Aaron boy had his 9th birthday! yahoooo

We had another birthday in our house. In fact the month of august is quite busy in our house with birthdays. We have one every week the entire month of august. Its a busy birthday month. Aaron wanted to go to chuckee cheese this year for his birthday. He was quite excited about that. He got to pick one friend to go with us. He also wanted to have an omlet for breakfast and his very own treasure hunt. After all that we went to chuckee cheese. He also wanted to do Bahama bucks after the pizza. I would have thought that that was too much but he loved it. At bahama bucks he got to have a snowball fight. That is something they do. It's kind of fun and my kids love it. That is the only snow they get all year long! He said he had a great birthday and he was a happy kid when he went to bed that night!

Oh no another Teenager!!!

My spencee turned 13. I have another teenager in my house. He had a good birthday with family. We are still trying to figure out a day to have his "big 13th birthday party". We had a planned a couple of days that friends couldn't come on. So sometime this month we are taking him and his friends to fiddle sticks. He is looking forward to it. It has go-carts, bumper boats, golf stuff, arcade games, food. It's just kind of a fun little place to go. Especially for boys!!!
He got to pick what he wanted for breakfast and dinner. We had chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast and he requested spaghetti with bread. He also got to pick his favorite cake which is the chocolate cake that is 4 layers and in between the layers is shaved chocolate bar and whipping cream. It is quite yummy!

My little sugy turned 6!

My little mady turned 6 in August. She was pretty specific with what she wanted to do for her birthday. She wanted just a couple of friends to come. She wanted to go swimming and have nachos for her birthday. She wanted to frost her own cupcakes and have a treasure hunt. So. we did all that. She had 2 friends come to her party. We went swimming for about an hour. When we got home she and her friends went on a treasure hunt in the house. They thought it was great fun. What they found was all the makings for the cupcakes and a little extra. They made nachos and had fun making their own cupcakes. The colors were pretty interesting. But they had a blast!

Recipe/ lemon Bars

Here is the recipe for Lemon bars. I love these cold. They DO NOT taste good right out of the oven. Don't eat them warm. For some reason they taste really yucky and gooey right from the oven. Let them cool down and them put them in the fridge. Enjoy.

Lemon bars
1 C. Butter
1/2 C. powdered sugar
2 C. flour

Mix well. I actually use my blender to mix these ingredients. You could also use a pastry mixer. I just like how the blender mixes it so well. And this dough tastes soooo yummy. You have to grab a little pinch.
K. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. While it is in the oven mix together the following ingredients.

4 eggs- beaten well.
2 C. sugar
1/4 C. flour
6 T. lemon juice/ I will also do half the lemon juice and half real live lemons. Don't steel them from your neighbors. You will have guilt! And it's kind of pretty if you grate a little lemon peel in to the mixture. It makes the lemon taste more intense. It's also good with just the lemon juice. Try it!

Pour this on top of the crust right out of the oven and then put it back in on 350 degrees for 25 minutes. When it's done, dust it with powdered sugar! They look so tempting to eat right now but DON"T DO IT!!! Cool the little suckers down and then put them in the fridge. They are devine.

Recipe/Oatmeal fudge bars

Don't let the name of this recipe fool you. They are to die for. I don't make them often for obvious reasons! There is a lot of fat in them and i don't want my butt jiggling anymore than what it already does! Cameron has been requesting these for the last week. I haven't been feeling all that great lately so today I figured, suck it up and make them. These little puppies are helping my children get their homework done right now and baths taken early! See what power these bars have!!!The power of the bar!!!
Oatmeal Fudge bars

This recipe comes from The Lion House christmas recipes cookbook

1 C. margarine or butter (of course i use butter. wouldn't use anything else!)
2 C. Brown sugar
2 Eggs
2 Teaspoons good vanilla
2 1/2 C. flour
1 Teaspoon Baking soda
1/2 Teaspoon salt
1 1/2 C. quick-cooking oats
1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 12-oz package semisweet chocolate chips(DO NOT USE MILK CHOCOLATE!)
1/4 C. margarine or you guessed it BUTTER
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 C. chopped walnuts (i have never put these in them) Optional
cream margarine or butter and brown sugar; add eggs and vanilla. Sift flour, baking soda, and salt; add to creamed mixture. Mix in oatmeal. In heavy saucepan mix sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, and margarine or butter and heat till just melted. Stir in vanilla and nuts. Spread 2/3 of the cookie dough into 9x13-inch greased baking pan. Spread the chocolate mixture on top of cookie dough. Drop (i do little spoonfuls of dough)remaining 1/3 dough on top. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 25 minutes. Cool; then cut into bars. Makes 36 bars.

