Mix it up Monday

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and that Santa did not forget to stop at your house. I assure you, he didn't forget ours. I had thought about skipping Mix it Up Monday this week because, honestly, who needs more baked goods after Christmas? I don't, that is for certain. The problem though is, I have this living in my house now:

I was calling to me to bake something tonight. So, I made these which I was able to lighten up a little. I used 1 3/4 cups of 50/50 whole wheat and white flour and 1/4 cup of flax seed. I also used skim milk. I used real butter because I had it left over from the Christmas baking, but you could certainly use a light butter. I used walnuts and the whole bag of mini chocolate chips, but you could leave out the nuts and cut back on the chips. I got 12 regular muffins and 14 mini muffins. These are a quick and yummy muffin, but maybe not the best for my first KitchenAid project. The recipe wanted you to mix the wet and dry ingredients separately and then combine, but I only have one bowl for the mixer, so I just dumped it all in together. Oh, well, they turned out fine and really it was more about using the mixer and less about the product.

You will be happy to hear that I am resolving to bake at least one "lighter" or "low calorie" item each month this year. So get ready with your plain yogurt and unsweetened applesauce. What are you resolving to do in 2009? Happy New Year!

Musical Interlude

I seem to have an unexplained absence from this blog, even though I can explain. You see, we are up to our eyeballs in Christmas over here and frankly any spare minutes are being spent wrapping, baking or, well, on Facebook. Enjoy a little Christmas cheer from Hollis while you celebrate.



And for comparison, last year's singing.



Merry Christmas!

Mix it Up Monday: Christmas Cookies Part 1

So this is super dorky, but while I was deciding what to bake for Christmas, I thought I would like to do cookies with three different "holiday" flavors. So I picked nutmeg, peppermint and cranberry. For the nutmeg, I made the Brown Sugar Sugar Cookies from Halloween. Same cookie, with a little more nutmeg and cut out into Christmas shapes. John says they remind him of eggnog...that sounds about right. Today I made the peppermint cookies. Let me give a little history behind this cookie first though. When I was younger, probably about middle school age, I baked the chocolate chip cookies for Christmas. Everything was perfect, except there was an unusual flavor to the cookies. We finally figured out that I had used peppermint extract in place of the vanilla extract. Since my family is so kind and loving, this story never comes up for fear of causing undo embarrassment...yeah, right. So this year I am revisiting the Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookies - but intentionally this time. I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for, so I kind of winged it, but they turned out pretty good. I used the basic Toll House Cookies recipe from the back of the chocolate chip bag. I left out the nuts and added peppermint extract and crushed candy canes. The peppermint flavor is, I think, very subtle. If you wanted to you could make it stronger by increasing the amount of extract and/or candy canes. You could also use Andes Mints, although they are not really peppermint. I also an almost empty bag of chocolate chips in the fridge, so I added those...no point in perfectly good chocolate just sitting around. I probably ended up with about 2 1/4c. of chocolate chips. It is hard to see in the pictures, but the cookies have small red flecks from the candy canes and some have holes where the candy melted. The recipe also made a ton of cookies - close to 7 doz, not counting what Hollis managed to eat before they were baked. I froze a little more the 5 doz along with the sugar cookies for our trip to Columbus and then for Christmas next week.
Stay tuned next week for the cranberry cookies!

I threw away the chocolate chip bag with the recipe on the back, so here is a link to the recipe. To make these Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookies omit the nuts and add 1 tsp of peppermint extract (more if desired) and about 1/4 c of crushed candy canes.

Meeting my quota

It seems that there are some people (person) who are trying to blackmail me into putting pictures of my child on this blog for the whole (10 people) internet to see. So, fine, in the name of peace and quiet, here are some pictures. Also, there are no pictures of the sock in the toilet incident, because he was naked except for his socks and, well, this just isn't that kind of blog. Enjoy:
Hollis and friends on a carriage ride. William, Mitchell and Sadie
Wow, look at all those fish, man! (GA Aquarium)In line to ride the Pink Pig, or for the Bhutan Death March...not sure which. By the way, I totally made that shirt...are you impressed with my iron-on abilities?
Post Pink Pig ride with Elle.

Happy Weekend!

His Mistake

I am grateful beyond words that, for the most part, Hollis has decided to use the potty alone. Obviously, I still take him when we are out somewhere and occasionally he will call me in to "stay in here and watch me". But generally, I can tell him to go and he goes on his own. A few times I have even found him in the bathroom using the potty without being prompted (trust me, that is about as exciting as it gets). However, we do still have the occasional accident, usually when he is overly preoccupied with something or tired. But the other night we had the first, and what I hope is the last, "mistake". Hollis was in the bathroom before getting ready for bed and John and I were in the kitchen. I hear Hollis call to me from down the hall, "Umm, Mommy, I made a mistake". Not really the words you hope to hear coming from the bathroom. So I go to see what the "mistake" is. "I stepped in the potty", he said. Not ON mind you, IN. With his socks on. You might, like me, ask, "Why?", sadly there was no answer. I tried my best to keep a straight face, but it was pretty funny. I still don't know why he stepped in the potty, but I did assure him that it was not funny. No matter what the look on my face might say.

The Spirit of Giving

We are awash in toy catalogs here and that has lead to the "I wants". Anything that he sees that is not "for girls", he wants. When asked what he wants, the answer is "lots and lots and lots". Unfortunatly for him, he is getting maybe, one lot. With all this in mind, I thought this would be a good year to start some lessons on charity. I selected a child from the Salvation Army Angel Tree. I decided it would be more meaningful to him if we got a boy about the same age. We bought gifts for Diego, a three year old boy. We set out to Target to buy the gifts. I tried to explain to him that we are buying gifts to help children who don't have as much as we do. He asked, "But won't Santa Claus bring Diego presents?"....hmm. Okay, yes so Santa is bringing him gifts, but we are helping. Hollis brought one dollar from his piggy bank and spent 20 minutes in the Matchbox aisle picking out the perfect truck. After picking out that and the remote control truck Diego asked for, Hollis came up with a great idea - When we take these presents to Diego's house , I can help him open them and then we can play with his new truck. Ummmm, yeah, We aren't going to be taking these gifts to Diego's house. So I tried to explain that we were taking them to the Salvation Army where Diego's parent's would get them. "So we are going to the Army? Will they have on their Army shirts?" Yes absolutely.

Yesterday, we dropped the bag of gifts off (don't tell Hollis - I threw in a baseball glove, ball and book that he had duplicates of) and it was another series of questions about the army, Santa and who has enough toys. I think he was disappointed that no one had on their "army shirts" and there were not any cars for him to play with. I am not sure he grasped the spirit of giving.

