Strawberry Soup

Alayna has been talking about making strawberry soup for a long time. I think it started in Florida, that means it's been at least 6 months. It started when she saw strawberries at the store (and I didn't buy them for her). Suddenly, any time she played with her dish set she was making strawberry soup.

One afternoon during quiet time Alayna was out of my sight longer than I realized, and she wasn't playing with her dishes like I thought. She was playing with my dishes.

She proudly invited me to partake of her Strawberry Fruit Soup. I was presented with this:
Would you like the recipe? Measure an arbitrary amount of fat free milk, fat free cottage cheese, fat free sour cream, Dannon Light & Fit Strawberry yogurt, add a chunk of apple (Gala I believe, also the reason for changing the name) and squeeze in some grape juice from a cut green grape. Mix. Put in the fridge to cool. Yum!!

I also received this:
and more of this all over the kitchen floor.

Imagine the surprise flipping thru a magazine at the kitchen table and seeing this picture!
Only to discover that it is actually Watermelon Gazpacho. Now we are looking for a real Strawberry Soup recipe. Anyone have a favourite they would like to share in the comments?

From Alayna

Alayna drew this picture to share with everyone.

"FOR EVERYONE I LOVE

FOR MY AUNT AND MY FRIENDS AND
GRANDPA GRANDMA
FROM ALAYNA"

Missed Sharing

After posting Cavell's birthday, I was looking thru the blog and saw the GLARING absence of some events. We never mentioned that my mom came to visit us, in APRIL?!?

Yes, she did. It was a great visit, for me. This was the two week period that saw Cavell and then Alayna get sick, and Paul arriving home from a week out of town - sick. It was very nice to have Mom here to help with the dr's visits, entertainment and projects. She even babysat one morning, so Paul and I could run in the Texas Round-Up 10K.

A lot of her visit was spent reading with the kids.

She even tried her hand baking some gluten free cookies, learning a little about our different flours in the process ;-D

(Paul picked this pose.)

The biggest project was dolling up Alayna's German Dance dirndl. Sadly, Alayna hasn't had a chance to wear it for a performance. She was sick for the dance while her Grandma was here, and the next, and last, event was canceled due to Swine Flu. We do plan to sign her up for lessons again in the fall (if they are offered).
With the leftover flowers, Mom (or, Grandma in this case) made a bouquet for dress-up.

Before she left we had a chance to go to Paul's office and see the baby chicks and ducks. The pig had already been sent to a new home (a real home, not a euphemistic home).

Overall, even with all the sickies, I think it was a great visit. I loved being with my mom. And even though it is a few months late, I thought it would be fun to share.

He's TWO

We don't have a baby anymore. Yesterday, Cavell had his second birthday.

He took time to read each card. Alayna made her's for him. She even "wrote" in baby language so that Cavell could understand what he was reading.

He figured out right away what his presents were about. "Bubbles!" Sadly, the bubble lion didn't work.

Not to worry. He received more bubbles, and these bubbles did work!

It was a bubbly birthday.

After all of his practice blowing bubbles, he was ready to blow out his candles.


And then it was time to enjoy some (Betty Crocker) chocolate cake.

Today's Hair

Alayna specifically asked to have her hair curly this morning for the gym so that we could do something with it this afternoon for quiet time (after Farm Town - she had strawberries ready to harvest). After the harvest, we looked at the hair blogs, and she wanted this one.

Because Paul is out of town, Alayna asked me to take a picture of her hairdo so he could see it today. I thought we would share it with everyone else at the same time.

Good News on the Gluten Free Front!

Why, yes, that is a Betty Crocker box, bought at Albertson's, that says GLUTEN FREE!!

Yes, it is very thick.

And, yes, I do let my daughter lick the spoon.

This is the only picture of the finished product. We were going to take pictures of brownies being eaten, but we were too busy eating brownies. They were yummy! One would not guess that they were made with rice flour. I think we will keep a box on hand, but Paul still loves the previously posted Brownie Lady Brownies, and I have two or three other "from scratch" recipes I want to try adapting to gluten free.

We also purchased the Gluten Free versions of Devil's Food Cake, Yellow Cake, and Chocolate Chip Cookies. Alayna is also happy to note that they are all Box Tops for Education products.

Hand-Me-Downs

I love hand-me-downs for my kids for a number of reasons.

1. I am cheap. There is nothing better than clothing that is passed on and costs me nothing.
2. I hate shopping. There is nothing better than clothing that is passed on that I didn't have to shop for.
3. I have no sense of style. There is nothing better than clothing that is passed on that is stylin'. I'm just saying, dear family and friends, you have much better taste than I.

But, the reason I love hand-me-downs the most: the memories. I love putting clothing on my children and thinking, "Oh, doesn't that just make you think of . . . "

Examples:

This shirt is from Alex. Each time I see it I think of him bouncing on his toes with more energy than all the other kids combined.

This shirt is from Karl. And I can see him quietly and intently working on something while the others run around him.

And this shirt is from Alexander. Okay, it is highly possible that it came from Karl first, but this one reminds me of Xander. Slyly climbing on everything that should be too big for him.

So bring 'em on everybody. Even if I didn't see the child wear those clothes in person, I think about that child every time I put the clothes on my children. If you want your kids to be immortalized in my memory, send me your cast-off clothing yearning to be worn!

Brownie Lady Brownies (good enough to eat in church!)

These are the BEST brownies in the world. At least I think so. Stacy found the recipe on an online discussion board. The story goes that a lady walked into church with a 9x13 pan of brownies and a knife. She sat down in the pew, cut the brownies, and proceeded to consume the entire tray by herself. Everybody watched this woman hoover the brownies but nobody was brave enough to ask her about the incident.

