Mother's Day Recap and 10 on 10

You guys, my baby is going to be ONE this weekend! What!? How!?

I'm in full party planning mode and trying to get my house in some kind of order before the party so I'm a little behind here. First up, last Friday was 10 on 10. I love this meme because it's a glimpse into our daily life. I've posted about 10 on 10 before in Jan 2012 and April 2012. It's fun to look back. I need to do these more often.

1. Little Sis calling "Ma Ma Ma" from her crib 

2. I've started having Miss. M make her bed everyday. She does a great job but still puts up a fuss every now again. I think it's worth the battle and most days she does it without being asked. 

3. One of the many perks of Jon being self-employed, he can join us for shopping trips in the middle of the day.

4. Big Sis tickling baby toes!

5. Miss. M is a painting and coloring machine lately. I need to restock my arts supplies.

6. Dinner prep. We had tacos and fresh guacamole. 

7. Nightly Dance Party

8. Flannel Muppets pajamas in 90 degree weather, Halloween necklace, Dora purse and a tutu. Yup, ready for bed.

9. Sleeping Baby Bum

10. Big Sis and her guard kitty ;)

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Mother's Day Recap

I had a great Mother's Day. At the last minute my Dad decided to surprise my Mom with a night in a Disney Hotel. One of the many perks of being in Central Florida, you can have a mini getaway in Disney. We met them at hotel pool for dinner and some swimming. Both the girls love the water and I really need to sign them up for lessons very soon.

The next day, we had brunch at another Disney hotel. It was fun to see the girls reactions to the Disney characters. I thought Little Sis would be spooked but surprisingly she was very interested.

When we arrived home, Jon told me to take a nap while he took care of everything. Well, you don't have to tell me twice. I napped, like a champ. It was awesome! 

The best part of my day was my gift. Jon made a video of Miss. M while he asked her questions about me. It's the best present ever! I'll post it here soon. He says he plans to do it every year.

How was your weekend? Have you interviewed your kid(s) on video?

If you like this post you may want to Subscribe to Working on a Project. I would love to get to know you, so leave a comment. Let's chat! I'm on Facebook and Twitter. Oh and don't forget about Pinterest and my favorite, Instagram (nicolette_springer)! 

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Banana and Blueberry Muffins with Stonyfield Greek Yogurt

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you may have seen that I shared this picture of my banana blueberry muffins made with greek yogurt and topped with chocolate chips.

Those chocolate chip topped yummies are what I made for breakfast yesterday morning and Stonyfield Farms featured them on their  Facebook page as part of their Wake Up with Stonyfield campaign.  Stonyfield is celebrating 30 years of creating organic goodness by encouraging their fans to share photos and stories via social media with the #wakeupwithstonyfield. Yesterday's theme was Wake Up Deliciously. A new prompt is announced daily on their website and through social media. You can also sign up to receive email reminders here.

In conjunction with this fun campaign, Stonyfield will be choosing a Blogger Ambassador to represent them online. When I heard about this opportunity I was so excited because I truly love their products! Their yogurt was one of the first foods I fed both my daughters. After breastfeeding for a year, I was determined to only provide the best dairy for my girls, so we committed to only using organic milk products in our house. I even converted my Mom who now always has the fridge stocked with organic yogurt and milk when we visit.

I'll be participating in this "virtual interview" through June. I would love your support and it's super easy to help out. I'll be sharing lots of pics and recipes via social media about how we much we love Stonyfield products and how we use them in our house. I would really appreciate it if you would like, comment, share or retweet them. That's it! A few simply clicks to spread the word about this great company and their products. Thanks in advance, you guys are best!

Now, back to the muffins. Almost every comment on Facebook requested the recipe but I had none to share. My oldest daughter requested banana bread for breakfast but that takes over an hour to bake. I improvised and created these delicious banana muffins. I wanted to share them with all of you so I recreated them last night for this post. I measured and wrote everything down this time ;)

A few notes about the ingredients. I used agave syrup which is a natural alternative to white sugar. You can sub white sugar but you may need a little bit more. An extra 1/4 cup should do it. I also included 1 container of Stonyfield blueberry greek yogurt. You can used any flavor or even plain but it needs to be Greek not regular yogurt. I love baking with fresh fruit but blueberries can be tricky. They are very moist and often create craters and underbaked spaces in the muffin. To avoid this problem, I opted for small dried blueberries. I found them near the raisins in the grocery store. Finally, in the picture above I used paper liners but I recommend lightly spraying the pan instead. The muffins slightly stuck to the paper, I suspect it's because there is no oil or butter in this recipe. A little spray with no paper worked wonderfully the second time around.  

