The End

The end of an era. For the past 6-7 years, I've been making cookies and other treats for Joe to take into work at the end of each quarter. There was recently a shake up where Joe works and the group responsible for inventory will be moving to another facility and Joe will be staying where he is now. Thus, this will be the last end of quarter baking session. I'll admit, even though it's at least one full day of baking, I'm going to miss it. Here's a list of what I made this time around (roughly - I certainly didn't count it all out) -

6 dozen chocolate chip cookies
6 dozen sugar cookies
6 dozen peanut butter cookies
double batch of brownies
double batch of Rice Krispies treats
double batch of Oreo balls
1 batch of banana bread (in mini loaves)
1 batch of Human Puppy Chow (chocolate/peanut butter covered Crispex)

Anyway, here are some photos for your viewing pleasure.

Oreo balls - yummy!

More yummy stuff!
The second container is now housing banana bread and brownies as well as the RK Treats.
My kitchen counter filled with more containers of cookies and other goodies!

My New Favorite Photo

I took a ton of photos today and this is my new favorite. I'm loving Maddie's new haircut. If you click on the second picture and view it full-sized, I was messing around with the saturation. I knocked the saturation down quite a bit but her eyes have been untouched.

Spaghetti and meatballs; one of our all-time favorite meals. Since we eat it quite often, I buy large quantities of hamburger and make up several meals worth to freeze. Today was cooking day. On account of my loving husband's brilliant advice, I decided to grill them. Just so there aren't any misconceptions, I'm quite handy with a grill. But today was an experience that I will NOT repeat anytime soon. For those of you considering grilling as an option to making meatballs, please read the following tips (and consider yourself forewarned):

Tip #1: Be aware that as you're putting the uncooked meatballs on the grill, the first few that put on will be ready to be turned BEFORE you get all of them on the grill.

Tip #2: Be sure you have a nice long handled grilling spatula, as well as a pair of tongs, because those buggers WILL stick.

Tip #3: Be VERY VERY careful; there will be large amounts of flamage. My hairless hands and arms as well as singed eyebrows are proof of that.

Tip #4: Never, ever close the lid of the grill. Way too much heat, way too much flame.

Tip #5: Make sure to cook them on low; medium or high will result in black outsides and raw insides. NOT a good combo.

Tip #6: Turn them CONSTANTLY. You should NEVER have a moments rest. Those little buggers will catch on fire like a piece of charcoal. Nothing good will come of it.

Tip #7: When you're ready to remove them from the soaring flames, use the spatula. But be VERY aware that these meatballs are ROUND and will fall off.

Tip #8: Make sure you wear shoes when you grill. If you haven't been aware of Tip #7 and one of the flame kissed meatballs falls off your spatula and onto the deck/ground, you don't want to be splattered with hot grease.

and lastly,

Tip #9: Rethink the idea of listening to your husband's advice. Although he may be very intelligent (love you Joey), he may not know what he's talking about.

Photos, Photos, Photos!

On a whim today, I decided to do a small photo shoot of the girls in hopes of getting some good hair shots so you could see how cute Maddie's hair looks now. Maddie's usually the one that's not interested in having her picture taken but today she was a camera ham, so I used it to my advantage. I ended up getting a few decent shots of her alone and her with Lexi.

You should be able to easily distinguish between the two now; Maddie has the short hair.

Of course a photo shoot without Nathaniel just isn't a photo shoot.

Here he is being all goofy!

This is his "come and give this big guy a kiss" look!
And he's one cool dude!

On Saturday, my Mother-in-law and I took the twins for their first haircut. We took them to a place called My Kidz Kutz in Milford. We booked the earliest appointment and I'm so glad we did. There was no wait and it was nice and quiet. Overall, the girls did really well. Maddie was a little upset and cried a little bit but sat still enough for them to get it cut. It was funny because as soon as I put her in the seat, she said "all done" in this really pathetic little voice. And she continued saying that until we actually were all done. Lexi was a trooper and didn't make a peep. It was over and done with in just 15 short minutes. I tried to get some good after photos but neither of the girls were cooperating so I only have a couple of Maddie and none of Lexi. I'm going to work on it this week! Anyway, here are the photos:

Joe with Maddie (left) and Lexi (right) before we left.

Lexi getting her hair cut!
Lexi givin' her the evil eye!
Maddie in mid-cry!
Maddie after she was done.
The only halfway decent shot after we got home.

The Balloons of the Hillsboro Balloon Fest

Here's a small selection of the balloons that lifted off here in town over the weekend!

Hillsboro Balloon Fest

For the second year in a row, we attended the annual balloon fest here in town. The day was picture perfect at 78 degrees and sunny. We'd been talking to the kids about it all week in hopes of getting them excited about it. The girls were all set to ride the motorcycles so that's where we headed first. All 3 got on without batting an eye. But about halfway through the ride, Maddie decided she didn't like it and started to cry. We even managed a picture of it. Nate absolutely loved the rides, Lexi seemed indifferent riding some but not others and Maddie didn't care for any of them. Joe's mom got a new digital camera for her birthday so all photos are courtesy of her!!

Maddie in front, Lexi in back on the first cycle. Nate behind them. This photo was great because you can see that by the end of the ride, Maddie was screaming her head off!

Nate and Lexi in a fire engine!
Nate and Maddie in the airplane before it took off. Maddie decided last minute that she didn't want to ride and got off. It went like this with the girls for the better part of 45 minutes.
Joe with the girls on the merry-go-round!
All 3 of them riding on the cars again!
Nate giving a funny face as they went by!
Lexi chillin' out on the motorcycles!
Nate and Maddie in the "blue car" that Nate is still talking about!
More blue car action!

An Assortment of Photos

I finally got around to downloading all the pics that were on my little camera. Here are a few miscellaneous ones. There's also a second post with more pics!

Lexi

Lexi
Maddie
Nate watching Cars

Maddie showing me her block

Lexi playing with the blocksLexi (left) playing with blocks, Maddie with cars.
Maddie watching Cars
A kissy moment!
Maddie after we went strawberry picking! Love the deer in the headlights look!
Took the kids to the fireworks in a nearby town a couple of weeks ago.

Lexi playing with Max's Bobo, lookin' like Al Bundy with the glasses in her panties!
Maddie wearing her new favorite shoes - one of each color!