I'm also really proud of myself for getting the picture, sitting at the red light. It's so seldom that I can get a camera working and snap the photo before the light changes.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
I Saw a Weird Vehicle
This isn't really news. It's a picture of something funny I saw while I was out driving.
This is a weird vehicle. The front part is conversion van. The back part is pickup. Altogether it was really loooong. It's obviously not some kind of hillbilly chop job, duct taped together. It's really well-done. Fancy, even! It's just weird.
I'm also really proud of myself for getting the picture, sitting at the red light. It's so seldom that I can get a camera working and snap the photo before the light changes.
I'm also really proud of myself for getting the picture, sitting at the red light. It's so seldom that I can get a camera working and snap the photo before the light changes.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Possible Cutest Thing Ever
Possibly the Cutest Thing Ever: a Dad and his baby. Dads that like their babies are awesome. They're super sweet together. They're both super cute.
Our baby, Mark, has a habit of looking you right in the eye for a long time. It's really sweet and super-endearing. He also has a habit of just sitting with you. Some babies are all squirmy and can't be bothered to sit with you and receive hugs and snuggles. Not Mark. Even now, he'll just come on over and snuggle into your legs, and then he'll just stay while you bend down and give him a big, long bear hug.
So Dads, take the time to hug and snuggle your babies. If they'll let you. Because it is possibly the Cutest Thing Ever.
Our baby, Mark, has a habit of looking you right in the eye for a long time. It's really sweet and super-endearing. He also has a habit of just sitting with you. Some babies are all squirmy and can't be bothered to sit with you and receive hugs and snuggles. Not Mark. Even now, he'll just come on over and snuggle into your legs, and then he'll just stay while you bend down and give him a big, long bear hug.
So Dads, take the time to hug and snuggle your babies. If they'll let you. Because it is possibly the Cutest Thing Ever.
Photographic Essay: Mark in a Frog Hat
I don't believe I was the one taking these pictures. I think it was a child. The whole set together is charming. This hat was a gift and it has two eyes out the top.
It's interesting to see the results when the children get the camera.
They tend to get more close ups.
The pictures are usually pretty blurry.
But you have to admit, the children have great taste in subject matter!
And they do usually catch a couple pretty cute faces.
These were taken when Mark was just about 10 months old. Maybe younger.
He's still just this cute, just bigger and taller.
This photographic essay brought to you by My Children and Me Letting My Children Use the Ipod to Take Pictures Nearly Unrestricted.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Best Steak Ever!
I love steak. I love most meat (except organ meats! Bleaah!), but I may love a delightful steak most of all. My birthday is during tax season, full-on tax season. I usually get stiffed pretty hard, unintentionally, on birthday celebration. This year I said, "All I want is a really good steak and to go somewhere super-fun as a family." My birthday was on a Monday.
Summit Steakhouse is right around the corner from Seth's office. I made him agree to meet me there, even after checking out the menu and prices online. These are no Sizzler Steakhouse prices. It was all cool and dark-ish when we entered, and a little bit lodge-y and weird. I ordered my steak medium-rare and with broccoli on the side, with a little cheese. (on the broccoli!) This turns out to be my perfect meal. I used to go steak and potatoes but it turns out the potatoes are too much, and that kind of wrecks my steak-sperience. Broccoli is just right. We got there just at the right time, too, before a huge lunch rush that was going on as we were leaving.
This is not a very good picture, and it's not really very flattering, but it shows me enjoying the Best Steak I've Ever Eaten. It was SO GOOD! Literally, every bite was just as delicious as the first and more delicious than any other meat. The bill was a little hard to swallow, but the steak made it go down easier. Plus it's my birthday! I deserve a steak! A delicious, expensive steak! Plus, Seth paid it!
And then, to top off the Best Steak Ever, I demanded that we take our family to Jumpoline. It was nearly as expensive as the steaks, but since they were doing a little work, they gave us the Several-hours of jumping for the One-hour of jumping price. I LOVE JUMPING ON TRAMPOLINES!!!!! Scott and Russell went over to the special kids zone and immediately bonked faces and got bloodied. That was our only incident. Seth doesn't love trampolines as much as I do, so he was fine helping Mark for awhile. And there weren't many people there, since it was Monday.
It may have been the Funnest Family Outing Ever.
