Throwback Thursday: AJ and "Fawell"

A few of my favorite throwback pics of the kiddos with their AJ (Aunt Jenna) and their new Uncle Ferrell (who Hallie still calls "Fawell").

Welcome to the family, Fawell!

Few Words Wednesday: Flower Girl of Honor

A wedding picture teaser...

When Hallie walked out of the bedroom in her flower girl dress, Lily stopped in her tracks, took a deep breath, and declared, "YOU. LOOK. BEAUTIFUL." Then Lily adjusted Hallie's (non-existent) train and supervised Hallie's hair appointment with Aunt Sara.

The whole encounter was almost more cuteness than I could take.

Tasty Tuesday: Spicy Sausage Pasta

Well Friends, I'm officially overwhelmed. I did absolutely everything I could to make the transition back to "real life" after five days spent traveling and celebrating as smooth as possible, but it wasn't enough. Monday morning went exactly as well as stereotypical Monday mornings go…

Exhausted? Check.
Running late? Check. 
Crying? Check. 
Yelling? Check.
Child poops pants? Check. 
No clean shorts? Check.
Child forgets water bottle? Check.
Cat poops in laundry? CHECK.

The list goes on.

So…instead of a putting up a regular post on Wednesday, this week I plan to put up "short-and-sweet" posts on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. And I'll still post wedding pics on Friday's "High Five" post. I hope y'all have a great week!

Tasty Tuesday: Spicy Sausage Pasta
Adaptations: I omitted the olive oil and lightly coated my pan with cooking spray instead, used a little extra garlic, used 1/4 c. heavy cream and 1/4 c. skim milk, used 1/2 c. cheddar cheese and 1/2 c. monterey jack cheese, and added all the cheese at one time (and therefore skipping broiling).
Comments: I served this dish with a tossed veggie salad and the meal really hit the spot for all four Ferri - even Hallie ate it! I LOVED that the meal required only one pan/dish (in my experience, meals billed as "one-pan/dish" often require call for taking one ingredient out of the pan when you put another  ingredient in, which means you still dirty up additional dishes), and it came together easily in less than 30 minutes. It might actually be what we end up having for dinner tonight!

And just for fun, I'll leave you with a few pics of Will and Hallie's first-ever bites of real food (if you can call rice cereal real food). Looking back, I think we should have anticipated the picky eater thing long before she pulled it on us…

Officially Banned

For those of you hoping to see wedding pics this morning, my apologies. We arrived home after our whirlwind, four-day trip to Nebraska last night, and I haven't yet had time to go through the pictures I took or download the pictures taken by others throughout the weekend. Check back on Friday for a wedding-themed High Five for Friday post!

Disclaimer: this post has to do with feline bodily functions, and while I've done my best to write about this topic tastefully, I had to use the words poop and pee a few times. You've been warned.

When we brought Moo home I couldn't believe our good fortune: he seemed almost entirely potty trained already. On that first night he used the litter box multiple times and appeared to have absolutely no interest in relieving himself on the furniture, rugs, or floor.

Beginners luck.

A few nights later I followed an unfortunate scent through the house and into the office where I discovered that Moo had pooped in the garbage can. I didn't particularly want to clean up this mess - who would, right? I considered just throwing the garbage can out with the poop - but because I really like this particular garbage can I did so anyway. Part of my "process" involved giving the garbage can a long, hot shower.

A few days later Moo did the same thing in my bathtub. Twice.

A few days after that, Moo did the same thing in my sink. But this time, he added insult to injury and dragged a hair bow of Hallie's in there with him before he did his business. Needless to say, that hair bow no longer resides in our house.

But the kicker…

One night Hallie wandered out of her bedroom and into the living room in search of something to read. She went through the basket in which we keep all of our library books, made her selection, and started back toward her room. Halfway there, Hallie stopped suddenly, spun around, and with a hint of accusation in her voice, asked us why the book was all wet.

Good grief. As if the library doesn't hate me enough already, what with the book ripping and the dress paying and the temper tantrums and the bathroom accidents, now my cat has decided to use library books as his second litter box.

Interestingly, Moo choose this book to pee on.

Perhaps he felt threatened by the presence of another cat in our home.

Trust me, Moo, you shouldn't feel threatened by other cats, real or in pictures. You should, however, feel threatened by library personnel…they may be coming after both you and me in the very near future.

Going to the Chapel!

Tomorrow my sis-in-law, Jenna, and future bro-in-law, Ferrell, will tie the knot. All four Ferri have roles in the wedding - I'm the Matron of Honor, Tom is a groomsman and an usher, Will is the Ring Bearer, and Hallie is the Flower Girl - and we're traveling hundreds of miles for the festivities, so to say I've been busy preparing would be an understatement.

Because I've been so busy and I'm in total wedding mode, I decided to replace today's High Five for Friday post with a few fun photos from our wedding and related festivities nearly 11 years ago.

As she sits next to me and watches the photos upload to this blog post, Hallie cries and through her tears wonders "WHY, Mama?! Why wouldn't you invite me to your wedding?!"

The only one of our engagement photos I can
find happens to be one I don't particularly love.

With my friend, Katy, my sister, my mom, and Katy's mom,
Mary Jo. Katy and Mary Jo threw me a lovely wedding shower!

With Tom's grandmas and mom at the shower.

Headed out on our wedding bar crawl. (We got married in Iowa in January,
and despite the fact that it was snowing, this is all we wore. It's miraculous
none of our 30 or so bar crawlers ended up with hypothermia or frostbite.

I included this photo to show just how long
the beans have been a part of our lives.

The moms, grandmas, and wedding party ladies at the
lovely bridal brunch my friend Carrie threw for me.

I do! I do too!

Our families met when Tom and I started dating and became friends
over the years. It means the world to Tom and me that each side includes
the other in special events and makes an effort to stay connected.  

Our maid of honor, bridesmaids, best man, groomsmen, and ushers. I wish
we lived closer to these close friends and family members - I miss them all.

Our musicians - more wonderful friends who I miss tremendously.

Yes, my maid of honor and bridesmaids and I sang
"Going to the Chapel" to the boys during the toasts. 

First dance with my hubby.

First dance with my dad.

And then the dancing really got crazy. This is one of my favorite
pictures ever of Tom's youngest brother, Grant. He was 16 - and
had the dance moves to prove it - when we got married. 

Tom's band performed quite a few original numbers
and covers midway through the reception.

And Tom and I performed an impromptu lip sync of the Elephant
Love Medley from Moulin Rouge. (Yes, I changed out of my wedding
dress and into my own bridesmaid dress after the formal dances.)

And finally, my favorite photo from the day.

We need a witness to our lives. There are a billion people on the planet… I mean, what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you're promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things… all of it, all of the time, every day. You're saying 'Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go un-witnessed because I will be your witness.' 

~ Shall We Dance?

Congratulations, Jenna and Ferrell!

Recipes: Sweet Treats

Last year I started providing homemade cookies for the kiddos' elementary school PTO meetings. I didn't want to bore our PTO members by offering only chocolate chip and gingersnap cookies - my go-to cookie treats - so I began to experiment with cookie recipes. Experimenting with cookie recipes led to experimenting with all dessert recipes, and now my recipe box is full of delicious desserts that branch out beyond brownies and strawberry shortcake. Here are a few of my favorites!

Note: I use these pans when I bake cookies and scones, roast veggies, etc. They are without a doubt the best pans I have ever owned and I will never buy another kind of baking sheet or roasting pan. One of my favorite features of these pans is that you never need to grease or butter them, or line them with parchment paper or baking mats. Instead of listing in the "adaptations" section of each recipe that I didn't grease the pan or use parchment paper, I'll just tell you now that no matter what the recipe says, when I use these pans I don't prep them in any way.

Key Lime Coconut Cookies
Adaptations: I used regular limes instead of key limes.
Comments: I made these cookies with Tom - a lover of all things coconut - in mind, but I know for certain that I ended up eating more of them than anyone else in my family did, not because Tom, Will, and Hallie didn't want to eat the cookies but because once I started eating I couldn't stop eating. They actually melted in my mouth…

Spiced Carrot Cake Cookies
Adaptations: I used quick cooking oats instead of old fashioned oats, and skipped the raisins and nuts.
Comments: I love carrot cake, but there are times when I just don't want to commit to baking a cake. These cookies were a great substitute - easy to make, (the recipe) halved easily, and I could eat just one. Or two.

Pumpkin Spice Cookies
Adaptations: None.
Comments: Even though I have a pumpkin snickerdoodle cookie recipe that I swear by, I was curious enough about this two-ingredient recipe (can you even call it a recipe when it only lists two ingredients?) to give it a try. Turns out two ingredients can be surprisingly tasty, and while this recipe won't replace my snickerdoodle recipe, it'll working a pinch. Because I'm sure you often find yourself in the kind of pinch that requires having to produce a few dozen pumpkin cookies at the last minute...

Chocolate Chocolate White Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adaptations: I skipped the white chocolate chips - I'm just not a fan - and used about two cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips.
Comments: Do you like chocolate? If so, MAKE THESE COOKIES NOW. Enough said.

Strawberry Cake
Adaptations: I cut the sugar by about a quarter for the cake and the strawberries (I often cut the sugar in my baked goods and hardly ever notice a difference) and used three whole eggs instead of four egg whites.
Comments: The assembled cake tasted exactly like strawberry shortcake, but the cake itself was lighter and fluffier than shortcake. I loved that I could enjoy the flavor of one of my favorite desserts without it sitting so heavily in my stomach. This is a must-make treat during strawberry season!

