Kelly Times Two

Sorry that I have not been keeping up with everyone's blogs lately. I've been out of town with our family for spring break and took about 600 pictures last week and decided to just create some slideshows on Smilebox to get caught up. I've been reading blogs here and there, plus balancing other good activities. Also, I've found that I spend a lot of time on Facebook these days as I've got a ton more friends there than on my blog. I prefer my blog so much more, but can stay in touch with more people, more easily through FB. These are all my excuses why this blog has kind of taken a slight backseat. Enjoy the Smilebox slideshows below when you get a chance and come back soon for more. They've also been posted on FB for the past few days.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Make a Smilebox slideshow

How frustrating! I had JUST swept the decking around the pool and bagged leaves and was telling Christopher how much nicer it is to have it be clean. Then mother nature struck. It looked and sounded so much more fierce in person. I had the paper lantern hanging outside in the good and bad weather all winter long, and the hailstorm ripped it apart. Luckily both of our cars were in garages (home and work), but I'm wondering how our roof may have fared.

Check out this Texas-sized hail that I picked up from our yard today. It pounded our lawn, pool, and trees leaving a huge mess. Compare the quarter on this plate to the hail. I took a couple of videos and this is the first one. What an experience it was to have these huge balls of ice or hail pouring down forcefully from the sky onto our house and windows this afternoon! It was bizarre.

Christopher is thrilled to be a Boy Scout and especially loves going on camp outs with his dad. This was before they left on their last camp out to Pedernales. Notice Kelly breaking into the treats before they even leave. This could be counted as his after school snack. While there, Christopher was playing cops and robbers with their youthful, enthusiastic new Scoutmaster and the other boys, and fell into a tree and came home with a scrape on his forehead that he got to tell everyone at school about the next Monday. It was an impressive battle wound that he was proud to have. Luckily, it's clearing up well. They took a lot of pictures up at the campsite, but Kelly uses his camera and I never see the pictures, so here's all I've got for you. I'm so thankful for James, Christopher's Scoutmaster, and his awesome leader, Jonathan. They have really made a huge impression on my son, and being a Boy Scout is seriously his favorite activity.

These are way too rich and sweet to eat more than one, plus I need a glass of milk to go with it. Here's the before baking shot. And now the chocolaty after photo. I cut them into squares, individually bagged them, then put them in the freezer. Yummy! Baking is fun, true. Eating the results is the best part.  Here's the recipe that I use. 1/2 cup butter, melted 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs 1 cup pecans 1 cup coconut 1 cup chocolate chips 1 can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk (14 ounces) Melt butter then mix it together with the graham cracker crumbs.  Press onto the bottom of a 9" x 13" baking pan. (That's not the size I used here, because I kind of multiplied the recipe to fit pan that is pictured.)  It's not a bad idea to butter the bottom of the pan first.  Then layer the pecans, coconut, then chocolate chips on next.  Pour the sweetened condensed milk into a sturdy plastic zippered bag, then zip to close.  Snip off one small corner, th