Cute things my kids say...

This morning my sweet little Nicole came downstairs and headed towards our bed to snuggle with Daddy (as she usually does). However, Jim had to go to work early today and was not there to snuggle with her.
Nicole says, "Where's my Dadddy? I need my Daddy!"
Mom: "Daddy had to go to work early."
Nicole "No, I need my Daddy, He's my friend."

Later in the morning we went to Wal-mart for a few essentials. As we were walking along I was telling the kids what we needed to find next to put in our cart. Trying my best to keep them focused on only those things that we needed to go in the cart. So, I said "Next we need find some cheese." Ryan grits his teeth, squints his eyes, kind of smiles and says "CHEESE!" Of course the camera is never available at such oportune times.

Chocolate Mint Cake

Ok, I am not the world's greatest cook unless of coarse you ask Katie. She is a little biased. There is no one that can open a can of Raviolies like her mom! LOL! However, this cake was soooo good that I had to share. I have been feeling a little stressed lately and when this happens large quantities of chocolate seem the only cure. This cake hit the spot. I'm sorry. I did not get a picture because the cake was gone too quickly. Here is the Recipe:

Ingredients:
1 chocolate cake mix
3 TBSP. Creme de menthe syrup
1 recipe hot fudge sauce
1 8oz container whipped topping
2 TBSP. Creme de menthe syrup
green food coloring

Directions:
1.Prepare cake mix as directed, except substitute 3 TBSP. Creme de Menthe syrup for 3 TBSP water.
2. Pour into 13x9 inch pan and bake according to package directions. Meanwhile prepare hot fudge sauce.
3. Remove from oven while hot, poke holes all over the cake with a fork. Slowly pour the hot fudge sauce over the cake letting it soak into the holes. You may have to pour half wait a little bit for it to soak in and then pour the rest. Let the cake cool completely! Refrigerate at least one hour before topping.
4. After refrigerating, mix whipped topping , 2 TBSP creme de menthe syrup and a few drops of green food coloring. Spread on cake. Keep refrigerated.

Hot Fudge Sauce
1 can sweetened condensed milk
6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 Tbsp. butter.

Melt all together. I like to use a double boiler because I don't like to risk burning the chocolate.

I didn't have any girl scout thin mints at the time but I think they would be fabulous crumbled up and spread on the cake after the hot fudge sauce and before topping.

Enjoy!

Chicken Cacciatore

Last night I tried out the Crockpot Chicken Cacciatore recipe from Amber's blog (check out my blogs I follow link to get the recipe) It was a Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade recipe. The only change I made was to put the broth in a pan after the chicken was cooked and thicken it a little with cornstarch. It was a big hit with the kids! Thanks Amber! I feel like I have redeemed my cooking skills. Stay tunned for mint chocolate cake.

Is your bucket full?

We had a really great family home evening last night so I thought I would share. I had been preparing a lesson for the Young Women this week on supporting family members and ran across a great family home evening idea. I had 2 buckets. I filled one bucket full of water and left the other empty. I gave each kid an empty cup. I asked them to name one thing that made them upset or frustrated during the past week. Each time we named something we took a cup of water out of the full bucket and put it into the empty bucket. Soon we reached the bottom of the bucket. We compared this to our spiritual selves. How all of the things that make us angry or upset really drain us. Then we talked about how we could help each other fill our buckets and of course the kids got to dip their cups and fill up the empty bucket with each suggestion. We talked about how we have a responsibility to help everyone in our family keep our buckets full! It was a great lesson and now when I scream you are emptying my bucket they know what I mean! Ha! just kidding!

Too Cute!

Sometimes my children are just too cute. I need hidden cameras around to catch their cuteness. They are too quick to catch on video. Yesterday evening , like most evenings, I asked Katie to go and practice the piano. I heard her take Nicole into the piano room with her and sit her in the chair. Katie played her first song and at the end I hear Nicole clapping enthusiastically and shouting "That was AWESOME Katie!" Then Katie very humbly says "If you thought that was good, wait till you hear this, it will knock your socks off!" Way to go Katie. I'm gald she is so confident. It makes me even happier that Nicole is her cheering squad.

Don't try this at home!

Ok, now that I have shared with you the disasters that my children have created this past week I will share with you the disasters that I created in my kitchen this week. My father has always loved trying new things especially when it comes to food. He has passed on this fearlessness (with food) to his daughters. I'm sure that my husband wishes I had a little more fear about food at times. This week was one of those times.
I had went to our local produce market here and got a great deal on carrots. When I got home I started thinking "What am I going to do with all of these carrots?" So, I made a carrot cake (See earlier post about the frosting...) The cake turned out great but I still had a lot of carrots. I found a recipe on the internet using a lot of root vegetables. It had good reviews so I thought I would try it. So, I had potatoes, carrots, turnips, and onions. They were to be roasted in the oven for 2 hours. For those of you who don't know...I do not have a sense of smell. The vegis were almost done and Katie comes into the kitchen with her mouth and nose covered saying "what is that awful smell?" Well I thought it was something else so I cleaned it up. Soon Katie comes back looking for the lysol! Now I know it is bad. So, I am lighting candles all over the house. It's storming outside but I crack the windows anyway. Jim comes home and about passes out from the wave of naseau that hits him when he walks in the door. Needless to say he was not very hungry that evening and I had to feed the kids in the basement. The next day I made a soup that I have made before but I substituted beef bullion cubes for the beef broth. I learned that you can not use the bullion in a 1:1 ratio and you should probably wait to add any additional salt. However, large quantites of salt will make your meat extra tender! The day after the soup incident Jim was still complaining that he felt dehydrated!
So, I pass my mistakes on to you. Easy on the bullion and beware of the turnip!

Tag!

Thanks Jenn!

I've been tagged so now I must share with you my 4th photo in my 4th album on my hard drive.

This photo was taken earlier this year. Ryan was having a cute moment. Boys are so different! Ryan is so stereotypical "all boy" and Nicole is very stereotypical "all girl" It is fun to watch them but when they get together it is all trouble. In fact now as I sit here I am wondering what I am going to have to clean up when I finish writing this post. This past week I made a new mom mistake. I decided to sit down for 10 min and eat my lunch at the table instead of swallowing up some of their leftovers as I rushed off to the next thing. The consequence: they painted the bathroom blue with toothpaste. It did however have a nice minty fresh smell!

I was very excited last month when I figured out how to lock the refrigerator. But the key to the new lock is that I have to remember to put it on! The day after the toothpaste incidence I forgot to lock the refrigerator and happened to leave them alone for 5 min. My two little monsters decided to paint the living room with frosting. The armoire got the worst of it. Evidently I need more practice at housecleaning! On the bright side Ryan has been very affectionate this week blowing very big dramatic kisses and even planting a few on my cheek. Very unusual for him and I loved it. They keep me busy but they are pretty cute in the process.

Rachel, Anna, Suzanne, Debbie- Tag, your turn!