Eating

I have been trying lately to get back to my plants-based diet, I have been cheating too much with cheese on pizza, cream cheese on bagels, and way too much sugar.  It always helps me when I find blogs where other people are doing the same thing, here are two that I have found:

www.myplantsbasedfamily.com

www.happyherbivore.com

When I have new recipes to try it usually motivates me!  This morning Luke and I tried a chocolate chip recipe, he was very helpful.  The muffins actually turned out great!  They are a little chewier than regular muffins because of the whole wheat pastry flour, but they taste almost like a dessert.  My goal is to bake muffins and bread more often for the kids to take in their lunches so I won't be sending processed foods with food dyes and other additives.  We will see how long that lasts!

Chocolate Chip Muffin Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ⅛ tsp salt
• 2½ tbsp unsweetened applesauce
• ¼ cup raw sugar
• ½ cup chocolate non-dairy milk
• ¼ tsp vanilla extract
• ½ cup vegan chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat oven 375 F. Spray paper cups with cooking spray, place into a muffin tin and set aside. In a large bowl, whisk applesauce, vanilla and non-dairy milk together. In another bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and cocoa together. Pour dry mix into wet mix in 2-3 batches, stirring to combine. Once combined, gently stir in chocolate chips. Spoon batter into cups and bake 15-20 minutes.

Molly

This weekend we got a cat!  The kids have been begging for a pet, especially Amelia.  She has always loved cats and wanted one to cuddle with her.  It took about a week for Joel to give us his answer - he had a few reservations but the kids were able to clear them up.  So on Sat. we ventured to the Roanoke SPCA and adopted Molly.  She is 6 months old and loves to run around and play.  

The deal is that each week one of the kids is in charge of cleaning out the litter box.  Another kid will be in charge of feeding her.  And the last kid will sweep the kitchen and living room floor every day.  I am writing this her so I have proof of the contract.

After we got home, the girls kept saying, "Is this a dream?  Do we really have a cat?"  They were so excited!  And when we told Amelia that we were going to get a cat, she was oddly silent.  After a few minutes she said she was so excited that she couldn't talk!  The girls want to stay home from school so they can play with her and Luke loves taking care of her during the day.  I think she might get a little overwhelmed when everyone is home and trying to play with her, she tends to look for hiding places.  

Spelling Bee

Spelling Bee

Dayspring held a spelling bee in January and the top 4 kids in each grade got to advance to the Roanoke spelling bee.  Both Emma and Amelia got to go!  We had planned on practicing a lot during the 6 weeks that we had, but, every time I mentioned practicing the girls didn't want to do it just then :)  And with homework and school and gymnastics, the time flew by.  This past Friday we went to Roanoke Valley Christian school to compete against other private school students.  The parents weren't allowed in the rooms, we had to wait in the cafeteria for the kids to return.  We saw a few kids coming back in tears, and I really didn't want to see my girls crying!  

Amelia's class was the first one to return, and when I asked her how she did, she told  me she got 2nd place!  I was amazed because we had only practiced the "easy" words and hadn't even gotten to the "average" or "difficult". She couldn't remember any of the words that she had to spell, but she did remember spelling "holy" incorrectly.

We waited a long time after that for Emma's class to come back!  But finally she was there and I asked her how she did, and she said she "thought" she got 1st place.  I wasn't sure how she couldn't know if she won, and a few minutes later she did say she was the champion (that's what they called the winners).  Emma got a medal and certificate while Amelia got a ribbon and certificate.

 I am so proud of both of my girls for going, competing, and doing so well.  Of course I took lots of pictures, unfortunately my digital camera is broken so the pictures are pretty fuzzy (I took them with my ipod).  But I think you can see how happy they were to be winners!