Sometime after the second time this happened with the same woman in the same chapel, one soul was brave enough to approach the Brownie Lady as she became known behind her back. Turns out that the Brownie Lady was a pregnant lady and was succumbing to cravings. Now these are the kind of cravings I can get behind! Obviously a recipe for brownies that cause cravings so severe as to break a pile of rules of etiquette needs to be shared. So the Brownie Lady shared her recipe and it has been passed around along with the legend until it arrived at our appreciative home.

After hearing the story I immediately decided that I wanted to eat those brownies but I also dismissed the idea just as quickly because brownies have wheat flour in them. And gluten free brownies usually taste terrible.

Until now. Since this brownie recipe only contained 1 1/2 cup of flour, Stacy decided to substitute with our mix of gluten free flours. I almost literally held my breath while this thing baked. And the fudgey yumminess that came out of that warm little box became my favorite brownie of all time. Even better than the good stuff I had eaten before the family went gluten-free.

Here's the recipe in all of it's glory:

Brownie Lady Brownies
(good enough to eat in church)

2/3 C Cocoa
2/3 C Shortening, Melted (Not butter flavored)
4 Eggs
2 C Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
1 1/2 C Flour (Gluten free mix below)
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt
1 1/2 C Miniature Marshmallows
1 C Chopped Nuts (we substitute chocolate chips here)

Mix cocoa and melted shortening in bowl. In seperate bowl beat eggs, sugar and vanilla. Add to cocoa mix. Add dry ingredients EXCLUDING marshmallows to cocoa mixture. Mix well. Stir in marshmallows. Pour into 9x13 pan and bake @ 350 for 25-35 minutes. Your fork or toothpick won't come out super clean because of the marshmallows.

Gluten Free Flour Substitution
1 1/2 C Flour =
1/2 C Rice flour
1/2 C Tapioca starch
1/2 C Corn starch
1 1/2 tsp potato flour (not starch)
3/4 tsp Xanthan gum

OK, so that' s a little more than 1 1/2 cups, but it works.


Once you have this recipe perfected, you can start to improvise. As good as the brownie is, I like to use it as a platform for flavor. These are great with ice cream, fudge, and caramel. I have made two 9" rounds and sandwiched a peanut butter and chocolate filling between them making an incredibly huge Reese's Peanut Butter Cup concoction that is still referred to at work.

Oh the things you can do!

It's Finally Happened

Some may say that it happened a long time ago, but I am only beginning to admit it myself. I have become my father and joined the ranks of the education world.

I have recently developed, proposed, and started a new position at work. I have moved from Regional Sales Director to a position yet to be titled in the Learning & Organizational Development department. Same company, no move required except my desk, and I still get to work very closely with the same people.

My new job responsibilities will primarily revolve around education and training as well as being the Clinical Director for the company.

I will be in charge of new employee training and developing an ongoing on the job training for current employees. I am also developing a program to train and prepare employees to pass the accreditation test required by Medicare to sell the type of custom chairs I have been working with for the past 10 years. On top of all of that, I will be heading up an effort to gain accreditation for the entire company so that we can provide industry recognized Continuing Education Units to our employees as well as use them as a marketing tool with our referral sources. The goal is to create a world class rehab education program that will be the envy of the industry.

Since I like to bite off more than I can chew, I will also be putting together our policies and procedures for clinical applications. The object of that is to make sure that our customers are sold the right equipment every time. I am also the person that our medical review nurses, inside and outside sales people, and operations people look to when they have questions about equipment, disease states, or customer interaction.

It sounds like a lot of work, but since I was doing most of it already in addition to my sales responsibilities, this will allow me to focus on just a couple of projects at a time. I will not have to travel as much for a while and will eventually create and manage a team of field based trainers. Hopefully my travel will be limited to attending trade shows and seminars that I am either presenting papers or classes at or learning from. Either way, I will be able to spend more time at home with the family.

I am very excited about my new position and working with a new team of people. I get to work with a world class group of experienced educators. I have no formal training on education theory, but I have a group of people around me that are more than willing to help my gain those skills. I have also been informed on the best place to buy discount tweed jackets with leather elbow patches. Now I just need to find a bubble pipe!

German Dancing

New Braunfels is a town rich in German heritage. There is a fair ground AND there is Wursthalle for the annual Wurstfest. The community education program offers "Kids German Folk Dancing" starting at age 4. We were excited to sign Alayna up, and she was excited to learn.

Here she is at her first practice with the other children in her age group.

• Clap, clap, clap
• Turn a round
• Bow 2 3 4

In addition to the $5 class fee she needed a dirndl. We pulled this little number together in time for her first recital yesterday as entertainment for the Meals On Wheels Conference.


Alayna said that she was "slightly nervous" to dance at her first recital. Mostly, she seemed very excited.

Here she is lining up with her partner to go in. Her group danced the Dance of Greeting and the Herr Schmidt. Peeking thru the window (I know, not very professional but I didn't want to crowd/block the doorway with the other parents) I saw Alayna look around at her audience with a smile as she began to dance. After watching the older groups dance, all the children made a circle for the Chicken Dance! After one chorus all of the attendees were invited to make a circle outside of the children's and join in. Following hearty applause the children exited to go home with their parents.

I took Alayna to Dairy Queen for a sundae with chocolate sauce and a cherry on top afterward in celebration of a job well done. Now she is excited for her next chance to dance.