Tyler Rocks Gas Station Sunglasses

Spotify

Do you have Spotify yet?  It's a music streaming program that allows you to listen to millions of full songs and albums, for free.  You can pay for more features, but to be honest, I'm not sure what those are.  So far we have mostly just searched by artist or song and then listened away.  And danced away.  Man, can Blake bust a move.

Now, I'm not afraid to admit that we listen to our fair share of kids music in our house, but I'm proud to say that Hadley's musical knowledge extends beyond Raffi.  The proof?  While riding in the car the other night, she said, "Mom, I know who is singing."  "Who?"  I asked.   "It's Jelly Jelly!"  Well, she was close.  It was Pearl Jam.

Sign up for Spotify here*.  As a thank you for introducing you to Spotify, would you like to invite me to Pinterest?  Pretty please?  For some reason, they have yet to deem me appropriate member material.

(*Warning, you may get emails from Coca-Cola, but they promise not to share your address)

A few random pictures from a walk to "our" playground tonight.  

Today, more than anything, I realize how lucky I am. 

You Down With OPC?

This one is for the Boisians (is that what we're called?) in the house.  Do you know about the Overland Park Cinemas?  It's been our favorite theater for years, but we sure haven't made it there very often since we had kids.  Last night, Hadley filled up her entire sticker chart and earned the ultimate prize of watching Winnie the Pooh in the theater.  She earned stickers for being kind to her brother, and luckily for us, that took a long time.  By the time the chart was full, the movie had made it to the cheap theater.  Since we didn't plan ahead, we didn't have a sitter for Blake.  We decided to live life on the edge and bring him with.  Who brings an almost two year old to a movie theater?
 
Well, as surprising as it was, both kids did so well.  The total bill for 3 movie tickets (Blake was free), one popcorn, one caramel corn, and two large sodas was $10.  Ten dollars!  Such a steal.  The theater isn't fancy, but it's clean and the employees are friendly.  They have little booster seats for the kids, which Hadley used.  Blake happily sat on Tyler's lap and munched on popcorn for the first hour, then moved to my lap and cuddled for the last ten minutes.  When the credits started rolling, Hadley asked if we could watch the next show, and Blake woke up this morning asking to go to the movie theater.  What a fun night it turned out to be!




OPC is located on the south side of Overland between Curtis and Cole

Oh, Happy Day!

Some good things about today:

We had 6 events/classes/appointments scheduled today.  We made it to two of them.  Well, that's one way to make the day less stressful!

We did show up for Hadley's 3 year well child visit (yes, we are two months late.  Relax- her doctor was off work for a while).  She's healthy, happy and growing!  I was thrilled to hear that she had reached the 50th percentile for both height and weight.  This was music to my ears, considering she had been at the 2nd percentile for some time.  However, I had to go and google it when I got home, and according to the the CDC charts, she's actually between the 20th and 25th percentiles.  Oh, well.  She thought the little whale and penguin gown was absolutely smashing and she was so excited to get a book and a bouncy ball.  "They give kids a lots of free toys here!"  My brave little girl even wanted to sit by herself while she got a shot.  I watched her wince, her eyes welled up with tears, then she took a breath and smiled.  After the nurse walked out she whispered to me, "That really hurt a little bit, but I'm brave."

While Hadley was at the doctor, Tyler took Blake to his office.  For some reason it has taken me almost 2 years as a parent of two to realize that appointments are so much easier with one kid.  When Blake was heading to Tyler's car, he blew me a kiss and said, "Uh-bye!  I love you mommy!"  Totally unsolicited- you can't beat that.  Next, it was time for Hadley and I to leave.  I told her it was time to go and she said, "Alright!  Are you ready to roll and rock?"

In unrelated news, I'm finding success with basil bouquets.  Do you know how to store your herbs?  Read about it here. 

Tonight, that basil will be combined with the most delicious fresh tomatoes from our CSA and some fresh mozzarella (from our grocery store) to make caprese salad.  The good news is that Blake is on dinner duty. 

Oh, you know what else?  One of my air plants is flowering, which means that even though I often forget the once a week watering, they are still thriving.  

Oh, one more teeny-tiny thing...

We accepted an offer on our house AND we made an offer on another house that was accepted!  It looks like we are leaving the city for the 'burbs!  I'm feeling a little torn about that, but the extra space will be great.  

Yep, a four car garage is a little excessive, but we've never had extra storage so that will be nice.  Alas, we don't have an R.V., so I'm thinking of hanging indoor swings for the kids in the tall bay.  How great would that be in the middle of winter?

