Little N is Mobile!

As proud as I am that I now have two kids that can move, Little N only by crawling, but still, he's mobile, it means I pick apart fights CONSTANTLY. Funny how I just posted how much my kids love each other, the love is only when the big one wants to give it. The little one wants to be around his big sister ALL. THE. TIME. and now that he can get to her, she's not too happy. Probably because he's a biter, and we're all now covered in red marks. Oh teeth gods, please let these ones come through and take away the biting tendencies.

Sibling Love

The love my kids share for each other makes my heart swell on a daily basis.

The other day Big N advised me that Little N had woken up from his nap after she heard him on the monitor while we were outside. I said, okay and started packing up our stuff to head indoors. Big N took off upstairs as soon as I opened the door. She then climbed on my bed and slid herself down into Little N's bed to ask him if he had a good nap. I can't wait to watch these two grow up, and I hope they will always love each other as much as they do now.

Strawberry Muffins

After a large purchase of strawberries, I needed something to do with them. I stumbled upon a blog that suggested this recipe was delicious. So, the kids and I got to baking, and they really were pretty good. I made one fatal error when making these, so follow the directions closely.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups chopped fresh strawberries
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground Cinnamon

Directions
In a small bowl, combine the strawberries and 1/2 cup sugar. Set aside for 1 hour (DO THIS, do not assume 10 minutes is the same as an hour, it's not at the muffins are a little too tart). Drain, reserving liquid and berries separately.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Grease a 12 cup muffin tin, or line with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and 1/4 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt and nutmeg; stir into the creamed mixture alternately with the juice from the berries. Gently stir in the berries. Spoon batter into the prepared muffin cups.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the tops spring back when lightly touched. Cool in the pan on a wire rack.

Monday Meal - Broccoli, Lentil and Red Pepper Salad

Can you tell we are big into summer salads? This was a salad made up from a few different recipes combined, so I'll just post what I actually did.

Ingredients:
1 bunch of broccoli
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
1 can lentils (original recipe called for chick peas, but Big N ate all my chick peas on me)
1/2 red pepper
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Steam broccoli for about five minutes. In a bowl, mix mustard, red wine vinegar, olive oil and onion. Season with salt and pepper. Add chickpeas, red pepper, and broccoli. Toss to combine dressing. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

R commented that my salads keep getting better, so this one is definitely a keeper. We served this with a side of chicken because we are big into protein, but you could definitely make it hearty enough for a meal.

The Newest Addition to the Playroom

Our playroom has never quite been complete but I wasn't sure what it was missing, until I stumbled upon a sale at Kitchen Stuff Plus. They had a removable vinyl chalkboard on sale for 25% off, so I picked it up and thought it could be a great addition to the playroom. They also had picture frames on sale, so I picked a few up thinking we needed to hang a little more artwork in the room too. Little N did his very first painting and made the bottom piece at 8.5 months of age. It's awesome!
Big N loved the new addition.
The only trouble now is convincing a two year old that you can colour on the wall, but only this part over here. Oh well, that's what being a kid is all about.

It's Hot!

We've been doing lots of activities to try and beat the heat.

From trips to the splash pad park to cool down
to investing in a pool for the backyard:
Came with a free lifeguard.

To making rainbows with the hose.

We aren't letting the extreme heat ruin our summer, it's just making it even better.

A House in Progress

Little N got a new car seat, which means we got a giant box. And since it's a million and one degrees outside what better way to make use of our air conditioned house than by making a play house.

It started with some simple cutting and taping.

And of course we had to test it out at every stage.
On to the painting.
R was super jealous that I could fit in the box the same time that Big N was in it.


Now, our house is no where near complete, but we can't do everything in one day in case it stays this hot and we have to stay indoors for a few more days. I'll post more pictures when we finish our awesome project.

Monsters!

Big N has been dealing with a few fears around going to bed, one of which includes a "guy" outside her window. Yes, it does creep me out that she thinks there is a guy outside her window, BUT, her window is on the second story and our house sits almost a half story higher than every other house on the street, needless to say, she's pretty high up, so I highly doubt there is a guy outside of her window.

Nevertheless, we decided to make some friendly monsters that will help scare away the "guy."

Big N is getting so independent and put her monster together all by herself. Where did my little baby go?

Bliss

You know what's blissful, when after the past three days your toddler has decided a nap was not needed that on day four she finally gave in and you have peace and quiet for at least twenty minutes. I love days like these. Now, hopefully I didn't just jinx it.

I Don't Proofread.

