Winter Break

The last time I wrote N was just getting over strep, but developed a cough..The next day he started to complain of his ear "Being full" and was having difficulty hearing. I took him into the doc and sure enough he had an ear infection. Gee whiz! With hesitation and much thought, the Dr. decided to order another antibiotic in addition to the antibiotic he was already taking. When I went to get the medicine from the pharmacy the pharmacist rightfully questioned the doubling up on meds, but I explained the situation and she gave it to us. I had growing concerns about putting N on two antibiotics at once, so I talked to our family pharmacist and to the pediatrician once more and decided to give it a try. I stocked up on probiotics (and foods with probiotics in them) and N is doing just fine. He's healthy (knock on wood and cross my fingers) and has been for several days. Now that he's healthy I'd like to go out and do fun things, but I also don't want to take him anywhere because I really don't want to have any more illness in our house!!

N and D are currently on Christmas break. D and I had my family over to our house to celebrate Christmas on the 22nd. We enjoyed seeing everyone, exchanged gifts, ate too much and relaxed. We were glad my sister and her family were able to drive down for the day. We thought the snowfall, ice and wind that hit us two days before were going to cancel our plans, but things cleared up and the roads were just fine.

Saturday night I set up the boys' new camouflage tent and felt campfire in the living room. I do this from time to time in hopes that the boys will have something interesting to play with for a while and D and I will get to  sleep in (lay awake in bed) the next morning. My plan worked and the boys played long enough to give D and I about thirty extra minutes of sleeping in time. However, when D headed downstairs he found the boys in the tent with grinny grins on their faces! He knew something was up, so he asked L (cause L is still at the age of honesty) what happened. And L excitedly said that they'd been eating chocolate covered gingerbread cookies (a gift from Grammy) and JuicyFruit gum for breakfast! 

On Sunday all four of us needed some fresh air and a change of scenery so we bundled up, headed outside and played in the snow.  Our yard doesn't really have much snow covering on it, but the wind piled the snow in a big drift back by the creek that's about eighteen inches deep! The boys gathered up their loaders, toy snow ploy and shovels and we played for a solid hour. D and I played a game where we'd stand on one side of the creek (the side without the snow),jump, twist and land in the deep snow on the other side of the creek. It was so fun! I felt like such a kid.

Later that day we loaded up and ate dinner at Cracker Barrell. After dinner we drove through the local display of lights on the big hill (if you know where we live you know what I'm talking about). We drove through the back entrance to the park and that was the best idea we had because we avoided a huge line at the front entrance. We've driven through the park of lights for several years, but haven't ever gone on a night as busy as it was Sunday night. Which, honestly, I actually liked 'cause it forced D to drive slower. Driving slower allowed the boys and I to really take it all in. D and I laughed several times because L was our personal little commentator. If you don't know him, you have no idea how chatty he can be. And being at the park of lights took his chattiness to an entirely new level! It was precious. I know in just a few years the boys probably won't be as interested in the lights and we may have to drag them there (or bribe them). So, I soaked in their wander!

Monday was Christmas Eve. Believe it or not, our gym was open about half the day, so we were able to get out and get some exercise. It felt so good to get out and get a good work out! Other than that, D and I took turns playing with the boys all day long. It's so wonderful that D has time off at Christmas for an extended period of time. It allows all of us to slow way down and really enjoy the holidays.

"Elf-a-bet" (per L), "Steve" (per N)

Zoo

Bey blades

So on Christmas Eve afternoon we ate a big snack, took some family photos by the fire place and headed to church. Side note....L was amazed that you can set a timer on the camera to take a picture. He squealed whenever D ran across the room to jump in the picture. The boys were really good at church. We don't go that often, not as much as we should. So, church was kind of a new thing for L. Once again, his commentator skills surfaced during church and posed a few tiny little embarrassing moments. But, overall the boys were really good. We ate dinner when we got home. Daddy continued a tradition and cranked up (literally cranked up) the victrola for the boys to hear. N read a paragraph of the history of the victrola as we listened. Oh, and before bed the boys laid out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. N was adamant that we provide one carrot for each reindeer. I think we had a total of five cookies, nine carrots and a glass of milk laying by the fire place ('cause that's where Caillou says you're supposed to put it).

We also started a new thing of hanging a "Magic key" on the front door for Santa. Our fireplace is enclosed with glass, so Santa is not able to enter the room after dropping down the chimney! It would be a true shame to trap him, so we took the precautionary measures to allow him to enter the house unharmed. The magic key will only work for Santa, so it's okay that it hangs outside our house.

Christmas morning was as much fun as you can imagine. The boys tore through their gifts and stockings and D and I opened ours too. N was pleased with the Switch and Go Dino Santa left him. L was happy to see the excavator he wanted. And I was super excited to see my new scooter in the living room! D got it for me. I knew he was buying it, but to actually have it in our living room made my eyes light up. I road it around the kitchen before taking it for a spin outside.

Mom and Dad came over in late afternoon Christmas Day night. We visited and the boys showed them all their new toys. Mom gave the boys the pillow cases she finished making for them and we ate Chinese at home. 

Wednesday we hit the gym again, taking turns, of course. N and I went to the grocery store afterwards. We recently got an Aldi in our town. For some reason, when N sees our Aldi he doesn't see the Aldi sign on the building. He sees the "food market" part of the sign, so he thinks the name of the store is Food Market. I'll let him think that. It's cute. We went there and Wal Mart. We stayed home and played the rest of the day. My favorite part of the day was the rousing game of Hot Potato we played as a family. We got to laughing so hard! 

We stayed busy at home on Thursday. D and N worked on N's pinewood derby car all day. They mostly worked on the design of the car and haven't actually done any cutting or carving on the car itself. It's so interesting to listen to N and his "collaboration" skills. The boys were a tremendous help doing chores.

