Friday's Funny Photo and Fantasically Fabulous Food

(I absolutely adore alliteration!)

Roy has been asking for these by name. That means he's been saying, "I really want some of those brownies." For lack of a better name you can call them Those Brownies because once you try them, you will never look back. Box mixes? Pssshhhh. Fudgy Brownies? Nah. Rich Brownies? You thought. This is the brownie to end all brownies. (With an introduction such as that you may be too psyched out. Don't tell me if you don't like them. Also, DON'T READ THIS IF YOU ARE DIABETIC. It is likely merely reading the recipe will send you into shock or perhaps a diabetic coma...)

This recipe is from Pillsbury's Most Requested Recipes. They call it Fudgy-Caramel Cashew Brownies. We call it Those Brownies.

• 3 oz bittersweet baking chocolate, chopped
• 1 cup butter or margarine
• 1 bag (12 oz) semisweet chocolate chips
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 20 creme-filled chocolate sandwich cookies (otherwise known as Oreo's) crushed
• 40 round chewy caramels in milk chocolate (packaged in gold foil), unwrapped, each cut in half (Seriously? I know Pillsbury doesn't make Rolo's but it cracks me up the great lengths they go to to make sure you buy the right product without actually saying 40 Rolo's unwrapped and cut in half.)
• 3/4 cup coarsely chopped roasted cashews (or not if you happen to think you have these but really you only have about 1 Tablespoon of very finely chopped cashews.)

Heat oven to 350* -- 325* for dark pan. Grease 9x13 pan. Place bittersweet chocolate, butter and 1 cup chocolate chips in microwavable bowl. Microwave uncovered on High 1 1/2-2 minutes, stirring twice because if you stir three times it will be ruined? until melted and smooth. Cool slightly, about 5 minutes. or however long it takes you to do the next step.

In large bowl, beat eggs, sugar and vanilla with electric mixer on medium sspeed until smooth. Add cooled chocolate mixture. Beat until well blended. Add flour, baking powder and salt. Beat on low spseed until blended. By hand, stir in cookies and remaining chocolate chips. Pour into pan.

Bake 35-40 minutes or until edges begin to pull away from sides and center is set. Notice, it does not say center is cooked, this is important. Do not overbake. Immediately sprinkle candy (whatever Rolo's you have left after sneaking one here and there for the last 35-40 minutes) on top of hot brownies. Let stand 10 minutes until softened. Pull tip of toothpick through softened candy to spread and swirl (not cover completely) Sprinkle with cashews if you happen to have any. Cool until set, about one hour. It will be difficult, but really these are brownies that actually get better when they cool. For brownies cut into 6 rows by 6 rows. For chocoholics don't bother cutting, just get a really big glass of milk and a fork.

We went to Seattle yesterday....

...because, you know, there's really no better idea than a 9 month pregnant lady taking a 2 year old and 4 year old to the Pacific Science Center.

Actually, Roy had to go up there for work. This means that the company was paying for the car ride up whether there was one person or four in the car. So we all went.

Here's how it went:

After we dropped Roy off, we drove around for a while trying to find the Seattle Center. Finally we found the freeway which then made it possible to find the Seattle Center. We speed waddled to the nearest bathroom (which wasn't so near). Then we ate a million dollar hamburger that was meh at best. You don't always get what you pay for!

After a small tantrum and time out in the bathroom (I was not the one throwing the tantrum thankyouverymuch), we headed across the way to the Pacific Science Center. Good times. We saw robot dinosaurs, naked mole rats, giant millipeeds, scorpions, beautiful butterflies, giant hissing cockroaches and various other oversized and unpleasant insects.

We learned about different parts of our body, animal poop, cat hairballs, tapeworms, owl pellets and other educational necessities.

After leaving the PSC we had some time to kill so I thought, "Lets ride the monorail train!" Being the mother of a miniture engineer (like train driver, not nuclear) I tend to think things like that when the opportunity arrises. I was thrilled when I discovered that both kids were free and my round trip would only be $4. We waited for the train, got on and less than 10 minutes later got off again. It is an incredibly short run. Oh well. It was fun anyway.

By this time, it wasn't time to get Roy yet. However, it was within 40 minutes of time to get Roy and since Seattle and I know each other so well, we decided to head out to try to navigate the probably less than five (direct, as the crow flies) miles to where Roy was working. 40 minutes later we were right on time for picking up Roy!

The trip home took a little longer than the trip up because we can't just drive past Lacey, WA, home of a Cabela's. Really, that would be unsportsman like. In case you're wondering, it is a pretty nice Cabela's. I feel like something of an expert on this as it is now the third Cabela's store I have visited.

