a banana bread recipe you must try

I believe this recipe came from the blog I just shared with you. I already had a great banana bread recipe which always got wonderful feedback when I took it somewhere, but the streusel topping got me on this one. And it is FABULOUS!! The bread consistency is better than my old one as well. If you give it a try, let me know what you think!

Streusel topped banana bread


Makes 3 mini loaves


1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup mashed bananas (3 small overripe)
2 eggs
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted


streusel
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon


1) Grease 3 mini loaf pans.
2)Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl.
3) Beat bananas, eggs, sugar, and butter in large bowl until smooth. On low speed, gradually beat in flour mixture. Divide batter among prepared pans.
4) Streusel- Mix flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon in small bowl. Cut in butter until small crumbs form. Sprinkle over batter.  NOTE- I actually let the bread cook for about ten minutes and then put the streusal on so it would not brown too fast.
5) Bake in oven 30 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.
6) Cool bread for 10 minutes.

a cool blog to check out

If you've followed me, you know I love to read blogs.  This one is one of my very favorites. Work in Progress   Even though it's technically a scrapbooking blog- they sell a monthly kit and show layouts- they also share so many other things as well- recipes, crafts, decorating ideas, etc. They have several individuals who post pretty much on a daily basis.
Check it out if you have a chance!

Happy new year!!  Be safe!

Christmas break ROCKS!

I am so loving these lazy days of Christmas break! With the schedule I keep during a normal week (tutoring 14 different kids, working for the church 15 hours, subbing a day or two, prepping and leading a Bible study, doing too many loads of laundry to count, running kids, fixing meals, etc. etc.- you get the picture) a few days at home with nothing scheduled on the agenda is wonderful.

I have been...

1. doing laundry because unfortunately that  doesn't stop over Christmas break!
2. slowly cleaning up after the Christmas madness- still have one tree to take down and a huge mess in the storage area to clean up
3. getting my paper trail organized for my church job
4. cutting coupons and getting my coupon binder up to date
5. looking at recipes and hoping to get some sort of schedule going for a meal plan
6. creating our busy January calendar
7. deciding if it's worth it to pay $150 to sign up for some local exercise classes or if I will get my own butt in gear and use our treadmill-
8. trying to finish up my year in review album- that is my goal for today!!!
9. playing Boggle on the kids' new I Touches- I'm officially addicted
10. looking into a chronological Bible reading plan- I have wanted to do this for a few months- I found this one which has some notes along with it and this one that I printed out. I have never been successful with a yearly reading plan, but even if it takes me longer than that, I am good with it.
11. sleeping in.... my favorite thing!!

hanging my head in shame

2 1/2 months- ridiculous- not that I haven't been a little busy in that time, but my poor blog has been shamefully ignored- don't know if anyone has noticed, other than my 14 year old (soon to be 15 year old) son. He has reminded me numerous times that I haven't blogged since October 14. Yes, I am painfully aware of that- so here's to the return- hopefully for good. I feel like I've been swimming in a very long lap pool, and I'm finally coming up for air.

We're moved!! Yeah! October 30 was moving day, and am loving my new home. I had a fabulous time decorating for Thanksgiving and Christmas and look forward to getting some things up on the walls- I hate painting, but I'm getting antsy to paint my tutoring room- nothing bold like corn cob yellow or the bright orange I had in the last house, but maybe a gray tone?? I've never been a gray fan, but I've found some paint samples of a blueish/gray that I'm really digging- the problem is I loathe painting.

moving day- friends and family helped move all our crap treasures

1025 Bellflower

About 3 weeks after moving in, we hosted 20 family members for Thanksgiving weekend. I loved having everyone in my home. It was SO great to have room for everyone! We have a full basement and had room to set up 2 beds down there so all adults could have a bed to sleep in. The turkey came out edible (thanks to my sister and Reynolds turkey bags!) and we even made our family's recipe of sweet dressing! Hopefully I be able to host many more family functions here...

my crazy sister getting the bird ready

Fox family photo

Brad finished up the football season and now is playing basketball. Bren will start playing Upward basketball after Christmas.

Gary will start back in the study routine after the first of the year. He only passed one out of four CPA tests and needs to get that done before a certain time limit is up. He's also trying to work on projects around here- building shelves in the basement to put all our crap  treasures/putting up shelving/counter in the laundry room/ cleaning the garage so we can put our cars in there for winter/ etc. etc. etc. The honey-do list hasn't gotten any shorter for him, that's for sure.

