Video of Avalynn and Nathan

Home Pre-K Day 1

I am going to try to work with the girls every day to teach them some pre-k stuff. Our first day went really well. Before today Gabby did not recognize any numbers. I only worked with her for about 5 Minutes before I took this Video.

Banana Muffins using baby food and "The best Frosting Ever"

I decided to make Banana Muffins today but I didn't have any Bananas on hand. I did however have a ton of baby food bananas on hand. So I used Baby food in place of them. Here is the recipe I used and a recipe for "The best frosting ever". Yes that is really what it is called. It is pretty good but I think that I like Cream Cheese frosting better!!


Banana Muffins:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
6 four ounce jars stage 2 Baby food Bananas
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Mix together butter, bananas, eggs, and vanilla.  Stir in Flour, Salt, baking soda and baking powder. Do not over stir. (Add nuts if desired). Spoon batter evenly into 12 Muffin Cups. Bake for 25 Minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Remove cupcakes from pan; cool completely on a wire rack. Spread tops with frosting. 


Frosting: (I only made half of this and it was plenty for 12 Muffins)
1 cup Milk
5 Tablespoons Flour
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 cup Butter Cold but not too cold, should be left out for a little while to just barely soften. (Don't let it get too soft or it will not stick right to butter)
1 cup Granulated Sugar (not Powdered Sugar!)

In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. After it cools cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla to the cooled milk/flour mixture.  Then add the cooled milk/flour/vanilla mixture and beat until it all combines and resembles whipped cream.

The girls got their Ears Pierced.

I have always told my girls that when they were ready and wanted to they could get their ears pierced. I wanted to leave it up to them to decide when they got them done since it is their ears.  Gabby has asked a couple of times before but always changed her mind when I told her how it was done. Just recently she has been asking again because our neighbor was going to get hers done and One of my nieces has hers done too. So Tuesday Gabby was really asking a lot about it so I said she could get it done if she still wanted to on Thursday. Then Avalynn started asking if she could get hers done too. I wasn't sure if I wanted Avalynn to get hers done yet because I am not sure if she will sit still long enough for me to help her take care of it. When we got there Gabby was really brave. She sat right up in the chair so nice and still. They had two ladies who did both ears at the same time. Gabby did a little quiet crying afterward  and kept saying it really hurt. They gave her a sticker and lolly pop though and she was okay in a couple seconds. She didn't cry enough for it to scare Avalynn because she still wanted to get hers done too. She was also brave and sat there really good. When they did her ears she really started screaming though for a few seconds. I don't think she expected it to hurt since Gabby wasn't crying too bad. But as soon she had her lolly pop she calmed down too.

Gabby sitting in the chair waiting

 Crying a little bit afterward

 Gabby at home with her ears pierced. She is so happy!

 

 

Avalynn looking a little nervous while she waited

 Eating her lolly pop afterward

 Home asleep with her new pierced ears.

Let them be Little

Small update on my kids

Gabrielle Adeline
Gabby is my sweet girl. She always thinks of other people. She likes to cuddle. Her favorite things to play with are legos, Her baby doll "soka", books, and Her new stuffed Tiger. Her current favorite movies are My little pony and Rio. Gabby loves to sing and dance. She is always making up cute little songs and if you play some music she will show you her moves! She loves to swim and learned how to doggy paddle swim while we were on vacation. Gabby now wears size 5 clothes and weighs 42 pounds.

Avalynn Skye

Avalynn is my little spit fire. She is wild and spunky. She never sits still for more then a minute! She is a handful but I wouldn't want her to be any other way! Avalynn's favorite things to play with are our dog Kito, her brother Nathan, swinging on swings, climbing on Mommy & Daddy and pretty much anything that involves running around or moving! She loves Horses! We try to walk every night to a neighbor's that have 4 horses. She loves to see them. She already has her Halloween costume and it is a horse. Her favorite Movies are Beauty and the Beast and Milo and Otis. She also loves to be read to. Avalynn now wears size 4T clothes. She weighs about 32 pounds.

Nathan James Kevin

Nathan is now very mobile! He is crawling and getting into EVERYTHING. When he was younger I thought he was going to be more mellow like Gabby but I was wrong! Every day he is more and more like Avalynn! They even make messes together! I think they will be the best of friends! He likes all kids though. He smiles and laughs when other kids talk to him. He has started to pull himself up on the couch and chairs. Pretty soon he will be cruising along on them and then walking! He hardly ever cries unless you have to take something away from him or he gets really tired. He is starting to assert himself though and lets you know if you make him mad! He has 2 front bottom teeth, 1 top tooth and another top tooth coming through. He Loves Ice Cream! Yes he is only 8 months old but I give him bites of mine when I eat it and he loves it! He is a good eater. I still nurse him and he is also eating baby cereal, snacks like "Puffy's" and the baby Gerber graduate foods. He eats 1 baby fruit and 1 baby Vegetable each day. I also give him occasional bites of my food. He likes Avocado a lot! I am going to move him to a bigger car seat very soon. His head is getting to the top of the infant seat and his feet stick out a couple of inches. I am worried his feet are going to hit a wall or something when I am carrying him some time! It is also getting really hard to carry! He is now wearing size 6-12 Months clothes. He has his 9 month check up on Sept 8 so I will find out them how much he weighs.

Here is a video of him laughing

Bethany Beach, DE Trip

 My parents, Twin sister with her family and younger sister with her boyfriend all decided kind of late that we were going to go on this trip. By the time we booked our house all of the one's that would be large enough (And in our budget) were gone close to the beach. We ended up staying In Ocean View, DE which is about 3 miles from Bethany Beach. The house we stayed in was really nice, no complaints about that. But we were kind of bummed that we had to drive to the beach (And pay parking) every time we wanted to swim or just walk the beach. We had a pool that was part of our community which we were able to walk to that. I thought the town of Bethany Beach was a little boring for my taste. I like the board walks at Ocean City, MD and Virginia Beach. Some people don't like those and they would probably like Bethany Beach more. 

We went to the Tanger Outlets one day. I didn't buy anything but my girls did. They both bought their baby dolls a new outfit and then they bought some toys at the Disney Store outlet. 

The waves on the Beach were some of the biggest I have ever personally seen. They were also hitting really hard. Sometimes they were so loud we thought it was Thunder! I only did a little bit of Boogie boarding because every time I tried I got all beat up. One time I forgot I had my sunglasses on and lost them in the waves.

We had a pretty good time most of the trip. Avalynn came home with Swimmer's Ear and Gabby seems to have a stomach bug so we are just staying home and hoping they both feel better soon.

My Younger sister Angela and her Boyfriend Tony

 Gabby and Avalynn

 The kids having fun the first night we got there.

 Gabby and her baby doll ready to go to the pool

 Nathan and I in the Pool

 Avalynn enjoying the pool

 Gabby and me in the Pool

 Nathan playing in the sand

 The girls loved playing on these stairs!

 All the kids who came with us on the trip.

 Me boogie boarding

 Me being plowed over by a wave