TWD: Back in Action and Cocoa-Nana Bread

This week the assignment was Cocoa-Nana Bread, chosen by Steph at Obsessed with Baking. I made it on Saturday morning while the kids were playing, and we ate it throughout the day. Before long Jacob came in the kitchen to dig in the drawer where the measuring cups and spoons are. I thought maybe he wanted to help so I got out his new apron that his aunt made him for Christmas, and got the baking powder ready for him to pour. Turns out he didn't want to help, he just wanted to throw measuring spoons and cups around the living room, much to my dismay and much to his baby sister's delight. She sucked on every 1/2 tsp. in the house and loved it. After I put the batter in the pan Jacob wanted to have a bite so I gave him a lick of my spatula. Not 2 minutes later (after I was pretty sure I put the bowl in the sink) I looked into the kitchen to see him on the floor with my KitchenAid mixer bowl, the spatula in his mouth, and his mouth and clothes lovin' on the chocolate. Too bad Jeff had the camera with him, it would have been a classic picture.

This bread is a little bit too chocolatey for me to be a breakfast sort of bread, but it was still pretty good. My pan makes most quick breads too crusty so I cut the crusts off and liked the moist middle much more. I put the bananas on the table for the picture just to remind myself and others that they were an ingredient, since they end up being a tad bit overpowered by the cocoa. What you can't see is that next to the plate on the other side there is a machete, a bike pump, and a ski mask. Those are not ingredients, thankfully. Next time I'll add another half of a banana and I'll make sure I have chocolate chips to put in since I had to leave those out this time.

Someone in the family loves to eat chocolate chips straight out of the bag, which means we usually have some, but it also means that we run out when I least expect it. And I won't name any names, but the chief chip-eater is neither my husband nor either of the children. Just sayin'.

I won't post the recipe here, but I will give a hint...go to Google Books, search for Dorie Greenspan Baking and go to page 46! They have about every other page of the book on there for preview, and this one happens to be just one page. I have wanted this book for so long and bid for it on ebay the other day but I lost because the auction ended while I was asleep. I didn't really want to win bad enough to wake up at 3 AM, I guess. But they have it for just 14+shipping at ecookbooks, the cheapest I've found, so I think I will go ahead and buy it so I don't have to keep waiting for my name to come up for it at the library.

Stay tuned for next week: milk chocolate mini bundt cakes!

Yellow and Grey Week

I wish I were more into pretty things sometimes, then my house would be cuter (and I would probably be cuter) but for now I'll just admire the pretty things that others tell me about. As a prime example, I came across a blog recently that's written by a young mom living in Chattanooga, TN. She is pretty stylish, her husband makes the coolest pancakes, and this week the blog's focus is on all things Yellow & Grey. We love yellow in our house; it's such a happy color. So here's to a great week of finding cute things in one of my favorite color combinations.

MyBlogSpark: General Mills

I think I've always been a fan of cold cereal. I suggested it for dinner the other night and was promptly turned down by my better half. It's so easy to eat it, so there's really no excuse for skipping breakfast.

Thanks to MyBlogSpark, our family recently received four coupons for General Mills cereal. I haven't had a chance to use them yet (I keep forgetting them when I go to the store, whoops) but I look forward to picking up some cereal, maybe a kind we haven't had before.

Jacob calls all cereal O's because that is what we've always called Cheerio-type cereals, his first love in cereal. In our house, we've learned that people can possess the O's: sugary cereals are called "Daddy's O's" and I noticed last week Jacob called the KIX "Becca's O's." And the Special K with Red Berries was aptly named "Berries O's." He loves cereal; can't imagine where he gets that from...

Here is a coupon for $1 off of one of four GM cereals for you, dear reader.

Thanks to General Mills and MyBlogSpark for the info about the benefits of cereal and the goodies for me and my family and for my readers!

Slideshow of Pictures from Ohio

Enjoy!

