Oh KitchenAid, how I have missed you!

I have a lovely kitchen. See, it's beautiful!

Wait, what is that in the corner collecting dust?

Oh yes, my KitchenAid! I love my KitchenAid, I just never use it. (Probably why it's unplugged.) Well, that is about to change, as I enter the world of trying to make my own recipes.

David loves muffins, and they are such an easy snack, though not always healthy for you. Since the kid will sit down and eat 3 at a time, I decided to give it a whirl and make them healthy for him. We started with Banana Muffins.

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3 very ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1tbs vanilla extract
• 1tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup white flour
• 1/2tsp baking soda
• 2tsp baking powder
• 1/2tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 325 and spray muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar until fluffy. Mix in bananas, applesauce, milk, and vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together the remaining dry ingredients. Stir into wet mixture.
4. Bake at 325 for 12-15 minutes.
5. Yields 15 muffins

This recipe made very moist muffins that we all love! You could also add walnuts, but I don't like nuts, so I left them out.

So there you have my first adventure with making my own recipe. I must have looked at hundreds of reciepes online to piece together the one that we liked best They freeze really well too!

A Day at the Fair

The Indiana State Fair started last week. Nate loves the fair. I could live without the smells. In the past, I have sucked it up and gone. This year, I wasn't totally feeling it. Nate really wanted to go, so he took David for a father son day.

The night before, I packed a diaper bag. I sent 4 diapers. David got 1 in the 8 hours they were gone. Nate said they were having too much fun. He had the stroller and backpack leash. David liked the backpack, without the leash. The boys were off for a day of fun while mommy went to work.

As I have said before, David loves trains. Nate decided that the only way to get to the fair this year, was to take the fair train. This was the only part of the day I wish I could have done. Nate said David was so excited that he was shaking!

Here is the train pulling into the station

and some shots of David on the train



The excitement did not stop there! David got to feed some animals and go into some pins to pet animals. Good thing Daddy took him, because mommy would not have let him go into any pin to pet an animal.

Into the animal barn they go



Nate said David loved this calf

Why go to the fair if you can't climb on some gates?

David liked feeding the goats, once Nate explained that the carrots were for them and not David.

I don't really want to look at the camera, dad. I'll do it, but I am not smiling.

There was also a play area set up for the kids to run around it. David had fun. Ignore the diaper hanging out. Nate changed the diaper after this. He also decided that snapping the outfit was no longer needed.

At 12:00, they were done and went to catch the train home. They missed it.

While they waited nearly 2 hours for the next train (engineer needed a lunch break), Nate thought it would be okay for David to play on the tracks. Again, good thing mommy was not there. David had fun walking on them, and mommy would not have let that happen.



There you have it. A father son day at the smelly state fair. 

A look inside my head

I have been following a blog recently for some craft ideas. Kim is funny, and I've gotten some good ideas from her, such as the awesome menu board that I will be making soon. She recently had a post that was fun, so I decided to copy it. She did tell us that we could, and should. You should copy too!

Making :  That menu board. Well, starting. I have to get all of my recipes together first. It will get made, and you all will hold me accountable!

Cooking : Nothing now, but chicken tomorrow. Nate Says I only cook chicken. Tomorrow we are having BBQ chicken and corn casserole. Does it get better than that? Yes, it does...fried chicken, but Nate isn't a huge fan, so we don't get it often. Mental note, get KFC the next time Nate works late or has class. David loves popcorn chicken.



Drinking :  Water, but wishing it was a Chai Tea Latte from Starbucks, with 7 pumps, nonfat milk, and light ice. Yum-o!

Reading : Nothing. :( It's the start of a new school year, and I don't have time to read. Someday soon, I will pick up another book. I did read several this summer that I enjoyed.

Wanting : That Chai Tea Latte. Seriously, why did I have to write that? Now I have a craving that will only be cured by actually going to Starbucks.



Looking : Out the front window of our house. Nothing exciting out there. Just a car, some trees, and dead grass, thanks to our record breaking heat wave.

Playing :  Music from iTunes. Currently up That should be me by Justin Bieber. Yes I have a Justin Bieber song on my iPod. I am not proud of this. I only downloaded it because a.) it was free and b.) it features Rascal Flatts. Go ahead, laugh. Get it out of your system so we can move on. I'll wait.



Wasting : Time surfing and writing this post. I should be cleaning, or doing laundry, or heck, reading a book so I could post something better that nothing. Alas, surf and write this post it is.

Sewing : If you know me, you know I don't sew.  I have a very nice and magical tailor who fixes everything for me. I would marry her is I wasn't already married to Nate. She is amazing, and I should know since every pair of pants I ever buy go to her shop. Is it so hard to make pants for someone who is short? Petite pants are still too long.

Wishing : That I could spell better. Really, if you all could see the amount of yellow highlighting all over my screen prior to posting, you would be amazed. Even with spell check, I manage to post with spelling errors just about every time. When I was in Batesville, I got put in charge of the spelling bee. HUGE mistake! Kids were correcting my list of words for the initial test and bringing it back to me. You think they would have learned the first year and not let me do it the second year. They didn't.

Enjoying : Quiet. Nate took David for a while and there is nothing but Bieber and silence in the house. Again, I will wait while you laugh at the fact I am listening to a Bieber song.



Praying :  For God's guidance in my life.

Waiting : For Nate to get home with tonight's dinner, brats. He was craving them, and I don't have to cook them. It's a win win.

Liking : My boys. Who wouldn't?

