Happy Halloween

OK I know I have been a slacker with the blog. I just haven't felt like anything is newsworthy. We went to Spokane in September and had a really great time visiting our friends and my family.
Maddy has been doing really well with pre-school and all of her activities.
I let Maddy decide what she wanted to be for Halloween and she choose Minnie Mouse. I absolutely LOVE her costume.

I'll admit I was willing to buy the costume because I adore these shoes.

Maddy performing 5 little pumpkins.



She also insisted on posing next to all of our decorations. What a goof!

Pinocchio and Jiminy a story read by Madelyn Wehunt

This is pretty long but funny. Maddy was playing school and it was story time.

It's been awhile

these are a few of my favorite pictures from this summer. I love the one with the mittens- especially since it was 80 outside that day.

Good Morning Bailey!

Maddy's new BFF

We just got back from a great trip to visit our friends in Columbus, OH. We spent a day in Sandusky at Cedar Point. It was so much fun. We love roller coasters and Cedar Point has 17. We rode eight of the 17. Our favorite by far was Top Thrill Dragster. Zero to 120 mph in 4 seconds and 420 feet tall. This was by far the most extreme ride I've ever been on. It was AWESOME!! Maddy rode the Woodstock roller coaster five times and loved it.

Above: Chris and I waiting for the green light. Below: the top of the roller coaster It was high.



All of us at the end of the Woodstock Roller Coaster ride. I was very excited.

We stayed with our friends Chris and Staci and they took great care of us and showed us a great time. They took us to the Columbus Zoo but Maddy was exhausted from Cedar Point and she wasn't so into it. It looked like a cool zoo but I guess now we have to go back to see it.
Maddy at the Zoo.

Chris and Staci at dinner, I've never seen two people so excited for a Mariachi Band. It was hilarious, but we also had 2 pitchers of margaritas by this time too. :o)

We also went to Kings Island which is another amusement park. I had too many margaritas and had a bit of a headache so I hung out with Maddy at the water and kiddie park. We had lots of fun and Nate got to ride some wooden roller coasters (not my favorite- too bumpy, bad juju with a headache).

Nate and Maddy pretending to be surprised/scared at the Scooby-Doo ride


Driving Miss Maddy. Love the crooked hat- she looks like a little old lady.

Chris and Staci have the nicest dog, Bailey, and Maddy LOVED her. It was so cute to see Maddy with a dog almost as big as she was. Every morning it was "Good Morning Bailey!" They also would sing Good Morning Milk bone and Maddy would feed Bailey a milk bone or two.

Good Morning Bailey!



Video of my ride on the roller coaster - turn down the volume if you are at work it's kinda loud

Chicago Botanic Garden

Maddy and I went to the Botanic Garden today and had a blast. Well, I had a blast I am not too sure about Maddy. :) It is the coolest place and we will definitely go back.

YUM!

I made chocolate chocolate chip banana bread this morning. I think I have finally found my new favorite breakfast! You may remember a while back I made all these giant claims about being a foodie. I don't think that was even close to being true. I just can't handle the pressure of being a foodie. :o) Although I still love to cook and try new recipes I think I will stick with the title of family cook for now. On to the recipe from one of my favorite food blogs -The Sisters Cafe.

Double Chocolate Banana Bread

submitted by Melanie

Recipe adapted from Cooking Pleasures

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 1/4 cups mashed bananas (about 3)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa (I prefer dutch process)

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1. Heat oven to 350. Spray bottom of 8x4 inch loaf pan with cooking spray.

2. Beat sugar, eggs, and oil in large bowl at medium speed until combined. Beat in banana and vanilla at low speed. Combine flour, cocoa and baking soda in medium bowl; beat into banana mixture at low speed just until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

3 Spoon batter into pan. Bake 60-70 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pan; cool completely on wire rack.

Disneyland

We had such a great time in Disneyland with our friends!
Sydney, Samantha and Maddy in the teacups.
Maddy driving the car at the Autopia


The girls in their costumes in front of the castle.

I will add more pictures later but I really need to unpack.

Blue Feet, Easter Egg Hunt, Kite Flying and Rainbows

Well Easter has come and gone and hopefully spring is going to arrive any day now. Here are some pictures and videos of things we've been up to. Out of order because I didn't feel like resorting them.

My cousin Coreen came over from St. Louis and we had lots of fun -especially since she volunteered to watch Maddy on a Friday night! Nate and I went with some friends to see the play Jersey Boys. It was great. For those of you who haven't heard of it, Jersey Boys is the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. It was lots of fun and the music was fantastic!

Saturday we dyed Easter Eggs -a first for Maddy. I thought a spoon would be easier for lowering the eggs in the dye, it might have been with a smaller spoon, so the pink got tipped over. While Nate was throwing clothes in the washer to get the pink out, I spilled the blue all over Maddy's socks. Once the socks came off the feet were blue. Pretty funny really and it did come out so no harm done.


These are pictures of the community Easter Egg Hunt last week.



