Day 6 - Baked Alaska

Day 6 has been my favorite day so far.   Not only did this taste delicious, but it was so fun to make.   I have happy memories of Mum making Baked Alaska and remember being fascinated as a kid with how you could cook ice-cream.    This was my very first attempt at baking my own Baked Alaska and I'm happy to report that it worked!

Not surprisingly this was a hit with the kids too.   Elizabeth declared that this was her favorite day so far.

Ben enjoyed it too but not just for the usual reasons.   Baked Alaska is a dramatic dish, which you set on fire just before presenting it to your guests.   Mum had told me that traditionally brandy was used but that she never had success with it.  Instead, she used lemon essence or vanilla essence.   I didn't have any brandy, and my vanilla essence is homemade from vodka so I wasn't sure how well it would work.

So Ben gladly rose to the challenge of going through our alcohols to find out which was the most flammable.   We had seven different kinds to try, and unfortunately most didn't even create the smallest flame.   For each one, he put some in a shot glass, lit the match and watched.   Once it was tested, he drank the sample.    Let's just say that I had a very talkative husband for the evening and he did lots of cycling to exercise off the calories :)    Luckily we had one that lit up quite nicely - Peppermint Schnapps.  

Day 5 - Dango

Our next food on our "new foods" list was Dango.   To be precise we had Fugetsu Do - which is rainbow dango.

It is a Japanese dumpling/dessert made from mochiko (rice flour).   It's not the most famous sort of Dango, but that one is covered in soy sauce and that, of course, contains gluten.   (I could have made a gluten free version myself - but Monday is a busy day and this was one meal I decided to buy instead of make)

It was well like by all - and definitely one that the children would happily eat again.

Preschool Christmas Concert

It's that time of year again - when the children have their Christmas concerts.   Of all the concerts, the preschool concert is definitely the one overloaded with cuteness.

For your viewing pleasure, here is Kai's class singing Silent Night and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

Day 4 - Spaetzle

Today's new food was Spaetzle.    This is a German food that resembles little dumplings.  

The recipe is very basic, but I found it quite hard to make.   Basically, I made a simple gluten free dough from eggs, flour and milk (the easy part).  I then pushed the dough through a colander into boiling water.   All recipes I found recommended pushing the dough through with a spoon.  I was really struggling until I had the bright idea to use a cup with a heavy bottom.    A pair of oven mitts also helped!

We served it with bratwurst and sauerkraut - both new foods for the kids too.  

Isaac did not really like the spaetzle - he thought it tasted too much like spaghetti which he doesn't really like.

Elizabeth thought it was too bland.

I liked it but it was pretty bland.  I think it would have tasted a lot nicer with some fresh herbs.

Ben liked the spaetzle.

Kai was the funniest.   Being a typical 4 year old, he refused to try it.   As I was reasonably sure he would like it, we told him he had to be a big boy and try one mouthful.    This resulted in many tears, but he took a mouthful.   While still sobbing, he says "I like it".   He ended up eating all of his, and a little bit of Isaac's.

None of the kids liked the sauerkraut, but they all liked the bratwurst.

Day 3 - Huevos Rancheros

Today's new food was Huevos Rancheros.   It was a huge hit.   Huevos Rancheros is a Mexican breakfast dish consisting of eggs on top of fried corn tortillas, and then topped with a tomato-chili sauce.

Elizabeth declared that this has been the best food so far, and I have to agree.

If you are wondering how to say Huevos Rancheros - have a listen here:   http://www.howjsay.com/index.php?word=huevos+rancheros&submit=Submit

Day 2 - Cheese Fondue

Today was our second day of trying new foods.    On tonight's menu was Cheese Fondue.   We've had chocolate fondue before, but none of us had ever tried cheese fondue.

Our fondue was made from Jarlsburg and Gruyere cheeses - you can find the recipe here if you are interested:   http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/cheese_fondue/

I then served it with steak, cauliflower, broccoli, capsicum, carrots, fries and French bread.

It was liked by all, although Isaac and Elizabeth declared that they actually preferred the food when it wasn't dipped in the fondue.   Kai wasn't going to try it, but after he watched Lizzy and Isaac having fun dipping their food, he wanted to get in on the action.   He declared that it was very yummy, and that it was his second favorite thing today (coming in behind playing his computer game).   He particularly liked the broccoli with the fondue.

Fondue is a fun family meal - although I could imagine a smaller, more intimate, table might have been easier for the meal.

