I have a cute bum...

I'm doing dishes yesterday afternoon and and my cute little Tess climbs up on one of the barstools at the kitchen counter, smiles and declares "I have a cute bum."

True enough. It makes me giggle. But not nearly as much as the whopper that comes out next: "And my finger was in it for a looooong time!"

After wiping my tears from laughing so hard we went promptly to the bathroom to wash those hands.

Belated Blog Birthday Wishes

Do birthday wishes on a blog count if they're an entire day (plus) late? Yesterday was Jarad's thirtysomething-th birthday (he doesn't remember so, since I'm older than he is, it's best we just round up anyway).



I could say I was just so busy all day, what with the baking, shopping and party planning I was doing, that I just didn't get around to posting a happy birthday note to him. But that would be a lie. I did make a cake. And I did buy him a gift or two (I also found the cutest scarf at AE that I actually refrained from buying for myself! Don't worry, I went back for it today). But in reality I was just being lazy and didn't really feel like posting.


So happy birthday to the love of my life. I figure we're together forever, so what's a day late on a birthday wish anyway? You know I love you tons.

This is what happens every time Jarad sits down. Kids climbing all over him. What a great dad!

Now We Are Six

Fisher and his birthday cake. He dreamt up this gluttonous chocolate-candy-cake himself, and left it up to me to create it.

Today is (well, was... he's been in bed for 2 hours) Fisher's sixth birthday. Happy Birthday Fishface!

So to honor the day, here are six things we love about Fisher.

1. He has a zest for life. Seriously. The kid is so enthusiastic about pretty much everything!

2. His sensitive side... Fisher really does have a tender heart.

3. His prayers. I've never heard such sincere and thoughtful prayers from a kid his age! And this from the child who used to say the bare minimum prayer and then yell "Short Cut!" as soon as the Amens were said.

4. He is a great big brother. Most of the time. Case completely idolizes Fisher and for the most part Fisher puts up with Case following him around. He embraces his role as a big brother and I really think he enjoys showing Case the ropes and taking care of him. I love being a fly on the wall and watching bonding moments between these two guys.

5. He's a smart cookie. He's very inquisitive and loves to explore new things. He announced at dinner tonight "I'm thinking about being a scientist when I grow up."

6. I love listening to him speak. For those of you who know Fisher, you know what I'm talking about. He has to annunciate every sound and syllable, and is very precise in his word choice. This can be very infuriating to him (and to the listener!) when he's trying to get a thought out quickly.

I would post his life in pictures, but I'm not hooked up right now to the drive that has all the old pictures, and I'm too lazy to go to the other room, so I'll include some pictures from the past couple of months that I haven't gotten around to posting.

Fisher played baseball again this winter, with dad as coach. It was a great season, and his "zest for life" added to the fun!


Fisher must get his fashion sense from his dad's side of the family :). This was his idea of dressing up for his class Valentine's Day party. Niiiiice. He promptly changed after I took the picture!



Excatly one month ago Fisher lost his first tooth! He'd been working on it for a while and it finally popped out at school. The nurse had this cute little tooth treasure chest for him to carry his tooth home safely.

Last-minute Crazy Hair Day 'dos.

Isn't it amazing...

...how many feathers from a ten-year-old down comforter can fit in one's dryer filter? I wish I had had the presence of mind to take a picture of the several-birds-worth of goose down that was mashed tightly into the lint filter compartment. Once I took the screen out, though, it was history. And now the fine goose down is all over my laundry room (and hallway, and family room, and kitchen).

Anyone have a brilliant way to contain feathers once they're on the loose?

Heard on the Street...

Well, not really on the street, but in and around our house...

Fisher, playing an age-old childhood game, declares "Case stole the cookies from the cookie jar!" Case, wide eyed and wondering how Fisher could possibly have known, replies "No I didn't, I only took one!"

Emma asked me in the car the other day if the horizon is on top of our house. I tried to explain that the horizon is something we see where the sky meets the land, and that we couldn't really see the horizon from where we were because all the houses were in the way. Thoughtfully she took this all in and then asks, "Mom, can you drive me to the horizon someday?"

We borrowed a Go Diego Go! video from the library earlier this week, and Case has really fallen in love with it. He'll sit and watch it and literally yell back to Diego (for those of you not familiar with the show, Diego often asks his viewers for help rescuing animals by shouting in Spanish, jumping up and down, and so forth). Jarad put Diego on for the twins' quiet time the other day. A few minutes later he heard Case yelling "Sube! (pause) I already said it! (pause) I ALREADY SAID IT!!!!" Apparently Case was becoming impatient with that idiot Diego who couldn't hear that he had already yelled "Sube" to the baby jaguar.

Oh my fenders...

Kung Fu Panda is the movie of choice this week among my chitlins. Case has been walking around the last couple of days saying "Oh my fenders," a misquote of the chubby panda in the movie who is bemoaning his injured private parts when he says "Oh my tenders."

When the movie first came out Emma would walk around the house exclaiming "Oh my tenders!" at any little bump, regardless of where it was on her body. Apparently "all the kids" at school were saying this, and she had no idea what it meant, other than "ouch." I explained, in the most "tender" way I could, what she was saying and she was horrified. Problem solved. Phrase forgotten.

Until a couple of weeks ago. I was reading the kids the hot lunch menu for the week and one day it featured "Chicken Tenders." It was all I could do not to fall on the floor laughing at the expression on Emma's face when she said "Mom! Are they really...???!!!???" I just about had a vegetarian on my hands that day.

Confessions of a Chocoholic

I was jonesin' for something sweet yesterday and started rooting around the kitchen to see what I had on hand to whip up a yummy something-or-other. Turns out, I had everything on hand to make "Magic Cookie Bars" or "Seven Layer Cookies" as they are sometimes called. Everything except the butterscotch chips, which is just fine with me because I happen to think they detract from the chocolaty taste of an otherwise perfectly delish cookie.

Do you know the cookie I'm talking about? Crushed up graham crackers & melted butter as the crust, layered chocolate and butterscotch chips, coconut and nuts, all drizzled with sweetened condensed milk? I love these things, and haven't made them in a very very very long time, and have never really thought they needed improving (other than the sometimes too-sweetness of the butterscotch chips).

But what I was REALLY jonesin' for was something combining my favorite tastes of chocolate and peanut butter. How could I add a little PB into this, without having any PB chips on hand (again, I don't really like the waxiness of PB chips, so this wouldn't have totally solved my conundrum)?

Friends, I have come up with the perfect improvement to this tiny delight. Melted peanut butter in the crust. I used about 1/4 cup of butter and a couple of big dollops of peanut butter (at least another 1/4 cup), melted them together and used this mixture to fuse together the graham cracker crumbs for the crust.

O. M. G(oodness).

I cannot stop eating them. We had them for dessert last night. Well, I had them and I allowed each child and Jarad a tiny bit too. I sent one in Emma's lunch today and stuck the pan in the fridge so I wouldn't piece on them all day. Have I told you how good they are chilled???????

I just cut the rest of the pan and put them in the outside freezer. Perhaps I'll be able to stay away now that they aren't sitting in my high-traffic areas. Yes, the fridge is a high-traffic area, especially when you're home all day with two three-year-olds, thank you very much.

So if you're in the neighborhood and need a chocolate fix, please do stop by. You would me doing me a favor if you took a couple of these off my hands (or should I say off my thighs?).