Banana Nut Bread

We had some bananas sitting on the counter that had ripened past the point of anyone wanting to eat them. I didn't want them to go to waste so I looked online for a banana nut bread recipe. I found one that sounded good, although I did change it up a bit. Cody and I had a lot of fun making this together. He couldn't wait to eat it!

Banana Nut Bread

2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 Cup White Sugar
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1 tsp Salt
2 tsp Baking Soda
1 Cup Butter
2 Cups Mashed Overripe Bananas
4 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla
1 Cup Chopped Walnuts

Preheat oven to 350*. Grease and flour two loaf pans. Sift the flour, salt and baking soda into a bowl. In another large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time mixing after each one is added. Mix in mashed bananas. Pour dry ingredients into wet a little at a time until thoroughly mixed. Stir in vanilla and nuts. Pour into loaf pans and bake for approximately 50 minutes.

Cody loved mashing the bananas!

This made the house smell SO good while it was baking. YUM! The original recipe said to bake it for 60 - 70 minutes. They would have been burnt little bricks! I baked ours a little too long at 55 minutes, so check it close to the end. I think 45 - 50 minutes would be better. It was delicious! Bobby even liked it and he's not a fan of bananas :) Cody had to pick the walnuts out of his. Next time I'll make a loaf with no nuts and a loaf with double. That should make everyone happy:)
Enjoy!

Early Birthday Celebrating

Bobby's birthday is on the 17th. He'll be at work that day so Elisa and Donna came over to celebrate his birthday a little early. Bobby grilled some delicious barbecued chicken, and Donna brought a squash casserole, slaw, and baked beans. It was a great meal! Then for dessert, Donna made this fantastic blueberry cheesecake. Man, it was good!

Singing Happy Birthday to Bobby
Cody- The Snorkelhorn playing fool!

The kids tried to get out and ride their skateboard/scooter, but they're detouring traffic down our street. It's WAY too busy for them to play out there right now. Hopefully, they'll fix the road soon.

Pumpkin

I went outside to check on the pumpkins and look what I found! Cody was SO excited!

Zucchini Bread

My sister-in-law brought us some squash, zucchini, tomatoes and peppers from her garden. I love fresh squash and zucchini sauteed with a little butter and salt, but I made that twice and still had zucchini. I decided to make some zucchini bread and it turned out fantastic. Britney helped me make it and she LOVED eating it. Bobby took one of the loaves to share at work and everyone liked it there, too. I thought I would share the recipe in case anyone would like to try it. Enjoy!

2 Cups Zucchini
3 Eggs
3 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Cup Oil
2 tsp Baking Powder
2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Nutmeg
1/2 Cup Walnuts
Preheat oven to 350*. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs slightly and add white and brown sugar. Add oil and mix well. Mix in zucchini. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to mixture a little at a time until completely blended. Add cinnamon and nutmeg. Fold in nuts. Fill 2 loaf pans that have been greased and floured. Bake for 1 hour or until center feels firm.

Ouch

I finally fell asleep last night listening to my ear pounding. Like I said, I can handle the throbbing, but that pain...wow. It woke me up at 3:30 this morning. I tried to watch TV, go back to sleep, but by 5:30 I was crying and ready to go to the emergency room. I got a shower at 5:45 which seemed to help. When Bobby got home, I was able to sleep for a couple hours. I called the doctor's office and got an appointment at 11:15. She looked in my ear and said "Well, you definitely have an ear infection." Well, no kidding lady. I got two shots of antibiotic - one in my arm and one in my hip. I'm not afraid of needles, but I have to say that getting a shot is a lot different than giving blood. I mean, it hurt and I'm bruised. She wrote three prescriptions for me...antibiotic, ear drops and pain reliever, which costs over $46.00 to fill. That hurt almost as much as the shots.

Anyway, just wanted to give you an update. Thank you all for the get well wishes:) I love you guys.

