Flutter By Friday 10.28: the party is hoppin'!

Welcome
 to
Flutter By Friday! 

It's the last Flutter By Friday of October! We hope you've been enjoying linking up so far. Have you found any new blogs here? Have you gained any new followers? We'd love to know how you're taking advantage of Flutter By Friday! Don't forget to tell your friends so the party keeps growing!!

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:
For Love of Cupcakes
Check out this adorable post full of pumpkin goodness!

For Love of Cupcakes

 stop by and leave her some love!

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

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Wordless Wednesday: too cute to not share

Yoooooooo Gabba Gabba! {Live}

Yesterday was such and exciting day for us. We took the girls to see

Yo Gabba Gabba!

It was so much fun but before I tell you all about it I want to tell you that

I was not paid to write this

and

I didn't get free tickets to this show

I'm writing this as a mom that loves Yo Gabba Gabba and has children that love it as well. I saw that the tour was coming to our area a few months ago and knew I wanted to take the girls for their birthdays. A belated birthday present for Lexi and an early birthday present for Char. It was a surprise for both of them. I'm gonna give a brief summary of the show, this is not nearly all of it but don't want to give anything away.

When we first arrived there was this banner hanging up and the girls began to get really, I mean REALLY excited. I did too, I was so excited to be able to give the girls this experience and was really hoping they'd have a great time.

Lexi wouldn't take her eyes off the stage before the show, afraid to miss something!

The crowd went wild as soon as the banner dropped revealing a HUGE screen and then the beginning of the show began with DJ Lance walking out with the boombox (on the screen) and then he came through a little door and he was there! On stage! In person!!!! 

*SQUEEEEEEEE*

(I kinda have a 'thing' for DJ Lance Rock)

The kids in the audience are going crazy, there is screaming, jumping, clapping craziness and then DJ Lance introduces the characters and the volume went from 10 to about a million, AND THEN they shot off confetti and streamers.

Yo Gabba Gabba! Yo Gabba Gabba! Yo Gabba Gabba! YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

 Lexi was having a blast!

The Super Music Friend Show band was a group called Koo Koo Kanga Roo, they pumped the crowd up with a mixed version of the ABC song which put a lot of emphasis on the "LMNOP" part, they were really high spirited and did a great job getting the crowd envolved.

Leslie Hall came out and sang the song that Jack Black sang on his episode about new friends, she was fun to watch and she looks fantastic (she's lost quite a bit of weight from her appearances on the TV show)

Biz Markie came out and did some beats with the crowd. A bunch of kids got to go on stage and try some beats with him. When he was done doing beats he threw a dance party and everyone went crazy, it was so much fun!

Dancey Dance Time was a cat dance with a scratch to the left and a scratch to the right and a little disco eyes move

Charlotte dancey dancing

Toward the end of the show they sang a song about Fall and Winter and shot out tons and tons of leaf confetti followed by snow/glitter confetti. It was one of my favorite parts, there was soooo much confetti flying around everywhere, it was amazing!

They ended the show with the goodbye song followed by more streamers and confetti and flashing lights. It was a fantastic show and the girls immediately asked if they could watch it again. Mommy and Daddy were absolutely exhausted by the dancing! It was soo soo much fun and if it's in your area and you have a Yo Gabba Gabba fan in your house I encourage you to see this show! You will not be disappointed! 

Pancake Sunday 10.23

Peach Pecan Pancakes

Today was a peach pancake day. They were alright, not my favorite. I'm not a huge fan of peaches but they sounded good so I decided to give them a try. I made a batter with whole wheat pastry flour

and flavored them with peach yogurt. The yogurt didn't add as much peach flavor as I was expecting and gave them a sticky texture. Next time (if there is a next time) I would flavor them with peach puree or juice and chunks of peach.

I added the milk after I added the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients so that I could control the consistency of the batter, it was about the consistency of yogurt.

These are the bubbles you need to look for to know whether it's time to flip the pancakes or not, notice how dry the edges look.

 The syrup for these pancakes had peaches and pecans mixed in and was then warmed on the oven.

It cooked for about 45 minutes, the peaches were nice and soft. I also set out fresh cut peaches and pecans for those that didn't want the warmed syrup.

 Mmmmmm, don't these look yummy!

Flutter By Friday 10.21: Come Link Up!

Welcome
 to
Flutter By Friday! 

Oh my what a week! Sorry if you came for Flutter By Friday last week but BOTH my cohost and I were having technical difficulties. I apologize! But now we're back so be sure to link up your fabulous blog and don't forget to tell your friends! We LOVE finding new blogs to read!!!!

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:

The Outlaw Mom
check out these amazing apple crumble cheesecakes she recently made

you know you want to know how she did it

so stop by and leave her some love!

