Pancakes

When I was a kid I used to HATE pancakes as a dinner, however, as an adult I love them. I love them b/c they're easy to make and they are always enthusiastically received by the kids. We add some fruit to them and there you have it a gourmet dinner. (or not but hey did I mention they're easy and the kids love them?) I found a recipe for pancakes online and they are delicious -so sweet that you can eat them without syrup. Though now I have tweaked the recipe in order to make it a little healthier. Here are both of them. I don't know how many pancakes they make but I make it for five of us and we have leftovers (a few). The boys have never once complained about the newer version. The new version is just as good texture wise just not as sweet.

Fast and Easy Pancakes I

2c milk
3/4c sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. veg. oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2c flour
1 1/2 tbl. baking powder

Place milk, sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla in blender and mix. Then add flour and baking powder and mix again. Blend until smooth. Heat lightly oiled frying pan and use 1/4c to pour out batter.

Fast and Easy Pancakes II

2c skim milk
1/4c sugar
2 eggs
1tsp. veg. oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2c whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tbl. baking powder

follow same directions as above.

If any of you have a great recipe please share - we're always up to trying new things.

Maybe a bit too much?

Rich and I used to watch Gilmore girls - however, we found during the final season that the show was jumping around to diff. days and times so we stopped watching it. With the lack of summer tv we decided to borrow the final season from the library. The upside to that is it's free, the downside is that you only have two weeks, thus we had a LOT of Gilmore Girls for two weeks. It was a great season! We began to think that we were maybe on Gilmore overload when Rich was at Krause farms buying berries (duh, what else) and after he phoned me regarding prices some girl that worked there said to him - Wow, you sound just like Lorelai and Rory from the Gilmore girls. Yikes!

Growing up can be fun!

A little crack.
think our friend took this cute pic.
Ethan and I waving a hello in the middle.
we buried all of the boys and shaped them into mermaids

A couple of weeks ago we spent the afternoon at Aldergrove Lake. We had such a great time. We built sandcastles with the kids,filled up the "river" and then Ethan wanted to swim across the lake. I said okay and off we went. Ethan took the float board in case he got tired and off we went. I wasn't sure if I would make it b/c I haven't really swam in a long time but I thought I gotta try. It was fun. We swam all the way across and back (and I was completely fine, even with all of the tredding of water I had to do while Ethan relished being in the middle of the lake). It was so great to do a big kid thing with Ethan that his sibs. couldn't do. It was a taste of how life changes as the kids get bigger - it's fun -it's fun to do the things I enjoyed doing like swimming or one day having to go on roller coasters with them, or biking or playing games. It's special to have a little baby to cuddle and coo over as well as a big boy to swim across a lake with!

One of the best.

A few weeks ago we went down to Seattle for a couple of days. We had a great time -minus the ride down when we felt like throwing our bickering boys out the windows that don't open!:) We had a fanastic time at the Woodlands Zoo- park like setting, huge habitats and a lot of walking. We enjoyed Day out With Thomas - a little hokey but the boys didn't seem to notice. However, this post is about the hotel we stayed at - the Embassy Suites. Wow! It sure was a step up from where we stayed last year in Edmonton - though that's not hard. The suite was beautiful, the pool was clean but what impressed us the most was the breakfast. It was so delicious, not your typical, included continental fare. We had made to order omlets, srambled eggs, sausage, bacon, pancakes, cereals, toast, yogurt, fruit, juice, coffee, tea and pastries. Normally I'm pretty cheap and want to stay in the most reasonable place possible (the bomb in Edmonton) but this was the only one in the area that would take 6 people to a room and man I'm glad it was b/c we stayed somewhere I normally wouldn't have picked. Let's say you get what you pay for and I'm moving up from cheap for our next trip! (maybe)

Always my baby boy!

Christian is obsessed with our swing. He loves to turn it on and climb into it. I don't really care since it doesn't really work that great and is probably about 12 years old! It's funny that he does this b/c if anyone EVER calls him a baby he goes ballistic. He isn't even a little boy -he's a big boy. My baby boys turns three next week and when I asked him what he wanted he said Darth Vader and his ship. I thought WHAT - an almost three year old should not know who Darth VAder is - don't think he really does but he hears that name a lot from Aiden. Though after saying that in the toy store he went right on playing with the Thomas Train and then came to where we were carrying two huge train boxes saying 'these for my party". He's already stuck between being a big boy and being a little boy - didn't that happened until the tweens?

Dedication!

Last Sunday was Callia's dedication. I pray that we raise her and the boys in such a way that they know in their hearts that God is real, and that He is all powerful. I hope that it's not religion that they see but a relationship. I am thankful that God can touch their lives even though Rich and I may (okay will ) make mistakes in how we raise them.
Our day was great. Callia wore a dress that my mom knitted when we were pregnant with baby number one but when Ethan came out my mom was wise and realized that there was NO WAY we would put a boy in a long gown for his dedication. Even though the dress is not my typical "style" it was neat to have her dressed in a more traditional way. Her little arm was adorned by a bracelet her Grandad and Nana gave her. Ahhh, she could have been dressed in rags and she still would have been very cute (not biased at all). We had both sets of Grandparents at church, my Nana, one of Rich's sisters (and hubby), his brother (and family) and friends from England too. We all came back to our place for a yummy BBQ. It was a good time -even if Callia did sleep for most of it. I loved hosting everyone - it was great to be able to give to the people who support us in raising our kids.

Perfect Day

Last Saturday we had a perfect day! If you have kids that love to hike and be outdoors then let me suggest Lynn Canyon to you. The kids LOVED hiking all around the trails. We enjoyed it way more than Capilano (and not just b/c it's free) but b/c there are way more trails for you to go on. We were there for two hours and didn't see most of the area. We discovered where you can get right down by the water (go to the left when you come off of the bridge) - the boys enjoyed looking at the river and throwing in sticks. Then if you have an entertainment book you could go to Maplewood Farms just a few minutes away. Every year I see the coupon ,but we aren't going to drive into North Van for just that. However, we decided we would go there after the hiking - the boys totally enjoyed it. Ethan loves animals so he was so happy to spend as much time as we would let him in the petting zoo. The ducks put on quite a show too. Some of our best family outings are just going out and enjoying nature. The boys love being able to just run. We love watching them be entertained without toys, tv, movies or computer.