On more stop at Denny's for dinner; one more tantrum (which ended with a small boy running, screaming through the restaurant) in the bathroom; 500 "Are we in Vancouver yet?" and we made it home. I literally could not physically keep myself awake the last 10 miles or so of our trip (good thing I wasn't driving!) and was asleep within moments of laying down.

Actual Phone Conversation

Roy: "I have 2 client depositions that I really, really want to go to on the 25th so if you could not have the baby that day or the day before, that'd be great."
Me: "Um, I'll see what I can do...."

This and That

My children's beds seem to be spring loaded. They pop right out and into my bed at any given hour of the night. Like little Jack-in-the-Boxes.

When we moved into this place, Roy and I had an actual conversation about trading sides of the bed. This was because the set up of our room meant that Roy's 'usual' side of the bed was closest to the door. We decided that I would sleep closest to the door so that the kids would come to me and not bother Roy if they needed something during the night. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!! Of four night time interruptions last night only one came to my side of the bed. Both children have, of their own free will, taken to walking around the bed and whining pitifully at "Daddy".

I may have mentioned that we have a garden plot in our stake's community garden. We are going to become known as either "Horticultural Geniuses" or "Those Cheapskates with the Sticks". Let me explain. We opted not to buy tomato cages or trellises or any commercially created supports. The cheap cages were $2 each or the expensive ones range from $6-10 each. (Seriously, those should have Kryptonite cores!) Anyway, we need support for *cough*18*cough* tomatoes, 6 cucumbers, 6 green beans and 2 cantalope plants. That's a bucket load of money. So instead we had a "special stick gathering family home evening" a few weeks ago. We drove up to a nearby hiking spot and gathered branches to make our own garden supports. Using the branches and some heavy thread I already had we have staked and trellised our garden. If we fall into the "Horticultural Genius" category, I'll post pictures. If we fall into the "Cheapskate" category, I'll forbear. Roy and I have discussed putting up a sign saying "This Garden Belongs to Ben Scrivens". We would put "Ray Riggin" but no one here would get the joke. *sigh*

If I feel the urge for public display I will post a picture of my incredibly swollen and oversized belly. I really think this is the biggest I've ever been in all three pregnancies. My back hurts even when I am sitting down!

I invested in a leash for K. Before you judge harshly, it is a monkey and she loves it. Unless D happens to hold the end of the monkey tail. Then the injustice is too much for her and she throws herself down in a fit of drama. As she is a defiant and independent 2-year-old this has become a necessity. I can no longer chase her down and carrying both of my girls at the same time is...uh.....difficult and awkward. Better to be on a leash than lost or flattened.

Couple of Pictures

This is from my birthday party. Since we didn't want to put too many candles on the cake D decided we should just make a smiley face with candles. We did light them and I somehow managed to blow them all out on the first try. Too bad I forgot about the birthday wish! Seriously, what was I thinking?


This happened on June 2. My sweet, innocent little girl was running around, playing so happily when WHAMMO!! She tripped over her own feet and hit the corner of a doorframe. Although it is completely her own fault and not the fault of the doorframe, I still thought about how much I dislike this place even more for hurting my baby. Mommies are so illogical sometimes.
This picture was taken the next day. It is actually improved already from what it looked like when it happened. She had one of those instant goose-eggs with a lovely purple line of impact where it actually hit. Now all she has left is a yellowish spot on her head. Both of her eyes are a little black in the corners by her nose. Honestly, if that girl makes it to adulthood without losing life or limb we will all be amazed.

Happy Birthday to Me!

It was my birthday on Monday. We mostly celebrated on Sunday just because. Roy and D made dinner -- in the dutch ovens, yummy. They also made a cake, so we had cake and sang "Happy Birthday".

Monday was a regular day since I am a mom and kids are no respecters of anything. Monday evening was special though. After dinner, I got to open my presents. I had already told Roy not to spend anything because what I really want is money in the bank for a home down payment. So, he and D bought me my favorite variety of Captain Crunch (the plain old original) and some 10-grain hot cereal (we call it Mommy's Treat Cereal at our house. Roy likes plain cracked wheat but D wouldn't eat it until we started calling it Daddy's Treat Cereal).

Anyway, I opened my presents and we sang "Happy Birthday" again. D absolutely loves birthdays and singing the song. Then Roy put K to bed while D took me 'out' for ice cream. I got a free ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery (yummy!!) for my birthday.

As we were getting ready to head out, I was talking to D about him "taking me out for my birthday." He got very matter of fact and said, "But Mommy, you'll have to drive because, well look at me, I'm just a kid." Ah yes, I can see that...