Happy 6th Birthday Howie!

We celebrate Howie's 6th Birthday with BUGS!  He has been planning on his bug party for a few months now and *together*, he and I pulled it off.

We made bug decorations, thought of some simple hats for the guests to make, dreamed up a few games (pin the spider on the web and bug relay races with butterfly nets), made signs for the party, baked "safe" chocolate chip muffins for everyone to enjoy- even the birthday boy- and had some fun, bonding time over the event.  

The budget?  

I didn't keep as close of tabs on it this year as I did last year.  

But my estimations were around the $35 mark.  

The most important thing for the preparations this year was... doing it together.  

By including my 6 year old in the planning, things didn't look quite as polished, 

but the final product was quality time together which is much more important. 

He was energized by spending time over the details with me. 

And it turned out great. 

Looking for bugs in the backyard.

Gluten-Free Carrot Muffins

We are going more and more gluten-free these days.  The following is a recipe I created to make carrot muffins that are gluten-free... and edible!  Go figure.  They also happen to be free of any milk, eggs, soy, corn, and artificial dyes.

In attempt to get my kids to consume less sugar and more veggies, I modified an already yummy recipe to include honey instead of cane sugar and carrots instead of applesauce.

Gluten-Free Carrot Muffins

Dry Ingredients:

2 ¼ cups gluten free bread mixture (garbanzo bean flour, millet flour and sorghum flour)

½ cup tapioca flour

2 tsp baking powder (I make my own that uses ingredients to avoid corn)

1 ½ tsp arrowroot

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp ground cloves

½ tsp sea salt

Wet Ingredients:

2 ¼ cup steamed and pureed carrots (using Vitamix)

½ cup local honey

1/3 cup coconut oil, melted

2 tsp vanilla

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix dry ingredients in mixer.  Whisk wet ingredients in bowl.  Combine wet and dry ingredients in mixer.

Grease mini-muffin tin with coconut oil.  Place batter in muffin tin.  Bake @ 350 for 30-35 minutes. 

Yummy to eat with SunButter, Almond Butter or Peanut Butter.  

Now if you will excuse me... I have to go intercept Johnny as he is grabbing muffins off the counter and consuming them faster than I can make them. 

Wiggly Teeth

We are approaching that magical phase of life when teeth start to wiggle and the Tooth Fairy comes to visit at night.  While we are still waiting for Howie's first loose tooth, he and I prepare by making a tooth-fairy-certified pillow.
As my BFF says, "The tooth thing sneaks up on you.  Be ready."
Such great wisdom.  

We chose the fabric, Howie cut out the monster's teeth and chose the buttons for eyes, and together we make the lower lip a pocket for the treasures.  

And Poof!  

In an afternoon, we have a pillow all ready for our Tooth Fairy friend to leave some goodies.  

Now, back to wiggling those teeth...

Spring is Here!

Let the backyard picnics begin.  

Funny Things Johnny Says (at 2 1/2 years)

The other night at dinner, Johnny is jolted by a realization while he chews his food, "Mommy, my teeth go up and down, up and down, up and down."

Green Bean Delivery is Here!

If you live in the Cincinnati area, you must check out www.greenBEANdelivery.com.  

It's an organic produce delivery service that shows up at your door with such yummy fruits and veggies.  We subscribed about a month ago and LOVE it.  

Each week, I get an email to inform me of my upcoming order and I have a few days to alter my "bin" to pick and choose things I want to be at my doorstep.  My order is finalized by Monday and Thursday is our magic day.  The truck comes to gift us our new bin of produce and the boys clammer to the front door, "Green Bean Delivery... Green Bean Delivery!"  

Typically, they throw open the cooler, gawk at all the yummy fruits and veggies, then pick something they cannot resist and bite into it.  So far, the cooler has not made it past the front foyer without this excited raid.  

What a treat to see my boys unable to container their excitement over broccoli and carrots.  

God bless you greenBEANdelivery.

Sweet Baby Jack

Jack and Ellis on their first play date.

