Bananas for Banana Bread

Banana Bread is a favorite around our house. While we were without an oven for 2+ months, banana bread (along with slice and bake chocolate chip cookies) was one of the foods we missed making the most. We tried to substitute with Fresh Market banana bread/sweet breads, but although they are good, they simply don't compare to fresh bread right out of the oven! I finally got around to making a few loaves this past weekend using my favorite recipe...

A few reasons why it's my favorite:  I typically have all the ingredients on hand, and it has this "special" ingredient (hence the name "Spiced" Banana Loaf)...

It's subtle, but it really does add a little something! And while we are on the topic of baking and cinnamon, I have a handy household tip for you today...

Let me introduce you to my trusty shakers.

The first holds a mixture of cinnamon and sugar for easy cinnamon toast or cinni-mini's.  The second holds flour for the greasing and flouring part of your baking preparations.  Simply spray or butter your pan then sprinkle on your flour.  Easy peasy! 

Ombré

Love the ombré effect of the hydrangeas in our backyard. Had to bring some inside to enjoy them!

Another One Bites the Dust

Kat Lloyd lost her second tooth today! I was the lucky one who pulled it. Good thing we got it out; the new tooth was already in!

Two Fine Fishermen

Pops took Walker, Kathryn and me fishing this past Saturday for the Dauphin Island Young Anglers tournament.

We thought the double rainbow we saw 30 minutes into our boat ride sealed the deal for a productive day of fishing. But with rain showers that came and went, we couldn't get the fish biting. Ultimately, the kiddos snagged two small fish (a croaker and a pinfish) of Dad's pier.

It was a hoot weighing the little guys in but it did allow the kiddos to get their free hotdog, coke and ice cream sandwich.

Here are some pics in no particular order...

Pancakes Make People Happy

That's why we chose a Pancakes and Pajamas theme for Frances' 2nd birthday!

 

Here are the invitations...

 

I searched the internet over and never found any "pancake" invites that I just loved, so I decided to craft some myself!  The card stock and envelopes came from Paper Source and the fun wooden forks and Divine Twine came from Fancy Flours. 

The pink and yellow color combo came about from my initial idea to have a lemonade stand party.  When plans changed to accommodate breakfast, I decided the same colors would work--pink for the birthday princess along with some sunny yellow for a morning fete!

The plates, napkins and clear envelopes (filled with crayons for some coloring) were purchased at Shop Sweet Lulu. The fruit loops were on hand to make necklaces as a pre-breakfast activity.

I also threw in a little "piggy" theme too a la If You Give A Pig A Pancake!

I went a bit Fruit Loop crazy, filling the vases with them too!

 

Menu items included fruit salad, breakfast casserole, grits casserole, pineapple cheese casserole and, of course, pancakes complete with homemade whipped cream, strawberries, blueberries and pecans! There was also pink party punch (sprite, frozen pink lemonade and raspberry sorbet) along with orange juice and coffee. Yum!

 

 

 (My fried egg "fascinator" came from Bug Bites Play Food via Etsy.  The birthday girl would not wear the pancake one I made her (by simply hot gluing a hairclip to the felt food), but her cousins and sister all joined in!)

For the cake, a simple caramel cake from the local bakery got fancied up with some melted chocolate (aka syrup) and some banana laffy taffy (aka butter)!  I had them make a six layer cake, so that when we cut into it, it sort of resembled....you guessed it--PANCAKES!

And some fun pink and yellow cupcakes for the birthday girl!

A few party pics....

 

For the goody bags, we filled white gift bags with muffins, coffee, and a mug for the adults and breakfast snacks for the kiddos! Perhaps my favorite find during all of my party planning was the ADORABLE stationery shop, Gaddie and Tood.  If I had found the site sooner, I would have had matching invitations, but our homemade ones had already gone out, so we got these cute bag tags instead!

 

Happy Birthday, sweet Frances!

Phone Fun

What did we do before smart phones???

Two

Miss Frances also had a birthday this past weekend. Two years old! Wow!

Just a few thoughts to capture this precious little girl...

*She has loved Minnie Mouse since December and still has quite the affinity for her but princesses are running a close second, namely Ariel!
*She loves to pretend to talk on the phone.
*She's already a great little singer. She likes Wheels on the Bus and Row Row Row Your Boat along with several worship songs.
*She talks up a storm (much more than her brother and sister at this age).
*She loves her Sissy and Bubba (as she calls them). She will also refer to WalKer as WalTer. We always get a kick out of this.
*She's fun loving--loves to play dress up and loves to be tickled:)
*Her biggest love right now is swimming. She goes around the house collecting everyone's swimsuit when she know it's pool time. She tells everyone "babysuit on" and you best get moving. No cover ups either; she wants to know you've got your suit on!
*Dougie the black lab is still her favorite lovey.
*She loves to drink milk and likes to eat cheese and anything else her brother and sister are eating. She will not eat peanut butter however but loves most any kind of meat.
*She loves her mommy but at the same time she is very much a daddy's girl.
*She refuses to sit in the buggy anywhere! Unless she is in a folding chair:)