Pajamas & Rainboots

There is nothing that my boy loves better than the aftermath of a good rainstorm.  "Can I put my boots on and splash in puddles?", he will ask impatiently over and over.  Hurricane Irene left the best puddles ever...

Yummy Carrot Muffins

I've been really looking into baking lately.  I'd much rather Nate was eating a homemade muffin or breakfast cookie for breakfast than a store bought bagel.  I looked at a bunch of carrot muffin/cupcake recipes and compiled my own recipe.  These muffins could easily be morphed into cupcakes with a cream cheese muffin on top.  I used lactose free milk.  Here it is:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 cup grated carrot
• 1 cup crushed pineapple
• 3/4 cup applesauce
• 3 large egg whites
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a muffin pan with liners or spray with non-stick oil.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
3. In another bowl combine the maple syrup, pineapple, applesauce, egg whites, milk, vinegar, and vanilla until well combined.  I used an electric mixer.  Add the pineapple mixture to the dry ingredients mix then stir in the carrots until evenly mixed.
4. Scoop batter into muffin tins to make 24 muffins.  Bake until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.  For me it was 15 minutes.

Makes: 24

A Simple Picture

Sometimes a simple picture just makes you go...awwww!

Movies

One of my favorite past times is going to movies.  This summer I've finally been able to share that with Nate.  We have been to four movies Cars 2, Winnie the Pooh, The Little Mermaid, and today we went to see The Lion King.  It was great to see on the big screen.  It's so cute to watch Nate's face change expression with each scene.  Now if only he would sit down and watch the whole thing.

Washed Away

The rain and flooding has definitely taken it's toll on the beach in town.  A lot of sand washed away and there are parts you can't even go on.  I guess we are lucky that it is the end of the season.  Hopefully the town will find the means to repair it.  It is a very sad sight.

Bounce

Nate loves all things bounce house. We recently trekked into Fredericksburg for a morning at Kids N Motion. He was in heaven. The best thing is that it exhausted him and he was nice and subdued at lunch. If I could buy a bounce house and permanently keep it set up I would!

Westmoreland Berry Farm

One of our favorite places to go from April to November is the Westmoreland Berry Farm. You can pick your own fruit at various times in the season, but we go for the ice cream and playtime. Rolling hills look out over the fruit fields and lead down to the Rappahannock river. The farm makes sundaes with the fruit they grow that are amazing. There are goats to feed and a playground to climb around on. It's just the perfect place to take a little one.

Hurricane Irene

Hurricane Irene decided to bless us with lots of wind and rain and no structural damage. We lost power for 3 days, but are a lot luckier than some people. Down the street a neighbor's house was crushed by a tree. It was a trying few days, but we all worked together and made it through. Fingers crossed we won't have any more hurricanes this year.

Nate's favorite part of the hurricane was getting to take a bath outside.

The Earthquake

Recently Amy and I were disussing how living in Va is nice because you don't really have to worry about bad weather and natural disasters. I may have jinxed us. Within one week we had an earthquake and a hurricane.

I rarely get to take naps with Nate anymore, but on the day of the earthquake we happen to be asleep. I woke up and thought he was awake and jumping on the bed. Till I realized that my whole room was shaking. He woke up and looked at me and said, "mommy why is the house jumping". Luckily we were spared any damage, but it was a scary 30 seconds especially because we woke up to it. Nate calls it the big "earth shake". I'm pretty sure he got that term from Land Before Time.

I do think the news over did it. I understand broadcasting immediately following to clarify for people that it was not a terrorist attack and to report that there wasn't any major damage. However, I don't think they needed to be on air for hours reporting the same thing over and over.

Irene will have her own post!