Martha Stewart, Eat Your Heart Out

Okay, so ever since the kids went back to school, I've had a little extra time on my hands.  I've taken up a bit of baking and am very proud to say that everything on this page has come out perfectly, though I say it myself.  (Name that movie!)

 These are the most awesome chewy chocolate cookies.  I replaced the peanut butter chips in the recipe with mini Reese's Pieces.  Can I just say, "I love my cookie scoop!"  It not only makes every cookie the same size, it also makes them "popable," but it's better to eat them in at least two bites--with a glass of milk, of course.

 There are several different kinds of bread (I almost wrote "brad" there!) that I've tried.  The most popular is banana bread.  I've also done pumpkin bread (Brad made some of that into french toast the next morning--whoa!) and zucchini bread.  I got to use my new food processor for that one, no more grating anything for me!  I want to try the zucchini bread recipe with apples instead.  Doesn't that sound good?  Maybe I'll add raisins to that one, as well.  There has been some experimenting.  Sometimes I add dried cranberries, just like you would add raisins.  Other times the vanilla has been subbed out for almond extract instead (I know, right!).  As always, some people like nuts on or in it (Brad) while everyone else prefers the "unleaded" variety.

 Mmmm...my perfect chocolate chip cookies.  Is there anything more wonderful?  These never fail to remind me of Cindy.  I haven't tried freezing the dough in balls for later baking yet, no one lets it get that far!

 The inside of this banana bread was amazing!  It doesn't last long enough to freeze for later, kinda like the cookie dough.

These were the biggest risk on my experiment resume.  They are the chewy chocolate cookie recipe with dried cranberries added, walnuts added, and the vanilla was replaced with orange extract.  They turned out so rich you could only eat one or two at a time.  I almost replaced half the butter with peanut butter, but thought that would be a bit much.

Now I need to go make some cookies.  Darn!

First Day of School

I know school started like eight weeks ago, but better late than never.  Both of the kids were super excited for their first day this year.  We saw their classrooms and met their teachers the night before school started.  Katelyn has the same teacher for First Grade as Kyle did last year.  We really love her and Katelyn already knows who she is.  That has been a huge help for her adjusting to this school year.  Last year there were a few mornings that I had to walk her into class and hand her off to the teacher.  So glad that isn't the case this year.

Katelyn is so cute with her bottom teeth out.  They've grown about half way in now.  She is still working on the top front teeth, but I don't see them coming out anytime soon.  And look at those eyes!

Baseball Basics

This is one of Kyle's favorite things to do with Daddy.  So far, he seems able to bat, throw, and catch with either hand.  He still does lots of things with both hands.

 He is concentrating so hard!  I wish he would focus like this for everything he does.

 Believe it or not, it can be a long wait for a nice day to play outdoors.  There is usually sun, but it's been too hot to even be outside.  Things have finally cooled down, so everyone has been in the backyard more often.

Brad tries to be so patient when explaining how to do anything.  He's been throwing underhand, trying to have Kyle get under the ball to catch it.  Kyle still leans to grab it, instead of taking one step forward.

Halloween

Halloween this year was almost a wash out.  HAHAHA!  It started raining about 2pm and was not letting up.  We decided to go to the mall where we found that the rest of the world had also come to trick-or-treat.  We met a few friends, but it was a complete madhouse and we called it quits after half an hour.  It took three times as long to get home than it should have, avoiding accidents all along the way.  How is it that no one here knows how to drive in the rain?!  Anyway, it stopped raining for the last twenty minutes (trick-or-treating is only from 6-8 on post) so we were able to walk around the block.  Kyle did his ninja move at every house.  He was so cute!  Is he too big to be called cute?  Katelyn was adorable, as always.  Our very own little Southern Belle.

More Outside

Kyle has started to get into baseball. He is trying to teach Katelyn how to bat.

Kelsey prefers tag to catch.

Katelyn and Kelsey were really great at water breaks.

I have to sneak pictures. Once people see the camera they start posing and showing off.

Our New Addition

Okay, yes, whatever you're thinking is most likely true. This is Kelsey (Mommy named her from the Tiger books) and we found her at PetSmart during adoption day. We were told she is a boxer mix, born April 1, 2011. She came home to our house June 24 and we are having a great time with her. I think it helps that the kids are older and that she has a short coat. I haven't found mountains of hair anywhere! We had her house trained in a little less than 3 weeks and we are starting formal obedience classes this week as a family.
This picture, and the one above, are Kelsey celebrating the new Smurfs movie. These were taken the day after Kyle's chalk picture, which included a river and a lake. She had her first trip to the groomer and when we came home the first thing she did was roll in the chalk.

