My Shadow In Time

Banana Muffins with Crumb Topping

2012-01-24T12:34:00.000-05:00

I had three more ripe bananas waiting in the freezer to be made into something. Banana bread takes a bit longer to cook and I was looking for something we could eat this morning. I found this recipe in a cookbook and just made a few changes to it to suit my style :)

The ingredients....

Lined muffin pans

Mix together the dry ingredients in the first bowl

Mash up the bananas in a smaller bowl

Add the sugar, egg, and melted butter and mix.

Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture.

Combine together.

Spoon into muffin pan (I always make a mess with that part.)

In a small bowl mix the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, oats, and butter.

Cut in the butter until it resembles course meal.

Top muffins with mixture.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 15 minutes. I started eying them after 10 minutes because my oven tends to cook faster than most cook times.

Don't they look yummy

Remove from muffin pans and let cool on wire rack for a few minutes. Enjoy warm!!!!

Banana Muffins with Crumb Topping

Muffins
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted

Crumb Topping

1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons oats (next time I may add a bit more...chopped walnuts would also be good)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Line muffin pans with muffin papers.
In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, mash together bananas then mix together sugar, egg and melted butter.
Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture until just combined. Don't over mix. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and oats. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add topping over muffins.
Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean (mine did shortly after ten minutes).
Enjoy warm!!!

Homemade Goldfish Crackers

2012-01-23T19:11:00.000-05:00

This week we are planning a trip to the aquarium so all of our activities, lessons, etc are based around fish :) This was actually a really fun week to plan because I had a real theme which includes a field trip. So to kick off the week we baked which is one of our favorite things to do together.

So what better thing to bake then one of Ava's favorite snacks............GOLDFISH!!!!

I found this recipe on pinterest and it looked easy enough plus how can you go wrong with cheese.

To start we had to make our own cookie cutter using a soda can. Ours wasn't perfect but Ava wasn't in a patient perfectionist mood. In fact I'm slowly learning that stopping to take nice pretty pictures of our baking endeavors isn't so easy. Ava will just move right on whether we are ready or not so I only really have time for quick snapshots and I have to hope they turn out.

Cut a thin strip of aluminum

Fold into a fish shape and tape together

The cast of characters

Of course the always needed handy helper

Pulse all ingredients in the food processor. Ava liked getting to push the button.

My food processor is small so I had to split the batch and then combine in a mixing bowl.

Then we wrapped the dough in saran wrap and put it in the fridge to chill.

Then I remembered we had some goldfish so I thought I'd get it out and look at the ingredients.

Baked with real cheese?!?!?! I'd hope so.

The ingredients aren't bad (I've seen worse things) but the list does seem long.

Ready to roll. We use this pampered chef pizza dough roller instead of a traditional roller because it's easier for Ava to handle.

Cut out the fishy shapes

Place them on a cookie sheet. We have a blue silicone mat so when Ava was placing the fish on the mat she pretended she was putting them in the water. At one point they were even being chased by sharks.

Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes.

A closer look

They are yummy and from all the reviews I read they get even better the next day.

The recipe................I simplified it a bit from the original for a basic cheese flavor but next time I may experiment a bit with seasonings and cheese.

Goldfish Crackers

1 cup flour
4 tablespoons cold salted butter, cut into cubes
8 ounce package grated sharp cheddar cheese
3/4 teaspoons salt
2T-4T cold water (add one T at a time in case you don't need it all)

Directions

Pulse the flour, salt, butter, and cheese using a food processor until it is combined.
Pulse in 2 to 4 tablespoons of water one tablespoon at a time. You may not need it all. You need just enough to be able to form the dough into a ball.
Roll out and cut into shapes. The thinner you roll it the crispier they will be.
Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes or until they look crispy.

**Hint--they get better the longer they rest.

A Quick Museum Trip

2012-01-22T09:27:00.001-05:00

We decided to go to a local Marine Museum on Friday just for a quick outing. With the weather there isn't much you can really do to get out especially with small children so this was perfect. We took Ava there last March but this time she was much more interested in asking questions and seeing all the different displays. She really liked the play room where each kid gets to dig for a fossil, shark tooth, or shell to take home. There is also a little boat and a small lighthouse to play on as well as turtles to pet and low tanks with various marine animals to watch. In the back of the museum are some more tanks of local marine wildlife and displays of locally found fossils and artifacts. She really wasn't as interested in the boat displays and other historical marine displays but maybe next time she will be.

When we are looking for things to do together we typically try to find something more educational for a few reasons. One, kids this young are like sponges and love to learn, it's typically a good family environment, and it's normally pretty affordable. Ava at this point has no clue what a chuckie cheese is and hopefully that remains true for some time to come. Eventually she will probably get invited to a birthday party at one but for now while she is impressionable I'd rather just stay away from them. She goes to gymnastics once a week so I feel that even during the winter she is getting some physical outlet.

Anyways back to the topic at hand....the musuem...

Excuse some of the blurry grainy photos...I was playing around and experimenting with some camera settings.

Digging for her shark tooth

Showing Daddy her treasure

Playing in the boat...she kept telling us to climb aboard.

My favorite picture of the day

As a mermaid

She was more interested in being a pirate though

Next week we are planning an aquarium trip because she hasn't gone there since before she could walk. We aren't fans of Baltimore so we don't go there often but it was that or the DC zoo and well it's winter so the aquarium it is. Since we will be going to another place to explore and learn about marine life I am going to look today for a few educational activities to do at home with her next week. In fact as soon as I post this I will need to spend some time planning next weeks lessons/activities.

Before I go I'll share two videos of Ava showing off her scooter skills.

Racing

Her new trick

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekends. See you again soon with some more activities and fun to share.

A Quick Capture

2012-01-19T12:58:00.001-05:00

I need to get more photos of Ava. I think it's time to check out the weather reports and pick a day for a trip outside with my camera and Ava. Here are just two quick "snapshots" I got while she was playing today. Both were sharpened a bit in photoshop but that is it.

Counting and Sorting Beads

2012-01-19T12:52:00.001-05:00

I've been looking at a lot of Montessori preschool activities and one of the things I really like about them is the fact that they really don't require any expensive equipment, kits, etc. While I would like to pick up some supplies to help which mostly can be reused I am for now just using what I can find around the house.

