Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day!

February, so far...

Evelyn has become a superhero. We are not sure what prompted the transformation. Perhaps a bite from a radioactive spider, or some sort of chemical plant accident. That's how these things usually happen (or so it seems). But, we have a regular super hero running around our house, saving countless animals from the dreaded fate of being "Stuck in the mud" or "Stuck in a tree".
We will be going about our day in the usual way, when, unexpectedly, Evelyn will cock her head and say "Listen Mom! Do you hear the sheep! It's stuck in the mud! It needs our help!"

So, Super Ella is called into action, she dons her cape, grabs her trusty rope/lasso/kite string/dog leash/ whatever-it-needs-to-be and she is off to save the distressed animal.

More often than not, she gets herself 'stuck in the mud' along with the unfortunate creature. Apparently we are having an endemic mud problem. (I'll have to get the drainage fixed...) She calls for Mom to help her get free. She will toss me an end of her 'rope' and hold on -straining- as I pull her free. Then, it's the needy beast's turn. When they are clear of the mud, she pretends to lift them up and comes to me with her hands cupped saying "It's okay little sheep. I saved you. You're not stuck now." She will then pretend to place the sheep on the floor and give it a little pat as she sends it on it's way.

It is so neat to watch her interact with the void of space that is the animal in a completely realistic way. I have been looking forward to watching her imagination develop since she was still a fetus. It is exciting to see it bloom.

She has also been playing "Train" and "Race Car". In these games, she moves all the kitchen chairs into a line (for the train) or a cluster (for the race car). The train game goes like this:

"Mommy! let's play TRAIN! You can be the driver!" She pulls me over to the first chair. "Ethan, you can sit right here" And so he sits. "Make the train go Mom!"
"Chhh-ga Ch-ga, Ding Ding, Ding Ding, Ch-ga Ch-ga, Woo-Wooooo!" say I.
"Stop the train! We got to pick up D! (and B! and Juliana! and Casey!)"
I comply "Chhhhhh-ga, Ssssssssssss, Ding Ding, All Aboard!"
She crouches down and talks to a void of space about 8 inches tall. "Hi D! (B, Juliana, Casey) do you wan to go for a ride on my train?" "Okay! You can sit right here." She gently picks her friend up and holds them near to her chest. She carries them over to their assigned seat and carefully places them down as she says "Here you go. This is your seat right here." She takes her own seat and calls out "Let's go Mommy!" And off we go to pick up the next friend. Then, we head to Chuck E Cheese and go on all the rides, then we have ice cream, then, the game is ended by Mommy ;-)

Ethan has started to put hats on. He loves this red toque particularly. We think this picture makes him look like 'Papa Smurf'.

He is getting more interested in playing 'peek a boo' and has been sitting quietly while looking at a book. I will often find him in his room playing by himself with his cars and books. He usually has pulled his sleep sack off his crib - along with his blue knitted blanket - and will be sitting with his blanket wrapped around him and his soother in his mouth. He really notices textures and loves anything knitted or soft. Most of the time though, he wants to bite the knitted item and will pull loops of yarn out.

He continues to stand independently, he can even climb onto the kitchen chairs now. But, no walking yet.



Again, run your mouse over the film strip to see the captions. Please check out the 2 other posts from today as well.

A visit with the Brand's

On Feb 1st, Ryan had to go to a seminar in Cold Lake. I figured that while Ryan was at his thing, I would just drive the extra 2 hours and go visit my friend Jen and her kids Juliana and Evan.

When I dropped Ryan off, he asked when they would wrap up for the day. The facilitator chopped about an hour off the expected end time, so our visit with the Brand's was brief.

The boys took a bit to warm up to each other, but were soon playing with Evan's cars and practicing their standing skills.

Juliana and Evelyn played exceptionally well together. They did a bit of cooking with Juliana's kitchen, they played a bit of Play Dough, and finally, (when we were supposed to be leaving) they played Doctor. Juliana examined Evelyn's belly and listened to her heart. Evelyn in turn complained of a sore throat and asked her to check it out.















Evelyn and Juliana have known each other since the day Juliana was born! I had the privilege of attending Juliana's birth when I was about 37 weeks pregnant with Evelyn. When I held Juliana, Evelyn kicked her in the bum! Then, when it was Evelyn's turn to come home from the hospital, Juliana was there to meet her when she arrived home.

Over the years, I have taken a picture of the girls almost every time they have visited. I continued the tradition when the boys arrived (only 4 days apart!) Here is an edited collection of some of their pictures: Roll over the pics with your mouse to see the captions

Bev's Spicy Oatmeal Cookies

I just found a similar cookie recipe on AllRecipes.com and modified it with really good results. Your house will smell wonderful after you bake these.

