Boyd to Dalton: What do you call a cow with no legs?

Dalton: Pork?

Christmas Eve is here and we are getting Mexican food take-out because we had a gift card. Boyd told Dalton that he was going to get Mexican food, and Dalton said, "Mexican food for Christmas! I don't think that's natural!"

Smells Like Christmas

This morning when we got out of the car at church, Dalton commented that it smelled like Christmas. When he said it again, I asked him what it was that smelled like. He thought for a minute and said, "When you wake up on Christmas morning, you'll know what it is."

If you have ever had any lengthy conversation with Maggie Anne, it will come around to her favorite movie The Little Mermaid or her favorite princess Ariel. Tonight she chose the movie at dinner and guess what she chose . . .

When she started to sing along, we couldn't pass up the chance to get it recorded. Since it turned out so cute, I wanted to share it.

Maggie Anne has been into talking about weddings lately. She asked me yesterday morning if she could borrow my dress for her wedding. I told her she was welcome too, but we could get her a new dress. She gasped and said that we could spread them all out and let her decide (this is her favorite way to choose her dress-up outfit).

Then she changed her mind and said, "Well, you can choose my dress and I'll choose the shoes!"

She continued, "And we'll have a flower girl and a ring master!"

Here's my latest adventure in birthday cakes for Dalton who is turning 8 on Friday!

Here's my crew in their cute pajamas!

And here's how it really is!

Jessie Anne let me get some pictures of her by herself.

I believe I caught her plotting her world domination in this one.

Such a cute little thing!

Couple of pictures of the kids that I really liked. They were laughing at their Uncle Roo.

Aunt Cindy got all the kids these cute pajamas hoping for a neat Christmas pic. Of course these are my three plus cousin Gabriel.

And of course it would be my kiddo who has a meltdown during the picture session. :-)

Aunt Cindy brought a gingerbread house kit that the kids had a great time putting together.

And Jessie Anne got caught sneaking a bite after they were all done.

Dalton was a really sweet showing his sister how to do the climbing wall.

He only had to show her once and she did it by herself over and over again.

Jessie Anne takes a relax position on her sidewalk chalk art.

Maggie Anne was so upset last night as her grandmother started to take down her Thanksgiving decorations. She was sobbing to me that they were just so beautiful and that she was going to miss them. I told her that there would be new even prettier Christmas decorations going up in their place.

This began a whole new set of crying. She told me that the new decorations were going to be prettier than her and that made her sad. I assured her that nothing would be prettier than her. That made her feel a little better.

Maggie likes to play a guessing game where she gives us clues and have us guess the princess. My favorite hint was 

She has really long hair.

She was barefooted.

She had a mom.

She had the best day ever outside.

This was her description of Rapunzel in Tangled.

Maggie Anne also told Aunt Cindy that she knew that her real name is Cinderella.

Maggie Anne was visiting with her Aunt Cindy during our Thanksgiving trip. She was asking about what Maggie's favorite princess is. Maggie told her, "My mom and dad call me a princess . . . But I'm really just a kid."

So the girls decided to completely empty our container (laundry hamper) of stuffed animals. Turns out there was a bunch of stuff at the bottom that Jessie Anne had never seen including one Tickle Me Elmo. I put new batteries in it thinking she would enjoy it.

She did not disappoint when he started to giggle, she did too. However, every time that Elmo would bend over, she would holler, "OH NO!" I had never realized before that when he bends over (laughing), his eyeball actually hit the floor and it looked to her like he was just smacking his head on the floor over and over again.

Then he when he fell over (again, laughing), it further distressed her because she thought he had fallen down. She then spent the rest of her time trying to keep the poor thing upright. That was until she got tired of him at which point she would stomp on his stomach. If you've ever seen one, you know that this is what makes the thing laugh, so she was actually just continuing the cycle of torture for both of them.

Maggie Anne thought that Cadi would enjoy some company from my old Pound Puppy. Yes, that's an original Pound Puppy and her name was Pepper. However, Maggie Anne did not like that name so she changed it Snoodle Doodle Birdman Batman.  Cadi found him suspicious, and who wouldn't with a name like that.

Since it was still pretty wet at game time, we took the kids back to my sister's house. With so much technology around, it was fun to see Jessie's delight with something as simple as a jack in the box.

Jessie Anne just turned 2! No, I can't believe it either! She doesn't have a favorite cartoon character and since her birthday hit on a football weekend, I went with this idea. The name and number are pink, not orange like they look in the picture.

