Boy #1 has his first cavity and boy #2 needs to stop sucking his thumb. Any suggestions? They went to the dentist a few weeks ago and they love the cool sunglasses they get to wear. They also love the balloon animals they get to take home.
For now the weather is beautiful and the forsythia are in full bloom. Seeing the bright yellow bushes makes me happy. Rain is in the forecast again but I will enjoy the weather today.
Last week we left the kids with a sitter and headed off to a rock concert. The big city has some great venues these days were you can get really close to the band. We saw a not so good opening band, but then Spoon made up for that. When we first heard Spoon was coming we debated going, but I'm glad we did. It was great and I felt like a teenager again staying out til 1 a.m. I discovered that the sound is not so good on the video phone, but you can get the gist from the following clip. I also think the bass guitarist strangely looks like Jason Bateman, who I have a mild crush on.
This song was released when I was training for the marathon, so I was constantly singing it on my runs
This is what we woke up to on Easter morning. When will it really be spring? Later in the day boy #1 lost the second of his two front teeth. By the end of the day most of the snow melted and it was time for an Easter egg hunt with the neighbors.
We had a bunny and a dog at our egg hunt
When we first moved into our house 3+ years ago we made a list of home improvement priorities. We started with the cheapest and easiest, so we painted lots of rooms. Each year we try to tackle one big item usually using a tax refund to assist. One item on the list was new curtains for the family room. About two years ago the curtains came off the track and they have never quite been the same, although we wanted new curtains even before that. But part of the delay in new curtains was I wasn't sure what to replace them with. That changed a few months ago when I saw a Costco ad for Hunter Douglas honeycomb blinds. The room in the ad looked similar to my family room and I decided those were the blinds for me. I love my new blinds and want to do the whole downstairs of the house, but that will have to wait for another tax refund or two.
Picture from birthday of Boy #1, but it shows the old curtains pretty well
New blinds, I love the way they show off the wood
When they are up they almost disappear
This is the butter knife that caused me to get four stitches in my pinkie this evening. Who knew a butter knife could be so dangerous? I was helping boy #1 enlarge some holes in the lid of a jar for his rolly polly friends when the knife slipped down quickly as I was holding it. I waited 45 minutes until Steve got home to get a second opinion and then I drove myself to the urgent care. Meanwhile dinner was in mid preparation and we were hosting students for dessert, which wasn't made. Luckily I gave instructions to Steve and he took care of dinner and dessert while I was gone.
A few people have asked for this so here it is. My mom sent it to me, so thanks to her for introducing the recipe to me.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes
1 box chocolate cake mix
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1 bag peanut butter cups - regular size, not mini
Mix together cake mix, eggs, and milk. (I think you could use your own cake batter made from scratch if you wanted to) Pour 2 Tbsp batter into paper liners and place a peanut butter cup on batter. Fill paper liners with more batter until 3/4 full. Bake at 350 for 15 -18 minutes or until cupcake springs back when lightly touched. Remove from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack. Frost when completely cooled.
Peanut Butter Frosting - This is good on just about anything
1 Cup peanut butter (chunky or smooth)
1/2 Cup butter, room temperature
2 Cups powdered sugar
3-4 Tbsp milk or cream
1 tsp vanilla
Combine peanut butter and butter in a large mixing bowl, mixing together until light and fluffy. Stop mixer and add powdered sugar, 3 tbsp milk or cream, and vanilla. Start mixer slowly and mix together, gradually increasing the speed. Mix until smooth and creamy. Add 1 tbsp milk or cream if frosting is too thick.
I chopped peanut butter cups to place on top
