Day 18

yummy goodness coming up!

Day 359

This boy was so happy to receive a banana in his stocking that it just had to make the picture of the day.

Merry Christmas to all!! I hope you are having a very happy and blessed day.

Day 304

This little boy was able to get his first piece of real chocolate to eat all on his own (at least I'm pretty sure it's his first). He enjoyed it immensely.

Day 297

There are several things I could post for today, but they'll have to wait for other times and places.

After the waffle making disaster of a few weeks ago, I was so excited to have the time (and waffle maker) to bake some up this morning. What's even better is we used the Trader Joe's pumpkin mix and they were quite tasty. Butter Pecan syrup was the perfect topping, and there were even a few leftover to enjoy later this week.

Day 272

It's an off-week for childcare, so to give my mom a bit of a break from taking care of the boys two days in a row, I went in to work a couple of hours late and fed the little guys breakfast before bringing them over. The picture for today is how much of my two toaster waffles I got a chance to eat before the boys were all done with their breakfasts and ready to head out for the day.

Day 266

We grabbed dinner at one of our favorite quick and super tasty places to eat. You can tell that summer is really over since Creamy Tomato soup is back on the menu. Even though it was still nearly 80 today, I had to get a bowl.

Day 261

I have been doing this blog for 260 days, and I'm pretty sure that today was the first day that I actually forgot to take a picture for the blog. (What's that about 21 days to make a habit??) Fortunately for me, I didn't forget to take any pictures at all. But my choices for today are pretty slim. Too bad I can't put it up for a vote.

I have the toddler moment where I might not be able to visit our local library again, and the technology win at the grocery store. Since I might be able to use the first one on our main blog, I'm going with the win.

We were making tacos for dinner tonight when my husband realized we were out of crunchy taco shells. I volunteered to run to the store. While I was there I heard over the intercom that they were having a special on meatloaf. Seeing an opportunity to take advantage of an inexpensive meal for tomorrow, I decided to pick up one from the refrigerated section.

Unfortunately, unlike the meatloaves sitting under the heating lamp, the ones in the refrigerated section did not have re-heating instructions. Go figure. But fear not, I had my trusty iPhone with the fancy macro lens.

As I was taking a picture of the directions, one of the super helpful (I actually kind of mean that) employees snuck up on me and asked if I needed help. I explained what I was doing, and she commented that she'd never seen anyone use their phone like that.

Now I live a bit in the country, but I assure you I haven't invented that particular maneuver. I just smiled and went to make my purchases.

And, that, is officially the longest post on the most unintentional daily picture ever!

Day 254

I'm sitting here eating my dinner and blogging while my boys are cruising the bookstore. We had an errand to run this evening, so we decided to grab dinner. The boys ordered pizza by the slice while I ordered a yummy Italian chop chop salad.

They were nearly finished with their food by the time I received mine, so now they're browsing the bookstore while munch away in peace (aside from the computer lunatic behind me).

This salad is somehow even tastier. ;)

Day 249

Tonight we met up with some of our really good friends to celebrate a birthday. The birthday boy chose The Rock for dinner, and it was a great time. The pizza was good and the company was awesome. As always, it's fun to share a meal with friends.

Day 234

I've been wanting to make this for almost two weeks since PCC posted the recipe on Twitter. I bought a semi-tart apples from the Farmers Market last week. I would have made it last weekend, but we needed to leave too early in the morning for my cousin's wedding.

Since I couldn't do it last weekend, I didn't try to find bread until this week. The boys and I found this perfect cinnamon bread at the grocery store.

It took some time and my kitchen was a mess, but the results were devine! I'll have to make this again later this fall.

Day 230

Today is my husband's birthday and a few days ago he mentioned that he really wanted some Peanut Butter Rice Krispies Treats. The problem is that Matt can't have peanut butter yet. I took the ingredients to work and during my lunch I managed to make a batch of treats, separate out a bit for Matt (and me since I'm not a big fan of the peanut butter ones), and add peanut butter to the rest.

It's not quite how the directions say you should do it, so the peanut butter wasn't as well blended as it should have been, but my husband was thrilled, so that's all that really matters.

Day 214

Our 12th anniversary turned into sort of a last minute affair. My sweet husband wanted to make surprise plans, but the coming week is so overbooked that it wasn't working out. Then there were the floating activities that were tying up a couple of days because plans were up in the air.

As the weekend got closer, things finally started settling down and in the dust emerged our actual wedding anniversary to go out and celebrate. A last minute call to his parents (for the second time in three days) and we were on our way to celebrating this evening.