12 Days of New Foods

For the next 12 days, our family is going to try a new food each day.   There are going to be some things that either Ben or I have tried, but the majority of foods on our list have never been tried by all five of us.

Today was our first day, and on the menu was Goat's Milk.    I find it funny that for some families, Goat's milk is a part of their daily life.   However, none of us have tried it.

The verdict...

Despite the reluctant face, Ben didn't mind it.   He's not a milk fan, so for him it just tasted like milk.   He didn't like it in coffee though.

Elizabeth didn't mind it but she prefers cows milk.

Isaac did not like it and thought it tasted salty.   Good lad that he was, he drank it all before making his verdict.

I did not like it at all.    I had one mouthful and couldn't do any more.   I don't mind Goat's milk cheese but I just couldn't drink the milk.

Kai refused to try but that's not unusual at the moment with him.   Hopefully he'll try some of the foods over the next two weeks.

Day One of trying new foods is done.   Come back tomorrow for our next taste test.

Reluctant

Although it is commonly said that no child is alike, I have discovered that all three of my children have had some things in common.

One thing is that they are reluctant to let people know how much they know as preschoolers.

With Isaac, we were concerned in preschool that he didn't even know the alphabet verbally - let alone be able to recognize the letters.   However, he let us into his secret knowledge one morning when Ben purposely said the alphabet in a silly manner.   Isaac was obliged to show him the correct way and told us the complete alphabet.    Let's just say we were stunned.

Elizabeth followed suit - in a different manner.   She was an early reader - and basically taught herself to read at 3 years old.   As she entered preschool, we let her teacher know that she could read.   It took a full four months for her to show her teacher this skill - one morning I arrived to pick her up from preschool and Miss Julie said "when you told me that she could read, I thought you meant that she could recognize some basic sight words but this morning she laughed at the poster I had put on the wall.   When I asked her what was funny, she read the entire thing!"    This time, it was the teacher stunned - as she didn't share her knowledge outside of the family.

Now, of course, it's Kai's turn.   With Isaac and Elizabeth as examples I haven't been too worried that Kai was not recognizing numbers and letters.   If I asked him what a letter was he just say "I don't know" in a whiny voice.    However, the advent calendar has proven that he knows his numbers, at least.   With the motivation of being able to open the advent door and get a small chocolate - he has been able to find all the numbers 1-9 without the slightest of hesitation.  We'll find out today if he knows number 10.

Sometimes they really can be little rotters - said in the most lovely way, of course.

Thanksgiving

Another year - another Thanksgiving.   I like Thanksgiving as the whole day is based around a meal and one thing I really do enjoy is cooking.

 

This year, I really wanted to have the kids get involved in some of the baking so I decided that they would make some kid friendly desserts. So off to Pinterest I went.   (I love Pinterest.com - if you haven't ever been there, it's a wonderful place to search for ideas on nearly anything from travel, to cooking, to house decorating, and to school crafts and more). 

 

I decided we would make Rice Crispy Thanksgiving Turkeys.    They all got involved - I thought I would be lucky if my boys made even one as they are not big into crafts but they all loved making these.

 

 

 

The end result were these little turkeys!

If you ever want to make them - detailed instructions can be found here:    http://amysfinerthings.com/too-cute-turkey-treats

I suspect that her kids didn't make hers - as they look perfect!

We tried to have a healthy thanksgiving meal this year - Ben and I are watching what we are eating and we didn't want to over indulge like we often do.   I made my own cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potato salad and green beans.   I also had gravy but it's not featured in my photo as this was my plate and I don't like gravy!   I bought the bread rolls, as I'm not superwoman despite what my family sometimes thinks ;-)

 

For dessert, I made mini pumpkin pies and cheesecakes.   It was all very delicious.

 

During lunch, we talked about what we are thankful for.

 

We are thankful for our family and the opportunities that we have.   We are thankful that we are going to be able to visit our extended family in Australia next year too!   Isaac and Kai are thankful for computers.   Elizabeth is thankful for our cats.

10th Birthday

Today is Lizzy's 10th birthday.   My! Time has flown, although I'm sure she thinks it's taken a long time coming around.    I remember as a child that one year was a very long time, and that the school year would never end.   Now one year seems to flash past and the kids just get bigger all the time.

We had a quiet birthday this year.   Our day started off with a rule!   No waking Mum & Dad before 7.00am.   She had asked us how early she could wake us up, as presents were going to be the first event of the day.    At 7.01, I felt a tap on my shoulder and was offered a glass of water (Ben was given a coffee).    She was thrilled with her gifts.

