What's Up Buttercup?

Camping, Vacation Bible School, summer colds, temporary loss of hearing, wiggly hands, time spent with friends, kindergarten info night, urology appointments, family visits, late nights, no routine, and our summer is coming to an end.

R - Mr. 3...a 2yr old on speed, cause that is 3, right Mrs. Mittens?....who copies his brother just to be a bug, begged for soap when threatened with hot sauce for incessantly saying "stupid mugger", learned that his momma will always come back when at gymnastics and VBS after all the tears and hand holding from W, refuses to eat salad with fresh dill cause "I no eat grass!!", can be heard singing a variety of songs such as the theme song to the Wonderpets, Itty Itty Spider, ABCs, etc and dances on his tip toes with his little hands in the air. This Carebear lovin' guy wants to " snuggle on the moon and swing from the stars that tickle my toes" with Funshine Bear and Grumpy Bear. His favorites. Bup is a funny little fella who often shocks me with what is going on within his little mind.

W - Mr. 5! The summer he turned 5 and is so proud to be 5. A little Star Wars birthday gathering complete with oodles of Star Wars lego. Our house now resembles a the wreckage after a star wars lego filled pinata exploded. By the way, they hurt when stepped on. Yowzza!! Summer colds that result in a loss of hearing which means LOUD TV watching and a lot of yelling. W continues to want to explore how everything works which is why toys are taken apart with a screwdriver and sometimes put back together. There's been a little level of trust gained and given such as riding his bike around the block alone....two times. I can't believe I did that!! And showing off his wonderful big brother skills by holding Bup's hand as he cried at gymnastics and vacation bible school. By the way, did you know that God, Jesus and the Statue of Liberty rule the world? They do. W told me so.

B & me...well, we have another summer behind our parenting, married belts. A summer of camping, friends, work and a little more camping. A milestone summer with our baby turning 5yrs. Nights by the campfire talking, watching the stars and swatting the mosquitoes.

Now, the month is turning. Tomorrow is September. Fall has begun. The mornings are chilly, it's dark by 9pm, there are a mere few camping weekends left in the season, kindergarten starts in one week, and the boys' activities start next weekend. The busy, carefree pace of summer is on the cusp of ending.

Farewell summer. Hello Fall.

I Love War

These are three little words one does not want to hear from their child. "I love War"

Ever.

It's out of hand at the RWB household.

W is obsessed with anything to do with war, fighting, guns, killing, etc. It's all he wants. The stores and kids movies completely support this obsession. I do not.

What do we do? Do we nix anything to do with fighting/war? So....no army men from Toy Story, no Incredibles, no Transformer toys, no Star Wars toys (which are his all time favorite), no violent kids movies, etc, etc??? We've never been a huge supporter of this kind of play. W has no toy guns. He has not watched Star Wars although he does have a Lego Star Wars visual dictionary. This kind of stuff.

Or do we let him have some. The fantasy stuff such as pirates, knights, swords, Star Wars. Feed his desire a little bit and explain that war, police, gun toys are off limits (because they are not fantasy based?)

Fast forward to the teen age years....is this like...okay you can have some drugs... just pot...but not the hard core stuff like meth?

Where do we draw the line?

I KNOW that the superhero stuff, etc is a part of being a boy BUT I feel like it's gone too far at our house, with our boy. I hate it all. At the same time, I don't want to raise a wimpy, momma's boy who has no friends, grows geraniums for fun, is scared of his shadow, etc.

Help! Totally lost in boyhood...

Paula Deen Gluten Free

No, I did not attempt to massacre one of Paula Deen's scrumptious southern recipes with the Free Eating madness. For the record, I love Paula Deen. She tugs at my deep southern roots.

The food, the accent and even the hair. Also, she's hilarious. Did you see the episode when she added a large hard chunk of butter to a working mixer and it flew out? Complete with screams and guffaws from her and Oprah.

Yes, it was a Paula Deen moment in the kitchen last night.

It was cooking/baking madness and the Peach Crumble recipe called for heated pineapple juice with tapioca starch as thickener. Well, wouldn't it be easier to blend in the blender? Maybe.....if the lid didn't pop off and hot pineapple juice flew revved everywhere. Luckily my reflexes managed to kick in and I jumped out of the way. Paula Deen and the butter all the way!

On the stove, in the oven or the blender there was Peach Crumble, adapted from Alicia what's her name of the popular vegan book....

and....

Banana Date Muffin Tops from my favorite churchy cookbook...the Sat sabbath people, what's their names? 7 Secrets Cookbook.

Spicy Peanut Veggie Soup ala How It All Vegan...those cute, cute, cute girls from the West Coast.

My thoughts were crumble all week for breakfast, soup all week for lunch and the muffin tops for VBS snack. The Muffin tops are delish and won't last until tomorrow's VBS! W thinks the date chunks are jam. Cutie!

Btw, if you want any of the above recipes, let me know and I'll post them just for you!

Camping, camping, camping

T'is the season for some outdoor dwelling. We're off to enjoy the great outdoors, good friends, laughs and a little sunshine.

Hope you're enjoying these dog days of summer too!

Knitting Opinions Please

Okay, I have a dilemma. I'm feeling the need for some summer knitting. Fast knitting.

This yarn in Cafe Mocha, has been in my "Kraft Corner" for some time now and is begging to be knit up. Keep in mind end result will be variegated. My least favorite by the way. Why did I buy this yarn??? It's very....ummmm....my mother's knitting and that is not my style. Maybe I should knit something for her?

I'm at a loss.

So many options.

So indecisive.

I've narrowed it down to a sweater/coat for moi or a cabled blanket for our home. Or another sweater.

You pick.

(images courtesy of Ravelry)

Could you, would you, in the Nude?

There's a new nudist camp in our eastern neighboring province which was featured on today's noon news.

Really.

Blows my mind.

Okay....I get the naturalist thing, the laid back attitude....but really?

To take your children there for summer vacation with the intent to increase their self-esteem (not awareness...esteem). Playing badminton and other outdoor sports.

I just couldn't do it. Not only because of wanting my own clothes, being shy at other people's nudity, bathing in Deet and sunscreen, shaking everything that should be still, and staring a hole in people's foreheads...... because where do you look? The eyes would be too revealing!

So, no Nudist Camp for our family vacation.

Would you, could you, in the nude?

The GF Baking Secret

One challenge of gluten free baking is the desire for fluffiness. Rice, sorghum and other flours do not provide the light fluffiness of wheat. It drives me bonkers! I have thrown out so many cookies, biscuits, etc because they are dry like chalk.

The other weekend while enjoying a sunny morning at the Millarville Farmer's Market, I met a lovely GF baker and she shared her secret to lightness with me. What a sweetie!

Carbonated water.

Wuhoo!!! The carbonation adds some fluff and light. Oh yeah....oh yeah.....the house is on fire! Can you picture me shaking my ample bootay about the kitchen with turquoise tongs in hand and hair standing on end?!

So, this morning's Elmo and Cookie Monster pancakes are just as tasty as before a little bit fluffier.

Hallelujah!