Monday, Monday

My dad is 58 today. I don't think he'll care that I post his age, but when my mom's birthday comes in December I know better not to publicize hers! And happy birthday to Uncle Rodney too! Hope you don't mind me posting your age either. And in case you haven't figured it out, they're twins. In the first picture dad's showing the girls how he makes ice cream at Mortensens' Restaurant in Newington, CT. I've helped countless times from toddler to adulthood, and it never gets old! The second is with my mom when they came to visit us in Hawaii, and the last is him coming down the hatch of Bob's last submarine...and that's Bob in the background.

Yesterday was a rainy day, so since our plans of heading up to Tokyo with Julie and Noah were scrapped, we stayed home and baked brownies. Keanna woke up yesterday and today insisting we all wear our "cooker hats" as she calls them. On Saturday she and Sydney took plastic bags and put it around their feet...I thought they were going to attempt plastic bag sack races! Keanna brought the handles up to her knees and twisted and tied hers, put it on her head and said, "Look mom, I'm a cooker!" Then suddenly there was one for Sydney, one for me and one for Bob. But since Bob isn't here, the girls insisted it sit on his chair at the kitchen table awaiting his return. So after we all had our hats on, they wanted a picture taken so we could send it to him on the ship. That's right fellow submarine wives, I can email him photos underway! Anyway, I took a picture with my laptop so the quality is poor, but it captures the moment. Mine and Sydney's hats are NEX bags and Keanna's is from WalMart. No, there isn't a Walmart here, but there are still some in my bag holder thing. I wish the other side was showing because it says "Aloha" on it and has the Hawaiian Islands on it as well. She instructed the bow go in the front, and believe it or not, they are custom fit. Well, Sydney was fussing with hers so it loosened.

After lunch we made the brownies, and since Bob's not here I let them have some of the batter. Normally we all have a bite each and Bob tries to scrape out the bowl, but we totally took advantage of him not being here and kept it for ourselves. I actually had two bites and let them go to town. Anyways, the two of them really did go to town before I poured it in the pan! By the time the oven had preheated I realized we had eaten so much that the 13"x9" would be too big. I opened up the cabinet expecting to find my Longaberger 8"x8" but nope, the pie plate was right there in front and that's what I went with. Keanna was so excited to have a brownie pie, so when it cooled enough to cut, I cut them in pie slices. Needless to say, that went over quite well! As you can Sydney still has batter on her face. She insisted she could lick it off, but yeah, obviously that didn't happen! The brownies came out great, and as Keanna pointed out, they're just like Bob likes them, nice and mushy in the middle!