Hooks and Letters

Do your kids hang up their bath towels?  Mine never did and it drove me nuts.  Then one day I realized that the main problem was that they were too little to properly hang the towel on the towel bar. 

So I waited for a good sale at Menards, bought a bunch of towel hooks, and then had Mr. Lance install them.  Viola!  Now the kids hang up their towels every day with no problem!

That's a lie. 

I still have to often remind them.  But now they have no excuse to not do it.

Later, I discovered a new problem - fights over whose towel was whose.  More specifically, Josh fighting with Cole over every towel, whether it was his or not.

Some $.99 wooden letters from Hobby Lobby, a bit of leftover paint, and a few 3M strips and that problem is solved as well.

However, Saturday night I discovered a new problem: Cole kept trying to sound out the letters J-C-T to form a word.  (He does it with simple words now.  It's kind of freakishly cool to hear a 2 year old do that!).  He sat there and kept repeating "Juh. Kuh. Tuh." over and over again, trying to figure out what word it spelled.  I tried explaining that J is for Josh, C is for Cole, and T is for Tess, but to no avail.  He wouldn't believe me.

Well.  Mommas can't be expected to solve all problems!

Mangia! Mangia!

 

 

Rice Crispie Treat DEATH MATCH Trial Recipe: Nutella

In my 34 years of life I have discovered four rules for rice crispie treat perfection:

1. Use real butter - not margarine.  It just tastes better.  Real butter always tastes better.  (Bonus tip: use a bit of butter to grease your pan.  The spray stuff tastes funny.)
2. Use fresh marshmallows.  That half-eaten bag you've had at the back of your pantry for the past six months?  Not a good idea.
3. Low and slow is the name of the game.  Don't be tempted to crank the heat up to high to melt the butter and marshmallows.  Doing so will give your treats a teeth-chipping brick-like consistency.  Yum.
4. Don't overcook the marshmallows - get them off the heat as soon as they're melted.  In fact, I pull mine off the heat when there are still a few little lumps left.  This is why I use mini marshmallows - they melt faster and more evenly.  Cooking them for too long can also make them too hard.  (Think about making candy and what happens the longer you boil that sugar.)

Follow these tips religiously and you'll have heavenly rice crispie treats every time.

Unless you're a Roper cousin - in which case, ignore the above.  Margarine, old marshmallows, high heat, and the longer the better.  Trust me on this.

Why the lecture?  Today I accidentally broke rule number four.  In my defense, I had a million things going on while I made the treats.  Not that I planned it that way.  But for some reason all four of my children decided to have some sort of mini-crisis, in sequential order, while I was melting the marshmallows.  The treats are not that bad - they're just not as light and fluffy as we're used to around these here parts.  No worries, though; a spin in the microwave for 10 seconds or so sets everything alright.

This week, in my quest for ETERNAL FAME AND GLORY, I decided to make Nutella Rice Crispie Treats.  There are a ton of recipes for this out on the interwebs, but I decided to just go for the simplest: add a cup of Nutella to the melted marshmallows.

Verdict?  Pretty good.  Not fabulous, but certainly not ordinary.  I didn't mix quite as evenly as I should have, so there are parts that have more chocolate than others.  These parts are yummy.  I wish there was more of a Nutella flavor all throughout.  (Perhaps the flavor will intensify over night.  I'll have to investigate this tomorrow.)  If I made these again I would definitely add more than a cup of Nutella.

And so my search continues.  Next week will probably be something a bit more fancy, since Lance is hosting a LAN party at our house.  Hey, it takes a lot to impress a bunch of grown men playing video games in the basement all hours of the night.  Time to step things up!

Tess's "Mean" Face...

... and accompanying scary hair.

A Few Questions

What is it about KitchenAid mixers that fascinates little boys so much?  (Answer: Moving parts.  And the slight hint of danger.)

What is it about kitchen scales that is so enticing to five year olds? (Answer: Because it's awesome to see which weighs more - the ball your baby sister is screaming for because you stole it from her or the Matchbox car your little brother is crying for because you stole it from him.)

