Baked No Bakes?

I write this blog post at the risk of ruining a dear friendship.  You see, my friend Sharon will probably be deeply offended and maybe even become ill after reading this.  Out of duty, I'm broaching a difficult subject, for chocolate and peanut butter are held very near to her heart and should not be messed with. 

So, here we go. 

My Tommy has an interview tomorrow, praise God! In hopes of having him well nourished and happy for his interview I started to make some fun chocolate muffins to have ready for breakfast. While my Kitchen Aid was whirring around and around, I had this sudden panic that I wouldn't get up in time to make eggs to go along with them in time, because it takes all of 5 minutes and 72 seconds to heat a pan, through some butter in and fry two eggs. What to do, what to do? Those muffins needed protein! Hmm. Protein. In a chocolate muffin. Hmm? I know! I'll add some peanut butter! Fabulous idea. The peanut butter was very meticulously glopped by spoonfuls into the mixing bowl with all of the other ingredients.  Then, another fabulous idea ... oatmeal!  Yes, oatmeal would add a tiny bit more protein and some fiber too!  Not to mention it would taste pretty good.  So, then the oatmeal was carefully measu  dumped into the bowl as well.

Well, as my mixer whirred at a tiny bit slower pace, my mind started to go a little faster.  Uhoh.  Just how dry are these concoctions going to be?  Should I add milk?  Hmm, if I had extra.  How about just water.  Eh.  OH, I KNOW!

PUMPKIN!  Even more fiber and vitamin A to boot and it would even out the texture beautifully.  So, in the pumpkin went.

When out of the oven they came, of course they had to be sampled.  They were a resounding hit.

You see, I had no intention of defacing a no bake cookie.  It just kind of happened.  I do hope that Sharon will be able to forgive me.  Maybe if I forget to tell her that the original muffin recipe had cream cheese in it she will be less offended.

In the interest of full disclosure, I must also admit that while I was waiting for the pictures to load I smeared a bit of peanut butter on the top of one of those muffins rather icing to cupcake like, and boy did they play friendly together!

Gingerly Speaking

Some people bake their ginger bread from scratch. Then, take it and transform it into a winter wonderland glistening with candies and sparkling treasures. Others, buy a kit two weeks after Christmas on clearance, 98.897% off to be exact, smear the "icing" on the "cookies", then fight over the "candies" to splat on top before praying that they won't break a tooth. Then they wash it down with sparkling apple cider (only 77.931% off after new Years) ...

In those "other" people's defense. Perhaps they saw the kit on clearance and thought, "Hey, that would be a fun snowy day project, let's get it and wait for the snow to fall! Who cares if the icing is really mortar with a gummy sugar like substance? They won't eat it, it'll just be for fun. Those candies? It doesn't matter that there is probably more petroleum in them than in vaseline; they won't be eating them, just decorating with them!" So, they bought it and tucked it away waiting for the right cozy afternoon to use it.

Then, a Sunday afternoon not too long later their daughter requested cream of wheat for dinner, made with their very own freshly ground wheat berries that were ground by their very own hands. Who knew that it took freshly ground cream of wheat an HOUR to cook?

Let's assume that then, the exhausted Momma that had been up with sick children for a few days before thought, "Hey! I'll let them build that ginger bread house! That'll keep them distracted until the cream of wheat is ready."

So, they all gathered around the kitchen table eager to build. The "icing" glopped out and failed to hold the house up. The walls came tumbling down like a freak winter tornado went through. That exhausted Momma just laughed hysterically almost causing herself to snort as her 9 year old first born jabbed her in the side and said, "Mom! Stop it! It's not funny!"

After reminding said 9 year old of the appropriate way to speak to her mother, that mother opened the tiny gum drops and popped two right into her very own mouth JUST because she was the Momma and she could.

I'd imagine after that the children just allowed their jaws to drop and try to work out in their brains why Momma was eating the craft supplies. What else could the Momma do but tell them all to grab a wall and hold it out so she could give them some glue to hold down the chewy notions.

I'm pretty sure that if that were to ever actually occur, the children would nibble the cookie around the "icing" and throw away all of the "candy" except for the gumdrops, gum balls, and peppermints since they were the only "candies" that actually possessed taste.

It was time to move the coffee table ...

You know how sometimes you can just be sitting there folding laundry and all of the sudden the coffee table has got to be moved. That instant. Laundry? What laundry? Then, the chair, and how on Earth did we get this piano in here?

