Banana Muffins the day after the snow...

Good Morning!

Right now it is officially -10 degrees F outside, without windchill.  Delightful.  

To give our furnace a little help this morning, we thought we'd bake our breakfast, and I thought I'd share my recipe.

Now, I know everyone has a banana bread/muffin recipe, but this one is particularly good.  I think it is because it doesn't use white sugar, only brown; and it has a lot of vanilla in it so it a much richer tasting banana bread.

I'm trying to link up a google doc with the recipe on it.  Hoping it works.  Click here for the Banana Bread Recipe.  I always make it as mini-muffins because they are loved here.  

I think our snow totals yesterday were about 10 inches.  Now, all the talk is just of cold, because it is seriously dangerously cold and windy.  EVERYTHING is closed here. 

Yesterday, Matt and I decided to give the driveway a second go of shoveling late in the afternoon.  Unfortunately, I had "just" given Lily a bath, so she couldn't go outside to play because she had wet hair, so, only Abby could go outside to play.  It wasn't all bad, though, because Abby got some good "big kid" playing time with the girls next door.  

They built the cutest snowman ever:

...and sledded off the mound created by the plow in the cul-de-sac.  He really created a big one right between our houses!

(Also, check out the really cool snowman that the high school boys created at the house in the background.  

It's huge and really cool!)

When I opened the blinds this morning, I found some tree limbs down in our back yard VERY close to the house.  Part of me wants to go outside and check the roof, but I'm not sure what I would do right now if there was a limb up there.

Stay warm everyone!

More snow, really?

This post is more for my non-local friends and family...  You local peeps know all this.  :)

So far, this has been the winter of a lot of snow.  Every winter here is a little different.  We get snow every year, but some years we get more ice, some years we get an inch at a time.  This year we just keep getting it and getting it.

It's pretty at first.  I grew up with it, so I get some of it, and the city knows how to clear the roads.  It doesn't slow us down very long before the roads are clear.  However.  That doesn't mean I love it.  It is cold. It is messy.  And it is a pain in the butt to clear your driveway over and over and over again.  A snowblower is on our list for our new house.  Our driveway is much wider that our old one and it feels huge when you are shoveling.  I think it's time for us to invest.  :)

As I type, we are expecting 8-10 inches today.  Tomorrow temperatures are supposed to drop to ten to twenty degrees below zero.  BELOW.  -and with wind chill factored in it will feel like 25-46 below.  Not fun.

All the kids are supposed to go back to school from winter break tomorrow and everyone is talking cancellations.  No one has cancelled yet, but we are all anticipating...

The girls did get to play outside on Friday when we had some fresh snow.  After they'd been out for a little bit, the neighbor girls came out and they played even more.  They had soooo much fun.

The Chronicles of Narnia Movies

One of the things our family loves to do the most is watch movies. 

Over break, I caught the first of the Narnia movies, the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; thinking the girls might be old enough for it now, and recorded it.  There were a few times that I worried it might be a bit much for the girls, but they ended up loving it.  (but take this as a word of warning if you have sensitive kids)  Plus the religious undertones are quite wonderful, and they were able to understand them with some prompting.

So, since they loved it so much, we found the second movie, Prince Caspian, on iTunes and watched it this week (with my cool new present Apple TV).  The girls got so into the battle scenes (above), that at one point Lily actually yelled, "Finish him!"  It was pretty funny.

Tonight we will be watching the third installment, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  They can't wait.

I read online that there is a fourth movie in the works:  The Silver Chair.

I will say that this is one time we didn't read the books first, but eventually they can, and maybe we will read the Magician's Nephew, which is in the series and is about how Narnia came to be.  I loved that book.  It's actually the only one I've read in the series.  

Have you seen the movies?  Have your kids?  Do you have to always read the book first?  Have you read this series?

Merry Christmas!

As we near Christmas day, we just wanted to wish our extended friends and family a very Merry Christmas!

Cookie Baking has Begun!

Until today, I have been lacking the motivation to get started on some Christmas cookie baking.  Well, actually, maybe I'm still lacking on the motivation, but I did it anyway.  :)

Lily and I started some of it while Abby was at school.  We made sure that we did things that Abby said she didn't mind missing... or things that we're just beginnings of the process.

First, we made snickerdoodles.  I have to admit, I've only ever made them when I lived at home with MY mom.  I looked for the recipe online.  I didn't have Cream of Tartar, which it calls for, so I googled what to do.  Do you know?  It turns out that it works with Baking Soda to rise.  The only suggestion I could find was to use vinegar or lemon juice instead in a certain proportion.  I tried vinegar.  They taste great, but I'm not totally happy with how they look after they baked.  They are a little flat.  Next time I need to make sure I just buy some Cream of Tartar.  

We also made sugar cookie dough for cut-out cookies.  It's now in the fridge cooling so that we can make those later with Abby.  Not sure if that will happen today or tomorrow.  We've been so busy.

I'm not sure if any other cookies will be made.  What about you?  What cookies are on your annual list?