown out now. She loves it! (and I do too!!!! 1 less ponytail to do everyday) I also got my hair cut -- just like Catherine's. So since I have no pictures of me just close your eyes and imagine it!

Blue/ Green Swim Meet

The first meet was the Blue Green meet. Julianne was on the blue team (hence the faint blue paint under her eyes), and Catherine was on the green team (notice the faint green paint under her eyes). They both did great. The first swim meet of the year for 6 and unders (both their age group) is about surviving. They are all so nervous and excited and scared and ecstatic!!!! They did great. They love getting the ribbons at the end!

Hannah Montana

We'll see how this party goes! I spent a couple hours designing this invite! You can't see all of it, because I don't want my personal info on the web, but it is really awesome! Let's hope the party is really awesome!