Sunday Night Cravings

Every Sunday night Zane and I crave something sweet. This can be dangerous because you never know what me might end up making. It's been everything from cream puffs to snickerdoodles (his ultimate fav). Well, this Sunday was no different than those in the past and we started craving something way too late. That didn't stop us because we were up watching the Star Wars Weekend on cable and we needed sustinance to make it through Episode II. Zane wanted Buttermilk Pie - you know the kind Mark's Feed Store is famous for. Could we find a recipe that was even close to the famous one? OHHHHH YES! So, at 11pm (again - way too late) we began baking our Buttermilk Pie and with a 1 hour baking time, we were eating it at midnight just as Episode II ended. It was delicious. I would not reccomend starting the baking soooo late - well, actually, it doesn't matter when you make it, just do! Here is the recipe:
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup margarine, softened
2 cups white sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (9 inch) deep dish pie crust

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C.)
In a large bowl, cream margarine and sugar. Beat in flour and salt. Blend in the eggs. Stir in the buttermilk and vanilla. Pour into pie shell.
Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, then reduce temperature to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) and bake 45 minutes, or until filling is set.

I got it from here at AllRecipes.com! Let me know what you think. I wish I had a photo of it, but it was gone way to fast to even think of getting the camera out.

Just Photos

I just thought I would post a few photos from this weekend. It was such a nice and beautiful weekend. We attempted the Balloon Glow on Friday night, but it was cancelled due to the winds. We still had a lovely dinner with some friends and being with friends is always the best part of any event. Boston had a baseball game Saturday morning and I need to remember to bring my camera. As the other moms of the players can attest, I can barely get myself and the other kids there, so the camera hasn't been high on my list, but it will be. These photos, again, are of just Gage and Mallory. I usually can't catch Boston and Trevor in action because they are off on their bikes and scooters, but I can catch the younger two. I think I need to work harder on catching up those older two!

Crayola Fabric Crayons

These crayons are so cool. It would have been tricky if the boys had to color directly on the t-shirt, but with these you just have to color on a white sheet of paper and then iron transfer it on the t-shirt. The trickiest part was helping the boys write their words backwords so that when we ironed them they would turn out spelling the words correctly. It says to use synthetic, but we only had 100% cotton shirts and I still think they turned out pretty bright. Trevor asked me today if Seth's mom reads my blog because he wanted to put a picture of his shirt on here so that she could see it and show it to Seth. So, Seth's mom, if you are out there...this photo is for Seth!!! I told them they could color on as many of their white t-shirts as they wanted because they just wear them to bed and occasionaly under their long sleeves when it is cold, so it's a perfect medium for them and we have a ton!

Ties For the Boys

I got an awesome package in the mail today. My sister Tanya had sewn some cool ties for the boys. She and her girls are sewing these for a girls camp and traveling soccer team fundraisers. They are so cute and now I want to order some more
because we are down to 3 ties (not counting the 3 new ones) in this house and you can never have too many. Plus, they are just so GOOD looking! If anyone wants to order some she has them on her blog here. Because they are so light weight they only cost pennies to send (her pennies this time -thanks T) and she has lots of fabric to pick from. Just thought it was worth mentioning. Thanks again T!

Celebrate Grandma Julie

Today is my mom's birthday. I know some people like to brag about their moms. Not me. I don't think it's fair to let you know just how cool she is. I don't think you would like it if I told you how amazingly talented she is and all the many things she can do. That would be rude if I told you that she is so darn sweet, tender and funny. I think it would make you a little upset if I said all these things because then you might be thinking..."How did Traci get so lucky?" Well, that my friends is a mystery, but one we aren't going to solve. I will just count my blessings and let you know that I KNOW that I am blessed. Happy Birthday Mom!! In these photos she is hanging with Mallory last April and Trevor and grandma are playing an intense game of checkers last December.

This is the Celebrate Banner we made for her for her birthday. CELEBRATE GRANDMA!

Mario

Trevor and I made Mario today. We have no more red or black plastic pegs, but it is finished and Trevor is pretty proud.

Spring Break Adventures

This post was to be full of all the fun things we did during the boys' Spring Break, but by the Sunday night leading up to it I was sick. By Monday I had a fever and was quite delirious, but thanks to some of our dearest friends, my boys managed to have a great time anyway. They went to the park, played at friends' houses, had a sleep over, dad took them bowling, and went to a party at the jumpy jumpy place. Yeah, they weren't neglected, but we didn't get to do some of those outings we had planned. I don't think my boys cared one bit and I think they might have had a little more fun with the rogue schedule. Thanks friends for taking over and helping us through. I did attempt to craft with them Saturday evening, but I ended up making most of the plastic bead art. For the record, Gage did help. See our creations here. Here are a few of the photos taken when we did make it outside. Enjoy!



I just realized that I don't have any of Trevor or Boston. I guess they were off having fun and I only took pictures of those that were in my vacinity. I was too tired to wonder and find the others. Sad, but true. I guess I didn't dress Gage either because I think these were taken in the evening. I am sure that I was in my pj's as well!

Polar Bear of Soap

For scouts you have to learn to carve and one of the achevments you had to do is carve a bear (beacse i'm a bear in cub scouts)out of soap.So as you can see I did it today and well somthing happend.Mom was taking a nap andshe got mallory and was drowsey.At this time boston has stared baseball and his glove was hard to squeeze.It turns out that my grampa had glove oil.So we went there.I guss mallory was taller than I expected got into and well... she took a bite of his leg when mom wasent looking and she cried and throgh up.But at least you got to see it befor that :)

Constant Sweeping

Nah, there's no house work going on here. It's just a constant barrette sweep that's happening. Mallory has so many barrettes and bows, but continually swipes her hair to make sure that they are not in. Once in a blue moon (like Friday) she left a clip in all day - must not have felt it. Oh well, I still try.

