Blueberries for Sal, um I mean, Em and a muffin recipe, too!

Ahhh, I love kids books. Em has Blueberries for Sal. She got it FR-EE. In the mail. Isn't that great! Anyway, on to the point of this post!

We went blueberry picking! There is a really great farm not far from here, and I had NEVER heard of it. Lived in this area my whole life. Love making new discoveries! My friend, Cassidy, told me about it! Thanks, Cassidy!

I was so excited to go, thought Em would LOVE it. And she did for about five minutes. We didn't know it, but our friends, the Moss's, were there when we got there! Ha! So Em was super excited to see her besties, and pick berries, but when they had to leave a few minutes later.... then she realized it was HOT. If fact, she said repeatedly, "It's HOOOOOOT!" "I'm done picking berries." "That's enough, let's go home." So my dreams of a fun activity for the family resulting in buckets of berries to use throughout the year didn't quite come true. We came home with 4 pounds. Fail.

Haydon (acting silly!), Em, & Payton

She how happy she was...

Can we go now??

Today we made muffins from our berries. She was much happier.

As a family, we've been trying to make "healthy choices". I'm so not into depriving myself, so it can be hard to diet. So instead, we've been adding the things our diet has been missing. If it's good for you, you don't have to feel bad about eating it, right? Maybe not in the quantities I sometimes want. Ha!

I took a blueberry muffin recipe and tweaked it to make it my own.

Here goes:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1/3 c. veg oil
1 c. buttermilk (I used 2% milk with a splash of white vinegar)
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla (or more!)
1/2 c. sugar + 2 tsp. for topping (I did top them with sugar, but I don't think it is really needed!)
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking pwd
1/2 c. oats
2 c. flour
1/4 c. flax seed
1/4 c. wheat germ
3/4 c. blueberries

Mix oil, milk, eggs, & vanilla. Add sugars, salt, soda, & pwd. Mix well. Add dry ingredients. Mix. Fold in berries. Scoop into muffin tins (I used cupcake liners), bake for 10 - 15 minutes (until toothpick comes out clean). 


Let me tell you, the batter tasted amazing! Just ask Emma. I had to stop her from putting her HEAD in my mixing bowl. She said, "But how am I gonna lick the bowl?"

Notice that there is only 23... someone stole one.

Posing with her contraband. When did she become such a poser?

Muffins are pretty good, too. I'm gonna be honest... I could do without the blueberries. I'm just not a big fan of fresh berries in baked goods. But they are healthy and Em likes them, so there you go.

Louisiana Trip June 2013

How you like that clever title? Yeah, I thought so. And if you like that, you're gonna love the detailed post that follows.... ah, no. I'm not doing that. Try this abbreviated version (with pictures of course!)

1. Drove to Baton Rouge Thursday morning.
2. Met up with Aunt Terri & Uncle Mike for dinner. Ate amazing food at George's!

3. Went back to Mike & Terri's to visit and go to bed!
4. Woke up, drove out to Sorrento to visit with Clinton's great uncle Nell. Took him to lunch at the "greasy spoon" as he called it, The Country Kitchen.

5. Uncle Nell told us some old stories and we looked at Clinton's grandparent's first house!

6. We went back to Mike & Terri's, Em and I rested and Clinton left to go to the LSU game. Aunt Terri picked Em and I up, later, and took us to our fave place in Baton Rouge, Fleur De Lis!

7. Back to Terri's for bed! Full and happy!
8. Woke up early to meet Mike & Terri for breakfast at Ambrosia Bakery. No pics, Em was being so cranky so we were busy dealing with that!
9. Drove out to Houmas House, so that Em could see a castle! (Insert lots of pictures here!)

There was a steamboat docked on the other side of the levee!

Ringing the bell with our tour guide, Susan. (Em said she was a princess!)

A women's tub! Eek!

10. We ate lunch at Burnside Cafe on the grounds, then went back to Terri's to rest up for the game!
11. Then it was game time!

Notice how great our seats were!!

Rain delay :(

Tired baby!

Tigers win! Dog-pile!

Victory Lap!

Look how happy Clinton is!

12. We staggered back to Terri's for bed!
13. We got up early Sunday morning to head to New Orleans!
14. Brunch at Mr. B's Bistro! Yummy!

Shrimp and Grits/ BBQ Shrimp!

15. Carriage ride around the French Quarter

Feeding Mike the Mule a carrot!

16. While on the the carriage ride, we saw some festivals going on in the market, so we headed that direction.

I have a picture of me on that same fountain! (Don't know where it is right now or I'd post it!)

Creole Tomato Festival

 

They had all kind of activities for kids!

While coloring a second line hankie, she was interviewed for the news!

She made it on the news! Just for a split second, but she is there! You can watch it HERE!

17. We wondered over to the Cajun Zydeco Festival.

I LOVE the looks on both of their faces! Ha!

18. We headed back to Jackson Square and checked out St. Louis Cathedral (Em thought it was Cinderella's castle!)

19. We had gelato and beignets before deciding it was time to head home. Em did NOT want to leave!
20. We stopped and picked up boudin in Lafayette and ate seafood at Don's Seafood. Then drove and drove. We ended up stopping in Shreveport to sleep!

It was a fantastic trip!

Dance Recital 2013

Here I am, again, skipping a post! I have to write about Emma's End of School Party, but the BIG recital was last night! So I just HAVE to get this up!

Talk about nerves! Mine, not Ems, that is. About getting her hair and make-up done! I was a wreck!

Getting ready. She was trying to put on shimmer powder by herself!

We went to the auditorium early for Em to practice a part in the finale number. This is when my nerves REALLY got bad! She was supposed to perform a small part in the Danielle's (her teacher) duet with a man named Jeremy. We had practiced Monday and Wednesday of this week. Well, we went Monday and she freaked out, but danced fine with just Danielle. We went Wednesday and she did great dancing with both, after I bribed her with a movie. BUT last night at the crucial last run through, she freaked smooth out. Full sob. All my hard work with her make-up was GONE! Anyway, we decided that she just wouldn't do it. I was/am very disappointed, but you live and learn. She just wasn't comfortable dancing with Jeremy, though he did try really hard to make her see how nice he was! So we went to the dressing room and got her cleaned up and her make-up reapplied. I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty upset, and my patience was VERY short. After getting over that, she was happy and excited to dance her other two dances.

Here she is all made up, with her friend Ellie!

 Finally, it was time for her class to go on stage! All of us moms dropped them in the waiting area and sprinted to our seats!

Getting it!

Getting ready for their big bow!

And bow! That's her with her head down! Ha!

Here is a video of the performance. Please excuse the shakiness! I was trying to video and peek around to watch and kept moving! :/

The video cuts off the end. It doesn't show that way on my end, but something went wrong with the upload to YouTube and I have lost the patience to deal with it! Ugh!

And the big bow!

The Little Dancers came down to sit with the parents. Emma LOVED watching the big girls dance. She is enraptured by it all! Can't wait to see how she will be if she sticks with it!


Since Em is on the new competition team, she didn't get to perform in the next dance with the other Little Dancers, but we filmed it anyway! Clinton tried to focus on Livi, Em's friend, but she was in the back a little. Still really cute!

Next up was the new competition team! This dance was introducing them as a team. They only had ONE practice! I was so nervous that she'd forget some of it, and she did, but that's ok. :)

After Danielle's duet (which was beautiful), it was trophy time!

She had a death grip on that thing! Wouldn't even let anyone see it!

So our first dance performance is over and done! Em is excited to get on stage again!