Halle-freakin'-lujah!!

Nathan is finished patching!  After two years and two months, he is finally finished!  He has been a real trooper through all this and I definitely see a celebration in his honor coming in our near future!

The doctor says that if he slips a little in the next three months he may have to patch a bit more, but for now he is stable and patch free.  And we all have our fingers crossed that his eye will stay stable.  So give Nathan a hug and a high five when you see him!  He is happy, happy, happy!

Strep Is A Four Letter Word

Yes, I know strep is actually a five letter word.  In fact, it is actually a twenty-one letter word (Streptococcus pyogenes).  But it should be a four letter word because in my opinion it is just as filthy a word as *&#@ or $%@& or even *&@%!

I hate strep.   It hit Kev in October by bashing him with a high fever.  So two days later when Matthew threw up and started running a high fever, we knew what it was.  But strep is a wily little bugger and slipped in the back door, foregoing the fever and just leaving me feeling like roadkill: smashed flat, limp, disgusting and miserable.  And yes, I think roadkill is miserable.  I mean, can you think of a less dignified way to die than to be smacked down by a 6 ton hunk of metal on wheels? 

But back to the strep.  Apparently my version is feverless so I didn’t automatically suspect strep when my throat started to hurt.  For me a cold always starts with a sore throat so that is what I thought was ailing me.  Of course a severe sore throat, red and swollen tonsils, a bunch of swollen lymph nodes, tons of white junk on my throat, and six days later, I know better.

I hate strep.

And I’m really sorry to anyone that I exposed before I knew what I was dealing with.  But at least I’ve felt crappy enough that I’ve pretty much spent the last few days hunkered down at home.  On the bright side, Daniel and Nathan have been off-track and have happily learned how to cook a few new meals this week which has been a help to me!

Has It Really Been A Decade?

Things I’ve learned over the past ten years: 

#1-Time goes by much too quickly.

#2-Because of #1, this . . .

becomes this . . .

 much too quickly.

#3-Take advantage of each day so you don’t have regrets when

are old enough to learn #1 and #2 for themselves.

#4-Camouflage cupcakes are much harder to make than I thought they would be.

In spite of the strange looking confections, Daniel’s tenth birthday party was fun.  Having reached the decade mark, he is old enough to opt for the dinner and a movie kind of party so we fed everyone and then let them watch "The Sorcerer's Apprentice."  That worked out great for me because I sat and read a book the entire time they were watching and I didn't even have to play musical chairs or attempt to pin the tail on anything!  And they had a great time!

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but I love that half of his party guest list is always made up of cousins.  And the two friends right next to Daniel are his best friends from this neighborhood, two wonderful boys that he just loves and we adore.

Due to a migraine, Kev and all the boys helped me decorate Daniel's cake for his Sunday celebration with extended family.  I'm thinking I should have let them do the cupcakes as well because their camo is much better looking than mine.  Perhaps I just think too symmetrically to be able to effectively create the randomness of camouflage . . .

It is hard to believe it has already been ten years, but Daniel is definitely growing up!

A Shout Out For Daniel!

In November our elementary school focused on respect and this time Daniel was the man of the hour!  He took his turn in the limelight at a special ceremony held for the students from each class who were chosen as student of the month for being great examples of respect.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: although my kids may be impertinent and disobedient on occasion at home, they are always on their best behavior with everyone else.  I’m so grateful that my kids treat other kids and adults with respect when I’m not around.  Daniel’s teacher waxed poetic (literally) about how Daniel shows respect in her classroom:

“Daniel (last name) shows respect

Every single day.

He always listens and obeys

Whatever the teacher may say.

Daniel lends a listening ear

To all the kids around him.

He values their opinions,

Is polite and always kind to them.

Daniel shows consideration

To adults and to his peers.

He is an example of respect

And that deserves three cheers!”

And I find myself a very proud parent for being able to participate in two of the first three ever student of the month ceremonies at our school.

What's On The Menu?

Last week when I asked Matthew what kind of pie he wanted for Thanksgiving, he told me apple pie, pumpkin pie . . . and turkey pie, followed by gales of laughter.  The turkey pie bit was his running gag all week.  He thought it was hilarious.  So when he discovered that we were having turkey pot pie for dinner tonight, he thought it was the funniest thing ever. 

The Holidays Are Upon Us

I ate turkey . . .

. . . and now I’m ready for Christmas.

And Matthew has heard a new Christmas song and is walking around the house singing “Rub-a-dum-bum.” (Think “Little Drummer Boy”)

Taste Test

Next to turkey, pumpkin pie is probably the flavor I associate most with Thanksgiving.  However, my last attempt at egg and dairy free pumpkin pie was marginal at best.  So I searched my cookbooks and the internet trying to find a new recipe.  What I found were a multitude of recipes in three basic categories of egg substitutes: gelatin, tofu, and cornstarch.  The gelatin recipes were mainly just chilled pies and since pumpkin pie is really just pumpkin mousse if you don’t bake it, I opted to ignore that category.  That left me with tofu and cornstarch so I picked a likely candidate in each and pulled out my measuring cups.

Coming out of the oven, the tofu pie looked just like regular pumpkin pie.  It even had the small cracks on top that are characteristic of pumpkin pie.  The cornstarch pie, on the other hand, was very wiggly.  We’re talking watch-it-wiggle-see-it-jiggle kind of wiggly.  I was skeptical. After chilling, however, both pies were nice and solid.  The cornstarch pie still looked a bit bizarre for pumpkin sporting that dried pudding look.  And the cracks on the tofu pie had widened with chilling and made it look a bit old and dried out (which it wasn’t).  But both looked tasty when sliced, giving me hope.

 Tofu Pie

 Cornstarch Pie

However, looks aren’t everything.  In any kitchen experiment, looks must be factored in with taste and the ever important texture.  Some of you may think that taste is the most important element in any cuisine, but honestly texture is just as important.  The right flavor coupled with the wrong texture still signals disaster (Think of buttered popcorn flavor jelly beans . . . mega yuck.).  And so we tasted.  And surprisingly, the texture on both was fine.  The tofu pie had the same creamy texture that regular pumpkin pie has and while the cornstarch pie was smoother and a bit more solid, neither was an abhorence on my tongue.  And the flavor was right.  The tofu pie just needed a bit more spice (it had plenty of ginger but needed just a touch more cinnamon).  The only complaint I had for either was the slight, strange aftertaste that accompanied the tofu pie.  My niece, Sage, (who is also on a completely dairy free diet) agreed about the aftertaste but it didn’t bother anyone else.  The boys and even Kev ate both . . . willingly.

So the end result of our tastathon was a tie in the pumpkin category and two very usable recipes to be baked up for future Thanksgiving celebrations.  Bon appetite, all!

Artists In The Making

This year both Daniel and Nathan came home all excited on the day of the Reflections assembly at school.  They were excited about entering so they got their art groove on and each one entered in three categories.  While neither one was a winner, Nathan’s teacher told him that he was the nearly pick in the 3D art category.  That helped keep Nathan from feeling disappointed and Daniel was a bit bummed, but recovered quickly.

I was particularly impressed with one of the photos Nathan took to use in his photo collage.  I told him to experiment with distance and one photo that he was sure was not a good idea turned out really cool looking: