Simply Yummy

Yummy Maple Nut Granola

1/3 c Maple Syrup
1/3 c Packed Brown Sugar
4 tsp. Vanilla
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 c vegetable oil
5 c Rolled Oats
2 c Raw Nuts, I prefer Pecans, but original recipe called for Almonds.

Put oven rack in the upper middle position, and pre-heat to 325 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or tin foil.

Whisk maple syrup, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt in a large bowl.  Whisk in oil.  Fold in oats and nuts until coated.

Spread onto baking sheet, and press down until it is compact.  Bake till lightly browned 40-45 minutes, start checking it at about 35 minutes.  Rotating pan halfway through cooking.  Allow to cool in pan, then break up into small pieces.

So so yummy and easy!  Seriously the easiest granola recipe I've ever seen.  Its really good in a yogurt parfait or just plain.  We love yogurt and granola. 

One of the coolest things (to a 3 year old) about living in Whipple Park is anytime a fire alarm in a complex goes off, the big fire trucks come to put out the "fire."  There are never any real fires, but a lot of alarm triggers. 

After a lack of a real fire is determined the firefighters (this time) gave hats to all the kids who came out to watch the show.  They don't always do this, but this night must have been especially fun.

Making Family Home Evening snacks.

Little Bugaboo had his Joy School graduation this last Tuesday.  All the kids were so cute dressed in their gowns and caps.  They sang some songs they had learned throughout their program and were very very cute.  Then they got to eat yummy brownies. 

I guess it is hard to smile while drinking a juice box, but
We have really been enjoying he great weather we've been having.  Cool Cat and I go walking every morning with friends for about an hour, then we stop at the "Troll Bridge" and let the kids play.  This day we met up with a lot of friends at the Veteran's park for playing and picnic lunch.  It was a lot of fun. 

Last Thursday Brett and I had the opportunity to have our ultrasound done and found out we are having a little girl.  We are so excited.  To celebrate, we made a family trip to Buy Buy Baby to purchase some blankets I had wanted, and to look at a double stroller.  We brought home the blankets, which are covered in pink and purple things like flowers and butterflies.  They make me laugh.  I feel they are really out of place here.  We have done the blues and greeens for the last 3 years, pinks and purples don't seem to fit in yet.  Soon enough though.  I am super excited for the headbands and bows this little girl will be wearing.  I have to admit, I wanted a girl.  I almost dug out a pair of our cutest boy pajamas to take with me and help me be excited for a boy just in case, but luckily, I didn't need to.

Swimming Lessons

I don't know about other places, but here the YMCA does a free Splash Week available to nonmembers every year.  Its a week of free swimming lessons.  We really love it!  Last year Toddles was in a class that had to have a parent with him.  This year, I put him in a nonparent class.  I was a little nervous because he has no fear of water, but I really didn't want to get in the water with him.  He actually did a lot better than I thought he would.  He still doesn't like to be told what to do when it comes to swimming, but he did listen to his teachers was pretty obedient, for him.  I think he really had a good time.  Wednesday he had a hard time and cried a lot.  He doesn't like to be on his back, but other than that he loves the water, so I didn't know what was going on.  Thursday in the care we talked about how it would not be a crying day and it was okay to listen to his teachers, be obedient, be good.  It worked, for the most part.  He wanted to play with a certain toy, and his teacher wasn't cluing in on it so he started crying.  I went over and talked to him, found out what the problem was, told his teacher then she said it was time to play with those toys.  She found the toy he wanted and he was happy.  It was great!  I can understand the problem, he still isn't the greatest at communication with other people and I think that frustrates him terribly, but it worked out okay.  Tomorrow we get to go for family swim time where the kids get to play however they want.  That will be his day, and Daddy said he can come so it will be even more fun!

Easter Egg Hunt

Ready, Set, Go!  Whipple Park Annual Easter Egg Hunt!  We love living in Whipple Park, they have great activities and this is one of our favorites.  Everyone brings 6-12 candy filled eggs, the GCAs go hide them, and each child gets to "find" as many eggs as they brought (that is the rule, but not always followed).  We brought 6 eggs, I cut an egg carton in half and stapled a construction paper handle on it, decorated it with stickers and B's name so he could fill each hole up and know that he was done gathering eggs.  I thought I was pretty smart, some other people thought it was a good idea too.  It worked really well too, except Bean found 4 eggs, one was shaped like a lion and he thought he was done.  I urged him to gather 2 more before the big kids got them all, and he picked them up, but he really like the lion and the toucan shaped eggs.  It was really fun.

I love this picture, aren't 3 year olds adorable?

The lion and the toucan, who needs anything else?

 Brett has really started studying hard for the Step I exam he takes in June, so I don't ask him to be home a whole lot, but I really wanted him to be there for the egg hunt.  I asked him to be home at 1045 thinking the hunt would start at 1100.  He got there a little late, but he did come home early.  That was really nice.  We were able to spend a little bit of Saturday together.  A big shout out to Melanie who took pictures for me so I could help Toddles with his egg hunt.

Daddy and Toddles enjoyed a little game of chase before we went home.  Toddles' favorite game "in the wholllllle world" as he says it.

We had a lot of fun dying eggs on saturday night.  I had boiled 12 but only 10 made it to the bath.  That was perfect!  8 would've been okay too.  He really liked it.  No pictures, but Easter Sunday was glorious.  The sun was shining so bright, and it was almost 50 degrees.  A perfect day.  Bryce wore a new outfit Mimi sent him for his birthday that just so happened to be perfect for Easter.  Thanks Mimi!

Happy Birthday #3

The Saturday before Toddles' birthday, we took him to Toys R Us to pick out a toy.  Sometimes we go there just to look at things or buy gifts for friends, but this time it was all about him.  He know we don't usually come home with something so it took a while for him to get really excited.  He was playing with a toy and I said... "Would you like to take this one home for your birthday present?" His eyes got wide and and said Yeah!  So we carried it around for a little while until we came across something else that he really liked.  It came down to 3 items, all under $20 and he was coerced picked an animal planet bag with about a million animals and dinosaurs in it.  He was so excited to take it up to the register and make it go beep, then carry it out to the car.  It was pretty adorable.  The above pic is Little Bean examining all the animals.

Then he got to open gifts sent from Grandma and Grandpa Walker.  More dinosaurs!  He loves them.

He also got a cereal bowl made by Grandma Walker.  It has all kinds of pictures on it, but his favorites are a car and a dog.  The dog just so happens to be chasing the car.  He thinks that's pretty funny.  He was so excited he asked for cereal right away.

He loves his birthday!

Check out those lips!

Baby #2 coming to our family in early October!  Hooray!  We are very excited and happy to be expanding our family.  We had a sad miscarriage back in September so I haven't really talked about this one until now, but everything looks great and we are pretty confident this one will work out!  Toddles is as excited as much as a 3 year old can be, but he is going to be a great big brother.

Coolest Friday Activity Ever!

Our ward does a Friday Activity twice a month, where we all get together with our kids and do something fun somewhere in Rochester.  Today we went to the Brighton Fire Department to learn about firemen, and fire trucks.

(inside the fire engine)

This fireman put on all his gear so we could see all the stuff he wears.  All together it weighs about 80 lbs.  He crawled around the room to show us how he looks for people in a burning building.  Toddles got a little freaked when he came by us.

This picture I found on my phone, its too adorable not to share.

This one was at JoAnn's, he fell asleep in the car and stayed asleep throughout the store, the carts are too small for him to lay down in so his little feet stuck straight up.  So cute!

Compare, on the left is from 2012, the right is 2011.  Isn't it amazing how kids get so big?!