Monthly Archives: March 2010

Easter Activities in the Mid-Valley

Have a Happy Easter! Here are some fun ways to spend the holiday.

Egg hunt

Saturday, April 3

ALBANY

Old-fashioned Egg Roll - 10 a.m. to noon at Monteith Riverpark.
Hop Along the Bunny Trail Scavenger Hunt - 11 a.m.
Kids are entered to win a Frogs & Pollywogs Toys gift certificate
Info:541-928-2469 or Albany Downtown or Albany Parks & Recreation

Easter Egg Hunt - 11 a.m.
Kinder Park, 1326 Oak St. S.E., Albany
Info: 541-926-6666 or Boys & Girls Club of Albany

Easter and Spring Carnival - 1:30 p.m.
Cambridge Terrace Assisted Living, 2800 14th Ave. S.E., Albany
Decorate eggs, photos with Easter bunny, hunt for eggs, faces painting.
Giant cotton candy and grand prize drawing of a giant Easter basket.
Info: 541-928-9494.

Hop Into Spring with Mrs. Bunny - 2:30 to 4 p.m.
Heritage Mall, 1895 14th Ave. S.E., Albany
Crafts, stories, treats and a bunny hop. Pre-register with Albany Parks & Recreation
Info: 541-917-7777 or here.

Brownsville

Easter egg hunt - 1 p.m.
Pioneer Park, Brownsville
Info: 541-466-3464 or here

Corvallis

Easter egg hunt - 10 to 11 a.m.
Regent Court, 400 N.W. Elks Dr., Corvallis
Info: 541-758-8000


Sunday, April 4

Lebanon

Easter breakfast and egg hunt - 9:35 a.m.
Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 434 E. Grant St.
Info: 541-258-6393

Easter egg hunt - 10 a.m.
Lebanon United Methodist Church, 1890 S. 2nd St.
Info: 541-451-1170.

Scio

Easter Celebration - 1 to 4 p.m.
Lighthouse Farm Sanctuary, 36831 Richardson Gap Rd.
Hunt for plastic eggs filled with treats to give the animals.
Info: 541-394-4486 or Lighthouse Farm Sanctuary

Are we missing any Easter Celebrations? Add comments so moms know about your exciting event.

sweet and salty recipe

I discovered an easy and addicting new snack recipe this weekend, while thumbing through a magazine featuring country singer Trisha Yearwood. She was sharing favorite family recipes from her cookbook.

Trisha Yearwood cookbook

Since I did not bring the recipe home with me, I was going from memory, so this is my version of the recipe. I'll do some homework and try to find the correct directions. Please forgive me if I forgot something, but they turned out entirely too good just like this.

Sweet and salty snacks
40 saltine crackers
1 stick of butter (half cup)
1 cup brown sugar
8 oz. chocolate chips

Directions:

crackers

Spread saltines on a cookie sheet. Melt butter and brown sugar in saucepan over medium heat and cook for 5 minutes.

crackers 2

Drizzle over crackers and place in the oven at 350 degrees for 5 minutes, until bubbly. Remove from oven. Sprinke chocolate chips over hot mixture and spread as they melt. Cool and break into pieces.

crackers 3

I made the mistake of placing the pan back into the over to melt the chocolate, so it cooked a bit more. Don't do that. Just let the heat from the mapley goo melt the chocolate so you have a nice top layer. It didn't matter though, we devoured them in a matter of minutes and the kids loved them.

Oh, I should know better but I couldn't resist, and it is so addicting! The cool part is that it only takes four inexpensive ingredients that are almost guaranteed to be in your kitchen when that need for sweet and salty attacks.

Thumbs up

So I am now initiated into mom-hood of broken bones. Delaney broke her wrist at school playing "sharks and minnows." Today was the big day and she's now sporting a bright blue cast. So, I guess all I can say is that it wasn't as scary as I thought it'd be and thank goodness she's not left-handed. And now I can sign her cast. Talk to me in eight weeks!

Laney cast

The doctor was so great. We're lucky to have such a great pediatric group here. He kept her smiling, even with the prospect of eight weeks without softball or riding her pony. Thanks doc!

Sweet and sour recipe

I just received this message from a MOM reader and thought that we'd better share this recipe from MOM Magazine, Summer 2009 with everyone...

"Hey MOM - your summer issue last year had a recipe for lemon-blueberry squares and they were soooo good. I kept the recipe but can't find it. Do you think you could send the recipe?" Thanks for such a great magazine, Kristen

Blueberry Lemon Squares

  • 2 cups rinsed Oregon blueberries
  • 2¼ cups flour
  • ½ cup powdered sugar
  • 1 cup (½ lb.) butter
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 tsp. grated lemon peel
  • 1/3 cup lemon juice
  • 1 cup sugar
  • ½ tsp. baking powder

Directions: Mix flour and powdered sugar until blended. Mix in butter, cut into small pieces with a large fork until dough holds together when squeezed. Press evenly over the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees until crust is golden brown, usually 20 to 25 minutes. While the crust is baking, whisk eggs together with sugar, lemon peel, lemon juice and baking powder. Stir in blueberries. Pour egg mixture over warm, baked crust. Return to the oven and bake until the filling is firm and does not move when gently shaken, usually 20 to 25 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and let cool at least 15 minutes. Serve warm or cool.

If it's out of season and you don't have blueberries in your freezer, try ordering frozen, dried or powdered blueberries from Sunset Valley Organics. They are delicious. With a recipe recomendation like this, I'm off to make some lemon-blueberry squares right now. Enjoy!

And the winner is....

hair-product-winner

I used random.org to generate a random number to determine the winner. #3 was selected, which means the winner of the hair products is KarenM!

Congrats KarenM! We'll contact you and arrange the delivery of your prize!

A mini-makeover for me!

In the spirit of MOM Makeover, I decided on a whim to have a little mini-makeover myself....I went from being a blonde to this:IMG_8039

If it wasn't for the beautiful and sunny weather we've been having, I would try to convince you that it was just a natural seasonal shift in my hair color, but I don't think I'm going to get away with that... :)  It's a couple shades darker than my natural, and I kinda like the change. I'll go lighter again I'm sure, but it's fun for now. Thank you to the lovely ladies at Epic Day Spa for doing such a great job!

Do you color your hair? Why or why not? Comment by 9 a.m. Monday March 8th and I'll pick one random person to win an awesome shampoo and conditioner set kindly donated by our MOM Makeover sponsors, Heartspring Wellness Center & Samaritan Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

My answer? I do (obviously) color my hair - my natural color is a mousey brown color, and all though I do have some natural blonde highlights, the overall color is pretty dull. I like having nice, fresh color - it makes me feel like a new person!

Don't forget to nominate a deserving MOM for our makeover HERE!

first giveaway