New York Crumb Cake...

I love Cake. I also really like crumbs. So eating the two together just seemed natural to me :) This crumb cake is a Martha Stewart recipe and happens to be the first Martha recipe I have ever made. This seems really odd to me that up until now I hadn't even looked at one of her recipes. You would think, being the domestic diva that she is, I would have at least rummaged through her extensive recipe box! Do you think I could find a way to squeeze one more "recipe" into this paragraph?

Anyways back to the Crumb Cake. I am not a native New Yorker nor have I ever been to New York. So I am in no way an expert on judging a real New York Crumb Cake. However I figured Martha had to know what she was talking about. Right? Well I was not disappointed! It wasn't too sweet and had the perfect amount of Crumb on top for me. The only thing I will do different next time is add a little more cinnamon. I like my crumbs to be extra cinnamony :) This would pair nicely with a cup of black coffee and would also be a nice a.m. treat for overnight guests.

New York Crumb Cake

2 Tablespoons canola oil

4 cups flour ; divided

1/2 cup sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 sticks butter, melted and cooled

confectioners’ sugar

Whisk together 1 1/2 cups of flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and set aside. In a large bowl wish together the egg, milk, oil, and vanilla. Add the flour mixture and mix until it just comes together. Grease a 9x13 pan. Spread battler evenly and set aside. Add the remaining 2 1/2 cups of flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon to a bowl and whisk. Add the melted butter and mix until it forms large crumbs. Sprinkle the crumbs evenly over the batter. Bake in a 325 degree oven for 20 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean. When the cake has cooled all the way sprinkle with confectioners sugar. YUM

To My Father's....

I have a Dad. A pretty great Dad! A Dad who took me to Handy Andy's on the way home every weekend he had me, and let me pick out a squeeze-it and a toy off the rack. A Dad who ALWAYS wanted to take me along with him on hunting and fishing trips. A Dad who was crazy enough to let me shoot his guns and drive his truck on the mountain roads. A Dad who gave me 2 amazing and gentle Brothers whom I love and love me dearly. A Dad who always made me feel like I was the most special little girl in the world!

I have another Dad. One I was blessed with when I married T. He's only been in my life for 8 years but has gone above and beyond to help out our family in any way he can. He is a true Man's man with a kind heart. I can't say enough kind words about him.

I also have a "Friend Dad". I think that's a good way to describe him. He's not so much in my life in the physical anymore but he does a heck of a job being there for me in voice. Someone I can ALWAYS count on to be there to listen to me. When I need to cry, or vent, or just want to talk to someone. He gives the best " makes most sense for me" advice and he always makes me smile. In fact just seeing his name on my phone makes me happy!

Last but certainly not least. I have a Husband. One I am incredibly proud of. He works so hard for our family and doesn't get nearly as much thanks as he deserves. He gets up with the kids in morning 99% of the time. Not because he wants to but because he knows that I am s l o w going in the A.M. . I don't know too many Dad's that do that! ( The 1% that I get up with them is on "his" holidays and when he has to work overnight at the beach. Pathetic I know! )He is the perfect Father to our 3 babes. He always takes time to just be in the moment with them. Whether its playing outside, or laying on the floor picking teams with K. That is something I admire about him and need to do some work on :) I don't think I could put into words all the great things about him but I thank God for him every day!

These are just a few of the Great "Father's" in my life. I am so blessed to be surrounded by such amazing men. I hope you all had the best day ever!

An Apple A Day....

....Keeps the Doctor away. If only it were true for these "Apples"! Thursday was the last day of preschool this year for K and also his "Under the Sea" party. We spent most of the day on Wednesday making "Apple" Cupcakes for his Awesome Teachers. I was really surprised at how well they turned out. They were also really easy. I got the idea from this book> http://www.hellocupcakebook.com/. The one I have is actually the second book, "Whats New Cupcake". I absolutely adore every single page in this book. For anyone who loves cupcakes, it's a must have!