This afternoon, we had cake for afternoon tea.   She didn't want to choose a cake this year.  Instead she wanted to be surprised.    So I decided that I would make her a piano cake.     

 

 

It was also a hit.

 

Tonight, we are heading out for dinner to celebrate 10 years.

No Treasurer

Elizabeth did not get the position of Student Council Treasurer.     Let's just say she was very upset.  

As a mum, it's hard to watch a child struggle over the disappointments in life.   Sometimes you wonder if you do and say the right things.   This was one of those moments.

Before the election, I let her know that I was proud of her for running for the position.   I was proud of the fact that she was willing to get up to speak in front of 100 plus kids.   And no matter whether she won or lost that I would be proud of her.

But when she came home, looking down cast and near tears - I knew what was coming.   I offered a hug but it was rejected.   All she wanted was to be alone in her room.   I was told quite bluntly to go away.  

I wrote her a letter, dropped into her room and retreated.    I hope that the message got through that it was OK to be sad but that I was still proud of her.   And that I would love to see her try again next year despite the disappointment this year.

I then turned into mean mummy.   Two hours later, when she was still upset and didn't want to go to swimming lesson, I told her she had no option.   We had paid for swimming lessons and unless she wanted to pay me the cost of the lesson she had to go.  

Life sometimes does not seem fair, especially when you are nine.  But we all have to get up and keep on going.

She was fine today.   The disappointment of yesterday has passed.

Treasurer - Maybe

Today, Elizabeth came home from school very excited.

She ran in the school elections for the position of Student Council Treasurer and today she found out that she was voted into the final round.  

All candidates presented a speech to grade 3,4 & 5 students.   The students then had to vote for the person they felt would be best for the position.    I read her speech, and I have to admit that I was impressed.   She spoke about how she loved math and she was good at math, and that a good treasurer needs to be good at math.   She told them that she ran a lemonade stand during the summer vacation and made more than her goal, and she told them that she earned pocket money and then divided her money into spending, saving and giving.

Now she is madly making posters, encouraging students to vote for her in the election.   She's also made bookmarks which encourage students to vote for her, and they are in a little pocket on the poster.

Final voting happens again on November 5th.    I'm cheering for her - but alas parents can't vote :)

Stay tuned.   We may have a treasurer in our house :)

Junior Varsity

For the past two months, Isaac has participated in his school cross country team.   With cross country, there are no requirements to join.   You simply pay the fee, turn up and train hard. 

 

I was so surprised at the beginning of the school year when Isaac announced that he wanted to do cross country.   He has never shown any interest in sports.   I have to admit that I was slightly worried, because he's not athletically inclined and I was worried about how he would go.   I didn't want him to become discouraged about his abilities.  

 

It turns out though, that by being worried it was really me that was discouraging him.    He has shown such a great spirit and got a lot of enjoyment out of running.   He would come home from an interschool meet, and be excited because he didn't come in last.   He was fully aware that he was the slowest in his school but it didn't dampened his spirits.  

 

Today was the Junior Varsity Cross Country finals.   

 

I must admit that I had to look up the definition of Varsity.   It means "a sports team representing a school or college".    It's not a word we ever used in Australia and middle school is the first time I've come across it as they don't do any interschool sports in elementary grades.  

 

So Isaac was representing his school at the cross country finals today.   And I am so proud of him.   I'm proud that this is my boy who has struggled physically.   My boy whom I was told at 2 that he would never be an athlete due to his physical delays.   My boy who could not jump at 5 years old.   My boy who was always the slower runner at soccer.   My boy who we needed to do physical therapy with to help with muscle tone.   I'm so proud of him because he doesn't care that he's slower than the other boys but he still went ahead and joined the cross country team.   My boy whom I have seen improve over the past 2 months.   My boy who hasn't been discouraged.

 

I have to admit as I saw him run across the finish line today, my heart swelled and I cheered not just for him but for what he has achieved. 

 





All Thumbs

Elizabeth saw the orthopedic surgeon today, as we were told that her fracture was on the growth plate and that it was important to have it looked at further because it could affect future growth of her thumb.

The good news is that it is only a small fracture and her thumb is going to grow just dandily. 

Even though they call it a fracture - it is more like a bone displacement.   This is her thumb x-ray.   If you look at her thumb, the small bone at each joint is the growth plate.  The top one is perfectly in line but the second one has been pushed to the left and is slightly out of alignment.   That misalignment is the "fracture".    

