Whirlwind

Our last month has been a whirlwind.

Hence, no posting on the blog.

We finished up school on May 19th. It felt really good to have our school year completed. As soon as school was over we were busy getting ready and packing to head to California.

We had an amazing week in California with the Jones and Markley families. A post is coming full of pictures of our fun week.

We returned from California for a week chocked full of errands and activities. We had enough time to stock up on food, do laundry, get haircuts, fit in a birthday party, and pack again for Minnesota.

The kids and I loaded up the car and started our 23 hour drive to Minnesota to visit family and friends as well as attend the wedding for one of our favorite couples. Our week in MN was crazy busy. Our week came to an end very quickly and the kids and I were back in the car to make the trek home. There is a post coming.... soon.

I am working on getting pictures uploaded and edited, posts written, as well as catching up on stuff around the house, emails, and reading blogs. I am trying to fit some sleep in there as well.

The whirlwind is dying down, I hope. I am ready to catch up and share with you all our great adventures over the past month.

It is all coming in time.

Surprise

We came home yesterday to find these on our doorstep:

landon ran as fast as he could to the door to check out what was waiting: NOODLES

checking to see which one is his

handing out the noodles

reading mauryn's noodle to her

morgan checking out her noodle

landon concentrating on reading his noodle

mauryn always the poser... showing off her noodle

thanks denise and family for the fun surprise. the excitement level went through the roof. see you at the lake on thurdsay ;0)

Just a Reminder

We have had a cold, wet, and windy spring.

It even snowed on Saturday.

At the end of May.

In Idaho.

Strange, strange weather!

We had a nice weekend about a month ago. The sun was shining, it was warm, and we spent the entire weekend outside.

Today, I am trying to warm up and remind myself that summer is on the way... at least I hope so!

waiting to get someone with that squirt gun

playing volleyball with the neighbors across the fence

cooper and mauryn decided to check out the pool

there was just enough water after hauling buckets full, to get her hair wet

relaxing and working on getting a tan :o)

my big girl's shadow {she loves experimenting with the camera}

the love/not so much love relationship between coop and mauryn: he wanted to hit a ball off the tee and she was using it as a microphone. you can see coop is not so happy.

Our weekend would not have been complete without Mauryn giving us a performance. This is my little spitfire in a nutshell... using a tube of sunscreen as her microphone, making up her own song, the drama/expressions on her face, and just giving it all she's got.

One Week

In one week my kids and I will be here

with these two lovely ladies and their families

CAN NOT WAIT!

Wordless Wednesday: Peek A Boo

My New Favorites

A couple of months ago I wrote about my first attempts at making a homemade pie crust and using that crust for a french silk pie.

I am not a big fan of chocolate so the french silk pie was a little on the rich side for me. I LOVE white chocolate. I decided to use bakers white chocolate in the recipe instead of bakers chocolate. I am in love with this pie. It is the perfect combination of flavors.

White Chocolate Pie

recipe adapted from the french silk pie recipe from one of my former students

1 pie crust

1 c sugar
3/4 c butter
3 (1 oz) squares white chocolate, melted and cooled
1 1/4 tsp vanilla
3 eggs

* Cream sugar and butter together for 4 minutes
* Blend in cooled chocolate and vanilla
* Add eggs one at a time, beating on medium speed for two minutes between each egg. Scrape sides of bowl constantly. Turn into pie shell.
* Top with whipped cream {1 cup whipping cream, 2 tbsp sugar, 1 tsp vanilla} and white chocolate curls.

Yesterday, I was reading Sara's blog and she posted a recipe for Congo bars. I originally saw this recipe over at bakerella but had not copied it

down and forgot about it. Sara's description of the bars made me pull out the ingredients and whip up a batch. It was the perfect mix of chocolate chip cookie/cakey goodness. I used white chocolate chips instead of the pecans {since I didn't have any pecans in the cupboard} and they turned out delicious. They were easy to make and everyone in my house loved them. In fact I delivered half the pan to the neighbors or I knew we would eat them all in one night!

Congo Bars
(recipe from Bakerella - if you haven't ever been to her site you need to. She is amazing. Really, really AMAZING.)

2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter, softened
1 lb. light brown sugar (Oh my and thank you!) {I figured out that this works out to 2 1/3 cups}
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
11.5 ounce package milk chocolate chips {roughly 1 1/2 cups}
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
By mixer:

Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
Combine butter and sugar using a mixer until blended.
Add eggs, one at a time to sugar mixture, mixing on low in between each addition.
Add vanilla and mix.
Add flour and mix until combined.
Stir in chips and then pecans.

By hand:

{This is the way I chose to do it and they turned out super yummy!}

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Set aside.
Stir brown sugar into softened (not melted) butter in another large bowl until butter disappears. You can use the back of your spoon to help incorporate the two together.
Add eggs one at a time to butter mixture and stir well after each egg.
Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts. Mix well.
Add dry flour mixture and stir until well combined.

Coat a 13 X 9 pan with non-stick spray and spread batter evenly into dish.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until top is golden brown. Make sure you don’t over bake.

Enjoy! Enjoy! Enjoy!

Rookie Ball

Last spring Landon played t-ball and loved it. Our neighbor Rick was his coach along with Lance and one other dad from the team. The three dads had such a great time working together they decided to coach a team again this spring. Landon has been so excited since basketball ended to start baseball.

Although baseball is a spring sport, it sure hasn't felt like spring. I think we have had one game where we didn't look like this watching the games:

Rookie ball is a bit of a jump from t -ball. Instead of hitting off the tee they hit off a pitching machine, they can get actually get kids out {or get thrown out themselves}, and they keep score. Overall Landon has done really well, especially being the youngest on his team as well as one of the smallest. I must say as a parent, this is so much more fun to watch than t-ball.
His favorite position to play so far has been second base {just like his daddy}. Since the season started he has been wanting to play catcher. Every game he asks if they will put him in to play. Finally on Saturday he got his turn. The coaches were hesitant because the equipment is so big and heavy but it didn't bother Landon at all. He did great as catcher and LOVED it. Today he even walked to the coaches house to get the catching equipment so he could practice at home with Lance.

Only four games left, and maybe just maybe we will be able to watch a game without being all bundled up!