Irish Dancing... or a reasonable facsimile....

The girls were working on some dance moves and decided to throw in their interpretation of Irish Dancing....

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

Another recipe request so here goes!

2 cups flour

3/4 cup cocoa

1 tsp soda

1/2 salt

Mix together & set aside.

1 1/4 cups margarine/butter (softened)

2 cups flour (I use half white & half whole wheat with a bit of wheat germ and some ground flax seed mixed in)

2 cups white sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 bag of Reese Peanut butter chips (I pick these up at Walmart)

Beat margarine & sugar, til light & fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla & then gradually add dry, beat well, then stir in pb chips.

Drop by teaspoonful on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 6 minutes @ 350.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Dressed Up For Dinner

The girls often like to put on nice dresses and look their best when we're having company for dinner. The other day we had some neighbours over for supper and just before they were supposed to arrive, Sweetie came running in the kitchen asking me to do her buttons. I wasn't actually sure I could or that the buttons would even reach anymore but we managed to get hers, Lovey's and Honey's all done up and they were looking good for the guests! (Honey had already changed out of hers by the time I got the camera out)

It boggles my mind that they can even get these dresses on anymore. They got them in July 2006, when they were 2 years old! The fact that they can still squeeze into them 3 1/2 yrs later is pretty amazing. This has to be their all time favourite outfit by far. They were lovingly handmade by Princess Pamela. She has a great talent for smocking and creates an individual design for each girl on every dress she's ever made for them. Every outfit she's made has been beautiful but there's something about these ones that make the girls feel a little more fancy, a little more "princessy" and so they still make regular appearances while the others have been packed away just in case there's a grandprincess in the future.

When we first got them, I was in awe of the beautiful work, the gorgeous material but before I could ooh and ahhhh for too long, there were strict instructions given. "DON'T save them just for good. Make sure they get worn!" Well Princess Pamela, I heeded your words and these dresses have definitely gotten a lot of mileage. I'm glad I did. Nothing gives them greater pleasure than prancing around in their regal finery, spinning and twirling to their heart's desire. There wouldn't be nearly as many smiles if they were reserved just for good. Thank you for that wonderful advice. They only grow up once & I'd hate to have missed out on all the fun I've seen them have in these! Surprisingly, they've held up incredibly well to the artwork, the tumbles, the rescues, the races and hide n go seek and who knows what all else!

Here are Lovey & Honey with Murray when they first got the dresses for their 2nd birthday!

Oldie but a Goodie

Just found these old video clips from 2006 when they were 2 years old! You may have seen them before but they're cute enough to see again I think! These are soooo short!

All They Want To Do is Dance, Dance, Dance!!!

Honey & Lovey started a dance class recently. It isn't anything formal which is fine with us. I don't think they're ready to buckle down too seriously on anything just yet so we'll just have fun with it for now.
Murray actually takes them while I'm in circuit class at the gym but he has to wait outside the room with Ms. Anti-Lessons until the last 5 minutes when the class puts on their "show".
Here, they are doing the "snowflake" dance I believe. They love everything about the class. After the very first one they wanted to know if they could go back the next day and were a bit put out when they found out they'd have to wait a whole week for the next one.
Now they're used to the idea of it being a weekly event. However, as soon as they get home, they start the countdown til the next class. Every day is so many days til dance class. I can't wait for dance class, only 5 more days til dance class and the excitement of "TOMORROW is DANCE CLASS!!!!"
The fact that they get to go with Tulip & Boo is just about more icing on the cake than they can stand! Their enthusiasm would do well if it could be bottled and resold as an energy drink! :)))

Drumstick Cake Recipe

Got several requests for this so here you go!

Base:

2 cups graham crumbs

1/2 cup coarsely chopped peanuts

1/2 cup melted margarine

Mix together & press into greased pan (I use 9x13). Drizzle chocolate sauce, then caramel sauce over the base.

Top:

1 pkg cream cheese

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup white sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1 large tub of dessert whip (Cool Whip or other knock off brand)

Beat 1st four ingredients together & then fold in the whipped topping. Spread over base. Drizzle more sauce to your heart's content & sprinkle more nuts on top.

Store the dessert in the freezer and remove a few minutes before serving.

Bon Appetit Folks! :)))

My Day

Well, enough about those kids for once! Let's talk about me!
Ok well that's not actually as interesting as I thought so let's talk about dessert! We had drumstick cake tonight and it was tasty!
The big excitement for me today was cleaning the light fixture. No easy task there! It's very high above our stairway which leaves no good spot to stand when you need to reach in there. Also, the dang glass shades DON'T come off so I had to vaccuum them out and wipe them with a wet cloth and then change out the lightbulbs. This wouldn't be too bad except that I had to hang off the bannister to reach the freaking thing!
I'm not known for my grace and balance so this chore was tricky but I lived to tell the tale and managed not to lose my footing even once. I had a death grip on those posts though! LOL
I also went to the gym today, got all the Christmas decorations put away.... well except for those few odds and ends that always turn up after you think you got everything. I worked on some pictures for a family I shot a week ago, updated this here blog, did my bible reading, helped the girls with homework and hmmmm what else? I felt much more accomplished than this so there must be other stuff I just can't remember at the moment! But I'm tired and heading up to bed, 10pm, must be a record of some kind!

Helping Haiti

We've all heard a lot about Haiti lately and the school decided to raise some money to send. The older classes brought baked goods and trinkets and the younger grades were allowed to bring a quarter to spend at the bake/yard sale.

Sweetie thought this little skeleton pencil was soooooooooo cute. She decided that sleeping with it could give her nightmares though!
Lovey obviously went for the treat instead of the trinket and scarfed down a brownie before she got home :)))

Honey got this "angel" that she really liked because of the feathered wings. Upon closer inspection, the angel turned out to be a winged monkey or something...
Oh well we still like it!

When Lovey walked into the kitchen this morning I was afraid she'd gotten the chicken pox! They've been vaccinated against it and she had no other symptoms or any other spots except her face. She must be having some kind of reaction to some soap or something I guess??

Snow Job :)

Sweetie & Lovey got real busy when they got home from school today and threw together these snow girls in no time! Honey came in so she could work on her homework and when I went to call these two in for their bath, the snow people were complete, just in need of some accessories.