Adios!

Sports, Sports, and more Sports!

I would like to know how I ended up with athletic kids. Chance would like to know also – considering the choice he made in the marriage department. I love to watch these kids do their “thing’ on the field. They really are impressive little machines. I try to remind myself of this fact when I am sitting in the semi-shade (mind you it IS 100+ degrees) drinking my third flavored tea from the Water Still and munching on Santa Fe Trail Mix and sweating like a pig….did I mention it was over 100!

The giant waterslide at baseball camp – they look forward to this all week!

shirts v. skins at football camp – they got to play at Kimbrough Stadium! (Cutter is in the Longhorn cap)

Cambry getting ready to slide on the waterslide at Softball camp (they really do learn some technique for sliding at this camp)

Rebel Roaster Tournament 2011

Rebel Roaster Champions 2011

  Cutter in his new uniform. He is playing on a club tournament team and is LOVING it!

June Cleaver’s Moist Banana Snack Cake

ok – this cake isn’t really June Cleaver’s recipe…it isn’t even called that - but for me it represents the mom/homemaker I want to be in my dreams. I want the kind of kitchen that is always spotless while hiding a delicious three course meal and the perfect dessert. I want the kids to run into the kitchen eagerly anticipating the home baked goodness that awaits them under the crystal cake plate after a long day at school….hello….wake-up….it just isn’t going to happen around here that often. I managed to clean one bathroom today and it completely wore me out. I only cooked supper because someone left the freezer open and the thawed fish couldn’t be wasted. I did manage to place a yummy snack cake under the glass cake plate though – just what I needed in this season of dieting. I wanted to find a cake that could be sliced for easy snacking and I found the perfect one. Really, this banana cake was VERY good and super moist which is a must. I really liked that it called for average everyday ingredients! I even used a stick of parkay margarine instead of the usual butter.

Ingredients

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter or margarine
• 2 eggs
• 4 ripe bananas, mashed
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I left the nuts out and we still LOVED it)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour one 9 x 13 inch cake pan.
2. Cream together the butter or margarine and the sugar.
3. Add eggs, bananas, flour, soda, salt, nuts, and vanilla. Mix thoroughly and pour batter into the prepared pan.
4. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes (don't over bake). Dust with powdered sugar if you so desire.

The Perils of 8 Year olds and Microwaves

I love it that my resident “picky eater” can cook his own food in the microwave. He has made his own macaroni and cheese dozens of times now without incident….but as you can see,  it just takes one time. For the curious minded - this is what happens to a macaroni and cheese cup….when you forget to add the water.

My house still stinks!

Sports – Spring Edition!

Softball and baseball are in full swing! I thought I should log-in here and at least post a few pictures – I have no time for lengthy descriptions or witty prose!

Cutter is in his 3rd year of baseball and his last year of Coach Pitch. He is also playing on his first tournament team this summer – I’m not sure I’m ready for that...but he sure is!

Cambry is playing with her team, The Canyon Xtreme, again this year. They are so much fun to watch and you can really tell that these girls are used to playing together. Cambry was cleared to play just a few days before her first game! YAY!!! She was in a boot for two weeks because of a tendon injury.

I will have to come back and add more pictures – for some reason most of the ones I took are blurry – I am sure it must be the camera -  because I know I am an excellent photographer (wink)!

Eagle Idol 2011

Chesley performed this past Friday in her school's version of American Idol. It is something she has looked forward to since she made the top 5 last year and placed 4th. This year she won first place! Woo Hoo - we were really proud of her. We all think she is so BRAVE for getting up in front of her school and singing....she never bats an eye! She had her choice of prizes and she chose the Xbox 360 with Kinect. We are having a blast playing it - and thankfully with Spring Break...we have extra Kinect time!

Banana Bread Cobbler and a Medal Winner

I have to pass along this super yummy recipe that was shared at work by a co-worker. It is a unique twist on the average cobbler/crisp. Chance declared it his new favorite dessert and I must say it’s comfort food at its finest. It was originally featured in Southern Living…so I know my mom will love it!

