Best Granola and Garden

So I found the best granola recipe, and made it and it proved to be the best granola recipe.
Alton Brown's Granola

I also wanted to plant a Cut Flower Garden and worked on half last Tuesday in the rain and added to it yesterday. I used this template as a guide, but added on to our existing "Bob's Garden. Our garden now this new stuff includes:
Coneflowers
Sunflowers
Snapdragons
Zinnia
Dianthus
Cosmos
Double-Knock out Roses
Peony
Phlox
and I am going to pick up and plant:
Lavender
Yarrow
Shasta Daisys

I am hoping the girls really enjoy cutting flowers and I know I will enjoy having fresh cut flowers in the house all summer!

I have also started from seeds 2 kinds of tomatoes, peppers, cilantro, rosemary, basil and thai basil, curled Parsley and lettuce. We picked up a 2nd upside down tomato planter so we will get that going this week!

Starting on Friday the wedding activities kick-off - Aubrey and Molly are flower girls in my cousin's wedding this Saturday! We are all very excited but no one more than Aubrey.
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It seems to me that as my girls get closer to 3 and 5 Doug and I have more time and energy for each other and for doing things with the house and the yard. It is at once really nice and one tiny bit sad that time goes so fast and the girls are so independent so quickly. I still cherish the snuggles I get at bed time routine - just as I cherish the people Aubrey and Molly are becoming.

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Dinner last night we went around and said what we love about Mommy.
Aubrey, "I love Mommy because she bought me new pretty pajamas and skirts with shorts in them".
Molly, "Because I throw tantrums and I like to cry and mommy knows"
This is what she seriously said, I have NO idea...

Just Sharing

I made the following recipes with great success last weekend.

Modeling Clay
Mix 3 Cups Flour, 1.5 Cups Salt, 3 Cups Water, 1 TBL Oil, and 1 TBL cream of tartar in a large saucepan. Add food coloring. Cook on Medium Heat until dough comes away from the edges of the pan and mixture thickens. Let cool and knead to blend color. Store in airtight container.

We made pink - and this made A TON! Enough for 4 little girls to play with at the same time and then some.

French Breakfast Puffs
3 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup shortening (Crisco)
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon
2 sticks butter
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 12 muffin cups. Stir together flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Set aside. In a different bowl, cream together 1 cup sugar and shortening, then add eggs and mix. Add flour mixture and milk alternately to creamed mixture, beating well after each addition. Fill prepared muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until golden. In a bowl, melt 2 sticks butter. In a separate bowl combine remaining sugar and cinnamon. Dip baked muffins in butter, coating thoroughly, then coat with cinnamon-sugar mixture. Eat. Faint.

Bacon Wrapped Maple Pork Loin
For brining pork
8 cups water
1/3 cup kosher salt
2 tablespoons maple syrup (Grade B or amber)
1/2 teaspoon crushed black peppercorns
2 sprigs fresh sage
1 large garlic clove, smashed
1 Turkish or 1/2 California bay leaf
1 (4- to 4 1/2-lb) boneless pork loin roast, trimmed

For roasting pork
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage
3 tablespoons maple syrup (Grade B or amber)
16 bacon slices (about 1 lb)
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon water


Brine pork:
Combine all brining ingredients except pork loin in a 3- to 4-quart saucepan and heat over high heat, stirring, until salt is dissolved. Pour brine into a deep 4- to 5-quart pot; cool to room temperature, uncovered, about 2 hours.

Add pork to brine, making sure it is completely covered by brine, and marinate, covered and chilled, 8 to 24 hours.

Roast pork:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.

Pat pork dry (discard brine) and remove any strings, then transfer to a roasting pan. Stir together garlic, sage, and 1 tablespoon syrup in a small bowl and rub all over pork. Lay bacon slices crosswise over loin, overlapping slightly, and tuck ends of bacon underneath loin.

