Through the Window

View from the living room window as seen by someone on the couch nursing a cold.

Yums

Our neighbors Martha and Bob are a retired couple who moved here from Texas. They bought an old house and meticulously reconstructed it, making it more beautiful than it ever probably dreamed of being.

They included a HUGE gourmet kitchen in the remodel because Martha LOVES to bake. Cookies. My neighbor Martha is the queen of cookies. She makes cookies for every occasion, and leaves them on our doorstep. Fourth of July, Christmas, Halloween. Cookies, cookies, cookies. She is right up there with our Grandma Anna in the cookie department, which is saying A LOT about a person's talent.

She recently brought over the most delicious plate of Peanut Butter Cookies, which we ate in record time. They were unusually good, and she was kind enough to share the secret recipe. Here it is, with all of her notes (you can read them in a Texas accent, can't you?)

_____________________________________________________

These are the best peanut butter cookies I have ever put in my mouth, and by far the easiest-enjoy!

Quickest Peanut Butter Cookies (These have no flour in them, by the way)

2 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups chunky or smooth peanut butter (this measures exactly 18 ounces, if you have a kitchen scale)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees; lightly grease cookie sheets.

In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar and soda; stir in eggs and vanilla. Add peanut butter and stir with a wooden spoon until combined. (Mixture will stiffen as it is stirred.)

Form dough into balls using a small ice cream scoop, or form into 1-inch balls by rolling with your hands. Drop the dough balls about 3 inches apart on to the cookie sheets. If you wish, flatten slightly with the tines of a fork to make them look like peanut butter cookies. Bake in the 350 degree oven for around 12 minutes, or until the bottoms of cookies are golden brown. Ovens vary-my convection oven takes almost 15 minutes-a first batch is a good test. They need to be baked until they are not doughy in the center, anyway.

Let stand on cookie sheets for a minute, then transfer with a spatula to a cooling rack. I got about 3 1/2 dozen, using the small ice cream scoop to form the cookies.

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(My Note: She doesn't say how many you get if you stand at the counter and eat a bunch of the dough first. But if that happens, you will still get about 3 dozen :))

He's Still Here

Yes, I have noticed that lately there have been many photos of son #2 and almost none (unless you spot him in the background somewhere) of son #1.

There is a simple explanation for this: ADOLESCENCE. Someone told us recently that adolescence now lasts from age 10 to age 24. Great.

My sweet little baby whose face graces about 90% of the photos I've taken in the last 10 years, is now annoyed and inconvenienced when I want to get a picture of him. Plus, he is very into pre-adolescent privacy needs, so his activities are "secret" and not something he wants on film, much less the internet.

So, since a parent's job is sometimes to push her child's limits, I followed him around after school and recorded some moments in his life. I told him I HAD to because the grandmas are getting nervous that his face hasn't appeared on the blog for a while. I told him they're starting to think I got him his own apartment. His eyes lit up. Hmmm...

Anyway, here he is, grandmas. Alive and well and chewing through books like nobody's business.

Starting to lose my picture-taking privileges:

Ka-Boing

Have I ever mentioned that I live with a world-class pogo stick-er?



That's right. No-handed and everything.



Once the neighbors got over the headache from the constant ka-boing, ka-boing, ka-boing in our driveway, they all commented on his impressive ability to pogo stick for hours at a time. No handed. While talking. While singing. While yelling at his brother. While eating.

I like to imagine them smiling in their kitchens, knowing that the jackhammer sound outside is really a boy in pursuit of greatness.



Sometimes, his friend joins in.

Sometimes his mom does, too, but getting pictures of that would be tricky.

It's Coming

The signs of fall are starting to pop up everywhere.

The dry summer has stressed the sugar maples, so they're already turning orange and yellow.

The kids are overly excited about falling leaves, and are desperately trying to make piles big enough to jump in. I think they forget how many leaves will fall over the next month :).

The jars of good stuff are starting to add up. My friend Heidi and I spent 10 blissful hours last Saturday making and preserving spaghetti and pizza sauce from the tomatoes in our gardens. Spouse free, kid free, dog free time. Just the two of us harmoniously making a giant, tomatoey mess and filling lots of jars.

At the same time, Eric and the boys were picking the last of the fall raspberries. So we made many, many jars of raspberry jam the next day.

(Really, it's all we need to live...just a stockpile of raspberry jam, spaghetti sauce, and a few spoons.)

One trip to the apple orchard, and we won't be able to deny it any longer...fall is definitely coming.