Ingredients 

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup agave syrup (if using white sugar you may need to increase to 3/4 cup)

1/2 cup applesauce

1 large egg

1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)

1 5.3 oz container of Stonyfield blueberry greek yogurt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup dried blueberries

Chocolate chips for garnish

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate larger bowl, combine agave, applesauce, egg, mashed bananas, greek yogurt, and vanilla. Add flour mixture; stir just until moist. Gently folded dried blueberries into the batter.

Spoon batter into a cupcake pan lightly coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for about 15 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool for few minutes in pan, then transfer to a wire rack. Carefully, place a few chocolate chips on top of each warm muffin.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoy these muffins. Have you ever baked or cooked with greek yogurt before? Share your experiences in the comments.

If you like this post you may want to Subscribe to Working on a Project. I would love to get to know you, so leave a comment. Let's chat! I'm on Facebook and Twitter. Oh and don't forget about Pinterest and my favorite, Instagram (nicolette_springer)! 

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{Wordy Wednesday} The Garage Saga

This is the current state of our school/playroom. To my annoyance, it has been this way for almost three weeks. For my husband's birthday (remember the drunken chocolate pie?) I asked several family members to chip in so we could get the garage floor epoxied (it's a special heat resistant paint) and walls painted, add some shelves. You know make it all man cave-ish. 

Well, I hired a guy and managed to keep my big mouth shut about for the two week prior to Jon's birthday.  Birthday arrives, "Surprise, your garage is going to be awesome, hooray! Now empty that bad boy out, the guy is coming in two days." The morning of I get a text from the guy (I had other names for him at this point) saying it wasn't going to work out for him. I rant and rave for a while and then start calling other people. 

It takes a week to get someone here for an estimate. I find a new guy, price is agreed upon, he says he needs to check his schedule and will confirm asap. Apparently, asap means something completely different to new guy because I never heard from him again, despite me following up several times. 

Unrelated, we had a garage door repairman (yes, that is a thing. I had no idea until our garage door broke) here because our door was off balance. I mentioned my garage floor woes and he said I have a friend who can do it. His friend, my new BFF, will be here today... hopefully. 

I would love to get to know you, so leave a comment. Let's chat! I'm also on Facebook and Twitter. Oh and don't forget about Pinterest and my favorite, Instagram (nicolette_springer)!

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10 Free Gifts Mom Will Love for Mother's Day

Before children my idea of a great gift was a fancy purse, a beautiful piece of jewelry or an elegant dinner out with my husband. I can still appreciate all of these presents and I wouldn't turn any of them down but as a Mom, I now have a new found appreciation for the simple things. Here's a list of 10 things that would make any Mom grateful.

1. Let her sleep in.

2. Plan and cook all the meals for the day.

3. Go grocery shopping and take the kids with you.

4. Do the laundry. Wash, dry, fold, iron, the whole shebang.

5. Allow her to take an uninterrupted shower.

6. Let her enjoy a warm meal or hot cup of coffee, as in she gets to eat a meal before it gets cold.

7. Give her the time to read something other than directions or a children's story.

8. Privacy in the bathroom.

9. Let her get dressed, do her makeup and hair without having a child attached to her leg.

10. The luxury of a making a phone call in peace and quiet.

Originally, I was going to list the 10 worst gifts for Mother's Day but I decided this was better. That being said, I do want to share my brother's recommendation for the worst Mother's Day gift: Nothing. I couldn't agree more. Whatever you decide to give your wife or Mom is better than forgetting. If you do forget, I highly recommend using my list here as a way to repent.

Did I forget anything on the list? What was the best and worst gift you have received?

I would love to get to know you, so leave a comment. Let's chat! I'm also on Facebook and Twitter. Oh and don't forget about Pinterest and my favorite, Instagram (nicolette_springer)!

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Speechless Sunday

You've heard of Wordless Wednesday, well I'm calling this Speechless Sunday :) 

This is my husband's way of entertaining our two kids and our niece and nephew on a very rainy weekend. The adults thought it was hilarious, my niece just wanted her helmet back. 

I would love to get to know you, so leave a comment. Let's chat! I'm also on Facebook and Twitter. Oh and don't forget about Pinterest and my favorite, Instagram (nicolette_springer)!

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Old School Blogging: Pop Culture Edition

One of my reasons I began my writing challenge is because I want us to get to know each other more. I have several "get to know me" style posts planned for this month but thanks to Greta I just heard about a fun link up hosted by Elaine of Miss Elaine-ous Life and Loukia of LouLou’s Views called Old School Blogging. Basically, I answer some questions about herself from back in the day.

1. What was one of your favorite shows as a kid? Why?

Webster and Punky Brewster are the first shows I remember watching regularly. I'm not sure why I liked them. I'm not even sure I picked them. It may have been more of what my Mom liked. Either way, I liked the spunkiness of both Webster and Punky. I thought it is was cool that they were so smart and that the grown-ups took their ideas seriously. 

