Blogging...oh yes, I remember you.

I remember when I posted sweet pictures of my crew, funny stories, recipes, it was awesome.  Then silence....  Life was still happening, don't worry about that... just no time to blog.  Between illnesses (lots...), Bradley classes, schooling, diaper changes, meals and so on, there was no time.  Is there magically time now?  Probably not but that's ok.  I want to keep writing, posting, picture..ing, and quoting.  I love looking back at previous posts and remembering the things I did on a daily basis.  It's fun.  So let me see if I can give a short synopsis of the last few (several?) months....

Even the baby is obsessed with legos.

February:  So I was in the middle of that cute little photography challenge on instagram and Mia got sick so I took care of her instead of taking pictures.  Which is good I think since I'm the mom and all....
Then Tyler was sick and Hunter was sick and Mia was sick and Tyler was sick and Hunter was sick and Jay got an allergic reaction rash and Mia was sick and Tyler was sick and Hunter was sick and Jay was sick.  Yes....back and forth and back and forth for a month a half, a month of wellness and then 2 weeks of sick again.  I'm so over being sick....Hopefully we aren't sick again for years...years I say! Our immune systems are made of solid lead...nothing is getting in here! 

So somewhere in there:

Jay turned 8 and had his first sleepover. 

Mia turned 1!  Ack!  We had a sweet little family party with pink cupcakes and presents.

Hunter lost 2 teeth.

Mia started walking and is so sassy.

Tyler has developed the most adorable little boy lisp

. The girl loves shoes. Sleeps in them.  Will not let us take them off.  

And the summer so far:  Supa fun!

Made a chain for the Official Alabama countdown!

 

Summer Plans
Swim Lessons (check)
Lots of swimming (still checking)
Friends (will be checking all summer!)
Movie in the Park (check)
Watermelon (check)
Daily Alien Slime Smoothies (aka green smoothies)  (check)
Solar S'mores (check)
Water gun fights
Sleepovers (check)
Hike
Annual Alabama vacation

I can't believe summer is almost over.  I'm excited to start planning school.  So fun!  I love school starting.  Pencils, books, crayons, notebooks, the works.  The boys didn't understand why I was so excited in the school section of Target last year.  Me: boys, do you want new crayons and pencils?  Them: No, we have some.  Me: Yeah, but don't you want new ones for the new school year? Them: No. Can we go look at the Legos?  Me: Ugh.  Nevermind.  Maybe they will be excited about new crayons this year? 

Ok, so I realize this post is sort of...lame.  But I feel like I need to update what's been going on just for my own records.  So I don't look back at the posts and say "did we fall off the face of the earth?  What happened between Feb and July?"  I can't remember most of it now so no way I'll remember it later!  Mommy brain.  It's bad. 
So anyway, how have you been?

powers

H: jay, can you fix the tv?
J: yep (fixed it)
H: how do you do that??
J: powers
J: (to me) I'm just kidding...

Breakfast

"this breakfast is so good you should put it online!" -jay




Layer twice:
Strawberries
Yogurt
Rolled oats
Top with:
Walnuts
Dark chocolate chips

After they have devoured the parfait, finish the bag of chocolate chips while skipping around the house.

The end.

Feb 11 ::makes me happy::

Feb 10 ::self portrait::

Feb 8 ::sun::

A magnet on my fridge. :)

Feb 7 ::button::

Feb 6 ::dinner::

I <3 my crockpot.

Feb 5th ::10am::

Feb 4th ::a stranger::

I think this man reads every article in the daily paper and retells the best parts to his wife of 46 years. I'm sure I'm right. :)

Feb 3rd ::hands::

A day in the life

Linking up with Simple Homeschool

My days with Jay (7.5), Hunter (5), Tyler (3), and Mia (9 months)

These days life is not dictated by the clock but a general flow of activities that make up our days.

I try (yes, try...I'm still up with a nursing baby during the night) to wake up around 6:30 and get some quiet time before the boys wake up. Some days this happens and other days we all wake up around 7 and start our day with some breakfast and playing with Legos.



Some days have slower starts than others and we just go with the flow.
After breakfast we clean up the kitchen, the boys unload the dishwasher and I load it. I make my bed, pick up my room, get dressed, etc and then we all head the boys room to do the same thing. Depending on the morning we either go to town and run errands, start school, or play outside and then start school. I like to do our school work in the morning while the baby is napping but I'm flexible as long as we get our day's assignments mostly done.





We eat lunch around noon, usually sandwiches or leftovers. I would love to be more creative but it never happens. Oh well! We clean up and the boys play some more, usually outside, and I nurse Mia, start planning for dinner, drink some coffee, etc. We will also finish school if there's anything we didn't get to in the morning.