On Friday we actually we left the house!!! We have spent lots of quality time at home but were ready to get out and about!! ;) We realize Daddy's portion of winter break will come to a close soon, so we went to a Children's Museum for a family field trip. More on our field trip and pictures to come soon.

Family Tradition Part II

Last time I wrote I informed you of our marathon of illnesses over the last eight weeks and the marathon hasn't ended. As I said in the previous post, N had the stomach flu Sunday and Monday and L had it Wednesday. Well, D kept things going by being down for the count with the tummy bug Friday and part of Saturday. I know when a bug is bad when D is wiped out on the couch and does not eat much. He did, however drink his Diet Dew (ick!), so he wasn't completely deprived.

Friday night we had tickets to attend a Christmas event featuring Santa and a train ride at a local state park. This would be our third year attending the event, but Daddy was too sick to go. We called Grammy and asked her if she wanted to go. I knew I'd have to twist her arm pretty hard (ha, ha), but was able to talk her into it. :)  We had nice, warm-ish weather and the rain that was in the forecast held off. It was a wonderful night....However, I do believe N picked up another bug while we were there. I don't know if got him at the cookie decorating table, craft table or the pool of fake snow, but it got him. And it got him good as he went to bed with a cough and runny nose. The next morning he woke up with rosie red cheeks and a fever of 103.5. Eek! I suspected he'd be bitten by the strep bug that's going around, but needed to confirm that. I wasn't able to get him into his pediatrician on Monday (they've been inundated with illnesses) so we went to  a prompt care and my suspicions were quickly confirmed with a strep test. This was my first go around with Strep. N missed school Monday through Wednesday of this week. His strep has gotten better and his fever is gone (thank goodness), but his cough has gotten worse. It seems to be aggervated by cold air and physical activity. So we'll see how that goes..Anyway...I continue to disinfect when I can and hope L doesn't come down with anything!

Family Tradition

This is the time of the year when we start to think about family traditions. Favorite family recipes, driving in the car and looking at Christmas lights, sending Holiday cards and making plans to eat "Fun-due"...However, there is something that our family has made into a tradition without meaning to...being sick. We've been sick around this time every year for the last four years! This morning when L woke up with a tummy bug I just wanted to crawl back in bed and cry. Why? Because someone in our house is sick AGAIN! Again? Really? Yes! I told D it feels like we've had one person sick in our house forever. So, out of curiosity I looked back at our calendar to see when this began. Can you guess? October 8th! Yes, nearly eight weeks ago on Columbus Day I started these festivities when I felt a cold and sore throat coming on. And it's been nothin but colds, coughs, bronchitis, inhalers, steroids, antibiotics, breathing treatments, ear infections, barf bowls, thermometers, and doctors visits since. Par-tay! Okay, so I may be exaggerating a teensy bit 'cause we have had a few days here and there of days where all four of us have been healthy, but they've been few and far  between! Heck, I'm the only one that's had a flu shot in this family because (a.) I remembered to get one and (b.)I've been healthy enough to get one. The next few days will be the true test to see if that 'ol flu shot's gonna work 'cause N had the stomach flu Sunday and Monday and L had it all day today. I've been eating my fruits, veggies and vitamins to build up my immunity. Let's hope it works! I think taking care of sick kiddos should win a Mommy Immunity, don't you?

Election and sick days

We've been somewhat home bound the last four days. N has developed the cough I had a few weeks ago. He doesn't have any other cold or flu symptoms, but his cough is relentless at times. I kept him home from school Monday and Tuesday to continue his breathing treatments and meds. My deal with the boys is that if they stay home from school they have to take a nap or have quiet time in their rooms. The meds and rest time have helped and he seems to be back on his feet. Because he wasn't super sick he still had energy to do crafts and low key things around the house.

I started the day today with an early morning work out at 5:40. L has been waking up between 5:45 and 6:00 every single morning (including weekends) for the last few weeks. D and I trying to figure out why he wakes up at that time. This morning while I was exercising I heard our neighbor's dog, Moose, bark and I heard an obnoxious whistle blowing train plow through town. And just a few minutes later L made his way downstairs... I think we figured out what's happening...Hmmm.

 Later in the morning, N and I took L to school. We then proceeded to cast our (well, my) vote. N showed a great interest in the process of voting and the election, so we did a few fun things to learn more about it. We created a word search online using election/presidential related words and names. N found two boxes and turned them into voting boxes. L and I played along and voted for our president of choice. (Our choices were Obama and Thomas Jefferson despite the fact that we learned the candidates today are Obama and Romney.) We also made ballots to vote for what we're going to eat for dinner. We each chose a meat (chicken or hot dog), veggie (mushrooms or brussell sprouts), side choices were rice and "no opponent" and fruit choices were apples or pears. I put brussell sprouts on the ballot as a total joke 'cause I already knew I was making chicken marsala with mushrooms and I thought nobody would vote for brussell sprous. L voted for them. Stinker. Anyway. I made a ballot for each person and each person circled their choices and placed their ballot in the ballot box. It was fun. The boys enjoyed it and hopefully they learned something.

This afternoon L only took a 40 minute nap (may have only been 39 minutes, but who's counting?). Therefore we had a lot of time this afternoon to work with, so I got supplies out for the boys to do this water coloring project. They really enjoyed it and actually painted for nearly an hour. We made numerous paintings that actually turned out pretty cool!

A little while later we constructed a tent that was really cool. I wish I would have taken a picture of it because we even put Christmas lights inside of the tent that the boys were tickled about.

Needless to say, it's only 8pm and I'm exhausted. I'm actually considering going to bed, but I have numerous baskets of laundry to fold. You know you need to fold laundry when the boys are wearing pajamas that consist of one piece that is heavy winter fleece with shorts that are two sizes too small. Ha!

