Burnt, Baked and Buzzed

That was our day yesterday... Burnt, because we were enjoying the glorious sunshine for several hours on end and, uh, mommy may have forgot the sunscreen. Ooops! Baked, as in the banana bread I made because Tuesdays seem to be my day to bake {last week it was blueberry muffins, this week we used up those rotting bananas and next week, oooh, next week I will use some of the beautiful baking zucchinis I was blessed to receive and whip up some chocolate zucchini bread!!}. And buzzed because I broke in the clippers we just bought and gave Ethan a proper summer buzzcut - the one I meant to give when I trimmed his hair about 6 weeks ago.

But, back to being burnt... You'll see it especially in the pictures of Ethan's haircut, but we spent several hours outside between our walk {4 miles!}, playing in the water and eating lunch on the patio. Typically, what's on Ethan's lunch plate doesn't match with what's on mommy's lunch plate. Usually, my lunch plate has a turkey sandwich on wheat w/ lettuce and tomato and a side of cottage cheese {preferably w/ fresh blueberries}, but yesterday I thought Ethan's lunch plate looked pretty good so I made the same for me. PB&J sandwich, grapes and a [small] handful of "orange chips" aka to the rest of the world - Doritos. And it was good. Ethan also had cucumber slices [pretty much a staple on his lunch plate] and then later snuck in the kitchen and grabbed the other half of the peeled cucumber and went to town munching it down. That's when I got these pictures...He made me laugh sticking his little belly out like that!

My toesies are lovin' this flip-flop-wearin' weather!! :)

Later, while Ethan was napping, I busted out a couple loaves of banana bread with the nasty bananas that had been sitting on the counter. How can something so un-appealing {I like my bananas on the green side!} make something so delicious?! Recipe to follow at the bottom - including my not-so-secret ingredient.

And finally, the BUZZ.
Sean and I had been discussing buying a clipper set for a while now. I've cut Ethan's hair all but once - for his 2nd birthday we took him to a kid-friendly place for a cut. Now for the funny part, I've been cutting the top of his hair with my "best" scissors - they are so not hair scissors. And I've been buzzing the back of his hair with Sean's beard trimmer! It does an okay job, but it was high-time we invested in something designed for the head hair - not facial hair. After much research, we decided on Wahl clippers. Monday I picked one up with my 20% off coupon at Bed, Bath and Beyond and yesterday I put it to work giving Ethan a thorough buzz and evening up the neckline on Sean.I did scissor-trim the top, and with the new scissors provided in the kit.

The after pictures. Notice the bright pink neck, shoulders and cheeks? Yep, we slathered him down with Aloe Vera before bed.


Banana Bread
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 butter [or margarine] softened
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed very ripe bananas
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
and my not-so-secret ingredient?!: 1 tsp. cinnamon

Heat oven to 350 degrees and grease two 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 loaf pans. Mix sugar and butter. Stir in eggs until well blended. Stir in bananas, buttermilk and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Stir in flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Also, stir in some mini chocolate chips if desired. {And trust me, most days they are desired!} Bake about 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean. Let 'em cool for about 15 minutes, then cut a slice and spread on some butter or cream cheese!
[Recipe from the Betty Crocker Cookbook... you know, the big red one!]