I overheard this conversation between the boys this morning. It reflects so much of their personalities that I thought I should write it down so I don't forget.
Josiah (the Optimist) - "Ethan, don't you just love French toast."
Ethan (the Pessimist) - "Yeah, except I don't like the crust. I'll eat it, but it's hard to cut."
Josiah - "I just love French toast."
pause
Josiah - "Ethan, do you think we should try to go the whole day without arguing about anything."
Ethan - "That's impossible."
Josiah - "We could try not too."
Ethan - "Yeah, but it's almost impossible to not argue about stuff. But we could try to not get upset with each other. I mean, it's just not possible to not argue sometimes. See, we are even arguing about this, so it's impossible."
Monday, July 30, 2012
Thursday, July 26, 2012
GF Banana Cake
Thought I'd share this recipe that I've tweaked over the years. It's been my "go to" dessert recipe for the last year. I was making it long before my gluten free days, but I finally found a flour that works really well with this recipe. It's quick, easy, delicious and gets great reviews from all those who've tried it. Go figure that I don't really care for bananas and can't stand anything banana flavored, but this cake is the exception to that.
2 1/2 cups Pamela's Baking Mix
1/2 cup butter
1 cup cane sugar (I like the flavor of the Sugar in the Raw) or use 1/2 brown and 1/2 white sugars
2 eggs
4 bananas, mashed
3/4 cup buttermilk (I use 1 tsp. lemon or vinegar with 2% milk)
1 cup chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom of 9X13 pan. Beat butter and sugar. Add eggs and mix well. Mix in bananas. Alternate adding baking mix and buttermilk. Stir in chocolate chips and then spread evenly into baking dish.
You can omit the chocolate chips if you prefer a chocolate frosting on top.
Bake for 35-45 minutes or until set in the middle.
2 1/2 cups Pamela's Baking Mix
1/2 cup butter
1 cup cane sugar (I like the flavor of the Sugar in the Raw) or use 1/2 brown and 1/2 white sugars
2 eggs
4 bananas, mashed
3/4 cup buttermilk (I use 1 tsp. lemon or vinegar with 2% milk)
1 cup chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom of 9X13 pan. Beat butter and sugar. Add eggs and mix well. Mix in bananas. Alternate adding baking mix and buttermilk. Stir in chocolate chips and then spread evenly into baking dish.
You can omit the chocolate chips if you prefer a chocolate frosting on top.
Bake for 35-45 minutes or until set in the middle.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Weekend review
Our exciting weekend was not really all that exciting, but I want to tell you about all my aches and pains so you'll have sympathy for me...so I have to start on Friday! :>)
We have a ministry at our church that collects food (perishable and non-perishable) and then takes it out on one Saturday a month to some low income areas. It really is a pretty big production getting it all ready, but it's been really neat to be a part of it. So, I went on Friday night to help with bagging up the food (so it's ready to hand out to families). I had a nice time visiting and helping with all that. The only problem came when I was putting some fresh produce (watermelon) that was in a crate and putting it into the fridge. Not the top shelf, but a middle shelf. However, the movement of lifting it to get it into the fridge pulled a muscle in my shoulder. It's my "sensitive" shoulder of course. I didn't notice it Friday so much but man, it hurt on Saturday! I found an icy/hot patch and used it and it helped a lot, even though I smelled like an old man. If you think about the part of the shoulder muscle that you use when you put your hands on the steering wheel, kind of right in front. So that was the first of my problems.
Casey took Ethan out with him to deliver the food on Saturday. Josiah and I ran a few errands and then chilled out at home. By Saturday afternoon I was starting to feel icky. It wasn't until Sunday that I realized I had probably been "glutened." My sweet husband brought home a blizzard for me when they came home Saturday afternoon. It was a kind I could eat, but I got some cross contamination going on or something. Anyway, feeling pretty miserable there that afternoon and evening.
The one highlight to Saturday evening was skyping with our good friends from college. I so miss "the gang" but it was so good to chat with everyone for a few minutes. Such a blessing to have friends we can just pick right up with even if we haven't talked in awhile.
