Making muffins

Tuesday night we baked muffins. We spent Family Day Monday at our friend's home in Uxbridge and they had just baked the most wonderful muffins that the kids gobbled up. I have a recipe I have used over the years that used to be a hit...but for some reason it has fallen out of favour. Seeing them much on these muffins so happily got me in the baking mood again. Off to the grocery store to get the needed ingredients on the way home and we baked the yummiest muffins...thanks for the recipe Jarka. Even the batter was yummy as Isabelle proved here by licking every inch of the beaters:

Sneaky Healthy Chocolate Chip Muffins
4 mashed bananas (the riper the better) (you can also substitute 4 eggs, but bananas are better)
1 can pumpkin puree or pumpkin pie filling (the pie filling has sugar adds a bit more sweetness and a little extra spice)
1 box Silken soft tofu
3/4 cup Blue Agave liquid sweetner (found in health food aisle or speciality health stores) (you could also use 1 1/2 cups of sugar...I was going for a healthier version here)
-cream in large bowl-
3 1/2 cups flour (I used Whole Spelt Flour)
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
pinch cloves
1 cup chooclate chips
-sift together and add to wet-stir or mix-
Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes
Makes 24 muffins or 18 regular and 12 minis.

Auntie Jen in Phoenix

At the beginning of this month I had a work conference to go to in San Antonio, Texas and I figured why not tack on a few days of vacation and visit my brother and his family in Arizona - it is almost right next door...right? (obviously geography is not my stong suit...but they are pretty close as it turns out).
I spent 4 days and 4 nights at my brother's home.
I finally met my youngest nephew Tobin for the first time, he turned 1 six days after I left.
I spent time playing baseball with my older nephews Justin & Isaac.
I read countless books to Kiah.
I was treated to a trip to the Phoenix Zoo which is a truly awesome place...hard to believe, but I think it is even better than our local Toronto Zoo.
I learned to play 3 new board games which were so much fun; Blokus, Sequence and Carcassonne.
I tripped playing backyard baseball and ran into a wall with my face ending up with a black eye, horribly bruised leg and scrapes on my arm from wrist to elbow.
I made the kids yummy Auntie Jen fruit fondue face dessert.
I had a wonderful trip and miss them all so very much.
Tobin: Kiah:
Isaac:
Justin:

Auntie Jen plays baseball

...although there is no photographic proof, the hazzard of always being behind the camera I guess.

Justin and Isaac love baseball...I mean they really LOVE baseball. We played countless games in the backyard. (They grey cement block wall is where my eye received the lovely purple and green hue that still persists almost 2 weeks later)


We walked to the park one day and came across a baseball diamond, so of course we played there too. And on the last day we all went again...Tobin hung out in the stroller, quite happily watching, Kiah took turns batting, pitching and running with Auntie Jen, Mommy and Daddy. Justin & Isaac were superstars! They were on 1 team and the adults were on another team. I think at last count, they beat us eleventy-teen to four. :)

stephens on weekend

Happy Birthday Tobin

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday dear Tobin
Happy Birthday to you

Recent Pic:
6 Months Ago: And only 1 year ago, this little sweetie was born:

Winterfest

Our little town had a wonderful Winterfest Festival this past weekend. We went with our friends whose kids are the same ages as Owen and Isabelle...they all had a blast! The weather was perfect - cool but not too cold and sunny with blue skies. It was nice to spend some time outside doing fun, family things. Here are my favourite pics of our day.
There was a giant bouncy-castle slide:
A standard bouncy-castle for bouncing:
Batting practice with a floating ball - kids thought this was super cool:
Other outdoor activities included dog sledding, spray painting the snow with coloured water, hockey, ice skating, horse-drawn carriage rides and watching an ice sculpturer in action:There were also a ton of indoor activities, crafts to make and face painting:

Conversation with a 2 year old

Me "Time to get dressed"
Isabelle "No like my dressed"
Me "Please take off your jammies"
Isabelle "My like it my jammies"
Me "Isabelle, Mommy has to get ready for work. Please take your pajamas off"
Isabelle (runs to bed and starts jumping) "I jumping"
Me "I am going to count to 5. Get off the bed and take your pajamas off." "1...2..."
Isabelle (still jumping with wild crazy hair flying) "free...five...eleven...six...seven..."
Me (laughing) "OK. Mommy is going to get dressed and then it will be Bella's turn"
Isabelle "No like my dressed" "I jumping"

The theatre came to me last night

No getting swindled on ticket prices by Ticketmaster, no spending a fortune on a babysitter, no need to get showered and all dolled up...the theatre came to me last night. The kids treated me to a wonderfully original puppet show last night. We have had these 2 dragon puppets forever and they are finally getting some use. Owen started our evening off with a wonderful little Snow Miser & Heat Miser number (inspired by his favourite Christmas this year). The blue one was Snowy and the orange one was Hotey. They sang songs, had a little fight and were told to behave by their mom (Mother Nature) who was not "in" the play in person - just in voice. I love that he thought this whole idea up on his own, so original, so creative. Here the brothers are either in the midst of a fight or are making up...I cannot honestly remember:
Then Isabelle went behind the blanket and put on her own show. We are assuming she held the puppets up, but we could not see them. She made some noises, played the piano a little and then came out from underneath and clapped. It was too sweet. Notice her feet below the puppet theatre:We had a lot of laughs, took tons of photos and just had a wonderfully simple creative night...my favourite!

{edited} Thinking of making some sock puppets tonight...might be a fun craft to do, get the kids sewing on buttons for eyes, practicing with scissors to cut out felt ears...look for more on that tomorrow hopefully.

Simple Kids Blog

I had to post this...it is a wonderful blog that just started and I adore it! They are having a giveaway right now that is simply wonderful. Click on the link and enter to win the wonderful prizes.
http://simplekids.net/giveaway-hearth-song-exclusive-triplet/comment-page-1/#comment-95

Responsibility

We, the parents, have been thinking a lot about responsibility recently. Our kids lead a pretty cushy life and neither of us want them to end up spoiled or never knowing how great it feels when you do a hard job and you do it well. I noticed over the Christmas break that Owen, and to some extent Isabelle, were content to spend hours in front of the TV, often choosing that over going outside to play, or even playing board games...this was a shocker for us and I sadly realized that I have let this happen...I, the parent, am responsible. Making the kids responsible for things around the house has never been our strong suit...they both put their clothes in the hamper...sometimes, they hang up their coats and put away their boots after playing outside...sometimes, Owen puts his dishes in the dishwasher after meals...rarely, they clean up their own toys...sometimes. It has not been something that we have focused on, but all that is behind us. A while ago I talked about New Year's Resolutions and one of mine is to focus on raising the kids the way we want to...not just going with the flow and letting things happen...to be purposeful and deliberate in our parenting choices. For me, that means - more outside - less inside...more creative play - less tv/video games...more board games and card games - less "mama is busy, we'll do that later"...more earning tv / video time - less hours spent mindlessly watching.

So, in that vein, I have created a Chore Chart for Owen. He is 5 years old and has 5 things to do in the morning before school, 5 things to do after school and 5 things to do before bed at night, also there is a Daily Extra - one for each day of the week. I presented this idea to Owen last night and it was met with excietment, this is a good thing. He read through the list and was thrilled to be responsible for getting the mail and packing his own snack. He was less than thrilled about cleaning the toilet (plugged his nose and made a funny face) but we talked about how mommy always has to clean up his 'dribbles' and how this will be a good way for him to learn to do it himself.
We started today with 5 checkmarks before I left for work this am - good start! We will check in in a week or so and update you on our progress.