January Birthday Board

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We do a Birthday Board for Riley's school each month and I think this month is our favorite yet! (=
Check it out......

Here's the song the Sorting Hat is singing in case you can't read it on the photo.

Not to Gryffindor, Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff,
And Slytherin definitely will not do…
I’ll send you where dwell the best of the best,
I’ll put you in Ridgeview!

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Muffin Making Madness, Day Number One

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Riley decided that this year he wants to bring muffins to school each day for his snack. (I think because he likes the super-cool little cupcake/muffin container we have to bring them in) Since I know I won't have time to make muffins every night we decided to do a couple "Muffin Making Madness" days and bake a bunch of different flavors to freeze. Then each day Riley can pop a frozen muffin into his cupcake/muffin holder and it's thawed by snack time. We are HOPING all of the flavors taste good (and moist) while cold since there is no microwave at snack time. (=

Muffin Making Madness Day Number One was John and I late at night. Not only did we have a bunch of muffins baked, cooled and frozen by 1:30 am - but John also cleaned out the upstairs freezer so we had a place to store them. (=  Muffin Making Madness Day Number Two is planned (by Riley) for tomorrow after school.

If you have some good muffin recipes - please share!!


Summary of Muffin Making Madness Day Number One:

Coffee Cake Muffins (from a cookbook, I'll find it and post it later this week)
Notes: These are NUMMY! And, really are a cake.... (= We used only about half the topping it called for and they were still delicious.
Riley's Snack Verdict: They taste good after being frozen/thawed.

Orange Muffins 
Notes: These were my favorite - so good warm!! I'd add a little extra orange zest next time too. And maybe not melt the butter for the topping mixture... I'm going to try 2 T cut in.
Riley's Snack Verdict: They taste good after being frozen/thawed.

To Die For Blueberry Muffins
Notes: I did not try these ones (for some reason I really don't like blueberries) but all the boys said they were good. The recipe says it makes 8, but we made 12 with it (with a modified cook time of 13-15 minutes). Also, didn't even use half of the crumb topping mixture and it was still plenty! We saved the rest of the topping mixture in the fridge and we'll use it on the next batch - of you double the batch, don't double the crumb topping mixture! (=
Riley's Snack Verdict: They taste good after being frozen/thawed.

Banana Crumb Muffins
Notes: These were GOOD! John (the hubby) said these were the best of this bunch of recipes. Definitely try these. (= The recipe says it makes 10, but we made 12 and modified the cook time to 15-18 minutes. 
Riley's Snack Verdict: They taste good after being frozen/thawed.
Here's the newly cleaned freezer after Muffin Making Madness Day Number One - many more muffins to come. (=

 

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Riley's First Photo Contest Entry

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Riley(8) has always been into photography (really, always... since he was a toddler and we gave him one of our old cameras) and this summer he and I took three SLR camera classes together. He's learning a lot, practicing a lot, and just entered his very first photo contest! He entered the MN Zoo Photo contest - and I think he has a good shot at winning the kid category!! He had so many excellent photos it was very hard for him to decide which to one to enter - check them out and I'm sure you'll agree he is one talented little photographer! (=

Here is the photo he entered:

Here are some others he took:

Monster Pillows!!

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We had a Monster Making Marathon at Nenny and Nohn's house this weekend. Actually, they were monster reading pillows for Riley's classroom this fall (and a few for his old teachers too). But, before we bring them into the school the boys decided to have some fun with them. (=

(thanks Nenny for helping us make all of these!!!)

Rainy Day Fun - To Infinity and Beyond!

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Rainy Day Fun!!

I recently ran across these photos from awhile back of the boys playing “To Infinity and Beyond!!” One rainy day they came up with this idea – and they dragged almost every blanket and pillow in the house down to the living room. They spent HOURS playing this game (and many days afterward too) and miraculously they never once hurt themselves. Maybe because we have so many quilts in our house…. (=

Baby Shower Invites

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We just finished some Baby Shower Invites that I think turned out pretty cute. (= I painted the watercolors late one night, then scanned them in and played around in Photoshop. After printing them as photos at Target the boys and I mounted them on card stock, added ribbon bows and tied cute little enamel sea creature charms (from Oriental Trading) to them. Riley helped with the mounting and ribbon work, while the little guy helped sort the charms. Check them out. (=

 

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Sorry We're Light on Posts This Month....

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I wanted to apologize for the lack of awesomely fun posts the month of July. And, I thought I’d give you my best excuses (that also happen to be true). (=

The boys spent the first 2 ½ weeks of July on Vacation at their grandparents’ house while I travelled a bunch for work. They did lots of fun and creative things while there – and greatly improved their swimming skills! – but, I wasn’t around to share any of it. )=

Then, on my first weekend of the month home with the boys (just this past weekend) I got a miserable cold, and now Cabot has a virus that has his tonsils so swollen I’m not exactly sure how he can swallow. Check out the pic we took to gross out my dad! (=

BUT, we will be back with tons more fun stuff – just as soon as we kick this virus. Thanks for being patient with us!!

Have a fun day!!!