this is the kind of day i've been having...

our day

Yep, I got flowers today...

...from my parents. =)

Ellie and Cooper got their own bouquet too. Isn't the pinwheel the cutest!!

After lunch the kids and I went for a walk then came home and attempted to go sledding out back. Cooper hated every second of it. If he touched the snow he cried. I sat in the snow in a pair of yoga pants, boots and my winter coat freezing my butt off while he sat on my lap and we watched Ellie go up and down the hill.

On our way in we decided to put Coop in the sled and let him go down with Ellie just once.

Once was enough! (The look on his face in the first picture is priceless!)

grandma judi's banana bread

Need a quick easy breakfast or snack for the kids? Nothing better (or easier) than Grandma Judi's banana bread recipe. Last night Ellie and I decided to whip up a quick batch. I had a couple gross dark brown bananas just waiting to be put to good use.

First cream together 1 cup of margerine or butter (I melt mine first), 2 cups of sugar, 4 eggs and 1 cup of sour milk (2 tbls of vinegar in a 1 cup measuring cup, then fill to the 1 cup line with milk.)

Mash up 4-6 bananas, depending on their size. You will need 2 cups.

In a second bowl mix 4 cups of flour, 2 tsp baking soda and 2 tsp salt.

2 cups of bananers. :)

My beautiful helper.

Slowly add half the flour mixture to the liquid portion.

Then alternate with one cup of bananas.

Add the remaining flour mixture.

And finally, the second cup of bananas.

It will look something like this...

Normally this would make 3 loaves but we decided to try and make muffins this time.

And they turned out beautifully!

YUM!

Sorry, I didn't get a picture of the loaf but you get the idea.

Here is the official recipe for a single batch:

Banana Bread
(from the kitchen of Judi Mickelson)

2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 c sugar
2 eggs
1 c banana
1/2 c sour milk (tbls vinegar)
1/2 c margerine/butter

1) cream together margerine, sugar, eggs and sour milk
2) mix flour, baking soda and salt
3) mix flour mixture into cream mixture alternately with bananas
4) mix well (duh. i laugh when I see things like this on a recipe card)
5) grease read pan and bake 350 degrees for 60-70 minutes (ovens vary. mine was done after about 55 minutes)
6) remove from pan and cool

Listed here is the single batch (1 loaf). The recipe I made above is a double batch which usually gives me 3 decent sized loaves.

Enjoy!

my poor baby

Ellie tripped yesterday in Cooper's room and fell face first into his rocking chair (full size adult rocking chair.) Greg and I were upstairs watching tv and heard the most horrid screams and both bolted to the playroom. She was screaming and crying so hard it scared Cooper and he decided to join in. Thank goodness Greg just got the A-ok to lift Coop again or I would have had my hands full.

Here's a picture I took of her before I went to bed last night. =( My poor girl!