Guackus

Guacamole + Black Bean Dip + Hummus

= Guackus!

In a desperate attempt to find soft, nutritious foods that Jesse could eat after having his wisdom teeth removed, I found myself looking up recipes for things like Guacamole, Black Bean dip, and Hummus. I quickly discovered that they're pretty much all the same thing, just a different main ingredient. So I threw it all together and figured even if it wasn't good it would still be good for Jesse.
Turns out Jesse doesn't care for it, but I'm absolutely in love with it!

The Recipe

3/4 cup Chick Peas

3/4 cup Black Beans

1 ripe, med avocado

2 tbsp unhulled sesame seeds

1 tbsp grape seed oil

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp celery salt

1/8 tsp garlic powder

First, grind the sesame seeds in a coffee grinders. Then blend everything together. I use a hand blender, but I'm sure a food processor would work just as well. 

This recipe serves 2-4 people. It is best served with chips, but also quite good with a veggie tray.

Death By Chocolate

As a kid, this was the dessert I always looked for at the Church potlucks.

Now that I've finally found the perfect trifle bowl I decided to make it.

The Recipe

2 Devil's food cake mixes, baked & cooled

3 instant chocolate pudding mixes(+6 cups milk)

3 tubs cool whip(NOT whipped cream)

2 pkgs skor minis, chopped (or about 10 bars)

Layer the ingredients in your trifle bowl (cake, pudding, cool whip, skor bits). 

The pudding thickens pretty quickly, so it is best to mix each package 

just before you need it so that it is still pourable. 

This may very well be the only recipe where whipped cream is NOT better than cool whip. 

This is overall a very light, fluffy dessert, but if you use whipped cream it will be very heavy.

To make it cheaper you can only use skor on the top, but it does change the end product significantly. 

WARNING: This recipe is huge, I would say that it is suitable for a crowd of 20 or so.

Also, it only takes a 1/2 recipe to fill most trifle bowls.(some people use a punch bowl)

Lightning McQueen Birthday

"Can I have a Lightning McQueen Birthday Mom?"

"uhhh, ...sure...."

I really wasn't sure how to make a Lightning McQueen cake, 

and I almost resorted to buying one.

Thanks to my mom for the race track idea.

(one rectangle cake with 1/2 a round cake on either end)

This is what he does when he's shy.

Cake board? A piece of drywall of course!

Malachi's Blankie

When I was a kid, my siblings and I used to circle everything we wanted for Christmas in the Sears Wish Book. Now my kids do this with the ChristianBook.com kids catalogue.

While looking through the catalogue I noticed that Liam had marked a small pink lamb/blankie.

When I asked him about it he explained to me that it was for the baby. He explained that he wanted us to buy it for him for Christmas, so that it would be his, so that HE could give it to the baby.

I did not tell him that pink is usually for girls,

and that the baby might not be a girl. 

We did buy it for him and 

wrap it up for a Christmas gift,

and he did give it to Malachi 

the first chance he got.

Since then, any time Malachi fusses one of the boys will run and find his blankie for him.

They still don't know that pink is for girls.

Oh Baby!

Malachi Daniel Thiessen

January 13, 2013

9:36pm

10 lbs, 1 oz

21" long

So big,

 yet so small.

  

Cord Blood

During my last pregnancy, I was very interested in cord blood banking. Unfortunately there was very little information available, and it was way too expensive. This time, after some extensive internet research, I was pleasantly surprised to find that there is now a LOT of information. Information that led me to the conclusion that donating cord blood, was a better option than private banking.

For one thing, donating is free whereas private banking seems to be around $1100 @ birth, and $125 each year. Also, private banking seems to be less useful in most cases than public banking. For example, if a child needs cord blood for the treatment of leukemia, they will not want to use his own cord blood because the disease is likely in his cord blood as well. They would then turn to either a sibling's cord blood, or a public donation which has a 95% chance of finding a suitable match.

I found it absolutely amazing that the childhood leukemia survival rate is now over 75% because of cord blood donations.

So we decided to donate our cord blood. Then came the disappointment. After much searching, I discovered that there is no where to donate cord blood in Manitoba. There is one public bank in Alberta that used to collection nationally, but they have now restricted their collections to only Alberta. So now, unless you live in Alberta, Southern Ontario, or Montreal/Quebec City, you're outta luck. You won't find any public banks that will collect in your area.

There is hope though. The Canadian Blood Services is currently in the process of setting up Canada's first national, publicly-funded cord blood bank. Yay! Unfortunately, they will not begin collecting until April 1, 2013. Even then, I'm not clear on whether or not they'll be collecting nationally at that time, or just in the area of the first collections location. Apparently the whole process is expected to take 8 years, but I'm hoping that they'll be collecting in MB in time for our next baby.

Pumpkin Patch 2012

Jesse gets the credit for these shots. I was too busy juggling stuff to notice the photo op. 

Zip Line

Because I was taking pictures, this is the face I saw.....

........and this is the one I didn't see......

Since I only saw the serious look at the end and not the look of sheer terror at the beginning, I told him to run right back to the front of the line for his second ride. Not surprisingly he responded "but I don't want to!".  So Elias took his second ride.....and 4 more.

Standing there waiting for my kids' turns I noticed that some of the kids sure did look small up there.
Then came Elias. The whole crowd noticed, audibly, how tiny he looked up there. 

Sheer joy every time.
"Again, and again, and again?" was all he said. 

After some conversation with Liam, I discovered 2 things. 1. He didn't feel like he had a good grip on the bar right from the start. 2. He didn't know the landing was soft. After clearing that up, he has since informed me that he is going to ride the zip line 140 times next time we're there.

This was more Liam's style.

Not so much for Elias. This was close enough for him.

Liam loving it......Elias wishing he was on the zip line.

Duck Races

Before they even started moving....

"If Elias gets scared you hold his hand, ok Liam?"
"Hold my hand, Wiam."

Its a good thing Dad is agile. Mom would never climb bales. 

The slide was crazy.

I saw many adults come flying out and land pretty hard.

Of  course the sandbox was a hit.

Trike Track

Legs weren't long enough.

Elias didn't quite get it. 

A little better.