Just a spoonful of sugar...helps the bananas go down

One morning, a few weeks ago, I had some bananas that were screaming to put me out of their misery and bake them up in some banana bread. We love banana bread at our house and it frequents our breakfast table. So, I whipped up my normal batch that makes two large loaves. The morning was quite full and we were in the process of preparing to leave for the day. We were going to be home just long enough to bake the bread (for about an hour), but not long enough to wait for it to cool so we could have some for breakfast. So, I filled one bread pan and then I filled my mini-muffin tins. The muffins would bake quicker and I could pull them out and serve them for breakfast while the loaf was still baking.
My plan went smoothly. We did all of our chores to get ready to leave and then our yummy muffins were done and there was plenty of time to have a bite. I set the table and called all the kids in, said blessing and told the kids to be nice at the table while I finished switching loads of laundry. Our laundry area is within earshot of the kitchen table and while I switched loads I heard this conversation.
Baden: The banana bread always tastes different when Mom makes it into muffins.
Brooklyn: Yeah - I wish we could eat the bread instead of the muffins.
Ella agreed.
At this point I stepped into the kitchen and explained that the banana muffins were exactly the same as the banana bread. Using a different pan to bake the batter does not change the taste of the bread at all. And with that, I popped one of those mini muffins into my mouth, allowed a second to taste it's banana cinnamon goodness and promptly spit it out in to the trash can. My first though was - banana mini-muffins are definitely not as good as banana bread. But that's ridiculous - so then I started trying to figure out what I could have done wrong. It didn't take long to figure it out.
SUGAR!!!
In my haste, I had forgot to add sugar to the batter. Mr. Baden, you are absolutely correct. Banana bread tastes different when you cook it in mini-muffin tins - especially when you leave out the sugar.
The loaves we made last week, sugar included, were divine.

School Days, School Days

The kids started school about a month ago. We are finally getting back into the school routine. Baden started third grade and he says its a little bit tougher than last year but he likes his teacher and he's already learned so much. Brooklyn loves school and she has so many friends. I walked into the school today and two kids approached me to ask if I was Brooklyn's mom. She's so great.

I can remember so many thing about second and third grade. It's hard for me to believe that I have a 2nd and 3rd grader now.

Ella and Porter are enjoying time with mom. Ella has a little preschool with her friend twice a week and Porter gets to play with his buddy twice a week. I love just hanging out with them - trying to take advantage of every second before they too head off to school.

A couple of first days from the past.

You've had a birthday - shout hooray!!

Happy Birthday Ella Marie!! "I finally turned 5!" - that's what she told me yesterday morning. She has been waiting and waiting to be as old as her friends. She is always wanting to be older - but I wish she would slow down and just be my little girl for as long as she can.
Ella was the sweetest little baby when she came to our family 5 years ago. She was so content and pleasant. She was just what our family needed at a time when a lot of things were hard to bear. She made us smile and brought a ray of sunshine to our home. And she's continued brighten our home ever since.

Ella loves to help out around the house. One of her favorite things to do is make her bed. Brooklyn and Baden like to play royalty and Ella always asks if she can be the castle decorator. She also loves to color and draw. We often find her sweet notes left around the house.
We love Ella's laughter, her kindness and beautiful smile. How thankful we are that she's part of our family.

Cheerleading Camp

The girls went to cheerleading dance camp this summer at the Follett's house. They loved it. I think both girls are hungry to participate in anything involving any kind of dance. They learned a cute dance to Hannah Montana's Hoedown Throwdown and we have been privileged to hear it over and over again since camp - it was nonstop for at least a month. Porter loves to sing along and occasionally we even catch Baden singing the catchy tune.