9.30.2011

Flutter By Friday 9.30: Awesome Blogs Galore!


Welcome
 to
Flutter By Friday! 




The reason:
  • For readers to find other neat blogs to read and follow
  • For bloggers to find readers/followers
Here's what to do:
  • Follow the host (Mama Dani's Musings) and co-host (I'm bloggin')
  • Use the linky at the bottom of the page to link-up (no more than) two posts per week
  • Check out the other posts linked up
  • Comment and follow the ones you like
  • Come back next week and do it all over again


I'll pick a link from this week's hop to feature on next week's hop

  • By linking up you are giving permission for me to feature you and use a picture from your blog


This week's feature is:
be sure to stop by and leave her some love!

Be sure to snag the button to place on your post, sidebar or linky party page








9.27.2011

Girls' Pick

Lexi's Pick:
Big Sister, Little Sister by Leuyen Pham
We got this book for the girls shortly after Alexis was born, it's such a sweet book. I grew up with a brother and we have a pretty good relationship but nothing compared to the relationships that my girls have. They are the cutest sisters ever. This book describes them perfectly.The author, Leuyen Pham, wrote the book for her big sister as a gift and it's narrated by the "little sister". It tells how the big sister gets to do all the fun stuff like try on lipstick and go to bed later, but, even though the little sister gets all the hand me downs and likes to be messy, she's awesome in her own unique way! It's a great story about how sisters, even though completely different, can be the best of friends.
amazon.com

amazon.com
Char's Pick:
I Can Lick 30 Tigers Today! by Dr. Seuss
When I saw this book at the library I thought the title meant lick with a tongue, turns out it means lick as in fight! There are also a couple other stories in this book as well. It's an enjoyable and typical Dr. Seuss book with great rhymes and intriguing stories. We really liked reading the different stories in this book, especially The Glunk That Got Thunk. 

9.23.2011

Flutter By Friday 9.23: Link It Up!




Welcome to
Flutter By Friday! 

The reason:
  • For readers to find other neat blogs to read and follow
  • For bloggers to find readers/followers
Here's what to do:
  • Follow the host (Mama Dani's Musings) and co-host (I'm bloggin')
  • Use the linky at the bottom of the page to link-up (no more than) two posts per week
  • Check out the other posts linked up
  • Comment and follow the ones you like
  • Come back next week and do it all over again!

I'll pick a link from this week's hop to feature on next week's hop
This week's feature is:

be sure to stop by and leave her some love!


Be sure to snag the button to place on your post, sidebar or linky party page












9.21.2011

Apple-Pie Cake

Today is a special day, my sweet baby's second birthday. For her birthday instead of a cake I came across this recipe for Apple-Pie Cake and had to make it. We just went to an apple festival and came home with bags of apples so this was the perfect use for them.










 Happy Birthday Lexi!









9.20.2011

Girls' Pick

amazon.com
Lexi's pick was Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? by Dr. Seuss. Both girls loved this book. It's soo much fun to listen to them try to recreate the sounds that Mr. Brown can do. It's a fantastic book to encourage involvement in reading.
amazon.com
Char's pick was SPIDER-MAN! She finally was able to check-out a Spider-Man book from the library. Every time we've gone before it's been checked out. While I was picking out our books for the upcoming week Charlotte told me she was going to ask if they had any Spider-Man books and she left. She walked right up to the information desk, said, "Excuse me, do you have any Spider-Man books?" and then followed the librarian to where the books would be located. I am loving how independent she is becoming. This isn't the first time she's ever asked a librarian for a book she wanted but she did it with confidence that she's never had before. It makes me so proud to see her growing up before my eyes into a proud confident girl that knows what she wants and knows how to get it. We haven't finished reading the book yet, but we haven't been disappointed with it so far.

9.19.2011

Tanger Bicentennial Garden

The day we visited the Greensboro Bog Garden we also visited the Bicentennial Garden, they happen to be right across the street from each other! The Bicentennial Garden is the third out of four free public gardens in Greensboro we've visited, I haven't been disappointed by any of them. The Greensboro Beautiful project has done an amazing job with all of the gardens (Bog Garden, Bicentennial Garden, Arboretum, and Gateway Gardens) all three that we have been to have been breathtakingly beautiful and we are so lucky that they are free for the public to enjoy!
The Bicentennial Garden is about 20 minutes away from us and right across from the Bog Garden

Restroom at the front entrance

The view walking into the garden

Smelling the flowers
According to the Greensboro Beautiful website this garden is a popular place for weddings and photography. When we were there a senior happened to be getting her pictures taken, it was fun for the girls to watch the photographer pose her in different spots, I can imagine how in awe they'd be over a bride! The gazebo (pictured below) is where many of the weddings take place. The girls (sitting in the urn) are against the back wall of the gazebo, aren't they adorable? 

Space in front of the gazebo used for wedding guests
The whole garden has a paved walkway
See what looks like a ditch in the picture above filled with brush? It's actually a manmade stream that runs through the garden. We happened to look over into it and found a wonderful surprise, somebody had gone down into the little stream and took the time to create some land art! We found towers in three different locations throughout the garden, it was fun looking out for them.





There are quite a few statues scattered around the park 

There are benches everywhere which is awesome because the garden is very large. The benches also make for nice photo-op spots, if you have willing participants.

The flowers, trees, ground covering, shrubs, bushes, mossy stuff, plants, whatever you call them! They're all beautiful, well manicured, not overgrown, well watered, not wilty, brown or ugly. The displays were tasteful, the colors complimented each other nicely. What I'm trying to say is that the actual 'garden' part of the Bicentennial Garden are lovely!







Like my previous posts about the public gardens in Greensboro, I've ended by saying that I'd recommend anybody that lives in or visits the area should visit the gardens, this garden is no exception. If I had to choose one garden out of the three we've been to I would recommend this one, mostly because it offers a bit of everything. Trees, flowers, water, art, facilities, picnic tables, etc. So, with that being said...if you're ever in the area come visit this garden!
On your mark, get set...

9.18.2011

Pancake Sunday 9.18

Apple Crumble
Pancakes

Yesterday, we went to a small local apple festival and brought home quite a few apples, so it's no surprise we're having apple pancakes today! I've made apple-raisin pancakes in the past so was trying to steer away from recipes similar to that and thought an apple streusel type pancake would be good. Turns out,  I didn't have the ingredients to make a streusel topping but I did have the ingredients to create a crumb topping, so that's what I did! I found the recipe here and, like usual, I changed it up with the ingredients I had on hand.

Spartan apples
Firm, white flesh that's not too sweet
Apples, butter, sugar, cinnamon, and a touch of water
Charlotte was all over the kitchen today! I barely had to do anything! I cut the apples and flipped the pancakes and she pretty much did everything else, from measuring ingredients to stirring the apples. She is a natural in the kitchen!


The ingredients stirred up before cooking
Letting the apples simmer
After cooking for at least 30 minutes


We added quite a few spices to our batter to make it extra fall-ish tasting, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cloves, yum, I love the taste of fall!

Our crumble topping: butter, flour, sugar
The recipe called for the crumble to be sprinkled on top of the apple compote but I wanted it to melt into the pancakes so I sprinkled it on top before flipping. Like expected, the butter melted and the sugar created a delicious crispy crust. Perfect for soaking the apple compote juices into!


These pancakes were super delicious!

Mmmmmm, the taste of fall!