There are a few big hurdles to jump before the whole deal goes through, namely our house appraising for full value as the buyer is doing 100% financing.  Do any of you have a solid gold front door that I could borrow, or perhaps a stair railing made of ivory? (Before you call PETA, please know that I am not an elephant poacher.  Nor do I support poachers.  I don't even support poached eggs, so don't lecture me.)  I'll return them as soon as the appraisal is complete.  

Haenyo

Do you believe in mermaids?  I read an article about haenyo, or Korean female divers, in a magazine a few months ago.  I can't stop thinking about how amazing these woman are.  Here is a link to an article about them, or watch this video.

And Now, A Word From My Mother.

There are 5 things in life you cannot recover.


A stone...after it's thrown. 


A word...after it is said. 


An occasion...after it's missed. 


Time...after it's gone. 


A person...after they die.


Life is short. Break the rules. Forgive quickly. Kiss slowly. Love truly. 


Laugh uncontrollably; And never regret anything that made you smile, Enjoy Life!!! 




Okay, so I actually stole it from her facebook page, which means she stole it from somebody else.  But it's still a good one.  


Speaking of recovery, here's a story about cake:

So say you have been asked to bake a cake for your friend's husband's birthday.  A chocolate peanut butter cake, to be exact.  As usual, you start baking way too late at night, which means it's too early in the morning by the time you get around to frosting it.  

The ganache doesn't drip over the peanut butter frosting in the most artistic way, so you decide to coat the whole thing in ganache.  Now, at this point you are really tired, and you are starting to think crazy things.  Like, perhaps you should try to write on the cake.  Nevermind the fact that, at your best, you have horrible hand writing.  Nope, you just go for it.  And guess what?  It looks awful.  

You try to correct it and it looks worse.  You accidentally bump the ganache when you put it in the box, now it looks even worse.  You give up, throw in the towel and go to bed.  Who cares what the handwriting looks like anyway?  It will still taste good. 




Except, you wake up a few hours later to the realization that this cake wasn't just for the husband.  it's for his friend's birthday, too.  There's no way to add another name to the cake.  Time for plan B. 

You scrape off the name, and start to panic.  Can you pour ganache over ganache?  You'd probably still see the indentations of the letters on the cake.  What to do?  

Pile it high with shaved chocolate...

...And then send your husband to the gas station down the street to buy out their supply of peanut butter cups.  

Problem solved.  You're feeling like you may just have recovered from your own cake wreck.

Now, get your game face on, because it's time to make a batch of marshmallows and bake a tres leches cake.  

(They totally become health food if you package them in a salad container)

An Interesting Concept

Watch this video to see the latest concept in fracture recovery.  I'm not sure that it would be as helpful as promised, and I actually would worry that it could do more harm than good, but it's an interesting idea.

Read about the Bones cast here.

Peach Crisp

Our grocery store had organic nectarines and peaches on sale last week.  I think I went back three times to buy more, and each time I would buy some that were unripe so we'd be stocked well past the end of the sale.  However, I'm rather impatient and I lack self control, so I ended up eating more than a couple of crispy peaches.  Gross, right?  Well, last night I decided that enough was enough.  It was time to take action. 

Did you know you can take un-ripened fruit and poach it in a mixture of water and sugar and voila- soft, sweet peaches.  Put that in the bottom of a glass dish and top with oatmeal crumb topping... Yum!

 

Here's my non-recipe recipe for peach crisp. 

1.  Peel, pit and slice 4 or 5 peaches. 

2.  Place in saucepan with 1/2 cup water and some brown sugar (maybe 1/4 cup).  Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes.  If you haven't already peeled the peaches, the peels will come off easily now. 

3. Add a dab of butter, dash of cinnamon and a little bit of flour to thicken the liquid; stir until combined.

4.  Butter a glass dish (8x8 or pie plate).  Pour in the peach mixture.  

5.  In a bowl, mix together a bit of brown sugar (1/4-1/2 cup), some oats (about 1/2 cup), dash of salt, dash of cinnamon, some flour and about 4 tablespoons of butter.  Cut together with a pastry blender, or mix in a food processor until crumbly.  Sprinkle this mixture on top of the peaches.  

6.  Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes.  The peaches are already cooked, so you just need to cook the top until brown and crispy.  I was impatient so I turned on the broiler for a couple of minutes.  

7.  Cool slightly, spoon into bowls and top with whipped cream or ice cream.  

Note: If you want to use a real recipe, I'm sure a search for "Peach Crisp" would bring up lots of options.  Most likely they will tell you that I didn't make mine correctly.  But really, if it tastes good, who cares?

