Delicious Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins

Yesterday, the kids and I spent the afternoon baking.  Matt was out cleaning out neighbors' yards, so I had to entertain them myself for the afternoon.  I decided baking was a good way to pass the time.  They always love to help me bake something.  First, we made banana bread; they both love banana bread so much.  I usually put most of my banana bread batter into muffins because it's so easy to give a kid a muffin rather than cut into a big loaf.  Also, it seems like muffins last a little longer than a loaf.  Anyway, after we'd made those, I decided to try a new recipe.  It's one from pinterest, and the recipe comes from www.shrinkingjeans.net.  I doubled the batch, added the full egg (rather than just the whites), added raisins and nuts, and they turned out great.  I also didn't have any whole wheat flour, so I just used regular. I'll definitely be making them again!

Here's the recipe:

Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins

1 cup old fashioned rolled oats (not instant)
1 cup nonfat milk
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 egg whites (I’ve used EggBeaters)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp sugar
raisins or nuts (optional but I haven’t used either yet)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Soak the oats in milk for an hour. Spray muffin pan with cooking spray. Combine the oat mixture with the applesauce and egg whites, and mix until combined. In a separate bowl, whisk dry ingredients (except the cinnamon and sugar) together. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until just combined. Add nuts or raisins if desired. Do not over mix the batter or the muffins will be tough. Spoon muffin mixture into muffin pan. Combine the cinnamon and sugar and top each muffin with some of the mixture. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until done. These can also be frozen and reheated in the microwave for a quick breakfast.

Number of Servings: 12
Calories: 92
Fat: .5
Protein: 2.9 g

Dear Children,

Dear  Clarence and Adina,

I've been wanting to write you a letter for a while now.  I want to remember how fun you are and to tell you what you like to do these days.  We've been spending a lot of time inside because of baby Clifford.  When we first came home from the hospital with him, we were just focused on getting through each day, trying to figure out how to handle a baby, as well as a 2 1/2 year old and a 4 year old.  You spent a lot of time under the card table (that holds my sewing machine) playing.  You'd hide in there and play for hours...you said it was your house.  You also watched a lot of disney movies...Daddy would wake up with you guys in the morning and put a movie in so you'd be quiet so I could get an extra hour of sleep.  It worked sometimes. :) 

Now we're sort of figuring out a new routine.  Clarence, you're back into playing with your farm and animals all the time.  I love how you always ask me if you can play with your animals....absolutely! I love watching you and how you think, how you haul your animals around to different pastures or off to get butchered.  You understand farm life so well.  You also like to go out and help Dad feed cows once in a while.  You haven't been going out as much because it's been so cold.  However, on the nice days, it's fun to go out and play on the big snow hill Dad made for you or go out and work in your pen.  Last week, we worked calves.  Clarence, you were right out helping push the calves through the chute.  I love watching you....you're fearless. That part scares me sometimes.  You need to have some fear when working with the cows.  But I love how you know exactly what's going on and you don't quit until the big guys do.  I also love how much you love your new little brother.  You always want to kiss him and hold him.  Lately you've had a little cold, and you're so sweet and careful not to kiss near his face.  You kiss him on the back of the head and haven't been holding him as much because we don't want him to get sick.  So sweet!  And yesterday, I was upstairs and Clifford started crying.  You grabbed his bottle and started feeding it to him.  You're such a big helper!

Adina, you mostly just love life.  You're pretty easy-going most of the time.  The rest of the time, you're incredibly stubborn.  I love watching you pack your purses full of bracelets, necklaces, toy dishes, food, lip gloss, and baby accessories.  You're 100% girl.  I don't know where your love of makeup came from...probably Auntie Nikki.  You haul all your "stuff" around the house in purses.  You love holding baby Clifford for 15-second intervals.  You put him in your arms, talk really sweet to him, say, "I love you, Baby Clifford," kiss his head, then hand him back.  I get a real kick out of how much you like to dress up, do your hair, and put makeup on.  Then you pucker up your lips and talk about how pretty you are.  Another thing that makes me smile is when you are in a good mood and you're walking somewhere; instead of walking, you kind of skip/gallop with one arm in the air.  It makes me smile every time.  You sleep by yourself most nights, except when you wake up from a dream or if your blankets fall off and you get cold.  Then you'll come into our room and get Daddy, and he'll always go and sleep with you for a while. 

You two are such fun kids.  We love seeing how your personalities are developing, and we hope to help you grow into kind, loving, helpful and respectful kids.

Love, Mom


Dear Clifford,

You're going to be five weeks old tomorrow.  I can't believe how fast the time has gone.  You've been such an easy-going baby so far.  You're still not that good at sleeping long stretches through the night, but that's okay.  I know this won't last forever. :)  Someday, I'll get a little more sleep.  Last night, you woke up at 1:30.  Daddy fed you a bottle, then layed you down in your cradle thinking you'd fall right to sleep.  Then he immediately fell asleep. You didn't, though.  Nope.  You cried. I woke up.  And we were awake together until about 2:45.  I wasn't real impressed, but at least you're cute.  That helps make up for losing sleep in the middle of the night. :)

You're sure growing fast, too.  You're getting nice, chubby cheeks, and a lovely little double chin.  And you're growing right into all those 3 month clothes.  It makes me sad how fast you're going to grow.  I've already been talking with Clarence about his farm and how by next year at this time, you'll be making a mess of all his animals and pens.  It makes him a little nervous, so we've already been planning a different "safe" place that he can set things up where you won't be getting into them.  I hope to enjoy all the time we have of you being a little baby, because it's going to go so fast.  I am excited, though, for a little bit of nicer weather, so we can all go out and play outside together.  Some fresh air would really do this momma good!

