Peanut Butter Honey Time

Jude has taken on a liking to making his own sandwiches for lunch - sunflower seed butter and honey every time. I snapped a few pics of the kids during lunch hour.

Here's Juliet looking super messy:Samuel, being cheesy:
And Jude finishing up his sandwich construction:

Homeschool Conf. 2011

So my initial plan was to run to the annual homeschool conference by myself and grab Samuel's first grade curriculum and a little Bible for Jude. Somehow, due to some overtime for Colin, I ended up taking all the kids yesterday morning by myself to the conference. And what a mistake that was! We showed up early, not knowing the doors didn't open until 10 a.m..

Here we were on our way, before Sissy started being super crabby:We burned some time up by eating a scone and me caffeinating myself appropriately (even though it gives me the worst morning sickness - it's what I needed to get through the morning):
Samuel was the official elevator operator. I loved and hated bringing a stroller - I needed it to tote the curriculum, but I had to take three elevator rides to stay on the same level and make my way to the exhibit hall. It makes me tired just thinking about it.
Samuel guarded my iced tea.
I have to say this Sit N Stand stroller really helped out a lot. Until I started getting contractions from pushing all that weight around...
Jude was in his Super Jude costume yesterday - cape and all.
Doesn't Juliet look so innocent? She's not.

Coconut Almond Muffins - Pure Deliciousness

The moment I saw these bad boys on Bethany's blog, I knew I had to take a stab at this recipe. Since Juliet has an egg allergy and we have been trying to avoid white flour and sugar as much as possible, I made a few revisions and surprisingly, they turned out well!!

The crumb is very fine (I was in heaven - probably because I've been cooking with rice flour and almond flour lately, so this was a refreshing change) and the almond essence balanced beautifully with the coconut. Here is the picture of the muffin- yes, slathered in butter because that's how I roll: I was surprised how dark they turned out, but I assume that's from the spelt flour.
Here was my revised recipe (you could also use Bethany's original recipe and they would be crazy delicious as well, I'm sure):

COCONUT ALMOND MUFFINS

1 c. white flour
1 c. spelt flour
1/2 c. organic cane sugar
2 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
2 T flaxseed meal mixed in with 6 T water, allow to sit a few minutes to gel
1 1/3 C Greek honey yogurt
1/2 c. melted butter
1/4 agave
1/2 t. almond extract
1 c. coconut (unsweetened, shredded coconut) *
1/4 c. dark chocolate chips (optional)
1/2 c. sliced almonds
additional sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In another bowl whisk the flaxseed mixture, add Greek honey yogurt, butter and extract; combine well. Stir wet mixture into the dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in coconut and chocolate chips.

Fill greased muffin cups with batter. Sprinkle with almonds and additional sugar. Bake for 18 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Makes 12-15 muffins.

*I have made the permanent switch to unsweetened shredded coconut (I buy it in bulk at WinCo) because regular sweetened coconut has a nasty preservative in it and plain coconut is crazy good for you.

End of Kindergarten Celebration!

When I asked Samuel how he would like to celebrate being done with kindergarten, he exclaimed "Go to a see Kung Fu Panda 2!" So that's what we did on Monday night. Joy and I took the boys out to a 6 p.m. showing of the movie and we all had so much fun! Here's the pre-movie picture of Joy and I grabbing a much needed Starbucks:And here's the after picture, which you can tell the boys had indulged in the sugary treats we brought (breakfast bars, gum and lollipops - for some reason I think it's ok to give them those if they were purchased at Trader Joe's =)):
I look forward to taking them to more movie outings this summer since they did so well and let's face it - going to movies is one of my favorite activities of all time.

Raised Beds

Yesterday Colin was determined to get the garden in (which is good, because our grocery budget is killing us!). All the kids jumped in the truck and went to get a load of new soil and upon returning, shoveled it into the wheelbarrow.After turned compost and new soil into some of the beds, they began planting peppers, zucchini, watermelon, lettuce, etc. I love that Sissy chose to wear a white outfit while gardening.

Hopefully in a couple of weeks (weather permitting), we will see some sprouts! Currently we are able to eat chard out of our garden - something that grows plentifully with very little attention.

Juliet's Watering Skills

I love when it's sunny and I get a rare moment to stand outside and snap pictures of whatever is happening in our yard. Today Jude gave Sissy a small container to help water the blueberries. I caught a close up of her face (I lure her in by telling her I will show her the picture). I don't know if I like the black & white:Or the color better:


She really enjoyed her job.
But maybe didn't so much enjoy me taking pictures of her =).

Memorial Day and Other Things

On Memorial Day, the boys went with Colin on one of his many trips to Home Depot and they came back with their faces painted. Samuel, of course, wanted to be Batman:
Sissy dressed as herself - in a diaper, helmet (have I mentioned that she walks around stores with this helmet on?), necklace and watch:
Jude got his face painted as Spiderman:
And Colin spent the remainder of the day in the nursery (it has just been completely remodeled) sanding/staining the floors:
I have implemented Bible time every morning as part of school. Samuel reads a Bible story of Jude's choosing - it really kills two birds with one stone - they get in the habit of devotion time and Samuel gets his reading practice in. He's reading from "The Beginner's Bible". It's the perfect reading level for Samuel and has enough pictures to keep Jude interested.

Pinterest

Ok, I am probably the last person to discover the Pinterest (an inspiration website) (I've seen it on scrapbooking blogs and now on a friend's blog) and when I finally went to it, here is the amazing thing that inspires me:
Seriously? Who eats that many gumballs? Actually, I am amazed that someone is not only that trendy in their pantry, but also that organized. At any rate, it's a pretty cool website for inspiration of all sorts.