Thigh Stocks

Here is Miss Gracie modeling our new baby seat. It's called a bumbo or something like that, and is available in Shrek green, Barbie pink, grape, and blue, which for some reason I preferred. Kind of a cool seat because even an infant can sit in it and won't slide around. And as we discovered, Gracie likes sitting in it, but cannot get out! Steve has dubbed this wonderful invention the "thigh stocks".
And do you love the thighs? Gracie has the cutest legs. There is only one time it is cute to have chubby thighs in life, and you're seeing it right now.

St Francis of Assisi

I have finally gotten a shot of the bunny I mentioned in my last post. He and 2 doves are enjoying their evening repast (or silflay if you've read "Watership Down").
I have been calling him Frank, in honor of St. Francis of Assisi. I had two thoughts in mind here- first, St. Francis is the patron saint of animals, and he was celibate. I am hoping Frank wants to remain single like his namesake.

Brownies and Bunnies!

I made the most awesome brownies this weekend. Well, actually I made them twice because my guys inhaled the first pan in two days. I got the recipe from Jamie's brother & sister-in-law, Rick & Emily. You mix up your brownie batter and put half in the pan. Next, break up a giant size (is their any other size?) Symphony bar with toffee and almonds and put it all over the brownie batter. Spread part deux of the batter on top and bake. I gave this an extra 5 minutes since it's so thick. (Maybe don't give it the extra 5 minutes-then they'll just stay chewy).

I've made these a bunch of times, but something that tasted even better than usual, due to the extra baking time I think. The brownie and toffee chips seemed to carmelize at the edges of the pan which tasted awesome, but of course anything that has carmelized is hard. Tyler heard his retainer go "ping" when he bit in to his third brownie. He had knocked his retainer loose from the resin holding it to his tooth. We have dubbed these "retainer-breaker brownies". Good thing we know a cute guy who can fix this kind of thing, as well as almost anything else we can throw at him.

On to other news--our back yard is gorgeous right now. The flowers are blooming, my little cherry tomato is growing lots of fruit for us, the pond sounds lovely with it's little waterfall, The trees are lush and green, and the windchimes sing whenever a breeze dances through our garden. I have put up a bird feeder and after trying all different sorts of food, we have decided the the birds like Finch Supreme the best. We have beautiful little gold finches with bright yellow chests and black wings, house finches with sparrow brown wings and red faces and chests, robins, and doves, all visiting our feeder. It is so fun to watch them. Sometimes the doves will sit on the feeder and eat until I think they will be too heavy to fly away. And beneath the feeder, pecking around with the sparrows and doves looking for seed on the patio, is the cutest little bunny. He comes right up on the the patio and eats birdseed, hops on to the grass for a little greenery, then wanders around the planters nibbling on this and that. He seems to be stuck in our yard, and he seems to be making friends with all the birds. He'll even come and eat about six feet away from me. The cutest thing though, is to see he and the doves eating side by side.