Healthy Carrot Muffins

 Yummy!

 Ingredients

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 2/3 cup dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons wheat germ
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch fine salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 4 medium carrots, grated (about 2 cups)
• 1/2 cup canned crushed pineapple, drained  --I used Pear Sauce
• Special equipment: 12 cup muffin tin and paper liners

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line twelve 1/2-cup muffin cups with paper muffin liners.
Whisk the flours with the brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In another medium bowl lightly whisk the egg, then whisk in the vegetable oil, and vanilla extract.
Quickly and lightly fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula. Stir in the carrots and pineapple just until evenly moist; the batter will be very thick. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Turn muffins out of the tins and cool on a rack. Serve warm.

Copyright 2005 Television Food Network, G.P. All rights reserved.

Spring

Spring is in the air . . . Even while some of you got fresh snow this week, truly spring will bloom!

I know this, in the land of very few season distinctions, by the fact that she's back.

Who?

Our morning dove.

She has laid two more eggs this year.  May this year be a blessing for her.

She also seems to either fear us less this year or is fiercely protecting her eggs.

Originally this year she tried to make her nest above our door, but that was too high risk for her, and she moved it to the flower pot again.

The kids, throughout the neighborhood, are eagerly watching her sit on her eggs.

Happy Spring everyone!

A special touch

There are somethings that when Daddy does it, makes it extra special.

Eric took some time one morning to paint the girls' toes and fingers.

He did not want to be left out from this special treat

Daddy even did Mommy's toes!

Thanks Daddy!

I've cracked

Or someone has.

Or something has.



My mistake, was answering the phone.



Kjetil came to me and said, "broke, broke"


Did something break sweetie?


"come on, come on" he said to me.

This is not what I found.  This is what I got a picture of.

What he showed me was one cracked egg, and two whole eggs within the mess.

As I took in the mess, CJ, bless her heart, began to immediately clean it up.  Which is why this is the picture I got as I grabbed my camera and she threw away shells and took out the un-cracked eggs.

We are all healthy and that is the blessing I am grateful for.

Someone may be hungry, I need to go check.

I fart it!

This is a two or more player game.  However, the following is the actual script to be said.  I don't know if this game has a real name, but an easy car game and teaches important math concepts and is a wonderful English language play on words game.



There is a dead skunk in the middle of the road, I one it.

I two it.

I three it.

I fart it.

Okay, really she says, I four'd it, but it comes out sounding like I fart it.  The girls take this game VERY seriously so I know not to giggle or correct her when she gets the even numbers, it's not intentional,  it is still funny.  While CJ tries to get evens on the good things, like chocolate cake in the middle of the road, Sweetness loves to take the rotten or odd things and after she eight's it tells us how yummy it was, followed by her belly laugh.

I five it.

I six it.

I seven it.

I eight it!

Road trip anyone?

Oatmeal Banana Muffins

I warned you!  I tried a new recipe and it was a hit! Very soft muffins.  I made a double batch; half with chocolate chips and half with nothing added extra. Great for breakfast, snack or on the go!

Oatmeal banana muffins

Ingredients:

    * 1 cup flour

    * 1/2 cup rolled oat (I used steel cut)

    * 1 teaspoon baking powder

    * 1 teaspoon baking soda

    * 1 egg

    * 3/4 cup white sugar

    * 1/3 cup butter, melted

    * 1 1/2 cups mashed bananas

    * 3/4 cup raisins or nuts or chocolate chips

Directions:

   1.  Mix all together well.

   2.  Place in muffin liner.

   3.  This recipes is very easily doubled and tripled.

   4.  You can add nuts or chocolate chips too for a change. Mix all together, place in muffin liners.

   5.  Bake for 20-25 minutes at 325° (depends on size of muffins).

With the double batch I got 26 muffins.

Containers

I have an affinity for containers.  I have fortunately never had to work retail, but if I were to, I would love to work in an office supply store or a container store.  I recently learned that there was such a store in Phoenix. I did my research online and finally found a solution to my flour situation.

