Groundhog Day 2011

Well, it's Groundhog Day. And that little guy apparently did not see his shadow. So, it will be an early Spring. At least for the people in Punxatawney, PA. I suppose they deserve an early Spring what with all their crazy winter storms.

We, on the other hand, could still use some more precipitation. We took the kids up to Mineral for a day of sledding with some friends of ours. This was last month when we had some wet winter weather. What a blast everyone had. There was tearing down the hill in sleds and saucers and snurfers. My kids would really enjoy a few more weeks of winter if there were some snow involved.








And then the kids took a break and made snow cones out of, well, SNOW and some juice we'd brought along. My kids, squirrels that they are, also took their lunch break in the trees surround the sled hill.





Michael and I survived our cleanse. I have decided that easing into it and easing out of it is the way to go. So, I start of January with absolutely no sugar and gradually increase my consumption until December when I'm out of my mind again and ready to detox. And thus the years will go.

Rex has to be our most open minded child when it comes to food. He loves to cook and will try just about anything at least once. He not only learned how to cook our gluten and casein free almond flour pancakes, but took to eating them with a fried egg on top. And he photographed them too. I think that guy gets to be the resident food photographer.

Here is a recipe for the Almond Flour Pancakes:

4 pastured eggs
1 can organic coconut milk (full fat, baby!)
1 T vanilla
1 1/2 cups almond flour
1/2 t sea salt
1 t non alum baking powder
1 T cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg

Whip up the liquid ingredients. Sift together dry ingredients. Add dry to wet ingredients. Let chill and set for about 15 mins. Drop spoons full of batter onto preheated griddle. Wait until little bubbles appear and then flip.

Enjoy!






Michael was away traveling during our 13th anniversary this year. But he sent me a picture of us in Las Vegas last year. He also sent a tremendously beautiful bouquet from California Organic Flowers - grown here in Chico and delivered by a parent from Rex's class. They're neat people! And California Organic Flowers delivers all over the place. I highly recommend them. And, thanks, Sweetie! Happy Anniversary to you too!



Next week we celebrate Michael's birthday. And we follow that up with something for Amira the week after that. She had a choice between a sleep over with three friends or a day time party with lots of friends. She opted for the daytime party. Today she said, "How big will the bounce house be?" Excuse me, no bounce house. That is a once a year thing for Halloween. I will bake you a cake and you guys can run around and play games. That's called a birthday party. No bounce houses, pinatas, ponies or goody bags. These kids' parties today are out of hand, I tell you.

Although, with regard to adult parties ... well, maybe a bounce house is in order but I think people would just spill their drinks.

In other news, Rex is loving school at Blue Oak. He absolutely has taken to enjoying the violin. He practices it without us ever asking him to do so. He is really taken with his teacher and seems to be getting along well with all of his classmates. They are studying Ancient Egypt at the moment. That's really cool. There is a huge mural outside his classroom that all the kids worked hard to make. I also saw their names written in what looks like Heiroglyphs on their desks this morning. I had to go in and borrow a chair to stand on so I could pin the mural back up as it was suffering from a little too much student attention.

Both Amira and Valerie are smitten with their teachers. Amira is excited to be able to write more and read more. And her favorite thing is really playing the cello. She is honored to have been invited to play in the orchestra this semester. Valerie continues with the cello, violin, recorder and piano. Plus, Valerie is a voracious reader. She's been through all the Rick Riordan books, the entire Mysterious Benedict Society series, Sisters Grimm series and has picked up Nancy Drew. Generally speaking, the kids seem really happy. And as a result, we are really happy!

Happy Groundhog Day!