Mix it Up Monday: Easier

So, I know that you all ran right to your kitchens and whipped up last week's Pumpkin Cake. No? Well, maybe you will prefer this one: Pecan Pie Cupcakes. We are big fans of Pecan Pie around here. Honestly, we are big fans of desserts, but Pecan Pie is right up there. With the short and simple ingredient list I was surprised how much these tasted like pecan pie, especially if you undercook them just slightly. The recipe is so easy to make and you probably have the 5 ingredients already in your house. I made them in a mini muffin pan which made the perfect bite sized amount. We ate them straight, but drizzled with chocolate or topped with ice cream would be fantastic. You could also mix in a few mini chocolate chips for a chocolate pecan pie flavor. You can mix these up and have them baked in under 30 minutes, so there is no reason not to make them for a Christmas treat.
*They were gobbled up so quickly, I didn't get a picture, but the ones at Bake or Break are better than the ones I would take anyway, so take a look over there.

Miss Me?

Do you miss me yet? I had to take a little blogging hiatus after that whole blogging (almost) everyday gig. And have you noticed that it is almost Christmas. I am up to my eyeballs in Christmas over here. Here are a few lessons: don't sit out boxes of Christmas decorations planning on getting to them "later". The three year old will deem later to be NOW and everything will be haywire. Do not unpack your bells, jingle or otherwise, just trust me on this one.
We started out the Christmas season with a trip to Callaway Garden's Fantasy in Lights. I would tell you how wonderfully beautiful it was, but I was too busy trying to taking the perfect picture of both Hollis and the lights...on my little point and shot. I played with the flash, the speed, the settings. And this is the best one I got:
Pretty cool, admittedly, but where is Hollis you may ask. In the dark somewhere, who knows. However, John managed grab the camera and snap this perfect picture of Katie and Tommy. Stupid husbands and their auto setting.

Mix it up Monday: Thanksgiving Cake

I hope everyone had lots of yummy baked goods along with their turkey and stuffing last week, I know we did. I made two things for Thanksgiving, I am giving you one today and you will have to wait until next week for the other. I stumbled across a new blog and this cake was her latest post. One look at that picture and my Thanksgiving search was over. Unfortunately for me, I didn't bother to read the list of ingredients or directions. I printed out the recipe on Tuesday morning and discovered it was THREE PAGES long. I was already mentally committed to this cake so I had to make. I started Wednesday morning and the whole process to the majority of the day. However, it was well worth it. And I learned something...there is not actually any scotch in butterscotch. Things might have gone a little more quickly if there had been. When I read that the cake had a butterscotch filling I guess I assumed it was butterscotch chips or something, certainly not that I would be creating butterscotch. In a semi panic on Tuesday, I bought a box of powdered sugar. I was sure I had left it off my grocery list and would need it for the icing. That is the kind of icing I alway make. This is not that kind of icing. It is a cooked brown sugar and cream icing that is supposed to cool in an aluminum bowl. I don't have an aluminum mixing bowl, so I just let it cool in the aluminum pot I made it in. This recipe is not for the faint of heart, or really anyone on any type of special diet for living until tomorrow, it contains 5 sticks of butter, almost 2 boxes of brown sugar and 2 cups of cream. Don't let all this deter you however. The cake is wonderfully moist and held up well on the ride to Columbus and over the weekend. It is very rich and filling, so a small piece at a time is all you need. Looking at the picture on Dinner and Dessert, her filling seems to be smoother than mine turned out, although I did use the optional walnuts so maybe that is the difference. This is not an easy or quick cake to make, but if you break it down into three parts: cake, filling and icing, concentrating on only on part at a time; you can do this. Believe me, I did it, you can do it too. Next week, a much, much easier dessert option that would be great for Christmas too!

The End

So you may have noticed that I didn't post anything yesterday, thereby blowing the whole NaBloPoMo thing. Oh, well 29 out of 30 posts isn't bad. Thanks to everyone who has stopped by over the past month. I will try to keep up with regular posting and hopefully give you something entertaining to read every now and then!

I am not sure if the post John did yesterday "officially" counts toward NaBloPoMo or not, but as I realized that I had posted while falling asleep last night I decided I did not care. I think it counts...there was a post here, that's all that matters.

We are celebrating with John's family in Columbus and I have managed to eat up any extra calories I may have inadvertently burned off yesterday morning.

Even though I said I won't be participating in Black Friday, John and I did do some holiday shopping today - online. That is the way to go people. The $9 I paid in shipping was well worth staying in bed and not fighting my way through the masses.

I hope everyone had a filling Thanksgiving!

Impressive Finish!

Stacy started her Thanksgiving by finishing the 6th annual "Gobble Jog" in impressive fashion. 5k in 41:49 = More Dessert!

Thanksgiving is Hilarious

I wanted to post a sweet video today of my sweet three year old wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving and telling you all the things he is thankful for. Alas, what I have instead is a video of a wound-up three year old who hasn't had a nap in three days telling you what he is thankful for...like his foot. And apparently, it is very funny.

Why I hate people

I think that one of the perks of being a stay at home mom is that I should be able to go shopping on a Tuesday afternoon without having to beat my way through a throng of humanity. Hollis and I went to the big W after storytime today and you would have thought people were preparing for the second coming. Seriously, where is a recession when you need one? Not much aggravates me more than shopping carts parked in the middle of the aisle. Today, I had to deal with that and people clogging up every available free space AND staff setting up new displays. Really, was this the best time to make that change? As Hollis and I cruised down a less crowded aisle, a wine delivery person was unloading boxes and stacking bottles on the shelf. Since I had the ricketiest cart in the store, I am sure he heard me coming, but did he stop to let me by? NO. He just keep unloading his bottles until I was standing right in front of him. Even though he is over the weight limit by like seven pounds, I had made Hollis sit in the cart, because frankly, Walmart makes me nervous with its huge space and every which way aisles. He was dying to get down, but I am sure he would have been trampled to death by some old lady racing for the last box of strawberry jello. I finally let him get out and walk around the toy department, which was strangely uncrowded. He was disappointed that there were only eight aisles of toys. What does it say about my child when there is not enough for him to choose from at a Super Walmart? There is not one thing in this whole wide world that could make me return to that store on Friday. If you are a Black Friday shopper, Good Luck and may the force be with you. I will be digesting turkey and possibly napping.

Mix it up Monday - The Winner!

