"I Love Pink!"

The Pembertons sent our kids the book "Pinkalicious" in December and it has been a favorite ever since.  Hannah asks to read it almost every night and just recently has asked me if we can make our own pink cupcakes.  The only thing better than making the pink cupcakes was watching HG eat one.  She loves pink and she loves cupcakes...

HG Eats

Mac and Cheese for lunch.  Her favorite.

"Baby Oranges" - A fruit that HG will actually eat!
Thank you God!!

Cupcake Wars

The small group we're in gets together twice a month and this month the host couple put on a halloween-themed party, including a friendly game of "Cupcake Wars."  Let's just say the competition was intense.  We had a lot of fun but I'm really looking forward to relaxing and getting some sleep.  I've been putting in some late nights and waking David up in the middle of the night to discuss cupcake designs ideas.  :)

Then there was a bunch of smack talk on Facebook and so the pressure was on.

Here was what we were up against:

We were not allowed to vote for ourselves and in the end our cupcake lost by only ONE vote!  The funny part is that I voted for the winner... so it's my fault that I lost... or something like that :)

Here was our design:

And everything was edible...

The whole family had a blast.  Blaine and Hannah dressed up in their costumes and both had fun playing with the other kids and decorating their own cupcakes.

We are all planning for the next competition: "Ginger Bread Man Wars!" Ha!

Family Day

Family Day is a big deal around our house.  Blaine talks about "Family Day" (FD) all week, which is actually both Saturday and Sunday but we celebrate each morning that he discovers it is actually a FD.  I love his excited laugh when he finds out none of us have to be anywhere and then HG gets all worked up because "Bane" is excited.    

Today we headed to Farmer's Market in Cedar Park and then played in the backyard since it was so nice out.  Both kids have been taking long naps, so I enjoyed a run outdoors and then we went out for dinner which, unfortunately, was a total disappointment.  I'll tell you what - going out to dinner with kids (our kids especially) is hard work but going out to dinner with kids when one of them has a gluten allergy is nearly impossible.  We attempted to go to a new restaurant tonight (Bad Idea #1) because they were having a festival with bounce houses, balloon-making, etc.  We were pressed for time because we needed to be somewhere at 6:30 so once we arrived at the restaurant and Blaine saw the bounce house we were there to stay, regardless of the menu.

Then we saw the menu and the Gluten Free choices were expensive and too extravagant for me, let alone a four year old.  I'm mean, seriously, a place that serves duck, quail, and lamb is not exactly the best choice for a family with young children. I settled on jumbo shrimp and a salad for Mister.   Sister got some really healthy (ha) corn-dogs and fries.  When David brought Blaine back in the restaurant from the festival I thought he was going to cause a scene right there.  He looked at everyone else's plates and said, "I am NOT eating that!  Why do you all have good things to eat and I have to eat...THAT!"  Poor thing.  I felt for him.

We hurried through what I guess you could call dinner and rushed out the door after paying an arm and a leg for a meal that was not not enjoyed or even eaten!  (Can you tell this bothered me?)

Then we got to where we needed to be and as I walked around with our sweet kids outside, I remembered why I love family days:

We've had a beautiful FD and I look forward to many more with these sweet angels.  (But, for the record, we will not be going to that restuarant again and I'd really like the arm and leg we used to pay for that meal back!) :)

Bananas

Given that I spend most of my time writing about our crazy life you might anticipate that this post is about how I am about to "go bananas".  This is partially true.  But in all seriousness I am about to give you the goods on a product that I have been testing for over a week.

How I got to be so cool that I now test products, I don't know.  Humor me here please.

Clearly Fresh Bags were sent to me a few weeks ago but I just started using them on the 20th.  The directions were on the bag and were very straightforward so I didn't have to go to the website though I wish I would have because I really learned a lot about the bags, their technology, and I really appreciated this handy chart:

Cucumbers stored at room temperature?!?
You learn something new every day.

Here is the dilemma I have each week.  I like to grocery shop on Thursday or Friday for the upcoming week and God forbid I have to go back halfway through the week with two children in tow to get the fresh veggies I need for dinner.  So even though once-a-week shopping makes my life easier, it also means that the fruits and veggies I buy may not get used for five or more days after I purchase them.  The raspberries seem to start going bad the second day after I bring them home and the poor bananas - I hate being that person that tears two green bananas from a group and then three yellow bananas from a group at the store and then somehow they all end up brown and gross if we don't eat them quickly enough.  Not to mention when I go to the Farmer's Market or buy organic from the grocery store - those fruits and veggies have to be used within a day or two or they are ready for the trash can.  Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and bananas are staples for us in the fruit section and for veggies we almost always have spinach, asparagus, avocados, mushrooms, and tomatoes (I know, I know, tomatoes are technically a fruit) here at the house.

Here is what I found when using the Clearly Fresh Bags.

Bananas: February 20th, 2012.

The same bananas: February 25th, 2012. 
FIVE FULL DAYS LATER

I actually left the bananas in the bag for longer than five days but I think we should have started eating them within 4-5 days of being in the bag.  If I would have bought yellow bananas they surely would have been brown within days so the bags definitely extended the shelf life but beyond 5 days they turned mushy inside even though the peel was still yellow.

The raspberries look great after five days as well.  No white moldy-stuff on the bottom layer.  I'm doing the happy dance now.

Raspberries

And then there are the organic tomatoes people. I've had these babies for five days and they are still firm, nearly identical to the day I bought them. Wow.

Organic Tomatoes.

Other veggies that I am testing right now are avocados and asparagus.  I usually move the avocados to the fridge once they've reached their peak ripeness so I'm not sure how this will play out since I bought several that were ripe and several that were not.  The asparagus I am not planning to cook until Wednesday night or later so I will post another update when I use those items.

UPDATE: The bags worked wonders with the asparagus.  I normally wrap the stems in wet paper towel to keep them fresh but I just put them in the bag and they were perfect a week after I purchased them.
Clearly Fresh Bags will surely have my business in the future.  What I am really excited about is using them after we go pick strawberries in a few weeks here in Central Texas.  The fresh berries are so delicious but always seem to deteriorate more quickly after picking. Now I'm hopeful that Clearly Fresh Bags will keep the berries fresh much longer.

What I didn't like about the bags was how unsightly they were.  I like the look of fruit and veggies in our basket by the stove (because I'm so Martha-Stewart like that) and having these huge plastic bags sticking out every which way was kind of ugly.  I don't care what they look like in my fridge but on the counter top I didn't really dig them.  Then I daydreamed about having the bags be available in these cute, chic colors and patterns.  I would really like that. 

The other thing that I hope they will offer in the future is different sized bags.  Right now, the gallon bags are the only thing available and I would like to have some smaller ones around my house.

If you're interested in purchasing the bags you can find them here.