I let Jessie get in the car before we left for the game and came back to find little fingerprints in the icing. Wonder who did that???

It was a rainy day, but as you can see, she enjoyed her cake!

I have had to go in to work early the past couple of mornings, so Boyd has had to wrangle the kids all by himself. Yesterday morning, he was telling Maggie Anne to go brush her teeth and hair when she turned to him and said, "First, pause the show. I am your princess and you just do as I say."

Such a piece of work.

Boyd saw Dalton studying the DVD case for Alice in Wonderland. After a minute, he said, "Huh. I thought Wonderland was her last name. I thought her name was Alison Wonderland."

Last time Boyd and I had a date night, I tried out a new dessert recipe. It was phenomenal. So good that I made it again before the weekend was out. So, I wanted to share it with you. My chocoholic son loved them as well. I was looking for a recipe that used Nutella that I had seen before and I believe I was missing an ingredient. A lucky Google search connected me to this recipe from yummly.com - it was fate. :-) Quick note, I worried that it looked like too much trouble (I usually stick with simple recipes), but this is soooooo totally worth it!

Molten Chocolate-Nutella Pudding Cakes

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons of Nutella

1. Preheat oven to 350. Mist 6 6-oz ramekins with cooking spray. Place a roasting pan in oven; pour in 1/2 inch of hot water.

2. In a bowl, whisk flour, cocoa and baking powder

3. Combine chocolate & butter in a microwave-safe bowl; cook on high, stirring one or twice, until almost melted, 1-2 minutes. Whisk until smooth.

4. In a bowl, with an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat eggs, vanilla, sugar & salt until pale yellow, about 5 minutes. Beat in melted chocolate mixture. Stir in flour mixture. Spoon half of batter into ramekins. Drop 1 tablespoon of Nutella into the center of each. Cover with remaining batter.

5. Transfer ramekins to roasting pan. Bake until cakes have risen and are cracked on top, about 30 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes. Serve warm.

http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Molten-Chocolate-Nutella-Pudding-Cakes-MyRecipes-265075?columns=4&position=1%2F1

Notes:
~ 2nd batch, I only used teaspoons of Nutella and everyone liked better
~ I didn't have 6 ramekins, so I used 2 larger mugs that I had which I knew were oven safe & 2 regular ramekins. It worked fine.
~ Heads up. The beautiful cracked top will fall. I was so proud when the first came out and then had to laugh when I returned to serve them.
~ Warm they are amazing, but they were just as good at room temperature the next day.

Perfect from the oven

Falling tops

Met up with some of Dalton and Maggie's friends for Dalton's school fall carnival. Dalton's friend Ross was Darth Maul and while the boys were waiting on the bouncy house, Maggie Anne gave his mask a try. Quite the combo with her Little Mermaid dress!

Last night, Maggie, Jessie and I were working on one of Maggie Anne's favorite projects - coloring a box. Below you will see part of our handiwork. What was funny was that Jessie started to color on it and Maggie looked at me panicked and said, "Mama! Don't let her scribble scrabble on it! She will ruin it!" I started to ask how scribble scrabble was different from what we were doing, but I just let it go.

Meeny meeny miney moe
Catch a tiger by his toe
If he hollers make him pay
Every dollar every day

By: Maggie Anne Maher
Primary use: Choosing what clothes she will be wearing

Yeah, my 4-year-old just called me out of the bathroom where I'm getting ready for work to tell me excitedly that she was right . . . her boobies ARE growing!

Jessie snuck a snuggle with her sister's doll while having a snack at the game.

I wasn't allowing Jessie Anne to climb into the upper bleachers. She laid her head down to "cry" but then had a better idea. As you can see, she would peak at me and then go back to "crying" as she climbed up an additional step. 

Maggie Anne always has good questions for me when I wait outside her stall in the bathroom. This past Saturday in the packed football game bathroom, I heard her ask, "Mama, why do you love me?" I could hear the ladies giggle on both sides of her. I told her that I loved her because she is my little girl.

Then louder, she asked me, "NO! Why do you love me SOOOO MUCH!?!" More ah's from her neighbors and I just told her that I am glad that she knows that.

Jessie Anne just uttered her first full sentence . . . "Maggie hit me!"

Dalton, Jessie and I were hanging out on the driveway. Jessie was looking at me one second, and one second later, she dropped down into this pose. Don't know where she got it, but I guess some baby yoga is a good end to the week.