Today's activity was to count beads and then we also used pretty much the same materials to then sort the beads by color. These are the supplies I used for today:

Multicolor Beads (Bigger ones might be easier for smaller hands but Ava did ok with what we had)
Cupcake tins (I didn't have any egg cartons on hand)
Felt scraps (cut into little squares)
Foam numbers (I left the adhesive on so they didn't stick to the tins)

This morning while Ava watched her morning cartoons I gathered all of the supplies for today's activities.

For our first counting activity

Some art fun with fingerpaints

and her workbook

and then I grabbed my munchkin. I had her identify the numbers in each cup.

Then I explained that she would add the correct number of beads to the cup according to what number was in it. I'll probably pick up some marbles or beads that are all the same color to use next time just to simplify a bit.

Next, I removed the numbers and replaced them with little colored scraps of felt.

She really liked this one and made it into a game. After she would sort them she would remove the felt scraps and mix them up into new cups and try again.

After she finished her "games" she had a snack and then was ready for some art time. Today was nothing fancy............just some construction paper and finger paints.

She followed this up with some coloring while I fixed her lunch. Since then it's been a bit of random playing while I get a chance to sit and do this post :)

In a bit we will probably break out the workbook for a while. In fact she is getting bored so I should probably go now so I can see what she wants to do next.

Rainy Day Fun: Making "Clean" Mud

2012-01-17T18:19:00.001-05:00

This activity is something I've seen over and over for use with sensory tables and have been wanting to try for a while. We woke up this morning to an extra dark, gloomy, rainy day and I decided we would give the "clean" mud a shot. Now don't let the name fool you as this is not a clean activity by any means. It's a good ole messy, hands on, dig in, squish, squash, make a mess fun activity. It's simply a clean version of mud play because it's nothing more than soap, paper, and water. In fact while there is a mess to clean up at least everything is already soapy. Ava was confused as to why she didn't need soap on her hands when she was ready to wash them :)

I didn't quite plan this out 100% so we made due with what we could find around the house. Most of the versions I have found call for either dove or ivory soap. I have seen a few with more natural organic soaps but we had none of that. In fact, we really aren't a bar soap type of family but in the back of the linen closet I was able to locate a few bars of lever 2000. I cannot tell you how old it was and I'm almost afraid to guess but hey, it did the trick. The difference being that our "clean" mud was blue tinted. Ava was cool with that, in fact, she corrected me and told me it was snow and not mud at all.

Breaking my flow to say that as soon as Ava said it was snow I was immediately struck with an awesome elf on the shelf idea for next year. Have the elf t/p the tree (which I know many did this year) but also have him leave instructions for how to make indoor play snow with the toilet paper so that it isn't wasted.

While researching how to make this I found that there were a lot of varying opinions on amounts and many reviews saying it didn't come out just right. So I'll tell you what we used but keep in mind you may just want to add a little at a time until it "feels" right. We used:

Half a roll of toilet paper (the cheap scotts kind...I was not about to waste the good kind lol)
3/4 bar of lever 2000 (or any bar soap) grated. Again the original says ivory or dove which I would recommend if you want it to be white.
Approx. 2 cups of warm water. We heated 2 cups but added it a little at a time and I don't think we used it all.
Hint: The more you play with it the more it becomes the desired shaving cream/whipped cream consistency.

So here we go. First grate your soap and while you are grating the soap you can have your toddler help with the shredding of the paper into the bin of your choosing. Since it was just Ava playing we used a smaller Ikea bin but anything would work. I'm happy to say I finally found something to do with the roll of scott toilet paper that has been in the linen closet for forever because no one likes it.

Once the paper has been shredded we sprinkled the grated soap on top.

Then we poured the first cup of water and mixed a bit then added just a little more. I gave her some measuring cups and things to play with.

The more you play the more like shaving cream it becomes.

Ava played for about 30-40 minutes in the goop before she decided she wanted her hands cleaned. It actually at this point called for a whole outfit change but it did the trick for those winter blues. We will definitely be doing this again.

Yummy Banana Bread

2012-01-17T16:15:00.001-05:00

The last two times we bought bananas they turned quicker than normal and after throwing away the first group I couldn't bring myself to waste the second. I popped the bananas in the freezer so I could try my hand at banana bread.

Today when we woke up it was gloomy, dark, and raining. In other words, the perfect day to bake a loaf of banana bread. A friend of mine gave me a recipe to try and it so happened we had all of the ingredients (well minus the vanilla extract...............I really need to go get more).

Getting all of the ingredients set out

We measured and combined the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. I've found that letting Ava measure is helping her to learn more math skills in a fun hands on way. Not to mention she is learning to bake.

Next we added in the oats and stirred then we had to cut in the butter. Ava helped slice and drop the butter in and then I used the two butter knifes to finish up. I swear one day I will remember to get myself a pastry cutter. Today wasn't bad but when I make my pie crust I'll always regret not having one.

We didn't have any pre-shelled and chopped nuts but we did have whole walnuts. It takes a bit more work but they did actually smell and taste fresher.

I chopped them up a bit because while I do like nuts in banana bread I don't like them to stand out too much.

We added the nuts and gave it a quick stir and set it aside.

Then we combined the egg and milk. This is also where we would have added the vanilla had we had any. Vanilla tends to balance out a lot of baked goods but I figured with the banana flavor we would be fine without.

I put the bananas in a bowl and gave Ava a crab knocker (the kind without the mallet) and let her smash the bananas.

Then we combined the bananas with the egg and milk mixture.

We poured it on top of the dry ingredients and mixed until moistened.

Poured it into our greased loaf pan and popped it in a 350 degree oven for about an hour.

Then the ~~best~~, excuse me, worst part of baking....................we cleaned up.

With the dishes done and the kitchen beginning to smell of yumminess we sat down to some leftover potato soup for lunch.

Now to cool

Later, after we did a rainy day activity, we helped ourselves to some banana bread to reward ourselves for all of our hard work.

Seems now I have no excuse to waste bananas. This was really simple and tastes delicious.

A Sunday Snowman Art Project

2012-01-15T15:30:00.000-05:00

Since we haven't had enough snow to even attempt a small snowman I thought we would make one today as an art activity. Inspired by a pinterest pin I saw I gathered the following supplies:

light blue construction paper
Elmer's glue
mini marshmallows
Felt scraps that I cut into a hat, scarf, mouth, carrot nose, and twig arms
Black beads
Googly eyes
white paint
Glitter glue pen
crayons (we ended up not using these)

I really liked this because it was so easy for Ava to do. She helped me do the glue but then was able to do the rest independently.

