Can you believe it?

Bennett is going to be 2 in just a little over a week?! Man did that time fly!!!

Let's see what's been going on with Bennett lately:
--he keeps getting teeth! I swear each week he has new ones starting to come in.
--he eats like a horse and will eat just about anything and everything!
--he repeats everything we say. His favorite phrase is "ka chow" from Lightning McQueen and his favorite word is still "no." He pretty much answers any question with "no."
--He has moved to a big boy bed and loves it!
--He is still a great sleeper and occasionally wakes up at night.
--He loves to run and play and try anything his brother attempts. This includes but is not limited to climbing on the back of the couch, jumping from the coffee table to the couch, trying to scale the kitchen cabinets, and scaling the changing table successfully and pulling all the wipes out of the container.
--He is wearing 24 month to 2T clothes and is wearing a size 8 shoe.
--He loves to brush his own teeth and watch anyone else brushing theirs.
--He is obsessed with gum (no, I do not let him chew gum!) and will come up to you and say "ahh!" so you will open your mouth so he can see the gum.
--He has hit the terrible two's and some sort of meltdown occurs daily. This is slowly getting better.
--He listens a lot like his brother (in one ear and out the other!)
--He is the most funniest kid I have ever encountered! He makes the funniest faces and really knows how to get his groove on!
--He tells me when he needs changed and likes to sit on the potty. I assume he will probably potty train sometime this winter or spring.


Bennett is very entertaining and strong willed. He likes to be independent and do things on his own. He is such a joy to have in our family and everyone he meets just falls in love with him. Happy 2nd Birthday my little man!

Garlic Knots

I posted earlier about wanting to make the Garlic Knots from Annie's Eats. Well, one weekend while my sister was in town, we decided to make them. They were really good and pretty easy to make. The only trouble I had with mine was that my kitchen was a bit on the chilly side and it took them a little extra time to rise. In the future, I will just put them in the oven at 150 degrees and let them rise in there.

These are my rolls after they have risen and are ready to go in the oven. Such yummy goodness!

Butternut squash

Since it's Fall time, butternut squash is pretty much everywhere. I grew up eating butternut squash and I absolutely love it! My favorite way to eat butternut squash is to cut it in half, scoop out the seeds, and then roast it in the oven until tender. Then I scoop out the flesh and mix in some butter, brown sugar, and salt. Its so yummy and a great side dish.

We have received a lot of butternut squash this season between the Farmer's Market and Co-op. Therefore, I have been looking for new ways to use the butternut squash. Some of the different ways that we have tried are peeling and dicing it, then roasting with potatoes. Or more recently, I found a recipe for butternut squash lasagna. The picture looked really yummy, so we gave it a shot.

 Here are the main ingredients:

--milk (I used whole)

--lasagna noodles (I used whole wheat)

--frozen spinach

--cheese

--butternut squash

Butternut Squash Lasagna

3 lbs butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and but into 1/4-1/2 inch slices

3 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup butter or margarine

6 cloves of garlic, minced

1/4 cup all purpose flour

4 cups milk

1 tbsp fresh rosemary (or dried)

9 no boil lasagna noodles (I used regular and boiled mine first)

1 1/3 cups shredded Parmesan cheese

1 cup whipping cream (I omitted this)

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees, toss butternut squash with olive oil and 1/2 tsp of salt. Roast for 20-30 minutes until tender. Remove from oven and reduce the temperature to 375 degrees. *This is when I boiled and cooked my lasagna noodles. If you are using no boil noodles, skip this step.

2. In a large saucepan melt butter on medium heat. Add garlic and cook for 1 minutes. Stir in flour and add 1/2 tsp salt. Gradually stir in milk. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. *I cooked my frozen spinach and then squeezed out the excess liquid.

3. Lightly grease a 9x13 pan. Spread about 1 cup of sauce on the bottom of the pan. Layer 3 noodles. Lay a couple of slices of the butternut squash, then some spinach.  Add about 1/3 of the remaining sauce over the squash and spinach, then top with a 1/3 cup of Parmesan cheese. (I used cheddar instead)  Repeat layers ending with the sauce on top with cheese over the top. 

4. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Uncover and cook for another 10 minutes until edges are bubbly and top is slightly browned. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

This lasagna was really good. You can easily add your own flavors (like I added the spinach) or exchange ingredients.  The kids really enjoyed this and it was easy to get them to eat their veggies.

Pumpkin Patch

Today we made the trip north to my hometown to meet up with my friend Jen and her little girl, Hannah. I worked until 11:30am and then picked the boys up, hoping they would nap on the hour and a half drive.  Wrong! They both only slept for about 20-30 minutes and that was it. All. Day. Long. Therefore, the boys were wild, whiny, and wanted nothing to do with pumpkin picking at all.

 The stare down!

 Yup, this is pretty much as excited as they got. Even though Peytonn has been talking about the pumpkin patch for days. He just was not interested when we got there. Bennett pretty much just wanted to push the stroller or run down the road.

This was the look Hannah kept giving the boys on the tractor ride back to the farm. I don't blame her one bit, those boys were wild!

Peytonn did tell me later that he had fun at the pumpkin patch and they did drink some apple cider on the way home.  After the pumpkin patch, we went to visit some family. We didn't make it home until almost 8pm! I am exhausted and so are the boys. I hope they sleep well and sleep in! (I'm not holding my breath on the last one!)

Apron

I am thinking I would like to get an apron. I always seem to ruin my shirts by getting something splashed on them while cooking. Perhaps this will help save my shirts. I started looking through Etsy for a nice apron. I've found that there are some aprons that pretty much make me think the purpose of them is to seem as though I'm not wearing anything underneath. I want an apron to save my shirts while I am cooking, not hoping to seduce my husband in the kitchen while my kids play in the other room.  I don't need anything poofy or frilly, just a nice plain apron will do just fine.

Here are some that I found that are possibilities:

I think I may want a full length apron to get the most protection, but I really like the patchwork apron. What do you think?