14 Months!

Greyson is 14 months old, and is so full of personality these days!

He is on the move! He is a big fan of running. Whether it's running around naked before we get him in the bathtub (sorry no tushy photos), running to greet his Daddy at the door in the evenings, or running like a mad man to get out the back door with Minnie. That last one is particularly fun...it's a constant game of rushing Minnie out without Greyson seeing her go out, or else he HAS to be outside with her. He also likes to run at you when you are sitting on the ground, as you can see, in the photos below when I was trying to take his picture! He decided to tackle me and when he "knocked me down" he thought that was pretty great! haha

Speaking of running, another fun new activity is to chase Minnie, or to let Minnie chase him. She thinks it's pretty great, especially because she gets to bark at him while he laughs and turns around to look at her. Although, he still hasn't quite got the turning and running thing down yet, so usually when he turns to look he falls down, and that's when he starts chasing her. (Can you believe I actually thought about getting another dog before he was born?! It's already a circus with just the one dog!) I'm still figuring out my fancy camera, so I haven't acquired the skills to get a picture of the running that isn't blurry, but here is a playing picture, and a resting picture after a big chase.



He's still a little baldy, but he's working on some hair as you can see in the picture below. You can see his little curl in the back, and it's almost like he needs a little trim back there, but not so much on top! Also, you can see that he is "reading" again. Now, he sounds like he is actually trying to read the book to you. It's pretty cute, except that he likes to rip the book out of your hands and then get mad at you when you don't turn the page?! Hopefully, we will get that straightened out this month! haha


Greyson also attended his first football game! The Marcus vs. Flower Mound game, better known as the "Battle of the Mound," is a big deal in our neck of the woods, so we decided to see if he could handle it. Unfortunately, the game didn't start until 7:30, but since it was sold out, we went a little early to make sure we could get seats.

He did pretty well for the most part, but at about 8:45 pm, with half time still several minutes away, the poor little guy just couldn't take it anymore and had a bit of a meltdown. Not too bad, but he was exhausted! His favorite parts were cheering with all the fans (lots of clapping), dancing to the music (especially on "Jump Around 3rd down!"--thank you 90's House of Pain), and the endless supply of puffs Mommy packed to keep him happy :)

Speaking of dancing, Greyson loves to move to the music! It's so funny! Here is a video of him dancing while I was watching Glee one day. It's no House of Pain "Jump Around," but the moves are just as sweet :) (please excuse my toes and the over abundance of toys--do those ever get to go away?:)

Dear Pinterest,

Since you have come into my life, I have learned so many new and wonderful things. For example, I have learned how to spend my paycheck at a faster rate than normal, how to use all of my free time pinning random greatness, how to craft more like Martha, and finally how to increase my pant size by merely looking at my "fun food" board.

It is this last category that I must share with you all today, because if we're all fat together, then are we really fat at all? One of life's great questions to ponder.....

With that, I bring to you the first of my "new favorite" fall recipes including my favorite fall ingredient, pumpkin!! It got rave reviews from Greyson, so add it to the YUMMMM column! I will include the cream cheese frosting recipe from the original post, but we decided to go with syrup instead. The frosting seemed a little over the top for us. Shocking, I know!

Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Pancakes
adapted from Recipe girl

Ingredients:
CINNAMON FILLING:
1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

CREAM CHEESE ICING:
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) salted butter
2 ounces cream cheese
3/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

PANCAKES:
1 1/2 cups evaporated milk
1 1/2 cups skim milk
1 cup pure unsweetened pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon packed light brown sugar

Directions:
1. Prepare the cinnamon filling: In a small, microwave-safe bowl heat butter, brown sugar and cinnamon for 30 seconds, just until butter is melted. Whisk the filling ingredients together and set aside. When it is completely cool, pour it into a sandwich-sized ziploc bag.

2. Prepare the Icing: In a medium microwave-safe bowl, heat butter and cream cheese 30 to 60 seconds, just until butter has melted and cream cheese has softened. Whisk in powdered sugar and vanilla and combine until smooth. Set the icing aside.

3. Prepare the pancake batter: In a large bowl, whisk together milk, pumpkin, eggs, oil, and vinegar. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, salt and brown sugar. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and stir just until all is moistened.

4. Cinnamon filling: You want the mixture to have thickened to the consistency of wet sand/toothpaste. If needed, refrigerate for a few minutes. Don't try to use the filling for the pancake swirl unless it has thickened as it will be too runny! Spoon filling into the baggie, and snip off a small piece of the corner, so that you can swirl it onto the pancakes.

5. Cook the pancakes: Preheat a large skillet or griddle to medium. Use an ice cream scoop (or ladle) to add the batter to the pan. Use the bottom of the scoop or ladle to spread out the batter into a nice, even circle. With your "pastry bag" of cinnamon filling, starting at the center of the pancake, squeeze the cinnamon filling on top of the pancake batter in a swirl (just as you see in a cinnamon roll). Cook the pancakes 3 to 4 minutes, or until bubbles begin popping on top of the pancake and it is golden brown on the bottom. Slide a thin spatula underneath the pancake and gently but quickly flip it over. Cook an additional 2 to 3 minutes, until the other side is golden as well. When you flip the pancake onto a plate, you will see that the cinnamon filling has created a crater-swirl of cinnamon. Wipe out the pan with a paper towel, and repeat with the remaining pancake batter and cinnamon filling.

Serve pancakes topped with a drizzle of cream cheese icing (we went with regular ole syrup--Aunt Jemima Lite, to make us feel better about ourselves).

This recipe will make several pancakes, and we didn't really need 8-10 of them, so I used the remaining batter to make Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Muffins. To do this, I used cupcakes liners, but I recommend spraying/buttering your muffin tin and pouring the batter directly into it. The batter tends to pull apart, and the cupcake liners stick to the muffins. After you fill each tin 2/3 of the way full, swirl cinnamon filling on top of muffin batter. The filling mixture will sink into the muffin as it bakes. Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes.





These are SO GOOD! Depending on your level of sweetness needs in the morning, you might want to drizzle some of the cream cheese frosting on top, but I found that the plain muffin was pretty good on its own. Now you can all curse/thank Pinterest for your increase in pant size right along with me!

Hurricane Greyson

10 minutes is all it takes for Hurricane Greyson to destroy the living room!


How is it possible for someone so small to reek such havoc?!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Our Little Longhorn

What a difference a year makes! I can't believe how big he is getting!