Sometimes you feel like a nut

 Remember earlier in the month my mention of my mom's love of chocolate covered cherries?  Every Christmas Santa makes sure that my Mom gets her dark covered chocolate covered cherries.  It is tradition, written in stone or something like that.  An even more strictly upheld tradition?  Santa bringing a bagful of pistachios for my Dad.  So in honor of LJ, Happy Pistachio Day!  I tipped her off again, Dad (though I hear it didn't do you much good on Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day or New England Clam Chowder Day), so I'm hoping that you got to enjoy a few pistachios in Ohio today, too.

We started off the morning by with another celebration - National Oatmeal month!  Given that about two inches of snow fell here yesterday and I knew we'd be out playing/shoveling this morning, last night I looked up a recipe to make oatmeal overnight in my crock pot.  Yum!  I had been thinking about this for a few weeks now, so I did make sure to have steel cut oats on hand (otherwise we'd have ended up with oatmush).  After turning on the crock pot shortly after midnight last night I didn't given it another thought.  That is until I woke up this morning and my whole house smelled FABULOUS!  Brown sugar, cinnamon, butter, vanilla - yum!  I got a picture of it but trust me that it tasted even better than it looked.  Grant was also excited to hear that what little was left will freeze well for him to take to work this week.

Cue us trooping outside to unbury the driveway and let the kiddos run around for a bit.  The frigid temperatures have eased a bit so the hour we spent outside was actually kind of nice.  We've been cooped up in the house all week which is hard on all of.  The kiddos made snow castles and snow angels and Grant and I were able to clear the driveway and sidewalks without too much hassle.  Success!

After warming up with some hot chocolate I set out to create a couple of pistachio masterpieces for everyone to try today.  For lunch we had pistachio crusted chicken nuggets (loved by the boys, detested by Mikayla) which yet again had my house smelling scrumptious as it was coated in honey and dijon mustard.  After lunch I tried my hand at some pistachio crescent roll baklava.  This was a hit with everyone.

While the kiddos napped I finally finished up a project I've been working on for Noah - ABC flashcards.  He has shown an interest in starting to learn how to read so Grant and I are working on ways to encourage him.  While they are working on all the letters at school I figured this was an easy portable way for him to 'practice' whenever.  He and Grant actually worked on reading one of his Lightning McQueen books he got for Christmas earlier with some success.  Not sure how I feel about all of this.  Thrilled for him that he has an interest, sentimental for me as a Mom who isn't quite ready for her baby to be at this stage yet.  Can't I keep them little?

We had a fun activity planned for tonight (a trip to the play area at Jungle Java) but given some behavior issues today we've tabled that for now.  Instead I think after they get out of the bathtub here shortly we're making helicopters.  Or so said my husband awhile ago, and I'll trust him on that one ;-)

Checking out Cranbrook Institute of Science tomorrow!  Until then...

Crock pot oatmeal, super yummy!

 Pistachio chicken nuggets ready for the oven

 Ready for some eating!

 Crescent roll pistachio baklava

 This was fun - they are stuffed with a mixture of pistachios, sugar, cinnamon and cloves (ground, Dudley!) and then are glazed and sprinkled with pistachios.  The recipe said the longer they sat to absorb the glaze, the better the taste.  We gave them a couple of hours and have polished off most of them already ;-)

The lower case side of Noah's flashcards (the reverse has the capitalized letters)

Luck o' the Irish

 The man behind the curtain that created this American Food and Drink holiday list continued in his attempts to thwart my project today by throwing me another curve ball; Irish Coffee.

I am familiar with Irish Coffee.  I love me some Irish Coffee.  Strongly brewed coffee, brown sugar and authentic Irish whiskey (didn't peg me for a whiskey girl, huh?) topped off with some beautifully floating cream - how can you possibly go wrong?  Oh I know, if you have a three and four year old you are attempting to introduce to this well crafted masterpiece.  Time for Plan B.

Most of the Plan B options I found still included whiskey which didn't make them much of a plan B when it came to it.  I did finally find an Irish Coffee mousse recipe that I liked that I figured I could just leave the whiskey out of.  Which is what I ended up doing.  My kiddos who have already had their first cups of coffee (not that much of a surprise if you know Grant and I and our love of java) enjoyed tonight's dessert and didn't miss the whiskey at all.

