Our Family's Current Favorite Breakfast

We love these.  We eat 'em up.  They aren't the healthiest things, but then again they've got to beat a bowl of sugary cereal, right?  And besides... they are a treat, so it's all good.


Remember Hardee's?  These make me think of that place.  These and really good biscuits and gravy.  I used to love the Sunday mornings my daddy would bring in Hardee's biscuits and gravy for breakfast!  But this post is not about biscuits and gravy, is it?


It's about these:

Cinnamon Raisin Biscuits 

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup white flour

5 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

3/4-1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup raisins

1 cup milk

1/2 cup salad oil

Preheat oven to 450.  Mix flours, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.  Add in raisins and mix well to coat.  Pour milk into liquid measuring cup.  Add oil on top of milk; do not stir.  Pour both liquids into dry ingredients.  Stir until dough forms into (mostly) a ball.  Dump onto floured cabinet and knead 5-6 times until smooth.  Pat out approximately 1/2 inch thick and cut into biscuits.  Place on ungreased baking sheet and bake 10-12 minutes.

When the biscuits come out of the oven, mix together:

2 cups powdered sugar

2 Tablespoons milk (approximately)

1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix the milk in a little bit at a time.  The icing should be fairly thick and fall very slowly (not drizzle) from a spoon.  Drop the icing onto the biscuits while still warm.  The icing will spread on it's own.

Your family may like more or less icing to taste.  My guys like a lot.  And I'm a pushover.  Or maybe I like a lot, too. But don't tell them, 'kay?


Do you have a favorite breakfast treat?

Alan-isms

#1 - Daddy, Dale and I are all big into Sudoku puzzles these days.  One of us has always got the book opened up to one working on it.  Today Alan grabbed it and turned to a blank puzzle and started his own.  The best part?  Hearing him talk about his "sudy-koo".  


#2 - On a related note, we have a Corduroy book that surfaces every now and then.  Today Alan checked out one identical to ours from the library.  I didn't mind though, because that means I get to hear him ask me to read "Cordy-rordy" to him. :)


#3 - We have a box of wal-mart brand 'crisp rice' cereal in the cabinet.  I keep it mostly for making the marshmallow treats (about twice a year, lol).  But Alan has decided he likes to just eat it.  Fine with me.   And since the 'suggested serving' on the box has sliced bananas in the bowl, Alan has dubbed it his very own "Banana Crunch" cereal.  (So if Alan comes to your house and asks for "Banana Crunch", now you know what he wants.) :)


#4 - One of my all time favorites is hearing Alan talk to or about our pastor.  We all call him "Brother Bobby".  Alan?  To him he's "Brubber Bobby".  Makes me smile every. time.

Our Big News - Some Additional Details

Thanks so much for all of your congratulations!  
Yes, I am feeling well, 
no I am not showing (much) yet, 
yes, the boys know, 
and yes! they are excited!


And a few other observations over the last couple of months:


The #1 help for 'morning' sickness: Ginger root capsules.  Wow! Greg surprised me with them one day and they are amazing.  I have never had bad morning sickness, just occasional to frequent bouts of feeling nauseous.  This was my first time to try the ginger root, and just one capsule once or twice a day if I needed it would usually knock it right out.  And - bonus! - they can be used for motion sickness too, so even though the nausea stage has passed there is a good chance we'll be getting more use out of those handy capsules. :)


The #1 question we have heard and expect to hear over the coming weeks: "Are you trying for that girl?"  While yes, we would love to have a little pink and lace in our lives, we aren't holding our breath.  Out of 10 babies born in the last 80 years on Greg's side of the family, 9 have been boys.  Nine.  