Sunday, I was still not feeling all that great. Went to bed Sunday with a headache. Woke up Monday with a raging headache! Thankfully it is mostly subsided now. I got up long enough to drink some water, get a warm compress for my head and some ibuprofen then went back to bed. Josiah woke me up around 9:30 and I felt a little better. Ahhhhh.
Do you feel sympathy for me now? :>) Ugh, definitely feeling a little old this weekend!
We have a ministry at our church that collects food (perishable and non-perishable) and then takes it out on one Saturday a month to some low income areas. It really is a pretty big production getting it all ready, but it's been really neat to be a part of it. So, I went on Friday night to help with bagging up the food (so it's ready to hand out to families). I had a nice time visiting and helping with all that. The only problem came when I was putting some fresh produce (watermelon) that was in a crate and putting it into the fridge. Not the top shelf, but a middle shelf. However, the movement of lifting it to get it into the fridge pulled a muscle in my shoulder. It's my "sensitive" shoulder of course. I didn't notice it Friday so much but man, it hurt on Saturday! I found an icy/hot patch and used it and it helped a lot, even though I smelled like an old man. If you think about the part of the shoulder muscle that you use when you put your hands on the steering wheel, kind of right in front. So that was the first of my problems.
Casey took Ethan out with him to deliver the food on Saturday. Josiah and I ran a few errands and then chilled out at home. By Saturday afternoon I was starting to feel icky. It wasn't until Sunday that I realized I had probably been "glutened." My sweet husband brought home a blizzard for me when they came home Saturday afternoon. It was a kind I could eat, but I got some cross contamination going on or something. Anyway, feeling pretty miserable there that afternoon and evening.
The one highlight to Saturday evening was skyping with our good friends from college. I so miss "the gang" but it was so good to chat with everyone for a few minutes. Such a blessing to have friends we can just pick right up with even if we haven't talked in awhile.
Sunday, I was still not feeling all that great. Went to bed Sunday with a headache. Woke up Monday with a raging headache! Thankfully it is mostly subsided now. I got up long enough to drink some water, get a warm compress for my head and some ibuprofen then went back to bed. Josiah woke me up around 9:30 and I felt a little better. Ahhhhh.
Do you feel sympathy for me now? :>) Ugh, definitely feeling a little old this weekend!
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
It's been awhile...
So, I haven't posted anything since March. Ugh! Which really doesn't bother me so much, but I realized that meant I also haven't kept up with reading my friends blogs.
We've been a tad bit busy. Our spring and summer are packed with activities. I really wish I could change that, but it would mean a job relocation...and, not really wanting to do that at this time. Not too mention trying to finish up the school year for both boys and Casey as well.
I feel like I should fill in the gaps for the months that I've missed, but I'll refrain. Since my mom and Casey's mom are my main two readers...I think they already know what we've been doing! LOL
We just got back from Children's camp. Let me tell you about that! What a crazy, fun, tiring, exhausting, joyful, muddy, wet, hot time! We arrived at camp soon after registration opened. Just getting all the kids, their meds, paper work, bags, etc. loaded is a major feat before we can even get going! So, we arrive at camp and we were given our room assignments. The girls are all excited to set up their bunks and before I even get to the cabin the girls are running out and saying there aren't enough beds for us. The cabin holds 88 people - 44 on each side and each side has its own bathroom. In the middle is a large group meeting area. So our assigned side only has 16 beds left because the other two churches are already there. Problem - we have 24 of us girlies. That's 8 beds short. Not one, or two...or three. EIGHT! Now, I'd by lying if I said I handled it well, but I tried, I really tried. I found Casey, our fearless leader, and told him (probably not so nicely) "You need to go back and FIX this!" Well, it wasn't really a "fixable" problem. However, we have great girls and most of them decided instead of sleeping on cots in the group area, they would just bunk up together. However, I did end up sleeping on a cot, so did one other girl and another sponsor. Of course, we blocked the emergency exit and no one could actually walk through the cabin without tripping over everything...but I will just try to remember that that's how we make memories. We squeezed 52 people into a room designed for 44 - CRAZY!!! And, honestly, that's my only big complaint about the week. I was not too happy with my husband...but since I didn't sleep at ALL that first night I had plenty of time to pray and work through my BA (bad attitude!).