We have a winner folks, Sara and her Mom's Pistachio Cake. There was really no contest once John heard the word pistachios. They are one of his favorite things, along with Cool Whip, which there is plenty of in the icing. The funny thing is, since I know Sara in real life I wanted to make sure I got the recipe right. All the ones I came across started with a cake mix. I, by the way, have no problem with dressing up a cake mix...or using a cake mix as directed for that matter. So I asked Sara if this was the way her mom made it. No, no, I'm sure it's from scratch she said. Guess what? It's not. Sara's mom has been fooling her this whole time. Anyway, it is a really good cake and one that I would never have picked on my own, which was sort of the point. I made it in a bundt pan, but I imagine you could use cake pans or make a sheet cake. It has a little green tint to the cake which you could bump up with some food coloring if you wanted. The frosting is easy and fairly light in texture with a pretty green coloring. I added chopped pistachios to the top and Sara mentioned that her mom sometimes adds cherries to make it a wreath for Christmas. I think it would also be pretty for Easter with some green colored coconut and small candy eggs. And obviously it would work for St. Patrick's Day. John declared it, "The. Best. Cake. Ever". Even if you are not a huge fan of pistachios like John, I'm not, you should still try this cake, the pistachio flavor is not overwhelming. So thanks Sara and Sara's Mom for this yummy treat.


Cake:
1 box white cake mix
5 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup oil
1 pkg. pistachio pudding mix

Icing:
1 1/2 pkg. pistachio pudding mix
1 small tub cool whip
1/2 pint heavy cream

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Pour into a prepared pan and bake at 350 for 1 hour. Mix icing ingredients, I used my hand mixer for both. Let cool completely before icing.

Nature vs. Nurture

On Saturday we went to Sadie's 3rd birthday party. Hollis and Sadie have been in a playgroup together for a long time. The group is usually a pretty good mix of boys and girls. They have all always played well together and with many of the same toys. The differences between the boys and girls, however, started to become apparent at the birthday party. The children were all playing with balloons, throwing them, hitting them, running and screaming. At some point, a group of about 4 girls started playing a game in which they all sat on the floor in a circle and rolled the balloon back and forth. At about the same time, a group of about 4 boys decided the best thing to do with the balloons was to bang them together. The differences in their choice of play was stark, and funny. Of course, Hollis was right in the thick of the action. Anyone who believes that gender differences are wholly the product of their environment, wasn't in that room on Saturday.

Something I Love

I stumbled across another great blog and want to share it with you, Tip Junkie. This is a great site for all kinds of fun "tips" from party planning to decorating and more. Right now she is having a Mom-prenuer Shop-a-thon which features moms from all over and their handmade items. This is a great place to find unique Christmas gifts. She is also having all sorts of giveaways over the next few days. Be sure to check it out!
Have a great rest of your weekend!

A (way) off Broadway debut

Today was Hollis's Thanksgiving Feast at school. Let me start this story by another story about how Hollis did not want to be an Indian. All of the three year old classes were having their "feast" and singing some songs for their parents. They were all to dress up like Indians. So we sent pillowcases (the height of Indian fashion apparently) which they decorated, they made feathered headpieces and beaded necklaces (with which to later buy back Manhattan). On Wednesday, a note came home explaining all this. As Hollis and I sat in the car after school talking about there program, I notice that tears start to well up in his eyes. After some prodding, he says that he does not want to be an Indian because he is a firefighter. I spent the rest of the afternoon convincing him that he could be an Indian firefighter. I even busted out the Google to show him pictures of Indians. He seemed satisfied. Come to find out, this same conversation took place early that day with his teacher. I have no idea why dressing up in a pillowcase and pretending to be an Indian for 30 minutes warrants tears, but I guess to him it did.
So today was the big day. I dropped him off with wishes of "have fun being an Indian" and headed to the grocery for feast supplies. The other mothers and I cut up enough fruit to justify the term "feast". Then the little Indians were ready. Each class marched in with their costumes and sat down to their feast of fruit, muffins, goldfish crackers and apple juice, reminiscent of the first Thanksgiving to be sure. I noticed that while Hollis had agreed to wear the costume and headgear, all the other children had beaded necklaces that he lacked. I decided not to ask, because I was afraid he had lost or forgotten it and didn't want to cause a panic. Later, though, my curiosity got the best of me and I asked were his necklace was..."In my bag" Why? "I not want to wear it". Okay, stubborn.

Then with much fanfare and excitement, the singing began. Parents who had settled into sets earlier, realized they were not in prime videotaping position and jockyed for a seat on the floor up front. I mistakenly left my seat where Hollis had seen me and moved to the front (for a video for you). Hollis spent the whole performance looking for me. About midway through, in between songs, I hear a familiar voice say, "Daddy, where is Mommy?" and I thought certainly that was not Hollis. You guessed it...it was. A few minutes later, after I crawled (literally) across the floor to get to the side he was on, he finally spotted me and sang the last verse of the last song. Here is the little Indian Chief in all his glory. Notice he is no longer wearing his feathered headpiece...or beads.




**sorry for the sideways video...I hate it when people do that too! I took the video and then couldn't figure out how to rotate it.

We have a Winner

Thanks for all the suggestions for Mix it up Monday. Everything sounds yummy and I am sure they will show up soon. But to find out who got the thumbs up from John (and Hollis by proxy) you will have to check back on Monday. In the meantime, I have decided on what to bake for Thanksgiving. It is going to be yummy! If you are spending Thanksgiving with me you are in luck, if not, my mother-in-law reads this blog, leave a comment and maybe she will invite you!

