3 Healthy Muffins for your Toddler

Is your child picky?  

Mine is.  Luke is one picky, particular little eater.  He will eat yogurt and Cheerios about any time of day, but give him veggies, fruit, meat, pasta and it's hit or miss.  I am told that being picky at his age is normal...that it's a phase...that he will grow out of it.  I'm sure all of this is true, but I don't think eating yogurt and Cheerios everyday until this 'phase' is over is too healthy. 

I have been using a few muffin recipes to slip some fruits and veggies into Luke's diet and the best part is he will actually eat them.  He loves his banana muffins for breakfast and will gobble up a broccoli muffin or two at lunchtime (if he is in the right mood).  These muffins do not always do the trick, but they are the perfect snack or meal to pull out of the freezer when I'm needing to feed my picky child something other than yogurt.  Speaking of the freezer, I usually make all of these muffin recipes into mini muffins, then freeze them in quart sized bags, so they are ready to pull out and defrost when needed.  Not only are these muffins healthy, but they are easy to store and reheat.  Hope you try!

Banana Muffins

Pumpkin Muffins

Broccoli Muffins

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Random Picture Friday

Woohooo...the weekend is here!  I don't know about you, but I am ready for it!  Luke and I had a fun week, but it was also a bit exhausting.  We are ready for some downtime with Daddy and maybe a swim at the Quarry.  Have a blessed weekend everyone!

Luke and Amelia last weekend...this will be displayed at their high school graduations.  It is already a classic.

Waiting to go to church.

Luke was giving Abel a stick to play with.

We made a trip to Des Moines to see Paige and Coop.  Since my car was in the shop, Kevin let me borrow his for the day.  Thanks, sweetie!  And a BIG thank you to Paige for taking the day off!

Auntie Paige and Luke

This wading pool was perfect for Luke and Coop.

Joslyn came over to help with Luke on Thursday, she is so great with our little man.

Luke at the zoo, we were happy to get out since we had our car back!

Tot School: Water Play {19 months}

It's the perfect time of year for water play.  Luke and I have been spending lots and lots of time outside playing in the water.  These are some simple water activities we have done the past few weeks.  Our Tot School 'schedule' has been much more flexible this summer.  Hope you and your little one are having a fun and wet summer!

Transferring Water

Rating: 5/5

Skills:
Fine motor development
Sensory development

Activity:
Using a few old yogurt containers and a small plastic tupperware container, Luke practiced transferring water from one container to another.  Luke mostly poured the water out on the deck, but he did get a teensy bit of water from one container to another. 

Watering Plants

Rating: 5/5

Skills:
Fine motor development
Sensory development
Practical life

Activity:
Luke loves watching me water the flowers.  His Aunt Hillary gave him his own watering can for Easter and he loves watering plants right alongside me now.  He might water them a little too much, but no flowers have died, yet. 

Washing Cars

Rating: 5/5

Skills:
Fine motor development
Sensory development
Practical life
Counting

Activity:
One of Luke's favorite things in life are wheels.  I brought out some of his favorite toy cars (with wheels) and let him go to town washing them.  He didn't really get it at first, but Kevin and I modeled for him and he picked up on it towards the end of the activity.  We counted the cars as he put them in the yogurt container and also counted as he took them out.

Sprinkler Fun

Rating 4/5

Skills:
Gross motor development
Sensory development

Activity:
What kid doesn't love some good sprinkler fun?  Luke didn't quite know what to do at first, but he sure got a kick out of the sprinkler.  Kevin ran through with him a few times and there were lots of giggles.

Baby Pool

Rating: 5/5

Skills:
Gross motor development
Sensory development
Practical life
Social development (on playdate days)

Activity:
Luke loves his little pool.  He likes to take his rubber ducks out of the pool and put them back in, as well as pour water in and out of small plastic cups.  Luke especially likes it when he has a friend to play with in the pool!

Watercolor Painting

Rating: 5/5

Skills:
Fine motor development
Colors
Art

Activity:
This was the first time Luke painted with a paint brush.  He was very interested in the marks he was making and also the cup of water we were using to rinse his brush.  The picture he made was put in a journal for Kevin for Father's Day.  This activity kept his attention longer than I thought it would.

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Happy Daddy's Day

I am blessed to have some pretty amazing Dads in my life.  Happy Father's Day, guys!

