I heart Drew and Natalie.

The best dessert I've ever made!

Darren and I had his sister and our nephew over for dinner last night, and while we were talking about what we would serve them I decided I'd like to make a really yummy pie (partly to counter the fact that we decided to just serve take-out pizza for dinner).

Darren loves cream pies, but Jackson prefers cookies so I decided to make both. We couldn't decide between chocolate, banana, or coconut cream, so I came up with a combination that turned out to be truly delicious.

Friday night I made double chocolate cookies from a recipe I found online, omitting the nuts since Jackson doesn't like nuts. Saturday morning I used several of the cookies crushed up (about 4 cups total) mixed with 1/2 cup of melted butter to form the crust for the pie. I use a really large pie dish but the crust itself is thicker than usual with that many cookie crumbs. Once you get them all smashed around the dish you bake it for 10 minutes, following the regular instructions for a graham cracker crust.

I followed the recipe for coconut cream pie filling out of my trusty old Betty Crocker cook book, but before I poured it into the pie shell I sliced two big bananas into a layer in the bottom as if it were a banana cream pie.

It spent about 5 hours chilling in the fridge and before I served it I whipped up some heavy cream with maybe two teaspoons of sugar thrown in and topped the whole thing off. I was expecting the whole pie to be overly rich and possibly sickeningly sweet, but it wasn't at all! It was incredibly light and totally satisfying.

Let me know if you want more recipe details!

Happy Earth Day!

It's such a warm and sunny day today! A great day for getting outside and being on the Earth.

Here are some things we are doing to be kind to our planet:

We have put our order in for a car from Japan. It's a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado diesel - either a 1991 or 1992 model - so we can start using biodiesel fuel! I'm so excited about it. They drive on the other side of the road over there so the steering wheel will be on the right, which I hear doesn't take long to get used to. I'm looking forward to feeling good about driving a car.

I went to Home Depot today and bought a little push mower so I can mow the grass Leave it to Beaver style. I did the front and the back and I am in love with this thing! No noise, no polution, no cord, no sprained wrist trying to start it up. It was easy, and the kids helped. I recommend getting one if you have a small enough yard that needs mowing. I had read that they get stuck up on small twigs, and at first I found the same thing until I realized that if you keep walking at a quick and steady pace it goes over just about anything. Mine is only the 14" wide style which is plenty big enough to get the job done while remaining light enough to pick up with one hand.

Since we are getting some sunny days now I make sure we spend as much time as we can out in the yard. This afternoon Jackson and Frances ran around in the grass, watering our new tree, and generally being silly. Until Jackson stepped on a dead yellow jacket and got stung! Poor kid howled for about 1/2 hour until the Advil kicked in and now he's lounging dreamily on our bed with his feet up on a big pillow. It was an unfortuate way to get back to nature.

Darren and I are going to buy a tent and some sleeping bags so we can camp out in the yard this summer - once the fence is up, that is. We don't need any stray dogs and cats waking us up in the middle of the night. Maybe if we can get the hang of sleeping outside we will even try it away from home some time. Are there camping sites with hi-speed internet access? ;-)

Leaps and bounds.

Frances is drawing some pretty great pictures these days! She's been scribbling for a while now, but lately she's been drawing faces, complete with arms, legs, and hair. Often she will add extra lines to represent ears, or articles of clothing like shirts and pants.

She's started working on letters too, and is drawing the standard toddler "V", though I have to boast that this doesn't usually show up until the third year. She wanted to know how to draw her favorite letter "W" tonight. I think she's pretty advanced for 25 months!

While I'm boasting ... besides her artistic talent, she can almost sing the entire alphabet and a few other songs, and as you have probably seen by now is a talented dancer. That's what I call a Triple Threat!






Consulting her muse? Note the advanced pen holding technique.

Ba-chomp, ba-chewy-chewy-chomp.

Well, today was the day Frances got her tooth surgery. She did really well, considering she wasn't able to eat after midnight last night and wasn't allowed to drink anything past 6:30 this morning, and her appointment wasn't until 10:45.