Funfetti Sugar Cookie Cake
Adaptations: I skipped the white chocolate chips and made a basic buttercream frosting instead of the vanilla almond frosting in the recipe.
Comments: Hallie and I saw a picture of this cookie cake (or something similar) in a magazine, hunted down the recipe online, and baked it to celebrate the last day of school back in May. It turned out as beautifully in real life as it looks in the picture, something that rarely happens when I bake or cook. And it was delicious, both with and without the frosting.

Lightened Hummingbird Cake
Adaptations: None.
Comments: I baked this cake because I found myself - yet again - needing to clear a few frozen bananas out of my freezer. The banana, pineapple, and applesauce combined to give this cake a light, fruity taste that went over well with all four Ferri. This dessert - as a cake or cupcakes - would be a perfect addition to a summer cookout!

Pumpkin Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
Adaptations: When it came to the cake, I cut the sugar by about a quarter, used unsweetened applesauce instead of oil, and baked the cake as two layers instead of three layers. When it came to the frosting, I left out the cinnamon because I suspected I might have a little extra frosting (two layers requires less frosting than three layers) and would want to save it to go with another recipe.
Comments: The flavors, the colors, the richness - everything about this delicious and decadent dessert screams fall. We enjoyed this cake enough to add it to our Thanksgiving menu…in place of the more traditional pumpkin pie!

Lemon Blueberry Layer Cake
Adaptations: Like with the pumpkin cake, I went with two layers instead of three. I also cut the sugar by a quarter, replaced the cake flour with all-purpose flour, and used a little extra lemon juice in place of the lemon extract. Oh, and I didn't decorate the top and sides of the cake with blueberries and lemon slices.
Comments: This was another recipe I made with Tom in mind - next to coconut desserts are second only to blueberry desserts in his book - and it turned out to be everything he'd hoped for and more. The kids ranked this one a little lower (you know, they don't like "stuff" in their cakes), but Tom and I loved  the light combination of lemon and blueberry partnered with the rich cream cheese frosting.

Time to start preheating your oven!

I feel like I should add a disclaimer…I don't bake and eat desserts all day long every day! I bake one dessert - usually trying a new recipe - every Friday for us to enjoy on the weekend. If I bake during the week it's almost always for a special event (like a PTO meeting, birthday celebration, etc.), and I keep at home only enough of the dessert for each of us to have one serving. And then I go to the gym.

My Roots: There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe

Every few months I have an experience - either on my own or through my kids - that transports me back to a long-ago moment or a period of time that in some way shaped the person I am today. I want to write about these experiences, to document how they make me feel today compared to how they made me feel when I was young(er), and have decided to tie them into the theme of Chasing Roots because while they are not necessarily Midwestern or Texan, they are decidedly a part of my roots.

Growing up we visited the shoe slide park - named, obviously, for its giant, shoe-shaped slide - nearly every afternoon during the summer months, and as regularly as possible on weekends during the fall, winter, and spring months. The slide, as in the long, rectangular, slightly-curved-at-the-bottom sheet of metal, was just a slide. But the framework surrounding the slide turned the structure into the perfect spot for nursery rhymes, fairy tails, and adventures to unfold. I made lasting memories with my sister, parents, friends, and even my own kids in that shoe, and I'll always remember the joy that park brought me, no matter how old I get or how far away I move.

According to Lost Madison and a number of additional sources I came across, the origin of the shoe slide is a mystery. Many Madisonians remember playing on the slide in the mid-to-late 1960s and the slide begins showing up in city records in 1970, but no one knows exactly when it was built or who built it.

The Madison Metropolitan School District's Recreation Department is responsible for the slide's upkeep (how the school district ended up with this job is another mystery, as the land on which the slide was built is a public park and does not belong to the school district), and they take this responsibility very seriously. Every year, the school district partners with the Madison Art Museum's Art Cart Program and repaints the exterior the shoe. Professional artists plan elaborate, themed murals - we're not talking about slapping on a coat of Benjamin Moore exterior paint in Old Mother Hubbard Blue - and then local children help implement the plans. (Check out a few of the very cool looks the shoe slide has had over the years here.)

While in Wisconsin this summer we read in the paper about an upcoming community-wide painting of the shoe. My mom and I made plans to take Will and Hallie, and as I might have expected, Hallie jumped at the opportunity to contribute while Will opted to skip painting in favor of training for American Ninja Warrior on the nearby monkey bars.

Hallie donned a huge t-shirt smock, listened to the organizers' instructions, and started painting her skyline windows. After she finished her windows, she painted her twinkly stars. And finally, she left her mark - a handprint - on the inside of the shoe. The same shoe that many years earlier left its mark on me. 

Hallie's contribution won't last forever - next year dozens of little hands will create a new mural on the shoe slide - but our memories of her contribution will. Her childhood, linked to my childhood. Her roots, linked to my roots.