I need to do more ab exercises

I was doing some crunches this afternoon, so of course both of my children were trying to get on top of me and all over my bended legs, making it very difficult to complete any actual exercise. But I did get two more reasons to keep up the work...

Zachary felt my tummy and said, "Your tummy is really soft."
Benji didn't even have to touch it to say, "Your tummy is also really wrinkly."

I felt compelled to point out to them that there are two reasons why their statements were true ... and their names are Benji and Zac.

Back to the floor to keep crunchin'

Vegan cake recipe

This recipe is for Heather but I thought others might like it too. My dad is a vegan so this is my go-to recipe for birthday cakes for him. And I swear, it tastes good! I once served the chocolate version at a church picnic and no one knew the wiser.

Vegan cake

Dry ingredients:
1 ½ cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt

Wet ingredients:
1 cup cold water
1 Tbsp. vinegar
¼ cup oil
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8 or 9 in. baking dish. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a small bowl mix wet ingredients together. Add wet ingredients to the dry and mix with a fork or an electric mixer. Bake for 30-35 min.

Variations:
Chocolate chip cake – sprinkle 1/3-2/3 cup chocolate chips on top of cake before baking.

Chocolate cake – add ¼ cup cocoa powder for dry ingredients.

Spice cake – add 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1 tsp. allspice, ½ tsp. ground cloves & ¼ tsp. nutmeg to dry ingredients; omit vanilla.

Ginger molasses – reduce sugar and water to ¾ cup. Add tsp. cinnamon, 15tsp. allspice, 1-3 tsp. ginger to the dry ingredients. Add ¼ cup molasses to wet ingredients and omit vanilla.

Banana cake – reduce sugar to 2/3 cup. Instead of water, use 1 cup mashed banana and a little milk.

Comments that make it all worthwhile

The process of getting a child to go to sleep by themselves in their own bed AND stay there all night is a very long process. Benji is there and has been for awhile. Zachary not so much.

Currently one of us (normally Mommy) lies down with Zac until he's asleep - occasionally he is fine with me sitting in the hallway and knitting or reading (that way he can still see me). Since Zac and Benji now share a room, Benji has started requesting me lie down with him for a few minutes too. It's a nice time to snuggle, so that's been fine with me. Two nights ago, when I was lying down with Benji, he told me, "When you lie down with me or take me on dates, I feel so special." As you can imagine, my heart melted right then and there.