The "Pone-kin" Patch

Today was the Kindergarten field trip to the Pumpkin Patch (pronounced "pone-kin" by Ashley). They went to a different place than they went to last year, so there were sadly no pig races. I think they still had a great time. Ash was so tired that she fell asleep on the bus ride back to school!

I thought this picture was funny. I would probably make that face, too, if there was a goat jumping on the fence behind me. ; )

Happy birthday Micah!

So Micah wanted to go camping for his birthday so we went to Swallow Falls, MD with The Knights who were in visiting from Washington State. Can't believe Micah is 7!!!




Birthday pancake at the local diner.








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2nd Annual World Cheese Dip Championship

So, I'm in Starbucks on Friday morning, and the featured article on the cover of a local magazine catches my eye: 2nd Annual World Cheese Dip Championship to be held Saturday at War Memorial Stadium. I flipped to the article and read that they would be showing the Arkansas/Alabama game on the Jumbotron during the competition. All-you-can-eat cheese dip + Razorback football ? I'm there!

After looking at the website (http://www.cheesedip.net/), I learned that the original championship event was held at Dickey Stephens Park last year. They had such an unbelievable turnout, that they changed the venue, doubled the amount of cheese dip, and found corporate sponsors to provide the chips. Now I'm not so sure about their claim that Arkansas is "the epicenter of the cheese dip culinary world", but we had a good time at the festival.

We went around to the different booths sampling the entries (both professional and amateur), let the kids run around on the field and play in some bouncy houses, and then settled in to watch the painful first half of the game. We also witnessed the cheese dip eating contest at halftime. It was both impressive and disgusting (but mostly disgusting) to watch people try to consume 5 lbs. of cheese dip in 5 minutes!

We headed home before the second half, and both kids were already asking if we can go back next year!

Ten mile

I was in hot springs this weekend and saw this....



Many good memories here! Apparently the building was filled with asbestos and had to be torn down. Good visual reminder that the church is not the building it's the people!'


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Rainbow Toast

Some of the Kindergarten classes made Rainbow Toast yesterday. Ashley was eager to try it again at home, so we had scrambled eggs and Rainbow Toast for breakfast.

Step 1 - Mix powdered sugar and milk in a small bowl to paint-like consistency.

Step 2 - Add a few drops of food coloring and mix. Using color coordinated bowls is optional. ; )

Step 3 - Paint bread.

Step 4 - Toast and enjoy!

Rainy Day in Fayetteville

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Razorbacks Remember

LITTLE ROCK - War Memorial Stadium was a striking scene of red, white and blue on Saturday night for the Arkansas-New Mexico football game as just more than 52,000 fans joined the Razorbacks on the 10th anniversary weekend of the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001 to pay tribute to those who were lost and those who continue to serve and protect our nation.

Pregame Prep

Tailgating is hard work! I realized last week that I was not in mid-season form. Everything turned out great, but I was just worn out by game day! I decided to pace myself this week with the pregame prep and (for some reason) to blog about it.

WEDNESDAY: Finalizing menu, grocery shopping, and start working on Razorback candies.

I bought this candy mold online. It was cute and easy to use, but it only makes 12 at a time. So now I'm thinking, "Why did I only buy one?!" Speaking of cute, here's my sous chef /taste-tester helping out in the kitchen.

THURSDAY: In a word, BACON!

One should probably be ashamed of using this much bacon to prepare two side dishes, however, I'm not. Last week's game day fare was pretty healthy (Strawberry Spinach Salad with Baked Chicken - perfect for the 90+ degree day!) I was accused of putting our tailgaters on a diet, so this week you better BYO Lipitor! We're having BBQ today, so I'm making Baked Bean Quintet (with lots of bacon) and Baked Potato Salad (with even more bacon). This brings up the age-old controversy: is it sacrilege to eat pork before a Razorback game?

FRIDAY: Making the Cake

As soon as I saw the Apple-Cream Cheese Bundt Cake on the cover of this month's Southern Living, I new that I would have to make it. It has a lot of ingredients, but wasn't that challenging to make. I would recommend boiling the icing a little longer than 1 minute as mine turned out a little thin. I also decreased the cinnamon to about 1 1/2 teaspoons just because I wanted to. I'll let you know how it turns out...

SATURDAY: Game On!

Obviously if I have time this morning to blog about cooking, my game day prep is pretty low key. Now it's time to pack it all up and head to War Memorial!

Hot One on the Hill!

We drove up 540 on Saturday morning for the opening game of the 2011-12 season. The calendar said it was September, but it was still HOT! Jeff, Tyler, Nathan, and Will went to the game while Jennifer and I took the little ones back to the condo. We're planning to take all of them to the first LR game, so I'm really hoping that the forecast holds out. Channel 7 is predicting a high of 83 on Saturday (fingers crossed!)

Open House

What a busy week! While the Johnson kids just started school this week, we finished week three and have already had our Open House, first PTA meeting, and completed our first fundraiser!