: /

I'm feeling a bit better today. Last night was horrible and I cried a lot, which probably doesn't help the pressure in your ears. I could handle the loud, constant throbbing, but the sudden intense stabs of pain were almost unbearable. I couldn't sleep so I was flipping through the TV. I know more about The Hills than I care to. As I was watching the tantrums of these insanely rich and beautiful girls, I realized something. The throbbing had stopped. My eardrum didn't feel like it was going to explode. It was 1:30 and I was asleep by 2:00. Today it feels like there's a Cody sock stuffed in my ear. I can't hear anything the kids say and they have to repeat themselves a lot, but the pain isn't so bad. Just a lot of pressure and some throbbing. I put some peroxide in my ear when I got up and it sounded like Pt. Mallard on the 4th. Ick. Can you kick an ear infection without meds?

:(

I've been sick for the last couple of days. It started with a slight sore throat and within two hours, my throat hurt really bad and I was achy and just felt awful. I've also had the occasional dizzy spell, but didn't really think anything of it. This morning, I felt better and was very happy at 3:00 pm when my sore throat was nearly gone. I got a shower after Bobby left for work so we could go the store. The dogs were completely out of food. I couldn't put it off until tomorrow. When I sat down in The Beast I felt dizzy again and by the time we arrived at Walmart, my right ear was starting to hurt. Two aisles in, and I thought my ear drum was going to explode. I told Britney it wouldn't surprise me if blood was dripping out. She actually looked to see :) This is horrible. I know I had a lot of ear infections as a child, but haven't had one in a long time. I had no idea earaches hurts SO much. My right ear is throbbing and if I bend down to pick something up, it feels like little soldiers with swords are fighting their way out of my brain. Ah...I want my pajamas and blankie. Waaaaa...

Where we've been as a family

I was looking at someone's blog a minute ago. They have a map of the United States showing which states the family has visited together, so I went HERE to add it to my blog. (It's at the bottom of the page) I can't decide which states to say we've been to as a family. Britney and I have gone to Texas, but Cody hasn't. The kids and I went to Pennsylvania and New Jersey without Bobby. Do I add those to the map? How should I do this? Am I over thinking it? Probably!

Farmer Cody Brown

A couple days ago, Cody read a book about growing pumpkins. He became very interested in the process of raising them. We researched the different varieties, how and when to plant, how much water and sunlight they need, and looked at pictures of pumpkins online. He was surprised to learn how big some of them can grow. In October of last year, the record breaking pumpkin, that's thought to be the world's largest, weighed in at 1,725 lbs! Needless to say, Cody wanted to grow his own pumpkins.

We decided the best place to raise our pumpkins is to the left of our house in the front yard. They will get plenty of sunshine there and it will be an easier place for Cody to water them. Plus with them being in the front yard, the dogs won't trample them :)

Yesterday, we went to buy seeds at Walmart, but they didn't have any. Neither did Home Depot or Ace Hardware. I guess we are about a month late planting them, but...oh well. Today, Bobby and Cody went to Valley Feed and came home with a packet of pumpkin seeds and a packet of cucumber seeds. Cody also wants to grow cucumbers so we can make our own pickles. Boy, he loves pickles. Well, he is my son after all.

This evening, Bobby gassed up the tiller and got to work. Cody soon joined him to help prepare the earth.

"I'm dirty!"

The seeds are treated with a protecting fungicide. They are not intended for food, feed or oil. That sounds bad. At any rate, the seeds were a pretty turquoise color.

After they were planted, Cody, Britney and Bobby gave them a big ole drink,

and cooled each other off!

We haven't decided where to plant the cucumbers yet. I'll keep you posted!

Tomatoes, Peaches and Apples

OH MY!

Happy 4th!

Last night we went to Pt. Mallard with my Dad so we could watch the fireworks. We got to the park around 7:00 and found a fantastic parking spot. We sprayed each other with bug spray and decided to walk around for a while.

Dad thought I was a bit weird to take a picture of the bathrooms, but I couldn't help it. Check out the line of women waiting compared to the non-existent men's line.

Cody got a green light saber.

As we were walking and listening to the contestants gunning for Miss Pt. Mallard, we found Heather, Lou and the boys! We sat with them for the rest of the evening. Like Heather said - It's always more fun with friends:)

On with the fireworks!

The traffic was horrible leaving the park, which is to be expected. But still. When we got home, Bobby found the snapping pops, sparklers, and smoke bombs. The kids had so much fun!

Hope you all had a safe and fun July 4th:)

My Girl