That's What Friends Are For

Friends are supposed to help you in times of need, NOT introduce you to yet-another-internet-addiction so that you become completely incapable of doing your work.

Thanks, Jill and Kelly, for the introduction to my new friend Facebook.

I needed to spend more time on this computer, ignoring work and family members, and slowly developing carpal tunnel syndrom!

Here He Goes Again

Friday night high school football has needed someone like Eric for a long time.

Catch audio of his broadcasts here every Friday night.


Tonight he's announcing Elk River at Centennial.


I have heard that some people have a limited attention span when it comes to football, but I have been told that you can listen while visiting other areas of interest on the internet.

Not that I ever do this. No, no, no.

But if someone were to try it, I would imagine that crateandbarrel.com would be a good place to start.

Black Beans

Parade Day

For us, though, the best part of this big celebration is the parade.

It's not that we're big into parades, it's that this particular parade goes right past our house. It doesn't get much better than that.

And over the years, as friends have realized that we live right on the big parade route, our front yard has become the place to be on parade day. We fill the coolers, put out the food, and watch as crowds take over the neighborhood.

This two-hour parade includes bad guys with guns,

the mischievous Vulcans from St. Paul's Winter Carnival, who "vulcanize" innocent victims,

other strange characters,

friends and neighbors,

and, most importantly, enough candy to last a lifetime.

The whole thing inspired Theo, who has a particular brand of parade fever all his own, to declare, "Mom, this day is bigger than Christmas!"

Fun and Games

Our town holds a huge celebration each year that is full of fun and games and carnivals and parades and men on horses shooting guns.

What we're celebrating is a famous bank robbery that took place right down the street from our house in the late 1800's. Well, not exactly celebrating the robbery, as much as the fact that they only got away with a few dollars.

Anyway, the point is the celebration!

We go to the carnival each year and ride our favorite rides. They all involve me pretending I don't notice that our bodies are being hurled through space on a rickety metal machine with questionable greasy parts and an equally questionable and greasy operator guy.

Ben and a friend winning yet ANOTHER stuffed animal.

In my opinion, the carnival looks best from across the river, under the safety of the food tents...

On the Homefront

First up, some home improvement projects.

We stripped (and stripped and stripped) our front door that had MANY layers of white paint and dark varnish on it. It is now a beautiful, smooth, warm honey-colored wood that I can't stop touching.

Then I spent most of Labor Day weekend applying 400,000 coats of magnetic paint, covered by chalkboard paint, to a pillar in our kitchen.

It has become necessary for me to post lists and reminders for my children WHERE THEY CANNOT MISS THEM. Like on this big black pillar that they walk past a thousand times a day, and still, for some reason, do not notice.

But isn't it neat?



The last project was one that I've had on my list since we moved in here: a picture ledge for the boys' artwork. They have a fantastic art program at school, and bring home some of the most mouth-watering art that will no longer fall off our walls because the tape isn't sticky enough.

And, as if we hadn't already shot all of our project mojo on this stuff, we also installed a new faucet in the upstairs bathroom and a new vent on the dryer. Not exactly photo-worthy projects, but hey, they count.

We'd be feeling really good about all of these accomplishments if they weren't just the tip of the Home Improvement Iceburg here at casa Lucas! Stay tuned for more.

Every Home Should Have One

aaahh...that's better

Our computer is safely home and we are the proud owners of a new hard drive.

Yippee.

I have much to talk about, but no time right now. I just miss this so much that I had to do a little something to satisfy my urge to blog.

Here's a lovely photo to meditate on until I have time to post again.

Be Back Soon...

Sorry for the absence. Our beloved computer is at the hospital, and we're hoping it makes it back home sometime soon.

We'll be back with some exciting home improvement projects, celebrations and parades.

Who would have guessed that without a computer our lives would be so exciting???

Mama's Got a New Toy

Our camera is a basic digital point-and-shoot that serves us well for our everyday needs. But sometimes, a girl needs more...you know?


My old SLR camera has been collecting dust since the purchase of the digital camera because...(whisper)...it's not digital. But SLR cameras are just plain fun to use. Every once in a while I take it out of its case and play with its lense and pretend to take pictures. I miss the ability to take close-ups and low-light photos and I miss the focusing and the clicking sound it makes when I push the button.


It was all of this sentimentality that drove me to purchase a new toy last weekend...a digital SLR. Guided by my sister's expertise and my own limited knowledge, I bought a new camera and I am so excited!


Now I can take pictures like this:



And this:

And this:




And still take pictures like this:

...And They're Off!