Baking and Walking and Party Preparing

This will be my last post for a few days. I have to help my mother plan for a big family reunion, so Hazel and I are packing up and going for a visit leaving Steve home to work, take care of the cats and rest. Yesterday was so beautiful out so Hazel and I walked to Bed Bath and Beyond and Kohls to run our errands. It is probably about a mile each way. Hazel of course was in her stroller. Luckily she didn't need a bathroom until we got to a store. Then we went to the library to return some books and pick up some books on fairies. Then we went to run the heavier and further errands. After nap time we made the dough for the cookies from one of my favorite blogs: Creating a Family Home from a post a few days ago. We baked them this morning. Now it is time to pack the car and get ready for seeing family. Have a good rest of the week and weekend!

Nature Walk

After the rain stopped today, Hazel and I went outside. Our mission was to find some sticks for her stick pig house and to jump in the puddles. After a bit of jumping and finding many wet sticks, we changed shoes and went for a walk. Hazel pushing her toy lawn mower around the small loop of our neighborhood. As we walked, Hazel found things to be amazed by, starting with leaves. I explained to her she could bring them back home and put them on her nature table. I started a nature table for her a few months ago (as suggested by many Waldorf readings I have done), but she has shown no interest in it except to take everything off so she can play with the silk scarf on it. As I explained to her again about her nature table, she finally took interest in it. To her collection she added three different types of leaves, a bird feather and a rock and a very wet pinecone which we left in the garage to dry, plus I found a few more sticks which were drier. Of course since she was pushing her lawn mower, I got to carry all of it, but over all it was a great short slow walk (.4 mile) with Hazel finally taken interest in nature again. Of course the wind blew once and she immediately thought we should be home, but besides that one time, she wanted to be out looking, and exploring. I'm hoping tomorrow or Thursday to take her someplace with more trees/woodlike for more exploring and of course to the beach this weekend.

We also added legs, ears and tails to her pigs. I'll post pictures soon.

Have a great day!

Three Little Pigs

Brick House

 Hazel and I started working on a new fairy garden yesterday, when she said to me, "I want to make the pigs' houses." So off we went to JoAnn's for more supplies. We bought small $1 wooden bird houses (we already had one for the fairy garden), scrapbook paper with bricks and with hay and some hay. Tomorrow when it is dry we will go looking for sticks for the third one. I also bought a bag of pom-poms and googly eyes to make pigs. This is what we got done this morning. More to continue this week.

While running errands I ran to the Dollar Tree to buy some pipe cleaners and felt to match our pigs.

Straw House

Beginning of the three pigs

This will be the stick house

Saturday Baking: Banana Almond Butter Muffins

This morning Hazel and I made some muffins. We had four very ripe bananas to use up so we tried a recipe for peanut butter and banana muffins. However when I went to get the peanut butter all I could find was almond butter, so we went with it. I adapted the recipe from Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld. Steve and I both liked them. Hazel did not, but they may have been too hot when she tried them. I also found that Steve and I only ate one each and we were basically full unlike some of my other muffins that take two or three to fill us. They are overly moist due to the amount of bananas so I don't recommend paper muffin cups.

Banana Almond Butter Muffins

Course: breakfast PointsPlus™ Value:    6 (Weight Watchers info) Servings:  12 Preparation Time:  15 min Cooking Time:  20 min Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Ingredients

	4 large banana(s), ripe and mashed
	1 cup(s) packed light brown sugar
	1 cup(s) shredded carrots, pureed
	1 item(s) egg white(s)
	1/2 cup(s) almond butter
	1 cup(s) whole wheat flour
	1 tsp baking powder
	1 tsp baking soda
	3/4 cup(s) uncooked old fashioned oats

Instructions

1) Preheat oven to 350 and spray a muffin pan with cooking spray. I had Hazel use the potato masher to mash the bananas while I pureed the carrots in my little food processor. (I had shredded carrots that needed to be used up but would have used a whole carrot.)
2) Combine banana, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, carrot puree, egg white and almond butter in large bowl. (Hazel loves to pour the measured ingredients in and mix.)
3) Mix dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and baking soda) in plastic bag.
4)Add dry mixture to bowl and mix well. Then add additional 1/2 cup of brown sugar and stir only a couple of times.
5) Spoon into sprayed muffin pan and put in preheated oven 350 for 20 minutes. 

6) Cool on rack.

Sundae Scoop

http://www.talkingdollarsandcents.net/muffin-monday-breakfast-muffins

Happy Weekend! I shared this recipe on Sundae Scoop and Muffin Monday.

Library Book Review and More Books

Today we went to our local library for the Move 'n Groove program. Hazel loves it. It gets her listening to music, singing, playing with instruments (maracas, rhythm sticks) and scarves, dancing, jumping and marching with other kids and their parents. While there we also usually update our Summer Reading Program, check out books and visit our library friends. (I use to volunteer at the library so just about everyone knows us there.)

One book we have been enjoying reading lately is The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney. The only words the book has are the sounds of animals. The pictures are amazing. It is a new twist on the old story and I really enjoy making the story up with the pictures.

Hazel is also beginning to enjoy some of the classic tales. Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks and the Three Bears are the first two we have been reading. We read The Gingerbread Man awhile ago and she liked it (however Steve does not so I haven't taken it out again). Today we tried Little Red Riding Hood, but she did not like the beginning of the version we had. We did however buy The Ugly Duckling at the used book store and she liked that story.

After the library we went to the used book store at the mall. I had an idea for Hazel's birthday party (I know, I'm planning way too far ahead, but I like to do these things) and wanted to look for some books to use for decorations. I found them and more and discovered that they were having an anniversary sale of 50% off all used books (they do sell some new books there as well). I spent under $6 on children's books (around 60 cents each) and a little more getting the newest from my favorite authors that I haven't read since having Hazel. Now I can start reading for pleasure again. And we found Hey Diddle, Diddle by Kin Eagle for Hazel since we returned it to the library and a Caillou book (she loves Caillou from when we let her watch tv).

On a very positive note, today was a good day in potty training. We only had 2 accidents. One at the mall (not sure when it happened but when she told me she needed to go she then told me her pants were already wet from prior) and once at home with Daddy. I think we are getting close to being trained at least while awake. Nap and Nighttime are a very different story, but that will come with time, I'm sure.

Have any good toddler books to share?