Today's Car Conversation

On the way home from running errands, the kids were happily snacking on chocolate covered raisins, "1985" was playing on the radio when Harrison suddenly pipes up . . .

Harrison: Mom, if I ever go to real school . . .

Me: Harrison, your school is real.

Harrison: I mean a school where I have classmates . . .

Me: O-Kay.

Harrison: Well, I think I'm going to be cool.

Sophia: hysterical laughing

Me: Harrison, you are cool. Sophia, what are you laughing at? Geekwad.

Sophia: Hey!

Easter Goodies 2009

Finally, my Easter baking post. The pictures are crap, the ones that survived that is, so bear with me please.

Apricot-Almond Bars

Exactly what their names says they are. I think I made these last year too. Vince really liked them.

Macadamia Meltaways

These were new to me. The macadamia nuts were ground into a paste for the dough, then halved with melted chocolate between the layers. Not very sweet, therefore not popular with the kids, but the adults loved them.

Iced Lemon Shortbread

Another one that is exactly what the name says it is. And another redo. Really, really good.

Decorated Sugar Cookies

Eggs, rabbits, carrots and sheep. I think the carrots are my favorite. Dean & DeLuca can kiss my butt! SIXTY DOLLARS for 9 to 10 ounces of decorated sugar cookies, ridiculous!

Chickie Cake Bites

Found these on Bakerella's and decided to try them, they were too cute not to. They turned out to be the lumpiest chickens I ever saw, but apparently that didn't affect their yumminess, because everyone loved them. I thought they were a bit sweet, but they were a hit with both the kids and the adults.

Marble Icebox Cookies

Another re-do. Sophia requested these, so how could I say no?

Sesame Seed Wafers

These are good, but a pain in the backside. The dough is so thin, that it is nearly impossible to "shape into balls" like the directions read. Forget about adding more flour to stiffen the dough, because then they don't have the right consistency. And they have to be baked to just the right doneness, or they'll either burn, or don't crisp up properly. Another re-do though. And I'll probably make them again. Go figure.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

These were another first for me. And Vince who doesn't like macadamia nuts said they were one of the best cookies he's ever had. They don't keep well though, and are best the day they are baked. Like any chocolate chip cookie really.

So there you have it. I failed to take a picture of my final cookie tray. I was busy trying to get everything else done that morning and flaked it.

I just realized I'm only missing one photo. The problem is that I can't remember which cookie I'm missing.

Easter . . . finally

Easter has come and gone, and you'd think things might have settled down around here for a while, but it seems I just can't catch a break. So before I get the babies up, a quick post about Easter.

Easter was nice, it's never the same without family, but we had some friends over and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. It was the typical Easter menu; smoked salmon torte with mini bagels, ham, blueberry french toast casserole, spinach and feta strata, honey bunny rolls, pound cake with fresh strawberries and whipped cream, and a butt load of Easter cookies.

I know I keep saying I need a new camera, and my photos are perfect evidence of this, but I'll go ahead and post some on the next post anyway. Sorry about the lack of Easter cookies posts, I messed up while downloading them (or is it uploading them?), and ended up deleting some. Gah.

That Easter bunny left tracks all over my house.

Anyway, the girls dresses turned out really cute. All the kids loved their baskets. Harrison got a new cowboy hat.Grandma DeeDee sent Dance Revolution Disney Edition for the Wii, and it's a crack watching the kids play it. Even if the music can get a bit annoying.

It stormed the day before Easter, so it was too soggy for an egg hunt. The eggs are still in our bedroom, we keep saying we'll do it later, but I have a feeling I'm going to end up eating all the candy out of the eggs before we ever get around to that.

Oh, and Booth baby number five is in the making.

Hope everyone had a happy and blessed Easter.

A Crazy Holy Week

This week has been go, go, go. Between cooking, sewing, missed orthodontist appointments, and just trying to keep up on the housework and homeschooling, it's all I can do to not go crazy. I'm still working on the girls Easter dresses. Making progress is like pulling teeth. But I'm almost done. Almost. I was going to make hats to go with them, but I think I've accepted the fact that that is just not going to happen.

The Easter cookie baking is in progress, I'll post photos of the actual cookies later. For now here are some photos of the kids in their cute new Easter aprons Grandma Dee Dee made for them, and some sugar cookie decorating.

Harrison has the goofiest look on his face. And Francesca has her apron on backwards, she insisted on putting it on herself. I think Sophia was busy doing schoolwork when I took this, that's why she's not in it. And yes, my kids are still in their pajamas.

Sophia's decorating skills are really coming along. She put patience into getting them just right.

And Harrison wasn't doing too shabby either.

Even Annamaria took her time. Not bad for a three year old.

But Francesca thinks eating them is the best part.

My Little Pixie Person

Foster Mom

A few weeks ago I got a call from my friend/neighbor about inducing vomiting in dogs. I know this sounds strange, but Cooper ate some rat poison from another one of our neighbor's yards, so we had recent experience in this area. Cooper is fine by the way, thank you for asking. Anyway, she had just gotten a call from a friend of hers whose sister's dog was going into a seizure, and they thought maybe it was poison induced. So we gave her the info she needed, and hung up. I called her back later to see how things were going, and find out that the dog, we now call her Momma Dog, had crawled under the porch and was just left to seize without any help or intervention because the friend's sister's boyfriend didn't want to be bothered "with that shit". What a classy guy. To make the story worse, Momma Dog had just given birth the week prior to seven puppies, who were left in the barn on their own (it was in the 30's that night), to fend for themselves because he didn't want to be bothered with picking up any formula or bottles to feed them. They'd either make it or not. I tell you she should marry that man. I was so angry. My friend/neighbor and I were ready to go to their place and take the puppies away from them at 9pm at night. Problem was that they live 3 hours away. Even Vince who is of the firm opinion that animals are just animals, and don't belong in the house, and blah, blah, blah said that if he didn't want to be bothered then the decent thing to do would be to just shoot them all and put them out of their misery, not let them starve to death. Ouch.

Next morning Momma Dog is dead, so my friend/neighbor makes the drives and gets six of the puppies. The spineless girlfriend insisted on keeping the one she liked best. Whatever. So I took two, my friend/neighbor kept two, and a woman down the road who has a small farm took two. They were so tiny, one fit in the palm of my hand. Their eyes and ears were closed, they had no teeth. So fragile. So for three days I did the feedings every two hours, wipe the butt to make them potty, try to get the fleas off them thing. I could not believe the fleas, especially in this season. Yuck. But we got them cleaned up, and fed well, and all six are thriving and happy. After three days I was exhausted, I was told I looked like the walking dead. So my friend/neighbor called the farm lady and had her come pick up my two puppies. Seems this woman has a gift, she had gotten her two to sleep through the night already so she gladly took my two. The kids were so sad to see them go, but honestly I was relieved. So I've been sharing the other two with my friend/neighbor, and they should be ready for their forever homes in just a couple of weeks.

So puppies, puppies anyone? Momma was a rottweiler, papa was a rolling stone, so who knows. Puppy Boy looks like a rottie, and Puppy Girl looks black lab like.

And the cats are annoyed and would like to see them go too.