We all scream for ice cream!

This morning I told Bailey we should make some ice cream. Never making soy ice cream, I just thought I'd replace the milk for soy and no problem. Well, I did a little searching on the internet and found you can't just replace soy for milk and also found it was quite difficult to find a good recipe that didn't include gelatin, arrowroot, soy lecithin, or OIL??? After some searching I found this recipe that used tofu or yogurt and maple syrup as the sweetener. Maple syrup? Yeh, sounded weird to me, but we tried it. We made banana ice cream with allergy free chocolate chips! Really tastes like maple syrup ice cream with a light taste of banana. Oh well, I'll have to do more research. The kids like it and they had a good time making it - all that matters to me really.

Bailey cutting the bananas

Gregory eating the bananas instead of
putting them in the cuisinart.

Bailey adding chocolate chips to the partially
frozen ice cream

Can I taste???

Gregory adding some chips, too.

Carrots

The kids planted baby carrots this year and here's a photo of their crop! Pulling a carrot out of the dirt is quite exciting for them. Even after the squirrels ate all the leaves off the tops, we still have some nice carrots. Now our zucchinis are a different story...

 

Alameda County Fair!

When we woke up this morning the weather was nice and cool so we decided to take the kids to the fair. We saw the chickens, rabbits, peacocks, geese, ducks, doves, cows, pigs, goats and sheep. I think Gregory would've been happy if we just hung out with the chickens all day. We walked through one building - I was hoping to run into a salesperson selling the chamois wow. I love watching those people giving their sales pitch! Clark laughs, but humors me by letting me go in. The kids aren't much into watching so we just ran through quickly. And, no chamois wow. :( Next we hit the carnival. Bailey was dying to win a new animal. We found a carnival game that guaranteed the kids would win and played. They got a basket of 25 ping pong balls and had to get it into a dish that was floating in water. Bailey actually got one in! Her prize was 3 more balls. (the guy actually gave her 5 though) You'd think getting a ball into a dish would get your a stuffed animal prize! That was our only ball in the dish, but they gave each of our kids a bear. Bailey loves hers and named him Raspberry. Gregory likes his okay too. After our try and the carnival game we got the kids a shaved ice and a cotton candy and came home. Fun day for us all.

 

Videos!

We finally downloaded our videos from our camera! Once I get the hang of this blogging business I hope my videos and pictures will all match up with the proper entry. :)

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Swimming ~ This is a video of the kids swimming with Grandpa and Daddy. Gregory really didn't want to get into the pool this time, but Daddy got him out there a couple of times. In this video you can see Bailey blowing bubbles in the water.

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Kite Flying ~ This is a video from Father's Day. Bailey and Gregory are flying our kite and having fun at the park.

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Jumping & Running ~ This last video is really to show you Bailey's new trick! She can jump from the bottom stair onto the floor! HUGE for her. Now we are working on jumping up. (I'm not sure I can jump up a stair!??) Gregory is there joining in too.

Goodbye Nina ~

Today Bailey had her last occupational therapy with Nina. Bailey loves Nina and it's a little sad that we won't be going to see her anymore, but Bailey's fine/oral motor skills are now age appropriate and she no longer requires occupational therapy. Whoo Hoo! I'm also glad we don't have to drive to Oakland anymore! Also these last 6 sessions were all oral motor therapy sessions and I had to cook food for a 45 minutes eating fest. Bailey loves to eat and I'd have to prepare at least 5 things each time we went.

For oral therapy Nina worked on chewing, frosting cupcakes, making sandwiches, eating drippy things with a spoon, sucking from a straw, cutting things with a fork, plus activities we can do at home to just strengthen her mouth.

For fine motor, we worked on cutting, drawing, coloring, pasting, pushing herself on a scooter across the floor with her hands, crawling through tunnels, hitting a ball with a racket, catching a ball, plus more! Each week Bailey would have a picture or two to take home and hang on the refrigerator. She just loved it!

It's really amazing how much improvement she has made since going to see Nina. We're going to miss her.

Cupcakes

Today we made cupcakes! Chocolate cupcakes. Chocolate vegan cupcakes. Chocolate vegan cupcakes that are moist and delicious! No photos of us making the batter, but I managed to capture a few of the kids frosting and tasting. :)

If you'd like the recipe, here you go!

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

1 ½ c flour
1 c sugar
½ t salt
3 T cocoa
1t baking soda
mix dry ingredients in a bowl

1 t vanilla
1 T vinegar – rice vinegar
5 T oil
1 c cold water
mix wet ingredients in another bowl

Mix together. Put in ungreased pan or muffin cups. Bake 20-30 minutes at 350.

For cupcakes, fill ½ to ¾ full.

Frosting
1 cube margarine
1 ¼ c powder sugar
1/8 t salt
1 T soy milk
½ t vanilla
May need to add a little more powdered sugar

Chocolate Pudding

I've been on a search for non-dairy desserts that are easy to make and I found the most delicious pudding recipe! In fact, I think it's better than regular pudding. This one is even low fat and no cholesterol. Heart healthy and allergy free ~ What a deal!

Bailey helped me make a batch this afternoon and we had it for dessert tonight. We ate the whole batch! Shoulda doubled the recipe.

Chocolate Pudding – Dairy Free

INGREDIENTS
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 cups soy milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

DIRECTIONS
1. In small bowl, combine cornstarch and water to form a paste.
2. In large saucepan over medium heat, stir together soy milk, vanilla, sugar, cocoa and cornstarch mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture boils. Continue to cook and stir until mixture thickens. Remove from heat. Pudding will continue to thicken as it cools. Allow to cool five minutes, then chill in refrigerator until completely cool.

Note: Put ingredients in the blender to make sure it comes out smooth. I also add 1/4 c allergy free chocolate chips after I take it off the stove.

Mommy, my bowl is empty!

Yummy in my tummy!

Feeding the Ducks

We have a great mall down the street from our home. We rarely shop there, but we LOVE to visit the ducks and koi.  Today we took about a half a loaf of old bread ends. The kids love it and so do the ducks! Today they were starving! We should've saved some bread for the koi. They looked pretty hungry, too!

Sunday Morning

Today is Sunday and Daddy and Bailey usually run errands in the morning. If Gregory is up and ready to go, he tags along.  But today, he slept in and missed the bus. We decided to make cinnamon rolls for breakfast. He was in charge of spreading the cinnamon sugar on the dough and rolling. He's a big helper bee!

Spreading the sugar on the dough.

Rolling the cinnamon roll.

Fresh from the oven!!!

Enjoying the sun and having breakfast outside.

Want one?

Painting Frames

Today it is very hot out here. At the moment, it is 101 degrees! UGH.

Well, since we don't go outside when it's hot, we had to think of a project to work on this afternoon. I had gone to Michaels the other day to look for Fourth of July projects but couldn't find any. I also looked for something summery to decorate daddy's office and couldn't find anything. Well, I came up with painting wooden frames and decorating them with these little painted wooden shapes. The kids love to paint and we made a mess (another mess since we had made sushi in the morning!), but I think they turned out pretty cute. Now we'll have to take a nice photo to put inside.

Making Sushi

Today Bailey and Gregory made sushi for the first time! I found a new gadget to make sushi rolls. It's a press and it is really easy to use. We made sushi with spam, Grandpa's cucumbers and chicken teriyaki. We had rice ALL OVER the place and I think they ate most of the sushi before we sat down to lunch, but they had a good time. They don't look perfect, but what do you expect for first time sushi makers! :)


The Sushi Press

Getting ready to press our first roll!








Our first roll!



Bailey with our handiwork



Gregory with his "I'm taking a picture face"