Acorn Cookies

CHOCOLATE ACORNS

1 cup butter, melted and cooled
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cup chopped pecans, divided use
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
FOR DIPPING:
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a large bowl, beat together butter, brown sugar, 3/4 cup chopped pecans, and vanilla until well blended. Add flour and baking powder and mix well. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Slightly flatten by pressing balls onto ungreased cookie sheets; pinch tops to point to resemble acorns.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on wire racks.

In top of a double boiler ( I just melt mine in the microwave) melt chocolate chips, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat; keep chocolate warm over water in the double boiler.

Dip large ends of cooled cookies into the melted chocolate, then roll in remaining 3/4 cup pecans. Cool on wax paper to set chocolate.

Makes 3 dozen

A delicious fall treat!

View from Oscar's lens

Smiley...from Oscar's view.

Poppy...whats with her dress ensemble?? Can you tell that she has her arm through a hole in the dress?

And because I am rarely the one in FRONT of the lens. Here is a semi picture of the forth-coming bump. I know not the best picture, but it was last Thursday and Oscar was picture happy, and I happened to be the subject.
I wonder if all of the pictures we have of me in years to come, will all be from my kids stealing the camera???

In other news on "the bump" I had my Dr. appointment last week and I got to hear the heart beat. The Doc said she would bet it is a boy because it was so squirmy (not that it IS a boy). Doc said she will put in her notes what SHE thinks it is, and since we don't actually like to find out, she will see if she is right...who knows???
She also gave me permission to run the half marathon next month, if I'm feeling up to it. She said the only risk is falling and that if I feel like I have the skills then I can do it...We shall see.

Musings...

It occurred to me about ten minutes ago while cooking dinner, that although my blog is called motherly "musings" I really haven't done a whole lot of musing lately. I'm sure it is somewhat related to the lovely little being growing within my body, but still...I need to muse a bit more.

Here we go...we are musing...As the mother of our clan I have recently been on this roller coaster of ups and downs. Ups because I have two great kids who really do love me but downs because sometime they hate me too.
Currently we are up...They are happily playing together outside (and have been for the past hour) . Contentedly they are making up games, sharing and keeping each other happy. I love it because I know that they miss each other lately because Oscar is a full time student, and I can't help but beam with happiness when they escape in to play land and love being together.
Then on the downs side...
Take for instance two days ago when the mother of the house had declared (early in the morning) that their rooms were a mess and would need to be cleaned before they were allowed a play day. To much weeping an wailing. Not to mention that BOTH of them explained to me in great detail that they do not know how to use their fingers to pick things up.
Oscar then informed me that he works much harder than I do and that i was the meanest of moms. I then explained that he coudl make dinner, so the laundry and clean up all of the other rooms int he house if he wanted to wage a worker war.
He informed me that he spent a lot of time at school in SCIENCE working on rocks!!!! It was very hard work!!!!!! (tune in the wailing and tone of injustice)

It was in this moment that I had a moment of clarity...here is my boy who indeed had had a very busy day at school with science. And was not allowed to do what he wanted to do all day long (like in the pre- 1st grade days). I suddenly realized that yes, he was indeed a hard worker and I love that, but I'm still NOT goign to be the one to pick up all of his mess.
I even gave him the opportunity for help by telling him to separate his clothes in to clean and dirty and then i would help him pick up the piles.

Finally, after a couple of hours. He hurried and finsihed things up and was done in 10 minutes.
That leaves the other 110minutes of play time totally wasted!

Poppy on the other hand still kept insisting that she did not know HOW to pick up the beads on her floor...I had already picked all of the clothes and the ONLY thing she had to pick up were her spilled beads. Alas, she took 3 hours and the help of a kinder, more gentle father who taught her how to use her fingers to pick them up.

It was a rough afternoon. Not to mention the fact that this mother had all sorts of fun things planned to do. I wanted us to do a fun trip to the library as a family, take some cookies to a friend, and have a fun FHE. All of which I tried to bait my kids with and was totally unsuccessful.

I suppose that is how it goes...I don't want to be the bad guy (truly I do not), and I certainly would have loved to help my kids with thier rooms, had they not been willing to help me. And at the end of the day I hope they have learned this lesson becasue next time...I really want to go play!

Tagged...

Traci tagged me and so I'll give it a go...6 quirky things about me.
The rules are: List 6 quirks about yourself and then tag six people. Leave them a message on their blog letting them know they have been tagged( I may skip this little bit).

1. I love Sauerkraut in almost any variety. I've even made a chocolate sauerkraut cake that was delicious...I'm considering learning how to make my own sauerkraut.

2. Perfumes and smelly candles give me a headache. Don't ask me why? I tend to purchase unscented deodorant, lotion etc. I can handle very lightly scented varieties. I like to smell them on others but if i have them on me I get a bit sick after an hour or so.