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

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Changes Again...

I feel like I'm always making changes to the way I do my blog. It's my blog so I guess whatever makes me happy goes. For months I've been trying to find the happy medium between blogging, house, kids, hubby...just life in general.I thought a blog schedule would motivate me to post more often but it turned into more of a chore and I felt really guilty when I failed to get a post up. I also felt like the blog turned into just the scheduled posts instead of updates on family life. This blog originated as a way for family and friends to know what we were up to.

I'm doing away with the schedule!

I've kicked that pesky schedule to the curb, the only post that will be "as scheduled" is the Friday Blog Hop.

A little update on what we've been up to: being outside.

Those two words describe us perfectly! We got a map from a park we went to recently that had all the state parks of North Carolina on it, we've been slowly crossing the parks off the map. We have about 5 more parks within our range for making it a one day trip. All the other parks we'll have to camp out at to make the trips worth it. I have a lot of pictures from the parks we've already been to and hope to have them posted for you soon!

Be sure to check the blog regularly because now that there is no schedule I don't know how often or what I'll be posting about!

And don't forget to "like" my Facebook page!! 

Pancake Sunday 10.16

Cocoa Pancakes

The best way to start a Sunday morning is with chocolate! I guess chocolate is the best way to start any morning now that I think about it...enough thinking, on to the chocolate!

Sifting the dry ingredients

Quality control

Don't forget the chocolate!

I've made cocoa pancakes before but I guess I didn't post about them (I thought I did) but anywho, I'm posting about them now. Thanks to whole wheat pastry flour these pancakes had a nice nutty taste, good texture and were quite hearty, two did me good until lunch! They weren't too chocolately because there wasn't too much cocoa and the pieces of chocolate were small enough to melt into the pancake nicely. 

Enough jibber-jabbering, here's the recipe!

11/4 cp whole wheat pastry flour

1/4 cp cocoa powder

3tbsp sugar

1tsp baking powder

3/4tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cp buttermilk 

1/4 cp milk

1tsp vanilla

1 egg

2tbsp butter, melted

1/4 cp chocolate chips/chunks

Sift the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl

Mix the wet ingredients in a large bowl

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients

Pour batter onto hot griddle 1/4 cp at a time

ENJOY!

Pancake Sunday 10.9

Dulce de Leche Pancakes

 Dulce de leche is a popular treat in Argentina, it's a milk based caramel-like sauce or spread. It's used to sweeten food and candies and can be smeared on toast, muffins and, of course, pancakes. So since we were talking about Argentina this week we made some dulce de leche pancake spread. There are different ways to make dulce de leche but one easy way is to boil a can of sweetened condensed milk in a pot of water, that takes about 3 hours. I didn't have 3 hours to boil a can so I used a double boiler method, that still took waaaayyy too long.

So I cheated and popped it in the microwave for a few minutes. Guess I should have been more patient because it kept it in the microwave a bit too long and it came out kinda hard. But still tasted yummy!

Have you ever had Brachs Milk Maids? It tasted exactly like those.

It looks like peanut butter

For the pancakes I used a recipe that called for the eggs to be whipped frothy with the sugar, I'm pretty sure I'm asking for an electric hand mixer for Christmas because all this hand whipping is killing my arms! My muscles look great though :p

Frothy eggs

Char mixing all the ingredients

 I think I'll add a new griddle to the list as well, looks like I have hot spots!

So here's the final product! Delicious dulce de leche pancakes. I have to say though, I will not be making the dulce de leche from scratch anymore, it's just too time consuming and much easier to buy it in the store.

Flutter By Friday 10.7

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:

Art for Little Hands

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

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Use the top linky, Blogger hates me this morning

Empanadas...sorta...

Empanadas

Empanadas are stuffed pastries that are either baked or fried. In Argentina the dough is typically made with flour, butter and eggs. Argentine empanada filling differs from province to province; beef, chicken, fish, and even fruit. One common filling includes onion, boiled eggs, olives and raisins. 

Here is the Aleacia version of empanadas:

For the filling I browned some ground beef, added diced onions, tomatoes and corn. Seasoned it with taco seasoning and cumin and added a dash of flour to thicken the juices.

While beginning to make the dough for the empanadas, I discovered we didn't have any eggs, I almost called it quits but my husband told me he had bought crescent rolls last time he went shopping. Sooooo, I used crescent roll dough. They aren't the correct shape and they didn't stretch worth a darn so they didn't hold much filling and turned out sloppy but I wasn't really too worried about it. I closed the edges with a fork.

Since the filling is already cooked through you only have to bake them until the dough is done and browned to your desired color. They were really tasty (even though not authentic) they were gone within minutes!