Apple Brownies

**READERS, BEWARE - I have been on a posting rampage today!**

In honor of our upcoming move to Washington (the largest producer of apples in the nation), we made Apple Brownies with ice cream for our Family Night treat on Monday. These are sooo good...we've made them twice now and although they are arguably more of a fall treat, I figured I'd share the recipe anyway!

Apple Brownies

2 sticks (1 c.) butter, at room temperature
2 c. sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
3 c. apples, peeled & thinly sliced
1 c. chopped walnuts, optional

Preheat oven to 350. In an electric mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Stir into creamed mixture, mixing well. Fold in apples and walnuts thoroughly. Batter will be stiff. Spread in a greased 9 x 13 baking pan. Bake 40 – 50 minutes at 350, or until cake pulls away from pan. Cool in pan, then cut into squares.

Monster Truck Madness!

Last Saturday Peter took Parker on a "daddy date" to the Monster Truck Rally here in town. Yes, you can call us white trash. Parker was so excited to go, but we were a little nervous about how he would handle the noise factor (remember this?). They armed themselves with all sorts of fancy earplugs and headed out for the adventure!

As you can imagine, Parker was in heaven. He lasted a whole hour inside the arena, meaning he was really desperate to watch those trucks considering the noise! He loved the "Tailgator" truck the best, which was made to resemble an alligator and had "jaws" protruding from its grill.

After an hour of watching inside, they headed out to the t.v.'s to munch some popcorn and watch the rest from the quiet of the concessions. They ended the "date" with a McDonald's ice cream cone - Parker's favorite. And now he is having fun recreating the monster truck show with his own cars!

Honey BUNCHES of Oats

Apparently Tyler did not buy into the marketing gimmick on the back of the box...that "one spoonful is all it takes!"

Egg-cellent Times

This Easter we got to party with our favorite Wisconsin Stewarts, Daniel & Katie & fam. They braved the nine hour trek (through the night!) from Milwaukee to be with us and we were so excited & spoiled to have them stay with us for five days!

Highlights of the stay include trips to COSI, the park (on the one sunny day), the recreations outlet, the Book Loft (a girls' getaway), Graeter's and El Vaquero. The out-of-towners also scored some major deals at the Eddie Bauer Warehouse. We were happy to see that the Easter Bunny did not disappoint this year, as there was enough candy to keep us all on a sugar high for days. We had a nice Easter dinner at our cousins, the Silvers, dyed eggs, and held the traditional Stewart jelly bean hunt. It was a great week and we miss them already!

Easter Digs

Heading Back to Our Roots...

Richland, Washington

I have been dying to be able to post this for a LONG TIME...but I had to wait until it was official! Peter just accepted a position to work as a child psychologist in our homeland of the Pacific Northwest! Hooray! It is with the Tri-Cities Neuropsychology and Counseling Clinic in Richland, Washington. We are both SO ecstatic about this unexpected and very welcomed opportunity! It is what we were holding out for, and we feel incredibly blessed. We will move from Columbus at the end of August, and he will start the first week of September. AAAAAHHH! I am just so excited about it, that I can hardly contain myself. Aside from a nearly ideal job situation and career move for Peter, 300 days of sun per year, excellent schools (with release-time seminary!), and an extremely family friendly community in the Tri-cities, here are just a FEW reasons why we can't wait to get there:

The first and foremost being...FAMILY!! We will only be 4 hours from my parents in beautiful Olympia, Washington, three & a half hours from Peter's parents in gorgeous Lake Oswego, Oregon, and three hours from my sister, Mollie, and her family in Bothell, Washington!

Washington Wine Country...no, we don't drink it, but I've always wanted to live among vineyards!

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

Cannon Beach, Oregon

Mt. Rainier

Seattle

Multnomah Falls

Leavenworth, Washington

Mt. Hood

The Columbia River Temple - right in Richland

Seriously, this is only a small sample of what we have to look forward to! And all of these within a stone's throw of us, relatively speaking :). Although we've still got a lot to get through before we make the move, we are so happy!

Gluttony

Easter has come and gone, and it's not even April yet! I'll have an update on ours soon, but today I just have to say something. I say it every year. Who ever invented Cadbury Mini Eggs should be drug out into the street and shot. I can down these babies like popcorn. It's not pretty.

Tyler Turns Two

It's as though he knew that it was his birthday, and he was "graduating" out of babyhood. Upon entering the car the day that he turned two, he passed right by his own carseat and headed right over to Parker's booster. He planted himself in it and turned to give me this cheeky smile that melted my heart! (Notice Parker's arm, ready to whop him for the invasion).