Here we are flying a kite, one of our favorite things to do on nice days

A message

Busy Weekend and a new title (if I am able to bestow titles upon myself)

Whew what a weekend! My oldest brother Mark, came in from England. He is here for some training in Dayton and he was able to spend the night with us on Saturday. We were excellent hosts and showed him how efficient the city is at snow removal. Yep that's right we got a wee dusting of snow (about 6 inches or so). His visit was much too quick, so quick in fact that he was a blur and I wasn't able to get any pictures (You're welcome Mark) After Mark headed off to Dayton we played in the snow because I am sure this is it until next winter. I hope mother nature is listening.

As for the new title. I am starting to think of myself as an amateur foodie. Why a foodie? I have cooked so many new meals this year (some more successful than others) and I am actually planning my menus for the week. I still have to figure out a way to eat leftovers (besides pizza), I am just not really a fan of them.

I made bread twice this week (one honey whole wheat and on french bread that I will definitely do again).

But the real reason I am bestowing the title upon myself is because for the first time, in the history of man, both Madelyn and Nate finished their dinner and they LIKED it! What, pray tell, do you feed a 3 year old who thinks the food groups are chocolate milk, Doritos, chicken nuggets and pop tarts? And a 30 something man that eats plain meat and potatoes? How about Savory Braised Short ribs and potatoes (which Maddy insisted were yucky until she actually tried them). Now you see I have a more adventurous palate (at least compared to those two) My potatoes were a very delicious Balsamic Shallot potato but I digress.

Now I know some of you remember when Maddy was a baby and she ate EVERYTHING- the thing is I bragged about it and honestly felt quite smug that I, a first time mom, had mastered the secret of raising a non picky eater. How foolish I was! Every meal for the last year or maybe two has been a struggle. I know I know I am probably celebrating early and tomorrow will be another battle of wills but tonight I am victorious!

For those of you that want to share my title as amateur foodie here are the links to my recipes this week. Thank you Recipe Zaar and La Fuji Mama Blog and Heavenly Homemakers Blog.

http://www.recipezaar.com/Savory-Braised-Short-Ribs-6505

http://lafujimama.blogspot.com/2009/03/katie-kinsers-french-bread.html

http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/blog/honey-whole-wheat-bread

Got a chocolate craving? This are the easiest bestest fastest brownies ever! I recommend eating them warm.

http://www.recipezaar.com/-Whatever-Floats-Your-Boat-Brownies-32204

Or you can eat the batter right out of the bowl... that's good too!

Ribbit Ribbit

Maddy has been trying to hop around on a beach ball lately so I finally found a hoppity ball. Here she is with no instruction, she just figured it out.

St Paddy's festivites

We went downtown on Saturday to watch the dyeing of the river. It was interesting. I don't know if you've ever seen the pictures but usually the entire river is green, like this:

But for some reason this year it looked like this:
I just don't think we waited long enough or who knows maybe because of the economy they could only do a little bit. Whatever the reason it was disappointing. I thought we would be festive so I got all of us green shirts (and green socks for me), I was a little worried that we would be conspicuous with our green. Boy was I wrong, there were people with green feather boas, green hats, green hair, green from head to toe. Then there was this guy, hopefully you can see him he was jogging so he caught us by surprise.

Then we were off to find the parade, it wasn't near the river, it was down by the park so we started off with the throngs of people (most of them on their way to being completely toasted). The parade route wasn't really obvious so we meandered a while and finally gave up.

It doesn't really sound like we had fun but I did, mostly. It was disappointing about the river and now Nate will probably never want to go again, because we've seen it and it was less than spectacular. On the bright side the weather was fantastic! In fact it was so nice we decided to hop on the train and head downtown again on Sunday. Our original plan was to hit the Field Museum but I think it must have been a free day because it was packed inside. I didn't really want to deal with the crowds so we walked along Lake Michigan toward Navy Pier. The lake was still frozen in places but it was really pretty. It was a great chance to just look at the architecture and enjoy being outside.

Swimming Lessons

Maddy started swimming lessons today. She was so excited when she woke up this morning. Last night I convinced her to go to bed because she had swimming lessons "tomorrow". When she woke up she told me "it's tomorrow I get to go swimming!" Too cute.

Using the phone

Painting

I decided that Maddy needed a more creative outlet, so we went out and bought painting supplies. I've been meaning to do this since I got her this easel for her birthday.

Maddy has also started speaking with an accent. I can't tell if it's the Chicago accent or a southern accent. But let me tell you, it's freaking hilarious. I keep trying to get it on video but she knows something is up and she just won't talk. Maybe I talk funny to her? (I know some of you are recalling the way I say measure, so I know I sound funny to you all) I feel bad because she will be talking with her her Southern/Chicago accent and I am totally cracking up. She is at that age where if I am laughing at something (even if its her) she starts laughing too.

As I am typing this she is making me a pretend snack of Dora Soup, Chicken, fries, cookies, tea and water. Maybe I should get crackin' with dinner, I think she is trying to tell me she is hungry.