Supplies

More supplies

and some glue............I forgot to take a group picture of the supplies so I got some quick ones before we started. I forgot the little jar of beads, felt, etc.

...

Putting the marshmallows on

His body has been formed (he is Frosty the Snowman according to Ava)

Putting on beads

Now that Frosty is done it's time for some snow.

Happy girl (who is still is her pjs)

She added some glitter glue and ta-da he is done.

He is now drying so we can put him on the fridge. I have a feeling he will need to go up a bit higher so a certain fat beagle doesn't have him for a snack.

Organizing Ava's Art and Learning Supplies

2012-01-14T16:17:00.000-05:00

Like all things, Ava's learning and art supplies have become disorganized and spread out in too many places. I'm still not 100% happy with how I have reorganized them but until I can get back out to IKEA this will have to do. Eventually I also plan to also recreate this pinterest pin for her art supplies but I'm thinking for now I'd rather not have everything always within her reach.

This was this mornings big project...

Ava has a cube organizer from Target that looks like this

It has been set up for a long while now and I've used target dollar section bins to further organize it a bit. This morning I separated the toys to the left and the art/learning materials to the right. The toys need another sort and dump/donate cycle but that's another task all together. Below is what the right section now looks like.

The top shelf holds her puzzles and wooden blocks. Easy learning activities that she can do independently to occupy herself or we can do them together.

The middle shelf hold her felt board, clip board, workbooks, flash cards, magnadoodles, coloring books, and the orange thing in the middle is a little learning game. We have two magnadoodles and that really comes in handy when we "practice" our letters together. She will watch me draw them on one and she will try on the other.

The bottom shelf holds the art supplies and other random things.

A closer look at the pink basket.

In the back is drawing paper, construction paper, and poster paper.

Then there are stickers, stencils, and foam letters.

Clay, index cards, and an index card holder.

One of my next projects is to make the index card holder into a sight word book. I am going to take pictures of items around our house and environment to place on the left side and then the sight words on the right.

Letters, numbers, and dress up people for the felt board.

Magnetic letters and numbers

Crayons

Markers and Pencils

A closer look

On the very top of the cubes is a closed plastic container (an old ice cream container to be exact) with some other items I want handy but not something she can get without help.

It holds the glitter glue, stamp pad, pencil sharpener, post its.

Glues and scissors. They are safety scissors but I'd still prefer to supervise what she cuts.

Paints and play dough are kept in the kitchen since that is where we use them. Not to mention I'd rather her not have them in her room.

She recently completed two of her workbooks. She does them at her own pace. We try to do a little every day but how much is up to her. One day she may want to spend hours doing her workbooks but the next she may be done after 20 minutes. She did half of the let's draw and color book in one day. She really enjoyed that one!

We went yesterday and got two new workbooks. It took her a while to narrow down which ones she wanted. I limited her to two otherwise she probably would have asked for the whole shelf.

One last thing before I end this post. I thought I would share the spot where we sit to do her books. It's just a regular kids table in the kitchen but it has good natural lighting for most of the day. Eventually I may move it to a spot where I can include a bulletin board but for now it works.

I need to post another learning activity so I'll scope out pinterest for something fun to try next week. I already have our art project to share all picked out :)

More Blog Organizing and Updates

2012-01-14T13:05:00.001-05:00

I'm trying to get this blog organized a bit because even I am having a tough time finding some older posts and I posted them. There are over 400 posts to go through and label so I can sort them into various tabs. I have the posts separated in groups of 25 and there are 25 pages of about 25 posts....I'm only on page 4 of the 25 sets of 25 soooooo it's going to be a while. It's a bit tough because I started the blog as a project 325 so a lot of my posts are very random and don't just fit into one category hence my biggest tab of posts to be named Random DAY's. Off to finish organizing the old before I move on with the new. Exciting posts to come so stay tuned.

Sink or Float: A fun preschool learning activity

2012-01-11T14:36:00.000-05:00

With the rain, snow, and cold I am always looking for new activities we can do indoors. We typically do Ava's workbooks and some sort of art activity everyday. This fall and winter we have been adding in lots of baking and cooking as well. It's been a good hands on activity for Ava and of course we end up with something yummy to enjoy when we are done.

Last week we tried sink or float and it was a big hit. I took a bowl and went around the house gathering lots of random small waterproof things to use.

Then I created a quick spreadsheet for our results and for me to keep track of what we have done already.

I used a large mixing bowl as our water basin.

and two cake pans to sort things that sink and things that float.

Then I grabbed my munchkin and explained what we were going to do and let her have at it.

She would get the item and decide if she thought it would sink or float

Then drop it in the basin and observe. We did 3-4 items at a time in the bowl so she could see some floating and some sinking.

Of course the appeal of playing with water in the winter was exciting too. It will be fun in the Spring to take a basket and gather things from around the yard to compare.

Warning...your child will manage to get wet...a few hand towels are a good idea.

We actually ended up doing this a few times so they second time instead of recording the results since I already had those I instead went back with a green pencil and recorded her guesses. (second set not pictured)

After everything had been sorted we compared the items in each cake pan. We talked about what they were, what they were made out of, were they heavy or light, etc.

That's it for this activity but I've been all over pinterest pinning more ideas. No promises but I'll try to post about one activity each week. Tomorrow we'll be heading to the bookstore for more workbooks and I think we are both excited about that :) Lot's of learning and exploring to be done.

Candy Bar Ice Cream

2012-01-05T17:21:00.001-05:00

For Christmas Aaron's Mom and Sister got me the ice cream mixer attachment for my kitchen aid stand mixer. I use to make homemade ice cream with a large "old fashioned" ice cream maker that was bought for my Dad when I was younger. I liked to make it but the mixer was large, loud, and messy with all the ice and salt that it required. Over the summer I contemplated getting a cheaper ice cream mixer I saw at target but it only made about a pint at a time....not enough for my ice cream eating family. Ava and Aaron LOVE ice cream. I like it to but can't indulge like they do because my lack of a gallbladder makes it hard for my tummy to digest. Anyways I was excited to give this sucker a try. They bought me a few williams sonoma mixes and I tried one of those first.....plain vanilla per the request of Aaron. Then this week Ava and I decided to make a batch of homemade.