10 Months old!

In just a few days Rebecca will be as old as Jacob was (10.5 months) when we packed up the LeSabre of yore and headed from Provo to Ann Arbor via Denver. This is something I will take the next few days coming to terms with, because, let's face it, life hasn't exactly slowed down since this little girl was born. She is about as cute as can be and it really is so fun to learn more about her personality.

There are some things that she has done or that she does often that are worth sharing:

• looking like she wants to chew out of her bed (laying on her side, and gnawing on the rails)
• pointing her foot in the air when I get ready to put her socks on
• dancing while she's on her tummy
• laughing when she gets her 8 teeth brushed
• scooting everywhere in a sitting position and getting into things a bit more than her brother did
• picking up hymnals with one hand when we are in sacrament meeting
• moving our office chair here at the desk while someone is sitting in it
• waving her arms around during the songs at church
• using her pincer grasp very excellently when eating. she eats very fast but still looks dainty doing so.

Happy 10 month birthday, Rebecca Lea!

Here are her stats from 2 weeks ago at her 9 month checkup. Doctor has no concerns, of course:

Height: 30.5 inches (99th percentile)

Weight: 23.5 pounds (99th percentile)

Head: also 99th percentile

Christmas, at long last

Getting behind on blogging is never recommended. I figured I'd spare you all (all 4 of you?) the suspense of what happened to us over Christmas break and share some pictures from our time as a family. I'll go clockwise from the top left corner, beginning with Rebecca's New Year's Eve picture.

She was on my lap while we had dinner with several families in the ward at the church, so I tried to take her picture. Next is the kids in their new pajamas (Christmas Jamas, as Jacob says) in front of the tree on Christmas Eve. Jeff took about 30 pictures. I think this is the only good one of both kids. Next is earlier in the day, me and the kids in front of the tree. Next one shows the kids (and their assistant) coming down the stairs on Christmas morning. The picture of the field is Jacob watching Uncle David fly their family's new RC airplane. Then our attempt at laying in the star on Christmas Eve, something Jeff's family has always done. A four point star is tricky enough, but when you make 2 of those 4 points age 2 and under, the "star" is highly questionable.

Bottom right corner, you can see Jacob playing with his new farm See 'n Say and his phonics train is in the background. Bottom left, kids on Christmas eve in their finest red apparel. Center picture is first thing Christmas morning, Jacob is admiring his train. To the left of center, Jacob is sharing his new echo mic with Rebecca, giving her a chance to suck on it at least. Above that is a picture of Jacob at the NYE dinner. Another picture of Christmas with Rebecca eating her presents and Jacob looking at his. We'll end with the Mrs. Potato Head, a little felt friend with removable parts (and plenty of more masculine things to make a Mr.) that I made for one of Jacob's presents.

We had a great time here on Christmas morning in Ann Arbor and then drove down to Beavercreek, OH, that afternoon to spend a few days with David and Megan and family. We're lucky they're so close, and we're lucky they let us keep coming back! If you didn't get a chance to see it, feel free to read our family's Christmas letter found here. Stay tuned, tomorrow I'll post some more pictures from our time at David's house...taken with his fancy camera, so they'll be a treat!

Cute Things I've Seen Lately

One handsome husband the day after he

returned to Ann Arbor after a busy week attending class at UNC.

One dragon in the bathroom!

One Rebecca in the snow!

One baby that's tutu cute.

One baby wrestling match. I guess he is punching her in the stomach.

Oh, phew! It was just Jacob!

One family playing the snow on a cold day last weekend.

And one instance of Jacob checking the size of Rebecca's pants...what would we do without this kid? The consensus was that the elastic is pretty worn out in the waistband.

Erin's Graduation

Last month I was in Boise with Rebecca to be at my younger sister's graduation from Boise State. We saw several family members and were happy to be there. Coming home was a different story - one plane was delayed so we opted to stay an extra day, then another plane was cancelled so we had to hang out in Chicago for a while on Sunday, but in the end we made it back home. Jacob played with his cousins in Ohio while the baby was on the trip with me and while Jeff was busy studying for finals at home. Jacob seemed to miss Rebecca more than anything else, go figure.