Now Maggie Anne's expletive has changed to, "Awww Mushrooms!"

Jessie Anne was cute and joined her daddy on the driveway on one of our recent nice fall evenings.

Maggie Anne has taken to saying, "Awww bananas!" in places where an "Awww, man!" might be appropriate. Boyd asked her the other day who says "Awww bananas!" hoping to learn where she learned it. She responded, "I do!"

Girls in their new bandana dresses that their grandmother made for them.

Same dresses after the rain.

I feel like I figured this out way too late in life, but I will now always use an ice cream scoop for making cupcakes or muffins. Made things so much quicker and cleaner. I know I'm way to excited about this, but trust me, it will totally change your life . . . or at least the way you make cupcakes. :-)

Question 1: Why do I follow ANY instruction in a recipe to place item on non-greased cooking surface?????

Question 2: Why do ANY recipes still have this instruction?????

Just made a fabulous cookie mix. Really fantastic . . . or at least the top halves are delicious that did not stick to my non-stick cookie sheet (seriously?).

Maggie and Dalton love to torment each other. From what I hear, that's what siblings do. On the way home tonight, it was the first time that Maggie Anne actually mastered the "Copy Me" game on Dalton and it was completely driving him nuts. She was copying his inflections and everything. My favorite was when he said, "I'm SOOOO going to get you when I get home!" She copied him and I thought his head was going to explode! It was hard not to laugh.

I LOVE IT! Dalton is at a stage where he doesn't like to be kissed (hoping that sticks around for a while). Anyway, Maggie Anne will chase him around the house threatening to kiss him. Tonight she outsmarted him. She would kiss her fingers, then touch each finger to the back of his head while he was playing. She's content to have her quiet victory, so he hasn't caught on yet.

You gotta look kind of close. Somehow my kids managed to get a relatively large duck-shaped sponge shoved down into an empty soft soap bottle. No one will fess up to it. I think that they think they will be in trouble when we are just admiring their work.

Jessie Anne does not want to be left behind when her brother and sister go for a ride.

Found another surprise Maggie Anne picture on my phone.

Last night we were watching a new Dora that Maggie Anne had been looking forward to for a couple of weeks (blasted commercials start months in advance just to torment parents). In true Dora fashion, there were some odd moments in this episode, particularly when a skateboard and scooter came out of a random log and cave in the middle of the woods.

Boyd was walking through right about that time. He looked at me and asked, "What are these people on?"

Not aware that the question was not directed at her, Maggie Anne answered, "Skates!"

Tonight at bedtime, Maggie Anne had a small glass of ice water. When we got to her bed, she told me that the ice will melt tonight. Thinking that I might have a teaching moment, I asked her what we froze to make ice.

Her response . . . the ice maker.

I did a segment on our local news morning show this morning promoting my coffee shop at work. When Dalton got home, he told me that he waved at me when he saw me on the news, but I must not have been looking at the camera because I did not see him.

Ben E. King's Stand by Me has been in Maggie Anne's goodnight song rotation for a couple of years now. Tonight, she sang along with me. So cute, but she really put some soul into it. My favorite good night song ever.

Maggie Anne and I were on one of her many trips to the bathroom this weekend during tailgating. We were alone and I was a couple of stalls over when I heard Maggie Anne starting to recite, "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America . . ." She continued on and on. When she hesitated, I had no choice, but go help her out and get her back on track.

She was quite proud of herself!

I am in so much trouble. Maggie Anne just got mad at Dalton at the dinner table. She stood up in her chair and yelled, "Do you want me to take off my panties!?!"

This elicited the appropriate appalled reply from her brother not to, but my point stands. We are in so . . . much . . . trouble!

I am making cake balls for the Tech game this weekend (red velvet/cream cheese icing inside with blue coating), so Maggie, Jessie and I had to run into Michaels to get the candy chips and color for the coating. The kids have been very anxious to help with this project.

Well, the girls and I had loaded back into the car and were heading home when Maggie Anne asked me something. I didn't quite hear her, so I asked her to speak up. She loudly asked, "Mama, can I help you with your balls when we get home?" We were stopped at a red light and I just looked at her in the rearview mirror. It took about 30 seconds and her repeating the question twice more for it to dawn on me that she was talking about the cake balls. She totally lost me there for a minute. :-)

I'll post these if they turn out good.

Seriously yummy dessert time. Super easy, too.

