Real Life

No artsy photo to go with this one. Just a picture of what things look like around here lately. Me: no shower, baby on shoulder (along with baby barf in various levels of dryness), hair in bad pony tail, sitting on floor surrounded by unfolded laundry and toys, trying to get something - anything! accomplished with one arm. Moses: in an outfit of his own choosing (one of my favorites: red and blue striped polo shirt and brown and black camo pants with blue snow boots. Classic.), alternately running like a wild banshee through the house with his new Nerf gun and "helping Titus settle down" by telling him "I'm here, I'm here" in a high-pitched voice that mimicks my own. Titus: on my shoulder, either sleeping or crying himself to sleep. When not there, he can be found on my boob. And that's real life for ya.

Your Husband Probably Won't Like These...

At least, he won't if he's anything like my husband. It's not that they taste bad. They just taste... healthy. And I LOVE stuff that tastes healthy, so I'm sharing this super fast and easy (and low-fat) muffin recipe with you. (Wow, not a very great sell, was it?) I got the recipe from Women's Health but found their version to be a bit dry, so I changed it up a bit, and here's what I ended up with:

APPLE CINNAMON OAT-BRAN MUFFINS

Ingredients:

1/2 cup oat bran
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup ground flaxseed
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
2 eggs, beaten
4 Tbsp canola oil
1/3 cup plus 2 Tbsp apple sauce
1/4 cup sugar

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray muffin pan with non-stick spray
2.) Combine dry ingredients and whisk together.
3.) In separate bowl, combine eggs and oil, and beat till smooth. Add sugar and applesauce to egg mixture, stir together. Pour into dry ingredients and mix together.
4.) Put in muffin tin, bake about 17-22 minutes.
5.) Enjoy!

And I'm not the only one around here who likes these...that's right Daddy - more for us! :)

Finally!

This little quilt has been waiting to be posted in the shop for a LONG time. Today I managed to sneak a few minutes to photograph it and get it up on etsy. Pretty cute. We also somehow found a home for all the new toys that made it into our house over the last week. Between Moses' birthday and Christmas, the number of battery operated items we live with doubled. Pretty scary when you have 4 people living in an 800 square foot house! I hope you all had as lovely a Christmas as I did!

REALLY Easy Christmas Cooking

Everyone likes chocolate covered pretzels, right? Well this super easy "recipe" is a fun Christmas-style twist on that idea. We received a jar of these from my brother's girlfriend a few years ago as a Christmas gift, and this year I remembered to make them. It's a really easy, fast project, and kids love to participate because it involves opening candy!

1.) Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
2.) Place a bunch of mini pretzels on a baking sheet. Unwrap Hershey's Kisses and place one in the middle of each pretzel. Place baking sheet in oven for about 4 minutes - you want the chocolate to be squishy but not melted.
3.) Remove baking sheet from oven and squish one M&M onto each Kiss, squishing the chocolate down. I used the red and green M&M's - you could use any color you like, customizing the candy to the time of year/holiday.
4.) Let the pretzels sit at room temp (or speed up the process in the fridge) until the chocolate hardens up again.
We're giving big jars of these as Christmas gifts this year. Just fill a large Mason jar and tie on a cute Christmas-colored ribbon, and you have a great hostess or teacher's gift. Have fun!

Finally a use for all those lentils.

Yesterday the baby took a real nap, leaving Moses and I some time to play. I'd been meaning to make bean bags for some time and here was our chance! It turned out to be a really kid-friendly activity and Moses had a blast. I let him pick out the fabrics, help trace the squares, and even help pin the fabric together in preparation for sewing.
His favorite part was filling the bean bags (he was very excited about helping me make a funnel out of paper). I had TONS of left-over lentils from one of my many failed we're-going-to-eat-more-fiber campaigns, and those made great bean-bag guts. We also used rice in one of the bags, and that worked well too.
A quick last zip of the sewing machine, and the three new toys were stitched up and ready to go. We played with them all day yesterday - turns out bean bags are one of the best toys on earth.
I highly recommend doing this even if you have very rudimentary sewing skills - the entire process is super fun and easy, and the end result is new toys!

I Can NOT Believe I Agreed to This.

This lovely photo may be finding its way to a mail box near you. That's right. I finally gave in to Brett's pleas to make a "funny" Christmas card, and this is how it turned out. Man, good thing we've had that stupid broken down truck sitting in the driveway for so long.

This is the one Brett wanted to use. Seriously. Brett's just pretending to scold the dog - I promise. He's actually a really nice guy. With great fashion sense. Seriously. :)

Oh Christmas Tree

Today is the day Titus was supposed to have born. Instead we've had the little guy with us for a month. I'm so grateful and amazed by how healthy and perfect he is - not to mention thrilled that I haven't had to be pregnant for the last month! Hiking through the Christmas tree farm a few days ago with a tiny baby bundle strapped to my front, I found myself imagining having to do the tree thing while 9-months pregnant, and I almost clicked my non-swollen ankles together with joy. I have to say that I do not do pregnancy well and it is a relief to have received our little night-time-screaming Christmas present early.
Getting the tree was loads of fun, as usual. Moses loved running between the trees and ended the day covered in sap and candy cane residue. The house feels super festive with a tree in it and I'm getting inspired to start holiday baking. Of course, first there is a very important three-year-old birthday party to host, so I can't go 100% Christmassy until we figure out how to entertain 30 toddlers at our tiny house in the dead of winter. Any suggested activities for a "camping party" would be much appreciated!

Quilted Goodness

There are a few new quilts in the shop. For the kiddos:

And for the big kiddos: