Category: Uncategorized

Blue Berry Special Muffins

On By JillIn The Cookie Chronicles, UncategorizedLeave a comment

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This is a cute and easy idea to thank someone or just tell them that you love them or are thinking of them. And it’s super easy!

I made the labels on Microsoft Word. I stuck a blank label to the sticky back of a printed one.

Then I taped the label onto the toothpick and stuck them in!

Here is the recipe for the blueberry muffins.

Easy Blueberry Muffins

  • Servings: 12
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Delicious, easy blueberry muffins.


Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/3 – 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 6 to 8 ounces fresh or frozen blueberries


Directions

MAKE BATTER

• Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Add oil to a measuring cup that holds at least 1 cup. Add the egg and then fill the measuring cup with the milk. Add vanilla and whisk to combine. Add the milk mixture to the bowl with dry ingredients and then use a fork to combine. Do not over mix. (The muffin batter will be quite thick — see note below for more details). Fold in the blueberries.

Divide the batter between muffin cups. (If making big-topped muffins, the batter will come to the tops of the paper liners). Sprinkle a little sugar on top of each muffin.

Bake muffins 15 to 20 minutes or until tops are no longer wet and a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out with crumbs, not wet batter. Transfer to a cooling rack.

Miss Independent

On By JillIn Funny kids, Mommy Musings, UncategorizedLeave a comment

“Oh geez,” I would think to myself when I saw yet another cute baby or toddler pictured with the hashtag #stopgrowing or #imissthemsolittle. I used to read these posts, shake my head, and think to myself, “Are you kidding me?” I can’t wait for her to grow up… whether it was Gia, Arianna, and now mostly Lexi.
Diapers, crying, spills, sticky fingers, and that constant trapped feeling… Ugh! Life with babies… I spent and sometimes still spend a lot of time wishing they would just grow up!

But recently my tune has changed. The saying “Be careful what you wish for,” definitely pertains to me these days.
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YES! THIS IS LEXI WASHING HER POTTY…With the bathroom hand towel! I promise, I washed it!
She is most certainly in her miss Independent Stage and it’s driving me crazy! She wants to do everything by herself and I mean everything!
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This girl is holding me up! I like to keep things moving at a nice, steady pace…click the safety belts on the car seat myself, cook and bake uninterrupted when I am pressed for time, and hang out in the kitchen without worrying that someone is going to climb the counters trying to get her own bowl or cup.
I really shouldn’t complain but… it’s just a wee bit frustrating!
Looks like my next instagram post is going to be #staylittleandjustletmemomon!

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VIDEO OF CUTE LEXI

Yikes! I’m a Yeller

On By JillIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

I told myself I wasn’t going to yell…just for today. That’s all I had planned. Stay calm.
Count to ten, take a deep breath, do a quick downward dog… but it didn’t happen for me.
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I just get so annoyed… way too easily these days. Maybe it’s the amount of activities we have, the plans I make, the unrealistic expectations I have with my children, with me, with the goals of the day.

I have simple desires. Very simple. Just do what I say! When I say! It’s really not too much to ask… I’m not asking these girls to mop the floor or even clean their rooms! My requests are fairly simple like “Brush your hair.”

It’s hard to control three kids, each with different personalities, with their own set of interests and agenda.
Gia wants to be the boss.
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Arianna wants to be silly.
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Lexi just wants what she wants at that split second and screams and cries.
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So… when things aren’t going according to plan, I get frustrated and raise my voice.

And then come the consequences…I hate the way I feel… guilty, out of control, and chaotic.
It just doesn’t feel like a happy, organized day.
I feel stressed, defeated, and out of control.

It’s like a tug of war between the girls and me… with me falling down … a lot!

The thing is, I don’t want to be a yeller.

I don’t want the girls to have memories of mom being angry all of the time…

I need to be the pillar of strength and comfort and compassion. I’m pretty sure children of angry parents have way more anxiety and insecurities.

I am on a mission to deflate the balloon of frustration… I am saying goodbye to the stress!

The girls and I made our first video on our revised YouTube channel. They are no longer the Baking Brats because they didn’t want to just do baking. Now they are The Girly Reports…and I will be changing my blog name soon so I can be separate from them…I don’t want any of their little friends stumbling upon this blog while searching for The Girly Reports!

Anyhoo, the video (link below) is a silly skit about stress reduction tips… it’s super ridiculous and goofy. After watching it, I cringed at my plain Jane face, my voice, and my general annoying chatter… but we uploaded it anyway- making public the annoying mom. My husband graciously called it “interesting…”

I was thinking about people viewing it and how embarrassing it was going to be… I felt a little uncomfortable at first…and then I thought, you know what…I don’t care and I think this is a key first step in deflating the stress.

Uploading the D grade video, thinking about viewers shaking their heads, maybe thinking negative thoughts… and then sitting with those feelings and being ok with it, made me kind of empowered… less focused on what others think. And as a trickle down effect, less stressed…

Hopefully, as I discover different ways to feel less on edge, my kids will enjoy a calmer, cool as a cucumber momma!

Key #1 Be messy and embrace imperfection.

Let your kids be imperfect as well…and be ok with it. Don’t get this confused with letting your kids be unkempt and dirty …I’m not into the rats nest hair style or long fingernails with dirt underneath… man those nails grow fast!
Just less focus on perfection.
I actually have been wearing the same pair of leggings for a week straight! And it feels …well, like exactly what I said – messy/imperfect! And I haven’t had my nails done either in weeks…Woo hoo!
I am nailing this down!

Look out for my next post on key number two for deflating the stress balloon.

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THE GIRLY REPORTS VIDEO ONE