Yummiest Banana Bread!

We had some bananas that were about to go bad so Ashlyn and I decided to make some bread.  Ashlyn LOVES cooking and will take any opportunity to help me in the kitchen and needless to say I absolutely LOVE the time that we spend together when we are in the kitchen.  Anyone who has cooked with a little one knows that you get some great conversations while measuring and mixing the day away! :)

 She measured ALL the ingredients and mixed up the batter!

 Here she was saying "It smells sooooo YUMMY!!! 

 In the pan and ready to bake!!

 We just took it out of the oven and it smells DELICIOUS!!! 

Looks delicious too!  Guess what.....it tastes even better than it looks.  I thought that I had had the best banana bread ever when we were in Hawaii, but this was so much better.  I don't know if it is because it was made by the loving hands of my amazing three year old, perfect bananas, or my totally customized recipe, but it was AMAZINGLY yummy!  :)  Hope you make it and enjoy for yourself!

Chelsea and Ashlyn's Banana Bread

1 1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter

3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

2 eggs

1 3/4 cups mashed bananas

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

Mix sugar, butter and applesauce.  stir in eggs, add banana, milk, and vanilla.  beat until smooth.  stir in flour, baking soda, and salt. Pour into two eight inch loaf pans.  Bake in oven 1 hour at 350.

Note: in the past I have used splenda and such to cut the sugar, but it was sooooo improved this time around!

Children's Museum and planting up a storm!

We have an annual pass to the local children's museum and our girls LOVE going.  This week they were having a special planting day so we thought this would be fun to try out. Our seeds are already starting to sprout which is very exciting to both girls, but they are too small to capture with the camera right now.  In about two weeks we should have some yummy lettuce to make a salad!

 Ashlyn decorating her planter!  I thought this was a great way to plant and take!! :)

Both girls with their finished planters!

We also recently got some new deck furniture and pots to liven things up a bit.  We planted in all the pots this weekend and things are looking mighty cheery on the deck now.

 I love these planters...they make me smile! :)

Seating for 8!!!

More flowers the girls planted

Ashlyn and Kelti bought some seed packets a couple months ago and we just got around to planting them today.  They have two flowers (poppy and zinnia) and two veggies (cucumbers and carrots) growing.  We will see how it turns out!!

 Small seeds for the poppy flowers

 Digging is so much fun

 Kelti's Zinnia's which Ashlyn planted for her!

zinnia seeds

 Cucumber seeds

 Before everything starts sprouting....let's see if it works!

We should have Cucumber and Carrots here in a few weeks!

Ballet

Ashlyn had her first ballet class this week.  There was a lot of excited anticipation leading up to this class.  I think that it met her expectations, but you never can be quite sure.  She loved the class and the giant mirror where she could watch herself dancing.  Kelti and I had a great time watching this class.  Ashlyn did a wonderful job and even provided some laughs for us.  This was also a big step for Ashlyn and me since this was the first solo class for her, by that I mean not a mommy and me class.  We have done many of those but this was one more step to her Independence as a three year old! :)

 Such a big girl!

 Waiting for their first instructions! 

 SOOO excited to start Ballet!!

Dancing with the batons was really fun and they did some cute stuff with scarves too, but I was watching and forgot to get pics of that part....next time!