Numbers

Yesterday was Buzzard's birthday.  The boys and I made him a special breakfast, then sent him off to a tax conference.  Doesn't that sound stimulating?  The good news was, he was able to snatch up some CPE credit and be home extra early.  We took him to dinner at his favorite haunt.  Three pictures I took with my iphone, and this was by far the best..........

Hmmm.  Not a stellar day for iphone photography.  :-)

45.  It's a good number.  Not too young.  Not too old.  Just right.

Kind of like my Buzzard.

We topped off the evening by watching the Rangers show the Yankees some good baseball while munching on Scotcharoos and homemade Nilla Wafers.

If I set my entire family loose in the cookie isle at the market, chances are good they'd all come back to me with Nilla Wafers.  All except for Hannah, and her screwball loyalty to the Fig Newton.  

Black Sheep.  Every family has one.

Anyway, my family loves plain old fashioned Nilla Wafers.  So, when I happened upon a recipe for them yesterday afternoon in an old issue of Taste of Home magazine, I decided to give them a try.  What I love about this recipe is that, in addition to taking uno momento to prepare, it uses easy ingredients that would always be in your pantry.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to reveal to you that these taste absolutely nothing like a Nilla Wafer.  That was a tad disappointing to me, given the excitement generated in my soul by the title.  But, if they would have been called "Simple, Sweet, Delicious, Plain, Crisp, Round Cookies," they would have met my every expectation.  So, I've renamed them, and I'm sharing the recipe at the bottom of this post.

In other news, today at preschool you get an ice cream treat if you can recite your phone number by memory.  I've known about this since last Thursday, but given that the powers-that-be at big-girl-school have chosen spring time to saddle us with this extra special challenge, a weak spot in my preschool parenting has been revealed.

What I've learned about myself this week is that I can get to rehearsals for the big choir performance, do spring baseball, prepare for a Bible Bowl competition, AND learn to make non-Nilla Wafer tasting Nilla Wafers WHILE potty training a doodle...

....OR I can teach a four year old her phone number.

I did give it a shot.  We sang it, and played little games.  I do see the merit in why this is important, and all kidding aside, we are going to continue with our efforts because it truly is a necessity.  But there is no way that poor child is going to know the sweet taste of preschool ice cream on this particular day.

Last night at the birthday dinner we practiced.  And practiced.  And practiced.  She got the area code during salads, and the first three numbers during the entree.  But by the time we got home for dessert and I asked her for her phone number she looked at me in total panic and blurted, "IS IT W.J.Z. ONE HUNDRED AND SIX????"

No.  No it is not.

And that is going to unfavorably impact the ice cream supply.

I sent her off to bed after bolstering her hopes that we would make great progress during breakfast this morning, but when she woke up today and came downstairs the first thing she told me was that she couldn't remember a single thing about her "passcode".

Blessherheart.

Now I'm trying to busy myself with the details of the day, which so far involve a very sick dog (not the puppy, the other one), a glitch with our homeschool materials, getting the house cleaned, and preparing for a science test on ocean currents.  But in the back of my mind I can't stop wondering exactly what the process will be for awarding some four year olds with ice cream and not others.  :-(  Would they give her just a tiny taste if she could somehow manage to miraculously recall at least the area code?

Because it isn't entirely her fault that her mother chose baking Nilla Wafers over guaranteeing her unwavering success in demonstrating the recitation of "passcodes".  Her mother hasn't entirely caught on to the fact that in addition to feeding her, clothing her, bathing her, and buying her a brand new puppy, she has to actually teach her things too.

Even in springtime.  :-)

SIMPLE SWEETIES

1/2 cup softened butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract (yes, it's a lot, but it works!)

1 1/3 cups flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg and vanilla.  Combine dry ingredients; add to cream mixture, and mix well.  Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets at bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes or until the edges just begin to golden.  Remove to wire racks to cool.