When it was finally our turn, I walked with her into the surgery room. She took one look at the table and loudly refused to budge. So they let me sit in a chair with Frances in my lap while the doctor held the gas mask to her nose from behind. She fell asleep with no problems at all and the nurse gently lifted her onto the table. It wasn't until I tried to stand up that I realized I had inhaled quiet a bit of gas myself!

Later I was a little embarassed by how I stepped happily back into the busy waiting room to tell Darren with a big grin that everything was going well and that I was high as a kite. It wore off in a few minutes and the anxiety rushed in to fill its place.

I knew she was going to have a tube down her nose and throat, and an IV in her hand, and I was worried about how she'd feel when she woke up. She was in there for a lot longer than they said. She ended up needing three crowns in all, instead of the initial two we had planned (and saved) for, which I was sort of expecting since the other front tooth had grown out more since our original visit to the dentist and I could see decay on it now. The xrays showed that the rest of the teeth look good, and they cleaned them as well.

When she woke up she was completely hysterical. She cried and screamed the whole way home, and for about 1/2 hour here too. I turned on cartoons and snuggled in bed with her and she finally calmed down. She's eaten now and is back to her silly, happy self. I took a little nap and when I woke up she had gotten into the homeopathy cupboard in the bathroom and was helping herself to the arnica! Clever girl - I totally forgot that we had it and it was exactly what she needed! She hasn't had any pain-killers and she seems perfectly fine.

You can probably tell that the two front teeth are new, as well as second one on her right (pardon the crackers in her teeth) which is sadly quite a lot larger than the second tooth on the other side. Oh well, at least they didn't have to pull them out! I'm glad they were able to leave a little space between the them since she has always had gaps.

Do you think the Tooth Fairy will give us a refund when they fall out?

Swim Kid Level 6!

Jackson started swim lessons again yesterday after 3 weeks off for Spring break. His previous instructor, Daniel, went back to school full-time so he's not teaching this Fall, but he left a report card for Jackson and wrote some really wonderful things that make me so proud, I just have to share them.

The patch is for passing the Red Cross Swim Kids level 5, though he did have three items from level six and three from level seven already completed! Swim Kids is a national program that normally starts with age six and goes from levels 1 - 10.

The report card reads:
"Jackson, you're an amazing swimmer! You are quick to learn and float like a cork. Your whip kick is impressive. Remember to glide after you kick - this will help you save energy. Your dives through hoops are excellent. Remember to do a back float and kick to the edge if you are tired. Keep up the great side-glides and make sure you pull as much water as you can on your crawls. This will give you more power".

He also wrote a separate letter explaining why he isn't teaching right now and included another personal letter about Jackson:
"I have only taught Jackson for a short time, but he has been one of the most amazing swimmers I have ever seen. At such a young age he has amazing coordination and confidence. I hope he never loses an ounce of it. I have witnessed Jackson for a long time, since he used to swim with Taylor. He is an extremely sensitive young man - he is so careful and soft, it is remarkable. You can barely feel his feet when he pushes off your leg or climbs out. As a swimmer, he has great stamina and a definite understanding of the motions of most strokes. He is a quick learner and extremely aware. Jackson will most likely reach a limit in his swimming as he is young in comparison to most other swimmers at his level. He is safe and capable in deep water. Jackson is one of the few children I know that would be safe in most water environments as he knows what he is capable of, which is about 50 metres, and treading water for about a minute before he needs a proper break. Jackson would only struggle with fast moving water or waves, just because he does not use much power as he swims. He floats well, so he does not need to be strong to swim well. Jackson will do well at anything he applies himself to. He is a well-mannered and inquisitive person - a great role model for his younger sister".

Isn't that something! What a kid.

We'll miss Daniel, but Jackson's new instructor taught Daniel everything he knows and so far she really does seem excellent.

Pictures from our Spring Break vacation are up!

See them all here:
http://flickr.com/photos/10529392@N00/447406703/in/set-72157600049521493/