We decided to go into the city to Pike Place Market and walk around the shops and then stroll up to 6th Avenue and Pine for dinner at Il Fornaio. This authentic Italian restaurant was fantastic. We had an early reservation in order to not keep the kids up too late, so we were one of the first patrons for dinner.

Since it was our first visit, they gave us complimentary bruschetta, which was delicious. The picture of the day was my dinner choice of Pennoni alla Vodka, which was pasta in a vodka-cream-tomato sauce with bacon. It was fantastic.

I mentioned that it was our anniversary, so they also gave us our choice of dessert. We settled on the Rosina al Cioccolato, which was chocolate mousse, fresh raspberries and sponge cake soaked with Triple Sec. It was amazing. The wine was fantastic too.

All and all, a great meal with a pretty awesome guy. I'm looking forward to another 12 years of adventure. ^_^

Day 209

To say it's been a little hot today is like saying the Pacific Ocean is a good sized pond. It is excessively hot here and there seems to be little relief in sight. We decided to take a trip out to the mall and were surprised that Cold Stone wasn't packed, so we stopped in for a cool treat to share.

Day 207

Today I have a recipe to share because that's the kind of friendly blogger that I am. We had a church picnic this evening, and were supposed to bring a dessert. I decided to make Toffee Brownies, which are really super easy.

First you make up a regular batch of 9" x 13" brownies, but don't bake them. Then you melt a 1/4 cup of butter in about a 12-inch skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Add one cup of brown sugar and one cup of chopped pecan. I made mine with about 1/3 cup of chopped pecans and 2/3 cup of walnuts because that's what I had in the house.

The recipe I follow is a bit vague at this point and says heat until melted. You stir and stir for a while and think you're done, but if it looks like this...

then keep going.

Once it looks like this...


you need to "pour: it over the brownies, which really means drop. Then spread it out a bit, but work quickly because it will harden into a toffee in not too much time.

Bake it in the oven per your brownie directions, and you'll have...


Pretty easy, tasty, and you probably won't come home with any.

Day 179

Over the past two days, Paul and I have made a couple of batches of ice cream. This afternoon we made some mint chocolate chip. Here's Paul pouring in the milk. We brought our ice cream to grandma and grandpa's house tonight. Paul was very proud to be making it for his family.

Day 178

We went to the Strawberry Festival today and ate

Washed it down with


And I got


sunburned shoulders

Day 171

This is what happens when you go strawberry picking with your boys and dump your camera in the box of strawberries. I was also covered in dirt and juice with the picking, so there was just no avoiding the messy camera. Fortunately, a damp cloth cleaned it right up. I'm still glad I didn't take the time to dig out my DSLR. I'm a little more protective of that camera.

Day 96

As a Lutheran, we follow the church calendar and observe the season of Lent, which is that period of time between Ash Wednesday and Easter. Most everyone knows that Lent is for 40 days, which is a common number in the Bible - 40 days and nights of the flood, 40 years the Israelites wandered before reaching the Promised Land, and Jesus' 40 days of fasting in the desert followed by the temptation by Satan - just to name a few.

Often, people will choose to observe Lent by giving up something for those 40 days. I've never observed Lent in that manner before, but had often considered it. This year, I decided to give up chips for Lent. To many this might not sound like a big deal, but I love chips. I very much like salty things, and chips are perfect! They're also very convenient and require no preparation, which is fantastic with little ones.

I started the 40 days without a whole lot of planning, so until I made it to the grocery store, I spent a lot of time contemplating the staleness of various crackers in the pantry. I did make it through the entire 40 days without breaking down.

Of course, you might be looking at your calendar and noting that Easter is a week away, but I assure you that it's 40 days from Ash Wednesday to Palm Sunday. Another way of observing Lent is to take Sunday's "off". I think I might try that method next year if I decide to do this again.

Now, to crack open a bag of chips.

Day 92

I had some bacon left over from the stew I made a couple of weeks ago. I didn't want it to go bad, so I looked up a crustless quiche recipe and it turned out fantastic!

I hadn't made a quiche in years because hubby gave the impression that he really didn't care for them. This one had lots of bacon, mushrooms and cheese. It was such a hit with the hubby that he had to stop himself at three pieces because he was afraid he'd get sick.

Now the kids on the other hand were a different story.

Day 86

About a month ago we made plans to go out to dinner with our friends for an evening of good food and adult conversation without the kids. We love our kiddos, but between the two couples, we have five children under five. A decent meal is nearly impossible let alone attempting a conversation.

We dined at The Cheesecake Factory, and we were not about to miss out on the full experience. Here is a picture of my dessert - Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake - taken with my iPhone in poor light, but trust me, it was divine. I look forward to enjoying it over the next couple days.