I went to bed 27. I woke up 28.

The good news is that I don’t feel any older than I did yesterday.

The bad news…I’m just going to keep getting older. Although I am kinda looking forward to my 30′s. I’ve heard the 30′s are goodtimes.

But this year…28…promises to be a busy one for me which means I’ll hit 29 that much faster.

So here’s to another year. One that promises to be filled with lots of love and of course chaos

Enter Blueberry Oat Crumble Bars.

Yum.

Yummy.

Yum.

These are so yummy and a great snack for the middle of the afternoon. A nice and fruity pick-me-up.

Photo Credit: Howsweeteats.com

Blueberry Oat Crumble Bars

Recipe from: How Sweet It Is

1 1/2 cup rolled oats

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour- You can use all-purpose flour

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup butter + 2 tablespoons

1 cup blueberries- I always add more. About a cup and a half of blueberries

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, oats, cinnamon and salt and mix until combined. Melt the 1/2 cup of butter and add it, along with the vanilla, to the oat mixture. Stir until moistened. This may take a minute or two! Fold in the blueberries – it’s okay if they pop a little bit.

Butter and flour an 8×8 baking pan*. Press batter into the pan. Melt remaining butter and drizzle it over the bars. Bake for 20 minutes, the let cool completely – this can take up to 45 minutes! Cut and serve. Can be kept in the fridge or at room temperature in a sealed container.

*I like thinner bars so I use a 9×13 pan and cook for about 13 minutes or so. And mine hardly ever stay together but they still taste delicious!

So most decisions are made more last minute than you would think.

The other problem with military decisions…each decisions has about 27 options and each option has about 42 what-if’s mixed in that all have to be taken into account before a decision can be made.

So you finally make a decision and if you’re lucky, the decision will stick.

What if you’re unlucky you ask?

If you’re unlucky chances are that your command will say to you, “Sorry that option is available anymore.”

And then that wonderful process starts all over again.

A few weeks ago, she said something to me. Something I thought I wouldn’t hear for at least a couple more years and it made me sad. Not because she said it but because she said it so young. We were getting ready to go out and I was putting on my makeup.

“Mommy, can I have some makeup?”

“Baby, you don’t need makeup. You are so beautiful just the way you are.”

“No Mommy. I’m not pretty without makeup on.”

I stopped everything I was doing, too shocked to really do anything. Did my 5 year old just say she wasn’t pretty without makeup on?

And what do you do when your daughter comes to you with that? What do you say?

I did the only thing I could thing of. I grabbed my little girl and hugged her till she told me that I had to let go. I told her that she is so beautiful. That no amount of makeup could make her any more beautiful than she already is. And then I told her that beauty, true beauty comes from inside.

So my dear daughter, you are truly beautiful. You are smart, caring, compassionate, sensitive, beautiful, funny, and loving. You are the most beautiful little girl in the world. I hope you always remember that and know that makeup….makeup doesn’t make you beautiful. You make yourself beautiful.

And once my boy starts playing with the cars, he’ll start lining them up.

And after he’s lined them up over and over, he’ll randomly start to dance.

Once he’s done dancing, he’ll decide it’s time for a change of scenery for him and his cars. So he’ll move them over to the T.V. And once he takes them all to the T.V, he’ll start lining them up again.

Once the cars are in a nice, straight line, he’ll take a minute to figure out what he wants to do next.

And once he’s done pondering, he’ll realize he wants to play with his cars outside. So outside he’ll go.

And once he carries them all outside, at once, in his two little hands, he’ll decide that he wants to do nothing more than…Line them up.

And that’s what happens when you give my boy some cars.

2 years ago today I had a beautiful healthy baby boy who stole my heart.

7 lbs 10 0z of beautiful baby boy.

7 lbs 10 0z of pure sweetness.

7 lbs 10 0z of cuteness overload

He is now 25ish pounds of pure boy. He loves to get dirty, loves to play with his cars and choo choos and has decided that throwing is awesome (much to mama’s delight).

Happy 2nd birthday sweet boy! Your momma, daddy, and sister love you so much!

Now if I could just get them while on a beach in Mexico with a margarita I would be one happy girl!

Photo Credit: Penniesonaplatter.com

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

Recipe From: penniesonaplatter.com

Ingredients

3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup green salsa
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice (juice from half a lime)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp chopped cilantro
2 Tbsp sliced green onions
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
1 cup shredded Mexican flavored cheese
small flour or corn tortillas
kosher salt
cooking spray

Preparation

Preheat your oven to 425˚F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, mix the cream cheese, salsa, lime juice, ground cumin, chili powder, onion powder and garlic. Once combined, stir in the cilantro and green onions. Add the chicken and cheese; mix thoroughly.