Eureka!! Single Serve Brownie

I just figured out how to make a gluten and dairy free single serve brownie that tastes good. I used Pamela's Gluten Free Brownie Mix. I figured out that if I use the Pamela's brownie mix from the 16 oz bag that it costs almost half the price as compared to purchasing Pamela's single serving brownie packets. I realize the single serve brownie packets are very convenient. You can take them to a party and make your own brownie if a gluten free option is not available. That's great. But, if you're at home and only wanna make one brownie, this is a more economical way to go. I'm sure I could make this even less expensive by making my own brownie mix from gluten free flours and cocoa powder, but, at this time, I'm happy with the "semi-homemade" route. Here it goes!!

1/2 cup Pamela's Brownie Mix
2 TBSP veg oil (or olive oil if needed)
2-3 TBSP water (slowly stir in to the consistency you like)

Pour brownie mix and veg oil into a mug. Pour in 2 TBSP water in, stir and add more water if needed. I think I ended up with a full three TBSP's of water. Cook in microwave for 1 minute thirty seconds on 60-70% power. (My micro is 1800 watts, so I find I have to cook most of our food at partial power 'cause the full power scorches things). Check after one and a half minutes. Add thirty second intervals as needed until cooked to your preference. Enjoy!

Puppy Chow Oatmeal

A few weeks ago I stumbled across an interview with Kath from Katheats.com about her interest in oats. The interview was interesting and I've been eating oats almost every day since I tuned in. Kath creates delicious and sometimes unusual recipes with oats, fruit, nuts and nut butter. She's inspired me to get creative using a variety of ingredients. My most recent concoction is below. I'm somewhat jokingly calling it "Puppy Chow Oatmeal." Maybe if I give it a cute name my kids will eat it, right? Anyway... I had the idea to create a chocolate, peanut butter bowl of oats for night time when I'm craving something sweet but don't have the energy to whip up a homemade gluten and dairy free dessert. I found a  recipe on Pinterest and tried  it, but decided it wasn't quite what I was looking for. So I tweaked it and came up with something that suits my taste buds. You can almost halve this recipe for a night time snack portion or you can eat the whole recipe as a sizeable afternoon snack. Here it goes.

1/2 cup gluten free oats
1 cup vanilla almond milk
1 TBSP cocoa powder
1 TBSP light brown sugar
1-2 teaspoons peanut butter
1-2 teaspoons chocolate chips

I like Kath's method of cooking the oats, but I don't use the cut up bananas in this particular recipe.So, put oats and milk in a pan at the same time. Let it reach a boil and stir it a few times. Lower heat and let it simmer until desired texture. Stir in cocoa powder and brown sugar. I like to pour the oats into a big bowl, set the spoon with peanut butter in the bowl and cover it with the lid from the pot. I let it sit for a few minutes to allow the peanut butter to melt. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top and enjoy!! Savor. Mmmm..So yummy on a cool afternoon or evening.

Over the last few weeks we've had a bundle of apples to eat, so I made a "Caramel apple" oatmeal using chopped apples, brown sugar, a tiny squirt of caramel sauce, a drop of peanut butter in the middle and about three walnuts broken into pieces on top for crunch. Mmmm. So good! The fruit and oat recipes are so warm and comforting in the morning and keep me full until lunch without needing a snack.

GFDF Lasagna (pasta bake)

I found this recipe on Pinterest for a gluten free, dairy free lasagna. It looked very tasty and somewhat easy to follow, so I tried it. When I got to the store to buy the lasagna noodles I realized just how much more expensive they were than the macaroni shaped gluten free noodles, so I opted for the macaroni noodles instead. That is where this isn't exactly lasagna, but more of a pasta bake. The original recipe is here. You can see that I simplified it by using a jar of sauce rather than making the sauce and I didn't use quite as many veggies as certain family members do not care for onions or red peppers. So, here it goes....

1 pkg sliced mushrooms (chopped)

3 cloves garlic (pushed through garlic press)

1 pkg turkey Italian sausage links (removed from casings)

1  26  oz jar spaghetti sauce

1 bag gluten free macaroni noodles (*)

1 cup cashews (soaked 30 min or as long as six hours)

3/4 cup water

1 egg 

1 handful fresh parsley

Pinches of salt, garlic salt

Turn on pot of water for noodles.

Saute mushroom and garlic in olive oil.

Add Italian sausage to skillet.

Once sausage is cooked through, add the jar of spaghetti sauce. Simmer for twenty minutes.

Cook pasta while red sauce simmers.

Cashew sauce...After cashews have soaked, drain them. Place in blender with 3/4 cup water. Blend until nice and smooth. Add egg, parsley, salt and garlic salt. Blend just until mixed, but not too long as the parsley will turn the sauce green. 

Layer in 8x8 dish as follows (below).Cover dish with foil. Cook in oven at 350 for thirty minutes. Remove foil, turn heat up to 375 and cook for additional 10 to 15 minutes, until bubbly.

Red sauce in bottom of pan

Top red sauce with cashew sauce.

Noodle layer

Cashew sauce on top of noodles.

Red sauce.

Noodles

Cashew sauce

Red Sauce (end with red sauce on top)

*  I ended up using about 3/4 of the bag of noodles in the "lasagna" and saved the rest for lunch the next day. 

**I did this recipe in steps. I made the red sauce and cooked the pasta during L's nap time and stored them in the fridge. I made the cashew sauce right before I was ready to assemble the dish and cook it at dinner time.

