Bruce's Super Special Chocolate Banana Nut Cake

I found a copy of the Dora the Explorer book Happy Mother's Day at the used bookstore and it features this extra special banana nut chocolate cake that Dora wants to make her Mami for Mother's day. Bruce became quite enamored with the idea so after several days of talking about making one for his Nonnie (not his Mami!) we pulled together some ideas for a GF chocolate cake and a raw banana-sesame seed filling, Ghiradelli's cocoa buttercream frosting, & 2 sliced bananas & 6 pecans (you'll have to read the book to understand why) for decoration. Bruce really got a kick out of it and the cake came out really good. I had wanted to make a raw food cake (I'm having a bit of fun with a raw food cookbook I bought at the used bookstore) but I didn't have any sprouted grains on hand and I don't think Bruce would have understood why it looked so different from the picture. We did try to match the picture in the storybook sort of closely.
Can you tell he's been partaking of the frosting while frosting the cake?
I'd planned on only 1 sliced banana for decor but Bruce's artistry required a 2nd to finish his vision. Those are 6 pecans on end in the center. Dora used an acorn but that just didn't appeal to me plus they're not in season.
Afterwards we gave Bruce the bell on a ribbon his Deedee dropped off at the house earlier. Me and Gillian have been really talking up how Deedee knows Santa and could get Bruce a bell (like in PolarExpress) if he asked nicely. I don't think he really believed that Dad knew Santa but he finally asked Deedee about the bell. He was seriously thrilled when he saw it. He's slept with it 2 nights in a row and won't stop shaking the fool thing (what was I thinking!). My Dad left a smaller version for Juniper. I explained to Bruce that he got one and Juniper the other. He chose the bigger one (of course) and then sweetly took the smaller one into the other room and gave it to Juney. I'm not sure what thrilled her more, that Bruce gave her something or the bell.

Kitchen Cabinets

Why is it so hard to get the kitchen counters clean! I finally did so in honor of my in-laws visiting (within an hour it was recovered with stuff) and quickly took a photo of the paint job. Kind of hard to see but the blue stencil was done by my sister Gillian and I think it came out stellar.

Sharing

Eric's folks came in this evening from Florida and his mom brought him some homemade cookies that were technically part of his Christmas present. Bruce was sitting at the table staring at them and Rosie asked Eric if he was ready for one. Bruce replied yes and started to take one. Rosie teasingly asked the boy if his name was Eric. Bruce calmly informed his Grandma, "we share in this family."

Swinging & Cooking

Juniper helping her doll baby swing.



Bruce anxiously waiting for the pizza to be ready to eat.

My Lil' Readers

I don't know why but all children seem to love pulling down the futon's cover and slipping inside (I think it is a sensory cocoon thing). Juney has taken to reading her picture books in there which at least is less destructive than what her brother used to do in there. I find all kinds of books under that cover now and an occasional toy or doll baby.
For Christmas we got Bruce a Leapfrog Tag Reader. I was hopeful but doubtful that he would really take to it but if he didn't like it then Juney would eventually. He actually really digs it. He gets to "read" by himself and he really likes tagging all the images and hearing what they'll say. The volume is low enough that it doesn't irritate his auditory system. He's starting to get that he can play games. I got him 2 books originally and bought 2 more this January. I believe he is making Walter of Walter the Farting Dog fart some more in the photo below and I'm starting to get a little tired of listening to Dora sing the ABCs. On the other hand Bruce has been trying to sing the ABC song a little, although he favors 3 Blind Mice (finally saying all the lines) and 2 lines from Black Bird Flies and somewhere he learned 2 lines from the Beattles tune You Say Goodbye (or whatever the title it).
Juney isn't reading in this photo but I was really tickled by her dressing up. Bruce was wearing his superhero cape so she went & put on her cape (backwards) - and to complete the ensemble - her pink butterfly sunhat. At least my bras & panties aren't draped around her neck. If that doesn't make sense to you then you'll have to go back through the old posts :)