Do as I say, not as I did

I heard a statistic on the radio today that said that high school students take either the SAT or ACT an average of 3 times, improving their score each time. I found this a little disheartening since I took each test exactly 1 time and was pleased as punch with my scores. I was able to get into the school I wanted, so I didn't see any need to take them again. Also, hours spent coloring in bubbles on a Saturday morning, not my idea of fun. My scores and grades were good enough to get into the school I wanted to go to, so what more was needed? In fact, unlike a lot of my friends, I only applied to two schools. Once I found out I had been accepted at my first choice school, I didn't even bother completing the applications for all my back up schools. Maybe I just know what I want and go after it with laser like precision, or, and probably more accurately, I am/was a lazy student. I have always been able to test well, but my grades never seemed to reflect what the testing showed. And by testing, I mean standardized, no prep required, go in with your #2s and fill in circles kind of testing. I know my mom is reading this right now laughing her head off because she knows it is true and knows that she has likely cursed me by saying, "I hope you have one just like you". Since probably preschool, teachers have told my parents that I didn't work up to my potential, that I didn't manage my time well. Now, looking back, I can see why they would have thought that. Take Latin for example. When my family moved to Tennessee before my sophomore year of high school, I decided Latin would be good language for me to take. Coming from a high school that offered your choice of either French or Spanish to a school that had not only those, but German, Latin and one year, Russian, it seemed like a waste not to. Once I got into the class however, I realized there was some actual work involved in learning a new language, even a dead one. So I befriended a boy in the class who came to do most of my translations. Fortunately, no one actually speaks Latin, so words on paper were enough. As an aside, he seems to have done pretty well with all this Latin knowledge as he is now a pediatrician. So, for all the extra translation practice that I am sure came in handy while in medical school, you are welcome. When I started college I was able to test for placement in language classes so I took the Latin exam. By some strange miracle (see also, tests well) I tested out of the first quarter of Latin and was able to move straight into the second and final required quarter. Did I take advantage of this? No, I was done with Latin and thought I would try something "easier" like Spanish. I waited until my senior year to fulfill my language requirement and promptly failed Spanish. The most embarrassing part of failing the class was that at the time I was living with a first generation Cuban American who spoke fluent Spanish. I blamed it on not being able to hear and missing the "nuances" of the language. I even promised the professor that I would never travel to a Spanish speaking country and let on that I had taken classes from him. For some reason my advisor bought all of this and allowed me to sign up for Sign Language in order to fulfill my language requirement. Lazy student, expert manipulator? I was all for that (I had also been all for Latin and Spanish and you see where that got me), but the class was canceled because not enough people signed up. Somehow I managed to talk my way into Classical Literature as a language fulfillment. Since I was an English major, this was right up my alley. I think I ended up in the English Dept. mostly because you don't really have to "know" anything. Except how to read. Check. Even if you never finish a reading assignment, you can generally talk your way around it enough to seem like you know what you are talking about. Please don't all the English majors, teachers and professors comment about how much you know and how smart you are...I am talking only about me here. In the English Department at my school, one of the requirements for graduation was sitting for and pass three "comps". These are basically three compositions written on materials given at the beginning of the year. There were six genres and various examples within each genre that you were to read in preparation. I had decided to write on Romantic poets (poems are easy to read), the American short story (hello, short) and Shakespeare (it was meant to be heard, not read). Lazy. Others in the department started their reading right away and some sat for multiple comps before passing all three. I started reading about a month before the last sitting offered for the year, took all three at once and passed all three. I am not telling you this to show how smart I am, but to say that I probably could have had a more illustrious academic career had I been willing to work a little harder (shut up, Daddy). And maybe I could have had a medal to wear with my cap and gown. I do sometimes regret having not worked harder, but I think all in all, I have a pretty illustrious life anyway.

A boy and his dog

When John and I got married I started hounding (haha) him for a dog. At the time, we were renting a townhouse that did not allow pets, so it was mostly a pipe dream. About six years ago we purchased our condo and I started looking for a dog. Since we were both working, we decided it would be best if we didn't have to house break a puppy. We searched the Atlanta Pet Rescue website and fell in love with a little beagle name Linus. Unfortunately, so did the rest of Atlanta. We filled out the forms and meet with the organization, who ultimately decided Linus wasn't the dog for us. Strange, I don't remember going through all that when we decided to have a baby. Anyway, a few weeks later, we found Clarice and she came to live with us. At first she was very timid and she has always had a lot of anxiety, but with all of her flaws, she is part of our family. Much to her chagrin, we had a baby. Clarice was about 5 years old when Hollis was born, so well past the puppy stage. At first this was not a problem. Hollis mostly laid around and ate, which fit in well with her plans. But as they both aged, the differences in their mutual expectations began to become apparent. He LOVES her, he told me she was his best friend. On the other hand, Clarice has a mild indifference toward him, John is her best friend. Hollis is now 3 and Clarice is 8. If they were children this would be a big age difference, but since Clarice is about 57 in people years, she could be his grandmother. She has always been very patient with him and we have never had any problems with her behavior, however, you can tell that she is just barely tolerating him. Often we will hear her let a huge doggy sigh when he leaves the room. You see, in Hollis's mind, Clarice is one of those young, active dogs he sees on TV and he wants her to play with him constantly. In reality, Clarice prefers to spend the majority of the day sprawled out on our couch. Throughout the day you can hear Hollis yelling, "Clarice, come here". She never goes to him, so eventually I get tired of hearing him call her and take her into the room. Then he wants her to sit and stay with him, which means shutting the door and that makes her nervous (see above re: anxiety). After a few minutes I will go rescue her and inevitably she will be sitting right in front of the door, starring at it like she is willing it to open and with a look on her face that clearly says, please save me from him. Through all of this, he is not deterred, she will play with him. Until she does something he doesn't want her to do, then all bets are off and he wants nothing to do with her. You know, some horrible doggy sin, like sniffing his animals or stepping over the railroad track. It is a delicate balancing act. Every night at bedtime, Hollis asks me to stay in his room for a minute and then to send in Daddy. The other night when John went in to stay goodnight, Hollis was almost asleep and said to John, "Send in the dog", she went begrudgingly.

**
Hey, don't forget to send me your baking ideas. You don't have to send the whole recipe, just an idea and I can find a recipe. Next week's Mix it up Monday is dependant on you!

Mix it up Monday: A Game

Hi there Internet Bakers! I have to admit that I am experiencing a baking lull. Even though I have every imaginable recipe at my fingertips, I just can't find anything I am interested in baking. So bakers, let's play a game! Here it is: You post a comment with a recipe you would like for me to bake. John and Hollis will review the entries and pick the winner. I will bake your suggestion and post it for next week's Mix it up Monday. Let's say that suggestions should be posted by Wednesday at midnight (EST) in case I have to make a trip to the grocery store. Don't worry if your recipe isn't picked this time, I am sure there will be another lull.

I did bake though this weekend, I know, such a martyr. But I am pretty sure I have posted something similar before, Chocolate Banana Bread. See, I need your help people, don't let me down!

#2

If you would like a glimpse into my life, read John's blog and take a peak at what I deal with everyday...

Happiness List

Swistle posted her happiness list last week after reading Kara's gratitude blog. I think this is a great way to practice your thankfulness ahead of next week's festivities. Here are some things I am happy about this weekend:

1. A child who has finally adjusted to the time change and is not waking up at 6:30am.

2. Friends with new babies and babies on the way.

3. Sweaters

4. Surprising finds at the Dollar Store

5. Yellow leaves on the ground

6. Finding old friends on Facebook and see how great they are doing

7. Oatmeal Granola Bars

8. "And to Think That I Saw it On Mulberry Street"

What is making you happy?

Happy Saturday! Tonight we were visited by Hollis's favorite (local) aunt, Rae. For some reason this turned Hollis into a running, screaming wild banshee of a child. He had spent the majority of the day with his father, so I am not entirely certain that John didn't slip him something while I was away.

PS - don't visit our house and not expect to have your picture taken and possibly posted for all the world to see.

Sticks and Stones

Have you seen this? What a perfect addition to the Toy Hall of Fame. It may create a problem for parents however:


Parent: Do you think toys just grow on trees ?
Child: Well, yes actually, they do.
Come to think of it, it may pose a greater danger to children. Besides the obvious concern of poking your eye out, any child who has that conversation with their parent is going to get smacked for being a smart ass. Possibly with their own stick.

