{Our Week} - 4/29/13 - 5/5/13

I feel like I should just consider Madden's update section to be called:

"What New Words Did Madden Say This Week?"

This week included: Grammie, Grampie, Jordan (a girl at day care), book, bubbles and slide.  He's getting to the point now where he can pretty much repeat words after you say it to him a couple times.

In other news, this boy is OBSESSED with playing outside.  If its nice out (heck, even when it's NOT so nice out) he wants to be on the playset out in our backyard.  He LOVES the swings and going down the slide.  I literally think he would do it non-stop all day long if we let him.  He's devastated when it's time to come inside.

Mariah loves being outside, too!  That's actually how she acquired her very first splinter earlier this week.  After many attempts of trying to remove the splinter from the foot of a squirming 3 year old we finally conquered the battle with that tiny little piece of wood.  Thankfully she's a tough girl.  I am sure there are MANY more splinters to come. (See pic of operation: remove splinter)

One other new development with Mariah is her love for chocolate milk.  If you remember, this girl had a milk allergy less than a year ago.  Thankfully the past 6 months her allergy has lessened and she can tolerate milk and milk products just fine.  We had hope that she would outgrow it, but thought we'd NEVER get her to drink milk since she'd spent years telling people she was allergic.   I am shocked that now she asks for a glass of milk and likes it!  Granted its chocolate, yes, but hey if that's one way to get milk in her I'm OK with that.





Mike has taken up bike riding since his knee injury is still bothering him when he runs.  Major kudos to him for getting up at 5:30 am this morning BEFORE 7:30 am mass and getting a 12 mile ride in :)


I am loving Zumba lately.  I've been going once a week for about 4 months now.  I'm addicted!  If any one in the QC wants to join its on Thursday nights at 6:30 pm :)

In lieu of a "funny things Mariah said" section this week (mostly because I'm having a mental block - because there's not a day that goes by where she doesn't say something hilarious) I decided to post a cute video of the two of them playing with BUBBLES!!! :)

{Please look past Madden's outfit... I didn't dress him that morning... ;)

Outdoors!

We enjoyed lots of time outdoors this weekend.  A birthday party, riding bikes, yard work and playing!  We finished off the weekend with some ice cream :)  Can't all weekends be just like this (minus the 12 loads of laundry I had to squeeze in).

Bounce house at Kash's 4th birthday party

It took a little while for Mariah to get up the nerve to try it out - but she had a blast once she did!

Cheesy pose on the back porch :)

Same shot - 1 second later :)

Watching daddy mow the grass.
Mariah looked at this pic and said "Hey Mom!  There's a ball on Madden's head!"

My babies :)

Mariah and Daddy split this treat :)

And Madden and I were supposed to split ours, but he's kind of an ice cream hog

FACT:  Madden loves Oreos

I hope you had a great week!  Make this next one even better :)

{The Best} Banana Bread

Banana bread.  I love it, the kids love it, who DOESN'T love it.

Unfortunately - I am cursed when it comes to making it.  I can't tell you how many recipes I've tried and it never comes out right. 

Sometimes I don't bake it long enough (gooey in the middle).

Other times I baked it WAY too long (dry, burnt taste).

In the rare case that I might have baked it just right, it lacked a good flavor.

Until now!

I can't officially say I have FOUND the banana bread recipe that I will use from here on out.

2 secret ingredients - sour cream and cinnamon! :)

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The Best Banana Bread
Adapted From What's For Dinner

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup sour cream
3 over-ripe medium bananas, mashed

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease 9x5 inch loaf pan

Melt butter in a large bowl in microwave and add sugar.  Add eggs and vanilla - mix well.  Combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; stir into the butter mixture until smooth.  Next, fold in sour cream and mashed bananas.  Spread evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake for 60-65 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.  Cool loaf in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to cool on a wire rack.
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Perfection!  Not only did I bake it just right, but the sour cream kept it moist enough and the cinnamon really kicked up the flavor!

I'm embarassed to tell you how quickly my family and I inhaled this bread - but hey, there could be worse things to eat, right? :)


I also wanted to share some {banana bread} tips I've learned from my MANY attempts:

• Use the ripest bananas possible - the browner the banana the sweeter it is
• If I only have one or two ripened bananas at a time, I stick them in the freezer until I have enough to make banana bread.  A quick thaw in the microwave and they are ready to use!
• Mash the bananas in a large plastic baggie, cut a tip in the bag and squeeze out into the bowl.  Sometimes I would try to mash the bananas up in the mixture itself and would end up with bigger banana chunks in the bread which just throws off the texture

You can also check out the link to the original recipe for some healthier substitutes (for example, applesauce in place of butter or whole wheat flour mixed with all purpose flour).

{Our Week} - 4/22/13 - 4/28/13

Madden really enjoys singing lately.  We often hear him blurting out pieces of songs, his favorite being Baa Baa Black Sheep.  But occasionally Row, Row, Row Your Boat will make it into the mix.  Oh, also, this kid has perfected this scrunchy face.  Not even sure what it means, but its hilarious! :)

Mariah had her 3 year checkup on Friday.  We started off the morning with breakfast - Mickey Mouse pancakes (love her face in this picture)!

Stats from her appointment:
Weight: 34 pounds (70th percentile)
Height: 38 inches (70th percentile)

It's crazy to think how much she's grown up since her last appointment.  She got her blood pressure taken like it was no big deal, and then proceeded to identify pictures for the nurse, answered tons of questions (correctly, I might add) and even did an eye exam covering one eye at a time!  Mommy was impressed! :)




Mike is really putting his Big Green Egg to use now that the weather is coming around.  He's quite the grill/smoker/oven master!  He did a 12 hour smoked brisket this weekend.  It was amazingly good.  I am 100% in support of him making the meals on occasion :)

I spent a lot of my "free time" (aka after the kids are in bed and cleaning is done) working on my etsy shop.  It's fun to add new items!  I am trying to increase my inventory to attract even more people :)  If you need invitations, cards or anything designed I am always happy to help!

Oh Mariah.  Always something to make us laugh :)

This week she's been on a kick of wanting to be a cleaning lady.  We laughed about it at first, but she's serious.  Today when we got home from church she asked:

"Mom, can I have some towels, soap and a stool?"

"Why do you need that stuff?"

"Mom, I'm a cleaning lady.  I need to clean the windows."

I wasn't going to say no to that!  After washing the windows she moved on to the toy room and cleaning a few toys as well.  I am fully in support of this new career of hers (for now at least!).

Proof of her cleaning the windows :)

Bounce House!

With the beautiful weather we had this weekend we did a LOT of playing outside.  We even broke out the bounce house!  The kids had so much fun testing it out - I think it's going to be a popular thing to play in this summer :)

Mariah put on her flip flops, followed by her winter hat and gloves.

I mean, I guess I understand.  This winter/spring has been confusing with temperatures all over the place so maybe she's just covering all the bases JUST IN CASE.  :)