The Fashion Show

When Grandma Onines came to visit she brought many things. Gifts include: toys, dress ups, projects and clothes. Some of those clothes were projects for Grandma to finish while she was here. It turned out to be a good thing. She was able to measure and try the dresses on Alayna. While she has always been petite, we discovered she has been growing taller.

Following is the fashion show of Alayna in the dresses that Grandma Onines made for her.

This is an absolute princess dress. It's pink with butterflies AND sparkles.

This dress is Tutti Fruiti. The necklace was one of the projects brought to do with the kids. Alayna made hers before she saw the dress, but it matches as if made for it.

This is the dress made at Great Grandma Onines' house. She (Great Grandma) had decided to make dresses to send to the girls in Haiti through the Hearts Out to Haiti Mission. She asked the ladies in her Relief Society if they would make them with her. The other ward in her building wanted to help as well. Then the other wards in her stake joined in. In all, "189 handmade dresses and 150 T-shirts for girls and 30 pairs of vibrant-colored shorts for boys" were made and delivered. After helping with all of these dresses, my mom (Grandma Onines) made one more for Alayna out of some scrap fabric - that has sparkles. There were also shorts made for Cavell and Alayna.

The final dress is also from Great Grandma Onines' stash of fabric. Do note the pose. It was difficult to get any plain pics of Alayna in her new dresses. Something about putting on a fashion show means little girls must strike many poses.

Book Report

Alayna, at 6 years of age, completed reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory this evening.  This is her very first "BIG" book with multiple characters, main and secondary story lines, and a moral to be told.  She devoured the book over the last couple of weeks, reading whenever possible.  I remember asking her to put her book away while eating breakfast one morning because she wasn't eating, or she was dripping milk from her spoon onto the pages.

At the end of the book, Alayna gave us an impromptu oral book report.  She described all of the characters including their satirical demise in the Chocolate Factory as they succumbed to their individual vices.  She commented on the humor of a glass elevator transporting a bed full of grandparents through the roof.  She even through out some random trivia that Grandpa had been in bed for the last 20 years.  She summed up the general plot and shared her favorite parts.

What an amazing girl.  I think we as parents have just had it made incredibly clear that our job is not necessarily to teach Alayna, who taught herself to read, but to make sure that she has every opportunity to learn available, and to make sure that she is never told that she is too young to do the work of learning.

Please, Sir, can I have s'mores?

Because the family is watching Oliver right now . . .

and we made S'MORES!!!

That's right, we made gluten free graham crackers. We followed this recipe*, but ours didn't turn out quite the same. I didn't get a dough ball; just a mixture the consistency of frosting. The first time I tried to roll it out. It didn't work. The "dough" was too thick, and we ended up with soft cookie bars that barely stayed together. But, they tasted good.

This time I "frosted" the whole pan instead of rolling it out. That seemed to work, we ended up with some nice graham crackers. Some where a little softer and some where a little more crisp (and cracked). All tasted good. So good that I had to rescue enough from snacking fingers in order to make the REAL treat.

Can you believe my children have NEVER had s'mores before?!? Alayna thought they were the BEST and wanted us to make them again tomorrow. That's a no-go. But we will have them again. and again . . .


* We will make a couple of changes if we use this recipe next time. First, we will replace 1/2 cup of the brown rice flour with almond flour. We did that this time and it was extra good. Then, to try and get a dough ball, we will only add 3 Tablespoons of the milk to start with. If we need more liquid we will just add a little more at a time. Otherwise I think we might try this recipe.

A Picture of Lex

Because people want to see pictures of babies as they grow, I thought I should share the most recent one of Lex.

The Big Visit Means a BIG Blog Post

Grandpa and Grandma Onines came to visit the Jensen home. Alayna had a list of things she really wanted to do with her grandparents. Visit the Alamo, make a craft, bake cookies, eat pizza, go bowling and go swimming. Read on to see how we did.

Arriving late Thursday night the children allowed their grandparents to sleep in Friday morning while we went to the gym. After, an enjoyable afternoon was spent getting to know each other. Grandma makes that fun by bringing projects.
Saturday, the grandparents watched the children while Paul and I went for a run together.
The main event was Lex's baby blessing on Sunday.

Little brag, notice my knitting.
The blanket was from Alayna's blessing, the vest from Cavell's blessing and the booties where knit for Lex.

Monday I encouraged my parents to take a true vacation day for themselves and sent them to Gruene. I think they had a good day. We went to the grocery store.

Tuesday the kids and I spent a fantastic afternoon with my parents visiting the Wildlife Ranch.

This was the best shot I could get of the children and the absolute JOY they had on the safari.

In the petting zoo Cavell briskly walked from goat to goat giving them a pat or a hug and telling them, "hello."

Alayna really wanted the goats to eat out of her hand.

Grandpa got up close and personal with the zebras.

Grandpa said he wanted to experience real Texas bbq while here and we delivered. Paul introduced them to Cooper's BBQ. They ordered pork ribs.

Wednesday, oblivious to the flooding in our town, we took a trip down to the Alamo. (Does anyone else always think of Pee-Wee Herman when the Alamo is mentioned? Just asking.) I managed to take NO pictures of this outing. It was a quick trip. Paul called me, worried about more flooding, and wanted to make sure his family was able to get home. I don't think any of us minded. It was HOT and I don't think we would have lasted long enough to meander along the Riverwalk.

Thursday my parents ventured out on their own again. I believe the BX was involved. Anyone that knows my dad will not be surprised. They also visited Natural Bridge Caverns.

Friday we went bowling at the base. Alayna was excited, but Cavell was in LOVE.

The ramp was GREAT! No waiting as a child's ball r_o__l___l____s down the lane.

GPAW shared his first roll with Cavell. They had a rough time as a team. For the next game Cavell got his own game, and Grandpa was able to bowl a better game.

Grandpa even holds babies when they cry.

Saturday began with some baking. This is something the children love to do, and it was a chance to show Grandma how much they enjoy their Christmas presents.

Oh, they made snicker-doodles, by the way.
They are delicious, like eating tasty air.

Grandma had heard about a cultural fair at the Institute of Culture and wanted to go. Driving around to find parking, we realized it was quite crowded. Walking from our parking spot, through a different fair and to the entrance, we realized it was VERY HOT and we were not prepared beyond sunblock. The poor children were very red and based on the number of people Alayna was bumping into I would say they were close to heat exhaustion. We decided an outdoor fair was not a good idea.

We went to Mi Tierra at Market Square instead. Lots of water later, and a good meal, we had an enjoyable time wandering around the market while Paul waited in line for the bakery for some dulces.

This little gal was singing in the square. She's only 12. She was amazing. I think Cavell was in love; he sat right down on the pavement to listen to her. We were getting rosey from the heat again. I don't know how she could handle it and sing.

After church, Sunday, Grandma and Grandpa were able to enjoy some gluten free pizza with the family before they had to pack for their early flight. There was also a fashion show, but I think that deserves its own post.

Thank you for the visit. We love you and hope you had as great a time with us as we had with you.

Box Tops

We have been collecting Box Tops 4 Education. Last school year Alayna's school earned $380 thru the program. With the collection in November they earned $553 so far this school year. This week is her school's final box top collection for the 2009-10 school year.

Here are Alayna's box tops counted up.

For every 20 boxtops Alayna brings in her name is entered in a drawing for a prize. This collection, the prize is a $50 gift card to Toys 'R Us. Alayna has five entries here.

We can't use a lot of the convenience food products that have box tops on them. Alayna is happy that there are box tops on the Chex cereal we can eat, and buy regularly. Not to mention the gluten free Betty Crocker mixes. Alayna asked her grandparents and great-grandparents to look for boxtops on any of the products they used, (i.e. Pillsbury, Nature Valley, Ziplock, Hefty, etc.). They found some and sent them to her. She was very excited to receive the mail.

"Thank you to my Grandmas and Great-Grandma!"

Please check out Box Tops 4 Education. There are nearby schools that have earned over $6,000! The top box top school in the nation is in TX and earned over $12,000!! Alayna would be very excited if you sent your box tops to her.

Boys

This is how our boys look when I am trying to get us out the door to pick Alayna up from school.

It will be nice when school is out for the summer and I won't have to interrupt their naps to pick up Alayna.

Baby Lex

I know that there are many of you that want to see more pictures of Lex. The thing is, we don't have many pictures of him. Babies just don't do much. Right now we are most excited when he does the least possible.

So here is a picture of Lex doing what we love the most:

Sleeping - without being held!
Priceless.

Cinco de Mayo

Being in the dual language program in Texas it would surprise none of our readers that Alayna took part in a Cinco de Mayo program. What would surprise you is that it took place on the 4th.

She told us all about her big skirt that is the colors of la bandera Méxicana, and that she had to hold it out, like this . . .


She demonstrated how she would turn, with her arm up in the air, and her partner holding her hand.

Many of the boys and girls dropped their arms the moment they were done with the presentation part of the dance.

Alayna's partner was a young gentleman and gave her his arm the entire time they were on stage, but not dancing.

It really was an enjoyable program. Cavell, Lex and I were able to see the morning performance and went with Paul to see the evening show.

AB Does Gluten Free?

We have a gluten free chocolate chip cookie recipe that we have been using for years and enjoy (no nuts, extra chips). But, what if there is another recipe out there that is better?

This weekend I tried out Alton Brown's recipe for Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies. It is his "Chewy" take* on the Toll House Cookie recipe, using gluten free flours.

They are BIG! Twice the size of our regular cookies.

Except, I don't think he knows much about gluten free flours. Anyone who has watched an episode of Good Eats that involves baking knows that AB LOVES gluten and all its properties.

Yep, they look good, and taste alright. But, Alton's GF substitution was a lot of brown rice flour with a little bit of corn starch and tapioca flour. Anyone that bakes with gf flours regularly knows what will happen if you just use brown rice flour; a GrItTy texture.


Should we now try to adapt this recipe? Use a different flour mixture, adjust the brown to white sugar ratio, use some shortening instead of all butter? Or, do we move on to the next Gluten Free Chocolate Chip recipe? Should the next recipe be Ginger Lemon Girl's BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies or should we try her Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies?

Of course, next week we might make a different kind of cookie, or an entirely different type of treat altogether.

* Transcript of episode