Fun Four-Day Weekend

My goodness, this past weekend has been a blur. I also received several amazing swap packages, mailed off quite a few and still have a couple to finish. Thank you Suzee, Jennifer, Terri, Angie, and Joey. Pictures and details to follow!!

Here's a quick overview of the weekend:

Thursday started off with T's student-led parent/teacher conference. She's doing quite well and was so proud of her recent math test where she had the highest score in the class (a first). So fun! We also made and delivered a meal of baked enchiladas to a Sherwood family from our church who is experiencing some medical problems.

Friday, three of us girls plus Molly puppy went to the coast. It was a GORGEOUS day! Absolutely amazing and we had a spectacular time on the beach and doing a little shopping - I love my kiddos.

Saturday, I attended a terrific discipleship training at church by Muriel Cook (Kitchen Table Counselor) while T's big sis played with her AND sat at the Girl Scout cookie booth, too. BONUS points for Tess! Then, Mike had a surprise evening off and we watched a RedBox movie after T went to bed.


Sunday, we DID set our clocks ahead but I was still running slow getting the nursery worker treats made and we arrived at church by the skin of our teeth. On a happy note, the recipe I had to heavily modify was well received (see below) AND I got a nap, which I desperately needed. Unfortunately, it had me in slow-mo for the rest of the day and I still have a really long to-do list. And, next week is chock full of evening activities .... [sigh]

Black-Bottom Banana Bars
A bit like chocolate-banana bread...

½ cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract (I used almond extract)
1 ½ cups mashed ripe bananas (I used applesauce)
1 ½ cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 9x13" pan. In a large mixing bowl, combine butter and sugar and cream together. Add egg and vanilla and beat until thoroughly combined. Blend in bananas. In separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture and mix well. Divide the batter in half. Add the cocoa to ½ the batter. Spread the cocoa batter into the prepared pan. Spoon remaining batter on top and swirl it with a knife. Bake 25 minutes, or until bars test done (toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean).

Yield: 3 dozen