3. NO big surprise to all of my loyal readers...I love yodeling.

4. I have a crooked face...no kidding. One side is longer than the other.

5. Ricky and I love to can food together. Ever since we were first married. It is our annual tradition. Even when we had a crappy little apartment and no room to store the bounty.

6. hummm this is tough...I'm a jackie of all trades, but master of none. I tend to want to learn everything but shift to something new before I have actually mastered it. I think this is genetic.

I tag...Betina, Ashley, Susie, Annajo, Joanna, Jen.
I generally don't do these tags...so if you don't that is a-ok.

Day Four and Five...

Ahhhh, Sunday we decided to head back north to another set of tide pools. These were in the Ecola park area. We ended up at Indian beach. It was beautiful, and once again we were reminded that if you indeed want a great beach...follow the surfers.
The tide pools were great! Tons of rocks and we got there a few hours before low tide and had a lot of time for exploring. This was by far the best exploring spot. The rock pools were everywhere and the rock crabs were fun to chase.
Oscar spent from 9:30 am -2pm scouring the rocks. I finally convinced him that the tide was coming back in and that we should explore some other areas.
Poppy found a little fresh water spring shower, just her size. It was really cold water and she would run in and out of the spring.
We had forgotten sunscreen and because it was so warm compared to the other days, I had dressed the kids a bit too warm. They decided to wear their swim suits and we all got a bit baked!
It was really warm and very beautiful.
Oscar is standing at the look out above the beach. The rocks in the back ground were the tide pool rocks, after the tide came back in.
We went back to camp to once again shower and head off to dinner. We had a half way decent sea food dinner in a little town outside of Nehalem. It wasn't the best but it filled our bellies sufficient to sleep well that night.
Oscar had looked forward to a camp fire the entire trip and so as the last night there, we decided to have one. I asked him if he would rather have ice cream and watch the sunset or have a fire and smore's...

The fire won out. We still watched the sunset and enjoyed a beautiful evening on the beach, and then went back to camp for a fire.
Oscar ate a bunch of smores and then ran around camp playing with other kids, while Ricky poppy and I enjoyed the fire. It was nice. So, for those of you who think we really weren't "camping" since we watched dvd's and ate out everynight, you can be appeased that we had a fire at least ONE night.
The point of our vacation isn't exactly the camping...it is finding ways to spend the most amount of time on the beach. We do this by not havign to spend hours cooking food over the fire, and by not needing a fire because we spend so much time exploring that the DVD viewing is merely a means of mellowing out for bed.
The kids get so worn out and it is all about living these few days to the max.
Then, you wake up and it is time to go home... we pack the car and we head down the road.
At the end of day five, we are back in our own snuggly beds.

Day three...

After another tasty breakfast of oatmeal we were back to the beach...This time Oscar stuck around for breakfast before taking off.
This is him in his "chipmunk" pose (look familiar grandma Edge?). It was a bit chilly and foggy.

Oscar demonstrated his large lettering skills.
After enough of the fog we decided to head back north to the Oswald park beach. This time we packed a lunch and had all day to spare.
The opposite side of the cove from yesterday we found even more awesome tide pools.
Oscar and Pop's loved exploring the rocks and consented to pose for yet another pic.
Poppy on the other hand was all to happy to pose for me. She really came into her own this go around. She stayed out of the waves but the sea creatures were her thing.
She and Oscar made a couple of sea stars into their "pets" and had a great hour long pretend game in a little tide pool where they were their owners and would bring them things to eat.
After spending most of the day at that great beach we headed back to camp in time to shower, avoid the neighbors Latin/elevator music and went to dinner at a yummy Pizza shop. Poppy was so worn out that she fell asleep and wouldn't wake up the entire meal! This is how Ricky ate his dinner.
Then, after a meander on the dock we headed back to camp to snuggle into bed and watched "The Incredible's".

I need my binky to breathe!!!

Day two of no binky...
The Popster lost Both of her new binky's in ONE day. I decided that was it. After a very long night last night and a very long day today. Where i heard about 1000 times "I need my binky mama!" and "Mom I NEED my binky to breathe!"
I have stayed firm and after two days with no naps and a very tired girl she fell asleep on our bike ride to Oscar's soccer practice. She slept the whole time and woke up a happier girl. In fact after I said "Poppy you are such a big girl you can nap without a binky!" She seemed to have a new sense of empowerment.
Tonight, she went to bed asked me twice for a binky and then stayed in her room without crying and went to sleep...we may actually make it this time.
I hope she will sleep through the night and that tomorrow we can figure out how to take a nap WITHOUT the binky!

On a positive note, she seemed to talk a lot more today and was fairly pleasant when she wasn't thinking about it.

Don't worry I'll post day three of our trip tomorrow...assuming we make it one more day without the binky.