Summit Steakhouse is right around the corner from Seth's office. I made him agree to meet me there, even after checking out the menu and prices online. These are no Sizzler Steakhouse prices. It was all cool and dark-ish when we entered, and a little bit lodge-y and weird. I ordered my steak medium-rare and with broccoli on the side, with a little cheese. (on the broccoli!) This turns out to be my perfect meal. I used to go steak and potatoes but it turns out the potatoes are too much, and that kind of wrecks my steak-sperience. Broccoli is just right. We got there just at the right time, too, before a huge lunch rush that was going on as we were leaving.
This is not a very good picture, and it's not really very flattering, but it shows me enjoying the Best Steak I've Ever Eaten. It was SO GOOD! Literally, every bite was just as delicious as the first and more delicious than any other meat. The bill was a little hard to swallow, but the steak made it go down easier. Plus it's my birthday! I deserve a steak! A delicious, expensive steak! Plus, Seth paid it!
And then, to top off the Best Steak Ever, I demanded that we take our family to Jumpoline. It was nearly as expensive as the steaks, but since they were doing a little work, they gave us the Several-hours of jumping for the One-hour of jumping price. I LOVE JUMPING ON TRAMPOLINES!!!!! Scott and Russell went over to the special kids zone and immediately bonked faces and got bloodied. That was our only incident. Seth doesn't love trampolines as much as I do, so he was fine helping Mark for awhile. And there weren't many people there, since it was Monday.
It may have been the Funnest Family Outing Ever.
I Dressed Mark as Cupid
It was Valentine's Day. I figured,"As long as I already have a funny, fat little cherub, I may as well go all-out on this Valentine theme."
I took him over to the elementary school. We drove around the school distributing little boxes of treats I had put together.
We also went over to Seth's office. The accountants weren't as exuberant about a cupid-baby delivering treats for Valentine's day as the students and teachers, but I think they still enjoyed it.
He has a little quiver of arrows slung on his back, with heart-shaped tips. I put them in his changing table after this, and since then, he found them and has been chewing the heart-tips off the arrows every chance he gets. He's still funny and fat, and I'd do it again in an instant.
Friday, August 24, 2012
Ninja Party!!!
Russell's been getting the short end of the birthday party stick his whole life. His birthday is only a couple weeks after mine, right during the height of tax season, and a week and a half before Jules.' Plus when he was 2 and 3, I was having some bigtime medical issues around his birthday time. This year, I decided to get right on it...and have his super Ninja Birthday Blowout Training Dojo just a couple months late. We had his birthday party in May.
But I really did it to it. Usually my kids' birthday parties have a "Birthday" theme. I was just coming off of Jules' "Flower" themed birthday party and it was the first time I ever wished I had MORE time with the kids at a party. So I got ambitious. Here are some of the things we did to Ninja-tize this party:
Daggers! Ninjas have to have weapons to fight evil. This is from a pattern I got here. She made hers for invitations. We had the boys practice writing chinese symbols. When they were pretty good, we had them mark their daggers.
Nunchuks! We had a special outdoor practice session at our Dojo, specifically to learn to swing the nunchuks without smacking yourself in the face. The handles didn't hurt if you messed up, but the plastic chain could leave a little mark. I made these with a length of pipe insulation, black string, and some chain-by-the-foot from Lowes. Each warrior marked his tool with colored duct tape strips.
Throwing Stars! Used only to fight the Forces of Evil!!! Not to be thrown at fellow Ninjas! I enlisted my nephew Sam to make me a bunch of these after he mowed my lawn. Thanks for coming, Sam!
The Hall of Flames!! My friend Sharon helped me create the flames from tissue paper-type plastic gift wrap stuff, gold and red. She hung them from the ceiling with thread and pushpins. The Hall of Flames was much more imposing before most of the flames got knocked down. We had the warriors outside learning stealth walk, crouch, and roll. When they had all mastered the skills, we came in to test them in the Hall of Flames!
Ninja Sushi!! It's a crappy picture, but a delicious treat. My sisters helped me make rice krispy treats. You make a log of the hot goo, by rolling up the pan's worth with some gummy worms inside (Swedish fish to be more Sush-y), which you then lay on a layer of fruit rollups. Cut them in slices maybe 3/4 inch wide. These went like hotcakes. Every Ninja trainee needs a little refreshment after a hard training workout.
In all, it was a successful party. The boys wore black. We had "Kung Fu Fighting" playing in a non-stop loop in the background. We gave the boys certificates at the end of their training. They could have used a little more unstructured Ninja Play time, but whatever. Russell was pleased to have ANY party at all!