Straws, drywall, & hot cocoa

I made Juniper and myself a mug of hot chocolate for dessert after lunch today and when I grabbed a straw for her I thought to myself that I needed to get more and then I laughed at my own hypocrisy. Since a teen I have hated straws ... not used them whenever I got a drink at a restaurant. Turning my nose up at the extreme waste of such a disposable tool. Now I love them for my kids. It's been really important for helping my son with his oral sensory issues and, frankly, it reduces the mess Juney makes. I do try to use them more than once but I can only take picking them up & cleaning them so many times. I tend to grab them off the flour & chuck them in the trash. Oh well ... we're slowly trying to reinstitute our more sustainable practices as the kids get older ... I even washed some plastic baggies yesterday and we're trying to use our reusable snack baggies more.

Speaking of hot chocolate ... I found this awesome brand of powder at Whole Foods, Allegro. It is by far the best premixed hot chocolate powder I've found after being totally spoiled by the amazing hot cocoa in Mexico. I like the Costa Rican Allegro best so far. I also make a mean hot chocolate with chips (either E Guittard or Ghiradelli's) with cinnamon & NM red chili.

I'm doing drywall mud today, trying to finish up the patch job in the kitchen from when we had a foot of snow last winter (flat roofs don't like a foot of snow). It totally reinforces why I love working with earthern plaster/mud instead of drywall and gypsum plaster. What amess and it's just a pain to get an even, unbubbled surface. At least this will be the last house I have that isn't earthern plaster.

You may be wondering why I've been doing so many entries the last few weeks. My folks got me a Dell Inspiron Mini9. I was real leary when I saw how small the thing was ... but I love the fool thing now. The keyboard is a bit tight (I hate where they put the apostrophe & quotes key) but I can use it for short things and can always use my external keyboard for long jobs plus I have the cutest little external mouse with auto rewinding cord. What is really great though is I can pick the thing up and jot down a few things or check email in the 5 minutes I have between children demanding my attention (e.g., right Juniper is quietly reading a book while sitting inside the slip cover on the back of the futon). When they start punching buttons on the keyboard I can shut the thing and stow it away on the bookshelf. It is small enough to fit in my purse. AND the battery actually really does last the 2-3 hours advertised, a first for any laptop I've owned, even when running multiple programs.

Gotta run ... J just dropped the empty ceramic mug we used for cocoa on the floor. I love wood flours ... they don't break as many dishes. FYI: this won't be spell or grammar checked.

Green Egg ... no ham

Bruce got Green Eggs & Ham for Christmas and we've been reading it a lot. Last night while I was at work I get this bizarre phone call from Eric wanting to know if we have any green food coloring. apparently Bruce had gotten a wild hair to make green eggs (thankfully we were out of ham). Eric limited it to one egg and let Bruce squirt in the green dye on the raw egg (1/2 a bottle is now gone :) ) Via osmosis the green dye did saturate much of the egg white although the egg yolk didn't take as much. Then they cooked it. Bruce wouldn't eat it ... it was too gross and really, for him, it's all about process :) Of course that totally reminds of the old style MRE's from The War which were the inspiration of the story. The old dehydration process made the eggs & ham greenish and apparently many soldiers would rather endure undernutrition than eat green eggs & ham. Thus leading to much research in food science and human psychology. Ain't war grand (TIC).

I just asked Bruce if he ate his green egg (he didn't) and he said no, "It's for daddy." Good thing he didn't see it go in the compost after both the cat and dog rejected it :)

Christmas pt - Juney models

Unlike her brother, I think Juniper really enjoys modeling her goodies as much as opening them. Gillian crocheted her this absolutely adorable set of hat, scarf, & gloves.
Here she is showing off the PJ's her Grandma & Grandpa sent her.

Auntie Amy crocheted this sweater for her. At first she wanted to dress her new doll baby in it but once she put it on herself she wore it for quite awhile.

Tortillaria Boy

Bruce did an awesome job helping me make corn tortillas last night. He wants to make them again tonight and is quite insistent on doing each step. I also painted the cabinets (with Bruce & Gillian's help). All the painting tools are still lying on the counter so it's a bit of a mess.

