Question of the week.......

Lately, we have been enjoying the onslaught of cake and cupcake shows that have been popping up all over the television.  Of course it's a nice treat for me to be able to watch these shows since my absolute favorite course of any meal is dessert!  We were watching one the other night where they actually flavor their cupcakes with fresh fruit.  Yum!  So, what would be your favorite flavor you would like to try in a cupcake?  Hmmm, plain 'ol vanilla, rich chocolate.......the possibilities are endless!

What a line.....

It's entertaining enough living in the house with 5 kids but it makes it even more interesting when one is 10 years younger than the next oldest.  Of course I'm talking about none other than my little guy Adam. 
     John and I were laying in bed the other night watching t.v. when I noticed that the door to our bathroom opened and there stood Adam looking absolutely adorable in his tighty whities.  Now mind you, this sight alone was just too adorable for words but what happened next just fast-forwarded the moment to hilarious.  The next thing I knew, he was standing there holding up both hands and promptly announced, "It's OK!".  Well, of course I IMMEDIATELY sat upright.  I mean really, when a 4 year old comes into your room and makes that announcement wouldn't you go from calm to panic in an instant?!  Being the Mom I asked, "What happened?!", to which again he stated, "It's OK!" with this "I've got this covered" look on his face.  I noticed that he was kind of standing on only one foot with the other one just touching the floor with his toes.  Well, it was at that moment that I noticed that trail of white foot-prints leading out my bathroom and into the breakfast room.  Adam must have read the look on my face and he immediately explained to me that somehow he managed to knock the gallon of Kilz primer over and the top came off.  Luckily it was latex and not oil and was a pretty easy clean up.  Ah the joys of parenthood!  Did I mention that it's the most rewarding job a person could ever have?

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Yummy!

Well I had to give a shout-out about a great way for a grilled hamburger.  I am always in the mood for a great mouth watering burger to sink my teeth into.  This weekend the hubby grilled some great angus steak-burgers.  Now first of all I would highly recommend rub, rub, and rub them burgers some more with Weber's Gourmet Burger Seasoning.  It gives just enough kick to add a great flavor.  That's where you're just starting!  After you pull those nice hot burgers off the grill, my latest craving is to cover them with some great crumbled bleu cheese and then topped with some hickory smoked bacon!  Can I say can't get enough?  I know there are some of you out there that when you hear bleu cheese you want to run away.  But trust me give this combo a try.....you won't regret it.  As a matter of fact between sentences, I'm biting into another one right now!

Deer Stalker........

     In a previous post I mentioned about the small garden that is growing out in our yard.  I love to see gardens growing this time of year.  So, you can imagine my dismay when my Hubby informed me that the lovely cute little "bambie" creatures were making a daily dinner buffet out of my green beans! 

     I went in and asked the boys if they would put out four posts on each corner of the garden where I intended to string yet again some old VHS tape to help deter my little forest friends from devouring my future garden bounties!  But of course Jacob had a better plan.  He proceeded to tell me that if I sprinkled aftershave around the garden, it would help deter the zoo that was visiting every night.  So, I told him to have at it.  He and Damien when out the front door with what seemed like 12 bottles of aftershave of which I had no clue that they owned so many!  In a few they came back in and Jacob assured me that it would take care of the problem!  A little later after dark I had to send Damien out to turn off the sprinkler.  When he came back in he told me about a lovely deer that he happened to glance upon that was standing 20 feet or so from him.  You can imagine that this news did not sit well with me!  I immediately started imagining the wonderful deer family walking down each row nibbling here and there until there was nothing but nubs left!  Finally around 10:30pm or so I could not stand it anymore!  Now, here I am in my nightgown with flashlight in hand wearing my flip-flops sneaking out the side door trying to be as quiet as possible.  Mind you, I am also trying to very indiscreetly use the flashlight because I don't want to step on any snakes (that is a completely different post!).  I make my way to the side of the truck all the while using it as a shield so any potential veggie killer won't spot me.  I make it to the back of the truck and peer around the back only to have the blasted area light blind me!  Hmmm, now to reposition myself.  I find that if I hide behind the other truck I have a clear view without feeling like I'm being interrogated!  Low and behold standing not 15 feet from my relaxing hobby is the culprit!  Now I know I should of thought of it before hand but it was at that point that my sensible side asked my fly by the seat of my pants side, "Just what are you planning to do?".  Of course shooting would be out of the question.  Not because I would be against adding some lovely deer meat to my freezer.  But because of the Yankees from New Jersey (don't mean to offend) that live next door and think that anytime a gun goes the off, the mafia must be in town!  Well, I finally decided that the best course of action would be to run straight at it like a wild Indian hoping that it would scare it off.  I figured that I would be safe doing this since we do live out in a rural area and no one would see me.  Now of course if I performed this type of action down South I would probably be baker acted immediately!

