Our Fun Weekend, Sans Kids

This past weekend, my husband and I had the pleasure of going away for a night by ourselves. My mom and step-dad own a weekend place upstate on the coast, so we dropped the kids off there Saturday and picked them up on Sunday.

Mom and Walter live right on the ocean, so the kids had tons of fun collecting shells, jumping in sand and ocean water, playing in the pool, roasting marshmallows, and getting dirty. Meanwhile, my husband and I checked into our hotel and changed, and then headed out for a late lunch. We had some time to kill before the movie, so we headed to the Bellis Fair mall and did a bit of shopping. We bought a few books, I bought some shoes (which I LOVE), met some fellow Canadians and just meandered around the mall.

After that, we headed to the theater to see Inglourious Basterds. Wow, what an awesome movie. I really am terrible at writing reviews, but I will say that for someone who doesn't generally like Tarantino movies, this one kicked ass. I loved it. Both of us want to see it again in the theater, but that isn't very economical, so we'll be buying it the day it comes out on DVD. The characters they picked were just perfect for their parts. My favorite was "The Jew Hunter", played by Christopher Waltz. His pipe scene was hilarious! Seriously, if you haven't seen this movie, RUN to the theater and see it. You'll love it, I promise!

After an after-movie treat of Coldstone ice cream (OK, "Apple Pie A La Coldstone has to be one of THE BEST I have ever had), we headed back to the hotel. Sunday we didn't get up till 9AM. Oh, how nice it was to sleep in and not be woken up by four shrieking kids. It was great. We went out for a late breakfast/brunch 11AM and then headed over to my parent's place afterwards. We didn't want to get home too late, so we left at two.

It wasn't a long weekend, but it felt great to get away without the kids. We had a really nice time together. I hope we can do it again!

Biscuity Goodness, A Picture

I made them again this morning, so here is a picture of my handiwork. They were all demolished again. I'm satisfied and pleased that it went over so well.

You'll see the little twisty one to the left: When I no longer have extra dough to make a whole biscuit, I twist it up and let the kids fight over it. They always want the oddly shaped one. My husband tells me his mom did some version of this as they were growing up too.

Biscuits, The Easy Way

Today I made biscuits for the first time, and I was amazed how easy it was. My husband is a big fan of hot breakfasts for everyone, so I made these for us this morning.

Biscuit Recipe

2 cups self-rising flour
1/4 cup All-Vegetable Shortening
1 cup buttermilk, or you can use whole milk


Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.

In a mixing bowl, cut the shortening into the Self-Rising Flour with a pastry blender or fork or your fingertips until it resembles coarse crumbs. I usually use two knives, as I don't have a pastry blender.

Blend in milk with fork just until the dough comes together. The dough will be sticky.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead gently by folding the dough 8 to 10 times.

Roll it out with a rolling pin till it is about 1 inch thick.

Cut out biscuits with a 2-inch cutter, being sure to push straight down through the dough. Do not twist the cutter until the dough has been cut all the way through (twisting the cutter will cause the biscuits not to rise straight up. This is very important, don't skip it.

Place the biscuits on baking sheet so that they barely touch. Gather up the scrap dough, press it into a circle, working it as little as possible and continue cutting until all dough has been used.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve warm with butter, or homemade strawberry jam as I did.

The kids devoured these. I made a double batch, and we had non left. My son ate 5! All I heard all breakfast was "These are so good Mom!", "These are delicious!", "That was fantastic Honey", etc etc. Not to toot my own horn, but they were quite tasty.

I've never made them before, so it was good for me to get out of my comfort zone. I'll be making these again for sure.

My Husband Is Addicted To Gadgets

My husband always likes to have new gadgets to play with. Last year he was uber excited about the iPhone 3G, got it, and cashed in his vacation time to get it. He's had his iPhone for a year now, and loves it, but hates AT&T with a passion. Abhors them. They have horrible service coverage. He needs more because of his job, as AT&T has practically nothing in some of the states he drives in.