Why is my daughter almost always dressed in pink?  (Answer: That's the only color of baby girl clothing that stores sell.  Okay, I might be exaggerating a bit here, but seriously.  Anything that is not pink is either a) horrendously expensive, or b) horrendously hideous.  I mean, I like pink as much as the next girl, but come on, stores!)  ((Note to Future Tess: really and truly, I am not trying to force you into some stereotyped gender role by making Baby Tess wear pink all the time.  It's just that it's pretty much my only option at this point.))

Why do tennis shoes always seem to wear out with only a month of school left?  (Answer: because the Tennis Shoe Magnates think I'm made of money, that's why.)

What do Spencer and Josh remind me of when they pose for the camera like this?  (Answer: They remind me of little birds in a nest, cheep-cheep-cheeping away at their momma for more food.  Or, in this case, another snack.)  ((Oh, and their father.  They remind me of their father.))

Cole's To-Do List for the Day

Cole's To-Do List

Wednesday, April 11th

Cole's a pretty busy little fellow - it's amazing that he was able to  accomplish everything on his list for the day!

1. Get syrup all over face, hair, and hands.  Refuse to take a bath.
2. Admit defeat to Momma and take a short bath.  Run around naked for a while.
3. Whine to play with Momma's phone all the way to Josh's preschool.
4. Whine about having to go to aerobics class with Momma.
5. Punch another kid while at aerobics.
6. Sit in time-out.
7. Play with Momma's phone while at the grocery store.
8. Have a tantrum when Momma takes the phone away after we're done at the store.
9. Eat lunch.
10. Beat Momma and Josh at a killer game of Chutes and Ladders.
11. Whine and cry for Momma's phone and follow in her footsteps, up and down every hill and around every corner, as she mows the lawn.  For the entire hour and fifteen minutes.
12. Refuse to tell Momma what I want for snack.
13. Throw a magnificent tantrum when I don't get the snack I want.
14. Bother Momma every 37 seconds whiles she's in the shower.
15. Throw another tantrum when she locks the door to the bathroom.
16. Jump up and down on Momma as she tries to take a short break on the couch.  
17. Whine and cry to watch Sesame Street on Momma's computer on her bed.
18. Spill juice all over the kitchen floor, effectively ending Momma's short break.
19. Play outside with Spencer and Josh.
20. Have a pretty good diaper blowout. (**Make sure Tess is still on board for having one at the same time.**)
21. Whine and cry and cling to Momma's legs while she's tries to make dinner and help Spencer with his homework.
22. Try to steal Spencer's homework.  
23. Try to color on Spencer's homework.
24. Try to steal the half-cooked chicken out of the pan.  Yell and holler when Momma yells and hollers to not touch it because it is hot.
25. Beg, whine, and cry for a banana exactly 15 minutes before dinner.
26. Make a decent mess at dinner, but still eat about twice as much as brothers.
27. Fuss and cry when Momma leaves to take Spencer to the library.
28. Go to bed.

Easter Dinner

Once again we happily had our Hoosier Family, the Souths, over for Easter dinner.  It seems like we don't get to see each other as much as we used to - we're all so busy with this and that.  Hopefully that will change this summer. 

Once again, I didn't get any pictures of anyone.  Because I'm cool like that.  But I did get pictures of the eggs I made for everyone.  Again, because I'm cool like that.

Fortunately, Paul took a bunch of pictures of the evening.  The boys spent a lot of time playing computer and Wii together.

Lance, the master carver, gets the Easter ham out of the oven.

Josh didn't want his picture taken.  At all.

Spencer and Ashton.

Tess enjoying a hot roll.  Yum.

Cole cheeses.

Misty made some excellent lemon cupcakes, which we let the kids eat outside. 

I'm pretty sure Cole ate the equivalent of three cupcakes after he gleaned all the dropped ones from the lawn.

Mouth full of cupcakes!

We're so glad the Souths could join us for Easter dinner!  Maybe next time we'll do something crazy like take a picture with everyone in it.  (Madness!)