S'mores Brownies

I am going to have a kind of fancy bridging ceremony for my daisy scouts to commemorate them bridging into brownies. I am planning to serve brownies at the ceremony, and I want them to be kind of special. I am daring, but not daring enough where I'm going to do food experiments when serving a group of 50.  So, my family gets to be my guinea pigs. I think this went well.

I used two brownie mixes and prepared according to the box. I lined a 9x13 pan with wax paper (as a side note, this was a TERRIBLE idea. Someone told me it was easier to get them out, but that was LIES LIES LIES. SO don't do that).  I lined the bottom of the pan with graham crackers.  Then smoothed the brownie mix over the top of the graham crackers. Baked at 350 for about 45 minutes.

I then sprinkled a whole bunch of mini marshmallows over the top, along with some semisweet chocolate chips and crumbled graham crackers. Then, I stuck it under the broiler and watched until the marshmallows were toasted on top.

I think it turned out very yummy.

Letter from the teacher

Yesterday, I got a card in the mail from S's teacher. It was such a sweet letter that I just had to share.  I absolutely adored Ms. V, and I'm really, really sad that she is not actually moving up to 2nd grade. In fact, since she's fairly new to teaching, she doesn't even have a contract. She has applied to teach at our elementary school again, but last I heard, she hasn't heard back as to whether or not she'll be back. It's really a shame- she is absolutely amazing, and the school will take a huge loss if she doesn't get to come back. I've been keeping my fingers crossed that she will so that Z will get her when he's old enough.

Teacher Appreciation Week

It's that time of year again- time to show our teachers and auxiliary staff just how much we love and appreciate them. I'm not room mom, but at the beginning of the school year, I signed up for teacher appreciation, which thus far has been sending crockpot meals during conference (this time, without incident).

A couple of weeks ago, I get a phone call from a mom, saying she's part of the PTA and would I be willing to do a door hanging for the school librarian. After confirming which school she was referring to, I cheerfully agreed. My kids all have very fond memories of the librarian. In fact, a few years ago, after parent/teacher conferences, we went to the library to buy them a book at the book fair. While there, the librarian came up to us, and said, "Oh, I just HAVE to meet K's parents!! She is just such a wonderful girl!".  Wow! To know her personally like that was really touching to me. A couple years later, she was doing the same for M. She also knows S by name, which is also pretty amazing. So, I think she's a pretty amazing lady, and was thrilled to do a door for her.

I scoured the internet, looking for cute ideas. I wanted to do something neat, but also unique- I'd hate to have someone else do the same door as I did.  Here's what I finally ended up doing.










Three days later, I get a phone call from a different PTA lady. The conversation starts out the exact same way- Teacher appreciation week coming up, blah blah blah, will you do a door for the librarian?  Talk about deja vu!!!!

First, I confirmed that it was for school #2 (yes, it can get confusing having kids at four different schools!), and then happily agreed. My kids have also spoken very highly of this school librarian, and from what I've heard, she also does a fantastic job with the kids.




I'm not quite as thrilled with the second door, but I did think it was fun. I know it appears that I was drunk when I took this photo. I actually had a preschooler swinging from my arm. If the door is still up, I'll attempt to get a better picture.  But, I had all kinds of symbols of good luck, and in small writing by each thing, I wrote where it was considered a symbol of luck. There was even a lucky penny, held firmly in place by tape.

Lock Box

One of the smartest things I ever did was buy a mechanical lockbox, like this one, and place it in my yard.

I made a copy of the house key, and put it in the box. After that, if we ever accidentally got locked out, getting in was a snap.

My kids are wild enough that I could see them locking me out as toddlers, with them in. Or, them following me out and shutting the door.

My door locks have a "safety feature" where they always feel unlocked on the inside, and unless the door is deadbolted, you can always turn the knob and open the door. The manufacturer says it's so that people can always get out in a hurry if there's an emergency. Personally, I think the locksmiths bribed them.

I used my handy lockbox just this morning. I ran outside to throw something away. I didn't bother unlocking the door- I figured I'd just leave the door open since I'd be going outside for 25 seconds or so. Unfortunately, Z was right behind me, and he shut the door behind him, as we've been trying to train him to do.

So. I was outside in my pajamas with a 5 year old. Awesome. Lucky for me, I had my lockbox, and I was back inside within a minute.

Can you imagine what a hassle it would've been if we hadn't put a lockbox in place? We haven't given a housekey to anyone, so I would've had to call J (I DID have my phone with me), pull him out of a meeting 45 minutes away to come home and rescue us.

Z's 5 year old Interview

My expecting group posted a list of questions to ask our kids, and we were to videotape their responses.

I got a huge kick out of Z's interview. I'm not sure what to make of his sudden obsession with "boy stuff" that suddenly appears in the interview. And, he said that Chick Fil A was his favorite lunch because he's trying to con me into going there today. His favorite food(s) is chicken and fries though.

New Puppy

I love dogs and cats. I really do. I like kittens and puppies even more. Ironic as it seems, I don't feel ready for that kind of commitment at this stage in my life. In addition, the older kids are still quite allergic, as am I.  So, I have to content myself with playing with the family's pets. Since everyone in our family has a dog, this is pretty easy.

My Grandma Jane got a Cocker Spaniel puppy over the weekend. I am giddy with excitement.  They are thinking they'll name her Bella.

My grandma reported that she sleeps most of the time, which is pretty normal for a six week old puppy.

I was DYING to meet her, so I took the younger two kids to go meet Bella on Tuesday.  The puppy woke right up when we came in, and was like a dervish the whole time we were there, acting like a normal, energetic puppy. My grandma looked pretty baffled- she kept saying, "I've never seen her this active before!"

I offered to take pictures of her because a couple of my cousins hadn't seen Bella yet, and because I'm a sucker for baby animals.

And now, may I present Bella.

So ridiculously excited

In junior high and high school, one of my very best friends was Kristen. I adored Kristen. She was (and is) a very fun person. She was also the most girly girl I'd ever met.  We drifted apart after we both got married, as often happens.

We reconnected with facebook (gosh, I love facebook), and got together a few years ago when she was way overdue.  Imagine my shock when my uber girly friend (she even painted her front room LAVENDER and it had a DOLL CABINET in it, folks!) was pregnant with her FIFTH boy. Seriously? I really think that's God giggling at His sense of humor on that one. I drug her kicking and screaming into doing maternity pictures. She was not at all excited about it, even though she makes a beautiful pregnant girl.  She was so pleased with them that when she got pregnant this time around, she told me she wanted me to do maternity pictures again.

The other thing impressive about her is this: She doesn't find out the gender at the ultrasound. So, my will-of-steel friend was expecting her sixth baby after five boys, and she waited until birth to find out the gender. I gave her my official psychic prediction of girl.  I backed up my psychic prediction with statistics: I also have a friend named Kirsten. Kirsten has six boys. What are the odds that I'd have a friend named Kristen, and a friend named Kirsten, and both would have six boys?  Astronomical, that's what the odds would be.

So, Kristen was set to be induced on Wednesday, Z's 5th birthday. I told her that's a fantastic day for a baby to be born. We agreed to a last minute visit and photo session on Tuesday. We did pictures for both a boy baby and a girl baby. I figured we'd just toss the pictures that weren't "appropriate" to the gender, or I could just use them for my portfolio.

Birth day came, and she gave birth to a baby GIRL!!! I don't remember being this excited over a baby's gender, even my own kids. I think having some of each made me content with whatever came along, but for her to finally get a girl has just got me GIDDY.