Busy Weekend

We stayed busy last weekend! Daddy left early Friday morning for a tractor show and didn't return until Sunday evening, so the boys and I did some fun stuff to pass the time. Friday afternoon L and I picked N up from school and headed to a nearby town for their annual pumpkin festival. Our plan was to eat some sort of pumpkin treat (N wanted pumpkin ice cream) for our after school snack, but the tent selling those treats wasn't open yet. We got a funnel cake instead and were just as pleased with it. I splurged and ate some funnel cake (major glutenous moment!) and enjoyed it too. We bought twelve tickets to use for the carnival rides. The boys had lots of fun going around and around on the boats, motorcycles and the green caterpillar. They bounced in the pumpkin shaped bouncy house and all three of us went down the huge slide together. That was fun! I've always loved that big slide! Our former music class teacher teaches music classes and also performs at festivals. She was singing while we were there, so we watched her for a bit. All three of us sat in the firetrucks that were open before heading home for the night. We ate fast food in the car on the way home and played outdoors with the neighbors for a bit before going into the night time routine. I'm so glad I took the boys to the carnival! I was nervous to take them without D, but the crowds weren't too bad, the boys were good and we took our time doing everything. It all worked out!
Saturday morning we headed out to a nature center about 45 minutes from our house. We ate a picnic lunch on the outdoor stage, looked at all the reptiles inside the nature center building and played in the outdoor kids' area. The outdoor kids' area is so fun because it has a log cabin, a little house, a tree house, a balance beam, monkey bars, an enormous dirt hole, a sand box, a zip line, a tree swing and a big tree to climb. The kids' area wasn't busy. In fact, we had the place to ourselves most of the time. A blacksmith class was taking place while we were there and a wedding was starting as we left. There were people around, but it wasn't crowded. It was a gorgeous, memorable day!
On Sunday morning we invited Grammy and Grandpa over to celebrate Grandpa's upcoming Birthday. They came over at ten and hung out with us until after lunch. We had a really nice visit while the boys dug in our dirt pile and played with their tractors. We had an easy lunch of pizza and ate brownies for dessert. We put three candles in the brownies, one for L to blow out, one for N to blow out and one for Gpa to blow out. Singing Happy Birthday and blowing out the candles is one of L's all time favorite things to do, so we sang once, blew out the candles, relit them and blew them out again. The boys and I took it easy Sunday afternoon. Daddy was supposed to get home around 2:00, but didn't get home until 5:00, so we headed to N's school playground around 4:30. He's really been wanting to show me the new tricks he can do on the monkey bars for a while.We were really glad to see Daddy when he met us at the playground! We ate dinner, hung out and hit the hay. It sure was a busy weekend, but the boys and I had fun!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites

I made this recipe with one change and they turned out realllly yummy! In fact, the boys and I liked them so much we immediately made a second batch.

Raw Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites
2/3 c raw cashews
1/3 c gluten free oats
3 Tbsp honey
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
1/4 c Miniature Chocolate Chips (this was actually too much, so I'd start with half this amount and adjust as you stir.)

Chop cashews and gluten free oats in the food processor until they're almost a flour consistency. Add honey and vanilla extract. Mix until it clumps up into one or two large pieces. Pour into a separate bowl and stir in miniature chocolate chips. Use a cookie scoop to portion them into equal sizes. Roll between hands. Refrigerate.

First Day of School!

Today went really well as far as N's first day of school goes, but it wasn't without the typical quirks. N is very excited to get started with First Grade, so he went right to be bed without leaving his room last night....Or so I thought...I later found out he stayed awake in his room drawing "art work" (his term) on his legs with ink pen. He was up bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning excited for the big day. His first order of business was getting himself dressed before he left his room. I set clothes out for him to wear, but he didn't see them so he chose his own. He wanted to wear long pants (to cover the afore mentioned "art work"), so he pulled a pair of jeans off the "too small" shelf of his dresser to wear. He insisted on wearing them until I reminded him of a Berenstien Bear's story where Papa Bear wore pants that were too small. Papa Bear attempted to bend over to pick something off the ground and split the seat right out of his pants. N remembered that story and quickly changed into a bigger pair on one condition, that L and I would not watch him change.. Okay, maybe he's getting modest, that's okay.. I'll oblige.Nope, modesty wasn't the reason...Ink pen art on his thighs was..But, I didn't see it 'cause I wasn't watching him change his clothes. At the time I didn't know his thigh were covered in swirls of ink pen, so I didn't understand why he fought so hard to keep on his original choice of pants on and why he didn't want L and I to see him change..Now it's later in the day and I saw his decorated legs and have put all the pieces of the puzzle together. Anywho. All of this and we hadn't even walked downstairs to eat the pancake and sausage breakfast that N claimed was burnt and yucky. I ate it and thought it was fine. 

N was so excited to get to school he was ready to leave a half hour early. This actually worked in our favor because it gave us ample time to take pictures and meandor into the school building without being rushed. N said hello to several kids as we walked into the school that he remembered from Kindergarten. He also said Hello to a few kids he thought he knew but apparently had the wrong names and got a few funny looks. Oops, no biggie. We made it into the gym where the kids sit before the bell rings. N found the row of first graders with ease and sat behind a former classmate. L and I sat in the stands and took pictures of N and waved at him several times. When it was time for the first grade to head to their classrooms I went onto the gym floor (with all the other parents) to get a few more snapshots and give N a fist bump before he headed off.