I led this Bible study with some ladies at our church this fall, and am now gearing up to do this one for the spring term. I had such a wonderful group of women this past term. I so looked forward to Tuesday mornings. These Coffee Cup Bible series are awesome too. I have done studies on Philippians before, but never to the depth of this one. It's not so deep you can't understand, but just gives great background/cultural information. I'm really looking forward to the Colossians study.

Well enough for now- I could go on and on, but I must get on to other things for now. I haven't scrapbooked in ages, but I am working on finishing my year in review monthly calendar. I think I posted it last January. Even though I haven't scrapped a thing for months, I did print out my monthly collages last night, and everything is updated except for Dec. Hopefully next time I blog (before 2 1/2 months) I will show you!!!

Hope you all had a merry Christmas!

silly kitties

Any of you who have kids are probably familiar with silly bands- those colorful rubber bands that kids wear around their wrists that hold their shape- When I first saw these, I thought "what's the big deal about this?" I was less than impressed. And for quite some time, no one else in our house was impressed either. Then Brennan got on the bandwagon. He insisted we go down to Caseys immediately after school and he spent his own money to buy a very expensive small package of silly bands... because he had to have them RIGHT THEN.  He began wearing them around both wrists, halfway up the arm, and traded at school. He even traded for a few silly necklaces. I think I would gag having that tight band around my neck, but it didn't seem to bother him. Fast forward a few weeks, several more (less expensive - thank you Walmart) packages have been purchased, and we now have an abundance of silly bands. But... there is a silly band thief in our midst.

That's a racecar silly band-


Brennan was sitting on the couch watching TV when Oreo sauntered in, stuffed his head under the couch,  emerged with a silly band in his mouth, and proceeded to walk out of the room as though he were on some sort of mission.  Upon investigating, Brennan discovered an entire stash of his precious silly bands safely hidden under the couch! Apparently the cats have been stockpiling!



I found this sight especially amusing today. As I walked by their food dish this morning (and those of you who have followed my blog, know they like to place items in their dishes) I saw one of the confiscated items. Now I'm used to seeing a variety of their toys by their food bowls, but WHAT I saw there I found quite comical.

 Look closely, can you tell what shape this band is???                                                                                Yes, out of the plethora of bands they had to choose from, they found the one and only cat one Brennan has and perhaps adopted it as their very own! Silly kitties!  

"Sometimes...

            you've just got to stop and smell the flowers"

mocha frappe to die for

I sat down to blog a different story, but for some reason I cannot upload any pictures at the moment. And I definitely need those pictures to tell the story... so what to blog about that doesn't require a picture?  How about the AMAZING mocha frappe recipe I came across this morning that I am now absolutely in love with?

I have gradually come to enjoy coffee- I am still not able to drink it totally black. In fact, I am far from that. But I do like it loaded with sugar and combined with chocolate!!! I am a big fan of McDonalds mocha frappes. Not a big fan of the calorie count!  How can I get my chocolate fix without buying bigger pants???

I have been making smoothies and frappes at home for awhile now. In fact I just bought a nice blendeer with a great ice crusher. Yes, this is serious business for me. I test them out on my children, and I, of course, have my share as well.  We even have special frappe cups to drink them in (because the look and feel of the cup in your hands is important too!). Brennan has a milk allergy so his are made with soy milk. I have tried different recipes, but still hadn't captured the texture and the right consistency...until this morning.

I came across this recipe. Oh my, it is divine!! And light!!!! One serving only has 130 calories (however mine probably has more as I was liberal with my syrup!!) Will my pants continue to fit as I feast on these bad boys each day? And oh the possibilities to change things up a bit! Peppermint syrup with Andes mints on the whipped cream? White chocolate syrup? French vanilla coffee? Pumpkin spice?  I'n in love. Give it a try and let me know what ya think!

Mocha Frappe


1 cup of cooled coffee
2 T sugar
1 T milk (I used 1%)
Combine these ingredients and fill in an ice cube tray. Freeze.


Place frozen coffee cubes in blender along with a little over a cup of milk, 2 T chocolate syrup (I added more and it was yummy!) and blend! Top with whipped cream if you'd like.