Here are some pictures and video of the highlights of our trip.

Rebecca hanging out during our layover in Chicago. It was getting to be bedtime, can you tell?

This is how we take naps at Aunt Erin's apartment. She was zonked after we got in so late the night before. And wouldn't you know it, she woke up right after I took this picture with no flash.

They had confetti falling from the ceiling of the Taco Bell Arena right

after the commencement ended.

Horrible picture with the point and shoot, but a really cool memory! Yay Erin!!

Rebecca got to hang out with her Aunt Jamie for part of the ceremony. Here she is wearing her fanciest dress, which Jacob lovingly refers to as "Becca's Christmas Dress."

Here is my family, missing a couple taller and several shorter members. Sorry Dad, the other one I have of this pose has Mom sticking her tongue out. I figured this wasn't so bad. I'm amazed Rebecca didn't chew a hole through her sweater.

Erin didn't play football on the Smurf Turf, but she did do marching band so she spent some time out on this field. I walked on it. It really is fake, and it really is very blue.

Walking across campus before heading to lunch...

After graduation we ate at Donnie Mac's Trailer Park Cuisine. It was quite the experience, even just to see their decor. I had my biennial reuben sandwich and enjoyed it. If you ever make sweet potato fries at home, you should try them with a sour cream + brown sugar sauce.

Rockin' good.

I didn't take any pictures of the graduation party, or a video of the cheer Jamie made up for us to sing to Erin once we got there, but we did have fun meeting some more of Erin's friends. We took pictures by our college flags after the party...all I have to say is "RAH RAH RAH RAH RAH RAH RAH RAH RAH RAH GOOOO COUGARS!" :) Three college grads, pretty exciting!

We made mom cry that day. Doesn't take much, but she was proud for sure.

I spent a few nights at my Aunt Tami's house, where Rebecca got her first taste of hanging out with the guys watching football! That's her with the black Nike hat on backwards...

This was a sign for BSU in the airport in Boise.

I don't know if you can read all of it:

Where you see BLUE, we see:

A Metropolitan Research University of Distinction

The largest institution of Higher Education in Idaho

A place of Science, Business, Nature and Art...

Discover the New U Beyond the Blue

I mean no disrespect to my sister's alma mater, but this was funny to me for some reason. Maybe it was the weird capitalization?

I am working on doing a Photoshopped version of Erin's face on the sign.

After waiting for a long time in the Chicago airport the day we were finally heading home, I realized as we were getting on the tiny plane to Dayton that they had put us in First Class! I got snacks and about 3 cups of orange juice on my 40 minute flight. Livin' the dream for sure. Additionally, I had the World's Cutest First Class Traveling Companion (WCFCTC).

Congratulations, Erin!

It was so fun to take a trip to see you in your regalia and celebrate with you!

Pomp and circumstance, indeed.

Two little girls

"You are right, I think you do have something in your eye."

9 months old!

Rebecca celebrated her 9 month birthday on Sunday, the day of her great-grandma Adams's birthday as well. To celebrate the big day I arranged for a flight to be cancelled so she and I could hang out at O'Hare for the day...more on that later. On to the pictures!

Here she is with her sheepy-sheep, showing off her amazing growing skills. Captions underneath photos.

Caught her in the middle of practicing some "buh bah bah" sounds.

Loving her boots!

No joke, this was the first picture I took.

I love this shirt. This is the first time she's worn it. So fancy with the ruffles and bow!

Size? 18 months. I did mention she's been growing, right?

"Looking at the Christmas tree is way more exciting than looking at Mom being silly."

Things I am doing at nine months:

rolling

sitting

going in circles while laying on my belly or while sitting

providing a home for 8 teeth

eating so many good foods

laughing and playing with my brother

clapping

playing peek-a-boo in various ways

throwing things

dancing to music

eating my hearing aids much less than before

Sing, Sing, Sing, I Like to Sing!