I know that Hollis for one is a big fan of The Stick. We have several models currently on our back porch. He also manages to snag a new one every time we go out. Spoiled, I know. Thankfully, The Stick is also compatible with several other toys we already own such as: The Ball, The Hole and The Leaves. It is especially entertaining when combined with another periennal favorite, The Box It Came In. No Target for me this year, one big box full of sticks and Santa is finished!

For those of you not familiar with the workings of a three year old boy, that is three boxes used together to create a ramp for cars to race up before landing inside the largest box. The point of the game, obviously, is to get as many cars into the box as fast as possible.

Run Away

Guess what came in the mail for me last night? You'll never guess, so I'll just tell you...Runner's Digest. Okay, it's not that funny - really. I have always said that they only way I would be running is if there was a fire. But recently I have been running. I will give you minute to pick yourself up off the floor...Now don't get excited, these are short distances, slow paces and inside on a treadmill. Although, it seems that God knows something I don't. So, I am officially signed up to run the Gobble Jog 5K on Thanksgiving morning. What is up with me signing up to do these crazy things this month; NaBloPoMo, 5K, what's next, underwater basket weaving? Wish me luck!

Leaves

I don't have anything interesting to say tonight (see also #4), so enjoy this picture of Hollis playing in the fall leaves.

10 things you should know about me

Here they are, in no particular order:

1. I am left handed. John is praying diligently that this trait has been passed on to our son.

2. I was born in Georgetown, DE. You should know that this is BELOW the Mason Dixon line. I know this because it was a huge deal when I moved to South Carolina at 5 years old and was called a Yankee (gasp!). My parents now live in Tennessee. That is were I graduated from high school and consider it my "hometown".

3. The first blog I ever read was Purple is a Fruit. That one no longer exists, but Linda writes a here (among other places) and I still love her writing. I started reading her and was attracted to her writing because she is funny and honest and has a little boy the same age is Hollis. Now I read about 40 blogs.

4. I am a world class procrastinator. Which is one reason why posting everyday is so hard for me, I wait until 11:30pm before I start thinking about it.

5. Even though I procrastinate, I always (usually) get done what needs to be done. Just don't bug me and let me do it on my own time. When I was in college, I would get up early in the morning to finish (start) papers that were due that day. One of my roommates finally said that this was stressing her out, I told her to look the other way.

6. I have "significant" hearing loss. I am completely deaf in one ear and partially (mostly) deaf in the other. I have adjusted to my hearing loss and don't have plans to do anything particular about it. I am trying to keep it a secret from Hollis as I am sure he would eventually use it against me. So, when it seems like I am ignoring you, I really just can't hear you. Here is my secret trick though - I read lips. Usually without really meaning too, but I need to see you to hear you.

7. This came from meningitis that I had at the beginning of my freshman year of college. Since nothing for me is totally normal, I also had meningitis when I was three. The two illnesses were separated by 15 years, almost to the day. We held our breath this past October, which was 15 years since the second one. Get your children vaccinated - first when they are babies and then again at about 12 years old for protection against both viral and bacterial strains.

8. I am the oldest of three children. I have a brother and sister. Sadly, my brother is no longer with us, but would be 31. My sister is 25.

9. I am really bad with directions. If you are wise, you will never ask me how to get somewhere. I tend to confuse basic things like east and west, left and right. I also drive by landmarks, not street names, so I don't know where anything is. I have lived in Atlanta for over 10 years and I still have to use google maps - regularly.

10. I am very sarcastic. It sometimes comes across as mean or uncaring, but I really don't mean to be hurtful. I had another friend in college once tell me that if people didn't know me they wouldn't get my sarcasm and would think I was mean.

So, that is me, tell me about you.

Mix it up Monday

Thank God for Monday! I don't have to think up something to write about. I really only like to write about my baking successes...things that were so yummy you want to like the screen. Sadly, I have had a couple of duds lately. Not anything horrible, but just kind of...meah. This week continues the trend. I picked up a copy of the Fannie Farmer Baking Book by Marion Cunningham (not this one...Sunday, Monday Happy Days. Hehehe) at the library. I flipped through it for awhile (all 598 pages!) and settled on a pound cake. I decided to skip the Simple Pound Cake starter recipe and moved straight for the Almond-Butter-Crusted Pound Cake. Sounds yummy doesn't it? I am sure it would have been, if I knew what the heck I was doing. I don't, in case you are wondering. I couldn't pinpoint what the problem was, it just didn't seem right. Today at the grocery store I read a little of a article in Cook's Illustrated about pound cakes and how if you don't mix them correctly the turn out "short, squat and dense". Well, that pretty much describes it. And, yes, I am a huge dork reading Cooks Illustrated at the grocery store instead of US Weekly like a normal person. So anyway, I need some more practice with the pound cake...and apparently a copy of Cook's Illustrated (could I type that magazine name one more time - or use one more set of parenthesises?)

Almond-Butter-Crusted Pound Cake
Almond Butter Crust
6 T butter
1/2 c light brown sugar
1/4 c flour
1 c sliced almonds

Pound-cake batter
2 eggs
6 T butter, softened
3 oz cream cheese at room temp
1/2 c sugar
1 c flour
1/4 t salt
1/2 t baking powder
2 t vanilla

To make the crust: Combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl, and beat until well blended. Add the flour and blend into the butter and sugar until the mixture is crumbly. Add the almonds and stir lightly to distribute them well. Pat mixture over the bottom and halfway up the sides of an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 inch loaf pan.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
To make the cake batter: First put the uncracked eggs in a bowl and pour hot tap water over them. Let stand a few minutes to warm the eggs gently.
Combine the butter, cream cheese and sugar in a mixing bowl, and beat until smooth and blended. Crack the warmed eggs into the batter and beat well. Combine the flour, salt and baking powder and stir them together. Add to the first mixture and beat well, then add vanilla. Continue beating until the batter is smooth and well blended; it will have the consistency of a soft frosting.
Spoon into the crust-lined pan - it will be about half full. Bake for about 50-60 minutes, or until a broom straw (what? I used a toothpick - my broom was dirty) inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and set on a rack to cool. When completely cool, run a knife between the crust and the sides of the pan and turn the cake out onto a serving boarding or platter. Serve in thin slices.

This morning I was pleasantly surprised that my WHOLE family slept until 8:30am. Unfortunately, that also made us late for church. You would think 2 hours would be enough time for three people to eat, get dressed and in the car, but you would be wrong. I feel certain God will forgive this lapse, since the extra sleep was badly needed for everyone and gave us a better day today. I have been thinking on this verse today "Pleasant words are like honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones." ~Proverbs 16:24, and thought I would give you my own little sermon. I hope that no one in my family who actually writes sermons for a living reads this post and is embarrassed for me.
How do we use our words everyday? I remind Hollis constantly to "use his words" when he is frustrated or upset. To find words to describe his feelings. How am I using my words? Am I giving sweetness to his soul and health to his bones at the end of the day, when I have had my fill of mothering? Or early in the morning when I would rather be sleeping? What about the words I give John? How is his soul being feed? We all get frustrated and tired throughout the day and often the ones we love the most feel the brunt. But maybe our words are pleasant, but our tone is hateful. This was my problem growing up. My parents always said that it was not what I was saying but the way I was saying it. What kind of tone am I using today? What about to the cashier at Target? Or toward the waitress who can't it get right today? How do you use your words? I am going to work on being more aware of not only the words I use, but the tone with which I do it.

