a few of my favorites

Dane kept trying to throw stuff in the water. The tricky part was the shore line kept moving. He loved it though!

What a cute little family! We had so much fun visiting them!

Playing in the sand with his cousin.

Sharing a flower with a pretty girl.

Checking in

We did find a houses a few weeks ago! We can check that off our to do list. I took some pictures of my favorite tree in the yard at it's prime. I will miss those beautiful blooms in the new house. We just got back from a trip to North Carolina. Dane loved spending time with his cousin Aletheia. We went to an animal farm and fed the animals, toured a battleship, went to the beach, and played at many different playgrounds. He had us all fooled at what a happy kid he was because today he is well lets just say not so happy. Driving me crazy by 8:30 is a bad start to a day. Now it is time to get serious and start some packing. I am in a quandry as to how to keep things clean and organized and pack at the same time. I don't think it's going to happen. Frustrating because the mess starts driving me crazy and makes it hard to think.

We are homeless

We listed our cute little old house that I love, not that long ago. A week later our realtor left for a missions trip in Kenya for 2 weeks and a few days later we had an offer on our house and it sold. We hadn't even started looking for houses yet. Completely official now that the inspection is complete as of yesterday. I am really bummed. I love this house I really can't even remember the reasons why we thought it was a good idea to sell it. Maybe because we only have 2 bedrooms on the main floor but 1 possibly 2 more rooms upstairs, and no backyard just a giant front yard along a busy High Schooler zooming street. All things that could be figured out. Now we can't seem to find any thing to suit us. Unless we get something much smaller or rent for a while. In a few short weeks we will be homeless. Unless we find something.

The first day we went looking with our substitute realtor (who is doing a great job) for houses one of the last ones we looked at we loved. We looked at it again the next day and compared it with the other one we sorta liked. We made an offer only to find out someone made an offer the day before we had even looked at it. Everyday there has been word that the offer may fall through because the buyer is really anal and wishy washy. I keep getting my hopes up. Maybe just maybe it will work out? Then we wouldn't be homeless after all.

I am glad my second trimester energy is returning only to spend it searching for houses thinking about all the stuff we are going to have to pack and all the endless organization that will have to take place.

I also started babysitting part-time a sweet little baby girl while her mom finishes out the school year teaching. Just a little idea of what it will be like with 2 kiddos.

I love him so

I love how he hates getting his hands dirty. He is my little neat freak. All boy in the sense that he loves footballs, the only thing on TV that he asks to watch is football. Though he likes to watch dunk as well. But get his hands dirty? You can forget about it. We took him to the park on these nice stretch of sunny days. If he fell in the sand he was in a quandary as to how to stand up with out getting his hands 'acky'. Yup, he's a neat eater too. It makes me proud. Though it won't be fun if we ever take him to a beach this summer. We will be stuck on the towel.
A few weeks ago when he was sick and running a high fever he woke up in the morning miserable and crying. As soon as I walked into his room he looked disgusted and said in a crying voice 'acky, acky'. He had leaked out of his diaper and was sitting in a puddle. Poor thing.

Click here for some more of my sister's pictures from our day at the park. I am glad I didn't have to be like all the other parents there, following their kids around with a camera trying to get them to smile and pose as they were trying to go down slides and run around. Nope not me. I brought my sister and I was able to enjoy watching him play.

It's all in the name

My mom taught Home Ec last year, well actually they called it Life Skills since there were boys that needed an elective. Anyway, one of the recipes they made were these Fudgy Saucepan Brownies she has been making for quite some time. Some of these highschoolers were so used to their staples of chicken nuggets and mac and cheese that she couldn't get them to try many of the recipes they made. Same went for the brownies, seriously who wouldn't want a free bite of homemade brownie, unless you hate chocolate or are diabetic. If I remember right there was a majority of the two classes that wouldn't even try them. Later as she was walking through the school one of the students commented something to the order of Mrs. Hall those brownies were actually pretty good. She finally realized that most of them were turned off by the name Fudgy Saucepan Brownies. Not the most enticing title but just calling it what it is. She also finally realized that most of them didn't even know what a saucepan was. Causing the name saucepan to sound even grosser?

They are actually quite good. I made them for Andy to take into work a while back. Next food day sign up comes around and Andy's wife's brownies was already pre-signed up. I guess I didn't have an option. I mean they are good but really are they that good? Maybe they just don't have many enticing things that show up on most food days.
So here it is Fudgy Saucepan Brownies. Just as easy as a box mix, mixed all in a saucepan meaning only one dirty bowl/pan.

1 cup butter
1/2 cup cocoa
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. salt
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup chocolate chips (opt) I used mini for these outstanding brownies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9X13 pan.
Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in cocoa, blend until smooth.
Add sugar, vanilla, salt and eggs. Beat until mixed.
Add flour and baking powder. Mix well.
Stir in chips and nuts if wanted.
Spread in pan and bake 25-30 minutes until top is dry.

Then I added my own little glaze. When I was little I thought brownies with frosting and no nuts were the only way to go.
Glaze
3T. cocoa
3T. butter
-melt together. mix in the rest.

3T water
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
-drizzle on top

I actually like these brownies better after they are completely cool. Then the little mini chocolate chips harden back up and give a little crunch to the fudgy brownie.

Faker

Today at Target Dane was getting tired of shopping and starts in on the crying and fussy. Only I look down at him and he is making a face and sound similar to this.

Uh-oh

I was just overcome with the overwhelming desire to eat a can of Spaghetti O's at 3 in the afternoon. And yes they were every bit as good as I remember - as long as I ate around the nasty little hot dog chunks. I looked on the back and they are sooooo not good for you at all. Probably won't eat them again for another really long time. That's ok these days I am eating whatever sounds good and trying to be healthy. I find myself wandering the grocery store aisles looking for something to jump out at me. It's going to kill our grocery budget this month, even though it seems like I am hardly eating. Those rotisserie chickens and deli sides are NOT the cheapest route to go, but were surviving.

On a different note. Dane got to walk outside for the first time the other day, Through a finally dry parking lot! He loved it. I think he has found a new sense of freedom and we will be spending our days outside. Better stock up on some cute maternity sundresses.