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.