Bev's Spicy Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
1 1/8 cup Panella (brown sugar)
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup white flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp powdered ginger
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups rolled oats (or quick oats)
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chocolate chips (or 1 cup of either raisins or choc chips)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. Cream together the butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla until smooth.
3. Combine the flours, baking soda, spices, and salt. Stir into the butter mixture.
4. Stir in the oats and raisins/chocolate chips. The mixture will look dry and stiff.
5. Form small balls of dough and place onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Press flat. (They will stick to your fingers less if you keep your fingers moistened with water.)
6. Bake 9 minutes until light and golden on the edges. Do not overbake.
7. Let them cool for 2 minutes before moving to a cooling rack. Otherwise, they will break apart.
8. Store in an airtight container. (If they last long enough to need storage!)

Also, I just tried the Morrocan Tagine recipe I posted a while ago. It is really good! I may well make it at Magna Bay! Here is a pic of what it looked like. Both the kids and Ryan really liked this recipe.

A Prairie Winter Redux

Here's a few more pictures from the Sleigh Ride and winter picnic last weekend. Note how we're able to stay outside for a prolonged period of time. The next day the thermostat went the way of the Canada Goose and flew south with temperatures hovering around -30 to -40 until Wednesday. It's kind of scary to think that today it's only -25 and were talking shorts.

Sleigh Ride, Weenie roast and smores!

The staff of the school had a fun activity together on Saturday. We all piled on 2 sleds and were driven by horses to North Buck Lake (About 4 km from our house) where we had a weenie roast, smores and hot chocolate. The day was perfect. It was actually above freezing for the first time in months! I think it was about +2 degrees.




Evelyn thought she would be riding the horses, and wanted to bring her cowboy hat and 'lasso' (Aka a green dog leash) the hat blew off as soon as we left the house, so she decided to leave it.

On the way home, she got to hold the reigns. She was pretty proud of herself!





One of Ryan's co-workers just got a new puppy and brought it to the roast. It was so cute. Evelyn has a blast playing with it. It bowled her over a few times, but she took it in stride. She spent most of the time at the lake climbing a tall drift of compact snow and taking part in a snowball fight.








Ethan spent his time at the lake being held and cuddled and playing peek-a-boo and playing another game he made up. In this new game, the unsuspecting good Samaritan helps Ethan put his mitten back on his hand. Ethan makes cute-eyes at them and smiles and is basically a cutie. He then proceeds to remove his glove with a flourish, all the while maintaining eye contact with the good Samaritan. The game is that the person will again put his mitten on. And the process repeats. Thankfully, it was warm enough that his hands never got very cold.

After the sleigh ride back, some of the staff came over to our house for hot drinks, goodies and conversation. There were probably 13 people at our house! The kids played Wii, Evelyn had fun watching them. Ethan slept though it all.

Our house was the cleanest it has been in a while. I de-cluttered areas I have been procrastinating about for a long time. All the toys were out of the living room, Evelyn even helped clean up her playroom downstairs. So, today, I am having a very lazy day because everything is done! I love a clutter free, clean house!

It started to snow heavily last evening, and the temp has plummeted to -20! The timing of the outing was perfect! We could not have asked for better weather. I think I may have to shovel the car out of the driveway tonight so I can get to work tomorrow!. It is still snowing now, so I think I'll wait until after supper.

I almost took Ethan in to the hospital last night. His chest cold was sounding worse. He was a bit wheezy and congested. Instead, I used some vapor-rub, took him in the bathroom with the shower going for a while, then I took him outside to breath the cold air. It worked, and he sounded a lot better.

I was up much of the night coughing too. This cough just won't go away! I looked it up on the internet a bit, and read that it will probably take another week to go away-if not longer. I think I'm going to take some Tylenol #3 tonight (The codeine is a powerful cough suppressant) and hope to sleep well. I have to work in the morning.

Morrocan Tangine

Another dish for you. This one sounds like it could easily be converted to a slow cooker meal. I am including some of the comments from people who have tried this dish already. One substituted yams for squash, which sounds good. Others added more or different spices for good outcomes.

Reviewed: Mar. 18, 2007 Very tasty. Per other reviews, I added half a green pepper, a handful of chopped apricots, and a few dashes of cinnamon, turmeric, and cumin.

