Day 1034 | Stroller Reading
/
This is the normal scene after a trip to the library. Two wee ones with their noses buried in books in a stroller. That's the life.
Day 1033 | Homemade Granola
/
Perhaps you saw my latest recipe post on Mary Catherine's blog, but this granola was just too yummy not to double-post. Plus, I wanted to be able to search for it on my own site for the next round of baking.
As I said in the Simply Sugarless post, I was really skeptical of attempting a granola recipe. I'm very particular about the granola I like and I was convinced that a no-refined-sugar recipe would never satisfy my picky tastebuds. I'm so happy to report I was wrong. I've been eating this granola for breakfast with a bit of yogurt all week and, I'm going to say it, it's better than any store bought versions I've found - at least it is in terms of what I'm looking for in granola. I will definitely be making this as a staple around our house. Yippee!
HONEY PECAN GRANOLA
Hands-on time: 10 minutes | Cook time: 25-30 minutes | Total time: 40 minutes
Yield: 6 cups
Ingredients:
4 cups old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup white whole wheat flour
1/3 cup shredded coconut
1/3 cup chopped pecans
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325°. Grease a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.
Mix oats, flour, shredded coconut, pecans, and cinnamon together in a large bowl. Stir in honey, coconut oil, and vanilla extract until evenly incorporated.
Spread oat mixture on the prepared baking sheet.
Bake in the preheated oven until lightly golden, about 10 minutes. Stir gently. Continue baking, stirring every 5 minutes, until golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes.
Let cool until crispy, about 15 minutes.
Store in airtight container.
A Couple of Notes:
I left my granola in the oven for an extra few minutes (past 25 minutes) because mine didn’t brown very much. Maybe it was the whole wheat flour, but it still turned out crunchy and delicious even though it stayed light in color.
Now that I’ve made this, I would consider mixing some freeze dried strawberries in at the end. I love a little fruit in my granola.
I would also increase the amount of pecans, to a half a cup. I don’t really even like pecans all that much, but I think a few extra would only be a good thing.
Probably an obvious comment, but you can add/substitute fruit, nuts, etc. as you fit, I would just warn against adding too many dry ingredients because you still need the wet ingredients to coat + bind it together.
Day 1032 | Sticker Chart Champ
/
This little peanut snagged his latest sticker chart reward (a toy camping set) and, once again, we couldn't be more impressed with + proud of his determination. The latest challenge? To stop sucking his thumb at night. That's a tough one since he was doing it semi-unconsciously.
With a helpful tip from uncle Brian to wear mittens when he sleeps, we now have a no-more-thumb-sucking (but mitten-wearing) three year old in our house.
For the record, this wasn't an easy transition for our sweet Robbe. It's been harder for him to fall asleep and his overall sleep quality has definitely been affected. I gave him the out several times over the last five days by offering to remove those mittens but he never took me up on it. That's one tough dude.
Next time you see him, please give him some praise. He deserves it!
Day 1031 | Spray Painting
/
I've been waiting months (months!) for the temperature to rise and the sun to shine so I could do some spray painting. The curtain rod project had to take precedence (since we currently don't have window coverings), but I snuck in a few coats onto our bathroom mirror frame as well. Yay for being productive!
Day 1030 | Swimming Success
/
Chase had such a blast during his first session of swimming lessons that we signed him up for another round for the spring. Best news ever? Robbe gets to join him this time! So many benefits to turning 3! You could not imagine two happier brothers saying goodbye to their mom. It. Was. Adorable.
The boys even jumped in by themselves (into the shallow pool). Chase exclaimed that he wishes he could have swim lessons every day and Robbe added an enthusiastic, "me too". Such a proud mom.
Day 1029 | Biker Boys
/
The weather is not quite as warm as we would like (hence the winter coats and mittens), but that's not keeping us away from our newest outdoor activity. The boys seem super excited about biking this year so it'll be fun to see where that goes! We even got Robbe his own mini training wheel bike today (sorry...not pictured) so he can keep up with his brother. Now he just needs to figure out that pesky pedaling concept.