This year I'm happy to see N get back to school. A part of me is sad summer is already over because we did have lots of fun, but a big part of me is happy to see him get back into the routine of school and all the fun things they do at school. It's good for him. I gotta say I'm pretty proud of my Big Guy for being confident in himself for knowing his way around the school and knowing the routine. I just hope his confindance doesn't get away from him.  I didn't get choked up when I watched him walk out of the gym towards his classroom like I did last year because he's a  big kid and I know he's gonna be just fine...And his complaints of "burnt" pancakes and yucky sausage for breakfast at home made it a little easier to wave him on...wink, wink. ;)

L and I headed to a "Boo-hoo Yahoo" breakfast playdate after we took N to school. This time last year I was on the "Booh-hoo" side of the fence because I had taken N to his first day of Kindergarten. This year I was leaning a little more to the "Ya-hoo" side of things. It's so funny how much difference a year can make because so many of the Moms in the moms group with kids going into first grade felt the same way. L and I had fun seeing friends at the park. Lots of people brought breakfast items to share, so there were plenty of snack to eat. The park has a great playground, pavilllion and picnic tables. The kids played and the Moms visited. It was a really nice time. We stayed for about an hour and a half then we had to run through Wal Mart for a few things before we picked N up from the bus stop. N was happy to tell us about his day while we ate lunch. Not only was today the first day of school, but one of his classmates brought goody bags to celebrate his Birthday! The goody bag had lots of little trinkets in it along with one sheet of about thirty small tattoos. I didn't see the sheet of tattoos until about fifteen of them were already on N's arms and stomach....N had gotten ahold of a wet towel and had tattooed himself while I was cleaning up our lunch mess. I should've known something was up when the living room was so quiet! So, not only does N have thighs covered in ink pen art, but he has arms full of small tattoos. Great! We're making a great first impression on his new teacher! 

Today was a half day. Tomorrow is a full day. N is excited to eat his first lunch as a first grader....mainly because he says the first graders get to eat before the kindergartners. If today is any indication of what this year is going to be like, this could be an interesting year!

S'more Please

There are certain times of the year when I miss some of the normal gluten and dairy filled foods I used to it. A traditional s'more made with graham crackers, a chocolate bar and a marshmallow is one thing I really miss in the summer time. This year it seems S'mores are all the rage. Remember when cupcakes and cupcake pops were the fad food? Lots of people were getting creative with cupcakes and cupcakes pops and blogging about it. So fun. Well, I get the sense that S'mores and all the variations of S'mores are the new cupcake. Like pink is the new black...did I say that right? Anyway. I've enjoyed seeing what people have done with chocolate, marshmallows and graham crackers/bananas, cookie dough on pinterest. So, we've tried a few variations ourselves the last few weeks.

We started out with the banana, mini choco chip and mini mallow wrapped in foil and grilled. We started ours on the grill, but finished them in the oven. And while our's did not look as pretty as the ones on Pinterest, they tasted super good.

Our next shot at S'more was one I altered to be GFDF from a recipe I saw on Pinterest. I use the following.

One box GFDF sugar cookie mix
Two dark chocolate bars
Mini marshallows

Mix the sugar cookie mix together as directed (using almond milk and DF butter). Spread half the cookie dough on the bottom of a greased 8x8 pan. Place dark chocolate  bars on top of cookie dough. Then add a layer of marshmallows on top of the chocolate. Then "hide" (as my boys said) the mallows with the remainder of the cookie dough. I cooked this at 325 for about 35 minutes. For some reason GFDF baking mixes tend to instruct you to bake things at 325 rather than 350. Not sure why. I'm sure it's something scientific.At any rate, the S'more cookie bars are absolutely delicious!!!

I still have one more S'more recipe I'd like to try and that is to dip the super huge marshmallows in dark chocolate and cover them with crushed graham crackers (for the gluten eaters) and crushed cinnamon chex (for the non gluten eaters). I got to thinking, the large marshmallow could be somewhat of a candied apple deal where you can cover them in just about anything you want....chocolate and mini choco chips, chocolate and M&M's....chocolate and chopped cashews...Caramel and cashews..You name it. My only concern would be if the mallow could hold up to the weight of the things your putting on it...Sounds like something to experiment with!

Not on our Summer Bucket List

So, the stomach flu wasn't on our Summer Bucket List. No, really. It wasn't. But, we got it anyway. Ick! L got it Saturday night. We thought it was food poisoning from noodles he ate at a local restaurant. A couple of days went by where nobody in the house was sick and we thought we were out of the woods...until I got sick. And holy moly was I ever sick! At one point Daddy had his hands full because L's symptoms temporarily resurfaced and he and I were both sick at the same time. Our illness didn't overlap too long, then I was the only one who was sick. I honestly think that was the worst case of the stomach flu I've ever had in my entire life. I won't go into the gory details, but I will say that I slept on the bathroom floor for part of the night 'cause it was nice and cool and because I just didn't have it in me to walk back to my bedroom. Poor, Mama! I gradually recovered over the course of the next twenty four hours, then N woke up with it. Fortunately his symptoms occurred during the day, so I was able to take care of him during the day and not through the night. This bug lingered long enough to consume one whole summer week. Boo! But, we did the best we could with it. At the beginning of the week when L was sick (and N was not), N and I made a hopscotch game using painter's tape on the tile floor in the kitchen. We pushed the kitchen table and chairs back and played hopscotch while L rested. We also played Legos and ate popsicles to encourage L to get some sort of liquids in his body. When I was sick and the boys were not we camped out in the basement and played our bowling game that the boys enhanced with a ramp contraption. We also loaded up in the car for a short outing to the drive through to pick up some lunch for the boys. When N was sick and L was well, L wanted to take care of him. It was super sweet, but I was concerned that L was getting into all of N's sick germs. I decided I better distract L, so we took the sensory boxes out to the front porch and played with them while N got some rest. I brought the baby monitor outside with us so N could yell for me if he needed something. L played with our Play-doh for a few hours in the afternoon with both me and Grammy. It's been a long week, but we made the best we could of it and are moving forward! Here's to checking off the things that actually are on our Summer Bucket List!!

