I have a bit of a problem.

I love salt and pepper shakers.  I picked these cuties up at Sur la Table a few weeks ago.  They make me happy.

When I was checking out, the sales lady said, "These are so great."

Me: "Yes, I love salt and pepper shakers.  And since I bought these, I can finally put away my Easter ones."

Sales lady: "Salt and Pepper shakers can make or break a table setting."

Huh?  Make or break a table setting?  Flowers, sure.  Linens, of course.  But salt and pepper shakers?  No way.

Crazy sales lady. 

Safety Town

For the past two weeks, Gracie has been going to Safety Town.  It is a program for kids entering K4 in the fall and is put on through our rec department.  They went on field trips to the fire station and local park.  They did a ton of art projects.  A police officer and ambulance came to visit them.  They had a little town set up outside for the kids to learn the rules of crossing the street and riding bikes.   It is a great program and Gracie LOVED it.

Every day, Gracie had to wear her shirt that said "I am a Safety Town Kid".  So cute.  

One day the kids all learned from Mr. Yuk, who taught them all about dangerous household products.

  As soon as she got home that day, she pulled out her Mr. Yuk stickers and headed for the kitchen sink to label all the products.

 

And then she explained to Andrew, "See it looks like juice but it is not juice.  It is Mr. Yuk!  You will get sick if you eat this Andrew.  You will go to the hospital."



Then Gracie got a little carried away and decided she needed to do some glamour poses with the bottle of soap. So fancy.

On the last day of Safety Town there was a demonstration, graduation party and celebration.  Grace's super cool mom, brother and grandmothers came to watch. 

All the kids lined up and sang all the songs they learned. Such as:

"We don't walk with strangers. No. No. No!
We don't talk with strangers. No. No. No!"

or

"Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!  Hear the sirens blaring.
Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!  Everyone is going."

and my personal favorite

"Riding in the car or van.
We never ever bother Mom or Dad."

Grace had a little incident with her helmet, so she decided to ride with it unbuckled.  Safe?  I think not.

Here she is riding by Andrew and me...she is a little bashful here.

Here she is receiving her Safety Town diploma.

And the highlight.  Cake!

Here is Grace with her wonderful group leaders.  These are 13 year olds that VOLUNTEER to come and spend a couple hours every day for 2 weeks with 4 year olds.  Saints!  And these two live by us and babysit.  Yes, I got their phone number.

Three * and a toe

At Matt's wedding, after a drink or two (or twelve) Mark started getting a bit silly.  And at some point a glass was dropped.  The specifics of what led up to the dropping will not be disclosed.  Those of us who were there know what happened.  No blame is being placed, except to say that it was definitely not me who was sloppy enough to drop a glass.

A shard of glass flew into the air and accelerated down to the ground, piercing my big toe.  I chose to ignore this pain for a minute or two until I felt that my (borrowed) flip flop was a bit, uh, slippery.  With blood.  So I hobbled off the dance floor and grabbed a napkin to clean up.  Well the bleeding was not stopping, so in a very subdued fashion I asked Amy to find one of the doctors onsite and to tell me if I needed stitches.  I was thinking that the last thing I needed to do was go to the Altoona emergency room at midnight.

I should have looked at my poor toe before I asked for assistance, as the wound was about 1.5mm.  Not exactly stitch-worthy. 

Three doctors came to my aid.  All were 30 or younger, so I am guessing this is the first time they have been at a party and someone needed a doctor.  I am thinking this was exciting for them. 

Doctor 1 "The Resident" 
"You do not need a stitch."
"Okay, thank you!"

Doctor 2 "The Plastic Surgeon"
"Have you been drinking?" 
(Uh, is the Pope Catholic?)  "Yes"
"Okay, apply pressure and elevate for 5 minutes."
"No permanent damage?  No reconstructive surgery needed?"
"No."

Doctor 3 "The Orthopedic Surgeon" 
 "Let me take a look.  Yes, you definitely need your leg amputated at the knee.  Or maybe it is cancer.  Yes, definitely cancer."
"Awe shoot.  Can I still get a pedicure?  Oh wait!  Look at my blood.  It is hot pink!  I am so fancy!"

Wedding Weekend

We arrived in Altoona just in time to get ready for the rehearsal dinner for Matt & Kristy.  We had a fabulous dinner (I think I am still full) and enjoyed the touching toasts.  Here are some snapshots from the rehearsal dinner "after party."