So what did he do, but go sign us up for new accounts through Verizon. We're in the process of cancelling our AT&T account, and he will be selling his iPhone through Craigslist, or I'll be doing it on eBay. As a replacement, he will be getting a classic iPod for his music/videos/audio books once we sell the iPhone.

We got a good deal on our phones through Verizon though, it was buy one get one free. We both got the Blackberry Tour. But oh how confusing this thing is! I am slowly learning how to use it, but I feel like I have a twitch, because I can't type worth shit on a tiny QWERTY keyboard. I do really like it for it's BB messenger service, which means I can chat with my sister, who lives in Canada, all day long if I want, and not have to pay anything for it. And if I need to do something online while I am out, I have readily available Internet access.

I still love my iPod touch though, and use that all the time. Right now I have about a million different ways to access the Internet though. I have my iTouch, my Blackberry Tour, and my PC, plus we can access the internet via our WiFi on our Wii. I can twitter through my PC via TweetDeck or on the web, through UberTwitter, TwitterBerry and TwitterCasters on the BB, through my phone via text, through TwitterFon, TweetDeck and Twitterific on my iTouch. Ugh! It's a bit of an overload I think, lol. I'll just stick to my favorites I think (TweetDeck, UberTwitter, the web and via text). I have a bit of a media overload I think, haha.

If you have a CrackBerry, what do you use it for besides a phone? Are there any good Apps you can recommend? Any tips?

Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

I have to repost this recipe, as it has become a family favorite. I have about 4 loaves of it in the freezer, and we're just dying to eat it. My husband is coming home tomorrow, so I suspect we'll be having some for desert, or a snack, really soon.
I even froze some blueberries with a plan to make this once our other loaves run out. I specifically labeled the freezer bags "Blueberry Buckle", so we wouldn't eat the frozen berries inside, haha.

Blueberry Buckle

Cake batter:

• 3/4 cup sugar
  
  
• 1/4 cup soft butter
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cups milk
• 2 cups flour all-purpose
• 2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
• 2 and 1/4 cups fresh blueberries
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Step 1 - Wash the blueberries

Just rinse them in a colander or sieve in cold water, no soap.

Now is also a good time to get the oven preheating to 375 F.

Step 2 - Mix the dry ingredients

Combine the 3/4 cup sugar, 2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional) and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon in a bowl and mix well!

Step 3 - Add the butter and the egg

Add the 1/4 cup soft butter, the egg and using a mixer (hand, electric, or just a large spoon, whatever you have) , mix it up!

Step 4 - Mix in the milk

Add the 1/2 cups milk and mix it up.

Step 5 - Add the flour

While mixing, stir in the 2 cups of flour! (it's just like making pancakes). It will end up like very thick pancake batter. You may have to finish mixing by hand . I added a splash of extra milk here, the batter was much too thick.

Step 6 - Add the blueberries and mix

Add the blueberries and gently mix it. You don't want to crush the berries, but it won't matter if some get crushed, either!

Step 7 - Grease and flour the pan(s)

This is pretty self explanatory

Step 8 - Pour the batter into the pan(s)

Just pour the batter into the the pans. It should only fill the pan about half way up! It WILL rise, don't worry!

Step 9 - Make the topping

Now to make the topping, in another bowl, mix together the topping ingredients:

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 cup soft or melted butter or margarine

Step 10 - Sprinkle the crumb topping over the batter

Pretty self-explanatory, don't you think?

Step 11 - Put the coffee cake in the oven!

Cook the coffee cake at 375 F (or 190 Celsius) for 45 minutes.

Step 12 - Remove when the coffee cake is golden brown

After about 35 minutes, check to see if the top is golden brown. If if not, check every 3 or 4 minutes until it is

Enjoy!

