Mother's Day Update

The Mother's Day Tea was awesome! Owen greeted me at the door with a shiny silver necklace that he placed around my neck before taking me by the hand and leading me to the table where we would be sitting. He had decorated the table with a place mat that he had made for me, a tomato plant he had grown for me, and a beautiful card that he had made me. It was a very fancy tea, pretty teapots and linen tablecloths. The grade 5 class were our server's. They did an excellent job and took very good care of all of the mom's. I was not thinking, and am kicking myself for not bringing my camera, I was probably too traumatized by the Rice Krispie Squares.

Ahhh yes, the Rice Krispie squares. They did not turn out well. They were so hard and crispy that I almost broke a tooth when I tried one out. Seriously. I could not figure out what the heck I did wrong. Then suddenly a light bulb went off. I used a 4 cup measure, my brain thought I was using a 2 cup measure. I had put in far too many Rice Krispie's! But, it was too late to make something else, so I brought them anyways, warning Owen to stay away from that particular plate of goodies. Fortunately when I got to the school I was one of the first ones there and was able to slip the plate onto the food table without anyone noticing. No one knew that I brought them! Later on Owen pointed out to me the plate that we needed to avoid in a five year old "whisper". I pretended to not know what he was talking about.

On Sunday we headed to the park to have a picnic with some friends. Owen was thrilled to have a boy to play with, and he and his friend Tomis spent most of the day wrestling in the grass.


While Maeghan drew with chalk with the twins.

It always amazes me how they are both naturally drawn to doing your typical gender related things. You would never catch Maeghan wrestling with her girlfriends in the grass, or sitting for hours at the skateboard park watching the big boys skate, and while Owen loves little kids and chalk, he definitely prefers the "boy" pursuits of skateboarding and pretend fighting.

Anyways, Jane is coming along, I love how she is turning out, and can't wait to be done! Hopefully I won't get stranded on sleeve island for too long! I should have pictures soon.

P.S. Thanks for all of your wonderful suggestions on cleaning my Krispie pot. I did end up soaking it in hot water and it all came off quite nicely. I do not know where my brain was last week. I will definitely be trying to make them in the microwave next time!

Just Call Me Martha

I'm sure by now most of you know that I'm not much of a baker. I've made some attempts at bread, which have been favorably received, but I am not one to bake on a regular basis, nor do I have the desire to. When Owen came home from school with a notice saying that his class was going to host a Mother's Day tea and that I needed to bring a tray of goodies, I immediately thought "no big deal, I'll just swing by the bakery and pick up something yummy!" But what I failed to realize immediately was that one of Owen's little buddies has severe allergies, and whatever I brought in had to be completely nut free. Yikes. I wasn't confident that I could find something nut free/made in a nut free environment so I decided that I had better make something myself. How hard could it be? I decided on Rice Krispie Squares, seemed simple enough. I've never made them before (I know, seriously?) but I had all the ingredients on hand which made it the perfect choice from a grocery budget stand point (yes, I'm on a strict food budget...more on that to come).

The marshmallow melting went smoothly enough, nothing burned. Then I mixed in the Rice Krispie's and stirred until I thought my arm was going to fall off. Mr. Rice Krispie said to add some vanilla to the melted marshmallows, but thankfully he said it was optional, because I forgot. Yes, there are only 4 ingredients, and I forgot one of them. Nuff said. The kids are 5, they won't notice. Oh....but the mom's, darn it, I forgot about the other mom's. They are probably all homemakers extraordinaire, they will all know that I suck at even the simplest "baking". I may have to spike their tea.

I had thought ahead, though, and lined the pan with plastic wrap that I had sprayed with Canola so at least the removal from the baking pan wasn't a nightmare!

As I was pressing the whole schmoz into the pan I realized that I was crushing all of Rice Krispies. Boy you need to press hard, I was manhandling the stuff and it still wouldn't go nice and flat like the picture. Oh well, my squares have character.

But now what. How the heck do I get the remainder out of the sauce pan? I mean, it is like glue. I put it back on the burner and then as soon as some melted I would quickly eat it before it could harden again. My stomach hurts now and there is still lots left in the pan! This is a process people! So this is my question to you. Is there some secret that I'm missing out on on how to clean the damn pan?!!!

Ah, maybe I should just chuck it....