GFDF Pancakes

Okay, so I'm almost afraid to post this recipe because my kids have eaten it two times and I'm afraid if I post it, they will suddenly decide they don't like it anymore. So I will try to prevent the jinx by typing this with my fingers crossed. It's hard to type with your fingers crossed! Anyway, I'm happy to say that I think we've added one more meal into our "rotation" that everyone in the family will eat. Yaaaay! And, I'd like to thank Aunt J and Grammy for introducing this to us. They're pancakes. Ya, ya, I know, pancakes seem like a staple. But, these are special 'cause Aunt J taught me to make them Dutch Style by adding a fruit and a meat into them. She made ours with apple and bacon in them. I really loved it with the bacon inside the pancake, but I'm not sure the kids would. I thought I'd introduce the boys to the pancakes with shredded apple only before introducing the bacon to them. Baby steps. When we were at Grammy's she served us turkey sausage that the boys ate, too! Nice. Another nice thing about these pancakes is that I can make them GFDF for myself. Rather than making two separate batches, one GF and one with gluten, I just took the easy route and made them all GFDF. The boys ate them like champs. Here's the link to the recipe I used from the GF Bisquick box. I doubled the quantity. I used almond milk (vanilla flavored) and added one shredded apple. I put a teaspoon or two of teeny tiny chocolate chips in each of the boys' pancakes. The turkey sausage Grammy made is Jennie-O's and I think the boys liked is so much 'cause they don't have the casing on them.

Gluten Free Bisquick Pancakes 

(These measurements are doubled from the original recipe)

2 cups Bisquick Gluten Free mix
2 cups milk (Dairy-free vanilla Almond milk)
4 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 egg
1 apple shredded

- Stir ingredients until blended.
- Pour by slightly less than 1/4 cupfuls onto hot greased griddle.
- Cook until edges are dry. Turn; cook until golden.

Makes 10 pancakes.

It is perfectly normal for L to wear his bike helmet at dinner time. One of his favorite foods is "blue dip" or ranch as the rest of the us call it.

4th of July

We stayed close to home for the Fourth this year. N and I did our typical routine of going to the gym in the morning while Daddy and L stayed home and worked on a project. We ate lunch at home on 4th of July themed plates and napkins. I mention the themed plates and napkins because the boys were crazy about them. It's so funny what strikes them. You would have thought they'd never seen a decorative paper plate before. Anyway. L went down for a nap and D and I made our final decision on the plans for the day. We decided that it was going to be too hot outside to do our usual routine of attending fireworks at a nearby community. Our plan B was to stay home, play in the Kiddie Car Wash and have our neighbors (B, J and their four children) over to watch the fireworks on TV in the nice, cool basement. So, during nap time, I headed to the store to stock up on party stuff.

D and I had a blast running through the Kiddie Car Wash with the boys. We usually sit back and watch the boys play in the water, but it was much too hot not to jump in with them. D and I both ran through the car wash several times, had a water balloon toss and played water balloon chase with the boys. We had so much fun! After that we came inside to eat dinner. Then it was time for the neighbors to come over. We got out the basket of 4th of July goodies (snap caps, silly string and glow in the dark necklaces) and played with those outside. It wasn't long before everyone came in and took their turn making an ice cream Sunday. It didn't take long for the sugar to kick in, so everyone headed to the basement to play, run around and watch the fireworks on TV. The night went super fast, but we all had a great time. We might just make this a tradition!

                                              Silly String.

                                          Stepping on Snap Caps

                                   Create your own sunday!

Activities

I think it's safe to say we are working our way through our summer bucket list quite beautifully. N is participating in his first ever sports class (outside of swimming lessons). It's an indoor soccer class that teaches the kids basic soccer skills. L cheers at him from the side lines yelling, "Go, N go!" N usually replies with a , "Thanks L" from the floor. The boys are taking an art class. They have sponge painted, marble painted and made homemade play-doh. We are taking part in the library's summer reading program, we're playing at all the various parks around town, we made s'more bananas and we're eating our fair share of popsicles. During nap time N and are crafting (making super bouncy balls below), reading and playing Lincoln Logs or Legos. When it's not too hot out the boys are playing Power Wheels and diggin in the dirt with all our  neighbor kids. Life is good

Snow Day in June?

The past few days at our house have felt like snow days...except there's no s now. In fact, we've got the opposite of snow and by that I mean we're sitting through our first heat wave. We try not to become "shut in's" when it gets hot out, but I've been fighting off a tough little virus that has irritated by asthma. I asked D to stay at home with us on Thursday so I could get some rest and kick this thing. Having him home was wonderful. I was able to rest and the boys got to spend lots of time with Daddy. They sorted, organized and played Legos allllll day long in the basement. No joke, all day. They took breaks for meals, that's it.

Aunt J's visit

Aunt J and Baby E visited us last week. We had so much fun!The cousins are so cute together. L and N were super excited to see Baby E. They literally did a big song and dance for her when she arrived. Baby E was so cool to just go with the flow all week. J and I did our best to stay on the kids' nap schedules and I think that made a world of difference. While J and E were here we got out both jogging strollers and went for walks, we went swimming at the indoor pool and the outdoor pool, we ate ice cream (DQ specifically per J's request. Can't say that I blame her as they don't have DQ in The Netherlands) and J treated the boys and I to sweets from the local old fashioned candy store. J and I enrolled my babysitters (two sisters) to watch the kiddos one day so she and I could have girl time. Panera, Kohl's and Target are always on our "must do" list and we managed to hit all three of them that day! Boo-ya.While J was here we got to visit with both of Mom's sisters for a better portion of two separate days. Aunt J introduced me to a really cute kids' activity website. There she showed me the redneck water bed project, so we did that while she was here. Oh and the kids ran through our kiddie car wash a few times. We had a blast. Now J is off to a friend's wedding and will stay with our sister for several days before heading back to her home overseas. Love ya, Sis. Thanks for staying with us!!