We fell in love with her freckles. Especially Kyle because he has them, too.

A happy pup, rolling in her yard.

She loves being outside with the kids. Here she is catching the bubbles Katelyn is blowing.

Outside

We finally had a day that wasn't too hot outside. Katelyn always gets the bubbles out first.
Kyle must have artsey type parents or something. He always goes right for the chalk. Each time he does a picture it ends up being huge, taking up half the patio.

Another getting along moment. I wish there were more of these in a day.

Another Project

These are our North Carolina Snowmen. Snowpeople, excuse me. There is a grandma and papa, cousins, aunts and uncles--it's our own family reunion!

My happy girl! She loves playdough and will sit for hours keeping busy.




Kyle didn't want to play with us at first, but once he got into it he was a pretty happy camper!



She had to have a picture with our snowmen.



Sorry you got left with pink, Kyle.





Thinking about the cake she is making for Daddy.




This moment has now been recorded in history. They are playing nicely together. No hitting, no yelling, no stealing from each other. Aren't they cute?

GRRR!!

I'm so frusterated with the layout of this thing! I don't know what I'm doing wrong! Everything looks good when I'm in the posting part, adding pictures and such, but when I post it to the blog---BAH!

Katelyn's 6th Birthday

Princess Katelyn is just growing up too fast for my liking. She was very happy that Daddy got home in time for her birthday. Because of the timing, we knew we would be on our road trip most of June. She didn't seem to mind celebrating a little early. That meant she had several birthdays this year. The one we did, the big family one at Cindy's house, which was super fun to be part of, and another with Grandma and Grandpa Hess.

Katelyn thinks she knows all about first grade, how class will be, what she'll wear, who will be there, where Kyle will be, how lunch works, it's all pretty funny to hear her talk about! She had a group of girlfriends last year that she is sure will all still be there and in her class. I hope it all turns out even close to how she has it planned. I'm ready for "The Fit" when it doesn't. Sigh...

Pool Party

Okay, a bit of backround for these pictures. It is early morning, the day after we set up the pool. I awake to the sound of splashing water outside my window. I dash downstairs to the backdoor, eyes unfocused, muscules still shaking from being ripped from their relaxed state of sleep so suddenly. I shove open the door and find my lovely, adorable, too-smart-for-their-own-good, children. They have the hose running, the camera out on the windowsill, and the entire back of the house dripping wet. After my moment of fear someone would not be okay, and finding everyone to be physically safe, I was too mad to speak. I pointed for them to get in the house and we moved on with our day.....after a time out. I discovered the pictures they had taken a few days later. This is what they do when they're alone.

Mermaids

Look at my little water babies! Aren't they cute? Katelyn is our aspiring model and poses for everything. She was really excited about setting up the pool and being outside. Kyle didn't seem to be in such a great mood on this particular afternoon. That's why there aren't any close-ups of him. Mr. Grumpy-Face wasn't getting his way, again. These were taken before Brad got home from Africa, so late April or early May. It was just getting hot enough to be almost miserable. My next post will be some of the mischief that goes on at our house.

Toast

Katelyn has been all about toast lately. This experiment was pepper toast. She first cut off all the crust, plus some, then spread on the butter, two kinds of jam, because one is never enough, and then dumped black, ground pepper on each piece. I could not believe it! One: that she had done it in the first place and Two: she ate everything she made! To each her own, I guess.

Kyle's 7th Birthday

So, this was not Kyle's first birthday without Daddy, but it was the first without the rest of our family to make up for it. I decided not to try to throw a party this year, for several reasons. It ended up being a great choice because he was a bit of a stinker about what he got and didn't get. Attitude! You'd think he'd just turned 17 and would rather be off on his motorcycle or something (Dad)! Kyle did get a scooter, with helmet, that was a hit. The race track that is getting a grumpy-face turned out great about an hour later when the missionaries showed up to help put it together and test it out. We spent the next 2-3 days building the Harry Potter LEGO stuff. He got the train for Christmas, so we're just adding to the collection. They have all the legos out in the living room right now, as a matter of fact. Oh, the only part of the latest HP movie he saw is the part where Dobby dies. He's Kyle favorite character. Kyle cried and cried and I had to try and explain that he had saved Harry and it was ok. WOW! Too much drama at our house.