hooray for sesame street

its something that david will actually sit for a bit and watch. not that i like him rotting in front of the tv, but for the most part, he's always on the go. this is something that will hold his attention so that i can actually go to the bathroom by myself!

we had a good time at my parents' house yesterday, but damn, it was hot! the kids were good for most of the day. david was his usual self, bouncing from toy to toy. and emily walked my mom all over the place!! she's going to be walking on her own before we know! i can't wait! david spent a while in the pool while emily took a ride with my dad to pick up my grandma's perscriptions.

justin picked us up some dairy queen on the way home. i've been dying to try the tag along blizzard. it was well worth the wait, but my stomach was so full for the rest of the night. i keep trying to repeat in my head "nothing tastes as good as thin feels". oh it sure tasted good, but i felt like crap for the rest of the night...when will i learn?!

so my fruit tart pic is being voted on @ allrecipes.com today. its holding its own against some really good pics.

i won't win a prize or anything, but the top four pics will be on the home page for the day. i've never won anything before, so i think that would be neat!!
would you like the recipe? well here it is anyway!!

Triple Berry Cheesecake Tart

1 1/4 cups finely crushed NILLA Wafers
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 (8 ounce) package PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping
2 cups mixed berries (raspberries, sliced strawberries and blueberries)
3/4 cup boiling water
1 pkg. (4 serving size) JELL-O Brand Lemon Flavor Gelatin
1 cup ice cubes

Mix wafer crumbs and butter in small bowl until well blended. Press onto bottom and up side of 9-inch tart pan. Place in freezer while preparing filling.
Beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Gently stir in whipped topping. Spoon into crust. Arrange berries over cream cheese filling. Cover and refrigerate.
Stir boiling water into dry gelatin mix in medium bowl 2 min. until completely dissolved. Add ice cubes; stir until ice is completely melted. Refrigerate about 15 min. or until slightly thickened (consistency of unbeaten egg whites.) Spoon gelatin over fruit in pan. Refrigerate 3 hours.

i love making this tart...its easy, pretty and yummy!!!

balance...

...is still clearly something i need to work on! i was trying to keep busy last week to keep my mind off of the impending doom of emily being home for 2 weeks! (i just sounded like the most horrible mother EVER there!) ugh, anxiety has been building for a couple of weeks now. since emily can't stand being in the same room as david without an extreme meltdown---and i'm talking the endless rivers of tears, snot, and drool mixed in with glass breaking screeching kind of meltdown--serious stuff...i didn't know how the hell i was going to make it through 2 weeks of that with out trying to jump through a window and running for my life! today-day one: really not horrible. i knew i was working myself up--it can't be helped, that's just the way i am. by the grace of all that's holy, their sleeping schedules worked out so that they literally spent all of a half hour with each other. not without its tears, but manageable. someone was looking over me! tomorrow i'm heading over to my mom's for the day, so i'll have an extra hand. i hope that the rest of the vacation is as uneventful as today was. i know it will not be a perfect two weeks, but i'll muttle through it. i'm almost looking forward to seeing her new neurologist on the first...maybe he can give me some insight on these tantrums...other than what i've already concluded--its normal, she's jealous, its her trying to integrate her senses. i think that that all of my theories fit into the puzzle somehow, but i just want to the poor thing to not have to go through such trauma! *deep breaths*

so here's what i did last week:
a post it holder made from an acrylic frige frame-got the idea from



made a HUGE batch of cracked sugar cookies for emily's school, bus driver and bus aide


spray painted a frame and cut out a monogram to fill in a shelf that we just hung


made some thin mints(ritz crackers + melted andes candy)


made over some kitchen canisters-one has colored pencils and markers, the other has crayons


the cookies and miss chris' gift were a huge hit...that made my weekend :o)

stand in mommy

sometimes i would just love a clone. we've been having an issue with emily not being able to STAND the sight of her brother. she throws the worst fits i've ever seen. i have many theories on the subject, but nothing is absolute. how do you tell a three year old with special needs that her brother loves her, and that he'll probably be the best friend she'll ever have? its one of those things that makes you feel like a failure. right now there is no clear cut answer...and that's a painful reality. since she can not communicate verbally, we know how she's feeling when she's happy, content, angry, tired with her body language. but its getting more complicated than that now. you can see that she desperately wants to say what she's feeling(especially when she's having an upset moment). her lips squirm to force out a word, but there is nothing there yet. its got to be the most frustrating and stressful situation for her. i know it is for me! i want to comfort her, and acknowledge how she's feeling, but its so hard. i feel like i'm doing the best i can...but sometimes that doesn't seem like enough. i was in melt down mode after the kids got to bed last night. sometimes i just need those moments of grief. i need to be pissed off at the situation for a minute, tell my hubby that its not fair--then pull myself back together and march forward. we'll get through it...but moments like we had last night-i could live without!

on a less stressful note, i made the gift for emily's teacher. i think it came out really cute! the perfectionist in me can see that its a little crooked, but i don't think its too noticeable. and i'm just too lazy to make another one at this point!!

bringing the fair home

the fair is back in the area...and just like every other year...prices have gone up!! hubby and i just adore fair food, but knew that we probably weren't going to go this year. we couldn't justify spending the money. so last night for dinner i made beer brats with sauteed onions, french fries, and funnel cake!! awesome-ness! of course i forgot to take a picture of the brats...but oh, they were delicious--you'll just have to take my word on it! i found a simple recipe for the funnel cake over @ allrecipes.com--love that site! the only trick was getting the oil hot enough.
FUNNEL CAKE
1 egg
2/3 cup milk(*i needed to add a splash more--the batter was just too thick for pouring)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 1/3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 quart vegetable oil for frying
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar for dusting