                                                           

                                                                   







                                                              
Grammy made Japanese...err Dutch pancakes and the boys loved 'em.

Snug as Bugs

This day shall go down in T family history. If we put out a T family newspaper this would be front page material. It's totally blog worthy and I even feel like texting my mom to let her know. That's how exciting this is! Both, yes BOTH of my boys slept passed eight o'clock this morning!!  My boys are usually up no later than 6:30 and they both went through long phases of waking at 5:30! Part of me is extatic at the thought that this may become a new summer sleep in time and part of me is a little worried... I did check on both of them and they are still in their beds sleeping soundly snug as bugs. :)

Eating out with Kids

Okay, so this is a little gross. That's your warning.
D and I have been looking forward to eating out at our fav Mexican place all day. Our enthusiasm must have rubbed off onto N 'cause he wanted to a wear a sombrero (and six camouflage slap arm bracelets) to the restaurant. The closest thing we had to a sombrero was my straw wide brim gardening hat. Daddy veto-ed that because it looked too much like a girl hat. He got the boys each a straw cowboy hat to wear instead. "Load 'em up, head 'em out." We no more than parked the car in the parking lot and L threw up. Which was very strange because he'd been bouncing around perfectly healthy all day! We stayed in the car for a few minutes to see if he was okay. We told him if he felt yucky we could go home! He insisted on going out to eat anyway. To which N replies, "That's right, L. Cowboys never give up!" Fortunately Mama had an extra set of clothes in the appropriate size and season for L to change into! Bonus!
Right after we ordered our food L started to lurch again. Ugh! D whisked him away to the bathroom. Our food arrived while they were gone. I didn't know it, but L threw up on the floor on the way to the bathroom. I would have asked to have our food boxed up before they  brought it to the table if I had known, but I didn't. So, N and I went ahead and ate. D and L were gone for a little while, so N and I had some time for quality conversation. We were quiet for a minute and then N starts the conversation with, "Mom I hear kids today want to get their license and drive away from their parents."

D and L returned from the restroom to tell us that L had a small throw up on the floor outside the restroom while they were gone. Once again we told L that we can pack up our food and take it him, but he insisted that we stay and eat at the restaurant. As soon as I was done eating I took L back to the restroom because he wanted to hang out in there just in case. Fun. I decided to stay in there long enough for D and N to finish eating and paying. So, eventually L and I left the restroom and met D and N and walked to the car. When we got in the car D informed me that while L and I were in the bathroom, he and N paid our bill. And when they were standing at the counter paying the bill, N was playing around with his Styrofoam cup of sprite. He poked a hole in the bottom of the cup and caused yet another spill that the employees graciously cleaned up.

On the way home N said, "L when you throw up, my throat sees it and tells me that it wants to throw up, so don't throw up any more. Okay?" 


Hopefully our next visit to a restaurant won't be quite so adventurous!

Recipes: Side Salads

I have tried out a couple recipes lately. A couple I'd like to keep here for future reference and a couple I won't even share 'cause they will not be put into our "rotation." Ha. I'm supposed to limit how much vinegar I eat right now, so I only make a salad with vinegar in it like once a week or less. Beside, one TBSP of vinegar in a whole salad seems pretty innocent to me. 
Broccoli Salad is a staple at our house. I use whatever I have in the pantry. I don't always have turkey bacon on hand, so I don't always put it in. I also don't always have sunflower seeds on hand. In fact, I usually save the sunflower seeds for the times we have company over. I suppose I could try walnuts or pecans in the salad in place of the sunflower seeds. Anyway. Here is the base recipe.


GF Broccoli-Raisin Salad

3 cups broccoli 

¾ cup sunflower seeds

¾ cup raisins

4-5 slices bacon (I use turkey bacon)

Dressing:

½ cup light GF mayo

1 TSBP apple cider vinegar

2 TBSP sugar

Bake bacon in oven.

Place bacon on cookie sheet in cold oven. Shut oven door. Set oven to 400 degrees. Cook 17-20 minutes. Cool and cut into small pieces.

Run broccoli in food processor until cut into desirable sized pieces.

Place non dressing ingredients in large bowl.

In medium bowl, mix dressing ingredients well. Stir into salad ingredients and serve.

From Healthy Lunch Box Cookbook

We also eat a lot of slaw at our house. This week I made this version I found on pinterest. I like it and will make it again.

Crunchy Apple Slaw
Yield: 8-10 servings
1/2 cup salad dressing (such as Miracle Whip)
1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 green cabbage, shredded
1 red apple (Braeburn preferred), unpeeled and diced
1 green apple (Granny Smith preferred), unpeeled and diced
1 Tablespoons chopped green onions
1/4 cup sliced almonds


Mix together the salad dressing, sugars, vinegar and lemon juice in a large bowl.  Add the remaining ingredients and toss to coat.  Cover and chill before serving.

I made the following salad a few weeks ago and really liked it!!

Tomato, Corn, and Bacon Salad

1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced in half
2 cups fresh or frozen (thawed) corn, off the cob
1 Tablespoon minced fresh cilantro (or if you don’t have any, substitute parsley)
5 slices bacon, cooked until crispy and crumbled
juice of 1 lime
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons olive oil
Toss together all ingredients.  Serve immediately.  Or, if you want to make ahead, toss together and refrigerate everything except the bacon overnight and make and add the bacon before serving.

The next salad on my "to make" list is below. I'm interested in it because it will taste good on a warm summer day and it should be filling because of the protein in the Edamame.

