Cookies and Crayons

“Connie, I need you to stop sleeping and come play with me”

As you may have noticed, many of our recent pictures of Dougie have had him less than completely dressed. We have been working on potty training – again.

Unfortunately, we’re still not having any luck. We keep reminding ourselves that this is not our milestone. Regardless, we still want it for him (okay, and a little for us). We’re trying a more relaxed approach now and hoping at some point, he’s going to get this.

As those who have lived gluten free for any length of time understand, the holy grail really is bread. We’ve been lucky to find a palatable bread after only trying a few brands. Though the bread “works” it really has to be toasted and at almost $7 for a half loaf – well, we felt there had to be another option. So, we decided that we would trying baking our own bread. We found a fabulous recipe and gave it a whirl.

Testing the water temperature for the yeast

Stirring the yeast so it can proof

Prepare the dry ingredients

Stir stir stir

This is NOT what properly proofed yeast looks like (more on that later)

Pushing Daddy Away, “Dougie’s turn!”

Dough – we could have shaped this better

The final product

The first shot at the bread was a tad disappointing. It was VERY yeasty tasting.

We tried again, this time, we got the yeast proofing right.

Still too yeasty.

We read online that sometimes the yeast isn’t given enough of a chance to rise so we thought we’d try to use the bread machine to make it (allowing it to do part of the stirring)… still too yeasty.

Anyone have a tip on what to try next? Everyone raves at how great the bread is but it just isn’t working for us.

Scott said, rolling over didn’t really count until you could do a full revolution.

Well, our Connie can roll.

Ready?

Here we go!

This is her new method for moving around the room. She starts on her playmat and, assuming she doesn’t get stuck on one of the posts, she just rolls from one side of the room to the other.

Even Dougie can’t stop her.

Not to worry, I am going to be able to retire well. Our Dougie is going to be a rock star.

Okay, he started a bit reluctantly

But then he really got into it

Look, a natural!

Groovin’ out

What do you think? I bet by the time this posts we’ll have record producers knocking on the door ready to sign him.

Connie had another appointment at the pediatrician today. We remeasured her head and made sure that things were continuing along on a normal path. The doctor had nothing but great things to say about her progress. He said she’s right on her curve and very strong. He wants to see us back in another 2 1/2 months and then I expect he’ll be done with us. It has been a relief to be seeing him and continuing to hear that everything is okay.

We have hard wood floors in Calgary so, in an effort to protect them, the dogs haven’t gotten to be in as much as we’d like. That means that Connie hasn’t gotten a lot of time with the dogs either. The other day, we decided to bring Maggie in for a bit of one-on-one time with Connie.

Initially, they were both a bit unsure of what to make of each other

They quickly accepted each other though

They even decided to just hang out for a bit

I’m pretty sure we mentioned it with Dougie – Maggie is an exceptional dog with kids. You’d think with her size that she’d be a problem but she just lies down and let them hang on her. She didn’t even mind when Connie pulled her fur a bit to stop herself from tipping over.

We have been meal planners for a while. I don’t tend to do well at 4:00 when I’m suddenly faced with deciding what to have for dinner. What’s worse is we never seem to have the ingredients to make something interesting. So, we turned to meal planning to help. We end up eating better and shopping better. Since we know a few folks doing the gluten free thing as well, we thought we’d share what we’re eating this week. We’re also sharing with the nice folks over at OrgJunkie for their Menu Planning Monday.

Monday – Shepherd’s Pie
Tuesday – Slow Cooker Orange Chicken and Rice
Wednesday – Pork Fancy Pants (Herb roasted pork and veggies)
Thursday – Chicken Tikka Masala (from a jar) and Rice
Friday – Pulled Pork and Baked Potatoes
Saturday – Peppered Beef Filet, Rosti Potatoes, Broccoli
Sunday – Cabbage Rolls

We didn’t have links for a few of those recipes but if anyone would like me to post them, drop me a comment.

There is something special about celebrating Easter in Canada. It feels like more of a holiday since it is a long weekend.

Last year, we did a trail for Dougie. It didn’t go well. It was made of M&Ms and he just moved along the trail eating them rather than collecting them and putting them in his basket. So this year, we decided to go for a real hunt. It didn’t go any better – next year, all the chocolate will be wrapped.

Find the chocolate

Eat the chocolate

Find more unwrapped chocolate

We finally convinced him to pick up some of the wrapped ones – of course, only while his mouth was full

Oooh, a big one!

After Daddy gathered up the remaining unwrapped ones – Dougie searched for the rest of the hidden ones

“Help with the bunny, please? Out the bunny.”

Though Connie was a bit young for an egg hunt, we opted for different sorts of fun. Daddy gave her a special horsey ride.

Giddy-up Connie

Whoa! (Look at the disappointment on her face)

Little Connie Love

Hope everyone had a wonder Easter!

Connie spends much of her day trying to avoid injury from her brother. He loves her but doesn’t understand that he can’t sit/kneel on her.

Constant state of high alert

When she feels like she can finally let her guard down, she takes time to notice the subtleties of life.

Whoa, where did those socks come from

She’s always quick to turn on a smile though for anyone willing to look at her.

Ack, the camera, look cute!

And at the end of a long day, it’s nice to just relax and be herself.