Catch-up

I finally downloaded the pictures from my camera from the last few months, so here are a few random pics and brief explanations. I am having difficulty aligning the picture to it's caption, so you will just have to match them up yourself.

Nina and I made these mini-cupcakes for her Kindergarten class when I came to teach the Meet the Masters Art lesson on Goya. The kids drew self portraits of themselves and then got to have a Goya or Boya cupcake.

We celebrated Dave Day on Feb 28 this year. Rachel and Dave have the same birthday in June, and Dave does not like sharing, so he gets his own special day on a different day of the year. Mysterious finger prints kept appearing in this years Dave Day cake. (Rachel was the guilty one!)

My two little princesses and I went out on a Girls Movie Night to see the Princess and the Frog together. The movie was OK- but none of us were very impressed by it. Too much frog, not enough princess.

The grand finale of our Valentines Day celebration was a modified chocolate fondue dessert. Rachel got a dessert and a facial treatment all in one.

The medieval fair - part 2

As Grant already wrote, we went to the Medieval Fair last weekend and except for the bitter cold, rain and whipping wind, we had a great time. When we left our house the weather was pretty nice- as an afterthought we grabbed sweaters for everyone just in case. When we arrived at the fair an hour later it was raining and a cold front had moved in. Forget sweaters, we should have brought our winter coats!

How could we miss an opportunity to dress up? The kids put together their costumes the day before. Dave indulged the kids and allowed them to do this, but absolutely forbid me from even suggesting that we dress up. Dave has a very high personal geek tolerance- but even he has his limits. After going to the fair and seeing the general type of adult who does this, I think I agree with him.
Does this dress look familiar to anyone? Nina is wearing our traditional Bachelorette Makeover party dress. With a few alterations it makes a great Medieval Girl dress. Smile Fair Lady, you look great!
Rachel was our Jester. She played her part well.
Grant would have really loved to dress as a wizard type Merlin guy, but we already had the knight costume.
It was so cold that I thought Meg would be warmer if I held her close to me in the front carrier rather than in her stroller. I then wrapped her blankie around her and tried to button my sweater around that. So that is what it would look like if I was 16 months pregnant. And the tree lady is pretty cool too.
With the stroller empty the girls took turns huddling in it for warmth. Rachel makes a really cute Jack-in-the-stroller.

The medieval fair

Yesterday I went to well.... just read the title ! Nina and Rachel got a book and I got a wand with a real quartz on it! We saw some real sword fighting! But sadly , IT WAS FREEEEEEEZING AND SUPER WINDY! We ate funnel cake! Have more questions ? COMMENT!

FREE CONTRY!!!!!!!!

I decided to blog about a kids freedom. Well first of gdvchn cbjh HEY RACHEL STOPCCCCC RRRRRRRRRRRR DON'T MESS UP HEY TURN1` ` qsd off the yooowwww nowwwwww stopbbbbbbbbb hey I'm trzn AAAAAAAARRRRRRR! I'llHaaaaave to calloooooo you back later!!111111!111!!11dfgjyvhybcbbhgf P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.PP.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.S. look for Free country,phew Rachel ls asleep

My Tofu Quest

I have a difficult time cooking meals for my family. Firstly, there are not many non-dessert foods I know of that my kids actually like (Grant is convinced that he is a dessertatarian). Secondly, if I do find a meal they like and make it for them, they stop liking it. Thirdly, I admit I am not a particularly skillful, creative, or even careful chef. (It's hard to spend much effort on something that is destined for the trash can anyway.)

Our wonderful family sit-down dinners that we have almost every night often involve screams of "I hate this", "yuck", "do I have to eat it?" and "how many bites" which is followed by "go to time out" and "you'll sit there until you eat it all." Add a little crying, a lot of whining, and even some vegetables flying and I am sure you get the idea. (And they say family dinners lead to better nutrition and family bonding?) But through it all Dave is my ROCK. No matter what I serve, no matter how badly I cook it, he is my champion. He eats it all, being the good example to the kids and telling me how great the meal was. He has a firm rule that no one says yuck or is disrespectful to his wife at dinner time. He has eaten tons of blue cabbage, pea soup, broccoli soup, spaghetti squash and zucchini- all foods that are not his favorites, all with a smile.

All until the day I put tofu in the stir-fry.

Apparently that was the line, and I crossed it. The kids wouldn't touch it. Dave only ate a few bites and even cracked tofu jokes the whole time. It was kinda like this (that's a tofu turkey they are eating in the clip). For some reason he has a very strongly held (and unreasonable!) prejudice against tofu. And that is when I resolved that I would not rest until I could make a tofu dish that every one, especially Dave would love!!! And I would keep trying and trying until they did! Wahahaha!

So far in my quest I have made two things that have proved acceptable. The first is a chocolate pudding- it calls for blending 1 cup of melted chocolate chips (how can you go wrong with that?) with a package of silken tofu adding a little milk and almond extract and viola! My family is eating tofu!! And loving it! The other is Tofu Parmigiana. It had a 60% approval rating. Dave really liked it and everyone ate it. Only Nina needed coercion. Anyway, so that's my new quest. Anyone have any great tofu recipes?

English 101 by Rachel

Rachel is the type of gal who doesn't like to be told anything, but likes to figure things out herself, and then teach others. Lately she has been explaining to me her take on some common English words. Here is a sample of a few "Rach-a-nitions" that were too funny to forget.

Safety pins- "Mom, I know why we use safety pins. It's so that we won't be scared. Safety pins protect us from monsters."

Pineapple-"Mom, do you know how to make a pineapple? You get a pie and put an apple in it and mix it up and put it in the oven and then you have a pineapple."

Butler- "Mom, I know what a butler is. A butler is a ler who brings you butts."