It's not pretty, but the taste makes up for the presentation.

Whip it good...

Don't be fooled by the two forks.  This plate was all for me. 

Chicken with Morels

I don't have a picture, and I don't have much to say.  This recipe is just plain awesome.   Find it here.

The Bright Side of the Dark

Blake is not a sleeper.  He didn't sleep through the night until almost a year old, and now that he's approaching two, he still wakes at night a few times a week.  When he wakes up, he wants me and only me.  It's nice to know he loves me, but at 3:00 AM I'd rather not be the preferred parent.  This is probably my own fault, as I have always insisted on getting the final rock/cuddle before the kids go to sleep at night; they know me as the one that puts them to bed.  There's that, and the fact that Tyler lacked the ability to lactate, which made me the obvious choice to calm a fussy baby in the wee hours of the morning.

Call me crazy, but I think Blake might even have a unique super power: the ability to sense the exact minute when my head hits the pillow.  A radar of sorts; truly, it's an amazing talent.  Whether it is 10:00 PM or 2:00 AM, the minute I get into bed, I hear Blake's cries broadcast over the monitor.  I've tested every possible theory: toilet flushing, tv turning off, foot steps, creaky bed... after manipulating every variable I've determined that he just has some innate ability to sense that I'm going to sleep, and by golly, he's not going to let that happen.  He screams and I freeze, certain that he'll hear me take a breath and know that he's won.  If the crying continues, I rush to his room, hoping to quiet him before Hadley wakes up too.  Although this scenario has repeated itself night after night for almost two years, I'm still annoyed every time I have to get out of bed.   But by the time I return to my room, my attitude has always changed.

Blake is growing like a weed.  Some days I return from work and I'm quite certain that he's significantly taller, older and smarter than when I kissed him on my way out the door that morning.  He looks, acts and talks like a toddler.  He's all boy- rough and tumble, scraped up knees and dirt in his hair.  Stinky, dirty, why walk when you can run.  Yet, in the middle of the night, when we're rocking by the light of the moon, he's my baby again.  No matter how big he's grown, his head still fits perfectly in the crook of my neck, his cheeks are still as soft as the day he was born, and his breath is light and sweet.  He's quiet and still.

Yep, sleep is overrated.

Mid-Century Modern

How great is this house?

If you like looking at homes, check out the virtual tour for this great mid-century modern home on the bench.  I love the atrium!  

(Note- the virtual tour lists it as $489,900, but it's now on the market for $239,900!)

What an Amazing Little Boy!

This and That

First off, a magic trick.  I can teach you how to take really healthy food and turn it into unhealthy, but totally delicious food.  Vegetables that even your kids will love.  Now that's magic!  Abracadabra!
  Here's the secret.

While you are in the kitchen, why not take those brown bananas off the counter and turn them into something awesome?  See, more magic.  I started with Flour's Famous Banana Bread recipe from foodnetwork.com, and made a few adjustments.  It might have been the best banana bread I've ever made!


Banana Bread

Ingredients

• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour (I used 1 cup all purpose, 2/3 cup whole wheat)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar (I used 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup maple syrup; next time I'd cut back on the sugar even more.)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup oil (1/4 cup oil, 1/4 applesauce)
• 3 1/2 bananas, very ripe, mashed (I pulled them out of the freezer a bit in advance and tossed them into the mixer whole so a few chunks were left in the bread.  Yum!)
• 2 tablespoons creme fraiche or sour cream (I went with the sour cream) 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped (I left these out)

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottom of a loaf pan with parchment paper.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Beat sugar and eggs with a whisk until light and fluffy, about 10 minutes. Drizzle in oil. Add mashed bananas, creme fraiche, and vanilla. Fold in dry ingredients and nuts. Pour into a lined loaf pan and bake for about 45 minutes to 1 hour.  (I baked mine in 4 mini loaf pans for about 35 minutes each)

Mini loaf pans mean the bread will be done before 1:00 AM- bonus!

On another note, who can resist a monkey like this one? 

Happy Birthday, Lucy!  (Did you know she was a natural brunette?)

Fun With Food

Here is a super easy "science experiment" to do with your kids.  Fill a plate or dish with milk, add a few drops of food coloring (we used neon colors and they were spectacular!), then add a drop of dish soap.  Watch and be amazed!  We also tried dipping a toothpick in dish soap, then "popping" the drops of food coloring.




Also, check out the food art that this man created daily for his pregnant wife.