Well, it was just that time for me ... only for my blog's home. I wanted a new header. How could I not have a header with my sweet Jonathan in it? I wanted a cool background. I wanted my home on the web to be ... homey. I won't name any names, but my old blog site didn't want to push their sleeves up and help me move my piano ... well, they would but I'd have to pay them to let me. So, here I am. I'm adding some old posts as time allows.

Grab a cup of coffee and put your feet up for a while. Don't you think the coffee table looks better over here? Now, what about the dining room?

The Birthday Boy, Scissors at the Smithsonian, and the Owie Cowboy Boots.

It was a late night. The Redskins didn't finish their assault on the Cowboys until 11:45. The sleeping children peppered PaPa and Grandma's floor. The awake children were fading fast. We had fifteen minutes until I had an appointment with my camera and our first son. Seven. I can still barely believe it. Our little Ian is seven. In order to be able to get the first minute our little boy left his sixth year behind on camera we decided to stay for just 15 more minutes.



Tommy and I loaded the sleeping football fans into the van. Funny. We arrived with a six year old and left with a seven year old.

The next morning Daddy went to Wall's bakery to obtain the chocolate eclairs the dude wanted for his birthday breakfast, we all enjoyed the oh so rich treat, then started on an adventure down town.



It was a beautiful morning- high, clear skies with a few whispy, soft white, clouds dancing up high as if enticing the sun's rays to come and play. Our drive into the city was calm since everyone was already tucked away into their offices or going to their next meeting on foot. The refreshing breeze that accompanied us on the drive in stayed with us as we fed the parking meeter and made our way- hand in hand into the Air and Space Museum.

The atmosphere inside was night and day from the peaceful one we had left on the shaded concrete steps. Perhaps the angry security guard swayed my view. You see, apparently leaving 5 pairs of scrapbooking scissors in your diaper bag isn't a good idea. Those guards don't take kindly to the thought of being scalloped, zig-zagged, or cropped in any manner. Who knew?

After the offending scissors were removed from the bag, the guard admited that they looked bigger on the x-ray screen than they actually were and allowed us to enter the museum. Just think of the headlines. Family Of Seven arrested at Air and Space Museum. Seven week old infant biggest offender. All involved charged with concealed crafting.

Finally we were able to take in all of the aircrafts surrounding us.



There was an example of a pilot's uniform. The display used a manequin with a clear head. In Katherine's mind, any body with an invisible head is a bad guy. Which she proceeded to inform us repeatedly that there was a bad guy.



Every time she insisted that he was a bad guy, we insisted that he was a pilot. Then, when I asked her to tell the camera that he was a bad guy, she promptly smiled and said, "Good guy."



The childrens' favorite part was the hands on room.











Even though Jonathan was asleep, we wanted to make sure we got a picture of his firt time down town. Please ignore the walrus holding him.



Do you see the pained expression on sweet Emily's face?



Do you also see that she is wearing cowboy boots? Well. We were packing the van and she confided in Ian that she couldn't find her shoes. Always the loving brother, not to mention anxious to get going, he went upstairs and retrieved his old cowboy boots ... from two years ago so she could borrow them. Fabulous plan, yes?

Well, they rubbed those tiny ankles raw.



Finally, she wasn't able to take them any longer and decided that barefoot was the way to go. However, I wouldn't think it the wisest decision to walk barefoot on the National Mall.



Daddy was sweet enough to carry her to the car so I could convince Katherine that while the squirrel running around our feet may have looked cute, he wouldn't have made a good pet. Not to mention the ninja squirrel that protects our oak tree would have been a tad bit jealous.

Traffic wasn't too bad and in no time we were home enjoying the spaghetti and meatballs that the birthday boy requested. He had already had his birthday cake at the party he and Daddy shared, but I couldn't help but want to see him blow out some candles on his actual birthday.



With a little help from his littlest sister he was able to blow them all out.





Then, we all. went. to. bed.

Me Wishes Me Were A Mommy!

A content Jonathan was asleep in his bouncy seat; Abigail was standing at the island peeling cucumbers for our salad. Ian, Katherine, and Emily were gathered around the table watching the tears pour down my face as I chopped the world’s most potent onion for our spaghetti sauce.

About half way through sweet Emily said, “Me wishes me were a Mommy.”

Through the Niagra Falls imitation wreaking havoc on my eyes I tried to glance and smile at her before saying, “Aw, maybe one day God will make you a Mommy.”

“Nooooo! Me wishes me were a Mommy RIGHT NOW so I could cut your onion up for you.”