The kids all had a great time. Recreation was really a blast. The first day we got muddy and wet. (And I do mean, WE. They had it set up so sponsors would participate, but not in a way that would hurt the littler kids.) The next day we were on scooters and shooting water guns. The last day was the giant slip and slide and scavenger hunt in the pool. The speaker was outstanding! He's a juggler and very entertaining, but I the kids and adults all really got a lot of his messages. It's hard to keep kids engaged, but he did a great job! Now, the lady who led worship...well, she was kind of different. Personality wise, it was great, but it was hard to sing along with her. I think we finally picked up a few of the choruses by the end of the week.
During free time the kids can choose from the following things: zip line (for the older kids), BMX bike, crafts, swimming pool, archery, paintball, lake, gaga ball (don't ask me to explain that one).
Hopefully this one very LONG post will kind of make up for my months without posting. Now that camp and VBS are over I feel like I can begin to enjoy the rest of the summer. I think we've got 5 weeks to enjoy before we start school.
We've been a tad bit busy. Our spring and summer are packed with activities. I really wish I could change that, but it would mean a job relocation...and, not really wanting to do that at this time. Not too mention trying to finish up the school year for both boys and Casey as well.
I feel like I should fill in the gaps for the months that I've missed, but I'll refrain. Since my mom and Casey's mom are my main two readers...I think they already know what we've been doing! LOL
We just got back from Children's camp. Let me tell you about that! What a crazy, fun, tiring, exhausting, joyful, muddy, wet, hot time! We arrived at camp soon after registration opened. Just getting all the kids, their meds, paper work, bags, etc. loaded is a major feat before we can even get going! So, we arrive at camp and we were given our room assignments. The girls are all excited to set up their bunks and before I even get to the cabin the girls are running out and saying there aren't enough beds for us. The cabin holds 88 people - 44 on each side and each side has its own bathroom. In the middle is a large group meeting area. So our assigned side only has 16 beds left because the other two churches are already there. Problem - we have 24 of us girlies. That's 8 beds short. Not one, or two...or three. EIGHT! Now, I'd by lying if I said I handled it well, but I tried, I really tried. I found Casey, our fearless leader, and told him (probably not so nicely) "You need to go back and FIX this!" Well, it wasn't really a "fixable" problem. However, we have great girls and most of them decided instead of sleeping on cots in the group area, they would just bunk up together. However, I did end up sleeping on a cot, so did one other girl and another sponsor. Of course, we blocked the emergency exit and no one could actually walk through the cabin without tripping over everything...but I will just try to remember that that's how we make memories. We squeezed 52 people into a room designed for 44 - CRAZY!!! And, honestly, that's my only big complaint about the week. I was not too happy with my husband...but since I didn't sleep at ALL that first night I had plenty of time to pray and work through my BA (bad attitude!).
The kids all had a great time. Recreation was really a blast. The first day we got muddy and wet. (And I do mean, WE. They had it set up so sponsors would participate, but not in a way that would hurt the littler kids.) The next day we were on scooters and shooting water guns. The last day was the giant slip and slide and scavenger hunt in the pool. The speaker was outstanding! He's a juggler and very entertaining, but I the kids and adults all really got a lot of his messages. It's hard to keep kids engaged, but he did a great job! Now, the lady who led worship...well, she was kind of different. Personality wise, it was great, but it was hard to sing along with her. I think we finally picked up a few of the choruses by the end of the week.
During free time the kids can choose from the following things: zip line (for the older kids), BMX bike, crafts, swimming pool, archery, paintball, lake, gaga ball (don't ask me to explain that one).
Hopefully this one very LONG post will kind of make up for my months without posting. Now that camp and VBS are over I feel like I can begin to enjoy the rest of the summer. I think we've got 5 weeks to enjoy before we start school.
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