Star Light, Star Bright

Overheard oldest son the other evening wishing upon a star...

"Star light, star bright
first star I see tonight
wish I may, wish I might
have a gun."

WHAT? When asked what he needed/wanted a gun for he informed us that he needed one so he could find the deer and shoot them. LOL.... He'll be hunting before we know it.

☆☆☆☆☆ (5 Star) Brownies

Hubby didn't care how I marked the recipe, with 5 stars or what, as long as I promised to make it again. Had a ton of eggs and was seeking a from-scratch yummy recipe for brownies that would use a few of them. Found one that wasn't difficult to put together and the results were beyond stellar. DH stated they were the best he's had! That said, I'd recommend the recipe to anyone seeking a decadent brownie recipe.

Chocolate Brownies (makes 1 dozen)

1 c butter, plus more for pan
8 oz unsweetened chocolate
5 lg eggs
3 1/2 c sugar
1 T pure vanilla extract
1 2/3 c sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 t kosher salt
1/2 c semisweet chocolate chips
1 c chopped toasted walnuts (I used pecans and didn't toast them)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit with a rack in the center. Generously butter a 9x13" pan and set aside. In the top of a double broiler, melt the chocolate and butter. Stir until smooth. Set aside.
In a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs & sugar at high speed for 10 minutes. (Yes, I had the mixer running on high for 10 minutes. The whole house was wondering WHAT was I making.) Reduce speed to low and add the melted chocolate/butter mixture and the vanilla; beat until combined. Slowly add the flour and salt; beat until just incorporated.
Remove bowl from the mixer and fold in the chocolate chips and toasted nuts. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until the edges are dry but the center is soft, about 30 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool. Cut into 3 inch squares. Serve. These can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days...if they last that long.

Hope you enjoy these as much as my family is. What a great use of eggs! This recipe is taken from The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook.

Downright Chipper

"No wonder you are downright chipper this morning" was my husband's response when he heard that the baby slept enough during the night that I was allowed almost four hours of glorious, uninterrupted sleep! Despite the fact that my day began a little before 4 a.m., he's right... I am a bit chipper. Amazing what a little sleep will do for a person. Here's hoping that this becomes a new trend (but realizing it was likely a fluke thing).

Aliens Have Taken Over My Children

When presented the option of having dessert, my children tonight said they wanted a bath INSTEAD. When offered the idea of dessert and then a bath, they voiced that they didn't want dessert, just a bath. I know baths can be fun..all the bubbles and splashing and such, but REALLY??? Bath over dessert? What have the aliens done with my children?

Touchdown...Kid's 1st Football Game

Ray took the kids (our older two while I stayed home with the baby) to their first football game Friday night. What fun they had! I'll upload a hilarious video he took soon!

We Joyfully Welcome...

Yeah, it has been a couple weeks and I'm WAY behind on posting pix of Reese (of course, how many baby sleeping pix does anyone other than me want to see...okay, so my mom would want to see as many as I do as well... besides us though. HA HA.

Just wanted to share another pix of Reese. (You'll probably see this one again on his birth announcements, should I ever get those done. Yet another thing on the to-do list that isn't getting done these days...)

Total Destruction...

Very sad news of a gardening kind. Our friggin’ dogs broke into the fence that surrounded/protected our pond and surrounding “get away” garden and completely, and I mean COMPLETELY, destroyed EVERYTHING! Screaming and tears were involved (especially considering it happened a couple days after I had the baby and my hormones were, well...haywire). Fortunately for the dogs, I didn’t kill them although they are NOT getting much loving from me these days, the turkeys. Anyway, most of the fish appear to have survived the horrific event so it is just all the plants I have to replace...and a pond I have to reclean again. Urg. All that work and it was looking so pretty for the first time since we moved in...

I can only bear to show a very small portion of the destruction that occurred. It kills me to go out there right now and I sure don't want to see pix of it all, even though I have begun trying to clean everything up. Stones were overturned, Tiki Man was knocked over, landscape cloth dug up and, of course, tons of my plants destroyed. I just needed to vent/share my sad sob story.

Anyone want a dog or two???