Make It From Scratch Carnival

Thank you to It's Frugal Being Green for hosting this weeks Make It From Scratch Carnival, and for including my post "Berries, Berries, and More Berries"

I'll be posting the review for the No Pudge Fudge Brownie mix soon, but my husband is coming home tomorrow, so give me a few days. I'm in cleaning mode right now. We've been busy, and yesterday I did a mongo, ginormous, $300 grocery trip. It took me a couple hours with all three girls, then I got to come home and put the stuff away. That's a task in itself!

I'll write more soon...

My Foray Into Trader Joe's

Today while the kids and I were out doing our Old Navy returns, we stopped by the new Trader Joe's that just opened up in our city. I love Trader Joe's, and it has been a long time since I've been to one. I have a few favorites from the store, so I was happy to purchase those again. I say foray because my shopping trip really was like a quick foray into enemy territory. It was so incredibly busy that there were no available carts, and I was forced to use a basket. That turned out to be a plus though, as I didn't have to navigate between the throngs of shoppers and their bright red carts.

I got all of the following for about $26.



I did get a few doubles of some things (i.e the Chinese crackers, the milk chocolate candy bars, and I also got a pack of Chicken Jerky snacks for the dog). You'll notice the lemonade is opened, I opened it as soon as we got home! haha

The yogurt is for the No Pudge Brownies. I will be doing a review of those over the next couple days, so be sure to look out for it! I have heard of Dr Bronner's before, but have never used it before, so I am excited to try it. The Tea Tree oil soap I am going to use for my face I think, or at least try it. Tea Tree oil always works for me when I break out, so I'll see how this stuff fares. I will do a review of that too! (that round container hiding behind the Chinese crackers is a tub of cinnamon ginger cat cookies that I got for the kids. A huge tub for only $2.49!!)

I'm off to enjoy the sunny weather with the kids. We're counting down till the cold starts, so we may as well enjoy the summer while it lasts.

Car Seat Safety

I wrote last week about us needing a new car seat for our 3.5 year old daughter. It was finally delivered two days ago, and today I had a Sheriff's Deputy come over and install it for me. I am really grateful for that because I would not have been able to install the latch by myself, as you really need two people (or one really strong one) to get a good, tight fit. Now it is installed, and we won't have to take it out for a very, very long time (or at least until she needs the belts adjusted, which will be quite awhile).

I landed up giving our older seat to my next door neighbor. For reasons I don't care to get into, I'll just say they are not safety conscious. Not one bit. I just felt like maybe they needed this seat for their 1.5 year old, since we couldn't do anything with it. The seat I gave them expires in two years, and has never been in an accident, so I figured, why not just give it to them.

I was horrified to see the seat they had for their son. First off, it expired a YEAR ago! The straps were all twisted and worn, the pad was torn and threadbare, and the chest straps were in the smallest slot when her son needs the middle one at least! I also noticed she only has the lap belt, so the car seat isn't even installed in her car very well either, but unfortunately, we can't do much about that. Oh, and she also told me she'll probably put the "baby" in a regular booster seat within a year or so because "he'll be big like his daddy".

Anyway, I did what I could, explained how to use the seat I gave them, and went on my way. I can't do much of anything about that anymore, but just hope they use it safely.

I also wanted so share some basic "rules" and tips.

1. A toddler/preschooler should be rear facing as long as possible. It is now recommended to rear face until at LEAST two years old

2. If a child outgrows their 40lbs/40" seat, once they outgrow one aspect, the seat is too small and they must be moved to another.

3. Check your state laws, most have height restrictions for only using a seat belt. Right now the consensus is to keep a child in a belt positioning booster till they are 4'9". WA state is 8 years or 4'9" (57"), but my 8.5 year old daughter is still in a booster seat because she is so petite. My almost 7 year old will probably be able to get out next year because she is only 54" tall, and will probably at or close to that height.

