Snowpocalypse! Snowtastrophe! Snowmygod! But the most exciting part of this week was actually that Caroline started preschool:

Sunday:

Saving money on my grocery bill is my new addiction.

Pizza helpers

Her hair is getting ridiculous

Monday:

Twin jammies

Twin couch nap

Twin box playing

Tuesday:

This is how she lives her whole life

Puzzles are WAY more interesting than saying goodbye to mom

The non-snow we got on Tuesday seems like a joke now

Wednesday:

Back to their Olympic training

Weirdo #1 says “Take a picture like this Mommy!”

Weirdo #2 says “TAKE MY PICTURE TOO!”

Thursday:

I pulled up in front of the school and threw them out. They loved it.

I love the gym on base – totally empty at 9 am.

Emergency snow storm supplies: APPLES

Friday:

Caroline “fixed” a lawnmower

Evan ate cheese

I made “OMG” faces at the blizzard

Saturday:

Banana bread baking

Flying dog flies out of the snow once he realized how deep it is

Official toddler measurement: WHOA.

There’s still a travel ban on state roads and highways so we CAN’T go anywhere – not that we were the least bit tempted. We have electricity, Netflix streaming, lots of (boozy) hot cocoa and homemade pizza for dinner. E got home from work before the storm hit and gets to stay with us until Monday, so basically the storm is the best thing that’s happened in two weeks.

Did you take iPhone photos of your week? Link up with one or several below! Please consider joining, even if you haven’t done it before – it’s really fun!

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Sometimes people accuse bloggers of airbrushing real life out off their posts, focusing only on the beautiful, sparkly, aspirational parts of their day to day.

I think this is true. A lot of bloggers want their spaces to be about beauty, to represent the happiest moments, to share only the best memories with the world. Lovely things get lovely compliments. It’s nice to hear approval and admiration from other people, even if it doesn’t actually mean anything. Who doesn’t want to hear “You have a beautiful home” “Your children are adorable” or “Wow, that looks delicious”. Blogs are today’s magazines, and no one subscribes to an ugly magazine.

The problem is when everything looks TOO effortless and TOO perfect. When I read Martha Stewart Living, I know those homes and recipes and children have been styled and arranged and glossed within an inch of their life. When I read blogs I assume I’m getting a real, un-glossed story – or at least one one that is more true than false. Maybe you really do look like a model, have an all white living room and eat every meal in restaurants by candlelight. In that case I am very jealous of your life and won’t say a word about the authenticity of your blog. Congrats on being awesome.

But for the rest of you? Go ahead and show me your messy house or your yoga pants or your dirty children sometimes. Tell me the story of how you planned an idyllic picnic in a meadow but a dog ran off with your roasted chicken and your kids fell in a creek. By all means be beautiful, but be honest too. I’ve never shared a moment of weakness or truth and had someone walk away disgusted. Whether it’s through photos, words, or funny misspelled kitten pictures, let’s be real friends.

Because real friends tell you they let their kids watch 11 episodes of The Backyardigans yesterday AND eat cookies for dinner. They admit that they prepped all the cookie ingredients  like a sous chef on a cooking show so she could take fifty pictures without worrying about a pound of sugar ending up on the floor. A real friend will admit that she chooses and edits her photos because she wants to show off her kids being adorable but also because she enjoys taking and choosing and editing photos. A real friend will admit she ate five six seven cookies while doing all that editing.

A real friend would also share her cookies with you, but you better hurry over since these are going to be gone really soon.

Besides the prep and a little help spooning out the dough, these cookies were totally ginger-made. I couldn’t be more proud of my tiny bakers.

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This morning Caroline was doing push ups – incline push ups, with her feet on the couch and her hands on the floor – and I realized I had been sitting down for like 4 hours straight. So I had a cup of coffee, pounded this out and then went to do something productive. Nothing like an exercising 1 year old to make you feel like a lazy ass.

Sunday:

The kids built steps to reach the clementines. Evil geniuses.

“Mommy, why don’t we have ponies???” “Because your father isn’t Mitt Romney, honey.”

Painting the dining room seemed like such a good idea at the time.

Monday:

Sorry, can’t get up, it would disturb the cat.

We went to terrorize, uh, visit my friend Megan’s yarn store.

I love you, iPhone panoramic thingy.

Tuesday:

When you clean out the toy box, you discover toys you forgot about and it’s like getting NEW TOYS (p.s. My aunt made me that dress when I was a baby)

I got the box closes and we haven’t opened it since. TRUE STORY.

