French Toast

When I was growing up, my dad would sometimes make special breakfasts for us on Saturdays or Sundays. It was usually french toast, eggs, and any breakfast meat we had in the fridge. It was always a treat. After I got married, french toast lost its appeal for some reason. I don't know if I just got sick of it or if my taste buds changed, but it never sounded good to me. Adam tried different ways to make it and his recipe has changed over time. He has finally hit the jackpot. I can't get enough of it. We probably have french toast, eggs and bacon for dinner once a week (don't you love breakfast for dinner?).

Now that we have found recipe gold, we want to share the wealth for all you french toast lovers (and the rest of you too- you may just change your mind!).

Here it is:

1/3 cup milk

4 eggs

¾ tsp. vanilla

1/8 tsp. cloves

1/8 tsp. nutmeg

¼ tsp. allspice

½ Tbsp. cinnamon

½ Tbsp. powdered sugar

½ Tbsp. brown sugar

about 8 slices of bread

---Mix it all together and put bread in mixture for about 3 seconds, then flip bread and get the other side for about 3 seconds. Side note- we like to use moist thick bread. We are wheat people but for french toast, we usually use white or Italian. Put the french toast on the griddle until it is "toasty" then flip and do the same on the other side.

Another side note- if you are one who likes to smother your french toast with peanut butter (this probably only applies to people in my family) don't even bother making these. The peanut butter taste pretty much covers the goodness of this recipe. Butter and syrup are the way to go with this perfect french toast.

Sorry we don't have pictures. We had it for dinner tonight but who wants to wait to take pictures before you eat it? Not me.

Once you try out the recipe, let us know what you think.

Going Public

I started a craft blog a few weeks ago but have been a little nervous to bring it public. Now is as good a time as any. If you are into crafts, check it out.

Diaries of the Bedtime Crafter

Let me know what you think!

Our Disappointing Then Fun Holiday Weekend

One nice thing about Adam being in class for 2 months is that he gets holiday weekends off. For MLK Day weekend, we were planning on driving up to Virginia to visit our friends the Pattons that we knew in Motnerey. We haven't seen them for over 3 years and were really excited to visit them and meet their newest addition. The day we were going to leave, our car started making a wierd sound so we took it in and had to have some work done on it, which made us have to cancel our fun trip.

We decided to make the most of it and were thrilled when the Livseys invited us to go bowling with them. The boys loved it. Bridger was ticked that it wasn't his turn EVERY time but loved pushing the ball and waiting for an hour while it slowly reached the pins.

We also went to the creek right by our house and let the boys ride their bikes. It's been really cold here (okay- I know all you people in Indiana and Illinois are thinking we are pansies, but it's not our fault you chose to live in a place that freezes over for half the year) so they haven't ridden their bikes for a while. Bridger just got his for his birthday and he is getting pretty good and pedaling and is starting to learn the art of steering.

Finally, we decided to see what our kids would look like with pantyhose over their head. We were pleasantly surprised. Bridger didn't want to cooperate, but Brody was a trooper. A very scary trooper.

A Christmas Miracle

My kids usually wake up between 5:00 and 5:40. It is disgusting to be up 2 1/2 hours before the sun but I have accepted it as one of the hard things I have to do as a mother. About a week ago I went to Wal-Mart and got a grandma digital clock (the kind with HUGE numbers), covered the minute numbers and put it on Brody's dresser. I told him he could not get out of bed until it said 6. The first morning he was mad when I told him he had to get back in bed, but now he usually comes out right at 6 and says "It's 6 o'clock!" Sometimes he gets so excited that he wakes Bridger up too (who by some miracle is still asleep at 6) and tells him it's 6:00 so it's time to wake up.

This morning is when our Christmas Miracle came. It started out the same as usual. One of them (it was Brody today) started crying at 5:15 and he didn't want to sleep anymore. I just brought him into bed with us and he went back to sleep until.....wait for it....7!!! And Bridger didn't get up until then too! I didn't sleep that well from 5:15 on because Brody is not the most pleasant person to sleep next to, but I didn't care. I didn't get OUT of bed until 7:00.

Today is going to be a beautiful day.

I love Christmas miracles.

I Heart Sugar

The boys and I went to the commissary today after the complete waste of time doctor's appointment we went to for Brody (no, we still don't know what's going on with his poor little tummy). I dread going to the grocery store with them, even if Adam is there to help. Bridger HATES sitting in the cart- even if it's the cool steering wheel rocket ship cart! Brody is usually pretty good as long as his fingers can't reach anything on the shelves.

Today I didn't want to go to the store, but with no milk, no bread and no diapers, I didn't really have a choice so what did I do? What any desperate mother does- I bribed my kids. I told them if they were really good and stayed in the card, they could have some candy when we got back to the car. To my splendid relief, they were good. They stayed in the cart with minimal whining so I went to find a perfect treat for them and found what you see above- a new kind of Skittles. I have always been a fan of Skittles, although the chocolate Skittles didn't do it for me. These are the NEW Skittles Crazy Cores. They have one flavor on the outside and one in the inside. YUMMY. They were all so good! I know because after I gave my kids each a very generous handful, I ate the last smaller handful that was left.

For any of you who care (why wouldn't you?), the flavors are strawberry/watermelon, cherry/lemonade, mango/peach, blue raspberry/lemon and melon/berry.

I can't wait to eat them again.

Bridger's TWO!

I'm not going to say I'm sad that my baby isn't a baby anymore. I am actually thrilled that he is getting bigger and doing more things. The older he gets, the harder it is to think about going back to the baby stage (no, I'm not pregnant- I'm just saying). That's just something that I'm going to have to deal with because I'm pretty sure by the time I'm ready to have another baby, Bridger will be in school...or in college, I'm not sure.

Anyway, on to the birthday party. We kept it simple this year and we will probably keep it simple every year since his birthday is 5 days after Christmas. He won't even realize he's being shafted until he's like 12 so it's okay.

You may notice that his cupcake has matches in it. This is what happens when you don't plan your child's birthday "party" until the afternoon of. I made cupcakes because they're quick and then we realized when we didn't have any candles. Adam suggested we use matches. I thought, "Why not? It's the perfect touch to our already lame white trash birthday party for our sweet not-white-trash little Bridger". It turned out to not be perfect in that after the matches were blown out, Bridger reached out and touched one and burned his little finger. It was so sad. He had a blister on his finger and was crying even during the first few licks of icing. We are awesome parents. Maybe that's why he's doing this:

Bridger got a pillow (and bath crayons) from Hayden and Brooks for his new BIG BOY BED! We set the bunk beds up on Christmas Eve and Bridger did really well not getting out of bed. Brody loves sleeping on the top bunk and climbing up all by himself. Bridger loves getting into bed and snuggling with his blankets.
Bridger also got a bike that he LOVES. It's very similar to Brody's bike so he loves riding it around the yard with Brody.

With Bridger turning two, we also are blessed with way more tantrums, stubbornness, talking back, and two glorious words- "NO!" and "ME!". We love love love Bridger even through all of his terrible two-ness.