But I really did it to it. Usually my kids' birthday parties have a "Birthday" theme. I was just coming off of Jules' "Flower" themed birthday party and it was the first time I ever wished I had MORE time with the kids at a party. So I got ambitious. Here are some of the things we did to Ninja-tize this party:
Daggers! Ninjas have to have weapons to fight evil. This is from a pattern I got here. She made hers for invitations. We had the boys practice writing chinese symbols. When they were pretty good, we had them mark their daggers.
Nunchuks! We had a special outdoor practice session at our Dojo, specifically to learn to swing the nunchuks without smacking yourself in the face. The handles didn't hurt if you messed up, but the plastic chain could leave a little mark. I made these with a length of pipe insulation, black string, and some chain-by-the-foot from Lowes. Each warrior marked his tool with colored duct tape strips.
Throwing Stars! Used only to fight the Forces of Evil!!! Not to be thrown at fellow Ninjas! I enlisted my nephew Sam to make me a bunch of these after he mowed my lawn. Thanks for coming, Sam!
The Hall of Flames!! My friend Sharon helped me create the flames from tissue paper-type plastic gift wrap stuff, gold and red. She hung them from the ceiling with thread and pushpins. The Hall of Flames was much more imposing before most of the flames got knocked down. We had the warriors outside learning stealth walk, crouch, and roll. When they had all mastered the skills, we came in to test them in the Hall of Flames!
Ninja Sushi!! It's a crappy picture, but a delicious treat. My sisters helped me make rice krispy treats. You make a log of the hot goo, by rolling up the pan's worth with some gummy worms inside (Swedish fish to be more Sush-y), which you then lay on a layer of fruit rollups. Cut them in slices maybe 3/4 inch wide. These went like hotcakes. Every Ninja trainee needs a little refreshment after a hard training workout.
In all, it was a successful party. The boys wore black. We had "Kung Fu Fighting" playing in a non-stop loop in the background. We gave the boys certificates at the end of their training. They could have used a little more unstructured Ninja Play time, but whatever. Russell was pleased to have ANY party at all!
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Homemade Granola Bars
I brought these to the Cub Scout Bake Sale and a couple people asked
for the recipe. It's from the Barefoot Contessa's website, if you're
interested in the original. It's not too different from this. I'm still trying different recipes but have had success with this one.
Homemade Granola Bars
2 c. slow oats
1 c. sliced almonds
1 c. shredded coconut, loosely packed
1/2 c. toasted wheat germ (I used quinoa instead because I didn't have wheat germ)
3 T. butter
2/3 c. honey
1/4 c. light brown sugar, lightly packed
1 1/2 t. vanilla
1/4 t. kosher salt
1/2 c. chopped dates
1/2 c. chopped dried apricots
1/2 c. dried cranberries
1/2 c. M&Ms
Preheat oven to 350. Butter an 8 x 12 baking dish (or 9 x 13) and line with parchment paper (or wax paper sprayed generously with Pam). Toss the oatmeal, almonds, and coconut together on a sheet pan and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl and stir in the wheat germ (quinoa). Reduce oven temperature to 300.
Place butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir for a minute, then pour over the toasted oatmeal mixture. Add dates, apricots, and cranberries and stir well. (Let cool awhile if adding m&ms or chocolate chips.)
Pour into prepared pan. Wet fingers and lightly press mixture evenly into pan. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool for at least 2 to 3 hours before cutting.
Makes 8 enormous bars, 12 small bars, or up to 24 tiny bars like the ones you get from the store.
Homemade Granola Bars
2 c. slow oats
1 c. sliced almonds
1 c. shredded coconut, loosely packed
1/2 c. toasted wheat germ (I used quinoa instead because I didn't have wheat germ)
3 T. butter
2/3 c. honey
1/4 c. light brown sugar, lightly packed
1 1/2 t. vanilla
1/4 t. kosher salt
1/2 c. chopped dates
1/2 c. chopped dried apricots
1/2 c. dried cranberries
1/2 c. M&Ms
Preheat oven to 350. Butter an 8 x 12 baking dish (or 9 x 13) and line with parchment paper (or wax paper sprayed generously with Pam). Toss the oatmeal, almonds, and coconut together on a sheet pan and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl and stir in the wheat germ (quinoa). Reduce oven temperature to 300.
Place butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir for a minute, then pour over the toasted oatmeal mixture. Add dates, apricots, and cranberries and stir well. (Let cool awhile if adding m&ms or chocolate chips.)
Pour into prepared pan. Wet fingers and lightly press mixture evenly into pan. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool for at least 2 to 3 hours before cutting.
Makes 8 enormous bars, 12 small bars, or up to 24 tiny bars like the ones you get from the store.
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