Lifts

Or you might call them "THE BUS!!"

Hot

I've said it before "We don't have a/c so if we are going to be hot we might as well have some fun."

Next time it is this hot and I make that declaration, it would be ok to remind me the library has a/c and free admission and toys.

We went to the zoo and some animals came to say hello.

This guy was happy to see me every time we stopped and pulled up his shade. He didnt notice the lions.

The blue monkey climbed on the glass to play hide-and-seek. He also waved hello.

A holds the stroller. 

The elephant had a bath.

And in the 15 minutes it took to get home he zonked out.

Swinging Bridge

There is a swinging bridge at the zoo that A loves to run across. It is really hard to get him to leave this area of the zoo, even though there aren't any animals you can really see from here. He just likes swinging bridges.

 

Unpredictable Granola Bars

Today we made some granola bars. Attison likes to mix and pour and D  likes to sit close by and smell me. So we put the lobster seat on the counter and away we went.

When A was a teeny, tiny baby Emma made us some granola bars from this recipe.  They were amazing so we have been using it as a base to make granola bars ever since.  Emma's instructions to me were to use the recipe as a guide and I have taken that liberty to the max.

This is not a food blog, so instead of telling a long story and making you search for the recipe, here it is with my comments below. Then there are pictures of my kids near stuff because no one needs to see a measuring cup of melted butter, that is not adorable. In all honesty, this recipe is for my own benefit because I have to Google the Smitten Kitchen blog every time I want to make these.

Unpredictable Granola Bars

1 2/3 c rolled oats
1/3 c flour (i used brown rice, have also used oat flour, considered using corn flour)
1/2 tea. salt*
1/2 tea cinnamon*

3 cups of nuts, fruit, seeds, deliciousness **
1/3 c peanut butter ***

13-14 tbl (approx 7/8 cup) of liquids
This is where you might want to consult the original recipe. I don't follow it because I gag when I consider putting over 1/4 c of butter into granola bars - which I consider to be a "healthy snack or light breakfast." In my trial and error I've put anywhere from 3/4 c to 5/4 cup of various liquids and the bars turned out just fine. (note below on options) Here is what I did this time around:

2 tbl butter
1/4 c (4 tbl) honey****
1/4 c light coconut milk
some applesauce (I didn't measure this, approx. 2-4 tbl.)*****
1 tbl water (again, not measured)

Again, if you are a rule follower, consult the recipe for detailed instructions. I mix dry stuff, mix wet stuff, mix together. The exception to this rule is the sticky stuff (peanut butter), that I cut into the dry stuff before mixing in the wet stuff.

Lastly, I sprinkled sugar on top. She calls for 1/2-3/4 c in the recipe, but that is not "light" in my book. This is the first time I've totally nixed the sugar, usually I add 1/4 cup of spelnda or sugar. I got to feeling bad for the sugar at the end so I sprinkled some on top. Hopefully it will get delicious and golden and not just burn and ruin everything.

Smash it into a cooking tray. I really mean smash it. Smashing makes it into a bar and not a crumble. You should spray the pan first, forget the parchment paper. Or don't. Whatever. Today my cooking spray was outside on the pile of bricks next to the grill because I used it last night when I made ribs for dinner. So if you don't have parchment paper go get your cooking spray from the back yard and use it instead.

Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes. With age comes wisdom and I have decided that preheating the oven helps the cooking time to be more predictable. Go figure. You should preheat the oven first.

When they are done LET THEM COOL COMPLETELY. This feels like insanity. If I am going to take the time to bake something, why don't I get to enjoy that 1st, delicious bite right out of the oven that burns my mouth? Because it will cause the whole pan to crumble and then you will be mad and won't want it anymore. Trust me.

The shelf life on these isn't as long as your store bought boxed stuff, so if you aren't going to have breakfast picnic for 12 you should cut, individually wrap and freeze them.

These next steps are pretty variable too, but then you should turn on Sesame Street (against your former proclamation that today is not going to be a tv day), sweep up the crap the toddler dumped on the floor, nurse the baby to sleep, sit down to write up what you did before you forgot, put on deodorant because you forgot that already, remember that you forgot to time the granola bars, start to do dishes, drink some cold coffee, write all that down, ponder what else you have forgotten, empty the dishwasher, load the dish washer, finish sweeping and agree that tomorrow you will mop.

*Attison added both salt and cinnamon so these are not accurate measurements, we ended up with a ton of cinnamon and who knows how much salt, the lid was kind of clogged with mashed potatoes from when he added salt to them for dinner last night.

** I used raisins, apricots, walnuts, cashews, pecans, sesame seeds, and chocolate sunflower seed drops from TJ's  Then I noticed the color all came off of the seeds so I added chocolate chips.

*** I always used Reduced Fat Jif. I created a rubric for judging peanut butter based on these factors: price, organic v not, natural v not, taste, ability to buy in quantity, calorie content, additives, shelf life.  This decision was not made lightly and I am happy to expound and discuss if you have strong opinions about peanut butter, which I obviously have.

(note about liquids) I have used a mixture of any of these: maple syrup, pancake syrup, sugar free pancake syrup, butter, margarine, coconut oil, coconut milk, honey, agave, corn syrup, water. Keep the water to a minimum. Keep the fats/oils below 1/2 of the total volume.

****I have honey that Katy Getsie's brother harvested from his bees. It kind of got runny and a little fermented smelling/tasting and weirdly bubbly. I emailed Katy and her mom when Katy was in Nicaragua and they both said that they didn't know why the honey was crazy and I should toss it.  I decided that fermented honey would just be even more delicious so I use it to cook with. I wouldn't put it in my tea, but for this reason my granola bars could be considered "special." If you try this recipe with something stronger than possibly fermented honey pass a bar onto me.

*****The applesauce kind of seemed past it's prime too. Oh well.

At Grams

Pillows

A is growing up so fast. Today we flipped through some flash cards and he knew almost every word. Some were improvised- everythingnround was a ball (I.e. yarn for Y) and the house he called "outside." M for monkey he made the animal noise. After a few cards I stopped saying "What is this?" and he just named the object. When he didnt know it he would say "What this?" and look to me to answer.

I just went in to turn off his bedtime music and he was sleeping with his little head on the pillow. It was adorable. It is a little chilly tonight so I put a blanket on him. He is sleeping like a real grown up human. Oh my heart.

In other news, D sat up for a bunch of seconds on his own at the library today. He was on a bean bag, so that might have created the support he needed to balance, but I couldnt recreate it. I think it was just his first success and more sitting up is in his future.

Story time was canceled

I didn't realize that he first week of school the library didn't host story time. We still found plenty to do. They got a new train table!! I didn't take any pictures of it though. Now that we have trains at home it is kind of old news.