Sunday Funday at the Farm

We had a great time visiting friends at their amazing farm today. The girls got a real taste of farm life and enjoyed every last second of it. They planted squash, melon, and pumpkin seeds, harvested kale and arugula for the adults' lunch, and had some good old fashioned fun outdoors.  We can't wait to go back some time in the summer to check in on our plantings!!

Julia loving the swing...as long as it only moved about .5 miles an hour.

Caroline

Caroline and Jack on the Gator

Riding off into the sunset.

Margaret

Julia walking off into the sunset.

Planting seeds.

Wheelbarrow race

Julia wore a tutu to the farm.

Harvesting the salad for lunch.

Margaret mowin' the grass.

Caroline and Jack were best buds today.

Three girls, zonked after a day at the farm.

Outdoor Photo Op

We have been enjoying a lot of time outdoors in the lovely spring weather lately. Check it out!

Sister love: Caroline and Margaret

Julia on the move!

The girl loves to ride.

Caroline and the tree she planted with Daddy last year.

Margaret

Margaret rockin' some pigtails. 

Cute as a button.

Julia doing an interpretive dance.

Caroline catching helicopter seeds.

Happy girl Julia.

Love those piggies.

Julia

Caroline sashaying across the grass.

Margaret getting a wild ride.

Sweet Caroline

Zero to Sixty

Whew! About a week and a half ago, we had a stretch of days that was one for the books in the Hepper house! We were plugging right along in our normal day to day routine when a chain of events unfolded at mind-blowing speed and ended with a very happy handful of Heppers!!
Paul and I have been looking for a new house for about 7 months now. We've been in and out of lots of duds, a few interesting possibilities, and one house that we loved, but despite our best efforts was not meant to be ours.
Last Tuesday, a house came on the market that we knew had the potential to be "the one." We went to visit and from the moment I opened the front door, I was in love. The rest of the house was just as enticing and by the time I hit the second floor, I pulled Paul into a bathroom and said, "This house is mine."
We put in an offer and waited impatiently to see what would happen next. However, as is often the case in the Richmond West End market, the house was "the one" for several people, and there were quickly other competitive bids (including one insane couple who parked themselves in front of the house in contention and stalked it for 7 hours!). What happened next is a long story, but to make it quick, we went to bed at 4AM on Thursday morning as the winning bidders of our new house!! I have never been so glad that Paul does mergers and acquisitions as his job - he was wheeling and dealing like a champion!
Next up was to put our house on the market, which we had thankfully been preparing for for several weeks. All we had to do was drop a sign in our front yard that Thursday afternoon and we were ready to go. It is another long story, but within 18 hours we had 5 showings and 2 offers. The winning offer was amazingly impressive - these people really wanted our house!
So here we are, a little over week later, and our world has changed in a wonderful way. We are so excited about moving into our new home in less than a month.
We are so blessed to have wonderful family and friends who helped out along the way (Thank you Grandpa and Grandma Hepper) and to have one amazing realtor who has lost a great deal of sleep helping us buy and sell our homes!

This beauty is our new house...she's on an acre of land!!!

Julia helping put up the flyer sign in our front yard.

18 hours and gone!

Baking Buddies and Macaroni in the Tub

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week at First Pres, and I signed up to bake two desserts to be a part of a delicious smorgasbord of yumminess for our much deserving teachers.
 I didn't have any recipes immediately come to mind, so I headed on over to Pinch of Yum, one of my favorite food blogs (go ahead, click on the link and prepare to start drooling...www.pinchofyum.com )
The index of desserts did not disappoint and soon I found myself on my way to the store to buy ingredients for two recipes: Triple Berry Pie Bars and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars....yum-o!!
Caroline and I put the babies down for their nap and got busy cooking up the tasty treats. The littles joined us when they got up - it was a full afternoon of baking!!
I have to give both recipes an overwhelming A+. Although very different, both bars are amazing and delicious, and I almost wanted to pretend like I forgot to bake so I could keep them all for myself :)

Here are the recipes and a few pictures of my handy helpers: Caroline, Julia, and Margaret.