Hermit Crabs

The boys have a new pet... hermit crabs from Hilton Head!  

Thank you to our amazing babysitter who took a trip and brought them back for us.  

Johnny was spooked at first, but Howie jumped right in with getting acquainted.  

Welcome Kitty and Whiskers.  

Happy Easter

Easter is....

Collared shirts

A hunt at Nonnie's house

Baskets will with trinket toys

Baby Jack in his Sunday best

Organic cane sugar lollipops

And a gift from Jesus

Planting a Rainbow

In anticipation of the weather warming up, the boys and I plant some seeds.  We put them in our kitchen until we can trust Mother Nature to stay warm enough for them.  

Howie labels each pot: 

A little inventive spelling of "Sunflower"...

20 minutes of peace.... is it worth it?

We have this thing at our house called "Playtime-Rest Time".  

The boys get to spend some quiet time in their rooms while we all take a rest 

from the activity of the day.  It usually occurs sometime around 2 pm and lasts for about 

30 to 40 minutes.  I encourage them to play the toys they have on their shelves, 

listen to some quiet music, or read some books.   

Just recently, Johnny was upgraded from spending this playtime-rest time in his crib
to being able to play in his room with the baby gate up for a boundary.
He has become increasingly mischievous during these rest times as he takes
liberties to dump toys and attempt to undo any order I have arranged in his room.  

This past week, he reached a new level of "liberties".  It was quiet for about 20 minutes.
I knew I should have investigated, but I had to get my grocery list made.  I just had to.
So I gifted myself the 20 minutes of peace, knowing full well that I would pay for it.  

And pay for it I did.  I hear Howie gasp, "Johnny, what did you do?!"  

Here is the scene when I walked up the step to get him:

This pile contains:

• Every article of clothing Johnny had in his dresser.
• All of his books.
• All the diapers he owns, including the diapers that were in the economy box from diapers.com that were in his closet.
• All of his blocks.
• Several packages of wipes.
• One package of wipes that was opened and each wipe was individually thrown over the barrier and into the pile.

I pretended to be stern with him, "John.  We do not make this kind of mess."
But inside, I was laughing so hard.
While I wanted to end the messes being made, this one was pretty funny.
Together, we cleaned it up, he was happy to discover all the items in the pile and put them away.  

And it was worth the 20 minutes of peace.  

Granola

As many of you know, we have recently done an overhaul of our diet as we address some of Howie's medical needs.  Going completely "whole foods" has been a challenge.  We eat lots of weird stuff (thanks to my hubby for tolerating the experiments that turned out pretty yucky) and it's such a reward to this Momma when I find a recipe, modify it to be within Howie's acceptable food list and it turns out.... YUMMY!

Below is my recipe for granola that several people have requested.  My Dad's eyes even lit up when he ate it- a true indicator of culinary success.  You will see the modifications I make for Howie since I get requests for both versions.

Granola

Makes about 5 cups

Dry Ingredients:
4 cups Rolled Oats (I use gluten-free oats for Howie)
1 1/2 cups Sunflower Seeds (I omit the seeds for Howie)
1/2 cup Brown Sugar or coconut sugar
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon

Wet Ingredients:
1/2 cup Olive Oil
1/2 cup Honey or Agave Nectar
(And 1/4 cup coconut oil for Howie's version)
2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 300 degree.  Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.  In a small pot, heat the oil and honey until warm.  Whisk in the vanilla.  Pour the wet mixture over the dry and toss to coat.

Spread mixture in a cookie sheet pan.  Bake at 300 for 30 minutes, turning the granola every 10 minutes.  After 30 minutes, pull the cookie sheet from the oven and let the granola cool.  After cooling, you can add raisins, dried cherries, chocolate chips, whatever you want to enhance the granola experience for yourself.

Howie's favorite version is the finished granola mixed with "chocolate sauce" which is agave nectar and cocoa mixed together until wet.  Put it in the freezer for an extra special treat.  Yum!

(Yes, that is chocolate on his face)