In case you wondered, I type, and do not read before posting. I'm not really an idiot and do now proper spelling and grammar, but I do get a lot of feedback in my work reviews about checking over my work. Perhaps I should apply that to my blog to?

Monday Meal - Cesar Salad

I have no idea why I've never attempted to make a Cesar salad dressing from scratch before, I always thought it was super difficult. But, it seems, it isn't hard at all. I found this recipe and worked from it.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 clove minced garlic
1 egg
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp lime juice
1 tsp white vinegar

Directions:
Mix ingredients and lightly drizzle over bowl of romaine lettuce. Add croutons and Parmesan cheese to taste.

I wouldn't say I'm a fine diner by any means, but this turned out pretty darn good, and was way less money than buying a bottle of salad dressing, using it once and then throwing it out 6 months later when it was expired.

We served this with some pre-packaged chicken burgers on one of those nights that I didn't want to cook, and it turned out great.

Glitter is fun AND MESSY!

Big N found a tube of glitter somewhere in our house, which I have NEVER purchased, so I have absolutely no clue where it came from. But, after two days of her begging to use it, I got out the courage to attempt a glitter project with a two year old. She was amazed at how it stuck to the glue, especially the gluing parts she did. All in all, it wasn't near as messy as I anticipated, and perhaps wasn't even worth the two days of distracting her from using it. Maybe I'll buy more glitter??? Hmm...maybe not.

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

We've been signing A LOT of nursery rhymes this week, so what better way to relive our songs than through some crafts. Today we did "The Itsy Bitsy Spider"

We made our spiders out of construction paper and pipe cleaners. Big N had a great time taping the pipe cleaners in place, and making funny faces with them while we were picking our colours. I wrote out the lyrics to the song on a piece of construction paper and started our wall of nursery rhymes for the month.

PS Don't look closely at the lyrics, it seems I was having trouble writing what my mouth was singing. It's a good thing two year olds can't actually read.

Book Review - The Face on the Milk Carton

I was searching in my online library of books that I've wanted to read and came across this one. This is a book I remember wanting to read back when I was in grade 6, and my BFF read it for a book report. I remember her oral report was awesome, and I always thought I wanted to read the book, but I never did. So, when I saw it in my library I picked it up. There was so much more drama to the story now that I'm a 27 year old mother. I felt the emotions of each mother in the story, to the point I cried (WTF? I cried at a book made for pre-teens), nevertheless, I was hooked and have now proceeded to read the next two books in the series. So, if your in the mood for more easy reading (that seems to be my motto this days, perhaps hanging out with children all day is getting to me more than I imagined?) give it a shot. But, maybe again, don't tell your friends about this one.

Mud Puddles!

What to do on a random Thursday morning when your bored of each other, make mud puddles in the garden of course and stomp the crap out of them. Good thing I'm not a gardener and could care less about what's in my gardens at the moment. Weeds are flowers too right? Be a kid, make a puddle and SPLASH!

Oatmeal Banana Bread Pancakes

Every once in awhile, I break away from the Cheerios for breakfast and make something real. This usually only happens if I sleep in increments longer than two hours, who knew that after 3 years of not sleeping your body would still have problems with it?

I came across this recipe and since I had some rotting bananas on my counter begging to be used, I figured we'd give it a shot. Keep in mind, that I'm not a huge fan of pancakes, or any breakfast food for that matter, hence the daily Cheerio regime.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup large-flake rolled oats
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups milk
2 eggs
2 ripe bananas
3 tbsp butter
2 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp olive oil

Directions:
In large bowl, whisk together flour, oats, sugar, baking powder and baking soda. In separate bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, bananas, butter and vanilla; pour over flour mixture and stir until almost smooth. Let stand for 10 minutes.

Heat nonstick skillet or griddle to medium heat; brush lightly with some of the oil. Pour in about 1/3 cup batter for each pancake; cook for about 3 minutes or until underside is golden and bubbles break on top but do not fill in. Turn and cook until underside is golden brown, about 1 minute.

Repeat with remaining batter, brushing skillet with more oil as necessary.

These pancakes were like eating warm banana bread, so I definitely enjoyed it. I also found them to be filling enough that I only ate one, so we ended up freezing about two days worth for another day. All in all, give it a shot on the day you feel like something more than cereal.

A Proud Mom

I had to show pictures of this beautiful art project completed 100% by Big N.
I have absolutely no clue what it is, but I was amazed to watch her do all the cutting all by herself. She's pretty good at wielding those scissors, which I know for a fact because later in the day she decided to cut some of my hair when I was busy playing with Little N. Thanks for that Big N.

My little baby is growing up.

