It's been awhile since I've posted...having 4 kids is exhausting! Brooke, why didn't you warn me! We had a great time while everyone was out for Haley's baby blessing- I'm assuming you all saw the pics on facebook. Haley is beginning to be ticklish and laugh, and she'll have coo-ing conversations with us now, too. I'm trying to get a video of those things, so hopefully I'll get one one of these days! Here's some more updates:
Caitlin is a "slightly above grade level" reader! She loves being able to read books- a whole new world has opened for her. She's really enjoying 2nd grade. Lizzie is loving kindergarten. She's moaned a few times about having to go, but everyday she comes home SO HAPPY!! It helps that she already knew a third of her kindergarten class from church.
Here's Haley enjoying Caitlin's reading skills:
And Lizzie ready to go to Kindergarten! Her school has uniforms, which I think is insanely boring, but maybe it's a good thing for my extremely-picking-about-clothes daughter. The first day we dropped her off, Abby cried "Lizzie! Lizzie!" and was upset! She didn't understand that we'd pick her up later. Abby LOVES Lizzie!
Here's the girls in the spa at the Cannery hotel, where mom and dad were staying. This picture cracks me up because it was after hours of fun, but just a few minutes after I informed the girls we were going to wrap it up and go soon. Caitlin's expression is pure betrayl!
So I have some vegan friends (though they'll tell you they're not vegan...they eat a 90% whole foods plant based diet. In other words, vegan). Anyway, we went to dinner at one of my 90% vegan friends' houses and I was assigned dessert. She said it didn't have to be vegan, they'd eat whatever, but I didn't want to bring something that would be regarded as a carcinogen. So I found these vegan cupcakes from
http://chefchloe.com/sweets/chocolate-strawberry-shortcake-cupcakes.html They are delicious! I got to thinking this is a great recipe to have for when we're all living off our food storage and really, really need a chocolate cake but have no eggs or milk.
Speaking of chocolate, this is called semifreddo (Italian for half-frozen). It's pretty easy to make, and has a frozen chocolate mousse texture. I also made my own Nutella recently from this webpage: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2011/02/homemade-nutella-recipe-chocolate-hazelnut-spread/ I don't think it's as good as the real deal, but mom and dad said they liked it! It was fun to make, though I don't have a picture of it.
....and I haven't lost any baby weight. Any guesses why?
Is this not a beautiful hot dog? End of summer bbq.
This is called a Ratatouille Riff. My tomatoes and zuchini.
Ahhh, the grape harvest . . .not too great this
Ahhh, the grape harvest . . .not too great this
I only did about 24 quarts this year, compared
Here is some of my harvest. I had miracle strawberries
I only did about 24 quarts this year, compared
Here is some of my harvest. I had miracle strawberries