Roberta’s Banana Bread Cobbler

Ingredients

• 1  cup  self-rising flour
• 1  cup  sugar
• 1  cup  milk
• 1/2  cup  butter, melted
• 4  medium-size ripe bananas, sliced
• Streusel Topping (see recipe below)
• Vanilla ice cream

1. Preheat oven to 375°. Whisk together flour and next 2 ingredients just until blended; whisk in melted butter. Pour batter into a lightly greased 11- x 7-inch baking dish. Top with banana slices, and sprinkle with Streusel Topping.
2. Bake at 375° for 40 to 45 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly. Serve with ice cream.

Streusel Topping

Ingredients

• 3/4  cup  firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/2  cup  self-rising flour
• 1/2  cup  butter, softened
• 1  cup  uncooked regular oats
• 1/2  cup  chopped pecans

1. Stir together brown sugar, flour, and butter until crumbly, using a fork. Stir in oats and pecans.

A few notes: It is delicious, but might be considered too rich for some – if you wish…I think you could use less of the streusel. We ate it warm with Blue Bell Homemade vanilla and really…it is super yummy. My bananas were ripe (yellow with brown spots….but not completely brown) I don’t think you can use green bananas in this recipe – so make sure you buy your bananas ahead of time. Oh, and the batter for the cake part that goes on the bottom….yep – super yummy! I could have eaten the whole bowl.

Now, about that medal – we finished off another season of sports at the Hedger house. Cutter played basketball for the first time and had a great time. His little team ended up winning the championship tournament! It was so fun to watch them get better and better as the season progressed! We are now gearing up for little league baseball, softball, and “Bye Bye Birdie” at the Little Theater….Mom’s taxi is in FULL SWING!

One Tough Pup!

We have been pretty fortunate all of the years that we have owned pets – we have had very few problems that required the services of our Veterinarian. The last few months have just about made up for it - unfortunately! We started with parvo (Shadow)….moved on to a double dose of kennel cough (Shadow and Milo)….and topped it all off with a grand helping of DIABETES (Milo)!

The circumstances leading up to the diagnosis were a combination of potty accidents, weight loss, and ferocious thirst. The path to getting better included about 7 nights of little sleep, more thirst, and lots of throwing up. Thank goodness things have started to improve. He is taking several doses of pills each day and two shots of insulin. His worst glucose reading was in the 600’s. We are now on the homestretch and should be at our maximum insulin level by next week. Did I mention that he has had to go to the vet every week for a glucose test! We are so happy that he is doing better – the diagnosis will never go away….the shots will never go away….but we love him and are happy that he is doing better. Cutter is so happy to have his bed partner back. They both slept in until 9 this morning. The Vet was just full of bad news during that first visit and also told us that Milo is going blind in both eyes as a result of the diabetes. Bless his little heart – he is still so spunky and loves to play considering he has had a really rough couple of weeks!

13 Reasons to Celebrate!

January 16th was a special day at the Hedger house! Cambry officially became a teenager! She has been a joy for every single one of her 13 years. She is quiet and thoughtful with a dash of sassy and ornery thrown in – which results in a 100% perfect person in my book. I am so very thankful that God decided that we would be the perfect family for her….because she is a perfect fit.

 Happy 13th Birthday Cambry!

Who needs Justin Bieber....

Cutter emerged from his room and announced that he had taught himself a new song on his I-touch! Nothing prepared me for this little tid-bit of goodness! LOL I mean really - who needs Justin when you can have Johnny!

(p.s. there was more video, but my iphone would only let me e-mail 55 seconds worth)

Sister Photo Shoot – Dec. 2010

The girls loved dressing up this last week and taking advantage of Nana’s nice camera. My parents have great scenery around their house to use as backdrops. I have to admit that I’m getting a little bored with the standard front porch photo op…so it was just as much fun for me. Here are a few of my favorites. We found a really neat old abandoned house next to a  road…the possibilities are endless and we can’t wait to get back there for a few more pictures. Don’t you love the moss growing up from the bottom.