She needs to keep her splint on for four more weeks, and we have another appointment on the 21st November to make sure the bone has gone back into place.

The doctor today said that she'll probably hurt for another 2 more weeks and then not understand why she needs to keep the splint on for the next 2 weeks but that it was critical to keep it on for the full four weeks to ensure complete healing.

She can swim and play piano in two weeks time but has to keep the splint on during those activities.

All in all - a fairly minor break - but one that's giving her considerable pain especially when she accidentally tries to use her thumb.

She Won

Unfortunately, Elizabeth won first place for Child with a Broken Bone in Our House.

She has fractured the growth plate on her thumb.    She'll be getting a custom made splint for her finger soon, which hopefully will be more comfortable than the stock one her doctor had  to keep it still.

Poor baby.   No wonder it hurt so much.

Broken Bones

Elizabeth is currently competing for first broken bone for our children.   We will find out if she is a winner tomorrow (apparently a trauma came into the radiology department just after we left) and our doctor's office closes at 6.30pm.

She fell off a climbing rock and has a nice swollen finger.   Her doctor has put it in a splint until we know the results, for as he said, if it's broken she'll need the splint and if it's sprained or a torn ligament it's good to have it splinted until the swelling goes down.

Glacier National Park

Tonight I have been reading over some old blog posts and I noticed one from about 3 years ago where Isaac mentioned that he wanted to visit Glacier National Park.

It just so happens that we did visit Glacier this summer.    It was a spectacular part of America, with the most amazing road to drive on (although Ben did all the driving).

Here are a few highlights of our trip...

This first photo is a view of the Going to The Sun Road - if you look very closely you can see the cars on the road, in the distance.

This was a fairly tame section of the road - in some places the road was very narrow, with rock overhanging on the left and a drop off on the right.   Ben thoroughly enjoyed the drive, and says this road made the trip.

 

The kids all earned their junior ranger badges for completing work books about the National Park.   Kai jumped up and down with excitement as he was awarded his badge, even though he was my most reluctant participant.

 

I'm just throwing this photo in because I love my boys...what a handsome lot!

 

 

We all went swimming in the freezing cold Lake McDonald.   Ben and the kids swam every day.   I only did it once :)

Proof that we really were there!   Although Ben rolled his eyes at me, I insisted that we had a photo at the entry of the park.   Luckily for us, we went animal spotting one evening and found a little used entrance so we didn't have to compete with the crowds trying to get their photos.

 

And yes - we camped at Glacier National Park.   No 5 star hotels for us!   And yes - it was freezing cold in the mornings despite that fact that it was in the middle of summer.

And the holy grail of National Park vacations....the bear!    We saw this Black Bear (yes - it's a black bear despite being brown) on our last day.   I was told by a park ranger that we might see a bear at Many Glaciers, so I directed Ben back over the Going to the Sun Road, on our way home through Canada.

 

Little did I realize that, by going this way, we had to go through Alberta and that it was going to make our 5 hour drive to our first stop a 9 hour drive.    Let's just say we saw more of the country than we expected too.    I must admit that Ben held up remarkably well as the designated driver.

A Family of Readers

Conversation around the dinner table tonight came back to my 40th birthday.   Ben had mentioned that we should do something big for my birthday.   As I don't really like parties, I asked the kids if there was anything "big" they could think of that I would like but the family would enjoy too.

Isaac came up with the idea of a day of reading, where we would all sit around the house reading books.   I love that he recognizes that I love reading, and that all our kids have followed in our footsteps.

Before that sounds too braggy - I will mention that his first idea was a day where we all play computer games together.

Freak Out

We were driving in the car the other day, when Ben bought up the topic that I was going to be 40 next year.   (Great way to make me feel good, dear, especially when I'm still 38!)   Ben was joking that I could have a midlife crisis at 40 and buy a sports car and get a tattoo.  

Elizabeth asked what a mid-life crisis was.   Ben started explaining, when suddenly Kai yelled out "Guys - you're freaking me out right now.   It's just so crazy about cars and tattoos!"    

That kid cracks me up!  

Rain

It is now Autumn here in the US.   For us, this means it's the beginning of the rainy season.   The sky's will be mostly gray from now until May, and I often find that a depressing thought.

However, Kai has a different outlook on life.   Yesterday he announced, "I love the rain because I can jump in puddles".

Oh to have the outlook of a four year old.