But is it fair?

You know, the more I think of it, the more I think that the person who won had an unfair advantage.

1. She knew my family likes Fruity Cheerio's because she gave me some boxes not too long ago. I think this was one of them.
2. She shops at the same commissary as me so she would know that Cinnamon Life is on sale and that I probably bought some since I like sales.
3. She might also know that there is a buy 2 get 1 free coupon for Special K cereals, and since I have kids, they might like the berries, so that's why I got the berries.
4. And since she's a 'good mormon' and probably has her year's supply, she probably has at least 60 lbs. of church refried beans in her pantry.

I don't know. Karen, what do you think?

I think it's obvious that I just finished reading The Princess Bride last week.

What's in a number?

Today is post number 100. Like, duuu-uh. Why else would I have five pictures of cereal making the number 100? But this isn't just any 100th post commemoration blog entry.

It's a contest!!

What kind of cereal are these numbers made of? And no, I didn't count out 100 for all of them. Just the first one. Don't check. It might be only 99. I think I lost count.

They are all name-brand cereals. Except for the last one. It's not cereal. What is it? The person who gets all of them right will get a prize. A yummy, homemade prize. So, come on! Give me a reason to make some treats!

Bloggin on the iPod

How we doin'!

Thanks for the research Brie. Now I have another reason why I LOVE my iPod. Everyone should have one.

Almost a year ago...

Something happened.


HA!!!

You all have to admit, you love me.

A confession

Dear Blogger,

I have to admit that I have been seeing another website. It's hard to face the truth, but I am finally admitting it. I know I haven't been as attentive since I got my iPod touch. I have been neglecting you for facebook. See, I have my reasons. They might not be good reasons, but they are my reasons nonetheless. I can't post new blog entries from my iPod. I can facebook all day (and I do). I can read other people's blogs and even comment, but I can't post. Ok, so it's really just one reason. I'm going to try to be better. I promise. I want us to be what we used to be. Before facebook. Will you let me make it up to you ?

Love,

Marianne

A new Christmas tradition

This year, Mel decided that we needed to start a new Christmas time tradition. He took us to the beach.

Yes, you read that correctly. We went to the beach. Chesapeake Beach. It's about an hour away from us on the Chesapeake Bay. We have gone there several times during the summertime for swimming (actually wading, because it's so shallow, even more than 100 yards out from shore), and fossil finding. One really cool thing about this beach is the fossils. People usually come with their buckets, and shovels to find shark's teeth and other fossils. We have a plastic baggie with at least 100 shark's teeth. And after Mel read an article on winter beachcombing, we decided to go there this Christmas.

The part of the beach we go to has free parking (very limited), but you have to walk at least 1/4 mile to get to the shore. As you can tell, we were excited to get there. We brought blankets, lunch and a tent to set up so we could be nice and comfortable .

It was about 45-50 degrees outside that day. Too cold to get wet, but not too cold to balance precariously on fallen trees over very cold water.

Patricia is the budding photographer. Too bad we don't have a 'good' camera for her. She loves taking pictures. Isn't this hollowed out log cool?

YEAH BOUY!!!!!! (Hey, I couldn't help it. I'm a child of the 90's. Flava FLAAAAAVE)

I didn't mention that very close to the shore, are cliffs. Calvert Cliffs, to be specific. Mimi is actually in a little cave made by the water at high tide when it erodes the cliff.



Cheeeeeese!!

Bigger Cheeeeeeeeese!!

See, how the water is so close to the cliff? Some places along the shore have more beach than this. We usually time our arrival with low tide, so we have maximum play area. We forgot to check the tides when we left home. We actually walked a little ways down the shore from where we set up camp. So, by the time we decided to head back for lunch, this is what we discovered:

NO BEACH!!! Trystan mucked through the water, shoes and all. Patricia took off her shoes first and got the camera to capture the memories for all of us. Mel took the little girls, and I carried our shoes across.

Now, those of you who know me well, know that I HATE to be cold. My darling husband offered to take the girls across, then come back and carry me. (He's definitely a keeper) I didn't take him up on this offer. Once I took off my shoes and stepped into the water, I wish I had!!

The great thing about walking in icy cold water, is that when you get out, your feet actually feel warm. It wasn't so bad walking around barefooted after that. We decided that we needed a memorial shot of our cold feet.

How funny is this? Pants, coats, scarf, and barefeet!!
After the celebratory pictures, we snuggled up in our blankets in our tent and had a yummy lunch and hot chocolate. We had fun, and have made a list of things to bring along for next time. And we'll definitely check when high tide is!

Iron Chef?

On our last night at the Brown household in WV, the older two kids, Patricia and Marshall, thought they should have a cookoff. I picked the 'secret' ingredients and set rules, and officiated in the competition.

They had to make at least two dishes using at least two different ingredients that I chose. Their secret ingredients were pepperoni, banana, and french's fried onions. They could choose to make sandwiches, dips, or treats and they had to use a different ingredient in each. Oh, and they only had 30 minutes. There were three judges: Mimi, Trystan and Roger. Each of the judges scored each creation on a scale of 1 to 10.

They got straight to work:

Patricia is working on her sandwich filling, and so is Marshall.
Friendly competition?

Marshall is on sandwich #2. He made the turkey pepperoni sandwich on a George Foreman grill. Panini-style.

Patricia made one dish from each category. The dip and the drink were both hits. The sandwich wasn't even kinda good.

Mimi taking a bite of Patricia's sandwich.

Marshall made two sandwiches. Overall, his creations were well received. Especially the quesadilla-like sandwich.

His was so good, that it even won over his competitor.

Marshall won 77-56. It was so much fun. They really impressed me with their abilities to make such different things. Those kids are pretty creative.