Wondering : How I have made 100 blog posts. I lead a boring life. I shouldn't have that much to write about. It has been good for me to write again. I used to have a blog in college, but stopped in grad school when things got busy.

Loving : Crayola Color Wonder finger paints. These seriously have to be the best paints out there. David loves using them, and they don't make a mess, so mommy doesn't mind letting him make masterpiece after masterpiece. Here is his latest:



Hoping : To have another child sometime soon. I'm not done, and I hope God knows that he has put that not done feeling on my heart. I need to see another baby who looks something like this:

Marvelling : At how many times I say seriously.  I mean there has to be a better word, or at least one I could use in it's place to sound smarter. It probably comes back to the fact that I can spell seriously. Can you believe that I minored in English?

Needing :  A maid. I need someone to come in and tell me how to get organized and get me started on cleaning. I hate to clean. I hate dusting, and mopping, and I despise doing the dishes.

Smelling : Worms. It just rained here and after it rains, it smells like worms. Yuck. As a child, they would get on out patio and apparently they looked like snakes, and I would scream. Despite the fact that I used to collect toads, I am a girl and worms are just gross.

Wearing : My comfy pants and a Tshirt.

Following : Swagbucks on Twitter. I do nothing else with Twitter, but I do follow them to get a Tweet when codes come out. Seriously, if you have not joined, check it out. I get $10 a month in Amazon cards just for surfing and taking some surveys. Can you say Christmas presents?

Noticing : That when all is quiet in the house, the dogs prancing around with their little toes is really loud. I guess I don't always notice that with the TV on or David yelling. Man it's annoying.

Knowing : That I am loved and there is a plan for my life.

Thinking : That I should have coffee with an old friend soon. It's been too long.

Bookmarking :  Several sites with yummy recipes such as this May momma's site and this crockpot site. I am going to broaden my horizon and try different foods. Right after my BBQ chicken.

Opening : Emails from some of my favorite deal sites, Dealwise Mommy and Mojo Savings

Giggling :  Thinking about David and his strong desire to make sure that we love the water as much as he does. "COME, COME!" he yells as he grabs your finger. Don't think about not getting in the pool with him. If you don't he will scream "COME, COME!" and pull your finger harder. Nate finds this funny and will often have a bodily function to go along with the finger pulling. David does love his water!



Feeling : Blessed.  How could I not? I get to live with these guys! How lucky am I?

David's Creek

As a little girl, we didn't have a million toys to occupy our time. Kids played outside and used their imaginations to come up with games. We had a yard, a swing set (you know, the old metal ones) and a creek than ran behind our house. We loved going back there and looking for tadpoles, and picking cat tales.  At night, we left water in our wading pool, wishing and hoping that we would get toads in the morning, and we usually did.

Sometimes, I wish things were still like that for David. We do our best to recreate that whenever we can. It is so much fun to see him figure things out and explore his surroundings.

The other night, we took him to Ft. Ben, our local state park. We go a lot, but this time, we decided to take David on a different trail - the trail that runs by the creek. At first, he was very confused, but followed us anyway. We walked and he saw the water almost immediately. There is one spot by a bridge that is perfect for wade in, and we made him wait until we got there. He was so excited! "Wawa momma, wawa!!" This particular point in the creek is very shallow and doesn't have too much of a current as other parts do. We jumped in right away and started splashing around. He would walk over the dam, where the water was to his knees, and back. He picked up rocks and threw them like daddy. He ran and splashed. He was wet and didn't care. He looked for fish and bugs. He entertained himself for nearly an hour with no toys, no TV, and no electronics. Just rocks, leaves, sticks, and bark. It was so much fun to watch him just have fun and be a kid. This will be repeated as many times as we can this year until the water gets too cold, and then we will be back in it next year as soon as it is warm enough.

Getting started

 

Going out further with daddy

 

 

SPLASH!!

 

 

I found a little rock!

 

Back over the dam

 

Watch mommy!

 

 

Big rock

 

 

Checking out his spider and caterpillar

 

 

My boys after we got home. Pooped.

 



A new (school) year

It seems like just yesterday I was listening to "Happy Trails To You" ring through the hallways of school to usher the kids to the bus, followed by "Schools Out for Summer" to send the teachers on their way for a much needed summer vacation. This is a tradition started when our building opened. It sounds simple, but is something that we all look forward to during those long weeks in the winter.

This summer has been full of downs, and then ups. It started with a week to myself, a week that I needed. The 2010-2011 school year was hard on me. Not so much professionally, but personally. I needed some time for me. I am grateful and lucky to have had that time. My bosses are great people who helped to make sure that I got that off.

Then started my time as a stay at home mom with David for the rest of my summer vacation. I loved every day of it - the tantrums, the crying, the messes, and the hugs. We played with trains and in the water, watched movies and read books. I saw his speech come so far and know that I will never be able to say thank you enough to his therapist. We spent time with family and friends, and came up with fun games and activities to occupy our time.

And now our time comes to an end. I will miss being with my little man all day, but I love my job and I know that it makes me a better mom to be away from him. He loves school too, and I know that he misses his friends.

This school year will be one full of changes. Our principal moved on the the high school, and our assistant principal moved up to be our principal. Hopefully we will know who our new assistant principal will be soon. Leadership sets the tone for the building, and we have had some great leadership since we opened. I hope that doesn't change.

So, here ends my summer vacation and starts the 2011-2012 school year. Here is to hoping that this is a great year, professional, and personally.