PB & J Cookies

We were a little bored tonight so we decided to whip up some peanut butter cookies. They are really easy and Brian could help with every step. I'll let him tell you in his own words how to make them:

"Hi, this is Brian.

You gonna need peanut butter to make that.

(singing) Don't you wanna stay here a little while!?

Mommy, I dropped some sprinkles on the floor.

Mommy, can the baby have sprinkles yet?!

(pause while I wrestle sprinkle from baby)

Put egg in the bowl and sugar. Stir it up.

Roll it into a ball. Get sugar.

Put em all on the tray. Smash em with the fork. Like crisscross applesauce.

Put em in the oven. Then you eat them."

In case you are unable to translate the 4-year-old's version of the recipe....

You will need:
1 cup Peanut Butter
1 cup Sugar
1 egg

Mix all the ingredients together

Form into 1 inch balls, roll in some sugar, place on cookie sheet

Smash em down with the fork like Brian says

Bake them at 375 degrees for 8 minutes or until edges start to brown

It helps to have a munchkin to gaurd the oven while the cookies bake

Spend some time cuddling on the kitchen floor, it makes the 8 minutes go by faster

Wah-laaaa! Peanut Butter Cookies with sprinkles. They came out flatter than I thought so next time I'm going to try regular PB, instead of reduced fat PB, which is all I had in the pantry

Just for fun, I slapped some jelly on top of the non-sprinkled ones to make them PB&J Cookies

Brian's favorite was the PB&J one. Somewhere out there is a PB&J addiction support group for him, all other 4-year-olds, and his Papa Brian too.

Playing with the cousins!

We had our friends/cousins, the McCartys over for lunch on monday. The grown-up boys drove the ATV out in the desert for fun with guns. The mommies and kids stayed home to play. Then we all had lunch and spent an hour at the park in our beautiful AZ sunshine!

The girls "playing." Alani just started crawling so Emily is showing her how to get going fast and get into things, like dog food.

Jake and Brian at the park--second cousins

Every kid needs a friend like Jake. Jake is 2 years older than Brian so he is braver and bigger. Brian gets braver and bigger around him because he wants to be a big boy like his cousin Jake, who takes the bus to kindergarten. When you are 4, the taking the bus to kindergarten thing is huge!!! Jake and Brian mastered the fireman's pole on this trip to the park. I don't think Brian would have even attempted it had Jake not been doing it first!

Brian's 4th Birthday Party

Brian had a big 4th birthday party at the bouncy house at the end of January. I'm finally getting around to posting pictures! All his local buddies were there and Steve's mom came out from Virginia for 10 days and was able to be at his party.

Emy with Miss Jenny in the bouncy

"Stop holding me and let me bounce!"

Brian never slowed down long enough for me to get a good picture, he LOVES the bouncy house!

Cousin Jake!

Steve and his mom

Emy getting a ride down the slide

Cousin Jake giving some poor kid a run for his money!

Most of the party people

Brian and his buddy Santino

Buzz cake I made--lots and lots of work

Blowing out the candles

My boys and their toys

A few weeks ago, Steve had an episode where he imagined me saying that we should buy some toy rockets for Brian, despite the fact that he just got one of every toy for Christmas and his birthday. But apparently I can be quoted as saying something to the effect of "please get online and order this poor boy some toy rockets, even if it means you have to cash in our retirement savings!" I don't remember this conversation but nonetheless we ended up recently acquiring a large amount of rockets and motors and other rocket related thingys. The boys have spent the better part of last weekend and this week, putting together, drooling over, and cuddling their rockets. Today was launch day.

Finding the perfect spot in the desert in front of our house

Launch one: Brian counts down to 1, screams "blast off!" and pushes the launch button

Launch two: Brian covers his ears and refuses to touch the launch button

Launch three: Brian watches from the garage across the street with his ears covered

I guess you never really know what you are gonna get with a 4-year-old. He was sooooo excited about the rockets but less excited when he heard the first one go. He's not yet a fan of loud noises yet like his Daddy (who is going deaf). I don't think he's ready for Nascar yet.

Today's sunset. Pretty but not nearly as awesome as a few I've seen lately. AZ has the best sunsets!

Me, The Duchess of Trash!

I just finished refinishing this adorable old school desk yesterday. There is a long story to accompany how this little school desk came to be in my posession. I'll try to shorten it a little.

A few weeks ago my mother-in-law was visiting us from Virginia and we had just taken the kids to the park and were on our way home for naps. We turned down a street a few streets away from ours (long story why but not important) and came across a neighbor's pile-o-crap waiting on the curb. Now, I'm not a dumpster diver, as far as I can remember this is the first time I've taken someone else's trash. But out of the corner of my eye I see this cute little desk, covered in peeling varnish and cobwebs and other gross things. So I pulled to the side of the road to examine this little gem more closely. My MIL and I discussed whether we should take it and what the possibilities could be. I could paint it! I could sand it down and stain it! It could go in Brian's room! The playroom! The family room! It could be a little homework station!

Oh, the possibilities!

We just couldn't leave it there to be sent off to the dump! Even though it was set out to the curb as bulk trash, I knocked on the door of the house and a very nice old man answered. I asked him if it would be okay if we took his trash and he proceeded to tell me that the desk belonged to his late wife, who intended to refinish it and use it for a telephone station (oh, the possibilities!) but she never got the chance. And he was clearing out his storage so he could go shack up with his new wife (men!) Once I had his blessing to steal his trash, we loaded it into the back of the car and took it home.

At first I wasn't sure what to do with it, it was soooooooo nasty. This picture just doesn't do the nastiness justice. But the more we sanded, the better it looked. And then my MIL pointed out that it was oak, solid oak!

My original idea was to paint it but once we realized it was oak, that changed everything. One call to my Dad, the Prince of Woodworking (my Grandpa is the King, that makes Dad a Prince, which makes me a Duchess? Princess? Court Jester?) and he insisted that "painting oak is blasphemy!" or something like that.

So, off to Lowes we went, to pick up some stain and a brush and other supplies. $33 dollars later, hours upon hours of sanding, wiping, scrubbing and staining, and we now have this adorable little desk for Brian! I'm so happy with how it turned out!

The cute little storage area underneath

Those are not stain drips right there, you are seeing things. Please adjust your monitor!

The original hardware was hideously rusted, nothing a little CLR and elbow grease couldn't fix!

I think I need to pay a visit to our neighbor with a picture of the desk in all it's glory!

Emily at 10 months

Our sweet little girl baby is 10 months! Here she is on V-Day. She's really too fast to get a good picture of these days!

I just had to capture her kewpie doll style bed head! I'm proud that she finally has enough hair for a bad hair day, though not yet enough for a clippie.

Here is when I try to get a picture of them both together and they mock me! One is so crazy, he can't sit down and the other one is insanely preoccupied with something that might look partially edible on the floor next to the chair, oh like say, a piece of dog food. She loves her some dog food!

This was the best they could do, staring at me like I'm the crazy one. I love these little balls of energy but I'd also love one nice picture.