My dollhouse

I have no girls. I will never have any little girls. The best hope for me is some granddaughters (but with my husband's family history even that is quite the long shot). I love my little boys with all my heart. I am meant to be a mom of boys, I was quite the tomboy growing up and always have embraced boy things. BUT, every once and awhile I think back to those Strawberry Shortcakes, Barbies and my dollhouse with a pang of longing. So, today I decided to drag out my dollhouse, dust off the many layers of grime and see if Nathan would enjoy it. Here is a cute video of Nathan, to say he loves it is quite the understatement. This makes me really happy.

Goodbye January

I can hardly believe its the end of January already. Im happy though, this means that Spring is one month closer!!! I cant wait to leave the winter behind us and all the colds and sickness too. Poor little Nathan has had a never ending cold for the entire week. Consequently, we spent the majority of the week inside.

I hosted cooking club this month at my house. I made this vegetable lasagna: YUM.

Cooking club with four of my favorite mom friends!
I laugh every time someone comes over our house and uses the bathroom and I have to explain that they should ignore the wine. Nice huh? We keep wine in our bathroom to ferment. Eww.
Evan brought home this craft book from school, and was very excited to make the rabbit in the book. He did a really great job cutting and gluing the whole thing himself. He has come so far. Here he is tracing a bowl to get a circle.
Here is the finished product. The ears are there, just bent back behind the rabbit.

A cute picture of Nathan in the bob the builder shirt that used to be Justin's shirt when he was this age. He reminds me so much of Justin here.

The 2011 Awards

You may remember here that I did an photo awards last year at the end of 2010. Im just now getting around to the 2011 awards, better late than never right?! There are some new categories and some of the same from 2010. Click back and check out 2010's awards I cant believe how much older all the boys look!!!

Favorite photo of 2011: This one of Nathan eating a tomato right from my garden. This photo just makes me smile, the mischief/joy in Nathan's eyes is perfect.
Best purchase of 2011: The swing set.
Biggest project of the year: The shed.
Most ironic picture: Nathan in a giant sandbox of corn. At the time we had no idea he was so allergic to it.
Best birthday: Evan's 5th birthday celebrated at an indoor water park!
Best display of Athletics: Justin walking on his hands.
Best celebration: My Nana's 98th birthday party with our entire family. Wonderful.
Worst Storm of the Year, Longest Time Without Power: The blizzard of October.
Scariest glimpse into my future: Justin driving the bumper cars by himself this year.
Most phallic picture: Um, what can I say, I *think* they were supposed to be chocolate dipped bananas.
Most ridiculous task: Vacuuming up hundreds of balls off the floor just to have more continuously dumped back on the floor. I just couldn't help myself.

Wettest experience of the year: Storyland Pharaoh's ride. Thats my kind cousin in the right of the picture soaking us all!! Soaking wet but so much fun. Best funny face: Evan with post-it notes.
Best food photo: Canned salsa all ingredients straight from our garden.
Cutest animal and child combination: Nathan feeding goats at a local farm.
Least likely photograph to hang on the wall: The men in my life. Now do you see why Im crazy?!

Best staged photo: Me eating ice cream in front of the arcade on Martha's Vineyard. Justin didnt want to come with us out on this evening because we were doing "boring" things, so my mom and I staged this photo to show him all the "boring" things we did while he wasnt with us.
Best round of golf: Martha's Vineyard's only mini golf on the island, and the most expensive mini golf we have ever played, but, by far the most fun too!
Best catch: the hundreds of toads and frogs caught in our yard this year. Ive never seen so many in a yard ever. The boys were obviously thrilled by this, G not so much when he mowed the lawn.
Most awkward sleeping position: Nathan on the couch sitting upright.
Best display of brotherly affection: this is a TIE this year. Justin and Evan on the couch watching tv.
And Evan and Nathan on the couch watching tv.
Best tantrum: Nathan, hands down, wins this award many times over this year. Its tough being a toddler and not getting your way.
Best Group Photo: the cousins together during our vacation to Vermont. Look at all those boys!!!

Orange Belt Testing

Justin completed his orange belt testing this week! We are so proud of him! He did absolutely fabulous. He was awarded the belt on Tuesday and beamed with pride when he wore it yesterday for his first official class as an orange belt.

The Basement Project

This is the wall color and tile. I tried to choose a light wall color to off set the dark tile.
I haven't mentioned the basement project in a couple weeks. Its coming along nicely! All the mudding and sanding of the existing walls is completed!!! G and I went to Lowes a week ago and picked out the tile and paint color all in one evening - with all three of the boys with us! This is a feat for me, I usually painstakingly debate decisions like this. But, redoing nearly every surface in our home has given me a little bit of courage I guess. Still left to do for the basement: painting of the ceilings, building of two walls, installing of a door, tiling the floor, installing shelving, shuffling of toys/furniture.

In conjunction with finishing the basement, we are moving all three of the boys into separate and different rooms. Nothing is ever done small in our house. This means lots of new furniture (Justin is getting a big boy bed since he has nearly outgrown his lofted twin bed), reorganizing of rooms, toys, clothes, etc. I feel like we are moving all over again! This morning I spent three hours in the playroom and the big boys' bedroom organizing and getting rid of toys. Each boy is going to have a few toys in their bedroom and the remainder is going to be in the basement playroom. Im hoping to get my living room back before the spring!!!