      So, I made my way to the front of the van and had a good view of the lovely creature grazing through the grape vines when all of a sudden Mr. Mittens the cat decides that this would be a wonderful time for a visit.  Up on the hood he jumps and starts to meow so very innocently.  I was buying none of this of course and started shooing him away as quietly as possible so as not to let the deer know that I was spying on it.  Up on the hood the cat jumps and immediately on the ground he lands as a knock him off.  Of course he finally catches on to my ruse and goes up onto the roof of the van and slides down the windshield and hood and you guessed it all the while making the screeching noises just like scraping your fingernails along a chalkboard!  You guessed it the deer immediately starts staring in my direction!  So, there I am standing like a Greek statue in my nightgown, clutching a flashlight hoping that this nocturnal animal doesn't notice me!  It was at that moment that I started feeling little "pricks" on my feet.  I immediately started shooing the cat again trying to let him know that I did not think that this was the appropriate time to be playing with my feet when I realized that I was standing in a pile of red ants!  If that dang deer only knew the trouble it was causing!  Well of course I had to give up my plan for the evening and run into the house to get rid of the blasted red ants.  And yes you guessed it that night the deer invited every member of it's family going back at least 2 generations over for dinner!  Don't worry my next plan of attack per Jacob is to give everyone in the house a haircut and sprinkle the cut hair around the garden!  Hmm I wonder if that will work as well as the aftershave did?

Question of the week.......

Well, with the ever increasing numbers of home gardeners growing, I thought I would use that as the inspiration for this week's question.  What is your favorite home-grown veggie?  Now, if you ask me it would definitely be cucumbers.  Thinly sliced cukes sprinkled with salt and pepper are my absolute FAV home-grown veggie to eat.  My Hubby would probably say squash.  Now Brenna would probably say okra but only if it's pickled!  Adam would definitely say corn especially since he is eating his fourth piece as we speak!  So, which one would you pick?

Tiny miracles........

Isn't it just wonderful how there are millions of things surrounding us every day that reminds us of what an awesome and miraculous God we serve?  I love this time of year seeing everyone's garden blooming with such wonderful bounties!!  I took a few pics of the "little" miracles growing in our garden to share!

Hmmmmm..............

What would you do if you were bored?  Especially if you were a teenager.  I would think that maybe listening to your Ipod, reading a book, surfing the web (facebook!), going for a bike-ride.  You know, NORMAL stuff!  But of course when it comes to one of MY teens, they find an entirely new way of entertaining themselves.  Meg decided the other night that since she had nothing to do.....yeah right!......she would sit on the couch, blow up the water balloons, rub then on her head to of course create static electricity, and voila!, proceed to stick them all over her head!!  Hmmmm, must be a trait she gets from the other side of the family! :o)

Prom 2010

I thought I would share some wonderful memories from my oldest Jacob's Prom.  Enjoy!!  Oh how quickly they grow up! :o(

Question of the week.......

Well since it's that time of year again when we all run to the local Wally World and peruse the garden center for our yearly supply of mulch, landscape rock, and of course flowers I figured that would be a perfect subject for this week's Question.  What is your favorite Spring flower?