We went with the apples because, well, they just seemed appropriate. J the bus driver also got a box of them.

We went to Michael's and bought cupcake boxes and some red ribbon with white polka dots to finish them off.

I have to say...I think when all was said and done they turned out purty darn cute. In a homemade amateur sorta way ;)

The Theme for the preschool party was "Under the Sea". We watched a slide show. Then the kids sang "water inspired" songs in there cap and gowns that they made themselves. Oh so very cute!

After that they gave out awards and farewells to the little ones moving on to kindergarten. K got the "Bravo" award for his new found Independence and improved motor skills.

Even though he still has one more year of preschool, before moving on to the real deal, it was bittersweet. He is growing up so quickly and it makes me sad and happy at the same time. I remember when he was a baby and I would wonder what he would be like at 5 years old. It seemed so far away at the time. Well were there now and I love the little almost 5 year old that he's become! He amazes me everyday and I am proud to be able to call myself his Mom :)

May The Force Be With You....

Today is Memorial Day. First I want to say a "thank you" to all of the brave men and women who have served us and are still serving us. You all are Amazing!


I thought I'd give you all a glimpse of what we do in our spare time here. This is something that occurs on a daily basis. Most of the time it happens more than once a day. In fact it's in motion right this very moment. You have to be ready at any given minute to join in on the fun. This activity, and little boy, does not care if you are in the middle of a poopy diaper change, moping the floor, or trying to write a blog post. When there's a battle to be fought you must drop what you are doing and fight!

First you need to set up the "Dark Side". A few of the key Characters needed are Darth Vader, Darth Sidious ( aka Senator Palpatine), and Darth Maul ( as seen below).

You also need bounty hunters. I'm not sure who the first 2 are but Bobba Fett is on the end.

Darth Sidious & Darth Vader ( K's Favorite sith's)

Next you need to set up your "good side". Which usually consists of Jedi knights Yoda, Obi-Wan, Luke Skywalker, and a few droids. A few of the favorites around here are Anakin Skywalker ( Anakin with a pony tail) Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Ben Kenobi.

All there is left to do now is to let the battle begin. You pick a guy from the Dark side, and then a guy from the good side. Then comes the tough decision of deciding which guy is stronger. At the end of the battle, whoever has the most guys standing wins! Then we do it all over again!

Growing roots......

Since that's the name of this blog I figure a little talk about "growing" would be appropriate. Over the past couple of years I have been doing a lot of work on me. Trying to really get to know my self and be the person that I want to be. Not the person everyone else wants me to be. But just like in gardening if you are trying to grow as a person, family, or friend you need to take care of yourself and your crops. It takes a lot of hard work. Tilling the soil, watering, pruning, and weeding. First you need to pick a good environment for your garden. A spot where it can get a lot of sun. Next comes the soil. You need to surround your plants with good, healthy, nutritious loamy soil. Then comes the watering. Your plants can't grow with out those 3 key ingredients. Once you're garden has started to grow then comes the hard stuff. Do you let the weeds take over and settle for a smaller crop? Or do you pick through the weeds and have a happy healthy garden? Do you let those cute, bouncy, and sneaky little bunnies eat your greens? Or do you find a way to happily coexist while keeping your greens for yourself? There are always going to be "weeds" and "bunnies"in life . There is no way to avoid them but you do have a choice in how you deal with them. Do you let them control your garden? Bringing it down with them. Or do you take control and make your garden what you want?

For a while now I have been growing my garden. It wasn't until the past couple of weeks that I opened my eyes and saw what was going on in there. I have been letting the "weeds" and "bunnies" run the show. Letting them dictate how things are going to go. That is a huge problem when you are trying to grow. Now that I have realized what is going on I have to make some changes. Fortunately for me, T and I are both the type of people who deal with change easily. Once we realize there is a problem we HAVE to fix it. It's just our nature.