Sugar Cookies

Big N and I attempted to make some treats for our annual family camping trip. We decided to go with letter cookies spelling out the name of the camping trip. The cookies were definitely cute and helped Big N learn some more letters (because not everything is the letter A). We used a basic sugar cookie recipe, that I can't find now, and the plan was to add icing, however, we just ran out of time. So, until I find a really great sugar cookie recipe, I'll leave the googling to you.

Monday Meal - Tuna Salad with Olives and Pickles

We made this salad because we had the ingredients on hand. I wasn't too sure about it prior to tasting, as it was full of black peppers, and pickles, what a combination? But, it turned out pretty tasty. We decided that it was actually even better after sitting for a little while, so go ahead, make it for dinner now, and it'll be delicious when it's time to eat.

Ingredients:
3 cups shredded lettuce
1/2 cup sliced olives
1/4 cup coarsely chopped sweet pickles
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 cans tuna, drained
1/4 tsp. coarsely ground pepper
1 cup chick peas

Directions:
In a large bowl, stir together all salad ingredients. Cover, refrigerate.

Blueberry Muffins

Blueberries were on sale recently at the grocery store, so of course I took the opportunity to stock up and wound up freezing a few pounds. These are the days I wish I had a bigger freezer than just the top of my fridge because I could have done enough to last through the winter, but alas, we're still debating the big freezer purchase.
I used this recipe as a guide and wound up making my muffins like this:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries

Directions:

In bowl, combine flour and baking powder. In separate bowl, cream butter with sugar; beat in eggs one at a time. Gradually stir in milk (mixture may appear curdled). Make a well in centre of dry ingredients; pour in liquid and stir just until moistened. Gently fold in blueberries.
Spoon into large paper-lined or well-greased muffin cups, filling to top. Bake in 375°F (190°C) oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until tops are firm to the touch.

These were delicious muffins and since we still have a few blueberries left, I'm excited to make more.

Paper Money

Big N has a play McDonald's set, that she really enjoys playing with. The downfall, everything always costs five dollars, and we don't have any pretend money. So, today we fixed that dilemma and broke out the construction paper and crayons. Now we officially have five dollars to buy some super expensive Big N french fries.

Happy Belated Canada Day!!

We wound up having a very impromptu BBQ for Canada Day. It was a good thing the kids and I had already prepared decorations for our camping trip. Now, if only I had taken pictures before it had rained all over our decorations, but they were cute nonetheless.


We made an O'Canada sign out of card stock and string. I had Big N paint some white paper with red paint. Then we found a maple leaf and traced them on the page. We cut out a few maple leaves and then tied them on our picnic shelter.

All in all, we had a great day. Big and Little N were both super tired from all the excitement and went to sleep easily (for once).

June Wall

I'm a little behind in posting since we've had a busy week with Canada Day camping, and my big birthday, but here's how our June wall turned out.

I would like to add that the wall didn't always look like this, at one point it was a really cute calendar with special pictures for all the important dates we had during the month. But, when you have a toddler with little hands, it can be hard to convince her that ripping tape off the wall shouldn't be done, and in reality, it's not a battle I care to fight, since it usually involves a lot of screaming. I'm definitely of the "pick your battle" category. So, if you plan to do something similar, put it just a little bit higher on the wall if you'd like it left alone for the entire month.

It also appears that we didn't do too many other wall art for the month, probably because it finally turned SUMMER, and we spent endless hours outside.

Stayed tuned for the July wall, we've already got it started and it's taking shape quite nicely.

Monday Meal - Brocolli Salad

It's funny how taste buds change over time, I remember when I was young, I wouldn't even touch a salad unless it was a regular garden or Caesar salad, so recently, I've been testing out new salad recipes as it seems I don't mind changes these days. I've eaten a few broccoli salads in my day, but had never attempted one until we had a party on May 24 weekend. The salad is super easy to put together, and can be made a little bit in advance, and still turns out delicious. There's a million recipes out there, but this is what I did.



Ingredients:

1 head of fresh broccoli
1 red onion
1/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup white sugar (scant)
2 tablespoons white vinegar


Directions:

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix the mayonnaise, white sugar and white vinegar together then mix into the dry ingredients. Chill and serve.


Next time I make this salad I will likely decrease the sauce just a little bit more, since it doesn't really need to be quite as saucy as I made it this time. Also, if you are making this for a party, don't mix it in the glass bowl you plan to serve in, it's a royal PITA to wipe down the edges of the bowl.


I served this for dinner with some sausages as we were having a BBQ, it was a simple meal to prepare while watching the kids.