Hittin' the Books...

And, we're back in our school-year routine. I've been dreading the fast-paced craziness that comes with school, but the kids have been eagerly anticipating going back to school. Needless to say, it's going to take more than eager anticipation for us to get back into a timely routine, so we were a bit frantic on the first day. Oh, well. They didn't give us tardy slips, so we're in the clear.


Even though we were late, we were very prepared. Those backpacks are full of all the necessary supplies (and even some unnecessary ones).


And, if you look even closer, you'll see that each item is labeled with the owner's name. And, I mean every item. Every crayon, marker, marker lid, etc... Daniel and I spent an evening last week labeling everything to play by the rules. (But, that doesn't mean we didn't think it was a superfluous act.)





By school time, I had completely forgotten my aggravation with labeling supplies and couldn't stand how independent my babies looked in their classes. By today, the second day of school, Abigail requested that I not walk her to her class. I went anyway, and she walked as quickly as possible so that Cooper and I couldn't keep up. I assured her I would be walking with her for the first week and then she could be on her own.


I hope this little guy doesn't decide he wants to be completely independent!

Tuesday Treats - Coke/Butterfinger Cake

I baked two new recipes, a Coca-Cola cake and a Butterfinger cake, last week for Bible study. Then, we had a neighborhood barbecue over the weekend and I decided to experiment. I combined the two recipes and ended up with a scrumptious dessert. You must try this out, but beware... it is not diet friendly!

Ingredients
1 cup coke
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup butter, softenened
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
1 jar caramel sauce/topping
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 large Cool-Whip
1 king size Butterfinger bar

Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Combine coke and buttermilk and set aside. Beat butter at slow speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until blended. Add eggs and vanilla/ beat at low speed until blended.  Combine flour, cocoa, and baking soda in separate bowl. Add to butter mixture alternately with coke mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed until blended after each addition. Stir in marshmallows. Pour batter into a greased and floured 13x9 inch pan.  Bake at 350 for 30 to 35 minutes. Remove from oven. Cool for 10 minutes.  While it's still hot, use a fork to punch holes all over the top of the cake. Combine the sweetened condensed milk and caramel and pour mixture evenly over cake.  Cool cake completely. Cover cake with Cool Whip. Top with crushed Butterfinger.

Sorry I don't have a picture. I was too busy eating and then wallowing in my misery from the richness of the cake.

Annie

Last week, Abigail and I joined our neighbors, Kristy and her daughter Morgan, for a night out in Austin. We ventured to the city for the summer musical "Annie" at Zilker Park. Each year, there is a free musical presented Thurs-Sun nights at an amphitheater, and we finally made it to a performance for the first time. It was a late night since curtain call isn't until sunset, but completely worth the exhaustion. The girls loved it!

We arrived an hour before showtime to enjoy our picnic dinner and get a good seat with our blankets, but we weren't early enough. We ended up in the very back, but the seating hill is steep enough that we still had decent seats. Although, I'm sure everyone seated near us wasn't as thrilled with us being nearby since I couldn't make Abigail stop singing along to every song in the production. 

We were all impressed with the production and thoroughly enjoyed our evening. I can't wait to take Abigail back next summer!

I Fought the Law, And I WON!

A few months ago I had to go into Austin during a weekday, which NEVER happens. It was an emergency I needed to tend to, and it turned into an unfortunate trip. I ended up getting a ticket as I entered the freeway. Ugh...

I was so annoyed. I've been ticketed just three times in my driving career, all for minor speeding tickets. The last of those occurred when I was pregnant with Cooper. In fact, I was driving down a rural highway and racing to get to a potty break 95 mph over the speed limit), one of the pitfalls of being pregnant and commuting an hour to/from work. Ha! Anyways, I'm not an aggressive driver, but on this day in Austin, I was mistaken for one. I was ticketed for following too closely, when neither my passenger (my sister) nor I saw a vehicle in front of me. Yeah, when I entered the freeway, I was too close to a vehicle in the freeway merging process, which is why I quickly changed lanes into an open lane with less traffic. Then, I got pulled over. Grr....

Needless to say, I disagreed with the ticket. And, I don't easily accept things that I don't agree with. Yeah, I'm an arguer. I like confrontation. I like to argue. Blame my parents for letting me compete in debate through high school. ha ha!

I did question my resolve each time the prosecutor's office offered me a reduced fine and a chance to keep the ticket off my record, but I continued through the process of challenging my ticket over the past three months. Even this morning, when I appeared for my jury trial, I was offered a chance to plead out with an even lower fine and be done with the situation. I assured the prosecutor the issue wasn't about money for me, but rather that I wasn't guilty and I still wanted a jury trial. (I was going to feel very stupid if I lost the case and it did become about money when I had to pay higher insurance premiums.)