Day 1028 | Baby Farm Animals
/
Thanks to a tip from Karen, we scheduled a super fun trip to a lambing barn (yep, that's a thing) only 20 minutes from our house! The boys got to hold piglets, lambs, chicks (a ton of chicks), and kids (of the goat variety) and see a bunch of other animals, too. The rule is that if you can fit the animal in your arms, you can hold it. That's a good rule, right? The boys had a total blast!
Unfortunately, it was a bit too cold to explore the rest of the farm grounds and they didn't have much for extra activities so we went home and made the above sheep craft to commemorate the day.
Day 1027 | Project Complete
/
We survived it. Our first major home improvement project is officially in the books. The boys even got to nap in their own beds today for the first time in a week.
Whew. I'm exhausted. Even after eight loads of laundry and hours of deep cleaning, I'm still in catch up mode over here. I'm just lucky that the boys were so happy to be home and playing with their own toys that they let me tackle all that. We even treated them to ice cream tonight to show our extreme appreciation.
The windows are looking really nice, though. Totally worth all the hassle. Now to figure out blinds + curtains...but not tonight.
Day 1026 | New Windows
/
The end is in sight. All of the new windows are in and they just need to do the finishing work tomorrow. It has been a long week of finding places to nap, taking down and setting up beds, and putting up temporary curtains. The week has really given us a new appreciation for people who take on bigger projects than this. We are all ready for the project to be done and can't wait to see and enjoy the final product.
Day 1025 | DIY Shorts
/
Check out these sweet shorts I made for Chase yesterday! Thanks to some expert tutoring (Karen's the best!!) and some free time during nap, I whipped these up in about 2.5 hours. Not too shabby. Of course Robbe is all up in my business to make a pair for him now. Sheesh. It took me five years to make Chase his first pair, you would think Robbe could be *a bit* more patient. They were pretty simple + straight forward, though, so there's a good chance you'll be seeing Robbe in a pair of these fun racer shorts sometime this summer.
If Karen's not available to walk you through the process (that's a bummer!), here's the tutorial + pattern that we used. I might just have to find a permanent home for my sewing machine if the projects are going to be this fun + satisfying + practical.
Day 1024 | The Underdog
/
I don't think I've heard Robbe laugh this hard ever. He was loving Chris's underdogs on the swing. For two kids who have never been real swing fans, you wouldn't have guessed that this past weekend.
Day 1023 | I Heart Puzzles
/
It turns out that the boys aren't the only ones with a fondness towards puzzles lately. Last night, I convinced Chris and his parents that we should bust out a puzzle (like we did on one of our past vacations). It was so fun! And such a sense of accomplishment! There were some dark moments (piecing together the sky, mostly), but the high points (George finding the two missing pieces! Bibi telling her decomposing jackalope story!) more than made up for it.
Can you believe I even let Chase stay up 30 minutes past his bedtime because he was enjoying the grown-up puzzle time so much. As he and Chris were working on the Eiffel Tower, Chase said, "the pieces just come to me," as a response to us asking how he was so good at puzzling. Adorable.
Day 1022 | Spring-ish
/
It wasn't the 60° temps we had for that week in February, but today's 40°s felt pretty good. We even got the boys outside twice! Maybe we'll actually survive the winter after all.
Day 1021 | Family Fun
/
What does a typical spring break vacation day look like in Point? This. Lots of family time and lots of fun. The boys really really love their cousins...it's kind of the best thing ever.
Day 1020 | Spring Break
/
While some of our family + friends venture off on tropical + warm vacations, this is what spring break looks like for our family. Wearing Sherpa sweatshirts while drinking lattes in central Wisconsin. At least we busted out of the house! Thank goodness Chris's parents were up for visitors because we all needed a change of scenery. Warmer scenery would have been nice, but you take what you can get.
Day 1019 | Mass Chaos
/
You can't really tell from this photo but the Children's Museum was packed today. Ninety+ kids from one field trip and all the normal attendees made for a chaotic and stressful visit...for me. The boys? They totally float above it.
