A Reassuring Day, Yet A Sleepless Night...

The alarm rang and I pulled myself out of bed, I'm not much of a morning person--actually not a morning person at all, so I may have pushed the snooze button JUST once.  I put the coffee on, and packed her snack in her backpack before I started the dreaded walk down the hall to wake her up.  She takes after her Mommy and isn't very good with mornings herself.  This morning was different though, she awoke excited and happy.

After breakfast was finished and she was ready to go, Dad got out of bed and got ready to go too and all together we made the short walk down the hill to the bus stop.  It was chilly but the sun was shining and I could tell it was going to be a beautiful day.  After a short wait the bus arrived and she turned around for hugs with tears in her eyes. She climbed the steps with her cousin and they sat together, I was so happy she had someone with her, but I seen the tears start to flow anyway.

Had I made the right choice? Should I have went with her? My heart was heavy as the bus drove away.  How is it that we are given such a short time with our children while they are young, yet being adults lasts for so long?

I arrived at the school fifteen minutes early and stood and talked to the other parents as we waited for our children to be dismissed.  As I peak through the door I watch her be responsive to her teacher, and work well with the other children and I think to myself "maybe things will be okay after all."  I learned that she got to go inside each class on a search for a raccoon, and got cookies that he had left behind, and that the grade 7s have turtles, but she didn't like the bus ride, she likes school better.

I spent most of today, and obviously late into tonight wondering what is next for me, now that she's in school where does that put me?  I know that she needs me, and my job is far from over but can't help feeling sad and entirely unsure with what I'm supposed to do now.  I'm a big time planner, often organizing things weeks, sometimes months in advance, so the uncertainty isn't something I cope well with.  I need a plan... But Rome wasn't built in a day, and I'm not likely to solve all of life's mysteries in one either, so maybe my best bet is a good nights rest?

                     Momma's Lil Butterfly Princess in September of 2007 :)

Blueberry Drop Cookies

Got this recipe from a link on Pinterest to the blog  Want What You Have , so again not my recipe but they sounded so good I had to give them a try!

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened (I used margarine)
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup fresh (or frozen & thawed) blueberries. (I used fresh).

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, sugar, egg, and milk. Mix well after the addition of each ingredient. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; blend into the sugar mixture. Fold in the blueberries.

2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets, about 1 1/2 inches apart-- I tried rolling to balls first, mixture was too sticky so then did the teaspoon trick, haha

3. Bake 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven-- took 12 in mine :)

Finished Product:

The batter to this was very similar to the blueberry muffins in consistency but these were more fluffy when cooked. My family loved them, and it was an easy to follow, easy to make recipe...would make them again!
One thing I will note is the recipe said it made 3 dozen--which I understand size of cookie makes the quantity vary, but with the size of these cookies it made 2 dozen :)

Blueberry Muffins

 Found this recipe on All Recipes.Com and the reviews were highly rated and still had blueberries that I had to do something with so here it is:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup butter, cubed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

 These are the directions given on their site:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.
2. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.
3. To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

The crumb topping didn't work AT ALL for me, my muffins look much different than theirs, the topping was still good, but it wouldn't crumble it was almost pastey/dough like and so i just broke it apart and added it to the top but like I say it didn't crumble so I could "sprinkle it".

They filled the house with a delicious baked goods aroma, and were dense, so filling after just one!  Another successful "healthy"-ish snack for Brook-Lynn's school lunches. Tip: Maybe double the recipe because it only makes 8!  :)

First Day of School

Today was a difficult day, we awoke early to give our daughter the option to ride the bus or get a ride, and as no surprise she chose to have us drive her on her first day--which in the long run was what I was hoping for since I was no more ready to let her go than she was to let go.

After shedding a few tears and tons of hugs and kisses before heading to the car, off we went.  We arrived and found her name on her locker and put her things inside--I know I know I was thinking the same thing...kindergartener's have lockers these days?!  How things have changed!  We stepped into the classroom and I seen her eyes well up as we mentioned it being time for us to go.  She hugged us both, several times and away we went, I was sure to bee-line to the car before her or I changed our minds about this day.

I had planned to go home, but home just seemed too far, and I thankfully have a very understanding husband and he could feel what I felt and see I didn't want to go home, so treated me to breakfast instead.  As I sit drinking my coffee I couldn't help but worry that things were okay, the time seemed to drag on and on and I can't count how many times I checked the time, but we made it.  Today was only a half day and she doesn't go back until another half day on Friday so this week should be "easy" in comparisson to next week and her starting full time.  I know I'll adjust and so will she, but feels like such a major milestone in life.  Like we've started a new journey.

I can't believe how fast 5 1/2 years have gone by, I am so incredibly lucky and proud that I am a mom to a Kindergartener :)

Homemade Flour Tortillas

So I made these the day before yesterday, but with the busyness that comes along with my one and only daughter starting kindergarten just couldn't find the time to upload the photo and make a new post, but here it is.

Two cups of all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt

2 teaspoons of vegetable oil

3/4 cups of warm milk

• Combine ingredients until dough is formed, then knead dough for 2 minutes on lightly floured surface, and form into a ball.  

• Put in a covered bowl for 20 minutes to rest.  After resting I divided and rolled into 7 (recipe said 8 but oh well) individual balls then rolled them as thin as I could get them.

•  Place in frying pan to cook, they don't take long to brown on each side, 30 sec-1 min each side

Not sure if you can tell by the picture, but they did fluff up thicker than store bought, but they tasted fine, and worked for what I used them for, I'd use the recipe again, it was just to simple not to do it again.

Strawberry Bread

Found the link to this recipe on Pinterest, so decided to give it a shot today.

3 cups all-purpose flour 

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt 

3 teaspoons cinnamon 

2 cups sugar 

15 ounces frozen unsweetened strawberries, cut up 

4 eggs, well-beaten 

1 1/4 cups cooking oil 1 

1/4 cups chopped walnuts or 1 1/4 cups pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350, grease 2 loaf pans, combine dry ingredients, make a well in the center and add the thawed strawberries, eggs, oil and nuts.  Mix into a nice batter, pour into loaf pans and bake for 1 hour or until a tooth pick comes out clean.

This recipe made 2 nice sized loaves, and they were very moist and good, I chose to omit the walnuts/pecans as my family isn't a big fan of nuts of any kind--yet they love peanut butter figure that one out, haha. The loaves also didn't take 1 hour in my oven, but as I've mentioned before I have a propane stove so it tends to take less cooking time for most things

I'm trying to find things that I'll be able to bake and pack in my daughters lunches, so will probably have a few baking posts over the next little while, have some suggestions?  Would love to hear em :)

Gonna Give This Another Shot :)

I'm Backkkk.....So It's been two years since I started this blog, but going to give it another shot. My daughter is now 5 and 1/2 and starting school this month, so proud of her but my heart just aches seeing her grow up so quickly.  I plan to get back into the working world in the spring, just want to adjust to her being in school first, so going to try blogging again to help get me through, and of course to share my experiences with whomever cares to read.