Abigail has started blogging again. Read what she wrote yesterday.
Tonight we were at IKEA sharing an ice cream cone with Abigail when she told us her first knock-knock joke.
Abigail: knock knock
Terry: who’s there?
Abigail: Hannah (one of her dolls)
Terry: Hannah who?
Abigail: um, ice cream (then she giggled)
Hopefully this will just be the first installment of original jokes by Abigail!
I’ve had a few requests for my zucchini bread recipe so here goes!
1. Beat 3 eggs
2. Add to eggs: 2 1/2 cups sugar, 1 cup oil, 1 tbsp vanilla, 2 cups peeled shredded zucchini
3. In another bowl sift together (i just mixed it well) 3 cups flour, 1 tbsp cinnamon, 1 1/4 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp salt
4. Fold flour mixture into egg/zucchini mixture.
5. Fold in 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
6. Pour into 2 greased loaf pans
7. Bake at 350 deg for 45-60 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
I gave a few loaves out over the Christmas Season and they were always well received!
Looks like my husband got his post about our fun yesterday on the Flying Dutchman Ghostly Gangplank at the Mall of America finished before I could. He posted some real good pictures so I will just show you a couple others. Please go and read his post and check out the rest of the awesome pictures he took yesterday!
Even though Abigail is really into the “forced smile stage” I think this is a cute picture of us girls!
Now onto the Ghostly Gangplank pictures!
This crossing is on the first level. Since there wasn’t a line Terry was able to get right underneath us for some cool shots.
I think this one is from the second level.
Here Tracey & I are on the highest level, we had both already walked the plank and sounded the horn. It was so much easier at this point. We felt confident and happy that we had met the challenge!
As we went down we went over a few of the more challenging crossings again and then met up with Terry, Abigail & Mike (Grandpa).
I really like this picture Tracey took of Terry & I. I was feeling a little warm having just finished about an hour on the ropes course but I like how it turned out. Too bad Abigail was off having fun with Grandpa Mike in Best Buy otherwise we could have had a great family photo!
Alternative Title Chosen by my husband : How a crazy lady spends her Saturday.
After reading some of the first hand accounts from the Little Rock book signing (some people waited 4 hours) I knew I needed to arrive early to the Mall of America on Saturday for The Pioneer Woman Cooks book signing. The signing started at 1pm so I thought arriving at noon would probably be a good idea and get me in and out a little faster. I told Terry we needed to arrive early and he suggested 10am. I laughed. I thought it was absurd to arrive that early. I know she has a big following but come on. Well, it turns out (and it usually does) that my dear husband was absolutely right in his 10am assessment.
So instead of heading right to the Mall of America at 10am we went to Jo-Ann Fabrics so I could pick out buttons for the sweater I just finished knitting for Abigail (I think I am as shocked as you that I’m posting knitting to the knitting blog 
). Might as well show a photo of it in it’s unblocked state (the edges will lay flat once I’m done).
I found the buttons I wanted pretty quickly then hopped over to the flannel aisle to find something to line a baby hat with. Abigail decided she needed to carry the bolt of fabric which worked out fine until she decided to start unrolling it on the floor. Then she had a tantrum. I was very appreciative to Terry since he was able to bring her out to the car while I waited to get my fabric cut. I could hear her screaming the whole time it took them to get out of the store. Fun times.
After all that we went to the Macaroni Grill for lunch. Terry had a gift card from his birthday and he was feeling like pasta. We had a nice time, Abigail really liked her macaroni and cheese and we really enjoyed helping her eat her caramel sundae.
We didn’t arrive at the Mall until 12:45 so I was feeling the pressure of being late then I got into Nordstrom Court and couldn’t see the end of the line. I was glad Terry dropped me off and went to his aunt’s house because it was going to be a long wait.
I didn’t get any great line pictures but this lady did! When she shows the line snaking past Caribou I was at the far left edge of that picture by Hanna Anderson (I can’t actually see myself but that’s where I was).
I met some really great people in line that for some crazy reason I didn’t take any pictures of. I think the Mall air must have clouded my picture taking sense. I also managed to have the camera on the wrong setting the entire time I was there.
About 30 minutes before my turn I noticed someone familiar up on stage getting her books signed. It was ChrisAnn from Love Feast Table! We met at the Mckmama Mudd Lake gathering and have been following each others’ blogs & twitter feeds since then. She has a picture of both of us posted here in her Pioneer Woman post.
Finally after 5.5 hours of standing, knitting, chatting, texting, calling & staring I got my 1.5 minutes with Ree Drummund The Pioneer Woman. She is just as charming & funny as her blog portrays and she’s even more gorgeous in person. I’d say the only thing that would have made it better is if there was Chocolate Sheet Cake at the table with her!
Ree, it was so nice to meet you and I hope you come back to visit MN again! Thanks for being just as gracious with me as you were with the hundreds before me!