Pretty much how I feel every night by 8 pm.

Wednesday:

Caroline chose to sit on the bench with her blankie instead of doing gymnastics for the first half of class. Then she remembered OH YEAH I LOVE GYMNASTICS.

SUPER GOOD BRAVE BOY at the dentist

Clean teeth make you very tired.

Thursday:

Hmmm…do I look 8 years old today? Yes, I think I do.

What do you mean I can’t do pull ups on the stroller???? I hate you you’re ruining my life!

Cat nap (sorry Instagram friends, I just love this one)

Friday:

Trying to climb into the house

The only time we saw Daddy all week…and he’s leaving for work.

My Friday nights are very exciting.

Saturday:

Insisted on getting up at 6:30 am, only to climb into her brother’s bed and insist it was time to go to sleep. That face says “I DARE YOU TO DISAGREE”

3rd batch of scones in 2 days. Recipe on Tuesday.

Oops?

I can’t believe this week is Thanksgiving already – it’s so early this year! – but I love that I get to enjoy our Christmas decorations for a while longer. I’m crossing all my crossibles that E gets out of shift work in time to help us pick out a tree on Friday (FRIDAY!!!!) and I can’t wait to put up our combination Caroline’s party/holiday stuff. Winter sparkle snowflake woodland fairies FOREVA.

Did you take iPhone photos of your week? Link up with one or several below! I’ve been doing this for more than 2 years now, and I’m a little sad it seems to be dying out now that Amy handed the linky off to me. So PLEASE please consider joining, even if you haven’t done it before. I’ll be around to read everyone’s posts and comment.

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I’ve had a strawberry-rhubarb pie once before in my life. We were visiting my aunt’s parents in Maine and the only two things I remember from the trip are the lake water in Maine is WAY too cold for swimming and strawberry-rhubarb might be my favorite combination in the world. AND YET, until last week, I never tried to make anything with rhubarb. It’s hard to find in the grocery store around here and a little intimidating. I suppose I could grow it myself, but the leaves are toxic and I’d be worried about the kids or pets accidentally gnawing on them.

But when I saw fresh rhubarb in the grocery store last Wednesday I decided it was time to give it a shot. I knew there was a recipe for strawberry-rhubarb crumble in my Weight Watchers Cookbook so I grabbed some strawberries too (I love buy one get one free!). It would have been better if I remembered to grab all the other ingredients that recipe called for, but I made it work.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumble
adapted from the Weight Watchers PointsPlus Cookbook (but I promise no one will know!)
Serves 8

Topping:
3/4 cup old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
3 Tablespoons packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons butter

Filling:
2 stalks rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces (about a cup)
2 – 2 1/2 cups strawberries, hulled and sliced
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 Tablespoon grated lemon zest

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and spray a 7 x 11 inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray (you can use a slightly larger or smaller dish but be sure to watch your bake time)

Combine all the topping ingredients in a medium bowl. Using the back of a fork, break up the butter and stir it into the dry ingredients until it looks like crumbs.

Combine the filling ingredients in a large bowl and stir well until the sugar coats all the strawberries and rhubarb. Spread it out evenly into the baking dish. Repeat with the topping. Bake on the center rack for 50-60 minutes until filling bubbles and topping is golden brown.

I think it’s the perfect combination of sweet and not too sweet, especially with the crunchy topping. And the best part about a crumble is it’s not REAL baking, so if you need to substitute or switch ingredients it’s easily done without risking a huge disaster (ask me about the time I tried to make a pie from memory and forgot to put shortening in the crust. BLECH.)

Enjoy!

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I signed up for Audrey’s handmade exchange with some misgivings – not because I didn’t think I would get a wonderful gift, but because between Caroline’s party and Christmas I wasn’t sure I’d be able to make anything even REMOTELY worth sending to another crafty person. I managed to get something in the mail (although I STILL haven’t sent my recipient my guest post) but the really pleasant surprise was a beautiful pouch and delicious macaroons from MY secrket gifter. Check out her guest post below!

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Hello!  I am Kelley.  My blog is Casa Crafty where I write about my many crafting experiments, my family and day to day life.

This year, I thought it would be fun to participate in the Handmade Sekret Holiday Exchange from Audrey at Planet Hausfrau.

I did have fun! Although, it is difficult to make something for a stranger, so I searched and read and combed through this here blog to get as much insight into Suzanne as I could.

 

 

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