A of Green Gables

I loved, loved, loved the L. M. Montgomery books as a girl. I read and re-read the Anne series, I lost count how many times. When A was in 1st grade, we read the Anne of Green Gables book together. She didn't get into it so I didn't read anymore of the series to her. Especially after she laughed at me when I started crying while reading the part where Matthew died. Over Spring Break she found out her cousin was reading the series in Kazakhstan and suddenly has a renewed interest in the books.

This afternoon, A decided to bake cookies for her class for a party they are having this week. I told her the tollhouse recipe (yes, I have it memorized) and she set off to bake. Things were going okay until there was a spectacular crash in the kitchen. My favorite green mixing bowl had come to a disastrous end on the kitchen floor. I held my breath and put on a nice face. I told her it was an accident and helped her clean it up. I rescued some of the batter from the bowl so she could actually bake some cookies. A proceeded to clean the kitchen while the first batch of cookies baked.

While she was washing, she started naming all of the mistakes she's made in the kitchen. Putting flour instead of sugar in a cake. Forgetting to add butter to another batch of cookies. The timer buzzed and I opened the oven to see a huge mess. It was a bunch of brown goo with some chocolate chips filling the cookie sheet.

After a few questions, I figured out that she had only put 3/4 cup flour in the cookies. I told her the recipe I said to use 2 1/4 cup flour, adding 3/4 cup at a time. She when was adding the flour, I told her again, use the 3/4 cup and add flour 3 times. A totally misunderstood me and only added flour once.

I tossed the rest of the cookie batter. A was still complaining about being such a bad cook, repeating all of her mistakes again. I called her A of Green Gables. She looked at me funny until I reminded Anne always made mistakes while she was cooking. Hopefully like Anne, A will learn and never make the same mistake twice!

Spring Break Mexico

We went to Playa del Carmen with the cousins from Kazakhstan for the end of Spring Break. What a trip it was!


Beach


Beer


Pool


Broken kindle :(


Trip to Tulum
Entrance


Iguanas


Ruins


Cousins


Spinning Mayans


Snorkeling in Akumel
J


B


DH


Back in Playa
Lounging with beer


More lounging with beer


Smoothies


Chicken wings


Guacamole


Beach football
Hike


The throw


The td



It was a great trip. I can't wait to go back someday!

P.S. The nice folks at Amazon are replacing my kindle. I'll be investing in a hard cover. Now I can finish Pride and Prejudice.

P.P.S. In the last photo, the woman on the left looking down is topless. I managed to cut that out of the photo. Good thing, she's not too perky anymore.

The joy of boy

Last night while waiting for the shower, B had this conversation with me.

B yelled, "Hey, Mom. I found a ball."

I'm thinking under the cabinet so I asked where he found it.

He answered, "Right here, next to my p*nis. And it hurts when I squeeze it."

I told him to stop squeezing if it hurts.

He kept playing around and said, "Hey I've got two balls!"

Next he said, "Oh no, I lost them. They went way up there."

There was some fiddling and then he said, "Oh wait, they're back. Isn't it cool that I've got balls, Mom?"

Yes, that's way cool. I know S#2 is glad she had all girls.

my late night purchase

We attended the kids' school auction gala a couple of weeks ago. We didn't go crazy at the auction part of the gala. Okay, DH purchased 2 parties, the Cinco De Mayo party and the Man Party. I'm obviously not attending the Man Party. I'm not sure what the Man Party is but the description is "if you have to ask what the Man Party is, then it probably isn't the party for you." I imagine there will be a bus, a few bar stops, too many drinks & maybe alcohol induced illness involved. I'm glad I'm not attending. We've done the Cinco De Mayo party for a couple of years and I wanted to try a new one, so I purchased the Inwood Tavern party. A party with 12 couples, a band & drinks on the back patio at the World Famous Inwood Tavern sounds like good fun to me.

I never really went through the rest of the silent auction stuff and realized with a minute to go that it was closing. I was a little disappointed because I wanted to buy a tree.

A few drinks and a few hours later, I was still disappointed. I tracked down the guy in charge of the auction and told him I had to have a tree. Now I do!


The new live oak tree


In relation to the house


In relation to B & the 40 year old live oak on the other side of the yard


And because I had the camera out


J in a tree


B in a tree

Mid-Spring Break

So we're in the middle of our Spring Break. I'm trying to keep the kids busy and happy and me sane while we spend our time in Dallas. We're heading out for a little trip with the cousins later this week so there is a lot to do. I've got a list going.

1. Science Experiment

J's been bugging to make something. I finally agreed to making crystals today. He even let B help.



2. Fireplace

I'm steadily working on the fireplace. I found a new series on netflix, Doc Martin, to keep me amused while painting. I have to finish priming the hearth and then I'll be ready for the final coat.



I'm still not sure on the color (the splotch on the left). I may be repainting it again in a year. We'll see.

2. haircut

Before:



After:



Several inches gone and her hair is starting to curl again.

3. Library



4. Laundry



5. Packing

Don't want to think about it!

6. Girl Scout stuff

Had nightmares about this one last night!

7. Planting

Luckily, this has to wait until I get back.

That's about it for now. I'm going to stop listing before the list gets too long.

slow progress

I'm 9-10 hours into painting the fireplace.

After my first test patch dried, I wasn't happy with the color. I decided the yellow brick was affecting it. I heard my mother's voice in my head telling me that paint over yellow brick always ends up off in color.

I decided to buy a gallon of tinted primer. I spent 7 hours over the weekend and managed to squeeze in a little bit of painting yesterday and today. I managed to get a little bit done.



Today I finished all the brick under the mantel. It was hard enough painting the brick where I could reach. It's not going to be fun painting the brick up high.

No turning back now

It all started with a contest on HGTV for a $10,000 house renovation. I asked DH what he would do to the house with $10k. He said he would redo the kids' baths. I agreed with him because they really need it. He asked what I would do. I said I would rip out the fireplace.

He said why don't we just paint it instead. I said if we paint the fireplace, I want to paint the whole room. He said sure.

The next thing I know ...






The dark brown is the color of our kitchen cabinets. DH asked me to try that first, but it was a no from both of us. Instead I went with what I hope is a dark grey from Benjamin Moore. It is wet and looking lighter than I wanted in these pictures. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it dries darker.

Of course if it turns out horrible, maybe I'll get to rip out the fireplace and start over without winning the $10k.

National Pancake Day

Today is National Pancake Day. I read about it on The Food Librarian's blog. Honestly, thin mint pancakes didn't sound super appealing to me. I suppose I should give them a try someday, but it wasn't enough to make me run home and open a box. I quickly forgot all about NPD.

Our lives have hit that super busy time of year. The four soccer teams and the flag football teams have started practicing and playing games. Sign-ups for baseball and t-ball are imminent. Girl Scout cookies have been sitting on my dining room floor for what feels like weeks. DH took B to his practice. A, J & I delivered cookies and dropped J off at his practice. When A&I finished delivering cookies, it was 6:30 and I hadn't started dinner.

Luckily, A reminded me that it was National Pancake Day and I came up with a dinner idea real quick.


Bacon Pancakes!




Everyone got one bacon pancake. The rest were just normal pancakes and normal bacon. The kids loved them. The boys were chanting "Bacon Pancakes! Bacon Pancakes!" and begging me to make some more. Next Tuesday is Shrove Tuesday. I guess I know what I'll be making for dinner.