First, let me tell you my flour situation.  I buy it 25lbs at a time.  I do not buy it every week nor even every month.  However 25lbs will last me about 3 months, unless I hit a baking spree.  I found that when I purchased it in 10lb increments, I would find myself short in the middle of a baking project and buying flour about every 3 weeks, and frustrated.  So the situation is storing 25lbs of flour at a time.  I tried a bunch of small containers, but I didn't have enough.  I tried just using it out of the bag.  This was when my real frustrations began. A certain 2 yr old liked to unroll the top, grab a hand full, and throw it between the fridge and the counter or into the oven or just in general around the kitchen in a nice flour dusting.

Made a mess and it was always slippery to walk in the kitchen.

So I bought a container that says it will hold 22lbs of pet food.  My hope is that 25lbs of flour is less bulky but if I have to store a couple of pounds in a smaller container, I can handle that.  Yes, it is found in the pet food section, but it is food grade and the reviews posted had others that used for bulk food.  I washed it out and dog food was never in it.  I didn't stop at one though.  There is something else that I use a lot of.

 Oatmeal!

It looks like I may need to get flour again soon.

These containers are on wheels making it very easy to move when full.  A friend of mine hooked me up with a way to buy steel cut oats in 25lb bulk! I am very grateful for that hook up -Thanks Wendy!  And I would say 22-23 pounds of the 25 pound bag fit in the container. The small amount left over, I have stored and waiting in my pantry to be used!

They do sell a larger 45lb pet food container.  These containers are air tight, no bugs can get in and if I wanted to store it outside, no moisture would creep in either!  So I picked up the larger size as well.  It held the full 45 pounds it said it would!

Currently there is a new issue.  The kids think they are fun to push around.  I am hoping that they loose their "new" appeal to them quickly!  I wish they fit in my pantry, but the wheels make them too tall to fit under the bottom shelf.  Over all, I am very satisfied with my new containers, so much so, I feel like trying a new recipe!

Around the house

Things that keep us busy at home:

 The Ladybug game

 Reading

 SHRINKY DINKS!

Silly faces!

An adventure

We headed out to check out a new zoo.  I am proud to say, Tucson has a MUCH MUCH better zoo than Phoenix. Thinking we would be going to the Seattle zoo, I had promised the kids during spring break that we would go to a new zoo.  Since we're not in Seattle, we went with the next closest new to us zoo!  We even got to share the time with some friends!

 On the train

 Making a plan to head out and round up the goats

 How tall of horse are you?

 Tending to the goats.

That was hard, hot work

 Meerkat

Just hanging out

Can anyone guess what day we went to the zoo?

What a week

We have finished one week of Spring Break, of course that meant we spent hours and hours at the gym.  CJ mastered her cartwheel on the beam -be still my heart!  We also spent time at home, cleaning, folding laundry, making messes, cleaning messes, oh the normal day to day activities.  Not to be out done by some of the special activities we have done. However, I did get a few pictures taken and finally uploaded onto the computer.

Did we have fun?  Did we stay busy?

You decide:

Not a single one flinched when I snapped pictures of them

If only they were actually sleeping.  I know it looks like they are sleeping.  What they are actually doing is recharging.  Recharging in the hope of what a new day brings.  Recharging with dreams of new games to play. Recharging and coming up with new schemes to keep momma on her toes.

Slumbering babes. Love it!

Gymnastics

We went to the last U of A home meet and had a really good time.  We invited a couple of friends along which made it extra special.  We even saw one of the girls' coaches there.

We made signs to cheer the ladies on.

I think he enjoyed the red vines.  What do you think?
We may need to put them on the slight allergy reaction list.

Having a fun time.

The girls

She has a list of new tricks she wants to master!

So, I have a bit of a math problem for you:  CJ has moved up to DEVOS class/program, this increased her time in the gym by 67%.  To eliminate one day at the gym and because she had a birthday, Sweetness moved up to the Super Kids class and increased her time by 33%  Despite decreasing the number of afternoons and evenings I'm spending at the gym by one day, my total time (if I stay through all practices, one night CJ is there for 3 hours) at the gym has increased only by 25%.  What does this mean?

I'm not sure, but I think it means I'm becoming an official gym mom.

I was concerned about a three hour practice on Mondays, however, she has come home buzzing from it!  I get many many "thank yous for letting her be in DEVOS" and much cooperation at home because her passion is being fed.  She loves her new coaches -as she did her former ones.  In April they have a showcase thingy for the kids to show off their skills to their parents.  It will be fun to see what growth she'll have in that time and to watch both girls show their skills.

Pulling teeth

We've been pulling teeth around here.