Around 3:30 we get a snack, play more, watch a movie, read...something like that.




About 5:00 or 5:30 I start dinner. We eat around 6:30 or 7 depending on when/if John will be home to eat with us. (he has a crazy work schedule!)



Clean up dinner, load dishwasher, pick up toys and generally tidy up for the next day. I make sure the kitchen and everything is done before I get them to bed so I can be done with the day once they are out.



Bath, brush teeth, pjs on, read, pray, sleep. Whew!




John and I usually stay up way too late talking or watching a movie. I'm usually asleep by 11:00 (sometimes earlier and sometimes later).

That's it. That's my day. Some are good. Some are not so good. Overall, it's a pretty wonderful gig I have here!

Feb 2nd ::words::

February photo a day

I follow Terahgirl on Instagram and she posted this:



And thought it would be fun to do! Attempt anyway!

So.... Feb 1st - my view today



It's a good one. Except for the never ending math lesson...holy moly.... :)

{this moment} ::math::

Inspired by soulemama

Another Delicious Breakfast

About 10 years ago i was given a mini muffin pan and literally used it once so I got rid of it around thanksgiving. Then I found all these yummy recipes that, of course, use mini muffin pans...bummer...
So, for Christmas guess what I was given again? Yep! A mini muffin pan! Yay! (I didn't even ask for it!) I've already used it twice. The donut holes and now this easy-peasy breakfast! The boys were in love! :)



Mini Puffed Oven Pancakes with Berry Sauce
recipe and picture by ourbestbites.com

Ingredients
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1/8 teaspoon salt
2-3 tablespoons butter, melted
powdered sugar

Berry Sauce
6 large frozen or fresh strawberries
3 tablespoons berry jam
optional: sugar if needed, to taste

Instructions
Place mini muffin pan (or cast iron skillet) in oven and heat to 400 degrees. While oven is heating, place flour, milk, eggs, and salt in a blender and blend until smooth. Carefully remove the pan from the oven (don’t forget it’s hot!) and quickly spray the wells with non-stick spray, or brush with melted butter. But we’re going for quick and easy here so I just grab the spray. (If using cast iron pan, coat entire pan surface with butter). Fill muffin wells 3/4 full with batter. Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, until puffed and slightly golden on top. Remove puffs and place on plate or platter. Drizzle with melted butter and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Drizzle with berry sauce and top with cool whip or whipped cream, or serve with sauce and/or maple syrup for dipping.

Quick and Easy Berry Sauce

If using frozen berries, place berries and jam in a microwave-safe bowl and heat for about 1 minute. Use a fork to stir and mash everything together (cut strawberries if necessary), or place everything in a blender and pulse a few times until desired consistency is reached. Add sugar to taste for sweetness and a few teaspoons of water or juice only if needed for consistency.

Yields about 24 mini muffin pancake puffs

Baked Pumpkin Donut Holes

I found the recipe here. The light, fluffiness is heavenly. Yes, there are donut holes in heaven, I am sure! Jay said that Cereal Saturday should now be Donut Hole Saturday. Ok!







Baked Pumpkin Donut Holes
Yield: 24 donut holes (mini muffins)Cook Time: 10-12 minutes
ingredients:
For the Donuts:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoons ground cloves
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup canned plain pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 cup milk

For the Coating:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon

directions:
1. Preheat oven 350°F. Spray a 24-cup mini muffin tin with baking spray and set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves. In a separate, large bowl whisk together oil, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, pumpkin and milk until smooth. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until just combined.

3. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

4. While the muffins bake, melt butter in one bowl and combine granulated sugar and cinnamon in another bowl. Remove muffins from oven and cool for 2 minutes. Dip each muffin in melted butter, then roll in cinnamon sugar to coat. Serve muffins warm or at room temperature.

Recipe fromThe Craving Chronicles

{this moment}

Inspired by soulemama

Cooking with Tyler

A few nights ago I walked into the kitchen to this:


"let's make muttins!" (that's "muffins" for those who don't speak Tyler)
We make a lot of muttins in our kitchen. Tyler is quite the little kitchen helper as you can see! He pulled out just about everything needed to make some yummy muttins...i mean, muffins.
So we grabbed a cookbook from when John was young and made some for dinner. Yum!



I love this cookbook. I mostly love that John color coded each recipe indicating which ones were his favorites. Adorable!

I never think to get a picture of the finished product...we are too busy eating the finished product!

Hope there's something yummy cooking in your kitchen this afternoon!

{this moment}

Inspired by Soulemama...