Breakfast O's with chowmama

"As the gardener, such is the garden."...Hebrew proverb


I'm not a stickler by any means when it comes to organic foods and feeding my family, I go by the fact that I was raised fine with the foods local supermarkets provide us, so why conform when something is working for us, and our budget. So if I add a few organic ingredients or 'natural' products to our weekly meals I feel I'm living up to the health craze at least a little bit.

Now here comes breakfast... the sweetest meal of the day. Every breakfast item is sugary, from pancakes and muffins to oatmeal and cereal. Most of the time I try my best to cut the sugar by adding the natural sugar of fruits into every breakfast; like stirring purred fruits (or go the easy route and use natural applesauce) into oatmeal or offer cereal mixed with raisins or dried fruit.

I came across this article and thought that since this new wave of eating organic is everywhere it seems, maybe it'll give a few ideas to those who could use it. But some of the recipes I definitely will be trying out, especially the Pumpkin Walnut Cream Cheese, but minus some of the 'organic' in front of the ingredients :)

chowmama Breakfast: "Here’s the skinny (or not-so-skinny, as it were): Cascadian Farms is owned by General Mills who recently quietly reformulated Purely O’s adding THREE times the sugar, fillers including corn meal and sweeteners including tapioca syrup....

Gavin's 3rd birthday!

If you carry your childhood with you, you never become older- Abraham Sutzkever

Here's the day before when both boys were helping to make the cake. They were good helpers... cleaning the mixer and bowl that is :)




Super cute idea I found in using Oreo cookies and melted chocolate for Valentine's treats! Made some for party favors and extras for neighbors with an 'It cool being your friend' message.



The finished flyboat cake. This was the first time I worked with fondant and it was fairly easy to use. It was the almost hour of kneading it from the color white to red that took alot out my hands though!




But it was worth every bit when Gavin saw it the next morning and thought it was his flyboat toy!

So after playing save the baby animals with stuffed toys, coloring the Wonder Pets, and playing with balloons, the only thing Mommy forgot was some celery to end a great day!

Happy birthday to my big guy!!!

Go Wonder Pets!

Sweet ways to have fun

"Winter is the season in which people try to keep the house as warm as it was in the summer, when they complained about the heat." ~Author Unknown

Eat your heart out- Make everything from heart pancakes for breakfast to decorated Rice Krispie treats using heart shaped cookie cutters. No heart shape cutter? Just use M&M's or chocolate chips to outline a heart instead!

Look for love- Play the "I love you to pieces' game. Cut out a big heart from construction paper, tear it to pieces and hide the pieces around the house for kids to find and reassemble with tape when found.

Go cocoa- Nothing brings a touch of sweet to winter like hot cocoa. Putting it in a bowl instead of a cup allows the kiddos to arrange mini marshmallows into designs and also works on hand-eye coordination scooping them with a spoon before they melt. Or take the easy route, smoosh a large marshmellow, press a tiny heart cookie cutter into it and plop them in a cup of cocoa... yummy any way you use them!

Snow much fun!

Plant carrots in January and you'll never have to eat carrots. ~Author Unknown


Bizard of 2010 here in Maryland


Gavin says 'Wow' to all the snow we woke up to on Saturday



The 25" is almost as tall as Carter






Our neighbor was a big help with Mike not being home. The boys loved the snow blower atchment to his tractor- too cool!


They were glued to the window- I'd put money on one of them working with trucks or tractors when they grow up!


Gavin helping to shovel a path


Carter enjoying the taste of the season









Little tracks up the driveway and then 'thud' He sat there a good 10 minutes enjoying the newness of the snow!

"A snowflake is one of God's most fragile creations, but look what they can do when they stick together!" -Anon