Did yesterday's post seem like a cop-out? Yeah, well, so is today's. Listen, blogging everyday is hard and I warned you about the boring stuff. I do have a few fun things though:

1. Fall has arrived in Georgia. Never mind that we were still wearing short earlier this week, look these leaves.

2. And guess what, this is my 100th post! Okay, so John wrote some of them, but this is the 100th post so I am taking the credit.

Have a fun rest of the weekend.

Shocking!!

I hate to be an alarmist, but according to my facebook page there are only 48 days left until Christmas. Certainly that must be wrong, we we just on vacation last week and Hollis only just started preschool. I have no idea what to do for Christmas. I haven't even started to think about gifts. Any ideas for a 3 year old? How about a 37 year old?

Yesterday and Today

When Hollis was a newborn the majority of my days were spent in my bed or on the couch. There is not a lot of activity with a new baby, especially your first one I imagine. Eat, sleep, poop, lather, rinse and repeat. Do you remember the show Judging Amy? I watched the entire series from start to finish - twice. It is not that great of a show. To help pass the great expanse of time from morning to bedtime, we would meet John for lunch and spend the morning at Target. Somethings don't change - we still spend mornings at Target. It was not the most interesting time of my life and on several occasions I questions my choice to stay home with him. Now, three years later, with a baby who is no longer a baby and wants to "do it myself"; the tables have turned and I can't imagine not being on the go. I DVR shows that I don't want to miss and never finish all the things on my list. We are always doing something or going somewhere, so much so that one of the first things out of Hollis's mouth is usually, "what are we doing today". And he is interested in everything, so everything is interesting. There are still days when I question the choices I have made, but they are fewer and farther between. And I can always appreciate the whiling dervish my baby boy has become.

Doing my best

So, here we are at day 5 of NaBloPoMo and already I am strumming my fingers wondering what to write about...this is going to be a long month. How many days are in November again? Next time I am going to do this in February.
Should I tell you about how I was late (again) picking up Hollis today? And how this time he really was the last one and there was no one left in car line? You see, I had this little errand I needed to run and really it is right down the road so I had plenty of time, really. Turns out it is a little further down the road than I thought, and they were feeling chatty. So I was late - again. But I assure you, the image of my little three year old boy sitting in the office, holding his big red bag and his feet not even touching the floor while he waited for me is seared into my brain forever. So no, I don't think we need to talk about that.
Instead, I will tell you about all the fun things Hollis is doing this week to assuage my mommy guilt. So far, we have seen Brer Rabbit and Friends at the Center for Puppetry Arts, ate at the Varsity and painted pottery. Tomorrow we are going bowling. See, I AM a good mommy!

Civic Duty

We did ours today.Surprisingly, we had no wait at all. If you aren't from around here you may not have heard, but the early voting lines were hours (and hours) long. The biggest voting obstacle I had to overcome was convincing Hollis that he could not actually vote for Bach Obama by inserting his "Martha Speaks" bookmark into the machine. Is this considered tampering with the voting machine?

Mix it up Monday: The Last Halloween Cookie

One last hurrah for Halloween. I wanted to make one more thing for Halloween, but really had a hard time finding what I wanted. There are lots of ideas for cakes and cupcakes, but who needs a whole cake in their house. Since I would eat 98% of it, we certainly don't. I wanted to make a cookie that wasn't a cut out cookie, since I had already done that. I also wanted to MAKE a cookie, not just assemble it. So I finally settled on these Betty Crocker Witches Brooms. This a great cookie for you salty and sweet fans. They were really very easy make and assemble. It is just a basic cookie recipe, pretzels and melted chocolate. Make cookie balls and insert a pretzel. The recipe wanted you to cut the pretzel in half lengthwise. I suppose this was to help them lay flat, but have you ever tried to slice a pretzel stick? Not easy. So I skipped that step and used them round. It was fine. The original recipe also has you drizzled chocolate and butterscotch, but I had chocolate and peanut butter chips, so that is what I used. Okay, no more Halloween baking...on to Thanksgiving!

Kids say the darnedest things

Wow, it is only the second day and already I have almost missed it. I do want to share this funny story with you though before it is forgotten. Yesterday evening, Hollis came into the kitchen with tears in his eyes and exclaimed, "I don't want to get married." We thought this was sort of a strange statement since we had not been planning to sell him off as a child groom. His reasoning became crystal clear moments later when he explained that, "It is too 'spensive for me". You have no idea son.

Trick or Treat

We made it through Hollis's first trick or treat experience. We hit two subdivisions on our street and I think we were the first ones out at 5:30pm. He managed to hoof it the whole way after giving me his hat, fire fighter axe and bag of candy. I had prepped him on the correct Halloween lingo and he managed to use it, mostly. I had to refrain from teaching him the "smell my feet" version. Now you will be reciting that all day, your welcome.
The most interesting part of the evening came when Hollis spilled some candy leaving one of the houses. As we stopped to pick it up he exclaimed, "damn it". And I thought, "damn it, someone has taught my child how to curse". Now normally I would blame this on John, but honestly, I don't think he has heard it at our house. I did ask him what he said, just to clarify that we was cursing and using it correctly. He said it again and when pressed admitted to learning it at school. Some heathen child is already corrupting my innocent baby. We may have to start homeschooling. No, wait, that would probably lead to more cursing.
Later we crashed a neighborhood block party. Fortunately, everyone was friendly and didn't seem to mind a three foot tall fire fighter touching their cupcakes. After sharing in their candy and snacks, we hightailed it out of there. With a heavy bag and tired feet, we headed home for pizza and the Great Candy Dump of 2008. Because really, what better why to celebrate the devil's holiday than with pepperoni, cheese and candy? After a few minutes of bouncing off the walls, everyone settled down to sweet dreams of candy, pumpkins and fire fighters. Happy Halloween!

**
I have, perhaps foolishly, signed up to participate in NaBloPoMo, which is National Blog Posting Month. The point of which is to post to your blog every day for the month of November. Seems like a stretch, don't you think? Get ready for some boring shit...oh, wait, I meant stuff, we are trying to teach Hollis not curse.

