Baking with Hazel again

So on Saturday morning Hazel had it in her mind that we were going to bake muffins. She came up with this idea Friday night. I slept in (Thank You Steve!!), which was wonderful and Steve had already fed her some breakfast. But she was determined, so I pulled out a cookbook. We did not have overripe bananas this time, so we decided on pumpkin blueberry muffins.

I adapted the recipe from C is for Cooking: Recipes from the Street by Susan McQuillan, RD. It is a cookbook I bought awhile ago for Hazel when we were letting her watch a bit more television and she was so into Elmo. She still loves all the characters and loves the cookbook. The recipes are relatively healthy and very easy. They also mark the parts they consider kid friendly to do.

My Little Baker with Ducky Watching

Pumpkin Blueberry Muffins
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1 egg
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup non-fat plain Greek yogurt
1 cup uncooked oatmeal
1 cup blueberries (or you could use 1/2 cup of raisins or dried cranberries)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line or grease 18 muffin cups
2. In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and ginger.
3. In a different small bowl, have child crack egg and take out any shells (if there are any). Then beat egg with a fork.
4. In a large bowl stir together sugar and oil. Then add egg, pumpkin, and yogurt and mix until blended.
5. Stir in the flour mixture and oatmeal.
6. Gently stir in blueberries (or raisins or dried cranberries).
7. Distribute batter into the muffin pans filling each to about 2/3.
8. Bake for about 25 minutes. Cool on rack slightly and serve warm. Store in an air tight container for up to 3 days.

Yesterday I had a busy day. Do you ever notice how your child seems to grow out of her clothes all of a sudden. Well that happened to us. So I went out yesterday after church to buy Hazel the next size of clothes (which all seem big now). Then I went to tutor, but before I left I got another call about tutoring and planned that one for a few hours afterwards due to the student's work schedule. I tutor about 45 minutes away from home so I try to get them all done at once. Well with two hours to kill, I decided to go shopping. On my way to Target to see about more clothes for Hazel, I saw a fabric store I had been meaning to check out for my mom. Needless to say I spent an hour wandering around and came home with three fabrics. I did show some control since I only bought three. After that I decided I would go to Starbucks and read my book.

Magnolia Flowers from kit from the Paper Source (my first ever purchase there)

Well then I remembered the Paper Source and they were still open. Do you know the Paper Source? It is a great store. They have an on-line store as well at http://www.paper-source.com/. I never order on-line but I love wandering around and looking at all the great craft things. They are basically a great store for any paper craft and stationary. They have beautiful kits for paper flowers (see above) and wreaths as well as ones for kids. It is really a fun store. Well, I found some great scrapbook paper to make some of the wonderful crafts I have seen on this week's Sharing Saturday (there are already over 145 entries and they keep coming).

The crafts are from the crafting fiend: Toddler Valentine Craft

and It's Overflowing: Simple Valentine's Day Craft

They are pretty similar. I think I will cut double the hearts and have Hazel do one while I do one.

My Purchase at the Paper Source last night

Isn't that heart paper perfect? All I have to do is cut them out. Plus I have the stencil to make other sizes. Then the needle felting flower kit was on sale--half price and the clothespins were so cute. I thought I might use them with something from a couple weeks ago Sharing Saturday.

From Desire Empire: Pretty Artwork for a Little Girl's Room. Won't they be perfect?

Well I'm so excited to be able to share my purchases with you. I was so excited to buy them and wanted to share them with someone who would appreciate them. Somehow I didn't think Steve or Hazel really would.

Hope you have a great day!! Happy Monday!

Snow Day!

Yesterday it snowed. Hazel was so excited. She has been asking since October to build a snowman. Of course, just our luck we are healthy enough to go out and play and get enough snow and of course it is a dry snow, but we made due. Above is a picture of part of our back yard. You can see the tracks where I pulled her on her sled.

The night before I made the squirt bottles of colored water for her to paint in the snow. They only worked a bit. Guess I should have invested in better bottles. But she did have fun. She even tried mixing colors because she wanted orange.

Hazel also made her first snow angel. We have been reading lots of books about snow, so wanted to do everything she saw in the books--make tracks in the snow, snowball fight, make a fort, make a snowman, catch snowflakes and make snow angels.

Then she pulled out her shovel (her garden shovel) so she could help Daddy shovel. She was shoveling the grass, but we didn't stop her. She also tried some more painting and color mixing. And made her second snow angel in the front yard--good thing since Daddy shoveled away her first one.

Next Hazel pulled Mommy in the sled. I helped with my hands. We didn't get a picture since Daddy was off shoveling and clearing all the exits to our house to keep us safe. Then I pulled her around the back yard.

I love our back yard. You can see the creek in this picture that goes around the back and side of our back yard. I took the back yard shots this morning, but the snow is still covering everything.

