Pinterest Session #1: Fail

 To make this...
(Picture stolen from Pinterest)

You need to start with one of these...

Add a little of this...

Then some more of this...

And another layer...

Who doesn't make baked goods in their old recital costumes?

Stop eating it, please...

I SAID STOP EATING IT!!!

So much fun!

I had some friends over a couple weeks ago to try out an idea from Pinterest.  The idea of layered cake cooked in a jar was awesome but apparently something went wrong in the execution because it was not nearly as cute as the picture above and was completely, totally, exceedingly, gooey and raw in the middle despite a well done top.

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  In theory, you make a cake mix according to the directions, add some food coloring, layer it in pint-sized mason jars, and cook.  In reality, failure.

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Oh well, the important thing is that our kids ran around my house for 4.5 hours screaming like crazy and having a blast.  We've already scheduled Pinterest night #2.  As long as there's food, these lovelies, and booze, I'm there!

I'm sorry, B Dog

An open letter of apology to my nephew, Benny, after our visit this month:

I'm sorry, B, that your cousins smother you with lovies every time they see you...

I'm sorry that you were poked by a multitude of fingers...

...and straws and were forced to hold hands unwillingly.

I'm sorry that you were forced to dress up in the earmuffs that Luke

found in your Mom's car...

I'm sorry that you lacked the fine motor skills to yank
those babies off your head...
I saw the shame in your eyes...

I'm sorry that your female cousin brought along her arsenal of colored
 hair extensions, brushes and dolls when she visited...

I'm sorry that you were assaulted with girly accoutrements while you slept.

Love, Your Aunt Annie

If I go crazy, then will you still call me Superman?

Ok, so Superman didn't show up at my house the other day but Batman did.  I love bubble blowing season...

Easy and healthy chicken parmesan

Here are your base ingredients: 1 large can of crushed tomatoes, 1 can of petite-diced tomatoes, olive oil, crushed garlic, italian seasoning (not pictured salt and sugar). 

Put a tablespoon of olive oil in the bottom of a sauce pan at medium heat.  Put about a tablespoon of the crushed
garlic in the hot oil and cook for 30 seconds.  Pour in both cans of tomatoes and add about this much Italian seasoning, 1 teaspoon of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of salt .

Cook about 15 minutes at a simmer (low heat) and stir often.

While the sauce is cooking, you can work with the chicken.  These b/s chicken breasts were really big
so I cut them in thirds.  I could've probably cut them into halves, too.

Toss the chicken into a gallon size ziploc and pound until it's about
1/2 inch thick.  I use a rolling pin and it works well.

Put a little sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 pan then add the chicken in a single layer.

Pour the rest of the sauce over the chicken.

Put in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Serve with hot whole wheat spaghetti and parmesan cheese.

The homemade sauce is super tasty with it and doesn't take a lot of additional time and effort. If you wanted to get crazy, you could probably saute some onion and green peppers to put in with the chicken and sauce.

To Err Is Human, To Arr Is Pirate

Oh my.

I took Ella and Luke plus Myles for a day out today. Part of our adventure included wasting some time at Target. I bought, among other things, some underwear for myself. Luke promptly put them on his head, covered his one eye and declared himself to be a "panty pirate." I didn't know what to say so I responded with "Who wants to go to the toy section, kids?"

What the What?

This is what happens when a 3 year old Bogarts your camera when you have people over.  You get a lot of pictures of your cohorts in crime and your parents.

You get a picture of your friend, Luke...
(This is Luke but I have no idea what he's holding...)

Picture of your brother...

Picture of the dead ant farm sitting on the cable box...(I'm sure
those poor little ants didn't perish because the cable box was too hot
to use as a home.
I'M SURE OF IT I SAID!)

You get a picture of this guy...

You get a picture of Luke's stink eye, your brother and something
else unidentifiable.

You get a picture of your Dad...

And your Mom...

And you take one of yourself (aka the 3 year old culprit)...

Hair Chalking

Take some of this and add one little girl...

Take a section of her hair...

Or section like this...

Wet  the section with water and rub a lotta the chalk on her hair

Add chalk to every section...

Yup, this section, too...

Voila!  Colored hair!  She loved it and it washed right out.

Somebody else had to get in on the action, too.

Welcome to the Greater Cleveland Aquarium!

Recently, we went to visit Aunt Annie and the super awesome, Benny! We had a blast and the kids have asked (begged, pleaded, pestered) that we visit again sometime soon.

We went to the newly constructed, Greater Cleveland Aquarium. It was very nice. Lots of super exhibits with a large hands-on tank, sharks, etc.

Welcome!

I just saw a fish thiiiiis big!

Do you see what's in here?!

I can't quite tell.....what is it?

Is it a freaky eel threaded thru a rock thingy? Yes, yes it is. (There's a head at the bottom and a tail at the top but I don't think they belong to the same creature. Not sure if that makes it better or worse.)

Yeah, the visit to see Aunt Annie was that good.