Blonde Brownies

Today I prepared the ingredients for Zane to make a batch of Blonde Brownies, a recipe from his Grandma Marsha that is a favorite in the Gant clan. I then wrote down simple instructions and let him go to work.*



The younger boys were absolutely great about letting Zane be the Baker and they were rewarded by being the Batter Testers. Who wouldn't like that job?





After Zane finished, Luke was telling me that he saw Grandma Marsha use some red stuff to make frosting red and that he would make his brownies red. I didn't understand why he wanted red brownies and didn't give it much thought. Later when he talked about it again I realized that my little sweetheart had taken notice that Zane, his blonde-haired brother, made "Blonde" Brownies. Luke has red-hair and therefore would need to make Red Brownies!

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* I bet you noticed that Zane isn't wearing a shirt while baking and may think that odd. To explain, it is 105 degrees in Eugene today which is a record high. Why I chose this day for baking is beyond me. [Well, other than the craving factor.]

More Funny Stories

For a couple months now Cade has been having a fit about the length of his shirts. I packed away his 24 month / 2T shirts and now he is mostly wearing 3T. He is used to having shirts that are waist length and now the 3T ones seem very long to him. He will cry and tell me that he cannot wear the shirt because it "goes past his penis." [I would prefer to say "boy parts" or "equipment" in order to sound more lady-like, but I want to record this just the way it is.] He is embarrassed by this new-to-him fashion. One day when Grandma Marsha came to visit he would not come out of his room for about an hour because he was sure that Grandma would laugh at him because his shirt was too long. Another day when we went to see my parents he refused to get out of the van. My dad finally convinced him to come in promising to sneak him by my mom and take him to another room. Things are finally starting to calm down a bit. He voices his continued concern, but there are less tears. He will measure his shirt length and then say, "I won't cry about it." Hooray for progress!
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Zane told me the other day, "You must be pooped! You know what I mean by that, right? I don't mean that you had to go to the bathroom. I meant that you must be tired."
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Cade spilled a Tupperware container of cereal at Grandma Marsha's house. He was very upset with big tears in his eyes. I told him not to worry and started cleaning it up. Zane said, "You're handling that very well, Mom."
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GOT BERRIES?

Every year my dad plans various berry picking trips. We pick strawberries, cherries, blueberries, blackberries and huckleberries. I think he organizes his summer more by which berries are ripe rather than by month. He has fond memories of picking berries with his family and wants to pass on the tradition. My favorite is wild huckleberries because it involves a camping trip, but each time we go picking we make fun memories. Here is a couple photos from our last cherry pick.

Funny Stories

Recently Zane and Luke got into an argument. Zane told me, "He pushed my button and took my temper!"
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Another time recently, when I was frustrated with Luke, I said, "Luke, every since you were born when I tell your brother not to do something then YOU do it!" [Yes, of course, I was exaggerating. He really couldn't have started this before he was mobile/verbal. And, no, my parenting wasn't up to par, but I am willing to suffer the embarrassment because his reply was so precious.] He responded, as though it was the first time I had pointed this out, "I do that? Thank you for telling me." My heart melted and again I was reminded that I can learn much from my little boys.
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Cory and I both believe it is important to present a united front to the boys. We try to back each others parenting decisions and not let the boys work us against each other. I guess you could say we have formed a team. At least that must be how the boys see it. I may have mentioned before that they too have formed a team. They have now championed a new motto, "Teams don't tell!" This is how it works: (1) Zane hits Luke, (2) Luke starts to yell/run for me, (3) Zane says, "Remember? Teams don't tell!" and (4) Luke stops in his tracks. [I think that Zane created this new motto and is benefiting most from it.] Granted this has stopped a bit of the tattling and it is a bit funny; however, I don't think this is going to end well. My "motherly intuition" or "mom-dar" [as in mom radar] is sending up red flags.
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The boys and I were driving along and Zane asked where we were going. I told him we were headed home. He asked, "Mom, have you been drinking alcohol?" I have taught the boys that drinking alcohol, among other things, can effect your driving and thinking. He was sure that we were not going the right direction and thought something must be wrong with me. [For the record, I don't drink and didn't laugh when he asked me the question; however, when I told Cory he thought it was funny and said I should blog it.]

RUJADA #15

Last Saturday we went camping 19 miles East of Cottage Grove near Layng Creek at Rujada Campground. It was our second time sleeping in the Siesta trailer. We still have a few kinks to work out, but we really like it.
The boys like to pretend that the door has an order window. They ask me what I would like and then I "order" crackers, apples, or some other little snack which they deliver through the little sliding window.

The campground is small (which I like) and has flushing toilets (which I love, as opposed to the pit toilets) and a playground for the kids.

There is also a pretty 1.9 mile hiking trail around the campground. While hiking, one of the boys moved a berry vine or something out of the way for me and I complimented him for being a gentleman. I used that moment to teach them that gentlemen will hold things (like briers) out of the way, move things (like branches) or help a lady over obstacles (fallen logs, rocks, etc). The boys took my words to heart and would have moved any twig out of my way. They would call to me, "Lady!" and give me flowers. Cade felt bad that he couldn't move a large rock out of my way. Oh, they are so cute!

Before bed I decided to wash the boys up. I didn't want them to get their sleeping bags dirty and I think you sleep better when you're not sticky and dirty.

They all asked to get in bed with me (Cory wasn't ready for bed yet) for story time.

In the morning we had hashbrowns, biscuits, gravy and little smokies. Yummy! Good food is essential for all camping trips.

After breakfast we drove up Bohemia Mountain and went by the Musick Guard Station. We hiked 1/2 mile up the Bohemia Mountain Trail. It was beautiful.