Sliced banana
Grapes (mine were large, so I cut in half)
Vanilla Greek Yogurt
Drizzle of Honey
Chopped Dry Roasted Peanuts

Awesome textures and tastes working together!

I felt like making some red beans and rice. Remembering that mom told me not long ago that she made some tasty ones in her crock pot, I decided to give it a shot. Here's what went in.

1/2 onion, diced
chopped garlic to taste (I like garlic, so I went with 2 cloves)
1/2 bag of dried red beans
Tony Chacere's Seasoning
1 teaspoon cumin
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1 beef bouillon cube
1 cup sliced kielbasa sausage
water to cover

Set it on low and let it go.

Mine went for about 7 hours. Now I was home that day so I started them on high because I did not know how fast they were going to rehydrate. I will feel totally comfortable setting them on low and heading out to work from here on out.

Totally amazed that this actually worked. I had seen it several times in various places. Slice several bananas and freeze them. Once frozen, throw them in the food processor and process the fire out of them. Eventually, you will get this incredibly smooth "ice cream." 

I warn you, about a minute into it, I had to stop and look it up online to make sure I didn't mess it up. I thought for sure at that point that I was suppose to add some cream or something, but when I returned to it and started processing again, it started to come together. 

Really, really tasty! 

Maggie Anne just asked me to pause the book I was reading her so she could run to the bathroom.

If you happen to be around Jessie Anne soon, her new word is shirt. You have to listen very closely for the "r," but it is there. She will also be patting her belly when she says it. Shirt . . . she is saying shirt.

We have this kiddy tent out in the living room right now for the kids to play with. It is shaped like a puppy and the kids love it. An extremely special treat is if the big kids are allowed to sleep in it, either for a nap or overnight.

Dalton just asked me if they could sleep in it tonight. I told him maybe and this is the conversation I heard from inside the tent:

Maggie Anne: YES!
Dalton: She said maybe, that's not a yes.
Maggie Anne: It's not a no, and with mama, that's a yes.
Dalton: Well, if you nag her, it will definitely be a no.

Jessie Anne decided to help out with the mowing this morning. Yep, we are starting her early!

Tovolo Mixing Spoons

Growing up as a wooden spoon devotee, I was very slow to change. But I do like silicone cooking utensils. A while back I came across the Tovolo mixing spoons on Zulily.com. I ordered 3 of them. Stainless steel handles with silicone spoons. I LOVE these things! I stalked Zulily until I found some more. My collection grew by 6 when I found them on the Zulily 4th of July sale. I branched out and got the longer red spoon and the two spatulas on the end (fabulous spatulas that are nice and flexible).

Missing from this picture is the hot pink one I am using to cook dinner tonight. I ventured onto their website - www.tovolo.com - and they have all sorts of cool kitchen gadgets. Check them out!

The kids LOVE the hot tub at their grandparents' house. Unfortunately, they LOVE to get into it naked!

I never know how it is going to go with Jessie around babies (especially those that are getting her mama's attention). She wanted to get up close to her cousin Gabe and pat him on the back just like she had seen all the grownups doing. They were checking each other out pretty good.

While he wouldn't admit it aloud, Dalton knew that he was going to miss his sister so he snuggled with her while she napped. 

On the ride home from Louisiana last night, Maggie Anne asked if she could turn on her light in the back seat. We asked her not to because it made it hard for her daddy to see. Here is the conversation that followed:

Boyd: What if a bear runs out in the road?
Maggie: It's night time! All the bears are sleeping!
Boyd: Well, what if a chicken runs out in the road?
Maggie: Ahhhh . . . just hit it!

Maggie Anne just proudly showed her daddy her new "Cracks." We have to keep reminding her that they are crocks, not cracks.

20-Minute (Mickey) Meatloaf

I've made this recipe since I was a kid. Usually they are just shaped into patties, but I felt Mickey inspired tonight and branched out.

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Mix together the following:

1 lb hamburger (tonight's recipe is with ground turkey)

1/2 teaspoon salt

Pepper

Tony's seasoning

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

1/2 cup tomato sauce

Form into your patties and put in a baking dish.

Bake for 15 minutes and you get these. While baking, mix up the following for the awesome sauce:

Rest of the small can tomato sauce

1 Tablespoon brown sugar

2 teaspoons parsley

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (I just now realized that I totally left this out of my sauce tonight!)

Pour sauce over the patties then bake for another 5 minutes. Here's how tonight's turned out.

Who would have thought I would be such a sucker for matching dresses. Helps when my models are so darn cute!