The rest of the story

Happy Halloween Internet! You will have to wait until tomorrow to get the Halloween update. But I wanted to pass on this little piece of child rearing advice to all you childless people out there. For those of you with children, just stop reading right now because you will think, "It took her this long to figure that out, she's an idiot".
Here it is:
If you happen to notice that the sheets on your child's bed have not been changed for awhile and you think, "hmmm, I should go ahead and do that today" - resist the urge. They will most certainly have an accident on those newly clean sheets. I changed Hollis' sheets on Sunday afternoon and have changed them at least once, sometimes twice, every day since. And at least once in the middle of the night. That is 6 days worth of sheet changes people. Hollis only has 4 sets of sheets and two mattress protectors...so you do the math. Needless to say our washer and dryer have been working overtime. Okay, that is not really true, I just wait until the last clean one is on the bed and then do one big load. Awesome, I know. Then Hollis had the audacity to tell me last night that he though he was almost ready to wear big boy underwear to bed. Ha Ha, you are nowhere near ready buddy.

On a cleaner note, it is 4:30pm on Halloween. We are waiting for John to get home. I sent Hollis to his room to "rest". There is an incredible amount of noise coming from the room of a person resting. I am afraid he may have a nervous breakdown if he gets up realizes we are not ready to leave yet. He has only been asking to go trick-or-treating since 7:30 this morning. And I have threatened not to take him at least twice. May the force be with me.

Mix it up Monday or Tuesday

I had this ready to post yesterday, but I am up to my eyeball in dirty sheets. That is a story for another time, you really don't want to know while reading about cookies. We are almost through with Halloween, so almost through with the Halloween baked goods. Last week our playgroup visited a local pumpkin patch so Hollis and I baked pumpkin cookies to take along. This recipe could not be any easier, even with Hollis "helping" it only took about 15 minutes. The secret is cake mix. The cookie by itself is really not that bad for you, no butter, eggs or oil, just yellow and spice cake mixes and canned pumpkin. It is the icing that pushes it over the caloric edge. I made my own cream cheese icing which honestly doesn't take any longer than adding cream cheese to the premade frosting like Jenny at Picky Palate suggests. Two things to keep in mind though: 1)the recipe makes a lot of cookies. I started out using my cookie scoop, but they were huge, so I just used a regular tablespoon. 2) October in Georgia is still too warm to have cookies with cream cheese icing in your car - yuck. I forgot to take a picture of the cookies, so here are two from the pumpkin patch. Happy Halloween!PS - I got Hollis' haircut so he is looking a little less like a blonde fifth Beatle.

For the love of the game

Hollis loves baseball...in theory. See, he loves hitting, pitching, running, sliding. He loves the songs, books about baseball and talking about baseball. What doesn't he like? He doesn't like watching baseball. We were given really great seats to an Atlanta Braves game recently, right behind first base. We thought these would be perfect since he would be able to see everything easily. Apparently, we still don't know our child very well. After the excitement of talking about going to game, driving to game, walking to the stadium, meeting Rae and eating lunch at the Chop House, he didn't have much energy left for WATCHING the game. The game started and Hollis waited with his glove for a ball to come his way. Nothing. He made it through about 2 innings before he decided he needed to be "doing" something. So we went for ice cream. That got us through about 2 more innings. The Braves organization has this wonderful place for you to entertain your child/be separated from your money - Scouts Alley. Far be it from me to tell Hollis that he is not big enough for the games. He tried his best to hit the balls from the pitching machine, but couldn't quite make contact. We returned to our sets to get John and Rae so that they wouldn't miss out on the fun of strolling the stadium. As we waited for the inning to end, Hollis summed up his feeling about the game, "I am tired of all this hitting". We made it all the way through the game and I am sure we will try it again next year. I am not sure how he is going to handle the upcoming end of the baseball season.

Mix it up Monday

So I have decided to ride the wave of Halloween enthusiasm. We spend a lot of time talking about whether or not it is Halloween, what we are going to dress up as for Halloween, pumpkins and ghosts in general. I find all this interest in Halloween a little strange since this is the same child who will turn the TV off and declare, "I don't like giants" at any hint of a freakishly tall character. I also had to retrieve him from the top of the Chick-fil-a play structure last week because he was sobbing over one of the other children "roaring" at him. So, yeah, I really didn't think Halloween would be up his alley.
In keeping with the Halloween frenzy, he and I baked sugar cookies last week. Before you log off thinking, "Yawn...sugar cookies. So boring, I can buy those in the refrigerated section". But these are different than any sugar cookie you have made, unless you are my mother, in which case you can stop reading. This recipe was my Great Great Grandmother's. Don't worry, the release of the family secret was okayed by the higher ups. The big differences in this recipe is brown sugar versus the standard white granulated sugar and now, wait for it...
NUTMEG. Mmmm, I love nutmeg and it certainly gives these cookies a distinct flavor. And color. These cookies won't look like what you think a sugar cookie looks like, they are much darker. Try them and let me what you think.

My Brown Sugar Cookies
3/4 c. Crisco (or butter, softened)
1 c. brown sugar (packed)
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
2 1/2 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
nutmeg (my copy of the recipe just says nutmeg, so I put in everything I had, about 1 T. - so about that is good)

-Beat Crisco, sugar, eggs and vanilla with an electric mixer or mix with a spoon. Stir in remaining dry ingredients.
-Cover and chill at least 2 hours (try not to eat all the dough while your child is napping)
-Heat oven to 400 degrees.
-Lightly grease cookie sheet (I use a silicon baking sheet)
-Roll to 1/4 inch thick and cut into desired shapes
-Bake 4-5 minutes. Remove to wire rack to cool.

A few (more) tips: The dough is pretty sticky, so generously flour your surface for rolling. I also found it works best to only roll out a small amount of dough (about 1/3-1/4) at a time and leave the rest in the refrigerator.

Not permanently scarred, yet

Hollis is in preschool three days a week from 9am until noon. We are consistently running late leaving the house since neither one us feels terribly motivated in the mornings. I have generally been on time to pick him up though. My theory has been that as long as I am not the last car in the carpool line - either AM or PM - then we are fine and somebody else can be the bad parent of the day. This week has been a little tough though. For the first two days of the week I was late picking him up, not "where's the emergency contact number" kind of late, but about 10 minutes. And the last one in line.
On the second late day, Hollis got into the car with a sticker on his shirt that said, "Hooray for Me!". I asked him what he did to get the sticker and his answer was, "I was sitting so nicely". "Okay, great", I thought, "I am glad he is behaving so well at school" and really didn't think anything else about it. Later that night, when telling John about the sticker he elaborated on the story and including a few new crushing details. His teacher gave him the sticker since he was sitting waiting patiently in the carpool line and was the LAST CHILD FOR THE SECOND TIME. Ooh, knife through the heart. Then he topped it off with this gem, "I was just sitting there waiting and waiting". Yeah, I am pretty sure my Mom of the Year Award is in the mail. Don't worry though, I made it up by being early this afternoon.

