betrayal of the worst kind...

The time: Easter Eve
The place: Nana's and Poppa's in San Antonio

Nana was making deviled eggs for our Easter feast the next day while a certain boy named Tank wandered in...

"Nana?" the small boy inquired.

Nana, while intent on filling the little egg boats just right, always had time for her beloved grandchildren, "Yes, Tank?"

"Are you making Devil's Eggs for us?"

With a smile, "Yes, honey. I am."

Tank's eyes widened with anticipation. "For dinner tonight?"

Nana turned to her littlest grandson, "No, they're for Easter tomorrow."

The jubilant face turned dark and his eyes narrowed, "TRICKERY!" In one movement he turned on his heel and ran up the stairs to sit with Poppa, the non-betrayer.

Nana and a quietly observing Mommy, watched him leave, turned to each other and laughing, repeated, "Trickery?"

Who even taught him that word?

choosy girls choose asiago

Scoochy has a discriminating palate. For instance, she prefers dijon over "regular" mustard and Chili's kids' pizzas taste like "cardboard." If there's one thing she adores, it is the combination of asiago cheese and bread. Whenever someone is going to the store and asks if anyone needs anything, Scoochy pipes up with, "Asiago bread!"

I decided to indulge her and bought her a $6 wedge of asiago and told her she could make her own bread. She did and those three lovely and absolutely delicious loaves were the product of her labors. Bravo, Scooch!

they are smarter than we give them credit for.

Apparently The emp has been paying attention. Her older brother Tank's job is to fold washcloths and put them away. He was still working on his schoolwork when The emp, who was playing with Daddy, saw the pile. She immediately began folding them. She was having a little bit of trouble so Daddy showed her how to do one properly and that was it. No more instruction necessary. She folded the entire stack and carefully piled them. Then she proceeded to walk into the kitchen and put them away, without prompting! It never ceases to amaze me when they reveal how they understand and are capable of so much more than we thought.

She knows exactly where she's going.

I told her, "I'm gonna take your picture." This is the tail end of her telling me, "No."

This is actually the towel cupboard. She saw that she made a mistake, closed the door and opened the correct one. I'm still shocked.

another wave begins.

The house was quiet. Too quiet. But we didn't notice. We just kept doing what we were doing. No one had the slightest idea what was transpiring in the pantry.

I knew I needed to start making dinner. I walked into the kitchen and I heard glass tapping on glass. At first I was confused. What was that? Suddenly it dawned on me. The quiet. The lack of a visual on the littlest member of our family. I turned to the noise and when I saw the spice jars lined up in a row on the ground, I knew there was mischief afoot. It was the emp! You have to be impressed though. She actually got the step stool and dragged it in. Otherwise she couldn't have reached the spice jars. I guess I am always reminding them to "find a solution." And she did. Boy, did she.


No one has told her. No one has said a word so it must be genetics. There's no other explanation. But if anyone doubted if Princess Cutie Pops and The emp were sisters, this exact incident would be a strong argument for their shared genes. The following pictures are Exhibit A, B and C against our little emp. When you are finished, jump over here for the evidence of PCPops mischievousness. Focus especially on the fifth picture over there. PCPops has a knack for destruction, but we thought the toddler-type of havoc was behind us. Oh, no. No sirree. The emp has taken up the torch. God help us.

The first glimpse of The emp's handiwork.

We caught her just in time. She almost had the foil off of that soymilk. Most of the mess above is sesame seeds.

Cumin seeds, mustard seeds and other spices that were dumped out.

After her stern talking to. Poor little thing. (Although I wasn't thinking Poor little thing at the time.)

In all she wasted about $5 dollars worth of spices. Luckily I buy them in the bulk section or at the Asian market otherwise she would have done about $20 of damage. Oh, kids. Ya gotta love 'em.

the 8th of Princess Cutie Pops

Our Princess Cutie Pops turned eight. She chose red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and poinsettia decorations. We had fun putting them together and the entire house smelled of cinnamon gum.

The hoard.

We got her ears pierced for our present and knowing this in advance, Nana and Papa got her five pairs of earrings! Now she just has to wait six weeks before she can wear them.

As usual, a great present from our friends.

Her siblings got her a pair of "real crocs" in her favorite color.

christmas cookies, belated.

Every year the kids each pick out a cookie to make with mommmy. This year had new ones and an old favorite:

Princess Cutie Pops picked delicious Eggnog Logs. I was surprised to find that it called for absolutely no eggnog, but did in fact taste rather egg noggy in the end. 

As usual, Scoochy chose a decadent and rather upscale cookie. She has such a sophisticated palate. Chocolate mint wafers...oh my goodness. Dark chocolate flavored wafers sandwiched around chocolate mint ganache and dipped in chocolate. To. Die. For.

"Hmmm...which one to eat as soon as Mom is done taking pictures?" Dodge is just like his Daddy. Why try a new recipe when we know Peanut Butter Blossoms are delicious? I'll give you one guess what he'll pick as his cookie next year...

Our little emp is trying to grab Tank's plate of Chocolate Meringues. These babies were melt-in-your-mouth delicious and super simple to make. The only drawbacks were having to pipe them and the 2-hr baking time. But hey! That's what Christmas cookies are for, right? It's that extra little oomph that we don't want to give cookies the rest of the year.

She's got it all figured out.

Princess Cutie Pops' birthday is Christmas Eve. We asked her what she wanted for her birthday. She answered, "A horse. And I want a horse for Christmas, too."

Daddy shook his head, "Sweetie, that's a waste. You can only ride one at a time. Why get two?"

Confidently she replied, "Because next year I'm asking for a chariot!"

Who says kids never plan for the future?