Meet My Fan Club

Sometimes when I get out of the shower and open the bathroom door, I'm greeted by my fan club. From left to right is Blue Peep, Tiger, Blankie, Mickey Mouse (a bath puppet that has never been in the bath) and Lion. Alex wasn't too creative with naming his stuffed animals at first, but now there are others that have more exciting names... like Lou the Sock Monkey, Melman and FiFi the giraffes, and a teddy bear whose name is Susan for unknown reasons, but I digress.

Alex is usually waiting with the stuffed animals, but this particular morning he left all the animals waiting patiently to greet me. It just struck me funny!

You Made Banana Bread in a What?

Okay... I have a somewhat odd way of making banana bread. Only it's not odd to me, because this is how my mom made it growing up. In fact, I didn't make banana bread the traditional way until I moved out and was living on my own.

I make banana bread in my crockpot. I have this little insert that you can bake in. I only have the one recipe for the banana bread... though I believe somewhere my mom has an entire cookbook dedicated to the cake-baker-insert-thingy. It makes the best, most moist banana bread ever.

I have searched the internet for this insert, and outside of e-bay, I can't find it. But I'm telling you, if you ever find one, snatch it up. Here's the recipe for banana bread. You will thank me!

Crock-pot Banana Bread

1/2 cup butter or margerine
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
4 small, very ripe bananas (mashed)
3 tablespoons water or milk
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Cream butter and sugar till fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add water and bananas. Thoroughly mix in flour, soda and nuts (if desired). Pour into greased Bread-and-Cake Bake and cover. Bake in covered crock pot on high for 2-3 hours until knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
Can also mix in 1/2 cup chocolate chips before baking for Chocolate Chip Banana Bread.

Voila! Banana bread in your crock pot!

Great Weekend Weather and Now This??

We enjoyed some great weather this weekend. It was warm and above freezing... the sun was out... that equals some nice weather for March! Now we're back to chilly, damp, and grey... which is more typical March weather here in Wisconsin. We did get out and enjoy the weekend though. Alex and I dragged out the sidewald chalk on Saturday. We colored up the whole sidewalk in front of our house (forgot to bring the camera outside with me, and was having so much fun I didn't think to go inside to grab it). Took a walk with both Alex and Shadow.

Sunday after church and lunch we decided to head to the Milwaukee County Zoo. We love the zoo, and it wasn't crowded at all since it's still a little early in the season for the Zoo.

Got to see most of my favorites... the cheetahs, elephants and giraffes. And of course we stopped in the primate house to see Mahal, the cutest orangutan baby EVER! He was totally showing off, as were the spider monkeys. But it was great. The fresh air did all of us in. It was group nap time when we got home. I love days like that though... it's so much fun to do stuff as a family and take advantage not only of the great weather, but of the great things to do right here in Milwaukee!

Signs of Spring

We enjoyed 74 degree weather on Saint Patrick's Day. Unheard of around here this time of year. We actually broke a record with the temperature! I got excited this weekend when we were poking around in the yard. I actually found some little green shoots peeking out of the ground. It's amazing what some great weather, a lot of sunshine and a few little signs of hope will do for your spirits! It's been a long cold winter. I'm sure we'll have one last blast of cold air... but for now... I'm thinking spring!

Great Weekend

I'm a bit late in posting this, but we had a great visit with Craig's parents this weekend. They got here Friday night right before Alex went to bed and stayed through Sunday. Alex got some quality grandma and grandpa time over the course of the weekend. As is usually the case, I didn't think to get the camera out and take pictures.

Before they got here, Alex helped Craig bake a cake for Grandma (her birthday was last week).

Of course he had to enjoy a beater!

We went out to dinner... played outside in the fabulous weather. It was a really nice visit. We're excited that we'll get to see them again in just a couple of weeks.

Fun with Photography

Part two of my trip to the Domes.

Need a Taste of Spring?

I took tons of pictures of the plants at the Domes, the botanical gardens here in Milwaukee. I'm telling you, those bright colored flowers, tropical plants, and even the cacti did my spirits some good. If you are in a slump or funk and need a boost, I recommend hanging out with nature. It's pretty darn cool. Now, I'm by no means a nature photographer, but I like to try. I need a better camera to do what I want to do. Enjoy this first installment of my attempt at art!