2. Which actress(es) do you see on the red carpet and kinda wish you could be for a day (or three)?

This one is hard for me because I don't follow a lot of celebrities. I would want to be someone who was using their fame for good. Maybe Jessica Alba. She is the founder of the The Honest Company that specializes in non-toxic products for babies and families. 

3. Which actor do you wish you could, um... hang out with?

Hmmm, this is going to be corny. As much as I can really appreciate some man eye candy, the only man I want to "hang out with" is Jon. Cheesy, I know but true.

4. What is one (or two or some) of your favorite movies that you have seen in the last few years?

Off topic (kinda): Here's something about me that surprises some people, I really don't like chick flicks. I find them to be too predicable and often very dumbed down which I find insulting to the audience. I prefer a movie that makes me think or challenges my preconceptions. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good veg session in found of the TV now and then but not very often.

Ok, back to the question. Sadly, I couldn't remember the last movie I saw. I had to ask Jon for help with this one. We came up with the new Star Trek, the King's Speech and the last two James Bond movies. That's pretty sad so let me add a few I want to see soon. The Great Gatsby, Anna Karenina, Iron Man 3 and I'm really excited about Anchor Man 2 coming out later this year.

5. Who is one celebrity out there now that you could totally do without? That you wish would just disappear?

Not sure if he counts as a celebrity but I find Donald Trump to be outrageously annoying. If I never saw or heard him again I'd be okay.

6. Have you ever met a celebrity? If so, who? What did you say/do when you met them?

Last summer, we were invited to a kid's event at the Gaylord Palms. Surprisingly, there was a performance by Vanilla Ice! Jon and I, along with all the other parents, were pretty excited. All the kids were like, "who?" While the parents danced and sang along to Ice, Ice Baby. It was really fun. 

Afterwards, Vanilla Ice took the time to chat and pose for pictures. We told him how much we liked his new show. He was very gracious and thanked us until he saw Little Sis in the stroller. She was about 2 months at the time. He kept looking at her saying what a blessing she was and then insisted on taking a photo with her. It was genuinely very sweet. I felt as if the baby caught him off guard and he snapped out of the the "hi, thanks for coming, let's pose for a picture" routine into his true self. I was completely impressed. A real sweetheart. 

7. Which shows do you look forward to watching every week?

My original answer to this question was The Following, Person of Interest, Dexter, Walking Dead, Game of Thrones and Homeland. Than, I realize that's a lot of death and mayhem so let me explain. First, not all these show are on at the same time throughout the year. Maybe two or three coincide with each other. Second, I also love How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory and Men at Work.

That was fun. I would love to get to know you, so leave a comment with your answer to one of these questions.

Let's connect! I'm on Facebook and Twitter. Oh and don't forget about Pinterest and my favorite, Instagram (nicolette_springer)!

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Week in Photos: Playing Telephone

Day three of my challenge to publish here daily for a month and so far so good. I'm definitely having to be more self disciplined with my time management but I feel great. Craving out a specific time to write and engage via social media is actually making me more efficient when I'm offline. I'm able to focus and give more of me because my mind is not elsewhere. I'm looking forward to what this challenge will teach me in the coming weeks.

Overall this week has been productive. Some of the projects I mentioned about on Wednesday are still not fully complete but a few have made it off the list. My favorite so far is the repurposed chandler we hung in the mudroom. I spray painted a basic gold fixture green and it just makes this space so happy.

The house came with very few working light fixtures. Since it hasn't been in the budget to replace all of them at one time, we been getting by with what we have. Adding this light really emphasizes how much we need better lighting throughout the house.

My plan next week is tie up a few house projects and than move on into full party planning mode. I almost can't believe it but Little Sister is going to be ONE in just two weeks! Somebody please come to my house and hold me because I'm not ready. Oh and bring chocolate, the good kind ;)

I've created a Pinterest board for her party if you want to follow along. My regular party board is great too for all types of parties.

Her expression here cracks me up. I have several photos with this pose. Jon calls it the "Hey, you're not my mom. Where is mom?" look.

My favorite thing lately is how the girls interact with one another. They are starting to really play together and it just makes my heart joyful. Little Sis has learned to put a phone to her ear. So every time Miss. M sees her do it she makes a phone with her hand, puts it to her ear and begins a pretend conversation with her. The most adorable part is that M role plays both sides of the conversation animated with gestures and even varies the inflection in her voice. I could seriously pass out from the cuteness. 

How was your week? What do you have planned in the coming weeks?

I would love to get to know you, so leave a comment. Let's chat! I'm also on Facebook and Twitter. Oh and don't forget about Pinterest and my favorite, Instagram (nicolette_springer)!

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