She let Daddy help with one.

And refused to let the dentist help the other one, which was barely hanging on.

Instead, at Sunday School, she bit into an orange and it finally came out!

Loving her slight lisp that she has now and her big goofy toothless grin!

Routines, schedules and traditions

The best way to keep balance and a sense of normalcy around here is to have routines and schedules!  Traditions help mark the time as well.  A tradition I grew up with, was popcorn on Sunday nights.  If we were really lucky we might get to share a can of root beer or 7 Up between the three of us kids.  And once in awhile when I eat popcorn I think, a swallow of 7 Up would be nice.

Since I am the main cook around here and I love popcorn, I have kept the tradition going of Sunday night popcorn for dinner.  Instead of root beer or 7 Up, the kids will get some fresh fruit.  If anything else is needed for their tummies, it's a matter of leftovers.

This is not one of Eric's favorite traditions.  He claims that popcorn is not enough for him.  It is the one time during the week I know he'll help eat up the left overs hanging out in the fridge.

waiting, waiting, waiting.

He has become my big helper in air popping the popcorn.  All the kids know that Sunday night we have popcorn.  Come on over and share a bowl if you love popcorn as much as we do!

Barefoot Friday

Our kids, like to go barefoot, no matter the temperature outside.  However, they are required to wear shoes, at least when we leave the house.  We have a wonderful system for shoes and coats.  Mostly though, I find the coats and shoes on the floor, directly in front of the cubbies.  DRIVES.ME.CRAZY!  I also find them scattered throughout the house.

This in itself is maddening enough.  But just to push me over the edge, the kids can NEVER and I mean NEVER find their shoes when we need them!  I give them heads up to put their shoes on it's nearly time to leave.  I give them ideas of where to look for their shoes. I lovingly suggest that if they put their shoes in their cubbies, they would in fact always know where their shoes where. 

So I took action.

After they were all snuggled in their beds I was picking up -trust me if you would like to see a picked up house, visit between the hours of midnight and 6 AM, any other time all bets are off, we live here.- I kept finding shoes and shoes and shoes. Instead of putting them IN the cubbies.  I put them on top of my kitchen cupboards.

In the morning when Eric pointed them out to the girls, CJ was quick to have an explanation as to why the shoes were up there. "Kjetil was playing with them...and um..."   NO.  He explained that they would have to earn them back.  This was a risky plan we had come up with.  Since they really do feel that shoes are optional, earning them back may not be motivation.

We had folded clothes and told them to put them away, INSIDE the drawers, to get their shoes back, and that from now on shoes must be kept in the cubbies.

They earned them back.  And a pair has made it back to the cupboards.  Turns out the second time around, much more of an impact than the first when the kids thought maybe Mommy had just lost her marbles.

The kids may or may not be going barefoot this Friday.  How about you?

Case # 030811

The case of the unwanted hair cut.

The defendants: Kjetil age 2 and Sweetness age 4

The story:  A package had arrived.  Great joy!  The two defendants immediately took the box and began to play a pushing it around the house game.  Of course toppling over it and riding the box at times.  Mom, knowing what was in the box, clothes, was not concerned for the contents of the box or their playing with the box.  Mom carried on with various projects.  While Mom was out of the room, the push-the-box game took them to the kitchen, where, and here is an assumption, Sweetness decided it should be opened.

Being as sweet as she is, she got a scissors for herself and her brother.  She then proceeded to sit on the floor and attempted to cut through the tape on the box.  As she sat there, she allowed, this is where the accessory to the crime charge comes in, she allowed her brother to cut her hair.  After several cuts, she called out, "Kjetil is cutting my hair."  Mom arrived on the scene to find hair all over the floor and Kjetil trying to cut the box open with his scissors.  Sweetness no longer had scissors in her hands.

Thankfully it is not too noticeable.   However, it does cause some sadness.
1.) Hair had just finally grown out from her last self inflicted hair cut 15 months ago. 

2.) Since turning 4, she has declared that she no longer twists her hair, which seems to be holding true, meaning, she could grow it out again.

It will grow back.  In the mean time, everyone has been banned from using scissors, ever.

Toys???

Who needs toys when you have luggage that is big enough to ride?

I think it was like a bucking bronco.

They took turns being in front.

The fits of giggles were a welcomed sound.

Hey there...I think you left her hanging!