Saturday

I made these brown sugar banana bread pancakes that I found on Pinterest for breakfast.  Oh my!  I added an egg and a bunch of milk, but I think it was because my bananas were smaller and/or less ripe than the ones the blogger who wrote the recipe used.  Plus, I like a thinner pancake batter.  The flavor was amazing.  This is my new favorite way to use up overripe bananas.

I'll tell you what, I've made quite a few recipes from Pinterest already - the pancakes, these baked s'mores - awesome!, this fruit salsa (which my sister Saundra actually pointed me to pre-Pinterest, but someone else pinned it the other day so I repinned it), this bread, this amazing and super easy chicken... and they've all been pretty darn spectacular.  The only disappointing one was this punch, and it wasn't bad, it just wasn't as life-altering as advertised.  I had high expectations.  I don't think I'll ever need to buy a cooking magazine or a cookbook again.  I probably ought to make a board for Recipes I've Made so I can keep track of the ones I've tried.  (While you're clicking through, follow me and I'll follow you back!)

BJ and I actually went on a date today, thanks to Grandpa Bob who watched the kiddos!  We went and saw Red Tails, which was pretty good, although some of the dialogue was cheesy.  The dog fighting scenes were awesome.  I stubbornly refuse to wear my glasses unless I'm absolutely forced to do so, which resulted in a headache.  It went away somewhat when I put them on, and some more when I took ibuprofen after we got home.  The popcorn was excellent.  Always the best part of any movie!

Then Grandpa took us out for dinner.  We were going to go to Olive Garden, but the wait was an hour (!!) so we went to Cracker Barrel instead.  They had that fireplace cranked up to "incinerate."  I think that's how they keep people from staying too long.  Heavy food and high temperatures - it's a miracle all those old people don't just fall asleep!  The girls braved the heat to play checkers while we waited for the bill.

Claire's class's behavior control program involves "jewels" - those polished glass doodads that you find at craft stores and that people use for flower arrangements.  The kids earn a certain number per day with their behavior.  Well, on Monday the class didn't earn any jewels, and Claire was devastated, so I told her I'd get some jewels and give her opportunities to earn them at home.  I finally got to Michael's on Friday, and this jewel thing has been working for me ever since.  It's amazing what kids will do for a little piece of glass.  If they earn all the jewels (I only bought one bag), we'll take them to Chuck E. Cheese.  They're highly motivated.  Anyway, they each earned a jewel while Grandpa was here, and before we left for dinner, I gave them the opportunity to go "double or nothing" - if they were good at dinner, instead of getting two jewels each (one for being good for Grandpa and one for being good at dinner) they could each earn four.  Grandpa and Daddy were a little horrified that I was teaching gambling, but it's a life skill!  Both of the girls kept all four of their jewels at dinner.  Jack will earn jewels for sleeping through the night.  Hell, at this point I would buy Jack actual jewels if he would sleep through the night.

Speaking of Jack, he's getting quite proficient at this whole walking thing.  I think he just wanted to wait until he was good at it before he did it in front of everyone.  That kid's practically running already.  He'll probably do the same with talking - he won't say a word for another year, and then he'll spew forth with, "Mother, dear, would you please give me another cookie?" or something.

Hope you're having a great weekend, wherever you are, and that you kept all your jewels!