Roast pork until thermometer registers 140°F, about 1 1/4 hours. Stir together 1 tablespoon syrup and vinegar until combined. Brush vinegar mixture over bacon slices and continue to roast pork until thermometer registers 150°F, about 10 minutes more. Remove from oven and let stand in pan 15 minutes. Transfer roast to a cutting board with a lip, reserving juices in pan, and let roast stand, uncovered, while making sauce.

Skim fat from pan juices and discard, then transfer jus to a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Stir together cornstarch and water and whisk into jus. Simmer, stirring, until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in remaining tablespoon syrup. Serve pork with sauce.

NOTE: My pork read 160 after 75 minutes - so check this after 45 minutes! It was still good!!

Adventure Walking

Sunday was such a lovely day, the girls and I spontaneously grabbed some little baskets, my camera and headed to the trail for an adventure.

Here are some pictures!

Easter Bonnets

Yes, the picture needs cropping, but aren't they too cute!

I *LOVE* Molly's smile in this one.

Happy Easter Everyone!

Play Date One Up Manship

We have some friends that have a daughter who is about 6 months older than Aubrey. Two weeks ago we started a Sunday afternoon "thing", first Sunday the little girl was here, the next week Aubrey was there. It was GREAT! It was great for Molly, it was great for me, for Hubby, for the other parents, their younger daughter, and it was great for the 2 Four year olds.

On that first week when the little girl was here, we planted some flowers, played outside, did some small crafts, made chocolate covered pretzels and played outside some more.

Last week Aubrey came home with cupcakes she had made and decorated and hard boiled eggs they had covered in glue and then glitter.

So now I am like, how do I keep this up each week? I can't be the play date house that doesn't "enrich" these 4 year old. And at the same time I am like, hmmm, how much would they enjoy a High School Musical 3 showing with popcorn?

So I will assume that the time the girls play together is enrichment enough and not compete in something I am not even positive is a competition.

Kind of.

Maybe.

New Freevorite Things

With all of the talk about the economy, I don't know about you, but we sure feel like we should be spending smarter and saving more. There are small changes I have made over the course of this year. And some cool stuff I have found.

• I completely gave up my addiction to buying coffee out. Now we buy the Dunkin Donuts big bag at Sam's Club and it is a nice morning routine to get up and make a pot. I don't miss it at all! And 6 cups of coffee brewed each morning costs us 84 CENTS. Not each, that is total, each cup costs 14 cents.
• We have also, this year gone paper towel and paper napkin free in our house. This was a MAJOR change and we see a difference in the amount of trash we generate, the amount of bulk purchases at Sam's, and we feel good about it!
• Potty training Molly was also a nice boost to the budget :)
  
• I also love music, and love having new music and creating mixes of the music I love. Have you checked out LastFM? This is a free site that you can tag your favorite music and it will create a radio station for you. I am enjoying this A LOT! I use it at work, in the kitchen, etc.
• We also love movies, we have Netflix, but I have seen that Redbox has a free movie rental code every day. So you can go, use the code, and get a free movie - and you can use the code multiple times a day - you just have to use a different credit card for each rental that day.
• Books. I love books. But since last fall I have limited what I buy - instead I borrow or steal my dad's. Or I go to the library. I have never really used the library but it is great. I can get books on hobbies I want to start, like baking bread, cake love, sewing, and then return them as needed or use birthday gift cards to get the ones I really think I will use.
• The library is also great for music. I like listening to different music in the car with the girls and we have been listening to a lot of show tunes that I picked up at the library - lots of Andrew Lloyd Weber. And did you know if they don't have something, they will get it from a different library for you?
• Doug has been using the library too for TV show DVDs, like Entourage, or some Western show, or some Iraq war show. Don't be like him, return them on time so you don't get charged.
• We have used Vonage for our phone service for a couple of years, but they raised their prices so we did some shopping and found magicjack - and after a couple rough weeks and tweaking the settings it ROCKS - and is like 20/YEAR.
  
