In the process of cleaning out, really *ahem* nesting, and preparing for out next new addition, I found some real, daily thanksgiving for Hubby. Apparently nearly five years ago for a VERY short period of time I chose to write each day one or two things for which I wanted to thank him. Five years later we tonight we shared a smile, a laugh, and a genuine sense of love in these words. Yep, this is a good practice. Hmmmm… Maybe I need to start doing this again…

We are still keeping after the getting well business over here. I made a serious dent in both the laundry and the dishes today, but we are still way behind. Work on my show has been put on hold until we can get everyone well; I know I’ll have to play catch up later, but the boys (all 3 of them) need me right now. We are all looking forward to the day when we will no longer cough, when we will all sleep soundly at night, and when we can get out and about without feeling like we are sharing our misery with the rest of our town.

We hope all of you are healthy!

A few weeks back I found this parked on the play table (used mostly for city building!) in the preschooler’s room. The toddler was, not surprisingly, responsible for putting some sheep in the Jeep. I laughed out loud, then snapped a (poor) photo. The little board book Sheep in a Jeep has long been a family favorite. I filed the photo away planning to post about it eventually, and then I forgot about it.

Fast forward to the last week where we have all been sick, Hubby shot a wedding out of town over the weekend, the boys had horrible cabin fever, and the last thing I could even think about doing was taking a photo of anything. With only the very bare minimum getting done around here, the normal daily photo taking ceased. There are two sinks full of dirty dishes in the kitchen, the laundry is threatening to take over the house, and other than yanking the vacuum out the clean up the half a box of kosher salt the boys spilled on the basement stairs TWICE in only about 10 minutes time (I’ve got to remember to replace that lock!), I have not done a lick of cleaning in 3 days. This is not *our* house… We’ve all been there right?

Add to all that the looming deadlines of garage sale in less than two weeks and big show in less than a month, and you have one crazy mama. I was too sick and too swamped to even “call” in sick to ya’ll!

I sat down tonight hoping to find something photo wise quickly that I could share with you, and this little “gem” was already on my desktop ready to go. Um, hello? Huge blessing! When I started typing I took another quick glance at the picture; something new I hadn’t seen before caught my eye. I’m not the sheep in the driver’s seat this week; I’m the one passed out, upside down in the passenger seat! Thank goodness God has all this under control!

It is finally cool enough for us to spend some time outside, and we are finally spending time playing in the sun and the sand with frequency.

We finally had a nice, gray, cooler, rainy at times, day today!

And I have finally resorted to a daily vacuuming. Either I am really awful with a vacuum, or we are really messy. Even daily trips through the house sucking up the dirt have not stopped us from having constantly dirty floors. Crunch…

We also, sadly, finally have our first full fledged cold of the season starting it’s way around the house. Hopefully we will stop it dead in it’s tracks before the toddler or the mama develop it.

Here’s hoping all your finallys are good ones!

I’m certain that I read about this some where, but I can’t for the life of me think of where. The preschooler had a blast with this (even though he refused to mash the bag with his hands!). All you do is put your usual guacamole ingredients in a sealed bag and mash. To serve, cut off a corner of the bag and squeeze into a dish.

Don’t have a usual recipe? Here’s one I make a lot. It’s not my fancy recipe, but it is easy and quick.

Easy Guacamole (for a crowd)

• 4 large or 5 smaller ripe avocados
• 2 t kosher salt
• 1/4 cup of your favorite salsa
• the juice from one lemon or lime

Mash it all together and enjoy!

I have no idea why I thought we needed these; I guess it was a craving of sorts. I had to have them. Really, it started about a month ago. It intensified until I finally made them on Friday, with preschooler help, of course, to celebrate the first poo in the toilet (as opposed to his pants) in a while. Uhhh, all I have to say is YUM!

These weren’t exactly EASY, but they aren’t hard either. There are three parts to make, but I even made the ganache in the microwave. I looked through several recipes, and used this one. I almost followed it completely, but opted for half whole wheat flour in the cake and used the bread flour I had in place of the pastry flour. They turned out great, and the pastry cream and ganache were perfect!

Stop drooling and go make these; they are so worth it!

These are the easiest frozen treat ever! Well, maybe aside from frozen grapes… Simply blend seeded, cubed water melon in your blender; then place in popsicle molds or cups to freeze. If you go the cup route, set a timer for about an hour, and insert the sticks then, after the pops are partially frozen.

The boys both love these; they are the perfect treat to cool off with on a hot afternoon. I actually served them in the front yard with the sprinkler on and told the boys to go play in the water when they were finished. It was the perfect recipe for no sticky mess in the house!

Happy Saturday!

I feel in love with and bought this lovely yarn nearly three years ago when I was pregnant with the toddler. I had every intention of knitting something for him with it, and really, I still plan to knit something for him with it. I have this one LARGE skein of handspun in a relatively bulky weight, and I can’t for the life of me find an item or pattern that is perfect for a two year old boy. Another blaket is out of the question; he has two hand knit by mama. What would you knit with it?

I’ve been wanting to try this idea for a while. Really, I’ve gone for other versions of what I had in my head, but none of them worked out quite right. Then I read a post of Sarah’s about Gooey Butter Cake, and I thought that’s it! I was looking for a way to make a bar that was something like a gooey chocolate chip cookie, and this was exactly what we were looking for. I needed a recipe I could adapt in some certain ways, so I headed for something a bit more labor intensive and used the Smitten Kitchen recipe to build from.

The finished product sent both of the adults at our house scrambling to the kitchen for seconds. This is astounding, as Hubby usually doesn’t even finidh dessert, even when he likes it. And one of us ate 3.5 servings last night (don’t judge me; I’m eating for 2…). It’s like food crack. I’m warning you, you won’t be able to stop!

Chocolate Chip Gooey Cake

Cake:

• 3 T milk, warmed slightly or at room temperature
• 2 T WARM water
• 1 3/4 t active dry yeast
• 6 T unsalted butter, softened
• 3 T brown sugar
• 1 t kosher salt (I used table sea salt and wish that I’d cut it a bit)
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup flour

Mix the milk, water and yeast in a small bowl until the yeast dissolves, and set it aside to proof. Cream butter, sugar and salt in another bowl. Beat in the egg, then add the milk mixture and flour alternately. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Continue to mix, with a dough hook if you choose, for another 7 to 10 minutes. I used my regular paddle for this step out of sheer laziness, but it worked out just fine. Press dough into a greased 9 by 13 glass or ceramic caserole dish and cover with a towel or plastic wrap. Put in a warm place to rise until double, about 2 or 3 hours.

Topping:

• 3 T plus 1 t maple syrup (the real thing!)
• 2 T water
• 2 1/2 t vanilla
• 12 T unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 t kosher salt
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup plus 3 T whole wheat flour
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Heat your oven to 350.

Mix syrup, water and vanilla in a small bowl and set aside. Cream butter, sugar and salt until fluffy; beat in the egg. Alternately add flour and syrup mixture. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Then add the chocolate chips. Spread the topping over the risen cake dough. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until the top is brown, but center is still liquid. Cool in the pan before serving. Watch your bake time carefully; ours was a bit more done than I would have liked, but still YUMMY!

…if you give your 2 year old a vacuum and enough time he’ll giggle while he cleans up the rice he spilled at all over the place at dinner.

We spent another afternoon in the kitchen, and, so far, it’s all been yummy! More to come tomorrow!