I always find that when I use a few recipes as a guide but tweak to fit my tastes and ingredients it always turns out better; no matter what I'm making. So I used one recipe for the cream base but changed the flavors and some of the ingredients to match what I had on hand. I'm calling it candy bar ice cream because you could use whatever candy bar or candy pieces you have on hand as mix ins.

First things first in the kitchen for me.........I grab my handy helper. Isn't she adorable :) This was actually taken earlier that morning but it explains why in the other pictures there appears to be black smudges on her face.

and just for the sake of sharing...she pulled one of her little chairs into the living room and created a little work station. I had to laugh at how cute it was and how smart as well.

Ava has become a very good helper with all the baking we do together. She knows the difference between measuring spoons and cups, liquid cups and dry ingredients cups, brown sugar and white sugar, which containers hold flour, sugar, etc, that you do your wet ingredients first and then add the dry, etc, etc, etc. I have a feeling she'll be baking on her own at a very early age.

Now that I have my handy helper I can get started

Grab whatever candy bars/candy pieces you have on hand

Remove all the wrappers

Chop your candy into bit sized pieces

Reward your handy helper with a piece of chocolate

Finish chopping the chocolate

Place in an airtight container and refrigerate until needed

Grab milk, heavy cream, eggs, and sugar for your base.

Now the original recipe called for vanilla extract but I decided to add caramel flavoring to go with my candy bar theme. I like to add this to frosting sometimes for a different taste.

Whisk eggs in mixing bowl for about 1-2 minutes until frothy.

Slowly whisk in sugar until well combined.

The next step I didn't photograph but you then whisk in the milk, heavy cream, and last the caramel flavoring. Only whisk until combined. Then add to your ice cream mixer and follow your mixers instructions for time.

Under the watchful eye of my handy helper.

The kitchen add only needs about 20 mins. Right before the ice cream is done add in your candy bar pieces.

Then scoop ice cream into an air tight container. It will be the consistency of a soft serve until frozen. If you like soft serve go ahead and indulge straight away. We preferred to freeze it.

but not before testing for quality assurance :)

Place on the lid and freeze.

We had some a few hours later but to me the ice cream was even better the next day.

The only thing left to do now is grab a dish and a spoon and enjoy!!!

Be warned.......kind of like with all things.......homemade is ALWAYS better. This may ruin store bought for you.

Recipe:

2 large eggs

3/4 cup sugar

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup milk

2 teaspoons caramel flavoring (more if suits your tastes)

1-2 cups of bite sized candy bar flavoring **If you like lots of chunks use 2 cups if you prefer less use 1 cup

In a medium sized mixing bowl whisk together eggs for 1-2 mins or until frothy. Slowly add sugar and whisk until combined. Continue to whisk for about a minute. Add in milk, heavy cream, and caramel flavoring and whisk until combined. Pour ice cream base into ice cream machine and follow your machines instructions for mixing time. When ice cream in just about done add in candy bar pieces. Mix long enough to distribute your candy then turn off machine and pour into an airtight container. For soft serve you can eat right away and for a harder ice cream freeze for a few hours to overnight and then enjoy!!!

Base yields 1 quart but I found with the addition of air my batch doubled to a 2 quart batch.

Christmas 2011

2012-01-05T09:57:00.004-05:00

Here is the link to the 2010 Christmas post for those interested (it also takes a look back at Christmas 08 and 09 as well). There are even a few videos of Pop from last Christmas. I forgot about them until right before Christmas this year and I'm so happy I have them. They captured his voice, what a treasure. I always find that I can picture a person perfectly after they are gone, remember what they smelled like, and recreate scenes in my head. I think it must be the visual side to me that allows this but the hardest thing is getting the voice right in my head. I really want to get a good video camera as soon as we can afford the investment because even though I take a lot of pictures I would like to take more videos as well.

First let me start this post with this picture from 2007. Oh how clueless we were to how much our life would change before the next Christmas.

Now fast forward to this Christmas...let me share all the rest of our Christmas pictures from this year. I didn't take as many pictures this year...a video camera would have worked better. Ava was so much more interested so I spent most of the time helping her.

First let me see what other pre-Christmas photos I have left to share. With the addition of the Activity Advent calendar that I made we did make it a point to do as many Christmas activities with Ava as we could. I worked so hard on that calendar, decorating it, making tiny scrolls with each days activity, and carefully planning out whole month; it really just makes me sad to have to pack it away. I saved all of my scrolls and while I'm sure some things will change for next years calendar at least I won't have as much work to do in preparation.

Random baking...we did quite a lot but I didn't get photos of it all. (these are all from the phone so the quality and color is probably off a bit)

Ava made these pretty much on her own. I died the green dough but she rolled it up and added sprinkles.

These were her favorite ones to eat.

buttermints...ok but not great. The reviews were awesome but I found them to be too sweet.

Snickerdoodles...my favorites

Our enormous supply of sugar cookies

Another view....I love this recipe...they bake up so nice.

Preparing the icing

Lots of colors this year.

Decorating

Ava's decorating...can you tell she likes sprinkles :)

After they dry up a bit

Our yummy colorful cookies

All of Ava's got covered in rainbow jimmies.

Inception cookies...should be named evil cookies...they are oreos stuffed in chocolate chip cookies, they are huge, and they are delicious. We also made some regular chocolate chip cookies and oatmeal scotchies but I didn't get pictures of them.

Aaron's Apple pie with crumb/caramel topping. Completely from scratch even the crust. I finally perfected an apple pie recipe exactly to Aaron's liking. Apple pie is his favorite and this pie is to die for.

Santa made a visit to our house to see Ava. Here she is waiting for him.

and here is Harold waiting outside to greet him.

Here he comes....

Here are a few videos of when Santa came in the door.

a bit blurry but here I am trying to keep her excited but she started to get leery of the situation.

The closest thing we could get to a picture with Santa for this year.

here is her first one...she was a happy sleeping baby until "Santa's helper" patted her bottom to try and wake her. Here is a pissed off little baby with Santa.

and for fun here is me at three and a half.

Some random Harold pictures

Almost Christmas...

As an activity on Ava's calendar we made two little trees to take to her Great-Grandparents graves.

Here is Mammaws

and Pop's

More randomness...possible out of order.

Eating the big giant candy cane Santa brought her.

Making mini volcanoes...she loved this.

She called this her Christmas bath. She asked for a Christmas bath on Christmas Eve and this is what we did.

Sitting with Nan on Christmas Eve watching her "Christmas Dog" dance.

Cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer.

Christmas morning

She had been under the impression that Santa was going to share the cookies with her when he came so here she is having a cookie for breakfast :)

After Daddy woke up we did gifts. We let him sleep since this will probably be the last year for a while that she allows that. I didn't get many pictures but we waited on her big present. Santa left her a note in her stocking telling her that the big present didn't fit in the sleigh so Harold and his friends would drop it off later that morning.

back upstairs to do gifts with everyone else

Here is a video and pictures of the big gift

We stayed home again this year. There is something so nice and peaceful about a quiet Christmas day to enjoy you family and play with new gifts. I always wanted to stay home when I was little and now that it's up to us we choose to just relax instead of hitting the roads. I imagine we may alternate years at home with years visiting in the future but for now we are happy at home. I made a non-traditional dinner of fetticine with tomato cream sauce and garlic bread. Ava's Uncle Kenny came over with his friend Robert and ate with us then Ava played with her train table some more before bed.

Here are a few more videos that I pulled off the phone.

Opening a gift from Aunt Denise and Uncle Doug

The Jamie and Juli song...she sang this for us over and over and over on the way to the light show with Jamie and Juli.

Playing with Daddy and the helicopter she got him for Christmas

Well I think that actually has me caught up for all of our Christmas and 2011 "stuff". phew...that took a while!!!

Twinkling Christmas lights

2011-12-22T10:09:00.000-05:00

**The draft for this post was started back in December before Christmas but not finished till today (1/4/12) so if I seem to jump back between past and present that's why**

This year we took Ava to ~~two~~, make that three light shows and made a trip downtown to see the national tree display. Early in December we went to Ann Marie Gardens to do the walk thru the sculpture garden which was adorned with really cool light displays. It was really cold, in fact one of our first actual cold nights but Ava didn't seem to mind.

This was at Ann Marie

Someone was not happy when we reached the end.

She demanded we go back thru but it was so cold we had to convince her to walk back to the car which was on the other side of the gardens.

Can you believe that's only like half of the pictures I took. This was by far the most bang for your buck as far as how much they had crammed into a smallish space. The downside was having to walk in the cold. If it hadn't been so cold we probably would have turned around and walked back through again.

The weekend before Christmas we continued our now family tradition of going to the train restaurant and to see lights. Ava calls it the train restaurant because it has a train that runs along the ceiling inside. Aaron and I like it because it's really good seafood and it's always decorated so nice for the holidays. After dinner we go back to our side of the bay bridge to sandy point state park to see the lights there. Last year we got in with no wait but this year we did have to sit in a line to get it. I kind of wish they would rearrange or add some new things though because it was pretty much exactly as it was last year. New to Ava though because I'm sure she doesn't remember last year.

Here is Ava all dressed and ready to go. I need to take some pictures of her and her Grandma for a calendar that was being put together for Grandad.

I was lucky to get one photo of Ava smiling but my settings were a bit off. I was trying to get us ready and out the door and Ava really wasn't in the mood to cooperate.

I didn't take any pictures of us at the restaurant...I wish I had but I guess we were too busy eating.

The next day for my Sister's birthday we went out to eat in old town and then headed downtown to see the national light display. Ava's favorite thing of all things to like was the metro...silly girl and her "trains".

This picture was taken outside of the restaurant by my Sister's best friend Missy who was in town for Kate's birthday. I literally had to grab Ava and drag her over to the photo because she was ready to go back to the car and go to the lights.

On the Metro

Sitting on Aunt Bevs shoulders

The monument in the distance

Thomas

James

and Percy too :)

Waving to Daddy who had gone riding so we kept him posted via texts

Missy took this one too. Its rare that I'm in photos since I'm normally the only one taking them. Miss Ava is trying to escape again of course.

Waiting for the metro back to Va to get our car and head home.

After Christmas Aunt Bev, Jamie, Juli, Nan, Mom, Ava and I went to another light display in northern VA. It was really cool with newer LED lights and fairytale themes. I didn't take any pictures though. I took my camera but sometimes it's nice to just enjoy the ride.

That gets me caught up on our Christmas activities. I'll post later with the remainder of the Christmas pictures and such. For now it's time to figure out lunch for Ava.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

2011-12-16T17:27:00.000-05:00

Here is a peek into our Christmas season so far :)

For years I have searched for an advent calendar that I liked but this year I gave up and just made my own. I filled it will little scrolls and on those scrolls is an activity for the family. On days that I don't have an activity to do I let Ava pick from a bag of small $1 crafts from Michaels. I wrapped each one in brown paper and wrote a number on them that correspond with the number on the scroll. It took her a few days to figure it out but now she enjoys opening each day's scroll.

On December 1st Ava found a package on the front porch.

It was from Santa...her very own Elf on the shelf...a new tradition has started. More Harold (that's what she named him) pictures will come. They are mostly on my phone.

We typically get a real tree but this year I thought it would be fun to go cut one down.

We got a smaller one than years past because this year we have added trains to the bottom and we weren't sure how much clearance or room we would have.

Back to the advent calendar...after each day we get to flip the boxes over and a little scene is underneath.

After a few days...

One of Ava's crafts

I plan to go around next week and take better pictures of all of the Christmas lights.

Here is a Harold picture that I took with my camera for a contest.

This week I got some pretty good photos of Ava for our Christmas cards. She totally wasn't in the mood but I got some cute ones anyways.

This was today...she never naps but she did today and it was so cute I had to get pictures.

Here is the advent calendar as of today...see all the little scenes :)

Now let me see what I can pull off of my phone.

Ava's little tree that she got to decorate herself.

Going to a victorian Christmas party at Dr. Mudds house...Harold got to come too.

We made salt dough ornaments. I don't think I took a picture of them painted.

Ava made cookies

I made Ava a large felt tree that she can decorate as many times as she wants. The trunk has a pocket to hold all of the ornaments.

More of Ava's baking

and even more.

I made a mini tree as part of a gift

Recently Ava watched the videos from last Christmas and saw her cat from Santa. She decided she was scared of it not long after Christmas so it's been just sitting in her room. She totally forgot about it and said she wanted that for Christmas this year. Well today there I was cleaning the room and moving the cat into the closet so she didn't see it and she walked in. So I just gave her the Christmas cat.

I have more pictures from our baking and from a trip to see lights. Plus we are going to see more this weekend...including the ones downtown :) So once I get that all edited I will get it posted.