Oh, and I almost forgot...make sure you scroll all the way to the bottom of this post for the picture that represents the second half of my post title :-)

TRIPLE BERRY PIE BARS

Author: adapted from Pink Parsley

INGREDIENTS

Crust and Topping

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup quick oats
• 1½ cups sugar
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled

Fruit Filling

• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup sour cream
• ¾ cup flour
• pinch salt
• zest of ½ lemon 
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 (16-oz) packages frozen mixed berries (strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. To make the crust and topping, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×13 baking pan.
2. Put oats into the food processor and pulse until a coarse “flour” forms. Add the regular flour, sugar, and salt to the food processor. Pulse a few times to mix. Cut the butter into ½-inch cubes, and add to the flour mixture. Process until the butter is evenly distributed but the mixture is still crumbly, 30-60 seconds. (I had to do this in 3 batches because of the size of my food processor.)
3. Reserve 1½ cups of the mixture to use as the topping. Press the remaining mixture into the bottom of the pan, and bake 12-15 minutes. Cool for at least 10 minutes.
4. To make the filling, whisk the eggs in a large bowl, then add the sugar, sour cream, flour, salt, lemon zest, and vanilla extract. Gently fold in the berries and spoon the mixture over the crust. Sprinkle the remaining flour mixture evenly over the filling, and bake 45 to 55 minutes.
5. Cool at least 1 hour before cutting into bars. Serve bars warmed, chilled, or at room temperature! Either way, I’d recommend them with a scoop of ice cream.

Caroline is a really good helper in the kitchen.

Ever so carefully cutting the butter.

Hellooooo, gorgeous!

PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE CHEESECAKE BARS

Author: Pinch of Yum

Prep time:  20 mins

Cook time:  40 mins

Total time:  1 hour

Serves: 20

INGREDIENTS

• 1 stick butter, unsalted (1/2 cup), softened
• ½ cup white sugar
• ⅓ cup packed brown sugar
• ½ cup peanut butter
• 1 egg
• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt (less if you don’t like salty/sweet)
• ½ cup rolled oats
• 2 cups chocolate chips
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• ⅓ cup sugar
• 1 egg
• ½ teaspoon vanilla

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Make the cookie dough: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cream the butter, sugars, and peanut butter until smooth and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until incorporated. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add the flour mixture in with the butter and sugar, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the oats and chocolate chips.
2. Make the cheesecake filling: Cream the cream cheese, egg, sugar, and vanilla until smooth.
3. Press half to two-thirds of the cookie dough in the bottom of a 9-inch square baking dish. Pour the cheesecake filling over the dough. Crumble the remaining dough and sprinkle over the top, OR roll it into a flat layer and place it over the cheesecake layer.
4. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes; remove foil and bake for another 15-20 minutes, or until tops is lightly browned and cheesecake layer is set. Serve warm or cold and store leftover bars in refrigerator.

Julia just up from her nap. Not quite ready to bake yet.

Getting down to business

Margaret was a really good spoon licker.

I may or may not have eaten that entire corner.

And last, but not least, I had to share this picture from bath time. I left Margaret for a moment to tuck Caroline into bed and when I came back, I found this....

 In case you can't make it out, there are FOUR boxes of macaroni and cheese and an entire bag of Goldfish IN THE TUB. I know that Margaret never left the tub, so I'll give you one guess as to which twin is responsible for submerging half the contents of my pantry in water. Her name starts with a J...

Picture Post

Things have been especially hectic in the Hepper household lately, so all we have time for today is a picture post. Enjoy!

Caroline and Mary Michael at Lyle, Lyle Crocodile last week.

Holt, Caroline, Mary Michael, and Julia Hunter inside ready to see the show!

We're so excited!

It was a special morning with Mommy

Julia engrossed in play

My sweet girls enjoying lunch together outside.

Julia and Margaret

Caroline being a good helper at the post office.

Stretch!!!

Margaret chatting away on the phone.

Double trouble - out cold!

Cookie-faced sweet Margaret

Caroline in her favorite tree.

Excited to go to Penn State with Daddy.

Off they go on their special trip.

Julia's new favorite way to take a bath: wrapped in the liner with all her toys. Obviously this requires a vigilant parent to be watching at all times!!!