Some of you may know that I work with the kids in our ward as the Primary chorister. I've had this calling since June, and really love it. On many occasions while singing with the children I have felt the Spirit testify to me that what we were singing was true. I have been thinking of what a blessing this calling has been for me, not only in how it's allowed me to stretch myself and do things and exercise my creativity in ways I wouldn't have been able to do otherwise, but for how it has put me in a position to teach others (and thus remind myself!) about the basic principles of the gospel through song. Just recently I felt prompted to have the kids sing "Jesus Said Love Everyone," a tiny little half-page of a song, but the words and simple melody communicated truths I needed to hear that day as I was struggling with something.

I'm sure you've seen the poster before that has this on it, but I thought I'd paste these words here to drive my point home a bit more. What do you remember from Primary songs?

All I Need To Know I Learned in Primary

I am a Child of God

Believe in Christ

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you

Choose the right

Where love is, there God is also

Cleanliness is next to Godliness

Forgive & Forget

Give oh Give

Listen to the still small voice

Count your many blessings

Do the things the Lord Commands

Honor your father & mother

Dare to be true

Kindness begins with me

Families are Forever

Search, Ponder & Pray

Listen to the prophets voice

Jesus said love everyone

When you are helping you are happy

Heavenly Father hears & answers prayers

There is beauty all around

Reverently & quietly pray

Sunday is special

Do your duties with a heart full of song

My body is a temple

HEAVENLY FATHER LOVES ME

Gaffield Children's Garden

"Oh piggy!"

He looks like he's carrying quite the load of blocks here, it's cute. I think it's just one, but I love that I got the action shot of him leaning a little.

On November 14th it hit 67 degrees, perfect for enjoying something fun outdoors, so I packed the kids up and we went to the newish children's garden at the UM Botanical Gardens.  We'd been once before when it was open but not fully completed, so it was fun to go back to the "kid's garden" as we called it. Jacob met a pig statue in the middle of a moving gate maze, colored on some slate with chalk and cleaned up for the other kids to come play after him, and built with some blocks inside a little cabin.  Rebecca played in a nest, sat in a chair, chewed on some leaves, and generally looked cute as always.  We took the short hike a couple of times, and romped and played for a while. We had a superb time and look forward to going again in the spring and summer when there will be vegetables for picking.  You can see everything there is to do here at this link.  And, like many things I do with the children, the Gaffield Children's Garden is FREE.  All the more reason to go!  

"I saved you a seat."

"Good thing I'm not too far off the ground. My mom never taught me how to fly."

Toledo Zoo

A couple weeks ago we took a trip to the Toledo Zoo. On our way there, we saw this:

It was kind of like a ghost town zoo, not highly attended on game day as one might imagine. Perfect for us, and perfect for a two year old who liked running around as we saw all the animals.

Here is what we saw while we were there (slightly more exciting than what we saw on the freeway!):

Ready to go play with the elephant, Jacob put his foot on the fence right as I took the picture.

Jeff and the kids showing the proper way to ride a tiger:

Find one that's a statue.

Jacob still talks about how we saw some "ates" at the zoo.

He really liked the elephants.

Coming down the slide!

Jacob the puppy!

Weird color setting by mistake, but a cute picture nonetheless

Jacob Bakes! (And Mom helps!)

The other day Jacob helped me make some pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.  He was pretty excited to wear an apron that matched mine and he carried around his oven mitt and hot pad in between taking his turn to add ingredients to the bowl.  We got this cute set for Christmas last year and it's been fun to have it out this week!  You'll notice he enlisted the help of some Christmas friends by attempting to stuff them into his apron pocket, and you'll see that he loves pointing out the "COOKIE!!!" on each piece of the set.  He pulled the can of pumpkin off the counter and posed with it in his helper chair. You probably also noticed all the Cheerios on the floor.  Jacob also helped with that; he may have eaten some "O's" too, but judging by how many I swept up a little bit later while he ate dinner I'd say most of them got thrown or spilled on the floor.  

The muffins turned out great, by the way, as did the loaves of pumpkin cranberry bread I made right after we put the muffins in the oven.