4. It's not "un-cool" to keep your preschooler/toddler in 5pt harness once they outgrow their smaller seat. Just because they reach 40lbs does not mean they are mature enough to be in a seat belt. In fact, most children aren't big enough for a seat belt booster until at least 4 years old. You can find many affordable 5 pt harnesses that fit a higher height/weight past the 40lbs/40". We bought our current seat, the Safety 1st Apex 65 and it fits up to 65lbs as a 5pt harness. The top strap/torso height is 17.25", which means it will fit for a very long time. My daughter has a 13.5" measurement from her bottom to the top of her shoulders, so she has a long ways before she outgrows the seat.

I wish I had known all this when the older kids were younger. I would have kept them in a 5pt harness a lot longer. Thankfully nothing happened.

Some good sites to check out

Car-Seat.org (the people on this board are EXTREMELY helpful and willing to answer any questions)

Kyle David Miller.org This website gives a lot of tips and education on using a 5pt harness.

Check Out My Clubs

I apologize for not having posted since last Saturday. Life just kind of got away from me, I had a bit of writer's block, and we were pretty busy. I'm back in the game now though.

Check out these babies! My husband calls them clubs because they could be weapons of mass destruction. When my 3 year old saw them she said with wonder in her voice, "Mommy, look at the giant pickle!"



Thanks to my friend Sara, I was gifted with these two huge Zucchinis to do with as I pleased. They're each a respectable 22 inches long! I plan to grate most of them and freeze it for future use in sauces, baking and what not.

What do you do with your Zucchini?

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

Scroll down to the post after you watch the video.



It really is the most wonderful time of the year. Parents all over are counting down the days till their spawn, uhh...I mean children, go back to school. Some lucky parents have already unloaded their kids to the teachers already. Any honest parent can say they really are looking forward to the start of school. And know what? I AM!!! I can't wait to have only one child at home starting September 9th. Only 3.5 more weeks! You are lying to yourself if you are not looking forward to it.

My plan is to keep me and the baby (we really should stop calling her that, she is 3.5 now and anything but a baby) busy, busy. Every 1st and 3d Tuesday of the month we go to MOPS in the morning. I've also just joined the local Mom's Meetup Group, and there is a lot of fun activities planned with them (park playdates, field trips, pumpkin patch stuff in October etc). And I'm also going to be taking her to library story time every Thursday morning. That will keep us plenty busy I think, especially with normal day to day errands. I am really looking forward to having a schedule again too.

This summer has been a bit chaotic for us. We had a month of summer vacation before we went on Vacation to Canada, spent a week there,and then came back home. Since then we've had one really, really hot week. It was at 106* one day! We've gone to the Zoo a couple times, gone to friends' houses, gone swimming in our pool, went strawberry and blueberry picking. And now the weather is cold. It has been raining and cold the last week or so, and we've only got a good 3 weeks before summer is over. My husband is coming home in two weeks, so we'll be busy then (and the kids are going to see my mom and step-dad for a weekend). But I'm just not sure what I want to do the next couple weeks. Any ideas?

The Zoo is out...maybe. We might make one more day trip out of it, but I have to see what the weather is like. I would like to take the kids to the park a few more times as well.

I've been buying school supplies and clothes throughout the summer to help break up the costs of 4 children needing new clothes, and 3 needing school supplies. But we're almost done!

All that's left to buy is:

• socks and underwear for all the kids
• new backpack (we're springing for Jansport this time so they last a bit longer)
• new tennis shoes
• the last few school supplies like water color paints and a memory stick for the twins

I was very blessed to find everything we needed on sale this year, and have the kids still fit into some things from last year. Today I bought the last of the clothes at Old Navy online. I had a 20% off $100 coupon, so I threw in a few things for the baby to get to the $100 mark. Old Navy is having their $5, $10, $15 sale, so I got a lot of stuff today and earlier this week. I think I've spent maybe $300 on every one's clothes, if not less! Shoes will not be cheap, probably $100 for 3 pairs, and our son wears men's shoes, so his shoes are not cheap.

Is anyone else rejoicing with me because their kids are going back to school? I know I can't be the only one!