• Amazon also has lots of free music downloads, I got a couple of albums, including Dan Zanes kids album - FREE - and they have different free downloads all the time!
  
• I have also found some interesting blogs about saving and being frugal:
• Go Frugal Blog
  
• Budgeting 101
  
• MotherLoad they have a free friday post about free things to do or get in stores or online.

What are you doing differently, in this economy, that is turning out to be fun?

Sunday Cookin'

The bread and burned granola.

The Bread! It is GOOD!

Snugglin' with Daddy

Toys and Clothes?

We are having a new heating system put in this week... so we had to clean out the basement and that turned into emptying the attic.

This is all the kid stuff we don't "need":

Daddy is More Fun Lesson 18

Cause no way would mommy allow this...

Plan for the Week

We are trying to get better at planning and reducing our grocery bill. In that vein, I put together a 2 week meal plan, hit a grocery store having a grand opening sale, and hopefully, except for milk and fruit, we won't need to grocery shop next week... and only spent 100 bucks. And I really did buy meat for 12 meals... which is kinda crazy.

Also some recent tips I have enjoyed:

1. When making meals for other people - which I start to do when ever anyone in the family gets sick or is having surgery - use a dish that most people have in their kitchen. I use my Pyrex square 8x8. Line it with parchment paper, put the dish together, freeze. THEN take the parchment paper with the food OUT - it will slide out if you put Pam down first. Now you don't have to worry about getting your dish back - they just put the item in their similarly shaped dish and go to town. This also takes up less room in your freezer.
2. The girls and I made a bunch of these for teachers, hostess gifts, etc. Easter Bunny S'mores - I tried the modified directions and couldn't get it to work, but using the original instructions worked perfectly and the girls got to do a lot of this.
3. I used scrabblog.com to make the tag to accompany the above :
   

1. I can't figure out how to have the numbers continue... But if you spray a tupperware dish with Pam prior to putting a red sauce in it, it shouldn't stain... it works! Even on the Gladware.
2. I am making a couple of these to take to a wedding the girls are in, they are SUPER easy! http://lipstickandlaundry.blogspot.com/2008/11/crayon-note-book-cozy-tutorial.html
3. I am also going to try to make the following 2 recipes to try out:

• Granola
• Easter Braided Bread
• And these are the recipes I put together for family members who have needed them:
• Crab Quiche
• Baked Ziti
• Meatloaf (I made them mini using small bread pans)

Anyway, that's what we are up to, what about you?

Window Into Max's World

Every day Max sits in the office and looks out this window.
Recently with the weather change, the birds and squirrels have been enjoying the seeds we have put out for them.
And Max has been going CRAZY.
And we thought that was funny...

Until....

He broke 2, I repeat 2, of the windows in the front of the house.
He did this by JUMPING into the window from inside the house.

And now we look like rednecks living in the country with boarded up windows.

I Love a Rainy Night

It is a rainy spring day, one of my favorite types of days, and it reminded me of this song:

Samson is 1!

Are you going to the party?


I got this in an email today, but thought I would share!

We are going to be there - weather and illness permitting, you?

Wordless Wednesday - Outtakes

ALMOST!

Finally, someone posed nicely.

Happy St. Patty's Day

Happy Saint Patrick's Day Everyone!

I don't know about you but those Leprechaun's really made a mess at our house, they left footprints in the upstairs hallway, they left green sugar trails all through the kitchen along with knocking over the jelly bean jar (and biting into all the green jelly beans), the cookie jar, and some other items.

On top of that they dumped all the clothes out of the girls dresser drawers!

And if that wasn't enough they turned the milk GREEN!

I hope the Leprechaun's were less destructive at your house... or not if you get to see your kids as excited as ours were this morning!

It is great to see a little magic that doesn't involve presents and that the kids can have the same level of excitement (Aubrey was up before 6am wondering what those Leprechaun's had done!).

