Goodbye

Monday morning we discovered that our fish, Ken Griffey Jr had died and Cheerleader was not looking so good. A few hours after disposing of one fish, the other died. The kids were disappointed and sad. Littlebit loved watching the fish swim around in their bowl. We do not have a very good track record with keeping fish alive, but usually we do better than two weeks. Littlebit has taken the opportunity to beg for a puppy though.

Movies

Over the weekend, we took the kids to go see the movie, Tangled. It was such a cute movie and both of the kids loved it. It is not your typical "princess" movie. And Littlebit was right, Rapunzel traps the boy with her hair. (This is what she said after she received a Rapunzel doll for her birthday.)

We stopped at the grocery store to buy candy bars first. (I wasn't sneaking candy in. I don't think the place we were going sells movie candy, but you can enjoy a meal while watching the movie! I even saw people walk in with ice cream cones.) While at the grocery store, I realized that my kids have never picked out a candy bar. They have had candy, but I don't think I have ever had them pick out I candy bar. My poor deprived kids! I remember my mom buying candy bars for us. I typically chose Big Hunk. Not because it was my absolute favorite - I did like it though, but because it was big. I couldn't believe how expensive candy bars are - wow!

It was fun family time!

Spring!

It's the first day of spring and I am certainly ready for something pretty to look at outside. I am tired of the brown and drab!

We did a lot of weeding today, but still have a lot to go. I want to get the vegetable beds ready although I am still thinking about rearranging them. Big Daddy wasn't thrilled with this idea because we just sent a bunch of wood back with my dad a few weeks ago. Oh well. Big Daddy cleaned up the front yard a bit too. It was very windy and cold outside, so the kids went inside early. They were arguing with each other, so I had them clean and organize the toy closet. They did a nice job!

The Lenten roses look beautiful, but I can't see them from inside the house. The magnolia and the weeping cherry have little buds on them. The daffodils are up and getting ready to bloom. I can't wait to see some color out there.

A few weeks ago we went to the nursery to look around and I saw some things I would like to add to our garden. Hopefully we will do it this summer. I have a tree to replace and would like to hide the compost bin a bit and add some evergreens.

Big Daddy took out the four maples on the other side of our fence. They were pushing against our fence and that property is just a junk area since the developer went under years ago. The roots were growing into our yard because we water our plants. I liked looking at them, but they needed to be a few feet away. I miss when it was all trees behind us.

I hope the weather warms up soon. I am ready for spring!

Happy Pi Day!

It is Pi Day! That's pi, not pie - as in 3.14. Yes, I am a nerd.

I didn't realize it until this morning. Bummer. Apple pie sounds really good, but I made brownies yesterday. They have been calling my name. I wonder if I can pass tonight's quiche off as pie.

I am picky about my brownies. I love chocolate, but brownies and chocolate cake tend to be rather dry. I think that is why I like to middle of the brownies and can't stand the edges. The picture of these brownies definitely caught my eye. You had me at hello. (Name that movie.)

They looked so fudgy and were topped with chocolate ganache. I just had to try them. I have never made brownies from scratch and these were very simple! I used dark chocolate instead of unsweetened. Yum! I really need a kitchen scale because I guessing at the chocolate I was putting in there. (Unfortunately the pound plus bars at Trader Joe's don't seem to be divided into neat one ounce squares.)

The brownies turned out very tasty. They are dense and more fudge like, but I still stayed away from the outer edges. Yummy!!!

Welcome to the Family

Today we added two new additions to our family...........fish.

While on a trip to the shoe store, the kids spied the pet store and started asking us for new fish. We gave in and went into the store. We needed a fish that could be in a small tank that doesn't need a filter or anything special. We looked at the bettas, we have had several in the past, but they just weren't doing it for us today. Littlebit wanted the other pretty fish in the aquariums, but I don't have an aquarium and have no desire to get one. We finally decided on some little goldfish (feeder fish).

Littlebit picked out an all gold one and named it Cheerleader and Lovey's is black and gold and named Ken Griffey Jr.

Littlebit can't wait to feed the fish, but funny that no one wants to clean the bowl.