Summer w/ a toddler, semi-neglected chores and blueberry muffins

Yesterday I felt like I finally got a glimpse into how I hope more stay-at-home-mom summer days will go. It wasn’t perfect, by any means. We were down to our last few drops of milk, a handful of pull-ups and I still have laundry that needs to be folded and put away, a pile of mail and clutter on that counter that needs to be sorted and Ethan was far from being angelic, but for what matters most, it was a good day. Here’s how it went down.

* 7:30am-ish: Up and at ‘em. {Thanks for the wake-up call, Ethan. Nothing says “good morning” like being jumped on!}
* Breakfast time. Cereal and cartoons for Ethan. Scrambled eggs and toast {with my favorite peach jam!} for me, with a side of facebook-checking and blog-surfing.
* Tidy up the kitchen, change into work-out clothes and bribe Ethan {who was perfectly content to stay home and play with his cars rather than hanging out in the stroller} with licorice.
* 4 mile walk. Phew!
* Get back by noon and time to play! Put Ethan in swim trunks and lather him from head to toe in SPF 5000. Empty and refill the baby pool {that I spent an hour and a half scrubbing down with Comet on Monday… it was grody [groddy? groudy? grodie? anyway... pronounce it "grow-dee"], but cleaned up nice} and Ethan is happy as a clam playing in the water and spraying the hose. Play for 2 HOURS in the gorgeous afternoon sun and even read some in my book. Oh, and find out Danae had her baby!! Baby Elizabeth entered the world at 11:37am!!
* Eat lunch outside per Ethan’s request. [Brought his table outside for him and brought him his plate. He sat down and then said, “where’s your lunch?” So you’d better bet that I got right inside the house to get my sandwich made so we could share in the outdoor dining experience!]* Enjoying the bracelet tan-line I am getting and the plethora of new freckles on my nose, cheeks and arms. It has been far too long since my skin has seen this much sun! Years of working full-time indoors = haven’t had a sunburn since possibly before Ethan was born.
* Story and naptime for Ethan, giving me a chance to do my “chores”. Made our bed, picked up the living room, dusted, reorganized and wiped toddler fingerprints off all the Disney DVDs, swept and mopped every room in the house {except Ethan’s, of course}, cleaned the kitchen and decided on dinner plans.
* While Ethan chills in our room, watchin' Charlie & Lola, I follow-through on said dinner plans… Spicy-honey BBQ chicken {of course, it was my man doin’ the grillin’ – not me!}, roasted garlic potatoes {I used this recipe, but we had no rosemary – I would also cut down on the mustard next time and “zest” the garlic} and green beans. Ethan, of course, will have nothing to do with our yummy meal. Go figure.
* Send Sean out for milk, pull-ups {yeah, two of the essentials and we were out of both!} and to fill up the Explorer while I bathe Ethan and re-clean the kitchen.
* Add another 1 mile walk, bringing the total for the day to 5 miles!
* Back in time for family prayer and putting Ethan to bed.
* Have found a new addiction in the form of this website: http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/ and am inspired by it - time to re-dirty up the kitchen. Make blueberry muffins from scratch. I don’t know what it is, but there’s something very rustic and homey about making your own muffins. I think it has a lot to do with the simplicity of the ingredients and being able to mix them by hand in a plain ol’ mixing bowl with a plain ol’ wooden spoon. No fancy Kitchenaid Mixer required. {And let me tell ya, these are good muffins. Got the recipe from the Relief Society compiled cookbook I got a couple years ago… I’ll tack it on at the end.} Bake 'em up and reclean kitchen. {I'm noticing a trend here in the form of that dang kitchen being cleaned about a bazillion times a day!}
* Pack Ethan and my bags for our weekly Oregon trip and assemble everything by the door.

* Watch one ½ hour show I’d recorded on the DVR, set the alarm for 5:35am {blech!!} and hit the hay, exhausted but feeling very satisfied.

Blueberry Cream Muffins

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup sour cream
2 eggs lightly beaten
1 cup+ blueberries {I always do more!}

Mix all ingredients and fold in blueberries at the end. If using frozen blueberries, don't thaw them - unless you want mushy berries and bluish-purple muffins {I, uh, may or may not speak from experience on the purple muffin part… I’m just sayin’}. Use non-stick spray on muffin pan wells and along the top. Fill muffin wells almost to the top, so that when they bake up you get a nice muffin top on that baby! Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. I usually do 22 minutes, but I think they may be done even before that so maybe take a peak at 18-19 minutes.

Makes 12 healthy-size muffins.
Oh, and even my picky, turns-his-nose-up-at-new-things toddler loves these!
Also, I'm sure they'd be even better with a little crumb topping or coarse baker's sugar sprinkled on the top, but I'm just too lazy to bother!

Enjoy!