A decent afterschool snack

I am always searching for something decent to feed the kids- they want junk ( obviously) and I don't. I found this recipe for chocolate chip muffns that uses whole wheat, is low fat and actually tastes fairly good. (I ate my fair share, plus some)

2 1/2 c. flour
1 3/4 c. wheat flour
1 3/4 c. brown sugar
1/2c. cocoa
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 egg whites
1 egg
1 3/4c. milk
2 Tbls. oil
2 c. applesause
2 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 c. chocolate chips

Combine dry ingredients. Mix wet ingredients. Stir dry into wet. Mix in chocolate chips. Bake 350 for 18-20 mintues.

A little about me.....

In an attempt to update my blog with something more than an event in our lives here are my answers to an email my sister ( among others) sent to me a few months ago:

1. What time did you get up this morning? 12:30, 3:00 and 6:30
2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Ratatoulle
4. What is your favorite TV show? Office, House
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Cereal with frozen blueberries
6. What is your middle name? Endsley
8. What food do you dislike? cauliflower
9. What CD are you listening to at the moment? none; but the audio CD of Frog and Toad is in the car
10. What kind of car do you drive? Expedition
11. Favorite sandwich? Ham or Club
13. What is your favorite item of clothing? anything not maternity ( generally t-shirt shorts and flip-flops)
15. What color is your bathroom? spotchy- I'm trying to decide what color to paint it- so it has many colors in it.
16. Favorite brand of clothing? Eddie Bauer, Ann Taylor
17. Where would you retire to? I cna't imagine retirement
19. Favorite sport to watch? whatever the kids are playing at the time
20. How many loads of laundry are waiting to be done? at least 3
21. PB& H or PB& J? either, but I usually get left with the crust so I miss out on the good stuff
24. When is your birthday? July 17, 1975
25. Are you a morning person or a night person? MORNING- past 9 pm I'm hopeless
26. What is your shoe size? 8
27. Pets? None- who has time for pets
28. Are the dishes done? Yes
29. Last book read? Twighlight and Double Take
30. How are you today? Feeling pretty good- if I don't try to play supermom- I actually have enough energy to make it through dinner and bedtime!
31. What is your favorite candy? Twix
32. What is your favorite flower? Hydrangea, Peony, Hibiscus, Sweat Peas- I've got a lot
33. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? Sept 27, 28 or Oct 1st- whenever they schedule the C- section
34. What church do you attend? The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
33. What is your full name? Stephanie Endsley Benson Teuscher
35. What was the last thing you ate? Chocolate Cake my neighbor made for dinner
36. Do you wish on stars? Sometimes
38. How is the weather right now? dark and still over 100 degrees
39. Last person you spoke to on the phone? lady from church
41. Favorite soft drink? none
42. Coke or Pepsi? Coke- if I want to still be a Teuscher
43. Hair color? blond-light brown
44. Sibling(s)? 2 -1 sister, 1-brother
46. What was your favorite toy as a child? Barbies & stuffed animals - we always wanted a swimming pool, but never got one, so we made them out of shoe boxes lined with tin foil.
47. Summer or winter? SUMMER when I didn't live in AZ, but while we are here- I will have to say winter
48. Hugs or kisses? Hugs
49. Coffee or tea? Neither
50. Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate
51. If married, how long? 10 years
52. Last website visited? various- trying to plan sharing time for primary on sunday
53. What is under your bed? A few legos, the crib, a few lost socks and the heating pad
54. Who is the friend you have had the longest? my sister
55. What did you do last night? sat and talked with Brian
56. Favorite smell? someone else cooking dinner
57. What are you afraid of? not taking the opportunities that were given to me in my life
58. Salty or sweet? Sweet
59. How many keys on your key ring? 1
60. How many years at your current job? 8- mom
61. Favorite day of the week? Friday
62. How many towns have you lived in? 5- Moraga, CA; Provo, UT; Alameda, CA; Bloomington, IN; Gilbert, AZ

Brandon's Baptism

In our church children are not baptized in infancy, instead we are baptized when we are eight years old. We feel by then a person can make a decision for themselves if this is what they want to do. Brandon was baptized this weekend, Aug 18th. Both our parents were able to be here for this special day in his life. Despite a few butterflies in the tummy, he was very excited and happy all day. We loved to see the glow and happiness evident in his face. He is a sweet wonderful boy. In one of the talks prior to the baptism, the gentleman giving the talk mentioned to the children that they were now grown up... later on at dinner Brandon told us he didn't need a plastic plate, he could use a glass plate since he wasn't little anymore! We were glad he was listening, but regardless he still got a plastic plate--- I've had too many broken plates dropping on the tile!

