February

Somehow the entire month of February slipped by without my getting a single blog entry posted. We have been busy, so I suppose that's why I have not taken the time to update INOKWACA. I frequently write things, but sometimes (whether accidentally or on purpose) I simply do not hit the "publish" button. I'm not sure what my excuse is for such negligent behavior. I've got nothin'.

I'm leaping at the opportunity to use the extra day that this month has to offer to reflect on the past 28 days. I shan't bore you to death with a run down of the day-to-day activities; however, I will merely add pictures with comments to show you what we've been up to. 

Do these flakes represent my flakiness as a blogger? Hmmmm...
The girls and I made paper messes on the floor as we created our own snowflakes.
Looks like this might be the only snow in Keller this season.

Our teen drivers did a little driving practicing inside the garage. Bumper cars???
They may look all grown up, but they still have fun playing on the PlasmaCars. I love it!

Where's the winter weather? Snow has been a no-show in the DFW area this February. :-(  Native Texans tell us that this milder weather is "normal." I am not complaining about 70 degree temperatures.

One morning, the water in the fountain's pond was frozen, and I thought it made an interesting photo. Although it was frosty, there were no flakes.

Miss Millie doodled on the whiteboard and came up with a family portrait. Cats included. Can you tell who's who?

Although my little boy is not so little, his lap appears to be toooo small for holding both Bartholomew and Jemima. Where's the lint roller?

We Smiths love chocolate AND we love oats, so it was very exciting to find a new granola at Costco that combines chocolate, strawberries, and raspberries all in one bag. And it's "premium organic granola," to boot. (Whatever premium organic granola is...) It is appropriately named "Love Crunch."

I decided that I should try to make my own version of chocolate granola, so I did. The results?

We came up with dessert for breakfast! 

In my homemade granola concoction, I used almonds, coconut, Dutch cocoa, honey, vanilla, brown sugar, and dark chocolate chunks. Oh, and oats, of course. Five out of five Smiths agree that although the store-bought variety is really yummy, "Smith Double Chocolate Granola" or "More-to-Love Crunch" is yummier and chocolatier than the "Love Crunch" brand. Our homemade stuff is good on its own, on top of vanilla Greek yogurt or ANY flavor of ice cream, or in a bowl, topped with milk. (The residual milk at the bottom of the breakfast bowl is a treat, too.) There's just one little problem... I didn't use a real recipe for this granola. I added ingredients by the seat of my pants (not literally), so I am not sure that I can recreate it, but I'll certainly try. 

Spring is bustin' out all over, and it's not quite March. Flowering plums are one of my favorite trees, and we now have two of them planted in our backyard. Hooray!

You know that white stuff that we missed out on this winter? It's overrated, anyway... I'm quite content to see pink flower petals snowing on my lawn.