Then Hazel wanted to walk and make tracks. This is another part of our back yard. Then we pulled out some black felt and a magnifying glass to catch snowflakes and check them out. This didn't last too long since our magnifier wasn't strong enough and we were catching too many with how fast it was falling. Sorry I didn't get a good picture of it. Then Hazel wanted to build a snowman. So Daddy shoveled away her snow angel and that part of the driveway and made a big pile for her. Then we pulled out the snowman decorating kit someone gave us for her second birthday and tah dah! We have a snowman--sort of.

Then of course she wanted to build another one. I went inside to look for more decorating supplies and when I came back they had moved everything over to the second one.

I added the gloves and then took a picture. Then we re-dressed the first one.

I asked Hazel to sit with her snowmen, but somehow she ended up laying down. Not sure what happened there. She also has been very concerned that her monkey hat (otherwise known as her George hat since she loves Curious George) is outside. She wanted to be sure it wouldn't blow away. The hat no longer fits her, but she loves it. Guess I better not pack it up for the charity drop off I need to do.

By this time, Steve and I were getting cold so we made Hazel come in for some hot chocolate and lunch. We had grilled cheese sandwiches and soup with our hot chocolate. The perfect lunch for after playing in the snow. Then amazingly she took a nap for us.

Oh, and I have to share these cute mugs I bought ages ago and always kept for a day like this. This is what we had our hot chocolate in. Aren't they adorable? I bought them when I was single (and I have a matching plate) and always thought they would be perfect for hot chocolate after playing in the snow.

On another note, please go check out our Sharing Saturday. I am having trouble keeping up with all the wonderful posts. There are over 130 last time I checked, and it is still open. So go over and get inspired and feel free to share your amazing ideas.

Sharing Saturday #3

Mia and I are so excited about the 125 entries this past week.  

We cannot wait to see your creative creations this week!!!

Friday Afternoon

This morning we woke up to a bit of snow on the ground. Hazel was very excited, but we had errands to run and the truth is I'm not sure either of us is well enough for too much time in the cold. This afternoon we painted a bit and then rested. Then we decided to make cupcakes. But as we were about to start I asked Hazel if she wanted to make cupcakes or cookies and she said cookies.

Well, I bought these mixes after Christmas for under $1, so we made one and decorated them for Valentine's Day. Hazel had fun mixing. Got a bit bored with the rolling and cutting (she decided she wanted to blow bubbles through a straw instead) and had great fun decorating. I think we will be finding sprinkles around everywhere for a very long time. She poured almost an entire container on one cookie. Needless to say they wouldn't stick.

Out of the oven

Our first ones...can you tell which Hazel decorated? It is the one I had to lift up to get all the extra sprinkles off of.

The pink glob is the gel writing frosting I gave her--this is the first one she used it on and there wasn't much left when she finished it.

We ran out of the icing that came with the package so we used the leftover strawberry frosting from our Valentine Gingerbread House

Hazel's last ones

Well I hope you will join us later for Sharing Saturday! Have a wonderful weekend!!

Let It Snow from the Bathroom & More

We did a couple of crafts before my mother-in-law was able to take Hazel yesterday, so I could sleep. We made this cotton swab snowflake picture. Discover Explore Learn shared it with us at Sharing Saturday several weeks ago. I also saw a similar idea on Pinterest and the original came from Family Fun .

Hazel also made a snowman from cotton balls. I got this idea from There's Just One Mommie who shared it at Sharing Saturday a couple of weeks ago. As you can see I did not help her too much except drawing the shape and putting glue down for the cotton balls. I also helped her glue some of the cotton balls on. Luckily I am not a perfectionist like my mother or husband, so I don't mind posting crafts how she makes them and don't feel they have to be perfect for that matter, I don't usually worry about perfection with my own as long as I enjoy making them. So I cannot explain why the cotton swab arms are coming out of her snowman's head, but that is where she put them. And she had fun doing it!

Today, I asked my mother-in-law to take Hazel to school since it is a parent/child class someone has to stay with her. My mother-in-law often gets lost so she gets nervous going anywhere new, so I had her follow me there and then took her into the classroom to meet everyone, etc. I came home and an hour later got a call that they were coming home because Hazel did not want to stay anymore. But at least I got an hour's worth of sleep. I starting to feel a bit better, but that might be the cold medicine. Hazel seems better, but she just told me her ear hurts, so we are off to the doctor's office again. Luckily I could get her an appointment for today. Gotta love our pediatrician's office. They always give us an appointment no matter when I call. I literally called at 2:15 and was asked if I could be there by 2:45. Since they are five minutes away, I said sure.

Oh, and make sure you check out our current Sharing Saturday. There are over 120 posts shared and it is still open!! Hope you are having a better week than me.