The Search for Miss Direction: Mooning Over Tennessee

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Mooning Over Tennessee

Last night, I learned something very important - creativity is my bag, painting is not. Don't get me wrong, I had a blast going to Painting with A Twist with Amber last night, but I'm pretty sure Noah could have painted the picture I ended up with :-p (OK, it might not be THAT bad. Not saying his would be bad - but it'd look like a six year old did it.) Gotta give it up to Amber, though - girl has skills! Even the teacher complimented her finished piece. I did take a picture of mine (below) so you'll have to judge (without telling me how goofy it is) below. In other news, I had an AWESOME conference for Noah last night. He got rave reviews and a big 'keep up the good work' I'd expect nothing less from my kiddo!

Speaking of rave reviews, that's what these Midnight Moon Pies that I created this morning (with a wonderful kitchen assist from Amber and A - so glad to have spent the morning baking with them while the Bean was at school. Our baking sessions are quickly becoming one of the favorite parts of my week). The Moon Pie hails from Chattanooga (where you can go visit the Moon Pie General Store) and is kind of like a dipped in chocolate graham cracker marshmallow sandwich - an inside out 'smore maybe? The recipe I used didn't actually use graham crackers, though, and in my opinion came out way more like the whoopie pies from Maine. (Still thanking Annie for that passed down recipe) Plus I think I got a little heavy handed with the almond extract in the filling. But they were good - and I'm not a huge chocolate fan and am saying that. I did like the filling on this one better than the whoopie pie.

Picked up the Bean and we ran a quick errand to get the frame I had been promising her for a few days. She made me a beautiful picture of our princess adventure on Saturday I told her I would frame it for her with the ticket stubs. Got it framed and hung in a place of honor in the playroom :)

This afternoon the kiddos got the "We've Been There" State done - stickers all around! Grant and I actually vacationed in Gatlinburg a year after we were married and Cleveland is where we would almost always stop (with kiddos!) on the trek back and forth from Florida. So yep, we've all been to Tennessee once or twice. I can't believe how close we are to having the whole map on the wall!

Noah and Grant are off again tonight (Cub Scouts this time) so I needed another easy dinner and it doesn't get much easier than Sausage and Egg Waffle Tacos. Three ingredients, including Tennessee Pride Sausage. They absolutely loved them! I'm seeing all kinds of waffle taco possibilities...

Alright, going to spend the rest of the evening with the Bean. We picked up some glow in this e dark nail polish today which is our special activity tonight while the boys are gone. Another Loveless Cafe recipe for dinner tomorrow, MOPS, tea cakes, and the kids maps - yikes is this week over yet? (The answer is a resounding no - if the week's been crazy it's got nothing on this weekend...) So until then...

Tennessee Fun Fact of the Day: A replica of The Parthenon, the famous ancient Greek building in Athens, Greece, stands in Nashville's Centennial Park.