I did add an owl shirt picture to the previous post :)

The Owl Shirt

Molly and the Owl Shirt

My Nana made the girls lovely pink skirts for Christmas, and with each skirt she paired a shirt. Molly's shirt has an owl on it.

Molly wants to wear her owl shirt and pink skirt every single day. And she will not wear the skirt without the owl shirt. When I explain to Molly that the shirt is dirty, I have to wrestle it off of her and she will then run it upstairs, put it in the washing machine, slam the door shut and say, "Mommy push the buttons" with a very demanding face.

Doug thinks the owl shirt should be retired and framed at some point so we can present it to her on her 18th birthday.

Aubrey loves pink clothes but never had an attachment to ONE OUTFIT like this.

So if anyone sees the owl shirt in the store, please buy 4 of them for me, I am tired of washing that outfit 7 times a week.

Thanks.

Random Milestones

On Wednesday I took Aubrey to the clinic at Target after picking her up from school and seeing she had a fever and she mentioned her ear hurt. Sure enough, ear infection. We were given a big 'ole bottle of Amoxicillin and sent on our way. I was to give Aubrey 2tsps every 12 hours for the next 10 days.

If you have young children you can relate when I tell you I was not looking forward to this.

I gave Aubrey the first dose in the car, and she really didn't like it, but took it all.

The next morning as I was pouring out her dose, the unthinkable happened. She said, "is that the medicine I don't like". I said, "yes, honey, it is".

And she said, "OK, but I can do it myself". She took the syringe with the nasty orange liquid and took all of it by herself. No complaining, no gagging, just took it and said, "see, I can do it".

And she has, each time she asks if it is the stuff she doesn't like, but she takes it - by herself.

After over 4 years of fighting meds when needed, this is a milestone I didn't think about but am glad is here!

What other random milestones have surprised and delighted you?

Breakfast and Lunch

I feel like I am in a rut related to breakfast and lunch for the kids.

Aubrey needs her lunch packed 2 days a week, I am tired of the Peanut Butter sandwich but worried about any other type of food in case she feels picky that day, thoughts? Ideas? Do you think she would be more willing to try something with me not sitting there :)

Breakfast in our house ranges from toast, to eggs, to cereal, to bagels and although Doug tries to make us all sit down to eat before we leave the house, sometimes I do have the girls eat in the car.

I am going to make the following this weekend in a big batch to see if this helps get the girls eating a better/quicker breakfast:
Breakfast Burritos
12 eggs
Roll of Breakfast Sausage
Cheddar Cheese
Onion - chopped
Green Pepper - chopped
Flour Tortillas - small ones

Scramble eggs in large skilled
Cook and crumble sausage in another skillet

In large bowl, combine scrambled eggs, sausage, onion, pepper, and cheese.

Roll about 3 Tbs mixture into flour tortilla, if freezing, line side by side on pan. If you put them upside down they will freeze shut. Once frozen, place them in freezer bag, pull out what you need in the morning and pop in microwave for 40 seconds each

I got this off of this site: http://mealplanningmommies.blogspot.com/

How do you keep breakfast and packed lunches fun?

Free Labor

In our house our girls are expected to do the following things:

1) Set their place at the table- get their own plates, cups, bowls for snacks, meals, drinks
2) Put their dishes in the sink after dinner (we help Molly with hers to reduce mess)
3) Let Max out and in when asked
4) when they walk in the door put their coat and shoes in the foyer (slowly moving to actually putting them IN the shoe holder, but one step at a time)
5) Putting their dirty clothes in a hamper
6) Helping clean their rooms and their toys

There are extra things that they are asked to do that results in a reward (we try to make sure the reward is not used to get them to do it, but offered when they do as asked without fighting it or telling their sister to do it).

Do you have tips and tricks for developing good habits in your household?
Do you have other chores you have your kids do?
How do you reward?