The hunter returns

Eric went bowhunting over New Years. I love this photo ... it looks like it's straight out of one those silly bowhunting magazines. Look at that camo (excuse me Mossy Oak or was it Realtree or perhaps old Army camo) ... it really does work to help blend into the background. You'll have to visit his website for more details though.

Christmas pt 2

Snowball fighting with Nonnie ... can you believe the cajones on that boy! He just doesn't comprehend the close association with snowball throwing and rubberband zinging, but he'll learn. Meanwhile Juniper is waiting for her first sled ride. It was 18 degrees outside and windy! I couldn't wait to go back inside. Bruce stayed out for about a half hour and Juney about 15 minutes. The wind was so harsh it was stinging my face.


Bruce is showing off his tropical fish tank "Santa" brought him. He was so excited when he saw the tank setup the day before Christmas Eve. He wanted to know where the fish were. I have to say he seemed a bit disappointed with Santa though. He bounced over to look at the tank first thing Christmas morn and then bounced away. I asked if he liked his fish. He said yes and then said they were small fish :) We'd been to the local aquarium a few days before and I think he must have been visualizing a shark or stingray or something :) He does really seem to like them though and spends quite a bit of time watching them and he really digs feeding the fish. His Auntie Aly gave him a large tadpole from her pond for the tank (he already has 2 Harlequin Rasbora). When his grandparents went into the house to get it (he was stuck in his carseat waiting with me) I explained they were getting him a tadpole. I don't know where he got this idea but he was very insistent that they were actually getting him a rocket. So when my dad came out with the tadpole I told Bruce this was his new tadpole, "Rocket." He smiled and held the bowl all the way home.

My Aunt Amy crocheted the kids these awesome sweaters. Juney loved hers but I had problems getting Bruce to pose for a picture. I'm not sure if he was resisting the sweater or sitting next to his sister. I have so few picts of them together ... unless they are fighting.
Next I tried to get him to pose in his new winter-weight superhero cape his Auntie Gillian and me made. No luck there. At this point I was wishing I had a pink bunny PJ outfit for him! I sewed on a neat emblem & wrote his name in glitter paint. Gillian used the paint to add the Orion constellation... we spent quite a bit of time looking for a Spartan photo/diagram to use as a model for the design. Kids!

Gingerbread addendum

Apparently I did take some early photos of the kids eating their Gingerbread House. Not the full blown hammer to icing that Bruce later indulged in ... but cute nonetheless.

Gingerbreading

As mentioned in a previous entry, I made GF gingerbread houses for Bruce and his bff Superboy to decorate. On the 23rd it happened. Bruce, Juney, Superboy, and Supergirl all converged on the kitchen to decorate. Well the girls mostly watched and gobbled what they could grab (especially Juney). I was just so stunned how well it all went, probably because us moms spent time getting it all organized and prepped beforehand and my sister Bel came to help keep things from getting too chaotic (and she got her own house so she wouldn't get mad when Bruce tried to impose his creativity onto hers :) ) Bruce spent about 40 minutes working on half his house while Superboy lasted about 50 minutes before being enticed by Bruce's various taunts to jump on the bed etc.
Note Juniper is circling Superboy's house waiting for her opportunity to swipe some jellybeans or sundrops. She'd already been ejected from Bruce's house and we had to move off a bunch of the candy because she was eating them all. She really liked the sundrops and mini-jelly beans.Juney positioning Supergirl for a big hug and kiss ... which then made her cry :)

The finished houses from left to right: Bruce & Anna's, Superboy & Supermom's :), & Bel's. As I said before, the boys finished about half the house and us moms finished them up (which we were dying to do anyway).



On Christmas day I brought down Bruce's house and he proceeded to tear into it. He and Juney ate some of it but mostly it was the process of bulldozing that really caught Bruce's passion. Too bad I didn't get any photos of that.

Juney's 1st Joke ... maybe

Juniper was stuffing a plastic tomato down the top of her shirt and walking around all smiley. We asked her what it was and expected her to say something like apple or toy. She smiled and said, "boob." Then laughed as she pulled it out. Later she stuffed two plastic tomatoes in her shirt. We suggested she nurse her doll baby and she went searching for her baby.