We celebrated with our friends & neighbors, the Fultons. He was happy to get a new trike (to keep up with big brother) from Mom & Dad, a Nerf basketball hoop from Parker, a dump truck from Grandma Stewart, a soccer net from Grandma Brown, & a beautiful quilt from Great-Grandma Tschudy. I simply cannot see how I neglected to get pictures of his party, but at least we got it on video. I did manage to get this shot of his cake beforehand. He is obsessed with finding Goldbug in the Richard Scarry book, "Cars and Trucks and Things that Go."

Here are some fun facts about our little buddy...

Height and weight: 33 inches and 26 pounds...he's our little scrapper.

Obsessions: cars, "beeeg" trucks, planes, helicopters, trains...basically anything that drives or flies, balls, books, being outside, his bike & sweets.

Must-haves: binky, baba, blankie, Little Einsteins or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, not to be carried, a "bieeeeete" of everything Mommy or Daddy is eating, and any toy that Parker is playing with.

Foods he will eat: pretzels/crackers, carrots, mac n' cheese, spaghetti, sloppy joes, hamburgers, fries, sugar snap peas, and of course, anything sweet.

Favorite Song: He actually hates it when we sing or dance, and yells "STOP!"

Nicknames: T-bone, T or T-T, T-bird.

Hair Style: Sticks up every which way - just like his dad.

Favorite Toys: Refer to the "obsessions."

Favorite Pasttimes: torturing Parker, making Mom chase him, Daddy crazy time, reading Richard Scarry or Where's Waldo books, jumping off of things, and playing cars or trains.

Smile: Still missing his top eye teeth and his 2-year-old molars. He's got a little space between his two front teeth, which I think is adorable.

Favorite words/phrases: "Thank you, MOM!", "stop!", "more", "Ca-ca (Parker)", "where's dad?", "oh, man!", "cool", "weeeed (read)", "peeez (please)", "no!", "beeg truck", "car", "blast off!" & "oh no!".

He amazes us with: his highly developed motor skills & how he already knows many of his letters!

BLIZZARD! (update below...)

Nope, there will be no going out for us today.

Not with 14 inches of snow and a Level 2 blizzard warning - which means driving is discouraged and you should call before heading to work. Other surrounding counties are at a Level 3, which means you could be arrested for driving on the road! Keeping in mind that pictures really cannot do it justice, here is what we are looking at outside today!

You can see our car buried out there and the maintenance crew attempting to clear the way. As I took this picture, one of the guys got stuck outside our gate on his snowplow ATV!

The view outside our back door. You can see the top of our air conditioning unit - barely. That snowdrift out there beyond it has to be three feet tall.

Another view out the back - this is a shot of our neighbor's patio. No sunning themselves outside today!

And the view from our front door. I was just praying that little snowdrift wouldn't break and spill into our entryway! Parker thought the bushes looked like "pieces of cake with LOTS OF FROSTING ON THEM!" Thinks like his mama, that one.

**STORM WATCH UPDATE**

We ended up with 20.5 inches of snow dumped on us by the end of yesterday! Needless to say, the whole city was practically shut down, church canceled, and we haven't left the house (aside from walking out to see neighbors) in two and a half days! Here is a shot of the boys on the back patio - Peter still has a good four to six inches under his boots in this shot, so that should give you some idea of the winter madness we are living in!

Hopefully it will melt before I go stir crazy again!

O-U-T

Our Week in Review:

Out - with the girls! I was madly missing my girls' nights out and instigated this one at the Chocolate Cafe (where else?) with some friends. I think most of us were a little tired from a day cooped up with kiddos (school was canceled due to snow), so it was a great night to get out and have some girl chat!

Out - to the mall playland! They have a great one not far from us, and the boys LOVE playing there. This works out nicely, since I LOVE shopping at this particular mall. Tyler would not get off the slide the whole time.

Out - to the movies! We celebrated a great week for Parker's behavior on Saturday with a trip to the dollar theater. We were pleasantly surprised by "Bee Movie" - very cute, and the kids loved every minute of it.

Out - to the zoo! Monday held GORGEOUS, 67 degree weather for us, and there was no way I was going to let it slip by without soaking up every ray of sunshine. We spent the whole afternoon there, and even met some new friends!

Out - to tour the Chocolate Factory! Anthony-Thomas's factory is right near our church building and the whole tour smelled heavenly. We loved watching the workers "help" the Easter Bunny by making lots of Easter treats, and even got to sample some in the end.

Out - for the count. I guess the whimsies of Wal-Mart were not enough to hold my little one's interest on this shopping trip. Maybe it was simply the lack of naps from all of our other "out"ings.