Sweaty Samson

This morning during our Bible time we were reading about Samson in the Old Testament. The picture showed how he had long hair. Out of nowhere, Benji said, "He must have been hot with that long hair. He would need to take lots of showers." Benji is a very clean boy if you did not know. :)

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.

Pictures from the Ice Storm

Here are some pics and a video of our house and around the neighborhood:

From the driveway - the entire neighborhood has a new treeline now!

Hello tree. This limb is from a tree that my dad has been bugging me to get cut down every time he sees it. I suppose now he's saying, "I told you so".


Some closeups. Though the ice brought lots of damage, I have to say it's quite pretty to look at. Can't tell for sure, but I don't think any of the tree limbs punctured the roof. I suppose when the ice starts melting starting Thursday, I'll find out quickly if this is true! Here's a video to cap it off.

Quote from Eudora Welty

I finished Eudora Welty's book "The Optimist's Daughter" tonight and loved this small section concerning memory:

"It is memory that is the somnambulist. It will come back in its wounds from across the world... It will never be impervious. The memory can be hurt, time and again - but in that may lie its final mercy. As long as it's vulnerable to the living moment, it lives for us, and while it lives, and while we are able, we can give it up its due." (p. 179)

Poor Arkansan boys have to make do with such a pitiful snow offering

We got a slight dusting of snow today... but that did not deter us from heading out to play in it! Zac only stayed out for about 15 minutes before heading inside to drink hot cocoa and watch us from the window. But Benji and I played outside for quite awhile, having a great time together.

This picture is misleading - no actual sledding occurred.

We were able to make 3 whole snow balls - one of them lobbed at Zac at the kitchen window.

Benji was able to drag Zac in the sled for awhile - but there was no traction for actual sledding.

Benji, our snow angel

Ouchie healed

Zachary noticed that his ouchie on his hand was all better, so I told him he should thank God for healing his ouchie. He said his version of "thank you" (which is only understood by our family because it does not resemble "thank you" whatsoever at all). Then he said, "God not home" (as if he called God and He wasn't home so Zac was leaving a message) - hope God got the message!

Benji's ideas about worms

"God didn’t make worms really good. Because if you pull on them, they will break in two. So God did not make them really good."

(said at lunch, when for some odd reason, we were talking about worms)

Facebook

I joined Facebook a few months ago and have been spending more time over there than here. If anybody is on Facebook and hasn't added me as a friend, I'm more likely to communicate with you there. I'll still put things up here from time to time but not as much as before.

Happy new year!