(If you decided to prep this in advance, refrigerate the mixture at this point until ready to continue.)

Working with a few tortillas at a time, heat them in the microwave between two paper towels until they are soft enough to roll (about 20 – 30 seconds).

Spoon 2-3 Tablespoons of the chicken mixture onto the lower third of a tortilla. Roll the tortilla as tightly as you can.

Place the rolled tortilla seam side down on the baking sheet. Repeat with remaining tortillas until the mixture is gone.  Make sure the taquitos are not touching each other. Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray and sprinkle with kosher salt.

Bake for 15 – 20 minutes or until crisp and golden.

Serve with salsa, sour cream or guacamole.

**To freeze:  Before baking, flash freeze the taquitos in a single layer on a baking sheet then place in a labeled freezer bag and store up to 3 months.  To bake a frozen taquito (no need to thaw first): Preheat oven to 425˚F and bake for 20 minutes.

I have used many banana bread recipes and some have turned out super yummy once and then turned out horrible the next time. Others are OK every time I make them. Then I found this gem. It is a simple recipe and has always come out absolutely delicious. As a testament to how simple it is, Little Miss typically helps me make it and I usually am just watching her dump in the ingredients and mix them up. If a 5 year old can do it, I have faith that anyone who likes banana bread can make it too.

Banana Bread

Recipe from: cicadagirl on Tasty Kitchen

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 whole Ripe Or Overripe Bananas
• ⅓ cups Melted Butter
• ¾ cups White Sugar
• ¼ cups Turbinado Sugar (sugar In The Raw)- I’ve never used this in the recipe because I don’t have it on hand at home.
• 1 whole Egg Beaten
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 pinch Salt
• ¼ teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
• 1-½ cup All-purpose Flour

PREPARATION

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Put the peeled bananas (3 or 4, but no fewer or bread will be too dry!) into a large mixing bowl and smash with a wooden spoon. Add the melted butter and mix together with the spoon.

3. Add the sugars, egg, and vanilla, stirring to combine.

4. Sprinkle the baking soda, salt, and cinnamon over the top and mix into the mixture.

5. Add the flour last and mix.

6. Pour mixture into a buttered 4×8″ loaf pan.

7. Bake for one hour. Cool on a rack before removing from the pan to serve.

*Note: I typically set my timer for about 10 min shy of the cooking time stated and go from there. Cooking times can vary from oven to oven.

2. Little Miss LOVES (insert voice dripping with sarcasm) when I take pictures of her. Just loves it.

3. Little Man turns 2 on Friday I can’t believe that he’ll be 2. I’m a little in shock.

4. Little Man always has a dirty face. It’s the boy in him. I clean his face and two seconds later it’s dirty. I think he likes it that way.

5. My kids are both very artsy. They love drawing and painting and coloring and cutting and anything that has to do with art.

6. Little Man has to be on the go. All the time. As I’m typing this, he’s handing me his shoes. If someone leaves the house, he expects to go and if he doesn’t…well let’s just say he gets upset. Which leads me into…

7. Little Man is starting to show me that he inherited my temper. As did my daughter. Making this a household of three (yes three) German tempers and one (Mr. Chaos) that has to deal with three German tempers. Poor man.

8. Little Miss may become a hoarder. I put her to bed at night in a clean bed and when she wakes up it is full of stuffed animals, books, and dolls.  Sometimes I don’t know how she fits into her bed. Oh and if a blanket is bought, it’s automatically her blanket.

9. Little Miss watches the same movie over and over again. For days, sometimes weeks, she’ll watch the same movie and never get tired of it. I wondered where she got this trait from and have discovered she definitely got it from her daddy who will play the same song over and over and over again until he’s sick of it. Then when it’s played on the radio he says it’s been “overplayed.” Yeah it has…by him. Little Miss got Cars 2 for Christmas and I believe I already have most of it memorized.

10. My kids…they’re awesome

And we’re busy. We just got back from vacation a couple days ago and I’m working on getting unpacked. It’s not going well. Not at all. I don’t want to do any of it. There are toys everywhere. Literally everywhere and just when I feel like tackling all the toys I remember the kitchen is a disaster and clothes need to be put away and laundry needs to be done. Then I just talk myself out of doing any of it.

Will someone please send some motivation my way to get all this done? Better yet, who wants to come to my house and clean it for me?!

Ok. No takers. Well then, you will find me under all the clothes that are topped with toys and dirty dishes and clothes that need washing.