Back to School

The boys headed back to school the 8th of August. When we first moved here I wondered why on earth do these desert people go back to school in the middle of summer. I have to admit after three summers here I am one of those desert people who relish the thought of the kids being back in school. What on earth are you going to do with your kids for another month of insane heat???? Two months is ok, three not so much!

Matthew started Kindergarten and loves feeling like he is one of the big kids now. He had to wear the same thing as Brandon on the first day. If the kids wear shorts they have to wear uniform shorts and shirts, if they wear pants they can wear what they want. Neither one has any sort of desire to wear pants, I honestly don't blame them.

They have been a bit tired at night- getting used to being gone most of the day. Kindergarten is still half day here, in some of the public schools they have the option of doing a full day. I'm not a proponent of all day kindergarten- I may be in a small minority on this point. So I am glad Matthew is only going in the morning.

Andrew has been slightly disappointed that he hasn't been able to go to school. He will be starting a preschool after Labor Day which a lady in our church does in her home. Matthew went to Miss Angie's and we think the world of her. So Andrew is very much looking forward to going. When we went to get the other two folders for school he was insistant that he needed one for his school too.

New York

We spent two fun weeks out in NY the end of July. The whole family was able to be there for a few days all together. We really had a fun time being together again. The last time we were together was March 06. Dad's 60th birthday is the end of Aug, since I wouldn't be able to fly back at that time, we moved the celebration up one month, so we could all be there.

Brian came home after the first week and the boys and I stayed for another. We spent our days playing either at the Atlantic Ocean side of Long Island- where the boys love the big waves, or the Long Island Sound ( north shore, 10 min from my parents house). On our last day we had hit the jackpot with some inflatable rafts and nets to catch crabs in. When the tide is out you can walk quite a distance out from the beach with the water being close to a foot deep. We caught some hermit crabs, sand crabs, and one large crab about a foot wide. It was a great break from the heat at home!

Brandon's 8th Birthday

(New York)

Do you remember having that one favorite outfit when you were younger... you wore it everyday... you wanted to sleep in it... your mom could barely pry it off you to get it in the wash... Brandon has now acqiured one such outfit from his birthday- Jen and Cam got him a pair of orange shorts ( I don't even know if they meant for it to go with the jersey) and we got him a Steve Nash jersery. He really got into basketball this past year.

(AZ)

We celebrated Brandon's birthday before we left for NY with a few friends and then again on the real day in NY. He wanted a chocolate party- everything had to be about chocolate. The boys made chocolates- we had some very creative masterpieces filled with sprinkles, swirls of different colors, m &m's etc... chocolate milk, chocolate cake, all prizes from games had to be chocolate... we had a lot of fun and I'll admit we enjoyed eating all the concoctions over the next few days.

The best birthday present

The few days we were home between trips were filled with Dr. appt's and birthdays. During my routine Dr. appt, the doctor referred me to a maternal/fetal specialist to do an additional ultrasound because the MRI in June had been inconclusive to whether the placenta previa and turned into placenta accreta. This new ultrasound showed no evidence of accreta and no placenta previa!! Generally with patients who have had prior C-sections, placenta previa doesn't go away, so they were suprised. What a great relief and blessing. It had been a long three months of not doing anything. Now I feel like we can handle the last two months and I feel like I have my life back.

Teuscher Reunion

Please excuse the complete random nature of these pictures.. I have had a dickens of a time trying to get them to load and be in the right order ( anyone who feels proficient I would love some pointers!) I finally gave up and figured you could generally figure out what the pictures were of......

Over the past few years there have always been reasons to get the Teuscher family together, with Eric and Emily's wedding two years ago those events ended. With everyone scattered across the country getting everyone together is a bit difficult--- so the first " Teuscher reunion" was held this July in Bear Lake, ID. We all had a wonderful time- and thuroughly enjoyed the lake. The boys liked the jet ski's and the hobie cat (catamaran). Brian tried his hand at wake boarding, and we even convinced Brandon to give it a shot. There were plenty of cousins to play with so there was never a dull moment. Matthew really enjoyed riding the hobie with Brian- there is something about the breeze and the feeling of floating on the water.

On our way up to Bear Lake we stopped in Provo for a night. We hiked the Y with the boys- we did make it to the top, the incline was a litttle steeper than we remembered it. Matthew charged up the trail, we were amazed at his stamina. The Utah valley has grown so much since we were last there.

Our trip home we stopped at Zions for a day. Neither Brian or I had ever been there. We hiked the end of the Narrows trail ( where you hike through the water) The boys thought the water part was great( so did we), but the mile on the paved path took a little more prodding. It was a HOT day, so the water felt extremely refreshing- this was a great summer hike. Some sweet lady gave me her walking stick, which made all the difference- my balance isn't quite at peak performance now!