But I couldn't leave Grant hanging that way.  So off to the liquor store I went in the snow (with Noah and Kayla in tow, kind of felt like a Mom Walk-of-Shame) to procure some Jameson.  He is a very happy man tonight, saying that he thinks we should have snowy evenings with Irish Coffee more often.  I say bring on the Irish Coffee but the snow can stay away.  On a brighter note the frigid temperatures seem to be relaxing their grip at least a little and we might even see 40 by Monday.

We're off to cuddle up together with a movie this evening.  Who knows what the weekend will bring.  Until then...

Beautiful

 My attempt to float the cream at first wasn't as successful as I had hoped...  But it still tasted awesome

The kiddos version :)

A Picnic fit for a King

 So today didn't go exactly as planned.  Actually, today went nothing like planned :-p  But it ended up being a really great day!

We were sad to hear this morning that we wouldn't be able to meet up with Angie and her kiddos.  Long story...  But since we were already on our way we decided to see if Mom had a little time to spare if we visited her at Bowling Green.  So we were off!

We caught up with Mom for about an hour or so and since they were being so good I decided to take the kids out to lunch as had been the original intention today.  We stopped off in Perrysburg at the recently opened Chick-fil-A.  I am thrilled to report that this was a much more successful visit than the last time we ate at a Chick-fil-A, hehehe...  The kiddos plowed through lunch, played for awhile and then this softie Mama was so impressed with how well they had been behaving all day got them a cookie for dessert.  When we got back to the table with it I wished I had ordered one for me, too!  It was still warm.  And gooey.  And smelled amazing!  Don't believe me - check out the pictures of how much Noah and Kayla enjoyed their cookie...

We headed back to Farmington where we're sans Grant for the evening as he is off with his co-workers playing whirlyball.  So we are food celebrating on our own tonight with a meal fit for The King - Peanut Butter, Honey and Banana sandwiches to celebrate National Peanut Butter day!  My family could probably live off peanut butter if it came to that but I wanted to do something other than the usual PB & J.  So dinner was born tonight ;-)  And because of how good they've been all day I decided that if you're eating peanut butter sandwiches you must be on a picnic.  In the kitchen because it is still FRIGID here in Michigan.

We're chalking today up to a success even though it wasn't what I was expecting on rolling out of bed this morning.  Check in tomorrow to see my non-alcoholic spin on a very alcoholic celebratory beverage.  Until then...

Mikayla last night ready for bed - the only child that I know that wears a tutu and fuzzy frog socks to sleep

 The view from behind (she was cracking me up)

 Kayla at lunch

 Noah, too!

 Working on his cookie

 Mikayla, too!

 Noah's cookie aftermath

 Mikayla's cookie destruction

 Playtime (fairy wings, tutu and high heels, only Kayla)

 Making dinner

 Peanut Butter and Banana yumminess!

A fairy and a pirate eat some peanut butter

Ruing Rhubarb

 I've spent my day being angry at the person out there that came up with this whole list of American Food and Drink Holidays.  I really want to know what they were thinking.  Why oh why have a national holiday for a food that isn't in season ANYWHERE in the United States?  Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose?  I mean, how am I supposed to celebrate if I can't even get my hands on the ingredients?

And I tried!  And not some half-hearted "I'll see what I can do"  In my effort to track down rhubarb (for National Rhubarb Pie day today since I failed to mention that) we tried no less than four grocery stores, two produce stores, a Whole Foods and an hour long search online last night.  Grant even tracked down a guy at Kroger who got into his winter gear to search through their freezer section.  We tried!  By that point I had even given up my hope to make the pie myself.  I wasn't even able to find a frozen version of the pie (get on it Sara Lee, Marie Calendar's and Pillsbury!) to go and pick up.  I went even further and would have bought one from a bakery but stuck out that way as well.  Why?  Because rhubarb isn't in season ANYWHERE right now.  Duh!