Reviewed: Mar. 3, 2007 This is an incredibly awesome meal!!! If there were more stars I'd rate it higher :) Very easy to do…it has a slightly sweet taste – from the squash I suppose. I added a dash of cinnamon as they were recommending it in the previous reviews. It’s soo good over couscous (I cooked couscou with chicken broth to add more flavour) My husband and children loved it!! I will definitely be making this again!!!

Reviewed: Sep. 12, 2005 Despite the fact that I punched this up with a tablespoon of minced ginger root and about a teaspoon of lemon zest (sauted with the chicken, onions and garlic) and added 1 tsp of tumeric, 1 tsp of cumin and 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon with the spices, it still tasted rather bland. The chicken didn't pick up any of the flavors and the garbanzo beans seemed to add texture but no flavor. I think next time I'll put the chicken in a ziploc bag with the garlic, onion, ginger and lemon zest for a few hours before starting. I did like the butternut squash, though. It added just enough sweetness.

Moroccan Tagine

Submitted by: JRLJACKSON Rated: 4 out of 5 by 21 members

Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cook Time: 45 Minutes

Ready In: 1 Hour Yields: 6 servings

"An exotic warm stew that is loved by all and is very easy to make. Also delicious as a vegetarian dish, without chicken. Serve over couscous."

INGREDIENTS:

1 tablespoon olive oil 2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into chunks 1/2 onion, chopped 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 small butternut squash, peeled and chopped 1 (15.5 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

1 carrot, peeled and chopped 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice 1 (14 ounce) can vegetable broth 1 tablespoon sugar 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon ground coriander 1 dash cayenne pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, and cook the chicken, onion, and garlic about 15 minutes, until browned.
2.	Mix the squash, garbanzo beans, carrot, tomatoes with juice, broth, sugar, and lemon juice into the skillet. Season with salt, coriander, and cayenne pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil, and continue cooking 30 minutes, until vegetables are tender.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2007 Allrecipes.com

An update

I had hoped to have a video or two to share, but I'm having issues with Movie Maker. So, in lieu, a few pictures and a couple stories.

Evelyn was given a "Dora Dance Adventure" kit for her birthday. Here she is in the outfit that came with it. It is way to big, but she doesn't seem to mind. She has a blast dancing along with the maracas. I think her favorite part is the pirate dance. "Yo Ho Ho Ho, we're doing the pirate dance!" She swings her arms side to side and bounces up and down.




We played princess with her dress up stuff from her Grandpa and Grandma. She had to get her rocking horse in on the fun too.









She loves to look in her view master. I can remember loving my own little orange one when I was 3 years old too. Some times, she just explores and examines the disks without the viewer.









We have been having some deer visit us on a regular basis again this winter. Evelyn has called one of them "Co-Co Deer". It is pretty cute to hear her ask "Is it Co-Co Deer coming to eat?" each time I tell her I see a deer in the yard. I love that they come. We don't have any precious plants for them to destroy, so they are welcome to munch on whatever they want. Their favorite is our old grass clipping pile. Here she is looking at the Deer.


I have been doing a bit of organizing in our basement. I cleared out and set up a little "Hidey-Hole" under the stairs for Evelyn. She thinks it's pretty cool. We had a little tea party picnic for her Dollies. The doll in the yellow sleeper was my own special doll when I was little. I called her 'Baby Brenda'. I think she has faired well over the years.



She decided to have a little sleep over with her teddies. A little later, I set up a tent from a blanket and let her 'nap' in her camp-out.





No real reason for these pics. I decided to try to get a close up of their faces last week, then realized the resultant pic was very similar to one I had taken when Ethan was only a couple weeks old. Just the roles have been reversed!


I love the face Ethan is making here. He had more fun than I expected playing with my dish cloths. I think part of the fun was that he knew he had filched them from my laundry basket. Forbidden fruit can taste so sweet...









Ack! Ethan! What happened? (I'm obviously unconcerned enough that I snapped this pic before I went to his aide.) This is our makeshift tandem sled. Evelyn rides on the black one that is towed behind the wooden one. It works really well actually. Except, that is, when Ethan gets tipped back...





This is just a cute pic I wanted to share. Ethan has just cut a molar, and another is closely behind. That brings his total of teeth to 5 (almost 6). So, he has his 4 front teeth (2 up, 2 down) and his Left upper 1st molar. A bit odd as far as teething goes, but then again, just about anything goes in teething... He sure is drooling a lot!







Finally, "Peek -A - Bum!" Ethan is a pro at standing up now. We are still waiting for that first step though. It should be any time now... He is almost 15 1/2 months old! It's gotta be soon.... I think Evelyn was 15 months and 3 weeks when she walked. I'll keep you posted!