We agreed before this baby was ever conceived that we would have another even we knew 100% it would be a boy.  And it's a good thing, because that's just nearly the odds history has given us.  That said, God determined long ago what this child would be and we are already thankful for his decision.  And already getting eager to find out in a month or two. ;) 


The #1 most fun people to tell the big news: Dale and Alan!  (I told Tyler several weeks ago... he's a good secret keeper.;)  )  Seeing as how we all still see Tyler as a baby, and seeing as how the big boys don't see his status changing any time soon, the first thing they said was, "We're going to have two babies!"  Since then Dale has been busy calculating all the age differences and how-old-who-will-be-when ("When I'm 16 this new baby will be 8 years old!").  Alan almost immediately claimed the new baby for his own.  I guess it's one per customer, and since Tyler is already clearly 'mine' he figures the next one is up for grabs.  He's called dibs.  ("You can change Tyler's diaper, and I will change my baby's diaper.")  He and Dale both are busy coming up with potential (boy) names.  Some are silly, some are actually pretty good suggestions.  Let's just hope we get this one named a little quicker than Tyler. I think he was named less than a week before he was born!

Guess What?

At the end of September...

...this little stinker...

...is going to be...

... a big brother!

Adventure Day

I am a planner.  I like research and schedules and... well... plans.

Today, however was a departure from my way.  Today was all about Greg's plans.  

Which didn't involve much beyond our destination.  We went on a reconnaissance mission to a nearby state park.  Scoping it out for potential camping someday.  Exploring all the park has to offer.

We left with a printed map and an ice chest full of lunch.

First order of business, playground #1:

Immediately followed by a picnic lunch.

And a little more playgrounding.

Then off to a museum and gift shop on the grounds.

Dino diorama anyone?

Next stop: train ride!

Almost time to go home, but we definitely have time for one more playground:

I have to say, it was nice to just sit and ride and not worry about plans and agendas.  We all got fed, and we all had fun.  A great way to end the last weekday of spring break, and with a promise of more fun days ahead!

"Lucky" day? Maybe. Full of blessings? Definitely!

What a full day we have had!


We started with a rainbow coffee cake for breakfast for St. Patrick's day.  Other than all wearing green, it is the only thing we did to acknowledge it.  And oh boy, did we wear the green.  Dale made sure of that!


After lunch Dale and Alan and I headed to the library for our weekly homeschool garden club.  

(I must, must do a blog post all about our garden club!)  This week's meeting was one of the busiest, hardest working ones.  We planted almost everything this week!  

It was also the warmest meeting yet.  At least 80 and in the sun.  We got hot!  The kids did almost as much running in to the water fountain as they did planting!  Almost.  But not quite.  They (and the adults) worked hard!


Since we were all hot from working so hard, we came home to pick up Daddy and Tyler (Daddy's spring break this week!) and went to Sonic for happy hour.  Yay Sonic!  Yay half-price drinks!  Definitely a treat.


An even better treat was getting home and discovering what my awesome husband had done while we were gardening: he shampooed and scrubbed the living room carpet!  It smells so fresh and looks fantastic!  Made. my. day.


The late afternoon was filled with yard work for the guys.  Gramps even came over with his chain saw!  We're talking major yard work.  Tyler napped and I worked on lesson plans.  At one point there were sirens nearby and I looked outside to see this:

Turns out the house across the street behind us was being visited by a police car, a fire engine, and a handful of volunteer firemen, all with lights flashing.  A must-see for any boy, no matter what fence may be standing in his way.  


(And the firemen didn't stay long at all, and didn't go rushing in with hordes of equipment, so we gather that everything turned out ok.)


And finally, like a gigantic cherry on top, after supper I pulled the curtains and closed the blinds.  I kept Dale and Alan busy as long as I could doing a quick pick-up and putting on pjs while Daddy was busy, busy outside.  Finally, I could contain them no longer, and Daddy came in to announce the surprise:

Even as I type, Daddy and Dale and Alan are lined up in their sleeping bags with flashlights and pillows in Alan's big green barn.  A backyard camp-out.  Life just doesn't get much sweeter than that!

Have Picture - Need Caption

Tyler can't eat a sandwich without disassembling it.  I love the expression on his face the day he tried to take apart his grilled cheese, but what exactly is it saying?

Any caption ideas?