My Father-in-law
Where to start with Gary?  When I started dating Kevin, Gary always made me feel welcome and comfortable.  He is a gracious and generous man and I knew if Kevin was anything like him, I would be lucky to be in this family.  As the years have gone on, I have learned that he is an incredibly hardworking man.  There have been so many times he has dropped everything to come help us at the farm and I am so SO glad they decided to build so close to us, because I don't know what we would do without him!  Have a wonderful Father's Day, Gary, and thanks for all you do for us!

My Dad
I grew up with a loving, caring Dad who coached me in sports and always supported me no matter how many mistakes I made.  He was my Dad, my coach, and my hero.  As a little girl, I remember him as this tall (he's not that tall), strong, penny-pinching, YMCA-loving man that snuggled with me and loved me unconditionally.  Now that we're both older, he is not that tall, but still pretty strong, still penny-pinching, and my Dad still loves the YMCA and all things sports.  I am sad I cannot be with him today because I want to give him a hug and tell him what a great Dad he has been to me.  I love you, Dad, and I hope you have a wonderful day!  

My Husband
I might be a teensy bit bias, but I am pretty sure Kevin is the greatest Dad ever.  (I hope every wife thinks that of her husband today and everyday.)  But really, Kevin is the greatest.  I never expected him to be so loving, so playful, so invested in Luke.  Don't get me wrong, I had pretty high expectations going into this parenthood thing, but Kevin has completely surpassed them.  God has given me such a blessing in Kevin and I have to sometimes pinch myself to remember that he is mine. 

Some of my favorite memories of Kevin as a Daddy (so far): 

Luke sleeping on Kevin's chest when the days and nights blended together during those early days.

Kevin giving Luke a bath (this is still one of my favorite parts of the day...to watch them together).

Luke sleeping on Kevin during airplane rides.

Luke's 1st time at the Quarry with Kevin.

Kevin making Luke giggle all. the. time.

Random Picture Friday

Do you have a problem deleting pictures and videos from your phone?  Me, too.  It is probably one of the hardest things I have done today, besides resisting a second doughnut at Hy-Vee this morning (a glazed doughnut without frosting doesn't count, right?!).  Gosh, my pregnancy logic is just ridiculous.  Anyways, back to the pictures.  I needed to delete some items on my phone so I could download some new software I'm only a month or two late downloading.  I literally went through my phone and trimmed/edited every video of Luke, so I could keep as many videos and pictures as possible on my phone (please note all of these videos and pictures are saved on our computer).  I ended up saving most of them and only had to delete a few...and it only took me an hour!  Geesh.  An hour of my life gone.  

These are some pictures I did delete from the past week.  (Yay, me!)  Hope you enjoy...and have a blessed weekend!

Farm kid

Cuddling with Mommy after church.

Luke and Amelia chomping on some Cheerios after swimming.

A leftover picture from Chicago at the doughnut place.  

Chicago 2014

I love the city of Chicago.  It's probably my favorite big big city.  It is clean, there is great shopping, my awesome friend, Anne, lives there, Starbucks is five steps from every corner, and you can find yummy food wherever you go.  We made our annual trip to Chicago last week and it was a calm and relaxing few days.  Kevin did his thing at the conference he was attending and Luke and I explored the city and spent a lot of quality time with Anne.  

Being the pregnant lady that I am, I took advantage of having every possible food option available to me at all times.  I gave in to pretty much every craving that came upon me and it was good.  Biscuits and gravy, doughnuts, decaf lattes, Nutella, pizza, gelato, Ghirardelli chocolate, shrimp risotto...I did it all.  I'm not sure our unborn child knew what to think, but if Momma is happy, baby is happy...right?!  The three days of splurging on delicious food was good for my soul, but I came home ready to get back in the kitchen and eat some good old fashioned peanut butter and jelly (we eat a lot of those around here) and burgers on the grill.  

A huge thank you to Anne for taking so much time out of her days to come and visit us.  We were able to catch up and chat about everything as well as see her new apartment and go out to a delicious dinner (the risotto was perfect).    

Until next time, Chi-town...

Playing in the fountains at Millennium Park

Family photo opportunity

At the bean (Cloud Gate)!

Super-Luke loves water.

Luke crawled right up on Anne's lap and barely left her side every time we saw her.

Luke likes pretty girls that like to cuddle.

Luke's 1st Cubs game with Daddy.

Luke rode the 'L' train.

Luke absolutely loved playing at the Lego store.

Family photo at the Cubs game.