3 Year photos

2011-12-16T15:08:00.001-05:00

In November we had a stretch of warm non-rainy days so I took Ava out for some photos. These days she doesn't really like having her photo taken. She will cooperate and stay still for a short period of time but she rarely looks at the camera.

I got desperate towards the end so we played peek a boo with the chair.

and that's it she is done...off she goes.

Oops...it's been quite a while.

2011-12-16T14:24:00.001-05:00

So...let's fill you in on what you have missed this fall before Christmas gets here because I cant start the new year this far behind.

Not really sure where we left off....let me go back and check.

Well crap I left off before Halloween...that's scary.

Well here goes....

*HALLOWEEN*

With her curlers in watching her morning cartoons.

and welcome to the stage...Miss Shirley Temple

With Grandma

With Jamie

With Daddy

Covering Daddy with her dress...she found this hilarious.

Back at Jamie's to sort thru candy

So sleepy

She looks so pitiful here

Hey look who is in the background biting his nails...no wonder she does it so much.

Pumpkin #1

Pumpkins 2 & 3

and pumpkin #4

Ok now for some more fall photos from October and November.

We found this old plantation that is actually quite well hidden and has a lot of land that goes right up to the water. It was supposed to be my attempt at Avas 3 year pics but it was so cold and she was completely uninterested but it was still a fun family outing regardless.

Ok the blogger uploader is mad at me so I'll post her actual three years pictures in a separate post.

A phone dump and some train thoughts...

2011-10-25T18:43:00.000-04:00

Haha that title sounds funny when you read it.

Here are some photos I've been meaning to share off my phone.

I LOVE this...taken in Nan's backyard. So wished I had my camera on me but super glad I at least had my phone.

Full of Sass

Pouting because I told her if she didn't slow down she was going to bust her butt on the floor...apparently three year olds are super emotional.

The fall leaf wreath Ava made...inspired by pinterest.

A sweet pink headband made by one of my MOM friends.

All of the above photos were edited with the Instagram app. Love that little app.

Ok, on to the trains. Now that Ava's birthday is over I need to start thinking about Christmas. Originally we were going to do dance lessons but with her moving up to the big girl gymnastics class and the expense of dance I decided we would wait another year. I want to give her a chance to see if she likes and enjoys gymnastics first. Soooo, of course she is really into Thomas and friends. She has Thomas but talks all the time about Percy, James, Emily, etc etc etc. Oh and sodor...she is always talking about sodor. So I have been scoping out craigslist looking for a train table in good shape. I figure if I can score a good table from craigslist with maybe even some tracks or extra trains it would really help us give her "more" for Christmas. Plus I'm sure Santa would appreciate us thinking about his budget ;) Then we could get her a few new trains/tracks and she will be set. I can't imagine the happy overload if she were to find a train table on Christmas morning. So if anyone knows of someone looking to unload some Thomas stuff or a table let me know. Also if you happen to come across one on craigslist send me the link.

Ava wants to look at more trains on amazon so I have to run. Wish us luck tomorrow with her first big girl gym class.

Pumpkins, tractors, and more fall fun...

2011-10-24T19:01:00.000-04:00

This past Saturday we took Ava to a local farm for fall pumpkin fun. They had a lot of activities for kids including a petting zoo, barrel rides, corn maze, straw bail maze, corn kernel box (kind of like a sand box but with corn), straw pits to jump into, and of course pumpkins. They happened to be having an antique tractor pull the same day and Ava wanted to go watch it before we left. In fact, she wanted to head there first instead of getting a pumpkin but I wanted to get over to the "pumpkin" side before it got too packed.

and while I went to upload those I saw a few quick shots from Friday night that I need to share.

our first pinterest craft...we have done two more since but I need to get pictures.

Pizza sauce + clean dress = disaster, so she wore a t-shirt for the evening

This is how she loves on Layla

To further emphasize fall Ava and I took a trip to the park on Sunday to collect leaves and pinecones for more art projects. Oh and for Mommy to get a chance to photograph the lovely fall scenery.

and of course I can't pass up an opportunity to capture this fall cutie.

gathering her pinecones

the bigger pinecones painted for a Christmas centerpiece (it was going to be fall but seeing as we have mostly primary colors in our paint supply it was changed to Christmas). We are going to pick a few small ones from the tree out back and get some gold glitter for those. Thanks to pinterest for the ideas.

Why does she all of a sudden look way to big for her trike. Poppie got it for her for her second birthday so I think I'll let her ride it for a few more months. We can upgrade next spring. Oh and she is wearing a paint smock...not some kind of funny jacket.

This week marks a big step for Ava. Wednesday she moves up to the 3&4 year old class and I no longer go with her. It's going to be an adjustment for her I'm sure but I hope she has fun with the older kids. I'll post later this week with updates. Her teacher is the older sister of one of my best friends from high school so at least I'm comfortable with that and know she is in good hands. Well, this Momma needs to get pjs on her baby girl and head out for some late night errands to red box and cvs with Daddy. Sometimes we are lucky and little miss goes to sleep in the car.

Bye for now.

My baby girl turned 3

2011-10-21T21:20:00.003-04:00

This year was the most exciting birthday yet. Why, well because Ava was totally all about her birthday this year. Since September we have been hearing "my birthday is coming". I finally broke down a few weeks before her birthday and made her a birthday countdown calendar so she could actually see when her birthday was. Still every morning without fail, "guess what...my birthday is coming". I love her enthusiasm.

I still need to shoot her three year photos but decided to wait till after her birthday so she would have some clothes that fit :) Now, let's take a look back at my little Ava's first 3 years.

Brand new

Getting Bigger

About 6 mths

A bit bigger

and bigger

and she is a squeeshy smiley one

How quickly she sprouted

and in a blink she was two

and how quickly that two

becomes a very soon to be three

and now for just under a week my little girl has been three. So much seems to change at three. Her personality is without a doubt uniquely hers. She can no longer be fooled by Mommy trickery and is able to negotiate and win most discussions.

On her birthday we had cupcakes and pizza (her newest fav...she hated it for forever) and opened a few gifts.

Our annual birthtime photo taken at 8:11pm on her birthday. Me for the second year in a row looking quite the sight after a day of baking and party prep.

Listening to us sing to her...she loves this part.

She had to test out the new teaset

and then the next day...the PARTY!!!!