And honestly, I could probably just let it go but my kids are now invested in the whole project in general (they tell random people what 'national day' it is on a regular basis) but they have been hunting for the rhubarb with me and now really want rhubarb pie!  Noah can even describe it to the store clerks we ask ("it kind of looks like celery, but it's red and very tart" lol).  And given the fact that they are being troopers about trying these new things I want to make sure they get the opportunity.  Silly person who came up with this list...  I've promised the kiddos as soon as rhubarb comes into season I will make them a pie.

In the meantime, I fell back on Plan B and we're celebrating National Egg month today.  I decided to try something new and whipped up a bacon and cheese fritata.  So breakfast (or brunch) for dinner at the Gatchel's tonight...  And no rhubarb.  (Does it show that I'm a little bitter?)

On a happier note, the strawberry muffins from yesterday were a huge hit at school!  Noah shared with everyone that he had made them and his teacher was most impressed.  They even took some over to share with the teacher of the other class so they could brag up Noah's cooking skills ;-)  It was evident that my favorite little man got a good ego boost out of the experience.

We are trying (desperately in my case) to stay warm here in Michigan.  We're hoping to catch up with my friend, Angie and her adorable twosome tomorrow for some lunch.  Until then...

It's not rhubarb but it's a damn pretty fritata ;-)

Brunch for dinner

Blonde Ambition

 Blondes have more fun, right?  Then are blondies more fun than brownies?  I supposed that depends who you ask and what kind of chocolate trips your trigger.  But in celebration of National Blondies day we're going with that today Blondies are more fun!

It is COLD here.  Not just a little chilly, but downright frigid.  Too cold to venture out to play for sure.  In fact, we went to storytime (and on what is turning out to be a very unsuccessful hunt for a main ingredient in tomorrow's celebratory food...) and that was it.  I thought my little munchkins were going to freeze from the car into the library.  Mother Nature, would you mind turning the thermostat back up in Michigan, please?

Since we were spending the day inside, in addition to Kid Kitchen, I decided to get out the colorable (is that even a word?) playhouse Uncle Scott got for Mikayla for Christmas.  Why didn't I do this sooner?  They have been thrilled all day coloring, hiding, playing, imagining and sincerely enjoying playing with each other.  I don't think I had to break up one fight all day today!  Not that I want to jinx it, but I don't think that either one has been in any kind of trouble all day.  While I usually dread days where we're 'stuck' inside today has been awesome!

So in addition to the Blondies we made in Kid Kitchen, Noah is also responsible for taking the snack to school tomorrow.  It's "S" week at school so after thinking for awhile on it, I told Noah we could either make strawberry muffins or strawberry donuts.  He (surprisingly) opted for the muffins.  When I told him that he could make them himself he was elated.  I can't wait for him to go to school tomorrow and be able to 'brag' to everyone that he made the snack.  I even let him dice up almost all the strawberries himself. (No easy feat for this perfectionist Mama)  We had a few extra so he did a taste test and pronounced them acceptable.  I'll let you know tomorrow how they go over with his class.

Until then...

 After constructing the playhouse it became glaringly evident that I am not the engineer in the family...  

 They were so excited

 They even managed to rope Bella in for awhile

 I had to peek in through the window

 Wish it was a little bigger so I could get in there and snuggle, too!

 Ready to make some Blondies!

 We made cake batter Blondies.  I have had this recipe bookmarked since before Christmas because I thought it looked so yummy.  Glad we finally had the opportunity to try it out!

 Stirring

 More stirring

 Lots of stirring!

 It made some really thick batter

 Our Blondies fresh out of the oven (yes, I know I used Christmas cake mix and Christmas sprinkles - don't judge!  We had to use it up somehow :-p)

 Whisking together the dry ingredients for the muffins

 Lining the muffin tins

 These were relatively healthy muffins (1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup white sugar per 10 muffins and no milk, oil or butter, and only egg white.  And we got to use up some of our applesauce!)

 Kayla stirs while Noah whisks the egg white

 Noah slicing and dicing

 Mikayla was more intent on watching everything go down today

 Folding in the strawberries

 Lunch break!  (I must be going soft in my old age, I let them have lunch in the playhouse)

 Muffins ready for the oven

 Freshly baked!

 So proud!

 A side shot of our Blondies

Grant celebrating with a taste test (everyone loved the, btw)