Marsha’s Edamame Salad
1 cup frozen edamame, lightly cooked according to package directions
⅓ cup dried cranberries (or dried cherries)
½ cup sweet corn kernels
1 cup carrots, julienned
⅓ cup bell peppers, chopped
¼ cup chopped red onions, rinsed with cold water

Dressing:
6 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 to 2 teaspoon brown sugar (or honey), depending on how sweet you like it

Boil the edamame according to package directions. Dunk them in cold water to cool the beans and stop the cooking. In a bowl, combine all of the salad ingredients.

Measure the dressing ingredients into a small jar which has a lid. Put the lid on the jar and shake it until the dressing ingredients are combined. Pour most of the dressing on the salad and toss the salad. Taste the salad and add the remaining dressing, if desired.

Sweet Sixteen

N and I had a discussion about saving his money. He has a money bank that Grandpa and Aunt J brought home for him from London a few years ago. It's a cute tin that originally contained little chocolates. It has various scenes of a bear in a telephone booth on each side of the tin. I'm sure Grandpa and J thought N would like the tin when they got it for him, but they would have never guessed it would be one of his treasures.

This morning over breakfast N and I were talking about how kids and grown ups save their money. Sometimes we save money just to have money saved up and sometimes we save money with a specific item in mind that we'd like to purchase. Initially N said he's just saving his money so he can have it. Then, after some more thought, he decided he's saving his money so he can by a car when he's sixteen. He says some of his money will go towards the car itself and the rest will be used for all the paint he's going to use to paint it himself. I asked him what color the car would be and he said yellow, orange, pink and purple. He's going to paint some stripes and one big rhombus (no kidding, he said rhombus) on the side. Groovy, Dude!

Birthday

Thank you for all the Birthday wishes. It was a great day. It started off well. "Happy Birthday" were the first words out of N's mouth this morning. We even had a full conversation before he asked to watch TV. L and I took N to school then headed to the gym. I keep thinking I need to video tape our morning school drop off routine. It's the same every day. N takes off his seat belt, puts on his backpack and hugs the back of the front passenger seat while I slowly creep forward to the front of the drop off line. He fumbles to open his door and jumps out. I roll down his window. He stands right outside his window then yells "Bye, Mom. Bye, L" as loud as he possbly can. As he runs towards the doors of the school L yells back, "Don't talk to me, N!" (That's a change from earlier this year when L would yell, Bye back N.) Then N struggles to get the school door open and makes his way inside. L and I peel off and head to the gym. This morning we made it to my favorite work out class called Sh'Bam where L says "Mommy shakes her's (yes, her's)  booty."

Mom came over to our house for lunch. She came bearing gifts and a delicious GF/DF/YF chocolate cake... L was super excited to see Grammy. He talked her ear off like I've never heard him talk before. We ate lunch and visited before it was time for L to take a nap. He asked Grammy to read books to him before nap time. He didn't have to twist her arm too far. Mom and I had a nice visit before I headed out to pick N up from school. I really enjoyed picking him up from school 'cause we got a few minutes where it was just the two of us. We got to walk at our own pace and have a sweet little conversation. Grammy not only brought me gifts, but she brought Chutes and Ladders for the boys. N loves it! N and Grammy sang Happy Birthday to me and we blew out the candles and chowed on the yummy cake. L was still asleep during our initial celebration, so we re-lit the candles and sang Happy Birthday after his nap so he could have a turn celebrating.

Then it was time for our babysitter to arrive. She watched the boys while D and I went out for dinner and movie. We ate at Biaggi's again. The one item on the menu that I could find that had the least gluten, dairy or yeast was the Atlantic Cod served on top of whipped cauliflower and wilted spinach. It was super duper delicious. I got to eat the gluten free bread they serve because the waitress informed me that it's GF and yeast free. D and I enjoyed a nice, uninterrupted conversation during our meal. That's hard to come by at our house. After dinner we saw the movie "Lucky One." We really enjoyed it. It's pretty sappy and kinda predictable, but it was entertaining and a nice escape.

Tomorrow we're going to try to Skype with J, T and E. Dad is visiting J&T right now, so maybe we will see him too.

Art Cart: Giacometti

Today was my turn to teach the kids in N's class (and the class across the hall) Art Cart. We have a total of 38 kids. The lady I share the Art Cart responsibility with has a lot more experience at Art Cart than me. She's taught me a lot. She's the one who pointed me to The Usborne "Art Treasury" book by Rosie Dickins. It's a terrific resource. I might have to put it on my Birthday list! Anyway...I taught the kids about sculpture and a famous sculpture named Alberto Giacometti. I was surprised that the kids knew what a sculpture is. We talked about the various materials used to make sculptures. Giacometti mainly used bronze. We have numerous bronze sculptures in the our area, so I showed the kids pictures of bronze sculptures around town that they may have seen or will have the chance to see locally. Then I showed them pictures of Giacometti and his works. Giacometti’s sculptures were mostly of people. He would carve and carve and carve them until they were almost twig-like. That’s why they are all so slender. The kids found it interesting that the sculptures were so slender and had such big feet. After we talked about Giacometti, I walked the kids through how to make their own sculpture using pipe cleaners, foil and clay. This project idea is found in Dickin's "Art Treasury" book as well. I prepared the foil ahead of time by cutting it into strips. I also prepared their pipe cleaner people in advance. All they needed to do was wrap the people in foil, add the clay feet and wrap the clay. They found it to a bit more tricky than I thought they would, but once they got the hang of it they enjoyed it. Several of the kids were able to make their sculptures stand up in various positions. One boy said his was doing the limbo. One girl said her’s was surfing. We had fun with that. When they were done making their people each student got a crossword I made that contained words related to sculpture and Giacometti. I was amazed at how well they could do a crossword! D and I talked about it and we don't recall doing crossword puzzles until we were much older! Art Cart is always a lot of preparation, but it’s worth it. The kids don’t have an official art class, so this is all they get in terms of art education. I enjoy it and so do they.