Tell the Truth Thursday! Be Your Own Parent!

Sounds like a silly title... I of course don't mean be your own parent as in be your own mother (even though we are all becoming more and more like them everyday... I know I am anyway!) I mean be your own kind of parent.

I have been seeing a lot of these "rules for mother's of sons" or "guides for mother's of daughters" and "you must do this with your child" posts on Pinterest. While I am all for posting on your blog what you feel your rules for being a momma are, and I am by no means attacking those blogs or bloggers because if we weren't all off different backgrounds and opinions this blogging thing wouldn't be very much fun, but so many people are pinning these posts and commenting that this is the be all and end all list of how you should parent your boys or girls or your whole brood. I am all for the hints and tips that other momma's can share but when you compile a list of "rules" it feels like your saying there is no individuality to being a parent anymore.

I also feel like its a little judgey to put out a list that says this is how and what to do with your daughters, or this is how to love your son. Why can't I love my kids my way, with our life and experiences rather than looking at a list and checking off what that mom or this dad did...

To me part the beauty of being a parent is that we get to learn from our mistakes, our successes and our out right PARENTING FAILS...

I love that I am a parent to both sexes and that my experience (even just to 10 months so far) has been very different with each and that I have had two different kids with different needs (which I think would happen no matter if they were both girls or even both boys). I love that as I see changes in them I can adapt to what they want and need and that as they grow I can introduce new experiences with them  and I personally don't think that a list of rules for mommas of boys or of girls can tell me what they need to experience.

Almost all of the lists that have been floating around are similar and most say the same thing....

LOVE YOUR CHILD!

So why not love your child your way, the way that you were designed as a parent to love them, the way that they are asking you to love them...

Forget rules and lists and do's and don'ts and make your own lists of how you love your little ones, how you live with your little ones and how they interact with you.

Be a proud and independent parent who does what they feel is right and rewarding.

But hey thats just this momma's opinion and the TRUTH is even though I dislike those lists its just another momma's opinion too...

What's your TRUTH? Are you for or against the "rules" and have you posted your own? I'd love to hear what you have to say in the comments!

Make It Monday! Blast from the Past!

So if you've been here for a while you may have noticed that I have a love of cupcakes as seen here, here and here... and also a love of Peanut butter seen here, here and here...

So when put together how can one go wrong....

It's a trick question, you can't! Hehehe

So when I picked up some books at this years Annual Canadian University women's used book sale and I saw this blast from the past (lets just be clear that this is well beyond my past) I had to pick it up knowing that it would have some fun recipes that Delaney and I could try together, and who are we kidding I can't walk past a cookbook and not look at it let alone buy it and try out a recipe or two!

I was leafing through last week and stumbled upon this gem and couldn't put it down until I baked up a batch and gave them a try!

Peanut Butter Cupcakes!

Crumble ingredients;
1/4 Cup Packed Brown Sugar
1/4 Cup Flour
2 Tbsp Peanut Butter
1 Tbsp Butter Melted
1/2 Tsp cinnamon

1/3 Cup Shortening (I used butter)
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 Tsp Vanilla
1 Egg
1 1/4 Cup Flour
1 1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
1/4 Tsp Salt
1/2 Cup Milk

Mix your crumble ingredients in a small bowl and set aside. Cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy, add the egg and vanilla, beat well. Add flour, baking powder and salt to the creamed mix and incorporate completely. Fill 12 muffin cups 1/2 way and top with the crumble mix. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes!

These are AWESOME and are as you can see super easy! Everyone who tasted these said they were great, and I agree but if I make them again.... who are we kidding I'm making more right now... I will add some peanut butter to the cake batter as well it needs just a little more of that rich peanut butter flavor...

Are you a fan of old recipes? How about old cook books? Share an old recipe with me in the comments and you never know it may just end up on a future Make It Monday!

My First Feature!

You may have noticed a very pretty very colorful FEATURED BUTTON over on the right hand side of the blog...

YEP THIS ONE!!!!

It's from the shared Link It Up Thursday over at These Peas Taste Funny and Seven Alive!