Funny Miss mady

Well my last little one started 1st grade this year. I was a little nervous because she is so used to going with me and Aunt jessica to run errans or go to lunch. I was afraid that she would say she didn't want to go to school cause she was going to miss out on all the fun. Well, sure enough my fears have come to fruition! The 2nd day of school Mady came up and said "Mom i don't think i can go all day to school!" I said "Why?" Her response "I won't be able to go out to lunch with you and Aunt Jessica!". Nice try Madzy!. She loves excuses for not doing things and so she tried another one on me a couple of days ago. Here is the conversation. "Mom... What sweets...I can't go to school all day anymore!.... Why?... Because I can't wear closed toed shoes. I need to wear flip flops to school and i can't so i can't go to school the whole day. I need you to come get me at lunch time!" I just sat there starring at the little girlfriend and laughed. Nice Try Mady!!! Not a chance. The first thing she does when she get's home from school is she takes off her shoes and goes and get's her jammies on. Too much like her mom!!! LOve that girl. And i do miss her during the day.

Recipe/ Baked Ziti with sausage

O.k. all you lookers of my blog. I have had many people ask for recipes. I had a friend (Taya) tell me i should put them on my blog. So I figured what the heck. I will probably do it once or twice a week. Sundays are the treat day. What i make I will blog about. I hope it will help you out with the dreaded asked question, "What's for dinner mom!" This first recipe is from a friend (Denise Whitmer) I tweaked it just a little. you can do this recipe without the sausage. yesterday was the first time I tried it with the sausage. It's yummy without it also.
Baked Ziti with italian sausage.

1 Pkg. Italian sausage (it's in the meat section).
1 Lb. Ziti or penne pasta
4 Tbsp. Butter
1/4 Cup flour
1 Tbsp. Italian seasoning (down baking isle. It's with the herbs and seasonings)
1 spoonful of prepared garlic or 3 cloves of fresh garlic
3 cups Milk (i use half n half) it is fine with milk if you are watching your wasteline if you don't care then make with the half n half.
1/4 tsp. Pepper
6-8oz. grated or shredded parmesan cheese
3 cups spaghetti sauce (I use prego, traditional)

cook pasta and according to the package directions until al dente. Drain in a colander, then rinse under cold water to stop the cooking.
Cut up the italian sausage into bite size pieces and cook. Don't forget to take off the skin on the sausage. Kind of gross I know. YUCK!
While the pasta cooks and you have a spare burner, melt the butter ina heavy medium-size saucepan over moderate heat. Stir in the flour, forming a smooth paste (this is also called a roux), add the garlic and italian seasoning, and cook for 2 minutes stirring constantly. Gradually stir in the milk and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to moderately low, add the pepper and cook, still stirring until thickened and smooth--3-4 minutes. Blend in the cheese and sausage and remove from the heat.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Add the cheese sauce to the ziti and mix well. In a 3 quart casserole or 13x9x2 inch baking dish, alternate layers of the ziti and cheese sauce with the layers of tomato sauce, ending with the ziti. I always put a little extra cheese on top (mozarella). I also put mozzarella between layers. I love cheese what can i say!!
Bake uncovered, for 20 minutes or until the top is browned and the sauce is bubbling.
You can split this recipe in half and freeze the other half. I do that all the time. It's comes in handy when you have a crazy day. You can take that out and cook it. Just make sure you take it out that morning to defrost or you will be eating ziti popcycles!

Enjoy. I love this recipe because it is quick and easy.