Clarence and Adina think you're great, which I love.  Clarence wanted a brother so bad....I only hope he's as glad to have you in 4 or 5 years as he is right now.  Adina wanted a sister, but she's adjusted to a brother, and it doesn't seem to bother her a bit.  Clarence tells her every now and then that next year we can have a girl.  We'll see, Clarence.  Your siblings love to hold you, kiss you, and pat your head.  Most mornings, Clarence comes in my room and asks how you are.  He just loves you to pieces.

Thanks for being such a good little baby.  You're such a wonderful little blessing to our family!

Love, Mom

Fun for the kids

We went to ECFE last night at school.  Both Clarence and Adina just love it.  It gives Clarence a chance to show off his classroom, his cubby, and what he gets to do at school.  It gives Adina a chance to get acclimated to school and what she's in for next year when she starts preschool.  She absolutely loves going to ECFE...it's her chance to be a big girl at school.

Anyway, last night, Clarence's teacher, Miss Jaime, had some worksheets for the kids to do.  There was a website at the bottom of the worksheets, so today, I took some time to check it out.  It's awesome!  There's tons of free printable pre-k activities for kids ages 2-5.  I downloaded about 6 different pre-k packs, ranging from Christmas activities to fall to birthday.... and I can't wait to print some of them off for my kids.  Just wanted to share with you in case you'd like some of these activities for your own kids!  They'll love the practice, and you'll love that it's free!

Go to: www.overthebigmoon.com  and click on free printables.  From there, it's easy to find what you'd like to download for your own kids.  Enjoy!

Life as a Family of Five

Well, as you all know, we went from being a family of four to a family of five on January 15th.  Life's been going great since then, too, in case you're wondering.

I've had several people ask me, "What's it like going from two kids to three?"

My only answer is, It's an adjustment, and we're slowly figuring things out.  However, it's not as hard as I was really expecting. 

(Maybe that's due  to the fact that: Clarence and Adina just adore Clifford - there's no jealousy whatsoever; my husband works here at home, so I can sleep in if I need to; we've been getting meals from loving and caring friends and church members since we came home from the hospital; our families have been great at helping out - especially right when we got home; I can just be home and figure things out - as do most new mothers...we have a few weeks to adjust to a new routine before going back and trying to fit our old routine in with the new one.)

There are only two real things that make it hard.

#1: It's winter; my other two kids have too much energy to be cooped up in the house all day with me. :)  So, Clarence has been helping with chores a lot, and on the days where the weather is tolerable, I send them out to play, even if it's only for 15-30 minutes...at least they wear off a little energy trudging through the snow.

#2: Going anywhere. It's a chore. I start planning the night before how to go about my morning.  When should I wake up, when should I get myself ready, then the two older kids, then Clifford, then worry about pumping right before we go so I'll have a bottle for Clifford while we're gone.  Our outings have gone okay, it just takes a lot of planning - and help....again, I'm thankful Matt's home with a flexible schedule!


This morning, I sent Clarence and Adina out to play.  They've been inside way too much lately, and they need to play outside and work off their "winter bellies".  So, out they went, quite happily.  Matt's made a big snow hill right out the front door that they like to climb on and sled down.  They did that for a little bit, then walked through the knee-high snow over to Clarence's calf pen. 
From here, I lost sight of them.  So, a little bit later, I went out to check on them and make sure they were okay and safe.  I found them out in the barn, safe, but Adina was crying.  She was crying because when they were over at Clarence's calf pen, he'd told her that he heard a big buck and that it was coming.  So they went to the barn.  Once they got there, her glove fell off, so her fingers were cold.  I calmed her down and told her that bucks don't come in the yard when it's light out - because they don't like people.  She didn't really seem to believe me.

That's when Clarence said, "This morning, I heard a big buck down north.  There was a timberwolf chasing it." 
(Ok, Clarence...thanks. I'm glad you're so good at hearing big bucks. :) )  Apparently this is what he'd told Adina, so she was scared the buck was coming to get her. She told me she'd come in the house with me and help me "make hupper".  Such a nice girl!


And, as for Clifford, he's a great baby. We're sure blessed to have such good, healthy babies.  There were a couple nights he decided to stay up with me and just look around, wanting to be held, but we've seemed to figure that out now.  I try to keep him up during the day for two or three, one to two hour stretches, so then he'll sleep well for the night.  It also helps to give him a bath before bed - it seems to make him sleep better.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm not really getting tons of sleep yet, but we're slowly figuring the sleep part out.  And, surprisingly, even though the lack of sleep was one thing I was dreading the most, my body just seems to adjust to the lack of it and I don't feel overly tired...thankfully!

Well, hopefully now I'll get back to more regular posts....hope you're enjoying the beautiful, snowy day!