Join the Army

This is probably a big "no duh" for all of you, but October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. The Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation and the Avon Foundation have launch the Love/Avon Army of Women. Again, you probably already know this, I am little slow on the upswing so bear with me. The point of the Army of Women is to recruit one million women to take part in breast cancer research. Women of all ages, races and medical backgrounds are needed. After you sign up you will be contacted regarding studies in your area. If you qualify you can choose to participate, or not. I signed up tonight and it took less time then typing out this post. You should do it too. We all know someone who has battled, or is battling, this disease and every bit of insight brings us closer to a cure. Here is why signed up, how about you?

I'm not doing it so much for the shark, just John and Hollis.

Mix it up Monday

Today's Mix it up Monday is ooey, gooey, chocolate and peanut butter goodness. Basically, a brownie not quite baked all the way and topped with warm peanut butter. Seriously, what else do you need?
When I started to make these, I realized I didn't have enough chocolate chips for the brownies and the topping, so I melted semi sweet bakers chocolate for the brownies then stirred in the chocolate and peanut butter chips. This is fine except that chocolate squares take a lot longer to melt than chocolate chips. I though my arm was going to fall off from all the stirring. Also, her tip about the peanut butter in the ziploc bag? Yeah, that didn't work so well for me, I ended with warm peanut butter all over the pan and counters. If you really want the peanut butter to be more inside the brownie than on top, you can get a Bismark pastry tip which is designed to do just that. Don't worry though, peanut butter on top or inside will be the least of your concerns once you start eating these babies. Enjoy!

Hollis demonstrates the ooey, gooeyness.

P.S. - Thanks Rae for the fancy countertop shot!

Mix it up Monday: Pumpkins

Hey, it's 75 degrees in Georgia, must be Fall! We are having a bit a pumpkin obsession at our house right now. Over the weekend I put out a few jack-o-lantern decorations and Hollis immediately thought it was Halloween. John and I have tried to explain that there are many days until Halloween and yet the first words out of his month this morning were, "Is it Halloween?". This is going to be a long month. I thought pumpkin muffins would be the perfect addition to his Halloween anticipation. Also, they sell them at Great Harvest Bread Company which was closed today. All I did was take my favorite pumpkin bread recipe and make it into muffins. The recipe calls for cloves and raisins, neither of which I like, so I leave them out. I did put in a quarter cup of walnuts and about a third of a cup of chocolate chips. This recipe makes two loaves but I usually half it. The bread and muffins turn out moist and not too heavy, a perfect compliment to your holiday menu, or obsession.

Exploitation

I don't know who it was that decided we needed child labor laws in America. Why should children be allowed a laze around all day when there is work to be done? Who needs a childhood? Put your children to work, they love it. And it makes them tired, which is by the way, the basis for my entire parenting philosophy. Hollis spent a, dare I say, ENJOYABLE afternoon dusting and sweeping. I would have taken a picture to post, but I didn't want to distract him while he was on the clock. I think this may revolutionize my housekeeping. Now if I could only get him to scrub the toilet...

Using our benefits

This week we have taken full advantage of our insurance benefits. Since Tuesday we have been to the dentist, the eye doctor, the audiologist and an ear, nose and throat doctor. Are we dying or what? Well, the dentist visit was for Hollis' first cleaning. I have to say that I was more nervous than he was and had been putting it off for a year and half. Peer pressure finally broke the camel's back (did I just call myself a camel?) and to the dentist we went. The problem you see, is that about 18 months ago Hollis had a run in with the vacuum cleaner and knocked out one of his front teeth. At the time we went to the emergency room to determine that he did not need stitches and followed up with a visit to the pediatrician. Everyone agreed that the tooth would fall out on it's own and there was nothing that could be done. We also didn't have the aforementioned dental insurance on Hollis at the time. So we didn't go to the dentist. Then I started to feel bad about having not taken him. So I put it off some more. I like to ignore problems and hope they go away...you're right, it rarely works. Anyway, I was worried that I had made some horrible parenting blunder by not taking him to be checked by the dentist. But never fear, all is well. The xray did show that the tooth broke off and a piece of the tooth and the root are still left, but the dentist was not concerned. He did fine with the cleaning, exam and xrays. He particularly liked the fish with teeth for him to brush and the water spray and suction. He also wanted to take home the protective covering from the xray because it was heavy and therefore a firefighter jacket. Oh, and don't forget the bus in the waiting room.
All the other appointments were for me. I still can't see, so I got contacts. The audiologist said I still can't hear. The ear, nose and throat doctor said I have a sinus infection and wrote me a prescription. I think we will survive.

Rituals

Parenting experts will tell you that in order to ensure a restful night's sleep for your child, you should establish relaxing bedtime rituals. They recommend a warm bath, dim lighting, quiet songs and stories. This is our new bedtime routine:

What? Running through the house with your shirt on your head isn't considered relaxing?

Mix it Up Monday: Hollis Edition

This week's Mix it Up Monday creation is brought to you by Hollis. We went with our playgroup to the Young Chef's Academy last week and made Mini Cinnamon Rolls. It was a great playgroup, all the kids (4 three year olds!) sat quietly and listened and followed directions without (much) help from the moms. We all know Hollis loves to help in the kitchen, so this was right up this alley. He learned to knead the dough (that should come in handy), roll the dough, spread the butter and sprinkled on the cinnamon and sugar mixture. We discovered that they are "Mini" Cinnamon Rolls because three year olds can't manage to wait for them to rise the second time. These are tasty and easy. If you have a child who likes to help, this is a great recipe to use. Make the dough ahead of time and then let the helpers knead, roll and make the filling. The original recipe from the Young Chef's Academy is a vegan recipe, but you can substitute butter and milk for the oil and water for a non-vegan dough.

Kneading.
Listening to Directions.
(we are framing this one for future reference since we don't see this very often!)
Mmmm, butter.
Enjoying the fruits of his labor.

Young Chef's Academy Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
1 c. warm water
1 package active yeast
1 t. salt
2 t. sugar
3 c. all purpose flour
2 T. vegetable oil
1/2 c. each of brown and white sugar
1 T. ground cinnamon
1/2 c. butter or margarine, softened
Sifted powdered sugar for garnish

-Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl with a dough hook and combine until a smooth ball of dough
-Lightly knead dough on a floured surface for 5 minutes
-Place in a lightly greased deep bowl covered with plastic wrap in a warm place until doubled in volume (about 1 hour)
-Knead dough 3 times after rising on a lightly floured surface
-Roll out to 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick. Spread or paint softened margarine or butter over entire surface, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar
-Roll up dough in a tight spiral. Cut with waxed dental floss or string into slices
-Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes on a lightly greased sheet pan
-Remove from oven and allow to cool. Top with powdered sugar, icing or enjoy alone

For larger rolls, allow them to rise a second time for about 15 minutes before baking.