Playing at the "far away" museum

Oliver has the week off from school, and we've been having so much fun with him at home. :-) When I first told him that he had a break from school coming up, one of the first things he said that he wanted to do was go to the "far away" children's museum. We decided to go today, and it was our best visit yet! Everyone was so well behaved, the museum was not crowded at all, and we just had a great time.

And as always, I'm amazed at how well Theodore does in the car, skipping his usual nap and meal times, etc. It definitely makes things easier for me. :-)

Pumpkin bread with cinnamon cream cheese topping

Mmm, I love fall baking, with the savory scents of cloves, nutmeg, ginger, and cinnamon filling my house. It just makes you feel good inside to smell all of the yumminess baking in the oven.  :-)  

I made this pumpkin bread today and I ended up baking it for a little too long (recipe said to bake it for an hour and 10 minutes, but mine was done in about 40). It looked dry, so I made up a glaze to add a little bit of moisture and sweetness.  The result?  Super yummy, and reminds me a lot of carrot cake, but with less fat and calories. :-)  Yum!

Pumpkin Bread

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

3/4 cup canola oil

3 large eggs

1 16-oz can pumpkin (the plain kind, not the "pie mix" kind)

2 3/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

butterscotch chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Spray 2 loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray. In a medium bowl, combine sugars, oil, and applesauce, mix well. Add eggs and pumpkin, mix well. In a large bowl, combine flour, spices, baking soda, salt, and baking powder. Add the pumpkin mixture to the flour mixture, stir and mix well. Divide the batter into the loaf pans. Sprinkle with butterscotch chips if desired.  Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until done. 

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Topping

*keep in mind that I didn't measure anything as I added it!

about 2 heaping tablespoons of whipped cream cheese (regular, not light or fat free)

1 tbsp packed brown sugar

dash of cinnamon

skim milk

Stir brown sugar and cream cheese together until they're well mixed. Add cinnamon, and stir. Add milk, a little bit at a time, until it's about the consistency of yogurt. Spread on the top of your still-warm pumpkin bread and enjoy!

Toddler cuteness

Wow, I have really been slacking on updating our blog! Life has just been really busy lately. We've also been spending as much time as possible outside since it's been cooler! Nothing like a hot summer to make 80 degrees feel almost cool. :-)

Anyway, the reason for this blog post is to document Theodore's current list of words and other fun stuff. He's just talking and talking these days. I'm pretty sure he has more words at 16 months than Oliver did, and maybe has close to as many words as his sister did! 

Here are as many as I can remember right now:

Mama (his favorite word!)
Oliver 
Buttercup 
no
ball
milk
cup 
that
what's that (I really need to get a video of him saying this, it's so cute!)
banana
stop
dog
book (he also says "dog" for book)
more
cheese
cracker
Os (like Cheerios)
uh oh
bye bye
hi
hello
phone
um (this is one of my favorites! And he uses it appropriately, too!)
shoe
Anna
please
blueberry
bubble(s)
outside
swing
gentle
night night
mwah (like a kissing sound)
all done
hot
thank you
hold
mmm/yummy

He loves to play outside in our faded, steering-wheel-less Cozy Coupe, opening and closing the door and telling me, "Bye bye!" 

Often when we're outside, he'll wave at the cars and trucks driving past on the road and say, "Bye bye" in his soft, sweet little voice. :-)

He's such a sweet baby boy! He is a typical toddler though, and lately he's been a very picky eater. Tonight he pretty much went to bed without eating dinner, but he had a huuuuge lunch so I doubt he'll starve. ;-)  

Oh, one more cute thing -- this morning I was combing Buttercup's hair at the table, and he came over to see what was going on and slapped his sister on the leg for no reason. I told him no and told him to go sit in time out, and he did! He walked over to the rug and sat down, and he stayed there until I got him. What a sweet baby. :-)  

More pictures soon, I promise!  

A visit from Granddaddy!

This week Granddaddy surprised us with an impromptu visit! We've had a great day visiting with him, doing our usual things and hanging out with him and Max. :-)

Kid videos

Here are two videos of the kiddos enjoying the cooler weather outside after dinner!

Baby with a stick

I love watching babies and young toddlers play . . . they're so adorably chubby and stumbly and fumbly!  We were at a park over the weekend, and Theodore played with this stick for a long time, waving it around, scratching in the dirt, and poking things with it.  So fun! :-)

Is it fall yet??

It's September, school has started up again, and it's getting cooler in other parts of the country, but it's still insanely hot over here in the afternoons. The kids are getting bored with the backyard pool, and we are definitely looking forward to playing outside in the afternoons and not sweating! Thankfully there are a few cooler days on the forecast for next week. But in the meantime we'll have to find new ways to stay cool outside....like...washing the car! :-)

I can't wait for next week's cooler weather!  

(Here's a bonus picture of my sweet, crazy girl. :-)