Wordless Wednesday: Halloween

More Yummy-ness

I keep seeing these cheddar bay biscuits popping up on pinterest: http://penniesonaplatter.com/2010/10/27/cheddar-bay-biscuits/

And let me tell you...they are AMAZING!!!!

Everyone comments that they taste just like the ones from Red Lobster. I don't eat seafood, so I've only eaten at Red Lobster once (and just had ceasar salad that wasn't that great) and didn't get any of these biscuits so I can't compare.

They went perfectly with our chili this cold windy night!

Make some, and enjoy!

xo JBM

Muffins!

I've been wanting to make A Muddled Mama's lemon cranberry muffins since she posted them...but I keep forgetting to get one thing or the other. Yesterday I finally remembered to get the cranberries, but I thought we had lemons at home and then didn't. I gave in and made them with orange instead and YUM-O! they are delish!

I had to make some other changes too because I didn't start baking until 10pm and Sloan was asleep on the couch because she is deathly afraid of going to bed in her own room for some reason (a whole other post). So I didn't want to use my stand mixer...and I didn't want to get out extra bowls for draining the berries and combining the dry ingredients...too much work and too noisy! I had zested and juiced 2 oranges over 3/4 of a bag of fresh cranberries and let it sit while I was trying to get Sloan to bed from 8-9:30 (when I finally gave up and let her just snuggle on the couch with me). To that I added 2 cups of flour, 1tsp salt, 1tbsp baking powder and 3/4 cup sugar (half brown half white). Then I mixed all of that quietly with a spatula trying not to spill the berries and trying to make sure everything was evenly dispersed. Then I added 2 eggs and 6 tbsp of slightly melted butter and mixed it all up. It was pretty thick, so I added a little more orange juice. It was still really thick, way thicker than normal muffin consistency, but I thought it would just give it more of a cakey/rustic texture. I spooned it into the muffin tins and then realized I forgot vanilla so I just poured a tiny bit over each muffin and topped with a little brown sugar. I baked them for 30min at 350. They came out perfect!

I made a little glaze with OJ and powdered sugar and that perfected them even more! Then Sloan and I were off to bed where she slept soundly snuggled between Matt and I...and we were struck with flailing arms and legs all night!

xoJBM

Wordless Wednesday: End of Summer

Make, Do, LEARN

(picture borrowed from lassothemoon)

Sloan is growing and changing at an alarming rate. While it is hard to see that she doesn't need us to do everything for her anymore, it is SO neat to see her learning to do things on her own.

There are times when it would be so much easier and faster to just do things for her, but seeing her sense of accomplishment when she puts her socks on herself, finally gets the lid off of a container, eats her dinner all on her own, brushes her teath (we still help after she is done), or letting her stroll around the grocery store pushing the cart...it's worth the wait.

xo JBM

Instagram-ing

For our anniversary Matt got me a beautiful pair of earrings, and I got him an ipod (it was the appliance anniversary...and that was the closest I could get to an appliance!). We all know Matt LOVES the gym...but isn't a fan of the chatting and without earbuds in, he is a prime target for the chatters! I was just going to get him a nano or some similar mp3 player...but then I spotted the ipod touch and realized I could get him a gift that we could both use! lol I'm loving the instagram app, and next up we'll (Sloan and I) figure out how to facetime with Randi and Sutton!

Matt snapped the rainbow on his way home from work!

Sloan is working on her mullet!

xoJBM

Taste It.

I read a lot of different blogs...which means a lot of different blog posts each day. I try to only read the ones that strike a cord with me and make me think 'hmm', or 'Yes!!', or the ones that make me want to try something new, or make something different, and some that just plain make me want to be a better person/woman/mother/feminist/wife/daughter/sister...the list could go on.

Today QueenBloggy posted a video that did the later.



I had all of these lessons growing up...maybe not with the intensity of my Mum reciting it to me in an eloquent spoken word poem...but I still had them. And I want Sloan to have them. I want her to feel loved and wanted and needed and appreciated and smart and beautiful and amazing and independent and enough as she is and just down right special. I want her to know that yes, life can be tough, but it can also be just as great! I want her to know that her Daddy and I will always be here for her, no matter how many times she may fall down, we will help her get right back up. Like Sarah Kay says - Mama is a worrier and Daddy is a warrior. I worry about all of the usual Mummy things to worry about, the stuff that world news shows us to worry about, but I also worry that no matter how much we love her and tell her that we love her, that she will never quite understand just how much we love her...that she will never feel that pure joy and happiness and warm fuzzy feeling that I felt as a child, knowing that my parents LOVED me and my brother. I feel like somehow I just might not be doing it right, doing enough, and then I remember that all I really need to do is to be there. Like actually There. In the moment - in all the little moments...and she will know she is loved.

K...this got way longer and sappier (is that a word???) than intended...I really just wanted to post about the video and how much I loved it...oops.

xo JBM