Let the planting begin!

Well- it has started. The garden is going in! I love spring! It is still early for a lot of stuff but the peas are in. Patrick and I were out there today- shovels in hand- to get the peas started.



I love peas fresh out of the garden and Patrick has developed a taste for them as well. Last year none of them even made it into the house. They were all eaten right off the vine in the garden. Yum. We will be putting in onions, lettuce, and spinache soon. Once it is warmer we have plans for cantaloupe, zucs, watermelon, beans and corn. The corn will be our second attempt after failing with it a few years ago. The seed packet for the zucs says "Feed the neighborhood". So- either keep your doors locked or you might find a cute little zucchini on your doorstep!

Patrick was a HUGE help in getting the peas in today.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

A Baby Named Hand

The big move for Patrick was this morning. He is officially in his new room upstairs. We have been talking about it quite a bit and the last few mornings he has asked if it was time. So this morning after breakfast he and Jason started taking apart his bed.

Patrick made several trips carrying the slats up and J took the mattress. I took the head and foot boards. Since we have been using Patricks new room as a playroom since it got carpet last fall there was a little rearranging of toys that needed to be done.
Then the bed was put together, all the stuffed animals in their places. I tried to get a picture of Patrick but the stipulation was that I wanted a nice smile without his hands on his face. This is what I got:More of a monster look...
Anyway- after everything was in place P got a present for moving into his new room. A baby. He has been asking for a baby for awhile and it seemed there were always more requirements on what the baby needed or what it should look like. For starters- it had to be bald. No hair. Then he and I were at storytime and another little girl had her baby there. He climbed up into my lap and whispered in my ear... "I want my baby to have ears." Ok. No hair but with ears. We can do that. Then the baby needed a bed and toys like trucks and airplanes. Ok. Bed, toys, no hair, with ears. Then the baby needed a potty and a bottle. Oh- a burp cloth. That was needed too. And the eyes- they needed to open and close. Ok. My mental capacity was quickly filling with all the requirements for this baby.
So Patrick got his baby. No hair, with ears, opening and closing eyes and a bottle, burp cloth and potty. The bed is coming- the one I used as a child- and we have toys.
Patrick said "This is the one I wanted! I am so excited! I think I will take care of this baby!" It was very sweet.
The baby has been on the swing out on the deck, has had a nap after all her drinking(as Patrick put it) and has been on a walk. He has even sung her Rock-A-Bye Baby. Too cute.
So I would like to introduce you all to the new baby in the house: Hand. Yes, that is her name. It was Foot but was changed to Hand after getting to know her a little.

He is going to make an excellent big brother. What a sweetie.

Per request: I would like everyone to know Patrick has selected a new name for his baby. She is now known as Andrea. Named after a fabulous friend of mine that Patrick enjoys hanging with too.

Another Saturday...

Another Saturday and another messed up dessert. We are seeing college friends tonight and I was in charge of making a dessert. I picked a simple 4 ingredient apple cake. How hard is that? Did I just ask myself that question?

Anyway- after baking, poking with a tester(which came out clean several times I might add!) and cooling, it was discovered that the thing didn't completely bake and the top of the cake stayed in the Bundt pan! I know- cake batter can be tasty but not when it is mixed with cooked cake. Curse you cooking fairy!

My knight in shining armor is trying to help me salvage this though and we are turning it more into a monkey bread type thing. I cut it up and put the pieces into a cooking dish. Jason actually tells me that the more I mess up the less likely I am to come into his kitchen!

This is after baking it again...kind of a mess. Jason made a sugar icing to go over top and we will take along some ice cream. Now I just have to hope my friends don't read this before they have a chance to eat it!

My Valentines!

Happy Valentines Day to my two favorite guys: Jason and Patrick. Jason has been my Valentine since 1996 and I love him more every day. I love our time together whether we are hiking in Aspen, scuba diving in the Cayman's, or sitting at the kitchen table in Mount Vernon. We have had so many adventures together and I look forward to a lifetime of more. Jason, you are a wonderful partner and a terrific dad. Thank you, Jason, for being you!


My second Valentine is Patrick. What a little sweetheart. This little miracle came into our lives in 2005. I love him more every day too. I love the way he runs through the house and the way he tells me stories while we drive in the car. I love watching him sleep all snuggled up with his blankets. I am loving watching him grow up into a fabulous little boy.

Happy Valentines Day to my two favorite guys!

Get that heart rate going!