I'm so excited to be featured over at this weeks Link it up Thursday link party its for my Father's Day Hand Print Art! (well its Delaney's hand so I guess its her art...)

Hop on over and check out the Link up! Lots of great projects and great ideas too!

Thanks ladies!

Kid Craft! Father's Day Hand Print Art!

So its almost Father's day... what a great chance to celebrate daddy for all the amazing things he does! (Or in spite of all the things he does or doesn't do that drive you nuts... )

Since we made some hand pint art for Mother's day I thought it would be nice for grand parents to have a matching set of hand prints and well I guess our daddy deserved one too!

So here is our Daddy's day hand print art in 5 easy steps!

Paint your kiddos hand with the colors of your choice in stripes and then place their hand on the paper. (Remember its very important that you use a paint brush to paint their hand so that you get all the ridges and lines in the hand and so you don't end up with a mess!)

Once its dry add your greeting. You can have your older kids write this themselves or for younger ones like ours write it out and get them to trace it over with a crayon or a pencil. (Easy way to sneak in some learning with the fun!)

 Then add your eyes and a smile with a marker, again your older kiddos can do this themselves!

Have the kiddos draw in some seaweed or other fish friends. (You could have them paint this part too.)

And the final step wait till Father's day to show daddy! (This one is a little harder with a three year old!)

Our inspiration for this one came from a google search and I just had Delaney choose from a couple of options. The original idea for this art work (which I thought was brilliant) came from Hand Print and Foot Print Art! Stop by and check out Amanda and her great hand print art!

What are you crafting for Father's Day? I'd love to see all your awesome Daddy inspired art and crafts so post a link in the comments!

Hope you and yours have a wonderful Fathers day!

Make It Monday! Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf Knock Off!

So as you may (or may not) know we live with my sister, what you don't know unless you know my sister is that she loves Starbucks Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf.

So over the weekend while getting ready to visit our mom she looked around to see if she could find a recipe for "the most amazing thing in this world"... well maybe thats is an exaggeration but if you know my sister you know that she is the worlds biggest exaggerator... ok well maybe it runs in the family! As soon as she found this recipe posted by a lovely food blogger from Calgary, AB. (yes that is in Canada...) over at Tease-spoon of Sugar she emailed it to me and was on a desperate man food hunt for lemon extract and poppy seeds.

This is the recipe

3 Cups flour
2 1/2 Cups sugar
1 1/2 Tsp salt
1 1/2 Tsp baking soda
1 1/2 Tbsp Poppy Seeds
1 1/2 Cups Milk
1 Cup plus 2 Tbsp Canola Oil
3 Large Eggs
3 Tsp Lemon Extract
(or you could use vanilla and add lemon zest if you don't have lemon extract)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prep 2 loaf pans... (YEP 2!) In a large bowl mix flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and poppy seeds. (I mixed with a fork and just made sure that it was well mixed but the original recipe said to use a stand mixer.) In another medium sized bowl, combine wet ingredients. Slowly pour the wet into the dry and mix with a stand mixer on lowest setting. Mix until completely combined and continue to beat for about 1 minute on medium. Pour into pans and bake for approximately 1 hour and 5 minutes; or until toothpick inserted into the loaves comes out clean.

I had to turn the temp down on my loaves to about 300 as they were completely brown after just 30 minutes and I was so afraid they would burn... and while they aren't black, they sure are over cooked! It is still very moist and its still very yummy but it is certainly over baked... 

I am still 100% behind this recipe and I will likely try it again and hope that the oven isn't out to get me on that occasion as well. 

But if you think this is good you also need to stop by Tease-spoon of Sugar and check out these other great recipes! Baked's Sweet and Salty cake which I will be making very soon and her Cinnamon Swirl Bread which will be on the top of my husbands MAKE THIS NOW list! There are so many great recipes over there that I could fill a full post with just the things I want to make! YUM! 

Do you have a knock off recipe that you just LOVE? Have you tried a knock off recipe that you were hoping would turn out just like the original? Let me know how your knock off went in the comments!