Signs of Spring

A little hunting, a little hiding, a little decorating, a ton of eating...

That wraps up our Easter weekend. We always dye eggs the Saturday night before. This time we invited Maresa Gabay to come and dye them with us and since we added a few more to the party, we threw in a an egg hunt as well that night. We had this egg dying kit that made the eggs all swirly. I had a hard time wanting to eat them later because they were so pretty. I did get over that, eventually. Later Sue and I filled the plastic eggs with money, candy, and hid a few Rice Krispie treats as well. Of course, I didn't buy any sugar free candy for Gage, but Sue and Maresa came with plastic eggs full of some just for Gage that we marked with a big G. Thanks friends! Gage thought this was the best thing ever - the hunt, not necessarily the sugar free candy. Mallory found a few as well, while Trevor, Boston, and Maresa thought this was a timed event. They won the race if that's what it was. It was fun to watch.








The next morning on Easter, the bunny had hid the baskets well. Boston helped everyone find their own before he was able to find his. Mallory was the one who actually crawled in the coat closet and found Boston's (with a little help from Zane). The bunny brought a lot clay and crafts in the baskets. He must be trying to spark some imagination in the kids and help them make some decisions sometimes that don't include video games. Thanks Easter Bunny - quack quack (old commercial).





Sunday was very nice at church and we came home and had a great dinner with Betty. It included the traditional meal of flank steak and hot dogs - acutally a new tradition just started this year. We didn't have a dessert planned, so Zane and I quickly made some cream puffs which were gobbled down in like 2 seconds. I ate most of them - did I mention I was on South Beach? Ha - not on Easter weekend I'm not.

Now the baskets have been put away, the grass cleaned up and most of the hard boiled eggs eaten. Now all we need is for spring to show itself a little more. Bring on the sun!

Gage Said...

Today Gage told me to "just be quiet." I told him that I didn't think that was very nice. To that he said, "WHATEVER," and walked away. Did I teach him that?

Tonight we couldn't decide on an opening song for FHE. Gage said, "Then let's do the Hokey Pokey." He proceeded to put his right hand in and his right hand out all the while singing the hokey pokey. He finished with his hands and said, "Good job. Now, let's put our legs in." We did the Hokey Pokey for our opening song. It worked out rather nice since we all did know the words. He said he learned it at Alexis's house. Thanks Alessandra!

Tonight whenever I ask Gage to do something he says, "Yes Mother." He never calls me mother only mom. I think he is being sarcastic, but I can't quite tell.

Our three year old is rather kooky!

Packages Packages!

This has been a good mail week. When so many others weeks are just full of bills and flyers, this week has beat them all. I got my apron from the Sassy Apron Swap. It is very cute and I LOVE the colors. The next swap starts April 1st and you can sign up here. Totally fun and totally worth it. Thanks Jill M. for my apron!


Then, today we hit the mother load. Okay, really there was no mother load, but my mother (aka mom) sent this little tiny sweater she knitted for Mallory and when I opened it I just began to sob. She is so sweet and I was so tired today from getting a church assignment done and it came at the right time. I feel so blessed to have a mom who sends out packages when they are not expected and something wonderful is inside. It makes living so far away from my family just a little bit easier. I always act like it is no big deal to live so far away, but sometimes (a lot of times) it just is and knowing that I will probably never live close to them breaks my heart. But, thank goodness I LOVE KY and my in laws and all my dear dear friends. That makes it so much better. Thank you mom for the sweater. Yes, I do know that Mallory is supposed to wear a shirts under it because it's a cardigan, but I thought that I would quickly try it on her and take a quick picture. Look how much she likes it!

And, I got a tiny package full of some of my favorites - Jumbo Ric Rac from my sister in law, Shannon. I love ric rac and this jumbo stuff is hard to find and she has a little quilt store down the street from her that sells it and she just sent me a package of it by surprise. Boy, I love these surprises.

Random Things

Mallory enjoyed (for about 3 minutes) wearing Gage's St. Patrick's Day crown he got from playgroup (thanks Vicki). I figured someone needed to wear it and ring in St. Patrick's Day. The boys had their cereal with green milk. And, Zane enjoyed his scrambled eggs a dark shade of green - too many food coloring drops from the chef. And, for dinner there was green macaroni and lime jello. Just a few hints of green throughout the day to keep the holiday alive and well in our house. Gage told me he wouldn't wear his green sweat pants and then I told him that people were going to pinch him. He kept asking, "who is going to pinch me?" Finally, I said, "just me Gage. I will pinch you." He then asked, "so nobody else or no other people will pinch me." I thought about it...naw, nobody would probably pinch him. So, he said, "then, I don't care. You can pinch me. I will not wear green. I only wear red pants." Well, he's a party pooper!



Mallory loves bunnies. She goes in to the room where these stuffed bunnies are about 5 times a day and just screams and points. I get one down for her and it's not enough. She wants to love on all of them. She drags them around as she crawls. Good for Easter - Great for Babies!



Mr. Incredible has a new weapon? It's some fierce new finger tips that even I would be scared of. Or, they are the plastic pieces from Pop O Matic Trouble that Gage has decided to wear as finger tips (just like the olives of old). Not too scary and maybe even cute.