I think I've lost my ability to manage the chaos now that we live in Wisconsin. In DC, we had to deal with crowds everywhere we went. Here? I've gotten used to letting the boys have a bit more freedom in these types of places because there are so few people. For the museum's sake, I'm glad they get these groups of people through the doors. For our sake? I'll take the quite mornings, any day.
**For the record: the boys are wearing matching sweatshirts and also belts. No big deal.
Day 1018 | Music Class
/
We finally made it up the hill for a music class at the Eau Claire Music School. He might not have had the chance to strum another guitar, but Robbe did get to use a bow on a violin for the first time. The kid was super excited. There was also a lot of pretty fantastic dancing and some fun toys + a colorful tent (pictured above) to entertain after the class. Yay!
Day 1017 | You Might Not Know This...
/
Depending on how long we've known each other, you *might* think you've learned everything there is to know about me. Call them quirks, call them pet peeves, call them annoyances, call me compulsive. However you label it, enjoy learning a bit more about me.
top nine things that drive me crazy
- Buying in bulk: I know it doesn’t make any sense, but it’s true. I find great satisfaction in finishing something and throwing it away so the idea of buying in bulk only diminishes that sense of accomplishment…especially if there’s another *giant* box just waiting in the cupboard to spring into action.
- Ticking clocks: Maybe it’s a reminder that my life is ticking away from me and I have no control over it. Or maybe, it’s just a super annoying sound. Hard to tell.
- Warm chairs: You know that feeling when you sit down and the chair is still filled with the warmth of someone else’s behind? That’s the feeling. I cannot handle it. I’ve been known to switch chairs to avoid it.
- Clean, but unfolded laundry: I have no problem leaving a folded laundry basket of clothes in my bedroom for a week waiting to be put away (I mean, it’s not my favorite, but I can handle it). Clean, unfolded laundry is another thing. If I had to guess, I’d say that it makes all the work of collecting, sorting, washing, and drying seem in vain if all those clothes just stay in a heap getting wrinklier and wrinklier.
- Patronizing empty stores: At all cost, I will avoid walking into an empty store-any type of empty store. It doesn’t make any sense, especially if there’s something in there I really want/need, but I’ll do it. Something creepy about empty stores, you know?
- Fleece: Bleh. Long hair + fleece = crazy static and I cannot handle it. Maybe it is super cozy. Maybe it is one of the warmest fabrics ever (and for someone who is often cold, that’s a big deal). But you won’t catch me wearing it. Like, ever.
- Picking up toys: I don’t think I come off as compulsive with most of this list. This item is where that changes. I cannot be in a room covered with unattended toys and not pick them up. I do it at my house constantly, which I think is probably understandable, but I do it everywhere else to. Anywhere there are unattended toys…at a friend’s house, the children’s museum, the library play area, you get the picture. I have no extreme desire for these places to be tidy, mind you, I might just be that I find it impossible not to busy my time with something every second.
- Wind pants: I’m not sure what it is about wind pants (or comfy pants as we call them at our house), but I rarely let the boys select these types of pants to wear on a daily basis. After all, are their elastic waist jeans + pants any less comfortable, really? I have no aversion to other children wearing them, only my own. Maybe it’s the incessant “whish, whish, whish” that has turned me against them. Hard to say for sure.
- Dry hands: This first Wisconsin winter has done a number on my hands even with constant lotion application. It's quite possible that I’ve become addicted to lotion, but I cannot handle cracking hands. And, trust me, don’t look at Chris’s hands.
Day 1016 | Switcheroo
/
The boys thought it was hysterical to wear each other's coats and hats to the library the other day.
I mean, it was pretty awesome so I get it.
Day 1015 | Wall Art
/
We've been waiting for months to hang this puppy on the wall and it was finally delivered + installed today.
Remember the built-in storage shelf I unveiled earlier this year? Our new piece of wall art was made by the same talented folks (in their spare time, I might add). Oh...and it's big. Like, really big. I think it ended up being over 3.5 feet wide + tall. It's definitely a statement piece and one we're crazy excited about.
I'm not sure it will always display Chase's collection of Alpha-Bots (letters that transform into robots, obviously), but for now they compliment it really well.