The birthday girl

The decor

the favors

My bow...I was so happy when it set up and didn't break

more handmade :) decor

Munching on cheese before her guests arrived.

her balloons...that's a three on top...it's just turned the wrong way

time for presents

she couldn't wait for people to sing to her and to blow out candles.

The cake was so tall she had to stand to reach the candles.

It was great to see her play with all of her cousins.

She had an amazing day

It was a beautiful day...we couldn't have asked for a better day for our little princess.

Thanks to everyone who helped make her day so wonderful. She is one blessed little girl and I couldn't be more thankful to our family and friends for all the birthday love she received. (For her one craptastic Grandparent (r.d) who fails to take part in her life...you really are missing out) I can't wait to see what new lessons and excitement each day of year three brings. Tomorrow we are heading out early to get pumpkins...is sure to be tons of fun. Till next time :)

So far this fall...

2011-10-13T20:27:00.001-04:00

Let's see...oh, first how are we already so far into fall? Wasn't yesterday summer, as in July? Where does the time go?

Of course Fall means Ava's birthday planning and party and that is pretty much what we have been doing this week. Pre-folding and tying tissue paper pom poms, making and dying fondant, preparing favors, piecing together her birthday outfit, etc, etc, etc. Tomorrow is cake day...bake, trim, ice, cover, decorate. Although October means Ava's birthday and it's crunch time we have actually done a few other things.

Apple picking despite us all having pretty crappy colds. It was worth it 100% and it's tradition. This place was pretty amazing and went off an honor system. You picked the apples and bagged them and left your money in a slot. They gave you pricing based on how much you picked. We gave a little extra because we thought it was so cool. So much better than standing in long lines to pay at overcrowded orchards.

Cleaned and ready to devour.

I made some dip that night.

Ava and I also made apple dumplings. In fact to my surprise after showing her how to assemble one she was able to do the rest herself. Here she is counting her bounty.

Baked and bubbly

Served best with ice cream right out of the oven.

A trip to Nan's...We got there while she was at the doctors and little miss immediately helped herself to some cookies.

Who stole the cookie from Nana's cookie jar...Ava Rose that's who

Ava's must have sparkly shoes. No average maryjanes for my girl...she had to had the silver sparkly ones.

A few days later they laid the Pop's plaque. It's been long awaited and Nan called and asked if I'd bring my camera and take her over. I stopped and picked up some pretty fall flowers to put in the vase. No more dollar store plastic ones...Pop now has a beautiful brass vase.

I love this picture...I took it last November on Nan and Pop's 60th anniversary. I can't believe it's been almost a year now. I was so stressed that night because I was trying to get pictures of all the Grandkids and Great grandkids for Nan and Pop's Christmas gift. Had I only known to enjoy the day and let the fact that people were late and the sun was setting go. Turned out we got the pictures and Nan and Pop loved it (Check out the photos here and them opening their present Christmas morning here).

I love this...Ava is one lucky little girl.

Here I am being yelled at because Ava did not want her picture taken.

I took Nan over to the beautiful mansion that backs up to the cemetery but it wasn't open. I need to call and find out why since it was supposed to be.

These things were all over the ground...no clue what they were.

The back door. We wanted to see up close the side of the house we see when we visit Pop. In the spring there were peacocks all over these steps. (See the peacocks here)

Ava and I baking Aunt Bev's birthday cake...She is wearing my Great Aunts apron. So that would be her great-great-Aunt Viola...pretty cool.

Oh and yes she is still is jammies with bed head. We had a long day of baking ahead of us and she was sure to get covered in powdered sugar anyways.

The cake pops...didn't finish those until 10pm because Aunt Bev paid us a visit and I had to hide everything since her party was a surprise. Of course Ava still told her we baked her a chocolate cake...good thing at almost three she isn't taken too serious.

The cake all covered and ready.

The table is set...now for the guest of honor to arrive.

A little music

Time for cake

Ava of course wanted to help blow out the candles.

Oh and this wasn't supposed to be in the album but since it's here...all the tissue paper pom poms folded and waiting for party set up.

Ahhh well now I feel like I've caught up before the party. There will be a ton of photos being taken this weekend for sure. I can't believe my little baby is only two for one more day...so bittersweet.

Well that's all for now because it's late, I'm tired, I just realized I still haven't had dinner, and the office comes on in a half hour. See you soon with Ava birthday goodness.

Kalencom Potette Plus...this Mom's review

2011-09-28T14:24:00.000-04:00

Back in July in a pre-vacation post I promised to come back after vacation and give a review of the travel potty I had bought for our trip. Well I guess this is after vacation but it's not quite as soon as I had hoped. Guess I kind of forgot or just simply didn't get to it but here you go....my review.

I purchased the Kalencom Potette Plus from amazon right before our vacation because I was looking for something that could be used in the car (we were traveling back country roads with no where for stopping) and could be tucked in a bookbag for hiking, train rides, etc. Well let's just say this little potty MORE than delivered. Ava loves using it in the car and it's small size makes it fit easily and discretely on the backseat and then can fold back up for easy storage. I have read other reviews that said the seat was too small but it seems my almost three year old should be able to use this for some time to come. I like that I can stash it in a small tote and take it everywhere with us.

Now I had also packed Ava's regular potty seat to be used in our vacation cabin. It's a pretty standard seat that fits onto a larger toilet to well make the hole smaller so little butts don't fall in. The problem though is that it doesn't fit well on elongated toilets without slipping around and not feeling sturdy. Low and behold our cabin had elongated toilets and the dora seat wouldn't work. So I ran down to the car and got the Kalencom Potette Plus or yelllow potty as Ava calls it. It can be laid flat and fits snugly on larger toilets. The gray rubber on the bottom of the legs keeps the seat from sliding and the legs also double as handles for the child to hold onto. They are nice and thick too so that your child can hold onto them without touching a gross public toilet seat.

Now my almost three year old has been potty trained for about a year now but hates public toilets. In the last month she has used a handful of public toilets as long as she has her trusty potette plus. In makes her feel safe and it works everywhere. I could not have been happier with this travel potty. We have used it everywhere and anywhere. If I were to go back and start potty training over I would purchase this toilet seat only and none of the others. I recommend it to all parents who are potty training or will be potty training soon.

Sick as a dog....

2011-09-28T12:13:00.000-04:00

What does that saying even mean. I don't think I've ever known any dog to really get "sick".