Darnieder & Jassak kids!

Saturday morning Kevin used google to find us a pastry shop for breakfast.  Google did not disappoint. 

Miss Grove's Pastry Shop

 

They had pies, cookies, sweet rolls, muffins and cinnamon buns.  They had Christmas decorations.  They had frosting.

Look at that frosting!  For breakfast!  Fabulous.

After breakfast, Kevin and my dad headed up to State College, PA to look around the campus.  While the ladies hit up the local mall.  Then it was time to get ready for the wedding. 

Here is Matt waiting for his bride. 

The proud parents.

There was a porch at the reception with absolutely gorgeous views.  Perfect spot for numerous photos.

There was open bar at the wedding.  As you can see by the photos below.

Kevin and I stayed late.  After all, we had to live up to our reputation as the life of the party.

Here is Mark showing the best man (the outfit cannot be explained, just understand that it was funny) his super awkward dance moves.  Not sure who looks weirder.....

Washington, DC

For Matt and Kristy's wedding, we flew into DC and spent one day there.  We had lunch with Amy and walked around Georgetown for a little bit.  We came across a street we thought Gracie would love.

After that, we headed over to the Smithsonian museums.  We stopped to take a picture at the White House.

And Kevin insisted that I get his picture in front of the back of the Treasury building.  He loves finance.

Here I am pretending to be the boss.  Please appreciate the fact that I took a respectful picture.  The other people there did not.

Giant Hippo.

We had a wonderful dinner at a great restaurant with my parents and my Uncle Greg who works for the Secretary of Education.  It was so interesting to hear his stories about working for the federal government.

Friday AM, we got up early and walked to some monuments.  The reflecting pool in front of the Washington monument is all torn up, so that was a little disappointing.  Kevin and I agree that we cannot wait to take the kids to DC when they are older,  there is so much for them to see. 

After a few hours we headed out to the airport, picked up our rental car, Mark and Maura and made the scenic drive to Altoona, PA.

Mexican Chocolate Cake

Maggie gave me this recipe, and I love it! It is more involved than just opening up a box of cake mix, but well worth it. In fact, this is the first time I made this recipe and didn't realize after a few minutes of baking that I forgot to add an ingredient and needed to pull the cake out of the oven to stir it in.  I think I have ADD or whatever it is called.

From what I can tell, this is from a cookbook called "Wild Game".  Don't worry, the cake does not contain any wild game....or any game for that matter. 

Preheat over to 400 degrees.

Grease 15x10x2 pan.

CAKE
8 T unsalted butter
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 c all purpose flour
2 c sugar
1/2 c buttermilk
2 lg eggs
1t baking soda
1 t vanilla extract
1 t ground cinnamon
1 t powerdered instant espresso or regular coffee
1/2 t salt
3/4 chopped nuts (optional)

1. In saucepan combine butter, cocao and 1 C water over moderate heat. Bring to boil. Remove from heat.

2. In large bowl sift together flour and sugar.

3. Add melted cocoa to flour & sugar and beat until well blended.

 

4. Continue beating while adding buttermilk, eggs, baking soda, vanilla, cinnamon, coffee, & salt.


5. Fold in nuts.

6. Pour it in the prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes. Cake will be moist. Note: I had to bake mine a bit longer.

ICING

3 1/2 c powdered sugar
8 T unsalted butter (melted)
1/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 c plus 2 T milk
1 t vanilla extract
1 t powdered instant espresso or regular coffee
1 t ground cinnamon

1. Combine all ingredients.

2. Eat a big spoonful to be sure it is sweet and buttery enough. 

3. After cake has cooled, spread the icing on top.

After you taste this cake you will all want Maggie's email so you can send her a thank you note.  Please email me and I will hook you up.

Enjoy!

Hot Hot Hot

Last week it was really flipping hot.  Like 97 degrees hot.  We wanted to go to the pool, but it was closed.  So instead we let the kids play in the sprinkler after dinner. 

Grace absolutely loved it, and Andrew found it a little cold.  See the look of panic on his face?

And I think I said, "Be careful! Don't slip!" at least 100 times.  In fact, I think I was too exhausted and hot to say anything but that.  Crocs+Wet Concrete=Slippery!