Beat egg. Mix in milk. Sift flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder; beat into egg mixture until smooth.
Pour oil into a heavy pan until it is 1 inch deep. Heat to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Pour batter through funnel into oil with a circular motion to form a spiral. Fry until lightly brown; turn over to brown the other side. Cook to golden brown, and remove to drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar while still warm.

i used a rubbermaid water bottle to pour the batter in the oil.

next time, i think i will use an empty salad dressing or katsup bottle. i think having the "squeezing" action will help for keeping them together.

basically i made a bunch of small ones...which was fine...easier to handle.


the kids loved these, and hubby and i spent the rest of the evening on the couch...in a fried food coma! glad the fair only comes through once a year--we'd weigh 500lbs!

i heart sprinkles

ok, so i did end up baking yesterday! i just NEEDED to! i love it too much! and i just used the egg whites from the recipe for my pork chops...a much healthier option than whole eggs anyway! ;o) back to the cookies...fantastic! these things taste just like the store bought sugar cookies...which my hubby happens to loove! i have to pass the recipe along(found it over @ www.allrecipes.com)...
CRACKED SUGAR COOKIES
1 1/4 cups white sugar
1 cup butter
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Lightly grease 2 cookie sheets(*i used parchement paper).
Cream together sugar and butter. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla.
Add flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Stir.
Form dough into walnut size balls** and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Don't flatten. Bake 10 to 11 minutes, until tops are cracked and just turning color.

**after rolling into balls, i rolled some into sprinkles and left a few plain.



since emily's last day of the summer program is next friday, i'm going to make a big batch of these up for her bus driver, bus aide and teacher's aides. for her teacher, i found this over @


isn't that cool? and its going to be cheap!! emily doesn't really get a "summer vacation", only about 2 weeks. so i wasn't going to do gifts...but these people have been just amazing! i needed to show my appreciation in some way.

pain in my a$$

literally. so gross, but i woke up with a boil on my butt cheek! terrible. i feel it when i sit, when i walk...this sucks! never had one before. i swear having kids makes your body do all kinds of crazy things! i've been working out so hard for the last few weeks, i'm seeing changes in my body...and now--this! since i can't work out, i want to bake. i looove baking! but i don't have enough eggs for baking, and for my pork chops to get their bread crumb coating for dinner...ugh that's always the way! not that i need to be baking...since i'm the only one that ends up eating the stuff!! why do i love something so much that doesn't love me back? i'm pretty alone around here, so its not like i can share with friends. oh well...i'll bake another day i guess. i'm so thrown off from not working out! i was going to craft something or crochet the blanket that i've been working on--but now i don't feel motivated to do it!! its just one of those days i guess. i will just take my boil to the couch and relax while david naps! maybe something will spark my interest on the way to the living room!!

been slackin'

its been a little bit since i posted on here. sometimes life just gets in the way, ya know? so while the little man is eating his breakfast, i thought i'd recap the weekend!

friday was emily's pinewood derby. i have to be honest, i really wasn't sure how this was going to happen. i mean, pinewood derby, home made cars, big hills in the middle of the road...we're talking special needs kids here, how the heck are they going to do this? we wondered all week...heaven forbid, we should just ask her teacher! haha so we get there, hubby, david, mom and dad, aunt cindy, and me. they had it set up in their all purpose room with a big wooden track in the middle of the room. "ah ha", i thought! they had made small wooden cars--mystery solved! it was great to see emily @ school. she's so happy there. everyone loves her--after all, she is the baby of the school...and who couldn't resist that face?! in the end, she did lose--the wheels on her car didn't even turn! haha it was a great time though...and NASCAR had sent a ton of stuff for the kids to take home...and an entire table full of signed memorabilia from drivers and their teams for the school to display...how cool is that? i'm not a NASCAR fan-at all-but i thought it was a wonderful gesture! she was just so happy to see her grandma and grandpa! she almost couldn't believe they were there!


on saturday i was determined to NOT sit home all day and listen to the kids torment each other. after THREE hours of back and forth, we decided to go to the botanical gardens in ringwood to have a walk. emily was hysterical the WHOLE way there--until i crawled in the back seat between the two of them. ugh, its so frustrating! and its even worse when no one understands, i swear they think i'm making it all up! so we finally got there after what seemed like the longest drive EVER!! had a nice walk around for about an hour and a half. let the kids get out of their strollers to stretch their legs in the gardens...so pretty--although, i did think it was going to be alot bigger. by the time we even got out of the parking lot, the kids were passed out...i love that--silence! we made the mistake of taking the long way home so they could sleep...30 minutes into the drive they were both awake and screaming again! there went dinner @ the chatterbox! we found the quickest route home and made a pot of mac n cheese!

they liked the fish in the fountain!



on sunday we just hung around the house. it wasn't a completely terrible day...the weather sucked though, so we couldn't even take the kids outside. then it was back to the grind on monday. emily has had three miserable mornings in a row...i don't know what it is about david that sets her off. i think he's just so unpredictable, maybe she's jealous...i just don't know how to get her passed this...ugh...trying to keep it together!!