Quick break to look that up to settle my own curiousity led me to find that it refers to when dogs literally vomit when something disagrees with them. I guess in Britian (where it originates from) being sick means to vomit and feeling ill refers to a cold. So if I looked at it that way it makes sense but not really in my case. Hmmmm so maybe I'm not really sick as a dog after all but instead under the weather....uh oh...hahah there is another one. Ok I looked that one up too and that one works.

Straight from medicinenet.com

Under the weather: Colloquial expression for sick or ill as, for example, to be under the weather with the flu. The phrase "under the weather" came from British sailing ships. When a sailor became ill he was confined below deck out of the weather, so it was said that he was under the weather.

So that settles it...I am not sick as a dog but more under the weather. In fact Ava seemed to have picked something up from gymnastics last week and then I came down with it. Now Aaron and Kate seems to be getting it. Ava seems to be about 80% better so there's hope in that for the rest of us.

Even though Ava and I felt like crap on Sunday we put on a brave face and went apple picking. Ok well actually I figured that Ava really needed to nap and she hasn't "napped" since she was about 1.5. My logic behind the trip was that Ava would nap either on the way there or back and would rest more in the car than at home. It worked out well and she got a nice nap in and got to pick apples. I made some apple dip the other night but we have only gotten through a few apples with that. So I think we will be making an apple pie today or tomorrow to use up some more. If I can find a few small jars I will make some small jars of pie to stash in the freezer for a later date. If not I may just make a spare pie and freeze it. Of course I have to make apple dumplings because everyone LOVES my apple dumplings. If fact I have been told by my Mom, Uncle Doug, and Grandad that my apple dumplings taste like my Nanny's so that to me is quite the complement. Nanny was German and German's know a thing or two about pastry. Yummm apple dumplings...sounds like a good dessert for Sunday.

Now to get caught up on pictures...here are some from my cousin's son Collin's first birthday. I didn't get as many as I had liked because my flash is broken and I haven't invested in a speedlite yet (maybe Christmas) so I could only really get them to turn out outside and it was a bit cold and rainy. Darn September weather.

The birthday boy

The kids went to the playground for a bit before the rain started.

Ava enjoyed playing with her cousins

I wish Ava hadn't pulled me away down to the water right after these because he started dancing and singing and it was so cute.

Hard to believe those "leggings" were pants last year. Time for new clothes.

After the party we went to see baby Reece Aaron. Aaron's sister had her second son on September 13th. He was 8Ibs 13oz and 21 inches long. Photos of baby Reece to come in a separate post :)

Last week Aaron was having a bad day so Ava and I decided to bake him a chocolate cake from scratch. Yum this cake and icing were to die for. Definitely my new go to chocolate layer cake and icing recipes.

Ava loves to bake so I normally get things started by measuring everything out for her ahead of time. This was I can tell her what to add and she feels like she is making it all by herself.

Yum!!

Watching her cakes rise

Double Yum!!

Ready to make the icing

It spread like a dream

We added fall leave sprinkles as a quick decorative touch.

Snug as a bug in a rug..or well as a cake in a cake container

While I was doing dishes Ava was "cleaning up" some spilled powdered sugar ;)

Well that's all for now. There is lunch needed to be made, a laundry room floor needing to be mopped, and some Ava clothes needing folding. I'll try to get back on this afternoon to catch up some more.

Wait quick recipe share then I'm off...

From the fine folks at Hershey

"PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE CAKE

Ingredients

2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
"PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING (recipe follows)

Directions

1 Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.
2 Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.
3 Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING. 10 to 12 servings.

VARIATIONS:
ONE-PAN CAKE: Grease and flour 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Heat oven to 350° F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely. Frost.

THREE LAYER CAKE: Grease and flour three 8-inch round baking pans. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost.

BUNDT CAKE: Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 55 minutes. Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely. Frost.

CUPCAKES: Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 350°F. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. About 30 cupcakes.

"PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency.
Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

**Give it a try....it's super easy and comes out perfect....yum yum yum Oh and most likely the ingredients are already in your pantry.

Let's get ya'll caught up shall we

2011-09-25T20:33:00.000-04:00

So I fell a bit behind on processing my photos and before I knew it I had 400 some odd random photos needing processed.

Aunt Katie and I took Ava to the county fair and it was a blast. The weather was perfect fall weather, parking was a breeze, we got there early and beat the crowds, oh and we all got in for free. It was student day and apparently Kate and I qualify as college students....score!!

Baby chicks hatching...so awesome

The pig races...so cool

Weiner dogs too...how appropriate...more properly pronounced Dachhunds and no that's not doc-sun it's docs-whoond but anyways

...the victory lap so sweet

Ava's proudest moment...she still talks about her white pony.

her happy grin

look at her <3

Giant slide trip #1

Mommy and Ava on the Ferris wheel

She rode the train all by herself...well with other kids. I asked if she wanted to go with Mommy or by herself and she said "I do it by myself"

Giant slide trip #2

Giant slide trip #3

Giant slide trip #4

Actually she rode that ride six times so I must not have pictures from them all.

After the fair we were off to Nan's for lunch. It was a good day!

I still have more catching up to do but I'll have to break the posts up. So I guess this is all for now.

A bit overdue

2011-09-15T14:34:00.000-04:00

I realized I never posted some pictures I took of Ava the other week. First I'll catch up on my 30 day challenge pictures then on my Ava pictures :)

Day 11: Something Fun-Ava doing her forward roll on the grass.

Day 12: Close up

Day 13: From a Distance

Day 14: Flowers

Now to catch up on some Ava photos...these were taken the other week.

I really think fall and winter are going to be a hard adjustment this year. No more evenings spent outside as soon as we adjust the stupid clocks. How outdated and unnecessary.

In other news Ava got her halloween costume in yesterday. It's a custom made dress and didn't come cheap so it's going to double as her Christmas dress so she gets more wear out of it. I still need to get her white tap shoes, tan dance tights, white ruffle ankle socks (we may have these already), and a white sweater in case it's cold. I think for halloween I'm going to add an extra petticoat for more fullness to the skirt.

Excuse the motion blur and grain...poor lighting combined with a crazy speedy toddler don't mix well.

Pretty darn close match if you ask me. I opted against paying extra for the scalloped hem and to have it be a bit longer than the original since I am hoping to have her wear it again on Christmas. The extra petti should make it look a bit more authentic.

I think that has me all caught up. Time to run and catch up on laundry. Till next time.