After fours hours in court, with one of those being an hour of jury deliberations, I was very relieved to win my first (and hopefully last) court case. It was an interesting morning in court as I struggled to recall all my moot court experience in college. I'd like to think my poly sci prof would be proud of me, but most of all, I'm just glad to be rid of that stinkin' ticket!

Out of Sorts

For months now, I feel like I've been on a roller coaster that won't stop to let me off. Now that we are in the second half of 2010, I'm taking a moment to realize how much the first half affected me.


We were ambitious enough to have a completely handmade Christmas that certainly took it's toll on personal time around the Hardy home. It won't stop me from doing it again, but we'll need to downgrade the extravaganza.

Weddingpalooza really taken over our lives this year in so many ways. Since Christmas, I've hosted three bridal showers. As much as I love party planning, I think I've worn out my welcome on checking all the hostess blogs for ideas. I designed and printed the programs for Kendall and Trevor's wedding, which seemed like a simple offer of my time but turned into a huge debacle that went down to the wire. I ended up using two different printers and not getting the correct product until after the rehearsal dinner. Yikes! Fortunately, the bride never knew about the complications, but I was definitely stressed and worn out over this issue. My sister's wedding a few week's ago was what really put me over the edge. We had just three weeks to plan and I used every minute available, sleeping just a few hours each night to allow for enough time to complete all the projects. Everything turned out beautifully, but I was just too tired to even know what was going on during the wedding.

For the school year, it seemed that I became the go-to parent for the kids' class parties. This seemed to be never-ending. Have you ever realized how many occasions we have for parties? I think I was just catching up at work from taking a day off for a party when it came time to begin organizing the next party. May was the big one when we had program performances, dress rehearsals, costumes to be sewn, projects to be made, teacher gifts to be bought, etc. It definitely seemed to be piled on too much in one month.

Now, the school year and weddings are over and, on the surface, I have recovered from this craziness. I'm caught up on checking the mail, bills are all paid, I'm blogging again, the house is finally clean (that was the most neglected item), and I'm starting to feel caught up on my sleep. However, I still don't feel recovered mentally. I can't stand feeling like I'm jumping from one project to another like a chicken with my head cut off, and I want to know how to prevent it. I don't want to become a recluse and not take on anything outside of our home. I love being creative, helping other people, and having projects outside the home. But, I've got to take a stand for my own well being.

How do you avoid overcommitting yourself? How do you find the balance between taking care of your family but still volunteering outside of the home? Help!

We're So Cultured, We're Almost Yogurt

We have new neighbors, Sergei and his wife, Tamara, and their son, Yuri, who just moved in next door. Upon getting to know Sergei a bit more, we discovered that he is also from Odessa, however he is from the other one, in the Ukraine. Moreover, he has a very interesting job as a full-time musician in the The Flying Balaika Brothers, a Russian folk band. He plays the balalaika, a Russian instrument shaped like a triangle and very similar to the guitar.

Since the kids are gone, and Daniel was in the middle of a week-long break between shifts, we've been staying up late, sleeping in late, and trying to occupy our time with outings that aren't convenient with small children. I would definitely say a concert that doesn't begin until 9:30 falls into that category, so we headed to South Austin on Monday night to hear The Balaika Brothers.

The nine-member band was amazingly talented and beyond impressive.  They played two sets over a two hour period, and it was foot-stomping, dance-inducing fun that we can't wait to go back to hear. I think we'll even try to find a show that the kids can attend, as they will love the dancing. See for yourself...

Father's Day

Since we were in San Antonio for Kendall and Trevor's wedding over Father's Day weekend, the kids found their own ways to squeeze in Daddy time.

While Abigail and I attended the bridal breakfast, Daniel and Cooper spent the morning at Bass Pro Shop. They didn't bring photographic evidence, but Cooper does have a new bow and arrow set to show for his trip. Even though Cooper was the one who walked away with the new toy, I think Daniel was the privileged one to spend time with his little man in a Man Store.

Later that day during the wedding reception, Daniel and Abigail slipped away from the festivities to have some daddy-daughter time, and it was certainly a treat. I love the way Daniel treats Abigail to special time and showers her with attention. I see the way he is preparing her to have certain expectations from a man some day, and I love it!


They enjoyed a private carriage ride through downtown San Anotonio in a carriage fit only for a princess!

We are lucky parents to have these two taking this ride with us!