Food Art

We were having issues with the glue bottle so I gave them a q tip and I think that ended up being more fun.


This is such an Ellie face, so happy.


I asked Athanasius to smile and this is what he came up with. :)




I was waiting for one of them to use their fingers for the glue, Athanasius thought of it first.
Who would have thought macaroni and beans glued to paper could be so fun? You can't really go wrong when you have two littles in the house that love "art". Now to come up with more things we can glue on paper...

Popeye

Playing Together

This is a box that lived a good life in our home. In the video Eleanor really wants Athanasius to get in the box with her. He does, and then gets a boo boo. We were not surprised at all that Eleanor wanted to kiss his head but that he let her! Ellie is very hands on and sometimes Athanasius is no touch when it comes to Ellie. :)

The Haircut

These were taken at a Baptismal feast. Some friends at church had their new baby baptized so to celebrate they hosted our whole congregation for lunch after church. There was excellent barbeque and sides, a kiddie pool, and a lot of beer. What better way to celebrate a new Covenant member?


Here is one of Eleanor just because she is so cute.



Athanasius pretty much tinkered around the whole time. He found this great plastic rod thing and a wagon that he pushed around. While Ellie was anywhere and everywhere. Part of me was always relaxed because I knew where Athanasius was but then the other part wasn't because I was always looking for Eleanor. Oh...how different my children are; I love you.

The lovely wagon he was so content pushing around.

Kids I Love

This was taken this past Winter. Notice the great hat Aunt Frances! He loved wearing it.



One of the many faces of Eleanor. :)



This was a couple weeks ago at the zoo. He did a lot of pointing. This was also before the great hair cut of 2011. Hopefully pictures coming soon of our now buzzed cut little boy.


We got the kids a wagon for their birthday and the box was just as fun. I cut a door and windows in it. I love how different our kids are. They approached and enjoyed the box in such different ways. Athanasius just wanted to push it around and move it all over the place. While Eleanor tried every different way possible to get in and out of it (notice the picture above...). While Athanasius wasn't really interested in playing inside the box at all.

Revamp

We have been wanting some outdoor furniture but it is a little on the expensive side. I saw this table at the thrift store, it was $14.96. Right away I knew what I wanted to do with it. It is really neat, metal with two drawers and a cool top. But at the thrift store it was this ugly blue/grey color with scratches all over. I brought Clay over to look at it and see what he thought. He didn't say anything..I was like, "Babe don't you see the potential?" "No...not really." I love him, and how different we are. So we brought it home and I worked on it some. Compared to other projects this one was pretty easy and did not take a lot of time. The green chairs were not my first choice but they were out of the other color I wanted. I think they are starting to grow on me. The little plants are my favorite, they tie everything together. I already had the pots so that was another item I saved money on.

We ate dinner out there one night and Ellie said in this very contented voice, "This is fun." That was my goal. :)

I have to give credit to Clay for the pictures. He was outside one evening and noticed the light was nice. Thanks Babe, I love them!

Baking

I have been experimenting lately with gluten free baking. A year ago I would not have imagined I would be baking with brown rice flour, buck wheat flour, or garbanzo bean flour. Now, I feel very comfortable with gluten free living and it is kind of a rush when something turns out well. :) Gluten is the protein in wheat that helps hold everything together when you are baking. So when I make something gluten free I might add extra eggs and xanthan gum powder to help it rise nicely. So far I have tried some cookie recipes, cakes, muffins, and now biscuits. This was my first batch and it was going along with chicken soup so I was really hoping they would turn out. When Clay took his first bite he said, "these are the best biscuits you have ever made." I told him they were gluten free, and he said, "well, they are the best." So they passed the test! The kids always love anything I give them, I mean they are four and two. But when Clay loves something it means more.

Ellie has been asking about gluten and things that have gluten. She is very sweet about it. Sometimes she will say things like, "I could get you some cookies with no gluten Mommy!" Her and Clay made a Walmart run and came home with gluten free Chex cereal; she was so excited to give it to me. And I was more than willing to indulge in a junkie pregnant snack. :)

Anyhow, here is proof that biscuits can be made gluten free. And these were made with Bob's Redmill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour. This is turning out to be my favorite flour because it isn't grainy like most other flours.