Patrick and I had quite an adventure this morning. J had called the tractor place to have them pick up our tractor. It needs a good once over. It won't run on a consistent basis and needs some TLC. Anyway- a guy came today with a flatbed truck. Patrick and I got all suited up to watch all the goings on. The dogs went out too. All the snow is melting and we have been getting rain so the drive is muddy/icy/puddly. So the guy gets the ramp up and in front of the tractor. Lots of Ooo's and Ahhh's from Patrick. The chain gets hooked to the tractor and he starts pulling it up on the ramp. More Ooo's and Ahh's and lots of questions from Patrick. Then the exciting part. The tractor gets all the way to the top of the platform and the chain pulling it up gave out! Yowzers! First we thought it was going to roll into the scaffolding that is sitting there and tumble over the hill. Then the tractor made a sudden turn and the propane tank was next in line. Eeeck! The tractor continued to turn and my car was right in its line of site. Double Eeeck! That tractor came to a sudden stop as it ran right into the side of my car. Silence from everyone..... If it was summer time we would have been hearing crickets. Then sighs of relief that the propane tank was still sitting there and that the tractor had not tumbled over the hill. The guy picking up the tractor was a little shocked(Make that a lot shocked!) and went right over to look at the car. He said that had never ever happened before. He appeared to have many years under his belt so I am guessing he has done this many, many times. So thankful Patrick and I were well out of the way and that when the tractor made its turn it went away from us.

The tractor still needs to get on that truck but now it is not in a good loading position. Patrick and I climb up to help steer it while the guy chains it up again and uses extra chains. We steer the tractor to the bottom of the trailer and then got off. I think Patrick was concerned that we were going to ride it up the ramp. Apparently he didn't trust this trucks ability! Anyway- the second attempt went much smoother. Lots of questions from Patrick though and he told me a few times he was a little scared. We watched as the tractor was loaded from a safe distance though and by the end he was starting to laugh about the little "incident".

The car- I have said this before but I love my Ru. It came through with flying colors. One of the tractor tires left its mark on the side and the points on the back of the tractor were low and missed the car. No damage- just a tractor tire mud mark on the side of the car.

Once again. No camera. I was thinking about taking it out but then with all the comotion of the guy arriving, the dogs escaping out the door and trying to get shoes on it was left inside. Go figure.

Directions

Once again I have proven to myself that I am incapable of following directions on a box. Patrick got a great gift of cookie dough mix from his grammie. It came with a cute little bear cookie cutter and colorful sprinkles. All we had to do was mix in some water, roll out the dough, use the bear cookie cutter, bake and Voila! Cookies! Not in my world though.

I had Patrick all ready to help me out. He had the step stool out and I let him pour the mix into the bowl. He also poured in the water and turned on the mixer. I floured up the counter and turned on the oven. After a few minutes of mixing I look at the dough and there was no way it was going to roll out. It looked a little thicker than my banana bread mix does(which I can actually make!) and way more sticky. Hmmmm, I read the box again and wonder how I could have possibly messed this up. I decided to try and refrigerate the dough for a bit hoping it would thicken and become less sticky.

We come back to the dough and it was still a sticky blop in the bowl. I read the directions again. I decided to give rolling it out a whirl and soon realized that the dough was way too sticky. It was sticking to the rolling pin, the counter, my fingers... Patrick was thoroughly enjoying licking off the spoon though. I added more flour to the dough blob and more to the rolling pin. I was finally able to roll out the dough. Whew. Then I try the cookie cutter. The directions told me to dip it in flour to make it work better so I definitely do that. I wanted to make sure I followed them verbatim! So- I removed the cutter and tried to pick up the little bear shape. Totally stuck to the counter! I tried a thin spatula and the little bear just smooshes right up on itself. Ugh.

So while I have been dealing with the sticky dough Patrick has been licking the bowl. Ah, excuse me. I wasn't done with that but maybe now I am.

I decided to scrap the whole rolling out and cutting into cute bear shapes. I use the spatula to scrape the dough off the counter and into a bowl. I throw in 1/3 of a bag of chocolate chips and put little blops of dough on the cookie sheets. I threw them in the oven and hoped for the best.

I am happy to report that the blop chocolate chip cookies turned out good although there is no resemblance to a bear shape what so ever. We will just have to save the bear cookie cutter for when Jason makes some sugar cookie dough. He is the professional here.

How could I ruin such an easy project? I had planned on taking pictures. We were going to have so much fun decorating the bears. It was going to be great! Sigh.... Once again, the cooking fairly has neglected to bless me. I could write a small book on my cooking failures. If I cook something that does turn out it is a miracle and everyone is amazed. Sometimes I don't know if I should laugh or cry! Again, so thankful Jason loves to cook and bake. Without him I would probably be a vegetarian buried in cereal boxes. Hopefully the cooking gene gets passed from Jason and Patrick will be a master in the kitchen like his dad.

By the way- no pics of this little adventure. I got too distracted by all the sticky dough. Next time Patrick gets a gift involving baking I will leave it to Jason.