Oh yeah. Oh YEAH.

Now, here's something I could eat for breakfast almost every day. Our plan is to make these weekly, changing up the fruit each time so we don't get bored.

Breakfast Bars
Preheat oven to 325°. In a bowl, combine 1 cup rolled oats, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 cup sunflower seeds (the shelled, unroasted kind - I find them at the health food section of the store), and 1/4 cup dried cherries (this part would change weekly.) In a separate small bowl, combine 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup applesauce, 1/4 cup honey, and 3 tablespoons OJ. Add to the oat mixture and stir it around. Take 1/2 cup out of the oat mixture and press the rest into a pan-sprayed 8x8 pan. Back in your small bowl, mix together 2 tablespoons OJ and 1/2 cup fruit-only cherry (again, changing with the dried fruit) preserves. spread that evenly over the oat mixture in the pan, then sprinkle on the reserved oats, pressing it in lightly with your fingers. Bake 35 minutes until golden brown. Cool and cut into 8 bars.

Delish! We had cherry this morning, but we're going to try every flavor of fruit-only jam they make one delicious panful a week!

Birthday snow

Okay, indulge me here. It's probably the last snow we'll get this year, so here are some more snow photos. These were taken by Blair. Funniest thing. It snowed from 10PM to 2PM, sometimes heavily, but the snow just barely covered the tops of the dead grass. The streets were totally clear but they cancelled school "just in case."

Here's a really cool sky shot she took, too.

Need insanity?

We now have three teenagers in the house. So, if you need a dose of insanity, bookmark my blog. Fortunately, we will never have more than three teenagers at any one time in our house, Blair will turn 20 just seven short days before Christy turns 13.

All that to say...Happy Birthday, Kate!

Kate couldn't come up with anything for her birthday list. She's always been the happy-to-be-breathing type, never wanting for anything, and very little gets her down for long. She is an animal lover and is considering a career in zookeeping or animal rescue. She does have an amazing way with animals. They calm down in her presence and come to her when they see her coming. Amazing. She'll be working at the zoo again this summer, which she dearly loves.

She has a bunch of games (Zoo Tycoon, Imagine Animal Doctor, Nintendogs, Paws and Claws Pet Hospital, etc.) she plays on my Nintendo DS. Well, this is the year we broke down and got her her own DS. She's plenty responsible enough to take care of such a large investment, and neat and tidy enough to not be losing the little tiny games. And she has a good head on her shoulders, so I don't worry that she'll be up in the middle of the night playing. We'll need to keep an eye on the temptation to play when there's school or chores to be done, but that will be a good learning experience for her.

She was so surprised, so happy, so shocked that we could choose for her such a wonderful gift. Her face lit up when she opened it like she'd been given solid gold. It was solid gold watching her take each piece out and look at it and giggle over it.

Blair made her cake from scratch and it was delicious! She used canned icing, but added some cherry and almond extract and her own food coloring to get it the right color. Quite the artist! And boy, was it GOOD.
So, Happy Birthday, Kate! I pray you continue to be the wonderful, happy blessing you are.

Like whacking moles with a Boggle Game!

Go to Pogo to play 100s of Fun Games!

Oscar Fest 2008

Every year we make a big deal about the Oscars. Hubby and I met when we were in the film industry and the Oscars were like the BIG event (well, that and ShoWest) for us.

We've always had a small party with themed food and decorations. It was easier to make it a big "family thing" when Billy Crystal hosted because he kept the broadcast clean. Whoopi was the worst, we had to send the kids out of the room! This year we passed out ballots for everyone to nominate their favorite dishes (which can be based on a movie, a star's name or a scene from a movie) and the Academy (Hubby and I) would decide the winners and cook them for the Oscar Fest. But this year the foods just didn't come as easily as they have in years past. There was only one we didn't choose that was even close to relevant: "I Drink Your Milkshakes" from There Will Be Blood. It would have been a great one, but hubby would have had to describe the scene for the kids and he didn't really want to get into that.

And the Oscar goes to…
Daddy
For
No Poultry for Old Men (No Country for Old Men)










And the Oscar goes to…
Daddy
For
Enchanted Hot Dogs
(Based on the scene from Enchanted in Central Park with the hot dog vendor)


And the Oscar goes to…
Mom
For
3:10 to Yummy (3:10 to Yuma)





And the Oscar goes to…
Kate
For
Grapes, Baby, Grapes (Gone, Baby, Gone)



And the Oscar goes to…
Christy
For
Ratatouille (I'll let you try to guess this one. Think hard, now!)




And the Oscar goes to…
Rose
For
The Baby Bell and the Butter Knife (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly)




The kids also dress up in finery or costumes for their red carpet interview on the way in to dinner. Then we eat, watch the broadcast and tally our votes. The winner (the one who guessed the most actual award winners) gets a special award at the end of the night. Corny, but what can I say, it's a tradition!

Shhh. Be vewy vewy quiet.

I'm not hunting wabbit, I have one of those headaches. The kind that come and stay for three days. Kind of like what I've read about a migraine but not with the nausea. Just sensitivity to light, sound and PAIN.

But I really don't have time. Tomorrow is the Oscars and that means today I have to shop and pre-cook for our annual Oscar Fest. So far, the only dish we know for sure will be included is, of course, Ratatouille. We have the nominations (the kids nominated one food in each of six categories and Pop and I chose the winners), but the ballots are far from "Kept in a hermetically sealed mayonaise jar on Funk and Wagner's porch since noon today" like they usually are the day before the telecast.

12 pop culture points to whomever can first correctly identify the origin of the quoted phrase.

Oh, my pitiful, sinful self.

See? Yesterday's post is a perfect example of why I need a savior every day of my life. I could just delete the post and "seem" more righteous by having not vented, but I will leave it as a testimony to how selfish I really am deep down.