Nathan Videos

A video of Nathan finishing up eating his lunch and getting ready for his nap. He knows exactly who he sleeps with every afternoon!

A video of Nathan eating and discussing why we dont use binkies anymore.

One of Evan's favorite things to do is put on Christmas music on the DVD player in the family room and dance around with Nathan. Its so cute and funny. I could do without the Christmas music since its about a month past Christmas now, but, Evan loves the cd for some reason.

Karate Video - Justin Learning Moves

A video of Justin training in karate learning different movement sequences. Its amazing how fast he picks up and learns new moves. Ah, to have a young mind.

Disney on Ice

We took the big boys to Disney on Ice. A huge thanks to my mom and dad for watching Nathan so we didnt have to take him to the show. Sorry Nathan, but, you have to wait to attend a show when #1 you will remember it, #2 you will sit in your seat the entire show, #3 you give up your nap in the middle of the show (please dont give up your nap for the next 3+ years though).

The boys ADORED the show. Its the first time they have been to an event like this. It was so magical. Justin had this huge grin on his face the whole time. And I was worried that he might be too old for this type of thing! Turns out you are never, ever too old for ice skating and Disney. It was even more magical, if thats possible for Evan who was in wide eyed wonder about everything in the show.

And there was so much to be in awe over! This show had Its a Small World, Toy Story, Lion King, Finding Nemo, Mickey Mouse, Alladin, and so much more. It was light on the princesses, which worked out fabulous for my boys. There was one combined performance for all the princess and princes to romantically skate around with eachother. The little girls about 3 or 4 year olds who sat behind us squealed in delight each time a new princess came out and chanted her name. This was actually quite cute and very helpful because a couple of them, I had no idea who they were. Evan turns to me and asks, "how do they know all these names?!" I let him in on the secret that little girls love princesses. He told me, "oh, I just thought they watched alot of Disney Channel". Ahhh, to grow up with no sisters.

What a fabulous day.

Cooking Lessons - Egg Free, Milk Free, Corn Free Cookies

Alot of times people ask me, "what does Nathan eat?!" The truth is, there isn't much processed foods he can have, his current allergens are: all dairy, eggs, nuts of all types, coconut, corn and sesame (oil and seeds), and if you look at your favorite package of cookies or cake mix, chances are you will find one or more of these ingredients. So I do alot of baking and cooking for him. And its really hard. I would say that 50% of what I make for him is an experiment gone wrong. Very wrong. So, when you find something that works, you want to celebrate!! And then tell everyone else about it too. (Im sharing this blog entry with a few of my allergen mom friends. So bear with me.) I found a fabulous recipe for cookies. The best cookies that you never ate. Until now of course, when you try this recipe. You will LOVE these cookies. I promise. Here goes:

Mix 4 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt in a large mixing bowl.















In a separate bowl add 2 sticks of softened vegan "buttery" sticks. I use earth balance sticks. I buy them at a specialty store a few towns away. They aren't cheap but work just like butter would in the recipe.

Add 2 tablespoons of molasses. Check to make sure you are using pure molasses. I found one that had corn in it!

Add two cups of sugar. I use plain old white sugar. Cream these ingredients until light and fluffy. I didnt get a good picture of the light and fluffy result of whipping for you. But, trust me, it comes out just like your butter recipe.

Add 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract. We dont mess around in our house, we bake alot and therefore buy the huge containers of vanilla extract. Make sure its pure. The imitation stuff has corn in it.

Now comes the fun part, the "eggs". I use EnerG Egg Replacer. The Red Mill egg replacer I used to use has corn syrup solids in it. This brand does not have corn. You mix the egg replacer up per the box instructions for 3 eggs. Make sure you use warm to hot water when you mix it because, its hard to get in solution. I use the back of the measuring spoon to really crush the egg replacer down and get it into a frothy mixture. So, using our imagination, those are the "eggs" you add to the wet ingredients along with the vanilla. Mix that up with the mixer for a minute or two more. Then dump the wet ingredients into the dry bowl.

Add some vegan chocolate chips. I have been buying the Enjoy Life Mega Chunks at the specialty store I shop at. They taste pretty close to chocolate chips. I use them as "candy" for Nathan too, a treat when he goes on the potty because Im not aware of any candy that Nathan can actually eat.

Add those chunks right into the dough and mix.

This makes a lot of dough.

Now, here is the hardest part of the recipe. You have to refrigerate the dough overnight or for at least 12 hours. Tough right? But, while you are waiting, you can lick the spatula. Go on, lick it, its egg free and thereby salmonella free too! YUM.

I package it up in plastic wrap and then put it in a plastic bag labeled so I remember that it is in fact Nathan's dough. Because the recipe makes so much dough,(Seriously, the picture does not do justice to just how many cookies you are going to actually have with this recipe) I usually take it out of the fridge the next day, split it in half or thirds and freeze it. I have had great luck just freezing it as shown here, and then thawing it in the fridge.

The portion you are baking should be baked in the oven at 350 F on parchment. I roll 1 inch balls of the dough, which make perfect sized cookies for Nathan's little hands. The trick to these cookies is catching them just as they are almost cooked fully and then taking them out to cook another minute or two on the cookie sheet. After a couple minutes put them on a cooling rack to cool completely.

I cant tell you how delicious these cookies are. You will not miss the eggs, or butter at all.