Best friends

Out of the blue, while eating his breakfast, Rody said, "Mom, you are my best friend!"

I am not sure where he heard the phrase, but I like it.

Can I make granola without coconut?

Nope, I just can't bring myself to do it. It would be like making chocolate chips cookies without adding the chocolate chips.

Where can you buy bulk coconut?

First home

We bought a house! The past two months have been crazy, but good. More on everything later. Just wanted to let whoever might look at this know that we are still alive. Thanks for reading.

Sitting on Santa CHAMP

Last Christmas, by the way he howled, making Rody sit on Santa's lap paralleled disowning him.

This year, our kid was a CHAMP! He asked for a ball (baseball, of course). He even smiled in a picture. And, the blue teddy bear Santa presented has become the new best friend of his all-time favorite horse that Aunt Marci gave him last year.

His horse, Pioneer (Rody chose the name himself), pulls the wagon (empty graham cracker box) with the blue bear riding inside all around the living room.

Beet Soup

I'm a big fan of beet soup. It always seems to come out yummy even when I change up the ingredients.

Saute peeled and chopped onions, garlic, carrots and celery in butter.
Add a quart or two of chicken stock.
Add peeled and chopped beets and lots of potatoes.
Boil it all until the potatoes and beets are soft enough to puree in a blender.
Make the puree (leaving some of the beets and potatoes in the soup) then stir it back into the soup.
Add a tablespoon or so of vinegar or lemon juice for a very tiny little kick.
Add lots of dill weed, salt, pepper and any other herbs that sound good at the time.
Simmer 'till you can't wait any longer to eat.

Yum!

horse transformer

A few weeks ago, I made a very homemade hobby horse of cardboard and duct tape for my horse-loving boy. He named it "Pioneer."

Rody loves the amazing, high-tech transforming ability of this horse: the stick becomes a baseball bat when he pulls it out.

I might put a picture up sometime, maybe . . . if it becomes a horse again.

"Look, Mom! I'm Angel Moroni on top of the temple."

When I heard the proclamation, I came around the corner from washing dishes to behold my little climber atop the exercise bike. He proceeded to make a trumpet noise and shouted, "Jesus is coming! [more fanfare] The gospel is restored!"

Olive Fingers

The baseball glove shown is the one I used as a kid. Now, my kid rarely takes it off. Luckily, for him, he only needs one hand to eat olives.