I thought I had been picking the weeds but now I realize I haven't. They have absolutely no place or right to be in my garden reeking havoc. We will have extra "weed patrol's" on duty from here on out. ;) .The bunnies on the other hand. I love the bunnies. My kids love the bunnies. The bunnies make me and my kids happy. (Except when they are nibbling on my lettuce) I enjoy watching the bunnies hopping around with there babies, Eating the grass in my yard and chasing each other. They don't know that by nibbling on my plants they are causing upset. They are just doing what they know. The last thing I want to do is hurt the bunnies but it's time they hopped their cute little cotton tails out of my garden and back into the yard. I guess the best way to live happily with them is to put up a little fence. That way we can still enjoy each other without the loss of their home here or my lettuce.

Tending to the garden isn't always going to be fun or easy. I do know that if I take good care of it we will have a happier, healthier, more fruit full crop when its time to harvest. That my friends, I think is worth the hard work!

How does your garden grow?

I've never been much of the gardening type but I've always thought it looked like fun. The whole idea just really intimidated me. I know NOTHING about growing things and NOTHING about keeping them alive. I never wanted to put the time into it and then watch everything die. So instead I have avoided the whole thing. Not planting anything in my yard that required any work other than maybe the occasional water. Oh and nothing that flowered. I didn't want the embarrassment if my flowering plant didn't flower. I have been happy with my blah bland yards up until this year. Once spring hit I found my self craving color. I started admiring all the pretty flowering trees and the cute yellow and orange tulips. That's when I realized that I'm bored with my boring yard. I needed to do something about it!

I went out and bought a few flowering plants. Just a couple to start with. I didn't want to get in over my head. Two of my favorites, Hydrangea's and Lavender. I am pleased to say that they are still alive and thriving. My Hydrangeas are popping up with new blooms all the time. I love it!

These are the rhodies that were here before we moved in. They didn't bloom last year. I'm not sure why but they didn't . I'm happy to see them coming out right now!

After I got a little color color going on I started thinking about a vegetable garden. It's something I've always wanted to do, but like I said before, was intimidated by. With the encouragement of a few family members. I decided to go ahead and dive into the world of vegetable gardening. T bought and built the raised bed. Then went out and got the soil. I took the kids and picked out the seeds. Like with the flowers I wanted to start small. We planted a row of romaine lettuce. Then waited. 7 days later we had action. To my surprise the seeds actually grew into little teeny tiny lettuce starts! Since then the kids and I have planted our bed with Onions, Zuchini, Bell Peppers, Snap Peas, Green Beans, and more lettuce. I get so excited to go out to the garden every day and see the new growth. Its incredibly rewarding! Nothing like I thought it would be but better. Its fun for K and M too. They got to plant their own rows and like checking on the progress. I cant wait untill we can actually eat what we've grown!

"Peppers after enjoying a bath"

"Onions making their debut"

Loving the Sun...

What an amazing week this has been so far! Nothing but nice sunny weather. It's actually supposed to get up to 80 degrees today and tomorrow! We started off the week with a great Mother's day. I woke up to cards from the kids and dad. Then made my way over to my Seesters house for coffee and breakfast with her and Mom.

I don't remember the last time the 3 of us were able to just sit, and talk without the distraction of kids or husbands. It was the PERFECT way to spend the morning. I hope we can make time to do it more often.

We rounded off the day with a trip to Costco ( one of my most favorite places in the world!) to get a few things for the yard. We snagged a few pics of the kids and I on the way out the door. K and L weren't in much of a picture taking mood. M took the job seriously and we managed to get a couple of really cute pics of her.

"M and Mom"

"M, K, and Mom"

The rest of the week has been shaping up to be a pretty good. Happy. Sunny. Low Stress. My kinda week. T is on his way home from the Beach. All inspections passed which is great! Swim school in a couple of hours. Then tomorrow morning K has his first play date with his friend from preschool! He has been looking forward to this for a very long time! I hope everyone else's week goes as smoothly as ours!